A digest of the top blogger thoughts and ideas - The A listers

"North Korea's final goal is survival, and a test is their final option," said Ahn Yinhay, professor of international relations at Korea University in Seoul. "Given the current situation -- the enormous pressure from the U.S.'s hard-line policy -- the North Koreans may think they have no other means to try to get out of this deadlock. They may think they have nothing else to lose."

Unfortunately, people have to take Kim's cries for attention seriously after his unexpected missile tests this past summer, all of which failed miserably. So far, no one has any indication that a nuclear test would meet with any more success than Kim's Taepodong-2 missile, but that hardly provides any comfort.