BACK TO REALITY – AT 7:14 P.M. ET:  We are reminded that there's a political world, a journalistic world, and a real world.  The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff notes developments in the real world.  From Fox:

The top U.S. military officer said Monday that the danger of war or hostilities on the Korean peninsula is rising, as North Korea warned that cooperation between its southern neighbor and the United States could trigger a nuclear war.

Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told troops in Baghdad that North Korea has upped the ante in its aggression against South Korea -- a pattern he said is tied to preparations for Kim Jong Il to pass power to his son.

The latest example of bellicose rhetoric came with North Korea warning of nuclear war, as South Korea planned live-fire naval drills to run Monday through Friday. Those drills follow a North Korea artillery attack on front-line Yeonpyeong Island that killed two South Korean marines and two civilians.

The Nov. 23 artillery barrage, the North's first assault to target a civilian area since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, began after the North said South Korea first fired artillery toward its territorial waters. South Korea says it fired shells southward, not toward North Korea, as part of routine exercises.

COMMENT:  Of course, one reason for the north's aggressiveness is the belief that it can get away with it.  And why shouldn't they think this way?  They have gotten away with it.  There has been very little punishment for their nuclear weapons program, and no punishment to speak of for their sinking of a South Korean naval vessel earlier this year.  And the recent North Korean barrage against a South Korean island has been met by a tap on the wrist with a feather. 

We are going to have a heavy foreign policy year next year.  We can only hope that Obama abandons the left wing of his party and starts defending American interests.

December 13, 2010