International tensions increased this week with news that North Korea detonated a more advanced nuclear device, one that could be placed on a warhead and delivered as far as the west coast of the United States. The United Nations condemned the test as a "clear threat to international peace and security". Unfortunately, no state seems to have a solution to the reckless actions of one of the worlds most dangerous rogue states. 

North Korea continues to defy the world by developing nuclear capability while starving its citizens. The regime is able to circumvent any sanctions imposed by the West. China, its closest ally, aids the country with access to banking, crude oil and other commodities that keep the paranoid leadership in place. North Korea is one of the saddest examples in the world of poor leadership that does not serve the most basic daily needs of its people. That no internal opposition has emerged to create a better society shows how firm is the suppression of human rights and dignity. China's complicity in this shameful state of affairs is  indicative of its corrupt political nature.

Asia is on the verge of a larger conflict erupting between Japan and China over control of the obscure Senkaku Islands. Minor incidents between the navies of the two countries threaten to draw the United States into the conflict. North Korea's irresponsible actions add to the serious potential for armed conflict to erupt. Those who understand history remember it was a very small conflict in the Balkans that ignited World War I. The potential that a small conflict could lead to larger events, even a nuclear attack by North Korea in "self-defense" is very possible. 

"Wars and rumors of war" (Matthew 24:6) are still on the world's marquee.