Ok, Now I'll say I told you so

Well, according to the DPRK and numerous seismographs around the globe a nuclear weapon exploded somewhere near Kilju City. The speculation is that the blast was anywhere from .5 to one kiloton. Some are already saying this blast was so small that Kim Jong IL did not get the bang for the buck he obviously craves. There is even speculation (Though I'm not sure how serious) the DPRK simply set off a large conventional blast to simulate a nuke explosion. (Map from CNN.com)

On the other hand, Russia says it was a substantial blast in the 5-15 kiloton range. If I have to bet on who has the better technical expertise right now, I'll got with the United States Geological Survey (Here is their recording of the event).

President Bush this morning seemed to say "North Korea is going to force us to stop doing nothing." Great.

I read that multilateral talks are doomed to fail, direct negotiations are out; it's like trying to paper train a dog with out every being in the same room with it. James Baker On the Imus radio program last week made the point that you can talk with your enemies without doing so from weakness. I think the longer the DPRK stays isolated the more dangerous it becomes. If Kim Jong IL ends up with a dozen or so small yield nukes and his nation starts collapsing, what would he do to force the world to deal with him?

I'm not talking about the whistling past the graveyard negotiations the Clinton administration engaged in. No matter what the intent, they failed on a massive scale.