Always starts like this...

Does the reheating of the North/South Korea conflict, one of the last vestiges of the Cold War, pose the risk of escalating into a Hot War?  It seems like the Koreans are ready to have a go at each other.  Normally bellicose PRC is urging calm in the region, but it appears they have little control over their old puppet state.  Normally (under Obama) peaceful USA gleefully supporting S. Korea sabre-rattling in the form of more military exercises at the flash point.

Japan, meanwhile, seems to have finally woken-up from the threat of China’s recent, rapid military build up of naval & air power (useful primarily for bullying the neighborhood).

My crystal ball is fuzzy here.  If S. Korea sinks a ship or two, does the N. Korean regime go down (much as Great Britain’s Falklands was a positive agent of change in Argentina), or does it spark a fierce counter-attack, dragging first China then the US into a Hot War, followed quickly by actions against Taiwan and disputed territories in the S. China Sea?

China’s bellicosity and military build up smacks up against the Einstein maxim that you can’t simultaneously prevent and prepare for war. The bad news for our allies in the region is that China can most likely kick American ass in any short-term ‘limited’ engagement.  Worse, I doubt that any military action in the region would stay limited – Dear Leader has nukes, and would most likely use them in the case of an existential threat to his state.  No idea if Taiwan (or even Japan for that matter) might have a few secret nukes stashed.

Even a limited regional nuclear exchange would have dramatic climactic consequences.

I’m not really sure there is much the US can do at this point.  If we don’t respond firmly, we go down the path of appeasement, forcing our allies to fend for themselves, almost guaranteeing a disastrous outcome down the road.  At this point, I think it’s pretty much up to China – either they will start acting like adults, tone down the militarism and bellicosity and promote peace in region, or they will continue down their current path and trigger the inevitable showdown.

*Update 12/23/10* I believe Kim Jong Il reads Needlenose, and made sure today that we are all clear that he considers any threat to be an existential threat worthy of going nuclear.

And right after apologizing to Mr. Gore, the Earth Fuckers should apologize to the scientists of the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit for stealing their emails and smearing them mercilessly over the last year – an independent panel of researchers has upheld their research results and professional integrity.

Don’t hold your breath, though – Uber-Earth Fucker Apologist Benny Feiser doesn’t put much faith in either solid science nor an unbiased review process:

But Benny Feiser, who runs the skeptic-leaning Global Warming Policy Foundation, said there was strong evidence that legitimate requests for information had been repeatedly stifled.

“I don’t think the university can just claim that this is a vindication,” he said. He promised his own inquiry into the matter, to publish its report in August.

This is the real difference between real scandals and reactionary-inspired scandals – just like Whitewater, Climate Gate has turned out to be nothing more than a Reactionary smear campaign of dirty ad-hominem attacks designed to muddy the waters of public discourse and keep it off the course from the discussion that really matters.

Meanwhile fellow Hillbilly Senator Lamar Alexander suffers either from an excess of hypocrisy or senility as he decries using the reconciliation process to pass legislation that the party of the minority plans to filibuster.

Why the hell are my tax dollars going to fund the folks in the states these idiots represent?

*Update*  This just keeps getting worse!  Democrat-in-Exile sent me this tip: Redneck Asshole Senator Inhofe is trying to intimidate climate scientists with McCarthyite witch-hunts.

To top it off, neither India nor China would agree to any climate management deal.

With leaders like these, who needs enemies?  They’ll destroy the planet faster than any alien invaders ever could.

Although I’ve occasionally decried the leadership of Pelosi and Reid, the looming GOP attacks on these 8 Representatives could give Pelosi something to work with in the form of a small group of ‘quislings’ to give the appearance of bi-partisan support to legislation and offset the more disloyal and conservative Democratic Representatives.  Definitely 8 Reps to keep an eye on!

In related and joyful news, Al Franken is now Senator Al Franken, because “he’s good enough, and smart enough, and doggone it, Minnesotans like him!”

An abrupt release of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, from ice sheets that extended to Earth’s low latitudes some 635 million years ago caused a dramatic shift in climate, scientists funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) report in this week’s issue of the journal Nature.