North Korea claims it has successfully conducted a nuclear test. How significant is this? What should the U.S. do?

Kim Jong Il is doing what we have come to expect of him: threatening the world and engaging in nuclear brinkmanship.

The North Korean nuclear test--if that indeed is what it was--signals the catastrophic collapse of a dozen years of American policy.

With Pyongyang's announcement to "conduct a nuclear test" to "bolster its war deterrent for self-defense," the world has been given yet another reminder of the North Korean game plan.

The only viable option for the United States today is to pursue a strategy of containment and deterrence against the use or proliferation of North Korea's weapons of mass destruction.

As the war against terror began to unfold, South Korea and the United States appeared to be working at cross-purposes, and as the campaign progressed, these signs of divergence became gradually more evident.