"WAS NORTH KOREA'S NUCLEAR DEVICE A DUD?"

That's the headline in this story from the AP, and that may be a big problem:

Was North Korea's nuclear device a dud, as some Western experts suspect? The apparent low yield of the North's test could signal that its scientists, working largely in isolation, haven't quite perfected the deadly art of efficiently splitting atoms. More than 60 years after the United States first tested a plutonium weapon _ partly because scientists weren't sure that it would work _ the technology is still tricky for novices to master. "The devil is in the details," French nuclear proliferation expert Bruno Tertrais said. "It's like cooking. The fact that you have the recipe does not make you a chef."

Talk about an internal conflict for me. I should be happy, if this is true, that their nuclear program is a dud - so far, but this is just the kind of thing that will cause us to put off doing anything more than just false diplomacy for another 10 years. And that would be a mistake.

Other stuff HERE.