i do like me some billmon, but looking at Iran and North Korea logically and with an idea or two about military realpolitik & force technology/availabilty, i don't see us doing anything really - besides sanctions - about North Korea...as Bush has basically admitted recently. the Korean War taught us the futility, and while we too often fail to apply hard lessons learned to current events and conflicts, the state of affairs in Korea today tells us that 1.) we're out-trooped a million to...not many at all. they're all in you-know-where and won't be..."cutting and running" anytime soon. 2.) even without the glaring troop number inequity, the terrain is completely prohibitive to a ground war. we would have air superiority without question, but mines, ambushes, artillery, IEDs and the like on the main roads to Pyongyang would slow to a complete crawl any attempted push. losses would be [politically] unacceptably high. and even if we took 'Baghdad East', then what? we know how that one goes. 3.) MAD ensures that survival-minded maniac dictators don't press that nukular button. 4.) Seoul could be easily leveled by NK artillery, yes, but we would return the favor a hundred fold. i doubt that even KJ II is that nuts.

in short, our military options for dealing with North Korea are extremely slim. thus even Bush embraces more sanctions and a slower approach.

as for Iran, well, we could easily bomb a few sites that we think are up to nukey chicanery. which would make us more popular globally, even though clearly we don't give a hoot about that crap. but a little shock and awe would certainly propel Iran to fervently increase clandestine aid (read: boom boom stuff) to Iraqi shit- disturbers, further increasing our casualty figures there, perhaps drastically. and we know how well those numbers sit with the American voter. the more of our kids die, the more we want 'em home, regardless of where that leaves Iraqis or Israelis or anyone else.

not that these macho neo-con warmonger maniacs won't do something rash anyway, especially with recent polls worrying them into thinking that they need to scare people further and/or make another strong military statement in order to maintain control of gov't. if such foolishness occurs, the blowback could make Iraq look like a picnic. complicated issues like these require incredibly logical, well-informed and long-sighted decision making, and based on the last 6 years it would not appear that we are blessed with an administration with those characteristics. i'd love to be wrong on this one.