Even China is backing away very, very carefully from the crazy that has built up in North Korea under new military dictator Kim Jong-un. Up until now China has stuck to North Korea through thick and thin... but not when they pull out this:
"Since the US is about to ignite a nuclear war, we will be exerting our right to pre-emptive nuclear attack against the headquarters of the aggressor in order to protect our supreme interest." ~ NK Foreign Ministry message read out on NK nightly news.
Now, everyone is pretty sure that NK missiles can't reach America. But they DO have enough fissile material for dirty bombs. And the state daily lies to its people about what goes on outside of NK. It likes to rant about Sought Korean and USA hostility and aggression towards the NK people almost nightly on the news. It's a bit dangerous when a nation of starving and oppressed people get pointed at a common enemy outside themselves, as WW2 in Europe demonstrates. I'm not worried about the situation in Iran. Up to now nobody has been insane enough to wage an overt fissile nuclear war. But I'm really worried that Kim Jong-un doens't know how dangerous nuclear fire is to play with. If the worst comes to the worst, Russia and China may agree with the UN and USA that NK needs to be turned into glass, for the safety of the rest of the world.
I'm starting to play with the idea that the means of one lone assassin may justify the ends.