The U.S. has now announced they have detected the radiation expected and confirmed it is consistent with a <1kTon nuclear device. We are (wisely, I think) eliciting lots of cooperation from the Chinese in seeking to exercise economic sanctions on the Kim Jong government. Some experts now believe North Korea may have separated plutonium enough to develop an arsenal of four to 13 nuclear weapons, compared with estimates of one or two nuclear weapons in 2000 according to USA Today.

I say wisely because until now, the biggest deterrent against overthrowing the Kim government in North Korea has been their alliance with the Chinese. But the Chinese have a strong vested interest in the ability of the United States to make good on the huge holdings in US securities possessed by the Chinese. So they are less likely to be interested in back N. Korea if it were to come to a show-down; if the Chinese got on the wrong side of a fight with the United States, I imagine we would renege on any such debts rather instantaneously, no? Assuming we survived such an encounter...

A