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.

Thanks to the FireDogLake crew for letting me host this book salon. First, an introduction: I write UN Dispatch, a blog about the global affairs sponsored by the United Nations Foundation. I also host a weekly show on Blogging Heads called UN Plaza in which my guests and I discuss topical global issues.