Several weeks back a few news stories popped up on my radar about drug/gang violence in Mexico but, frankly, didn’t pay that much attention to it. With 368 kidnappings for ransom in the country in 2008 the drug cartels shooting it out in a border town didn’t seem all that unrealistic.

Well, the violence in Ciudad Juarez is, apparently, getting so bad the 5,000 Mexican soldiers already in the city are not enough. Local business owners are calling for United Nations peacekeepers to stop the violence. What blows me away is Ciudad Juarez and the murder rate. Through mid-October there 1,986 homicides or roughly 7 per day.

I’m blow away.

Will the Mexican government ask the U.N. to step in?

Last Friday a U.N. Security Council resolution forbidding North Korea from spreading nuclear and missile technology and it seem the United States is ready to test the will of the United Nations as well as the intent of North Korea.

Kang Nam, a North Korean ship, left port Wednesday and is expected to carrying banned materials.  Apparently this vessel has repeatedly shipped band materials in the past and, as such, intelligence agencies believe it may be doing so once again.

Here is where things get, well, interesting.  The U.N. Security Council resolution forbids a foreign power from forcibly boarding the ship.  I kid you not.  This would mean the USS John McCain, the interceptor, would need to radio the Kang Nam and say…

“Hey, yea, do you mind if we come aboard, look around a bit… see if you have anything illegal…”

If the ship actually has materials the outcome of that request is rather obvious.   Even if they do not, I suspect the answer would be the same.

If there is absolutely no power to prevent the North Koreans from proliferating missile and nuke technology, what is the point of the resolution and why is the United States making it a point to press the North Koreans?

In regards to the U.N. resolutions, well, it’s because the group is a paper tiger.  They want to have the ability to say “Look, we did something” while not really doing anything at all.  They are trying to keep everyone happy, even those in violation of the law and regulations they’ve established; all in the name of world peace.

Yea, good luck with that.

I suspect the U.S. is sending the USS John McCain to test the reaction of other U.N. Security Council members – to gauge their reaction – in order to set the potential groundwork for a defensive attack toward North Korea if American interests are targeted.

Second, this may also be a way of calling out China.  If the Chinese government supports the North Korean ship, or interferes with the intercept, they will do so on the world stage thereby showing the a conflict of interest between what was said in the UN and their real motives on North Korea (which would be protection of that State)

Finally, I believe a message is being sent to North Korea that we are serious; that all within the law will be pursued if they launch an attack.

With news out that North Korea may be planning on firing a missile toward Hawaii on the 4th of July, and this intercept, the situation may get very interesting, very fast, in the next two weeks.

The news of out Korea (North and South) all points to North Korea testing more of their military toys.  Today it happens to be a new type of short-ranged missile. Reports of activity around ballistic missile sites are also coming in, and U.S. officials are warning that more nuke tests should be expected in the coming months.

All of this makes me ask – What’s up with North Korea?

Originally, I thought the nuke test took place to correspond with Memorial Day as NK executed other such tests on U.S. holidays in hopes of getting our attention.  This time, however, the level of continued military testing seems rather unusual.  Rather elevated.

Sure, it could be the North simply playing with their toys, but the timing and activity level is questionable.  All of this makes me ask what is North Korea trying to get from the world community?  As the country has virtually no energy resources, could they be trying to get more oil?  Do they want increased grain shipments?  In the past, the NK leadership would hit and “we need…” in exchange for an end to the testing.  No so this time.

Something doesn’t fit.

While the useless body called the U.N. sits around debating what type of draft resolution should be presented, North Korea goes on their way testing.  Even if sanctions are past against North Korea, what is the U.N. going to sanction?  The country already has nothing.  You can’t really take away something from a person who has nothing to begin with.  The only outcome of sanctions will be increased anger (or aggressive positioning) on the part of North Korea.

So, really, what’s the deal and how is the world going to react?