Is it just me, or did I hear the sound of the DPRK (North Korean) Politburo laughing their collective asses off at the 1600 Crew?

North Korea boasted publicly for the first time Thursday that it has nuclear weapons and said it will stay away from disarmament talks, dramatically raising the stakes in the 2-year-old dispute. The Bush administration called on Pyongyang to give up its atomic aspirations so life can be better for its impoverished people.
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North Korea's harshly worded pronouncement posed a grave challenge to President Bush (news - web sites), who started his second term with a vow to end North Korea's nuclear program through six-nation disarmament talks.

"We ... have manufactured nukes for self-defense to cope with the Bush administration's ever-more undisguised policy to isolate and stifle the (North)," the North Korean Foreign Ministry said in a statement carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency. The agency's report used the word "nukes" in its English-language dispatch.

Countries around the world that might have respected American economic power over military, might have once listened and maybe even been persuaded to be reached out to, and join the community of Nations. Now, if they can, they're arming themselves to the teeth; they at least learned the lessons of the Cold War. There's no deterrance, like deterrance based on Mutally Assured Destruction.

Haven't we seen this movie before?

Oh, and a note to the PhD Progeny at State: Honey, if the rulers of North Korea haven't given a shit about their starving masses to date, what makes your slightly disfunctional NeoCon brain believe that the North K's are gonna care tomorrow? These are not rational actors, and they don't actually give a crap about you, China, South Korea or anyone else. I think that you might have just heard Beloved Leader (NK) say "Bring it on!".