GATES SENT TO "REASSURE" ALLIES...AGAIN - AT 7:12 A.M. ET:  Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates seems to have a new portfolio - secretary of reassurance.  Several months after he was sent to the Arab world to "reassure" nations there of our toughness toward Iran, he jets off to the Far East to "reassure" other allies regarding North Korea.  Of course, at the same time he "reassures" Americans that nothing is all that critical.  New York Times:

ANDERSEN AIR FORCE BASE, Guam — Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Friday that the United States had detected no unusual military movement in North Korea and had no plans to reinforce some 28,000 American forces in South Korea after North Korea threatened its neighbor to the South with a military attack.

“I’m not aware of any military moves in the North that are out of the ordinary at least,” Mr. Gates told reporters on his plane en route to Singapore for an annual security conference that will be dominated by North Korea’s test this week of a nuclear device.

Well, that's good to know.  Now we can ignore those neocons who are obsessing over that North Korean nuclear blast.

At the same time:

Mr. Gates said he will use the previously scheduled conference to reassure America’s strongest allies in northeast Asia, Japan and South Korea of President Obama’s commitment to their defense in the face of the latest of a half-century of threats from North Korea.

COMMENT:  You know, when you have to keep "reassuring" allies, maybe there's something wrong with the policy. 

Also, note that the reporter slipped in the phrase "half-century of threats from North Korea," as if these latest were just part of a long, ho-hum, line of meaningless threats.  No, they're different.  This time they carry a nuclear and missile-equipped punch.  As the story goes on to say, North Korea's penchant for transferring this technology to other lovelies around the world is the critical issue.

May 29, 2009