The Swiss don’t think the North Koreans are responsible for $50 million worth of counterfeit “supernote” $100 bills of superior quality to real US currency. They don’t think the North Koreans have the technology.

The counterfeit bills could only be produced by a government, since only a government could afford the necessary machinery.

Who is doing the counterfeiting, and why, remains a mystery, since they evidently have not produced enough currency to pay for the costs of the necessary equipment.

Iran, Syria, and the late East Germany are other possible suspects.

McClatchy Washington

Breitbart reports:

U.S. intelligence has detected the departure from a North Korean port of a North Korean ship suspected of carrying military equipment banned under a U.N. sanctions resolution against Pyongyang’s Oct. 9 nuclear test, CBS News reported Thursday.

The United States is tracking the ship, CBS said, noting that it remains uncertain exactly what the ship is carrying and where it is headed.

Should the ship be confirmed to be loaded with nuclear, missile or other related materials, it could be subject to the first maritime inspection under the sanctions resolution adopted unanimously Saturday by the U.N. Security Council. The resolution, which imposes economic and diplomatic sanctions, rules out military options, which are strongly opposed by China and Russia.

More silkworms for Hezbollah? Nuclear bomb equipment for Iran?

Andre Pachter makes the case for a US strike on North Korea.

Pyongyang is a proven proliferator of nuclear and missile technologies and clearly committed to an economic system that is inherently incapable of producing wealth for its citizens and competing in the modern world. It is therefore just a matter of time before North Korea sells a nuclear weapon to another rogue state or a terrorist group such as Al Qaeda. If allowed to continue adding to its nuclear arsenal—and one must assume that it will violate any agreement it signs and never submit to verification of nuclear disarmament—North Korea could also resort to nuclear terror to extract economic assistance and other concessions from Japan. (As of this writing, the regime has threatened Japan with “strong countermeasures” if it formally approves additional sanctions on Friday, including banning imports from North Korea and blocking North Korean ships from entering Japanese ports.)

Additionally, there is no precedent for permitting a mentally ill state to possess nuclear weapons. It would be incredibly irresponsible—in fact, suicidal—to let this happen.

Which brings us to the war option—more specifically, surprise attacks aimed at swiftly destroying and defeating the enemy using any and all necessary means and weapons available to the US military. Though it may seem extreme, the use of sudden, devastating force may be the only acceptable alternative. Kim and his cohorts are not likely to go quietly into the night. Retirement and exile are out of the question; rather than submit to strangulation by sanctions and a blockade, the regime can be expected to attack South Korea, where thousands of US troops are stationed, and fire missiles at Japan. Even if North Korea is not presently capable of putting a nuclear warhead on a missile, it can strike out with chemical and possibly also biological weapons; and analysts generally agree that the casualties of a new Korean conflict would surpass the numbers of dead and wounded in the Korean War.

Is preemptive war—crushing the enemy before it can attack South Korea and Japan—a realistic option for the US? It should be—better be—an option. If not, what was the point of spending hundreds of billions of dollars a year on the Pentagon?

It won’t happen, of course, but he’s perfectly right.

The Australian reports:

US intelligence has detected an explosion of less than one kilotonne in magnitude in North Korea but has not been able to determine whether it was nuclear or not, a senior intelligence official said.

The official, who asked not to be identified, said that first-time nuclear tests historically have been in the several kilotonne range.

“We are aware that there was a sub-kilotonne explosion in North Korea,” said the official. “We have not been able to determine at this point whether it was in fact nuclear.”

Hat tip to Richard Fernandez, who wonders:

Could this one have been a suitcase bomb?

Some people think it was a dud.

While others think it was a fake.

But, at least the Russians are impressed. Russian news release.

Useful summary from Q&O.

Aram Bakshi says it’s all George W. Bush’s fault. And Tim F., John Cole’s pocket-edition Grima Wormtongue, agrees.

Ben Johnson blames Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter.

I think you can go right back to Harry Truman on this one. He should have allowed MacArthur to win the war. Truman provided the still commonly-implemented model of wasting American money and lives in pursuit of lesser objectives than victory. In the case of Vietnam, avoiding aiming at victory ultimately produced defeat. The original version of the policy was so good a choice, that, technically speaking, we’re still engaged in Harry Truman’s unfinished war.

Results are ambiguous. But a nuclear bomb in the hands of the insane, utterly irresponsible North Korean communist regime will inevitably make its way into the hands of even-less-accountable non-state surrogate terrorist organizations.

Bad children are playing with matches. If any adults are present, they ought to put a stop to this.

China Confidential reports that

a delegation of visiting Iranians observed the tests, which seem to have been conducted as part of a simulated response to a US air attack. The long-range Taepondong-2 missile that plunged intact into the Sea of Japan—after staying aloft for nearly two minutes and not 40 seconds as initially reported by the US—was meant to simulate a nuclear weapon strike on US allies—probably Japan—or assets. Two or three intermediate-range ballistic missiles were also fired, as China Confidential reported yesterday, in addition to three or four short-range missiles.

US, Japanese, and Israeli analysts believe the Iranian contingent—which traveled to North Korea via Beijing—included scientists, technicians, and 10 or more Iranian Revolutionary Guards officers, including members of the elite Partisans of the Mahdi group. Sources say the Iranians paid for the tests and were keen to observe the results as Tehran’s strategic and tactical missile system was built by North Koreans, using Chinese designs. Iran’s Islamist leadership is apparently convinced that the US intends to attack it—directly or through Israel.

Sources say the Iranians and their North Korean hosts were satisfied with the test results. Contrary to media reports, the exercise was successful.

In a later posting, CR argues that Kim Jong-Il is attempting to play the nuclear card, as Fidel Castro did in 1962, to extort a permanent non-invasion pledge from the United States.

North Korea ignored the protestations of the United States and other countries, and went ahead and tested a long-range missile intended to be capable of striking the Wester Coast of the United States.

Their long range test failed 40 seconds into its flight this time.

It strike me that it’s exceedingly foolish to wait until outlaw regimes like North Korea and Iran perfect their capabilities, and proceed to use them or distribute them to other parties.

Pyongyang: old houses hidden behind high-rises. Note highway traffic: pedestrians.

Here’s something we don’t see every day. Photographs of North Korea taken by visiting Russian web-designer Artemii Lebedev.

The original version (in Russian) is here. Use CONTROL + arrow keys to move forward and back through the photo pages here.