Panic, They Cried.

The recent and entirely predictable failure of a failed and starving state to muster the technological wherewithal to launch a satellite/ICBM creates the opportunity to try and convince the gullible that North Korea will, all facts and evidence to the contrary, build and launch satellite/ICBM or other weapon of mass destruction.The failure was entirely predictable because NK is a failed and starving state and building and launching satellites/ICBMs cost a fortune. NK, it's will to succeed to one side, isn't a player in the we are armed and dangerous category.

On the other hand, the claim that

[o]fficials in Beijing tried to persuade Pyongyang not to go ahead with the launch but failed — either because they lacked the diplomatic skills or didn’t press hard enough. It raises new doubts about whether China can be a serious international player.Needs

Needs rethinking. It is more than slightly plausible that the Chinese don't care a hoot about the fear-filled fantasies of Western militarists, who are ever eager to either build more unnecessary weapons or launch wars doomed to fail. The Chinese might be perfectly happy to let the NK do fiddle about with expensive and doomed attempts to build nuclear arsenals precisely because it works to distract America and others from more pressing problems, like getting our economies in working order. Imagine the enormous economic benefits the Chinese elites and state have gained from the neoliberalization of the world economies.

If we ignored the fictive threats of nuclear NK and Iran and responded to the threat of terrorists in a proportional way, we might all be focused on repealing the neoliberal agenda and creating, not just here but everywhere, an economy based on humanistic ideals and goals.