These guys are isolated, cornered, starving, deranged, paranoid and extremely dangerous. They have pulled this sort of brinkmanship before but for some reason this time seems more "real". Against Clinton their puffery and threats worked, naturally. They may well have miscalculated this time around by expecting similar results with a very different President.
"Face" may indeed be what starts this war and they might well be too long down this path to turn it around. But, their lurking realization they are on our short Sh!tList in our War on Terror and our preoccupation in Iraq may well be the key to their taking their last, best chance to strike when we can't bring our full power to bear.
If they are going to preempt, I would guess we'll know within 24 hours of the time our first missiles hit Bagdhad whether this is another of their psychotic bluffs or not. My guess is it isn't, and I certainly hope I'm wrong.
The DPRK played the pysops game and intimidation real well with naive and green Clinton staffers and diplomats in their 30s and 40s, inexperienced liberals/pansies by heart with little military strategy, nor SunTzu guts and brains. NK, however, cannnot easily pull that crap on Rumsfield, Cheney, Rice and their crews. And they know it.
Thank goodness the adults are back in charge.
But, sad to say, eight years of Clinton appeasement and naivety, may well bring deaths to hundreds of thousands by terrible means. On this National Prayer Breakfast Day, we might start praying on this.