With war raging, is the U.S. missing something important to our national interest? Don’t you as an interested observer feel that some critical something is missing from the big picture?

Maybe you are concerned about the force structure of the U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq. True, it seems that we started this war with the hope for a northern front and more armor, but our U.S. commanders are well aware of that deficiency. Same goes for the lack of enough "boots on the ground," stretched and exposed supply lines, and a concern about stubborn urban warfare. Again, unless the Iranian's decide to enter this war "preemptively" by sending a force across the Faw peninsular, the threat to the supply lines, etc., have been accounted for.

No, there is something else the U.S. is missing. Think hard, what could it be?

Where did the North Koreans go? Is it me, or is the silence from North Korea since the start of Gulf War II really strange?

Given the escalating confrontations being perpetrated by the North Koreans before the start of GW II, the current silence begs for a careful look.

First be assured, China was behind the North Korean belligerence as they are now behind their current silence.

Also you should be clear that this sudden silence has nothing to do with the North Korean regimes new found respect for President Bush. Nothing against the President, but North Korea is not impressed by the President’s resolve. Nor are they impressed by the President’s Iraqi war.

With that understood and remembering that China is the puppet-master, what is going on?

From the moment President Bush was sworn into office China has been gauging his mettle. China bought the last administration along with Corporate America, but what about this new American President? The President left himself open to a big test. China nudged North Korea into action just as they have placed a check on them now.

The end game is Taiwan, the Pacific Rim hegemony, and superpower status.

In the mean time there is a calm patience on China’s part, watching and waiting for this President’s next misstep. China knows, and has published its belief in armed conflict with the U.S. within ten years. However as Sun Tzu taught, it is always better to maneuver your opponent into a position of defeat without fighting. This President and his administration have been very obliging on this point to date, they exhibit a distinct lack of care and more than enough arrogance.

The President has turned 9-11 sympathies into newfound fear and loathing of the United States by much of the world. At the right time North Korea will be nudged into its next escalation. America’s response will be more critically judged by the rest of the world, and America’s own sensitivities to yet more conflict will be further enflamed. The President misunderstands the American people, strong and righteous when attacked, we are not a people to impose our will around the world. Worn down by a belligerence that is not the American way America’s resolve will be weaker. At the critical moment China will strike on its own, and…

Carefully this President must respond not just to North Korea, but he must respond with a mind to the China threat. If he fails, China will run the show. Corporate America has seen to that.