Saturday.....War On Terror.....Deja Vu, All Over Again?

The headline across the top of the New York Times on October 9th, 2006 proclaimed North Korea's first test of a nuclear device. They had entered the exclusive club of nations with nuclear weapons. The Times had continuing stories for the next few days and every other day for a little more than two weeks. On May 25th, 2009, the same newspaper gave only the far right column to North Korea's second, and more powerful, nuclear test. Judge Sotomayor's nomination took over the headlines two days later. The North Korean situation did not make the front page the rest of May although the 31st had seven pictures of Barack Obama on it along with an article on how his picture was dominating the web. The German newspaper Stern reported in July of 2009 that a German intelligence analyst believed Iran could have the ability to test their first device in six months and recently another German newspaper reported that Iran has the capability for a test right now. The United States threatened air strikes after North Korea's initial test but sanctions were the course they and the U. N. pursued. Iran has announced that it has developed, domestically, an air defense system that rivals the system Russia promised to sell but has not delivered. It also said that it will produce unmanned planes that have attack capabilities. Should Iran conduct a successful atomic test before sanctions kick in, would the game plan change? Would the probability that they might have another device if they were successful in developing the first change anything, or would it simply become an established fact that Iran has entered this arena?