In North Korea, a modern Caligula pursues his nuclear bread and circuses while he lets his own people starve. He plays a risky game of brinkmanship, sinking a South Korean naval vessel, defined as an act of war, and shelling South Korean island villagers with a sense of impunity.

And why does he dare to do so? He is confident that his Chinese patrons will protect him, both on the ground in Asia and in the halls of the United Nations. And the leader in Pyongyang threatens to turn Seoul, "the miracle on the Han River," into "a sea of fire."

He also directed his hackers to try to disrupt joint U.S./South Korean military exercises held recently by jamming GPS, Global Positioning System devices critical to South Korean military communications.

But the evil deeds of this modern day Caligula do not end in Korea. He has attempted to ship arms to the brutal regime in Burma and the Tamil Tigers. News reports indicate that, with Chinese complicity and in defiance of U.N. sanctions, he shipped missile parts to Teheran via Beijing's airport.

North Korea has attempted to ship arms to Hamas and Hezbollah, both proxies of the Iranian regime and both designated by the U.S. Department of State as foreign terrorist organizations. And it was North Korea that helped the Syrian regime build the nuclear facility that Israel removed in September 2007. The International Atomic Energy Agency is still investigating and seeking answers on this North Korea/Syria nuclear facility.