I can't tell whether North Korea is throwing a fit because they are tired of being ignored, or because they think the Bush Administration is too busy rattling sabers in Iraq to worry about them. Either is entirely possible, in my view.

Whichever is true, this is an extremely dangerous situation. As I have said previously, I believe North Korea is more dangerous than Iraq. North Korea has nothing to lose. They have no money, their people are starving, and they have few natural resources. Desperation makes people do dangerous and irrational things, and "irrational" is a good word to describe the current course of action by North Korea. Their announcement today, in which they claim that "any military action by the United States towards North Korea will be the start of World War III," is not the kind of thing one would hear from a rational government.

We ignore them at our peril. Now is the time to take action. We can't possibly make a move in Iraq until the UNMOVIC inspectors deliver a lot more data; rather than stand around and waiting, the Bush Administration should concentrate on the real, imminent, and publicly announced threat in the Korean Peninsula before it turns nuclear.

Or "nu-kew-ler", if you are a politician from Texas.