In any case, the situation in Pakistan, a nuclear-armed state of 180m people, looks dire.

ECONOMIST: Pakistan and America

Foreigners looking nervously at this nuclear-armed state wonder whether militants who murder ministers might one day take over the government.

ECONOMIST: Another political assassination in Pakistan

And today, this weakened leader is presiding over a tinderbox that threatens to engulf the nuclear-armed state and its neighborhood.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Pakistani nightmare

And on the other hand, it warns Israel daily that it opposes any independent Israeli operation to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear-armed state.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: The Pakistani dilemma

But the transition had not been completed and analysts fear Mr Kim's death could trigger a period of instability in the internationally isolated nuclear-armed state.

BBC: Kim Jong-il death: US urges 'path of peace'

At the time of Aziz's attempted overthrow of the Musharraf government and since, the Red Mosque became emblematic of the jihadist war to take over the nuclear-armed state.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: The Pakistani dilemma

So far, the transition seems to have been orderly previous purges under his father had involved car crashes but there is enough uncertainty in a nuclear-armed state to leave plenty of concern.

ECONOMIST: Kim Jong Un stamps his own style on his fantasy kingdom

Rather than face the dangers head on, Panetta's message was that the Obama administration would rather accept a nuclear-armed Iran than support an Israeli military strike on Iran to prevent the mullocracy from becoming a nuclear-armed state.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: An ally no more

Even if Iran refrains from using the weapons directly against Israel, a nuclear-armed Iran will accelerate its efforts to destabilize and destroy the Jewish state by using its proxies in the Palestinian Authority, Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq to wage constant, unrelenting terror, guerrilla and conventional warfare.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Washington has abandoned its obligations