Missile Envy

I suppose I should thank the folks over in North Korea for giving me a break from this incessant economic-education-urban drama navel gazing that has afflicted me for these past few weeks. There are more important things, after all. Outside our borders, there is a world of trouble waiting for us to take notice, once we get tired of our insular cares and woes.
Yes, North Korea defied world powers by carrying out a "test" of a ten - to - twenty kiloton nuclear weapon. If the United Nations were having their annual Science Fair this month, they would no doubt feel compelled to award them some kind of ribbon or certificate. But since the UN is busy keeping the peace and trying to keep such detonations from occurring, that probably won't happen. Besides, this isn't exactly "original," is it?
I understand how this has to burn other countries. The United States got to the moon first and stuck their flag in it. We got "the bomb" first, way back in 1945. That one really was a test, by the way. After that, it was pretty obvious what the results of compressing a plutonium sphere. Seven years later, we upped the ante again with the hydrogen bomb. While Japan busied themselves with tiny radios and tape recorders, we ushered in a new age of nuclear devastation. But not to worry. We have tested this notion more than a thousand times, and it seems to be pretty effective. The Russians put up a satellite first, then a man into space, but Americans continue to lead the way in the redundant art of nuclear testing.
That is history. Remember the United Nations? They've got this thing called a "Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban-Treaty." Part of the idea behind the treaty, though not clearly stated, is to keep whack-jobs like Kim Jong Il from getting hold of a nuclear weapon. Or six. With missiles that can launch them into neighboring countries, or even across the ocean to island targets like Hawaii. Then again, people in South Korea didn't seem all that concerned. "I see this test as North Korea's marketing strategy. They just seem to be playing games," said Kim Sun-joo, who works at a travel agency. "I wouldn't say that South Korea is completely free of danger, but I don't think we are any more in danger than we were before. People here are used to these kinds of threats."
Well thanks, Sun-joo. I'm going back to worrying about the bailout and Adam Lambert.