Global Tests

It's getting edgy out there. The remaining two cogs of the axis of evil are both threatening to boil over, with Iran nearing a showdown in the street and North Korea playing a brinksmanship game over a likely shipment of WMDs. It's possible we are approaching a "Biden test" moment, unless cooler heads somehow suddenly prevail.

Cooler heads is probably why Obama has been so cool so far, fearing any increase in rhetoric might escalate into something worse. But the problem with bullies is that they never seem to respond favorably to such games--they always seem to sniff out the tactic and push the event to the next level, forcing action.

Would Kim be brazen enough to launch a missile eastward, knowing it might green-light an attack on his nuke facilities? His massive army could retaliate by storming over the DMZ and into the south, forcing the war-weary and nearly bankrupt United States to open a third war front. Is he that crazy, or desperate?

And how might our largest bond holders next door likely react? They've been itching to make a world statement. Taking that further, how much are both Iran and North Korea actually just cats paws for larger states who can't be seen to directly be in confrontation with the shining city on the hill?

Big decisions, but as Obama said recently, "that's why I took the job". The phone may soon be ringing.