Details

In the discussion of the recent nuclear deal with North Korea, an important detail has escaped my notice until George Will mentioned it in today's WaPo. With all the storm und drang emanating from Pyongyang, this is a valuable reality check:

[T]he administration believes it found, in Banco Delta Asia, a lever that moved Pyongyang. The Macau bank was pressured into freezing 52 accounts holding $24 million -- yes, million, not billion -- of North Korean assets because Pyongyang has been using them for illicit purposes. If Pyongyang flinched from being deprived of $24 million -- less than Americans spend on archery equipment in a month -- Pyongyang's low pain threshold suggests how fragile, and hence perhaps how containable, that regime is.

A fuller version of the story is here, from USA Today. The writer notes that "North Korea earns $15 million to $25 million a year from counterfeiting".

This enemy is more reminiscent of America's overseas opponents in 1794 than any later year.