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May 20, 2013

Richard A. Serrano: Is Meir Kahane's assassin now a changed man?

Hannan Adely: Town raises Palestinian flag at City Hall

Melissa Healy: Genetic copies of living people from embryos no longer science fiction
Morgan Housel: When smart investors do stupid things

Sharon Saloman, M.S., R.D.: Hunger games: Eat more, weigh less, without starving

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Jews Inducted into Rock Hall of Fame; Anton Yelchin co-stars in New "Trek" film; Kutcher (but not Kunis) visits Israel; Jewish TV Star Praises Jewish Rap Star

The Kosher Gourmet by Cathy Pollak: WARNING: This WALNUT CAKE WITH PRALINE FROSTING, perfect for afternoon coffee, is addicting
May 13, 2013

Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Why the giving of the document that would permanently change the world could only be done in desolation

David G. Savage: Church-state, literally? Supreme Court weighing public school graduation in a church

Emily Alpert: Recession dragged down birth rates for less-educated women
Morgan Housel: The deep downside of home ownership

Peter Teffer: Will Dutch police soon be stalking cybercriminals on your computer?

Heidi McIndoo, M.S., R.D.: Meatless 'meat' can have its own set of problems

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: Celebrate! This must-try appetizer is delicate yet has depth of flavor: Corn-Leek Cakes with Caviar, Smoked Salmon and Creme Fraiche

May 10, 2013

Rabbi Berel Wein: Be all that you should be

Caroline B. Glick: The dirty little secret about Israel's Arabs

Mona Charen: Hawking's Moral Calculus: The man and the movement he embraces
Morgan Housel: The biggest retirement myth ever told

Sandi Doughton: Eyes may provide new insight into brain problems

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : The Great Gatsby's Jewish Ties; Jews in the "Time 100 list" List; People's Most Beautiful Women

The Kosher Gourmet by Linda Gassenheimer: A sweet-hot meal: Pear salsa spices up salmon

May 8, 2013

Peter Ford: Why China is welcoming both Israel's Netanyahu and Palestinians' Abbas

Warren Richey: Obama administration quietly backs out of appeal over new contraceptive mandate

Fred Weir: At Kerry-Putin meeting, US-Russia relations thaw --- a tad
Amanda Paulson: Study reveals sad truths about community colleges

Harvard Health Letters: Evidence weak that zinc, echinacea are beneficial

The Kosher Gourmet by Leela Cyd Ross : Almost too pretty to eat, this colorful salad with Sicilian inspiration will tickle the taste buds and delight your visual sensibility

May 6, 2013

Edmund Sanders and Patrick J. McDonnell: Think Israel's objective in Syria is to weaken Assad or embolden the rebels? Think again

Brian Bennett: Israeli airstrikes may show weakness in Syrian defense

Michael Ollove: Millions of ex-felons, parolees and those on probation are about to be entitled to tax-payer paid health coverage
Karen Kaplan: Most men can skip PSA test for prostate cancer, urologists say

Kimberly Lankford: How to track down a lost life insurance policy

Dream of Mars exploration achievable, experts say

The Kosher Gourmet by Susan M. Selasky: EGGPLANT WRAPS are an easy, sumptuous and scrumptious meal

May 3, 2013

Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Human Courage and the Unavoidable, Disturbing Text

Steven Emerson: Attorney General Fights CAIR in Court, Lauds it in Public

Mediterranean diet helps beat dementia: study
Harvard Health Letters: When to be screened for a hearing problem

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Iron Man's Jewish Connections; Marc Maron's New TV Show; Martin Landau Grows Up with Israel; Shalom, Allan Arbus

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: A sweet surprise for Mother's Day dessert

May 1, 2013

Jonathan Rosenblum: An Improbable Journey to Orthodoxy

Jonathan Tobin: Blame Obama, Not Israel for Syria Push

Kids, kittens the Same? With employee perks at struggling Internet pioneer Yahoo! it's hard to tell
Halena M. Gazelka, M.D.: Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: What you need to know about implanted pain relief devices

Sandy Kleffman: Artificial kidney offers hope to patients tethered to a dialysis machine

Jessica Shugart: When it comes to math, MRIs may be better than IQs

The Kosher Gourmet by Mario Batali: The celebrated chef on how high-maintenance ASPARAGUS RISOTTO need not be

April 29, 2013

Roy Gutman: Poland's new Jewish museum celebrates life, doesn't revisit Holocaust

Mark Clayton: Terrorism in America: Is US missing a chance to learn from failed plots?

Kim Murphy: Boston Bomber's 'Svengali' Revealed
Morgan Housel: He's rich, smart and old: Listen to him

Thomas Salinas, D.D.S.: Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: The safety of amalgam fillings

Harvard Health Letters: Tomatoes and stroke protection

Pete Spotts: Tiny satellites + cellphones = cheaper 'eyes in the sky' for NASA

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: Swing into spring with lemon cream pie

April 26, 2013

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: The world is a mirror

Caroline B. Glick: Time to confront Obama

Clifford D. May: Defense in the Age of Jihadist Terrorism
Kimberly Lankford: New strategies ease pain of paying for long-term care insurance

Howard LeWine, M.D.: Ask the Harvard Experts: Too much ibuprofen?

Sharon Palmer, R.D.: How to feel your best -- with plenty of energy, a healthy weight and optimal mental and physical function -- without driving yourself batty

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom: Jewish Major Leaguers, 2013; New Movies and Comedy Show; Shalom, 'Lumpy' (Leave it to Beaver)

The Kosher Gourmet by Emily Ho : A bright and cheerful salad to herald the warmer months ahead

April 24, 2013

Steven Emerson: Boston Bomber Exposes Islamist Secret

Morgan Housel Admit it: No one has any idea what's going on
Harvard Health Letters: Can you get headaches from headache medication?

Kerri-Ann Jennings, M.S., R.D.: How to easily get more Omega-3s in your diet

Melissa Healy: Pot in a pill: All the pain relief without the smoke

The Kosher Gourmet by Susan Russo: Chipotle Chili Butternut Squash Soup is bold, zesty, hot

April 22, 2013

Ken Dilanian: Counterterrorism's future is unclear

US man departing country arrested on terror charges
Barbara Williams: An unorthodox but growing treatment in a 9-year-old's battle against cancer

P.J. Skerrett, M.D.: How to recognize a good whole grain product

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom: Teen actor Jonah Bobo in New Flick: Hunky James Wolk on Mad Men; Erich Segal's Daughter Writes Prize-Winning Jewish Novel


Jewish World Review Oct. 18, 2006 / 26 Tishrei, 5767

Why is North Korea America's headache?

By Jack Kelly

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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | As the U.S. takes the lead in formulating the international response to North Korea's (apparently fizzled) nuclear test, there is a question which ought to be asked:


Why is this our problem?


In 1950, this was easy to answer. The fledgling democracy in South Korea was too weak to protect itself.


North Korea was then an agent of an international Communist conspiracy. We intervened in Korea less to protect the South Koreans than to protect Japan. But that was more than half a century ago. The Soviet Union has collapsed. The Communists who run China these days seem more interested in making money than in making war.


North Korea remains Stalinist, has a formidable military, and still dreams of conquering the South. But its objectives are peninsular, not global, and it has little likelihood of obtaining them, even without American intervention.


That's because South Korea also has a formidable military, which could be made much more formidable if the South Koreans chose to do so. South Korea today has more than twice the population of North Korea, 24 times the national wealth.


Our greatest fear is that North Korea will sell nuclear technology and/or missile technology to another rogue state, or to a terror group.


That concern is real, but the fizzling of the North Korean nuclear test suggests it may be overblown.


The North Koreans have been trying to convert the "spent" uranium fuel rods used in nuclear power reactors into plutonium to build bombs. But they screwed up the reprocessing, speculated my friend Jack Wheeler in his newsletter, "To the Point News."


North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il wants the bomb yesterday, so North Korean scientists are under enormous pressure to make enough plutonium to build one. The longer you leave the rods in the reactor, the more uranium is converted into plutonium. But if you leave the rods in too long, you'll screw the pooch. That's because the ratio of isotopes in the plutonium changes the longer you leave it in the reactor.


For the reaction to assemble fast enough for a nuclear detonation, at least 90 percent of the plutonium must consist of the P-239 isotope. If more than ten percent consists of the P-240 or P-242 isotopes, the explosion will fizzle.


If that's what happened, then the North Korean stockpile of plutonium is too polluted with P-240 and P-242 to be made into bombs, Jack said.


And if that's so, neither North Korean expertise nor North Korean nuclear materials will be of much value anytime soon to Islamic terrorists.


The network of A. Q. Khan, the Pakistani nuclear scientist, is said to have played a major role in North Korea's nuclear development. If that's so, we have a more proximate threat of nuclear proliferation. The Pakistani bomb worked, and Islamists like (the now deceased) A. Q. Khan are more likely to assist Islamic radicals in pursuit of the bomb than are the North Koreans.


Our other fear with regard to North Korea is that in a future conflict, it might launch nuclear tipped ballistic missiles at the United States. This was always a remote possibility, because it would be tantamount to national suicide on the part of the North Korean regime. And after the fizzled nuclear test and the botched test last July of its long range Taepo Dong II missile, it doesn't seem like the North Koreans will have the capability to hit our cities anytime soon, however much they might want to.


We wouldn't have to worry so much about North Korean nukes descending on Seattle or San Francisco if we weren't continuing to guarantee South Korea's military security, even though there is no longer a compelling reason why we should.


I suspect our prominence in Korean affairs is more a hindrance than a help in getting the nations of the region to rein in their rogue neighbor.


If China and South Korea don't go along, sanctions against North Korea can't work. China has viewed North Korea as more of an asset than a liability, chiefly because of the discomfort the Norks have caused us. Remove us from the equation — or lower our profile — and China may focus more on the headaches Kim Jong Il causes them.


And as long as South Korea can rely on its security pact with us, it has no reason to modify its appeasement policy toward the Norks. Remove or reduce that security guarantee, and South Korea would have to toughen up.


"There are no permanent alliances, only permanent interests," said Lord Palmerston, a 19th Century British foreign secretary. On the Korean peninsula, our interests are no longer served by our alliance.

Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.

JWR contributor Jack Kelly, a former Marine and Green Beret, was a deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force in the Reagan administration. Comment by clicking here.

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