Just a small observation. Why did the North Koreans fire multiple missiles today?  They know that we have a layered anti—missile defense, ranging from Aegis cruisers near the coast of North Korea to catch missiles in the slow boost stage, to developing mid—flight and near—target anti—missile systems. What they don't know is how effective those are, nor how good they are at distinguishing between killer missiles and decoys. The cheapest way to defeat an anti—missile system is to fire multiple missiles at it. That's what they did today.

The one country that is not being held responsible is China. But China could exercise immense influence on North Korea — if it chose to. It has not done so. Chances are that the Chinese military knew all about the today's probes of allied defenses, and that they were watching and analyzing the results. China has secretly enabled North Korean proliferation to Iran, hoping that the United States and its allies will be drawn into a Middle East conflict that will expose our Pacific flank.

In the face of indisputable danger the wavering resolution of the South Korea, Japan and other Pacific nations is now growing stronger. Together they have formidable industrial capacity that is now being oriented toward missile defense. Taiwan will soon have Aegis anti—missile destroyers. While Democrats have done their damnedest to sabotage anti—missiled technology ever since Ronald Reagan, even the Europeans are now beginning to see Iranian nukes within easy range of Paris, Berlin and London. It does concentrate the mind wonderfully.

We still don't know if missile defense will work. But Western and Pacific rim nations are beginning to get serious about it. It is high time, because the worst regimes in the world can now buy mass—murdering toys from Kim Jong—Il.

James Lewis   7 5 06