North Korea Continues Dancing On The Brink

For a while last winter, I had some hopes that Kim Jong Il might actually be thinking abut cooling things off and really negotiating. Then the nonstop shows of political disarray here in the US and the fundamental unseriousness of European politicians kicked into high gear and all that evaporated. Now the rogue regime and it's miniature leader are contemplating more destabilizing moves and being openly defiant about it.

"Our military will continue missile launch drills as part of measures to bolster self-defense capabilities," said the statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency. North Korea "will have no option but to take stronger physical actions of other forms, should any other country dare take issue with the exercises and put pressure on it."

That appeared to refer to a U.S. and Japanese effort to push for tough penalties against the North at the U.N. Security Council. That effort so far lacks support from veto-wielding members China and Russia.

In Washington, President Bush said the threat posed by Pyongyang will lessen if the United States and its allies "speak with one voice" when dealing with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.

Which is exactly right. If the West could, for even a short while, pull it's collective head out of it's collective nether regions, a unified front might stop Kim before this situation escalates. But if we continue in disarray war, in several places, becomes more likely, not less.