Dang.
...and now I'm working on lvl 32, for crying out loud. The warlock is a fun character class; with the right buffs you can handle a lot of combat, and the fact that you can make healthstones for an extra shot of healing and soulstones for death recovery really makes combat less risky. Having a pet the same level as you also helps. Most of the time that I get killed it's because I botched a pull or failed to account for outliers.
* * *
So I guess the newspapers will talk about North Korea's saber rattling today or tomorrow. I was alerted to it by Michelle Malkin's post on the subject.
It's a foregone conclusion that all this has been precipitated by Obama's weak response (non-response) to their missile test a few months ago. Kim "the Gargoyle" Jong-il now knows how much he can get away with--a lot, with this administration--and is probably confident that he could declare war on South Korea without the US getting involved.
Interesting point, here: a second Korean war plays into China's hands. Either the US gets involved or it doesn't; either way China can move on Taiwan. If the US is involved in Korea, it's going to be too busy to interfere with China's seizing of Taiwan. If the US is not involved in Korea, it demonstrates that the US isn't interested in getting involved in a foreign conflict and therefore won't interfere.
Problem is, there are US servicemen in South Korea, and those bases will be among the first targets hit should the Gargoyle make good on his threat. The US will, by default, be involved, and the presence of US troops was supposed to be a disincentive for North Korea to try resuming hostilities.
China, however, may be encouraging the Gargoyle to war precisely so that China can grab Taiwan. It is no secret that China has been building up its military, particularly its navy.
Obama's response to this is likely to be another speech about disarmament--as if that's going to have any effect whatsoever--and the UN isn't going to do anything, either, except maybe pass a resolution condemning North Korea.
During the 1980s, when Iran and Iraq were at war, I saw (and saved) an editorial cartoon. It showed two arabs in tanks (one tank labeled "Iran", the other "Iraq") who were grimacing and shooting machine guns at each other as they drove their tanks forward. Between them was a bald man, briefcase at his feet labeled "UN", holding up an index finger and reading from a sheet of paper: "I said 'cease and desist', or I'll pass a resolution with some teeth to it!" And the UN has not since improved on that standard.
(I shall leave for another time the discussion of why I am just as happy that the UN has no real power.)
And so there is really nothing to stop the Gargoyle from attacking South Korea if he takes the notion; certainly he need not fear the US military. From here it appears that the only thing we've got in our favor is the fact that North Korea is so damnably dirt poor they probably don't have enough freaking bullets to go around.
(Okay, the country is so poor because the government takes everything. There probably are enough bullets.)