North Korea claims to have conducted an underground nuke test. In related news, a river of piss was seen flowing out of red state America.

Update: Seismic data from Inchon, South Korea. Was that it at 14:30 hours?

Click image to enlarge.

Update II: Via Americablog; South Korean officials are confirming a seismic event. Senior Pentagon officials are all but officially confirming a nuclear test in North Korea.

Update III: In a protest of NK’s actions, the US Congress just passed legislation renaming a food item from that country. Dogs will now be referred to as freedom pets.

Via The Galloping Beaver is this story.

Nato’s commander in Afghanistan has said the country’s citizens may start supporting the Taleban unless their lives improve in the next six months.

And now lets hear from Accidental Deliberations.

The CP reports that the Cons are following through on a previous Lib plan to cut off food aid to Afghani war widows:

This farce continues to just write itself.

Lets examine the current geopolitical situation as it stands today. In the US the conservatives hold absolute federal power; though hopefully that situation will change a month from now. In Canada the conservatives hold federal power even if it’s in a tenous minority situation. In Australia the conservatives hold federal power. In Britain the conservatives hold federal power on certain issues via a compliant Tony Blair. All four of these governments are key defenders of the war on terror and the ongoing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. In addition to this quartet–dubbed the Anglosphere by conservative supporters–conservatives also have a number of other powerful nations that will line up militarily behind them; Japan, South Korea, Italy and Israel just to name a few.

This geopolitical nexus holds incredible power in our world and when it comes to military action has demonstrated they are quite willing to use it even when contrary to worldwide popular opinion. Simply put, conservatives hold the power when it comes to the western democracies taking military action around the globe.

Yet no action is taking place in Darfur.

Now consider that it’s mutually agreed upon that something terrible is happening in Darfur with many going so far as to say it’s a genocide in progress. Hundreds of thousands have died in the past two years and this slaughter shows no signs of abating. There is virtually no opposition from the left for taking action in this situation and all–from both the left and right–point to the failure in Rwanda while claiming never again.

Yet no action is taking place in Darfur.

Conservatives would have you believe this is because it’s someone else’s fault. They blame the UN. They pretend they don’t have the power or authority to take action. They hide behind Sudan’s opposition to a deployment of a UN peacekeeping force. They obfuscate the issue with claims that the left is hypocritical for wanting action in Darfur while opposing the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

None of these excuses hold water. Conservatives have the power to take action in Darfur. Conservatives have demonstrated a willingness to take action when they claim it’s necessary and most claim action in Darfur is such a case. There is no impediment standing in the way of conservatives taking action in Darfur.

So when are conservatives going to stop making excuses for their inaction on Darfur and start taking action?