Missile defense, DPRK, "Change."

DPRK threatens to blow our aircraft out of the sky, while our DoD is saying we will not take out their missiles, and other top brass saying that missile defense is basically outdated, "as passe as email."

The bottom line? It's an "I will not be ignored" moment: The Dear Leader is sending a shot across the bow of the Obama administration, which had blamed testy US ties with North Korea on bad Bush-era policies.

Indeed, the administration seems to be downplaying the upcoming missile shot as a done deal, threatening unspecified "consequences" for naughty North Korean behavior. It hasn't even indicated that it would put US missile defenses in Alaska and California on operational alert in advance of a launch (as George W. Bush did in 2006).

Team Obama's response is so restrained, in fact, it signals resignation and weakness in the eyes of some.

One thing's absolutely clear: Obama's notion that the world's troublemakers would naturally "change" course once he took office continues to crumble. North Korea is just the latest example.

NORTH KOREA GOING BALLISTIC, Peter Brookes