After North Korea announced it will launch its first satellite next week, the West went ballistic, saying it's really a disguised test of the Taepodong 2 rocket. And that violates a 2006 Security Council resolution, passed in the wake of North Korea's half-successful nuclear test, which bans it from testing long-range missiles.

But the attempt to pressure North Korea into backing down has been bumbling and incoherent. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned that the launch would have "consequences to the six-party (nuclear) talks, which we would like to see revived and moving forward as quickly as possible." That's supposed to be a threat? It's the West, not the North, that is counting on success in those talks. 

As for taking the issue to the Security Council, North Korea is already in open violation of several sanctions resolutions. One more won't faze them.

Then there's the threat to shoot down the missile. Warning that the Taepodong 2 could in theory reach the continental United States, Pacific commander Timothy Keating said he was "prepared" to do so, and the Japanese defense minister chimed in that he might too. He even deployed anti-missile ships to the Sea of Japan. 

All a bluff. Defense Secretary Robert Gates came out today and told Fox News the U.S. can't shoot it down and won't even try -- and neither will the Japanese. Maybe someone looked at the UN resolution and realized it doesn't authorize any military action.

So the satellite launch (or missile test, if you prefer) will go ahead. And one has to wonder what all the sound and fury was about. A conspiracy theorist would point out that all U.S. military spending is currently under a microscope. The anti-ballistic-missile pilot project is one of the most wasteful boondoggles on the books, and stoking fears about crazy North Koreans with nukes might help preserve its funding. Thankfully, Gates has again been the adult in the room.