http://www.slate.com/id/2219064/Obama shouldn't respond too quickly, or too aggressively, to the North Korean nuclear test.By Fred Kaplan
Posted Tuesday, May 26, 2009, at 3:06 PM ET
North Korean leader Kim Jong II. Click image to expandNorth Korea's Kim Jong-ilSo North Korea has tested a nuclear bomb. What should President Barack Obama do about it? Ideally, nothing. A shrug may be the response that Kim Jong-il fears most.
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Before North Korea's nuclear debut in October 2006, Fred Kaplan argued that the United States' partial missile defense deployment was a tactical mistake, while Michael Levi pointed out that it probably wouldn't work anyway. Afterward, Kaplan told us what to expect from a nuclear North Korea. Following North Korea's latest satellite launch, Brian Palmer reassured us that Kim Jong-il probably doesn't know any more about where it is than the Pentagon does.
But, politically and strategically, Obama has to do something. ... This doesn't mean he has to respond with bluster, but probably he has to respond.
Oh, he'll respond, Fred, with a WH photo-op and a round of golf. Being the world's policeman sucked, anyway.
