U.S. Turns On Missile Defense Shield

Now that would be interesting. But think about what would happen if we miss.

I'm sure that we would find out whether or not North Korea really does have nuclear weapons, and if they have been negotiating with Iran.

Edit: reminds me of the End of the World flash floating around on the internet 

If I was an engineer on this program I'd be praying that Kim launches.

The system gets tested for free.
Who cares if it annoys the N. Koreans. That's actually a bonus.
If it works, countries without the resources to counter it are dissuaded from continuing or even starting their own longe range missile projects.

Where's the downside? Assuming of course it doesn't actually physically harm anyone.

I guess the downside is it doesn't work, and then we look like jackasses. Vulnerable jackasses.

I don't think that it will annoy the N Koreans, just Kim Jong Il 

If it doesn't work, that would be bad!  Although I don't imagine that it wouldn't work.  It could potentially serve as a demonstration of our technology without the loss of lives.  That might be a great deterrent 

If it doesn't work, it isn't a big deal. The expectations for this system are pretty low. At the very least there's some good field data to be had.

N. Korea has more to lose if the missile is shot down than have to lose if we miss.

And from a geopolitical point of view, Kim Jong Il is North Korea.

Better to know that now, than when there's an actual warhead on the end of a missile that we want to intercept. 

That's definitely true, but a miss in a game situation would look very, very bad to the rest of the world. And the POTUS wouldn't like it very much, either. He doesn't need any more bad press. But a hit would make him look very, very good.

You can bet Karl Rove is pondering this right now...

This is so disturbingly true.  Hijack: has anyone seen Team America: World Police?  Kim Jong Il practically steals the show in that movie  

Absolutely.

 Ronery...I'm so ronery...

If there is one thing that Karl Rove is better at than anyone else on this planet, it is managing expectations so that just about any outcome is perceived as a good performance.

What he's pondering is who will be leaking "worries within the administration about the capabilities of the Missile Defense System" to which journalists.

After several years of solid foreign relations policy and execution under the booshman, I'm struggling to figure out which countries and factions don't already have us pegged as jackasses.  Vulnerable might be a new twist on our own soil, but certainly not abroad.

This whole thing is probably Karl Rove's brain child from beginning to end.....i.e. wag the dog....

Hmmm...interesting...

Just to play Devil's Advocate, if we do happen to shoot it down (% says we can't), and it's still in N. Korean territory, haven't WE just performed an Act of War against a Sovereign Nation?

If it's in International waters, it's fair game.  But if it's not...

The administration finds this relevant how?

It's a long range missile anyway. It would supposedly be into international airspace pretty quickly.

If it's in international waters, that would save the trouble of using the defense system.