SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea said on Monday it had safely and successfully carried out an underground nuclear test in a gesture of defiance as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe arrived in South Korea. MM&N Commentary "If, when the chips are down, the world's most powerful nation, the United States of America, acts like a pitiful, helpless giant, the forces of totalitarianism and anarchy will threaten free nations and free institutions throughout the world." Richard Nixon The utter witlessness and indolence of the Bush administration has pushed the world closer to catastrophe. Betting the farm with our prestige, credability, and might on a war of choice has unleashed nuclear demons in North Korea and Iran. And the alternatives the United States has are now indeed minimal. For years, it has marginalized multilateralism and what it calls that debating society on the East River-- the United Nations. Now the chickens have come home to roost. If ever there is proof of a foreign policy in shambles, this is it. Today is a day of shame, with the United States in the face of a defiant, starving, and paranoid regime a pitiful, helpless giant.