Sidewinder

So Korea explodes what may or may not be a nuclear device. And the question nobody’s asking is… where’s Donald Rumsfeld? How strange that at this moment where one pole of the "Axis of Evil" is singing "Come and have a go, if you think you’re hard enough…" the high priest warlord of the neo-con crusade is nowhere to be seen. One of our Rumsfelds is missing… Actually that’s not all that’s missing from the neo-con war machine. The official line from the Dubya House is that they are working with the UN to address the issue. This from an administration that appointed an ambassador to the UN previously chiefly known for two things - his outspoken conviction that the UN was an institution best abolished and being the last known public adherent of the Joseph Stalin moustache appreciation society. It appears that the bullish confidence of the neo-cons in the ability of US military power to establish global command unilaterally is faltering somewhat. It seems as if the object lesson of getting their arse kicked in both Iraq and Afghanistan (where it is mainly the loyal brit attack poodles that are taking the brunt of the onslaught) has dampened this administration’s ardour for old-style nation-state based imperialist solutions. We may well be witnessing the spectacle of a transition to more multi-lateral "Empire"-style approach to governmentality by the US. The Commoner’s blog has an interesting piece on this in relation to the US seeking international cooperation in financial counter-measures and the uneasy seeking of a common ground with China. This from an administration that started out rattling sabres against China over a downed spy plane back in early 2001 before, unusually, the voice of sanity from the State Department (presumably backed up by a sober assessment from the Pentagon before Rumsfeld managed to get his "Revolution in Military Affairs" snake oil spin machine in place) put the kibosh on the idea. Where-o, where is our Donald Rumsfeld?