The next major flashbpoint?

[Glaucus]

North Korea raises tensions with plan to carry out new nuclear test aimed at 'sworn enemy' United State
I know Iran gets a lot of attention these days, but personally I'm far more worried about what's going on in North Korea. They seem to be out of control. In fact, I wonder if anyone is even in charge of that country. They're practically playing Russian Roulette but with nuclear weapons and placing millions of lives at risk. If one of those rockets lands somewhere it shouldn't, all hell could break loose. They're basically one mistaken shot from a full out war, and instead of being cautious they're prodding and poking everyone they can.

 

[Robert]

I know Iran gets a lot of attention these days, but personally I'm far more worried about what's going on in North Korea.

Really?
I can't say I'm worried about either of them at all.
At least not in any way that's meaningful.

They seem to be out of control. In fact, I wonder if anyone is even in charge of that country.

My impression is that they know exactly what they're doing.
To paraphrase from an excellent video posted on here (by Cecilia, I think) the other day, it appears to all be part of the international dick-wagging contest.

 

[FluffyMcDeath]

India/Kashmir - China/Japan, those two could go sideways. Then there's the resurgent French who seem to be looking to reassert their dominion over old properties. And the slight problems with food supplies being tight and all the wealth being cornered by a few. Mass unemployment, vast hidden swaths of worthless financial instruments still floating around the system. Plenty of dry tinder in the world waiting for a spark. It could come from anywhere - or we could get lucky.

 

[Glaucus]

It might appear that way, but they leave a lot up to chance. When they fire a military rocket over Japan, anything can happen. Japan has since threatened to shoot down any future rockets. If they do, NK could take that as some form of provocation.

It reminds me of the air force tangos between Greece and Turkey. Turkey sends fighters over Greek islands all the time and they're intercepted by Greek fighters. Greek fighters put the Turkish planes on missile lock before they turn and retreat. But they also do other things like get real close and personal and planes have been known to touch. Last time I heard of that the two planes went down, killing the Greek pilot but the Turk survived. If it was the other way around, it could have started a war. And you can rest assured that similar things go on between the Koreas, except they use artillery and Navy for these high risk games. It just takes one mistake and thousands can die. Testing nuclear weapons and lobbing missiles just increases the risk.

 

[Glaucus]

India and Pakistan seem to be making some progress actually: India, Pakistan have "very good talks," signal thaw And that's a damn good thing too.

North Korea may be just an extension of the China/Japan issue. But, I fear that China may lose "influence" of NK. Now that NK seems to have enough nuclear weapons, and may be soon testing uranium based weapons with far greater yield, they may decide that they no longer need to be China's bitch and go for gold.

A great way to spot a fire before it starts is to look for smoke. I see smoke coming out of that region more so than the others you listed. Of course this is mostly a hunch, but that's how I see it at the moment.

 

[Glaucus]

Looks like China is having second thoughts about NK: China may axe North Korea aid