With regards to North Korea,

the sequence runs this way: they threaten to do something serious, we bluster, they do whatever the hell they want UP to a certain point, everyone wallows in shock & outrage, we then go on blustering.
And then the recycle reiterates over say a two year period...nothing irrevocable happens but everyone gets a good scare.
This time though, the score seems to be one to one...North Korea's big scary-ass rocket disintegrated after two minutes of flight but the Bush admin's dire threats to deploy our strategic defense capability came to nothing.
For the moment, it seems like Pyongyang can't build an ICBM capable of reaching Beverly Hills or Kerry Healey's mansion...but that could change over time based on how much moolah Komrade Kim wants to waste on missiles in a nation neck deep in starvelings.
The USA on the other hand, has had twenty years and three hard core conservative administrations to come up with a workable regional missile defense system.
So far billions upon billions have been spent since Reagan's day and NOTHING has yet been deployed.
If the Manhattan Project had taken this long to produce a nuclear warhead, the Japanese would be opening Geisha Houses in Salt lake City by now.
But the GOP goes on blustering, if strategic defense hasn't yet paid off in protecting America from ICBM attack is sure is a king hell gimmick for pillorying liberals and democrats.
The History Channel (which is increasing Fox News loaded up with stock footage) loves to run crude animation of 747's armed with huge phallic looking laser cannons...none of which can be found flying over the sea of Japan at the moment.
But as a rhetorical device with which to accuse democratic party of treason and cowardice, it has no equal.
We got the atom bomb in four years of concentrated effort. We got the hydrogen bomb in four more years of comparable effort. We went from nuclear subs to missile firing nuclear subs in about six years...our strategic forces transitioned from unreliable liquid fueled missiles to solid core ICBMs in something like five years.
And yet after twenty plus years of work we still can't shoot down a rattle-trap lashed up ICBM prototype that wouldn't been laughed off the lot at Peenemunde.

Just wait though, the cry will go up this very week in congress for MORE strategic defense funding...our guys are wrapping scrap metal about their hummers in Iraq for armor and all gang on Capitol Hill can think is more anti-missile funding.


Sick
Demented
Typical...