NICE GUYS – AT 8:32 A.M. ET:  The North Koreans are getting testy again.  But only tell the president after his next vacation.  From channelnewsasia.com: 

SEOUL: A top-ranking North Korean military official has threatened a nuclear strike on the White House and Pentagon after accusing Washington of raising military tensions on the Korean peninsula.

The threat came from Hwang Pyong-So, director of the military's General Political Bureau, during a speech to a large military rally in Pyongyang on Sunday on the anniversary of the armistice that ended the 1950-53 Korean War.

Hwang, who holds the rank of vice marshal in the Korean People's Army, said a recent series of South Korea-US military drills, one of which included the deployment of a nuclear-powered US aircraft carrier, had ramped up tensions.

"If the US imperialists threaten our sovereignty and survival... our troops will fire our nuclear-armed rockets at the White House and the Pentagon - the sources of all evil," Hwang said in his speech broadcast Monday on state television.

It is not the first time that North Korea's rhetoric has included threats of nuclear strikes on the continental United States and US bases in the Pacific.

But most experts believe it is still a long way from developing a viable intercontinental ballistic missile with the required range.

The North has conducted three nuclear tests, but is not thought to have mastered the miniaturisation techniques necessary for mounting a warhead on a missile.

COMMENT:  I'm always amused at these stories reassuring us that some enemy nation is "a long way" from developing this or that.  Reminds me of the assurances in the late 1940s and early 1950s that the Soviets were "a long way" from becoming a nuclear power.  Strange how "a long way" usually translates into a few years.

North Korea will have nuclear-tipped missiles because our diplomacy with that nation failed.  Iran will have the same weapons, and North Korean help might be a factor.  We learned over the weekend that North Korea is in talks to resupply Hamas.

Nothing to see, folks.  Just move on.

July 28,  2014