America and Japan just announced further cooperation on missile defense. A month-long regional military exercise off of Hawaii is about to begin. American, Japanese, British, Canadian, South Korean and Australian forces will conduct war games. Chile and Peru will also send a few of their forces. So it is open season against the "enemy", or at least the fabricated one.

More often than not, regional war games are live marketing exercises to remind others of must-have gear: an electronic gizmo here, a piece of metal there and lots of spare parts and upgrades for the next 30 years! Why otherwise would the British navy be present at these games? In the meantime, civilians back home should stock up on duct tape, plastic sheets and fear as they get ready for the Big One!

To keep up with others on Muscle Beach this summer, the North Koreans have decided to bring out their best toys and show off: long-range, inaccurate missiles that run on liquid fuel and 50-year-old sub-sonic technology! A taller cousin of the German V2 and Saddam's Scud missiles comes to mind, all with a fresh coat of paint. But all that the satellites can read from miles overhead are the initials I.C.B.M. written on its side. This keeps the isolated hard-line Korean generals happy with a false sense of achievement and helps them justify their living hell of a country.

North Korea's people are starving. The country is dependent upon food and fuel donations from the rest of the world. (Alas, no oil will be traded for food at the end of this proposed bombing campaign.) South Korea has twice the population, and an economy 30 times as large as the North. To put it all in perspective, the entire North Korean economy, as measured by its GDP, is a fifth of the Enron bankruptcy figure, or what the Pentagon spends in 4 weeks. The Chinese spend that much every 3 years when they import aircraft from Airbus and Boeing.

The North Koreans probably cannot afford to finance a war. And they have a 50-year track record to show that they are unlikely to launch a first strike, even though they are still "prepared" for the Big One. A military strike by the U.S. against North Korea, however, will exonerate them for their inhumane actions against their own people.

So let's bomb them -- with sacks of potatoes, rice, fertilizer and chunks of the EU's million-ton butter mountain. Civilian sector loans and unification signals from cousins to the south can sweeten the bargain and call the hardliners' bluff. A promise of amnesty for the ruling politburo might ease the approach and the Eastern Europe's model of political amnesty can serve as a model.