Years from now one can expect Oliver Stone to make a film about America’s needless provocation of North Korea and our responsibility for the subsequent nuclear attack on Los Angeles. The fact is that Kim Jong Un would have little reason to attack us if, in a show of good will, we took down our missile defense system. That’s what we’re doing for Russia, now that the president has the greater flexibility, post-election, that he promsied Dmitri Medvedev.

If it works for Russia it should also work for North Korea. That’s what the administration’s foreign policy expert, Joe Biden, recognized a dozen years ago. “I worry that a narrow-minded pursuit of missile defense … could derial both our programs in Russia, as well as our negotiations with North Korea.”

Consider the lessons we learned on the playground, as children. When confronted by a bully, did we put up our dukes? No! Instead we lowered our arms and stuck out our chin to the bully, to signal that he had nothing to fear from us.

And if I’m wrong? Look, I have friends in Los Angeles, but they’re not the closest of friends. Besides, think about the wonderful job-creating stimulus programs to fill up the crater and repair the infrastructure.