It's true that the militant Shiites hate us with a passion we haven't seemed to encounter, but the Russians hated us with equal enmity during the 1950s atomic age. And what could be more frightening than an enemy who hates us and wants to bury us which is armed to the teeth with intercontinental ballistic missiles with city-smashing nuclear warheads?

Iran and the Islamic militants are tough and hate us with a violent streak we may not yet have encountered, but the U.S. can rise to that challenge, and if this war escalates into a hot conflict, like all other wars, at the end of the day, we'll both know each other, respect each other, and go on to be a more united world.

But the trouble is, we may not have taken into consideration one thing: we haven't tousled with the Chinese yet.

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Finger on the Trigger Department

Meanwhile in North Korea, Kim Jong Il made his first public appearance since North Korea first test launched seven ballistic missiles, including the new model capable of reaching the U.S. west coast. Fortunately for us, that last one failed. In the wake of the launches, the U.N. Security Council imposed limited sanctions on North Korea to attempt to force the suspension of the missile program. Not surprisingly, the Koreans thumbed their noses at the resolution and vowed to keep testing.

The thing is, missile launch facilities for larger ballistic missiles tend to be easily targeted by cruise missiles and fighter-bombers, or by space-based kinetic energy weapons.

So should we be worried?

I'd say the answer is, eventually. But for now the same technical issues that made our rockets explode on their launch pads in the 1950s are bedeviling the Koreans now. That, or intentional malfunctions placed by our friends in the covert operations business.

This column will continue to stand watch on this and other potential military action around the globe.