A pre-emptive strike from Japan? Here's what the Nelson report has to say:

But Japan today also added fuel to a possible fire, with the increasingly expected next-Prime Minister, Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe, warning that Japan has the constitutional right to strike N. Korea, to preempt a pending attack. While clearly conservative, Abe is not a “bomb throwing right winger”, notes a US analyst. “So coming from a senior political figure at this time is important, especially if you consider that even five years ago, it would have been considered ‘irresponsibly dangerous’ for an academic to urge such action as justified under the ‘peace constitution’ and ‘self-defense’.”

I've been watching this debate about Japan's defense posture with interest for the last year or so and was skeptical, but this today, and knowing a bit about how Japanese society functions. I'm beginning to think the analysts might be right.

But here is the real kicker form tonight's Report, also found at Nautilus Institute:

“In effect,” Hayes warned, “Kim Jong-il is preparing his own people now for a nuclear test. The KCNA piece was broadcast to the domestic population on North Korean radio.”

In the essay posted on the Nautilus Institute’s Policy Forum Online, noted above, Hayes added: “North Korea’s missile test was a strategic non-issue. Making a big deal out of it simply enabled the US to delay dealing with the real issue [serious US-DPRK negotiations to defuse the crisis] and made it more likely that North Korea will now test its nuclear weapons. Thus, the outcome of North Korea’s nuclear challenge once again hangs in the balance.”

As an added bonus click on the pic for a video from CNN about Japanese intentions.