Wow, just wow. The sheer balls of this documentary. Shane Smith and his unseen buddy cameraman Jamie back-doored themselves into North Korea with point-and-shoot cameras, and proceeded to make a very jaw-dropping, ballsy documentary / travelogue that culminates with the Mass Games. The Arirang Festival: 120,000 people in a choreographed show which Smith explains is “The only reason tourists are allowed into North Korea.”

The death of Kim Jong-il comes just as the United States was about to re-engage with North Korea, a plan now thrown into doubt because of the succession to Kim Jong-un. Hours before Kim’s death, news leaked about an imminent large grain shipment to North Korea, seen as an olive branch to restart talks on the country’s nuclear program.

Apocalypse Never is a frightening book to read but impossible to put down. In clear, accessible prose, Tad Daley unblinkingly lays out the case, point by point, for why we must ultimately rid the world of nuclear weapons or else suffer the inevitable consequences of the end of civilization as we know it. Daley then takes on the task of showing how this seemingly Herculean task can be accomplished, even within our lifetimes. It is compelling and accurate in its assessments and one of the absolute best out there on why we simply cannot continue along the way it has been.

Bill Richardson, the utility diplomat on the Democratic bench, has secured a deal with North Korea to allow nuclear inspectors back in their Yongbon nuclear facility. They also agreed to allow fuel rods to ship to an outside country, probably South Korea, for enrichment. And, the US will receive some remains from Korean War-era soldiers.

I agree that you’re going to start seeing warmongers use these Arab governments as proof that Iran’s nuclear program must be dealt with. The proper response is that this was entirely prefigured by the neocon invasion of Iraq. That’s exactly what Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak told John Kerry in one Wikileaks cable, that “as a result of the invasion of Iraq, Iran is spreading everywhere.” It destabilized the region, just like liberals said it would. And an Iranian invasion to compensate for a failed Iraqi invasion would be just as destabilizing if not more so.

American foreign policy makers have a few countries that are routinely regarded as evil no matter what the evidence. A few examples include: Iran, North Korea, Mexico, Nigeria, Chad, Somalia, Syria, etc.

There’s no limit to what a foreign policy maker will hypothesize on the airwaves, and this has been especially true in the case of North Korea attacking South Korea. In discussions about how the U.S. should respond, neoconservatives have appeared on television to cheerlead the idea of a nuclear response.

Here’s the Quitter, explaining to Glenn Beck precisely what the United States needs to do right now in Asia.

Obviously, we’ve got to stand with our North Korean allies. We’re bound to by…by treaty.

In what respect, Charlie?

An article in Wednesday’s New York Times noted how residents of Seoul are taking Tuesday’s artillery shelling of a South Korean island by North Korea in stride, viewing that event as “largely contained and unthreatening.” How different that is from the panic-driven banning of toner shipments to the US after the failed attempt to bring down airplanes with toner-bombs. Using the toner-bombs as buildup, TSA now is forced to “justify” its eight month delay in its over-response to the failed Mighty Underpants Eagle bomb. Oh, and returning to the Korean situation, the Times notes that the Korean attitude is “We don’t want war.” That’s not quite the position of prominent right-wing nutjob Glenn “Instapundit” Reynolds, whose response to the shelling was “I say nuke ‘em. And not with just a few bombs.” The calm resolve of our Founding Fathers has given way to panic driven by hate and fear, producing a nation of xenophobic cowards. Enemies of the US need not even be successful in killing a single person to be able to drive us into hate-filled screeds and billions of dollars in useless “security” measures.

Overnight, North Korea fired artillery shells at Yeonpyeong, an inhabited South Korean island, prompting a response from South Korea and the scrambling of fighter jets. At least four soldiers were wounded in the attack, and according to the BBC two marines died.

It’s remarkable how the neocons can go from weeping crocodile tears for The Poor Oppressed Peoples Of The World and arguing that we need to use force to bring them The Sacred Gospel Of Democracy… to stamping their feet because the President doesn’t want to incinerate those very same people for the crimes of the rulers we were supposed to want to save them from.