Lindsay Lohan Firing Lawyer Mark Heller

Another day, another development in the life of Lindsay Lohan!

The 26-year-old actress is expected to check into rehab in California by 6 a.m. Friday. If she doesn't, she faces the risk of Santa Monica City Attorney Terry White issuing a warrant for her arrest.

"She has to go [Friday] to also prove that she is taking it seriously, and then she can possibly move to another facility if it gets approved," a source tells E! News, adding, "Nobody knows what's going to happen."

"She is currently doing OK," adds the source. "She was panicked earlier and was really scared because she felt the whole situation could have been more organized, and she expected that it should be."

One person Linds won't be looking to for guidance on this whole situation anymore? Mark Heller.

A source tells E! News the Mean Girls star is in the process of firing her outspoken attorney and in the process of getting Shawn Holley to return as her main legal counsel.

But in the end, Lindsay "is ready for rehab," says the source.

Top 10 Military Operation in the history

War has been a major part of history. Independence has been won and lost through battle; revolutions subdued; different groups and denominations crushed. However, during these large-scale battles, several small operations are performed to help pile up victories for each respective side. Operations are held by police forces outside of warfare, as well (DEA, FBI, etc.). Each operation has a name to go along with it. Some of these names are quite interesting. This is a top ten list of the greatest military operation names of all time. Here we go.
10.Operation Magic Carpet

In June 1945, the United States of America launched Operation Magic Carpet to return over eight million Americans back to their homeland, and out of Pacific and European theaters that saw war. The name of the operation is rather simplistic, but it speaks volumes about the glory of leaving a devastated region of the world for your homeland, and how peaceful the idea can be. The men were being transported on a “magic carpet” back to their safe-haven of America, and this is truly an interesting operation name. A European variation of Operation Magic Carpet was launched in 1946 to rescue European soldiers in foreign lands.
9.Operation Desert Storm

Taking place in 1991, Operation Desert Storm was the operative name for the Persian Gulf War. While the name may not be the most interesting of them all, it is quite intriguing. The title shows what the United States planned on doing in Iraq: unleashing a desert storm. Bombs, ammunition, and artillery would be deployed, and the sand in the deserts would create a massive storm as a result. That’s at least what I surmise from it. While I am fascinated with this operation name, there are a few others that I find to have a much better title.
8.Operation Bayonet Lightning

Lasting for only sixteen hours in December 2003, this operation was performed to seize any weapons or materials in certain villages in Iraq that could pose a threat to coalition forces during the War on Terrorism. This is one of those military operations that has quite an interesting title. I honestly could not imagine what this has to do with the actual actions the soldiers had to perform; the only idea I could conjure is if they were seizing these harmful weapons so quickly, it was like lightning. In warfare, operations have to be performed somewhat effectively. Putting “lightning” in the title may lead to some inspiration for the soldiers involved. Overall, this is one of the better operation names, and also one of the most recent. Kudos for a great choice of words.
7.Operation Valiant Guardian

This may seem a little ridiculous, but this is yet again, another operation pulled from a conflict involving the United States, coalition forces, and Iraq. This operation was launched to uncover insurgents and weaponry to ensure the safety of soldiers fighting in Iraq. The idea of the people involved in this operation being known as “valiant guardians” gives insight into the purpose of the plan: to simply protect our troops. However, by using the term “valiant,” this also shows the true power of the forces that the Iraqi forces are fighting against; the battle that they are embroiled in will not be an easy one to win when your opponents believe they have a grand level of valiance. I digress. All in all, this operation name definitely ranks as one of the best in history.
6.Operation Urgent Fury

In 1983, the United States, supported by other Caribbean island nations, invaded the island of Grenada because of a military coup that had occurred in the country. This invasion was codenamed Operation Urgent Fury. Plain and simple, fast and furious aggression was needed to subdue the revolution in Grenada, and that is exactly what the United States did. It is tough to explain why this operation name caught my eye, but then again, it is a very interesting title. The “fury” portion of this name is what really intrigued me. Urgency is a given in any invasion, but fury is a totally different monster in itself. Fury is dangerous on all levels. When someone is furious, you know their anger/rage is at a near-maximum level. Anyway, Operation Urgent Fury definitely ranks as one of the best operation names of alltime. Don’t like it? Well, it’s not anything to get furious about.
5.Operation Eagle Claw

Leave it to Jimmy Carter to order an operation that would fail miserably. Operation Eagle Claw was performed to try and rescue the Americans that were being held amidst the Iran Hostage Crisis. Eight helicopters were sent out, and none of them returned. One crashed into the helicopter carrying fuel and supplies for the other six, and once that was downed, the remaining ones were left helpless in the air. Sure, Operation Eagle Claw was a failure. However, its title is one of the greatest of all time. The Americans, whose symbol is the eagle, were going to use their “claw” (helicopters) to rescue the innocent hostages. A very American name for an operation, yes, but that does not take away from its amazing quality. The only aspect that could have changed its position on the list? Perhaps, if it was actually a success… but it all worked out for the best anyway, so I think it is fine at number five.
4.Operation Crescent Wind

What better way to follow-up a miserable failure, then with a success. In October and November of 2001, almost immediately after the terrorist attacks on 9/11, British and American air forces led strikes in Afghanistan attempting to weaken the Taliban. This led the way for further ground campaigns that continually weakened the government and Taliban as well. The name of this operation? Operation Crescent Wind. The title of this operation is pretty incredible. The wind is created by the bombing from the skies; and the crescent not only applies to the crescent moon, a symbol of Islam, but also the fact that the area that Afghanistan is situated in was once referred to as the Fertile Crescent. A heap of historical references in one simple operation name. Stunning, is it not? Anyway, I am definitely a major fan of this operation title. A great way to kick-off a war that still continues to this day.
3.Operation Spartan Scorpion

The “War on Terrorism” must be a topic that you are sick of by this point on the list, but there have been some pretty interesting titles from this time period. Operation Spartan Scorpion was launched in June 2003 to help clear the Iraqi countryside of remaining non-compliant forces and paramilitary groups that wanted to harm coalition forces. This title is a dynamic duo of harrowing power. A Spartan, in itself, is a terrifying creature. These ancient Greek soldiers were well-known for their propensity for fighting to the death, and a scorpion is an animal that can kill various other creatures in numerous ways. Essentially, this title was assigned to the operation to show that the forces fighting would be merciless in conducting their warfare. Two prolific death-bringers put into one operation name is sure to strike fear into the opponent. If I was fighting against an operation titled “Spartan Scorpion,” I would feel one thing coursing through my veins: terror.
2.Operation Overlord

Nearly ever history buff has heard of this one. June 6, 1944: the largest amphibious invasion of all time. 160,000 troops crossing the English Channel to try and take back German-occupied western Europe for the Allies. Most people know this event as D-Day, or the Battle of Normandy. The official title for this invasion was Operation Overlord. An overlord, by definition, is someone who has authority over another person or group. This operation was most likely given this title to show the Germans who was the more powerful side during World War II. The French, who were a part of the Allies, were the rightful overlords of the land of Normandy and its surrounding areas, and were going to fight to take it back. This was truly a turning point in the war, and from here-on-out, the Allies really did appear to be overlords in almost every battle. Less than one year later, in April 1945, the Germans surrendered to the overlords, and this portion of the war had ended. “Overlord” is truly representative of how power and momentum was swung back in the Allies’ favor, and the war took on a different look from there-on-out.
1.Operation Rolling Thunder

Lasting from March 1965 until November 1968, Operation Rolling Thunder was a lengthy, aerial bombardment performed by the United States on North Vietnam. Sure, it was much like “Operation Eagle Claw,” in the aspect that it was a colossal failure, but unlike the aforementioned plan, its title was much more indicative of its murderous intentions. Essentially, Operation Rolling Thunder was initiated to emaciate the Northern Vietnamese land, and to try and force the Viet Cong out of its holes and hills that helped them elude being caught. The idea of rolling thunder is terrifying, especially when the “thunder” portion of the term is a seemingly-endless bombardment that lasted for years. The operation was named as such because the bombs would just keep “rolling” and never stop. This gave a quality to the operation that made it seem as if it was perpetual. Again, while the bombardment was a failure, and did not accomplish its goals, the North Vietnamese land was completely destroyed as a result. Over three years of constant bombing is quite a bit for a small territory to handle, and it must have truly seemed endless during the time. Congratulations to Operation Rolling Thunder: while it was one of the biggest failures in the overall mistake that was the Vietnam War, it also has the greatest name for any operation in all of history.

The women who searched for bin Laden

In Kathryn Bigelow’s movie “Zero Dark Thirty,” Jessica Chastain played Maya, a young CIA operative whose stubborn pursuit of Osama bin Laden played a major role in the al-Qaida leader’s death.

The film garnered both awards (including a Golden Globe for Chastain) and controversy—largely because of graphic scenes depicting the CIA’s use of torture on suspected terrorists. But an undisputed—and to some, surprising—revelation in the film was its disclosure of the key role a female CIA agent played in the search for bin Laden.

Now a new documentary goes further—making clear it wasn’t just one female CIA operative relentlessly searching for bin Laden, as Bigelow’s dramatization suggests, but rather a whole team of women who began sounding the alarm about the al-Qaida leader almost a decade before the 9/11 attacks made bin Laden a household name.

“Manhunt,” which premieres Wednesday on HBO, tries to tell what director Greg Barker describes as “the real story” behind the 20-year hunt for bin Laden. It includes interviews with several members of the so-called Sisterhood, as the team of female analysts assigned to track bin Laden came to be known within the CIA.

Many of those interviewed, including retired agents Nada Bakos, Cindy Storer and Barbara Sude, speak on camera for the first time about their role in the bin Laden pursuit. And all, in some ways, appear to have inspired the female heroine of “Zero Dark Thirty,” from their headstrong efforts to convince colleagues that bin Laden was a serious threat to their fight to be taken seriously by male colleagues amid job pressures that came to dominate their lives.

Storer began tracking bin Laden in the early 1990s—“when al-Qaida was denying its existence even to its friends,” she says in the film. With tears in her eyes, she recalls how she was criticized in a performance review for “spending too much time working on bin Laden.”

“They said we were obsessed crusaders, overly emotional,” Storer recalls. The difference between her and her male colleagues, she says, is “Men throw chairs, women cry.” Still, she admits, “We were borderline obsessed, but I thought it was for a good reason.”

She recalls how she and her colleagues passed around large containers of Tums as they watched increasingly disturbing videos that suspected members of bin Laden’s network posted online—cataloging details in what was becoming a large dossier on al-Qaida.

“It wasn’t the sexiest job,” Bakos said in an interview with Yahoo! News. But she said it was a position that showed how important women are to the CIA. As analysts, she said, “women have patience and perseverance.” She added: “They weren’t looking for the sexy payoff. This wasn't a job people were being promoted to. They were really looking at it as in the defense of our country.”

Only after bin Laden began to be more explicit in his threat to attack the United States was their intelligence taken seriously. But despite clues analysts had that “something big” was coming, they weren’t able to prevent the 9/11 attacks. And the film details the guilt that Storer and her colleagues felt in the aftermath, as they trudged forward in their search.

Bakos, a veteran CIA analyst sent to Iraq at the height of the war to track down al-Qaida leaders there, seems to be a major inspiration for the Maya character in “Zero Dark Thirty”—though she said in an interview she never talked to Bigelow or anyone else associated with the film.

As part of her duties, Bakos was required to go on raids in search of her target, Abu Musab Zarqawi, then the leader of al-Qaida. It was a role that made her uncomfortable, as she recounts in the film, leading viewers to believe she, like Maya, struggled with seeing the sometimes brutal results of intelligence-gathering in the field.

But the film does not take a moral position on the CIA's interrogation efforts—and Bakos says that’s one reason she decided to speak out about her history as part of the bin Laden hunt. The film, she said, keeps it “politically agnostic and lets the audience decide for themselves” about the CIA’s tactics.

Bakos praised “Zero Dark Thirty” for portraying the “moments of intensity” that came during the CIA’s search for bin Laden and described the film’s depiction of “bureaucratic frustrations” as accurate. But she said Bigelow’s film did not fully communicate the “nuances of intelligence” that she and other analysts on the al-Qaida trail dealt with—and continue to deal with today. And she said it failed to focus on how much of the search was conducted by a "whole team of people" working together under the intense pressure of preventing another terrorist attack.

Asked what she hopes viewers will take away from “Manhunt,” Bakos said she hopes people will gain a better understanding about national security and how the CIA works.

“Intelligence is only as good as the information gathered," Bakos said. "There’s no crystal ball. And there’s no 100 percent. ... You cannot, 100 percent of the time, prevent or predict everything that will happen.”

Forest war over

FEDERAL Environment Minister Tony Burke has declared an end to Tasmania's forestry wars, after key environmental groups signed up to an amended agreement with the state's logging industry.

Tasmania's Lower House is expected to sit late tonight to debate the forestry peace deal legislation, which is designed to end decades of bitter wrangling.

Environmentalists and the timber industry were forced to recommit to the agreement after the state's Upper House made amendments that delayed the protection of more than half the forests originally earmarked.

With agreement reached between signatories including The Wilderness Society, the Australian Conservation Foundation, Environment Tasmania, and the Forest Industries Association of Tasmania, Mr Burke said the state's forestry war was now over.

Passing of the legislation will unlock tens of millions of dollars in federal and state assistance, aimed at helping Tasmanian struggling forestry industry restructure.

"Instead of an industry that was going through a significant decline ... as of tomorrow we get a story where conservation and forestry jobs get to move forward hand in hand," Mr Burke told reporters in Hobart this afternoon.

"In terms of wars, yes (it's over). You might get the odd skirmish from small minor groups. But what we have seen from the last 30 years ends tonight, and that is something to celebrate."

Despite her Tasmanian Greens colleagues and environmental groups backing the forestry agreement, Australian Greens Leader Christine Milne labelled the deal "dead" because of the Upper House amendments.

"Now there is a salvage strategy at best, a picking over the bones of the dead body," Senator Milne said.

"It died in the Upper House when the Legislative Council in Tasmania took a chainsaw to this agreement and destroyed its integrity."

U.S. Diplomat Killed in Afghanistan

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The friends and family of Anne Smedinghoff are mourning the 25-year-old Foreign Service Officer killed in a car bomb blast in southern Afghanistan whom they describe as vivacious and loving.

Smedinghoff was one of five Americans killed in a suicide bomb attack in Qalat, Zabul.

Working as a press officer for the U.S. embassy in Kabul, she was helping Afghan journalists cover an event at a boys school where the local U.S. Provincial Reconstruction Team was to donate math and science books

The other Americans killed in the attack were three military service members and a civilian working for the Defense Department. Four State Department officials, including one described as critically injured, were among the 10 injured in the attack.

"The world lost a truly beautiful soul," Tom and Mary Beth Smedinghoff said in a statement. "Anne absolutely loved the work she was doing" as a press officer at the U.S. embassy in Kabul, they said.

Having served in the Foreign Service for only three years, Smedinghoff volunteered to serve inAfghanistan and arrived last July.

"We are consoled knowing that she was doing what she loved, and that she was serving her country by helping to make a positive difference in the world," her parents said. "She was such a wonderful woman -- strong, intelligent, independent, and loving. Annie, you left us too soon; we love you and we're going to miss you so much."

A senior State Department official who also knew Smedinghoff described her as being "really special," "sweet," and "very bright."

Traveling in Istanbul, Secretary of State John Kerry described Smedinghoff's death as the "stealing of a young life."

"There are no words for anybody to describe the extraordinary harsh contradiction of a young 25-year-old woman with all of the future ahead of her, believing in the possibilities of diplomacy, of changing people's lives, of making a difference, having an impact, who was taking knowledge in books to deliver them to a school. And someone somehow persuaded that taking her -- his life was a wiser course and somehow constructive, drives into their vehicle and we lose five lives," Kerry said.

Kerry had met Smedinghoff two weeks ago during his recent trip to Afghanistan, where she had been assigned to coordinate his trip.

"I remember her as vivacious, smart, capable, often chosen by the ambassador for her capabilities," Kerry said. He said of his call to Smedinghoff's parents on Saturday that "there is no harder conversation to have in the world."

Afghan security officials told ABC News that the State Department convoy had just left its headquarters in Qalat and joined the convoy of the local provincial governor who was also headed to the school book giveaway.

That's when two suicide attackers attacked the convoy. The security officials said there was an initial car bomb detonated by a remote device. Then a suicide bomber wearing a suicide vest appeared and caused more casualties.

Afghan sources say the school event had been announced a day in advance, which possibly allowed attackers enough time to plan the attack.

Another American civilian was killed Saturday in what was described to ABC News as a "massive firefight" in eastern Afghanistan that led U.S. forces to call in an airstrike that Afghan officials say killed 11 Afghan civilians, 10 of them children.

In a statement, ISAF said they were aware of several civilian injuries resulting from "fire support" provided in the incident but no civilian deaths. They said they were assessing the incident.

On Saturday, Afghan and American forces had launched a joint operation in three villages located in Kunar Province to root out Taliban fighters.

The American civilian, who had been advising Afghan forces, was killed as the U.S. and Afghan forces took heavy fire from multiple homes.

Afghan officials told ABC News that the unit called in an airstrike and that some of the weapons they dropped went errant. Ten children were killed when the roof of their home collapsed as a result, the officials.

An Afghan police official said eight Taliban fighters were also killed during the operation.

US, French tourists kidnapped raped in Rio De Janeiro Argentine

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A night out on the town turned into a nightmare after an American woman was gang raped and beaten aboard a public transport van while her French boyfriend was handcuffed, hit with a crowbar and forced to watch the attacks, police said.

The incidents raise new questions about security in Rio, which has won kudos for its crackdown on once-endemic drug violence in preparation for hosting next year's football World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympic games. The city also will be playing host to World Youth Day, a Roman Catholic pilgrimage that will be attended by Pope Francis and is expected to draw some 2 million people in late July.

Three men aged 20 to 22 have been taken into custody in connection to the crime, which took place over six hours starting shortly after midnight Saturday, police said. The suspects have been accused of at least one similar attack, with a young Brazilian woman having come forward to say that she too was raped by the same men in the van on March 23, police said.

"The victims described everything in great detail, mostly the sexual violence," police officer Rodrigo Brant told the Globo TV network. "Just how they described the facts was shocking — the violence and brutality. It surprised even us, who work in security and are used to hearing such things."

The attack drew comparisons with the fatal December beating and gang rape of a young woman on a New Delhi bus in which six men beset a 23-year-old university student and male friend after they boarded a private bus. That attack touched off a wave of protests across India demanding stronger protection for women. Officials there say tourism has dropped in the country following the attacks.

On Tuesday, Brazilian police were quick to emphasize to reporters the rarity of Saturday's attack.

"These type of crimes committed against foreign tourists are very uncommon," said Alexandre Braga, the police officer leading the investigation.

Officials from the local Olympic and World Cup organizing committees didn't immediately respond to requests for comment about how the attack might affect their security precautions.

Braga said the two foreigners, who were in Brazil as students, took a public transport van similar to those often used as a faster alternative to the city's bus fleet. The pair were heading from Rio's Copacabana beach neighborhood to the nightlife hot spot of Lapa in downtown Rio.

A few minutes into the ride, the suspects forced the other passengers to get out of the van and then raped the female tourist inside the moving vehicle, Braga said. The woman was also beaten across the face, and the man was handcuffed and beaten, at one point with a metal crowbar.

The three suspects took turns behind the wheel, driving the van to Rio's sister city of Niteroi where they went on a spending spree with the foreigners' credit cards.

Once they hit the limit on both cards, spending around $500 at gas stations and convenience stores, the suspects drove the pair back to Rio, where the foreigners were staying, and forced the woman to fetch another credit card, Braga said.

Although she was alone, she didn't call the police or alert anyone, Braga said, "because the young man was still under the suspects' control and she feared something even worse might happen to him."

The two were ultimately dumped by the side of a highway near the city of Itaborai, some 50 kilometers from Rio. After they managed to make it to an unidentified country's consulate, officials took the two to the special police delegation that specializes in crimes against foreigners. The young woman has returned to the U.S., while the man remains in Rio to help with the investigations, Braga said.

"The victims recognized the three without a shadow of a doubt," Braga said.

The Brazilian woman who said she had also been raped by the suspects last month recognized media images of the alleged attackers and contacted police. Another foreigner has said she'd been robbed by one of the three suspects, police said.

Investigators are reviewing police databases to determine whether the three might have been involved in other crimes.

Two of the suspects have confessed to Saturday's attack, while the third denies any responsibility, Braga said.

"They do not show any repentance," he said. "They are quite indifferent, cold."

The suspects rented the van, which seats about a dozen people and has dark tinted windows, from the vehicle's owner, who police say is not suspected of any involvement in the crime. Though they apparently had authorization to transport passengers in Niteroi and neighboring Sao Goncalo, the suspects were not allowed to operate the van in Rio, Braga said.

"It appears they worked in transportation and sometimes engaged in crimes," said Braga.

Many in Rio know of such van services for their precarious safety conditions and reckless driving, as well as their links to organized crime. Some vans are linked to militias largely composed of former police and firemen that control large swaths of the city's slums and run clandestine transportation and other services. In general, tourists avoid the vans and opt for regular buses or taxis.

Foreigners are more often the targets of muggings and petty crime in Rio, with assaults a particular problem on public transit. Last year, a woman was raped on a moving bus in broad daylight in a widely publicized case, and the Rio subway has special women-only cars to help prevent such attacks.

More than 5,300 cases of sexual assault were reported in Brazil between January and June 2012, according to the country's Health Ministry.

North Korea: US signals strength, but speaks softly

As North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has issued increasingly belligerent statements toward South Korea and the United States in recent weeks, many North Asia analysts have concluded that the young Mr. Kim is acting to establish his tough-guy credentials with key audiences: the North Korean public, but also the military and other North Korean elites.

But in response, the Obama administration – while actually saying little – has also been acting to reassure the American public and key allies like South Korea and Japan, even as it tries to figure out what Kim Jong-un is really up to and the best way to deal with him, some regional experts say.

“The early superficial take-away on [Kim] is that he’s not afraid to be out front, not afraid to take risks.... He speaks more directly to the public than his father did, and after he’s established his military credentials he can then turn his focus to the economy,” says Jim Walsh, an expert in international security at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Security Studies Program.

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“But the US is also sending its own messages” by responding to Kim’s rhetoric – which has included a vow to attack the US – with the inclusion of nuclear-capable B-52s in US-South Korea military exercises and a reinforcing of missile defense batteries in Alaska, he says.

The Obama administration “is sending a message of reassurance to South Korea and the American public in particular,” Dr. Walsh says, “but [it is] also telling a leader who is really breaking new ground with direct and specific threats, ‘If you keep talking like that, this is what you have to look forward to.’ ”

But besides such messaging, the US has had very little to say in response to Kim’s actions – which have included tearing up the Korean War armistice, severing a security communications line with Seoul, and publicly reviewing military planning for attacks on a number of US sites including Hawaii and Austin, Texas.

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Secretary of State John Kerry will certainly have more to say when he visits Japan, South Korea, and China in mid-April, but in the meantime the administration is speaking softly as it brandishes its big sticks. A White House spokesman said that the North is further isolating itself with its “bellicose rhetoric” (last Friday) and Secretary Kerry has called on North Korea to “engage in legitimate dialogue” instead of issuing threats (early last month).

The US has also been working to impose new sanctions and to reinforce international implementation of existing measures against North Korea since the United Nations Security Council approved a new round of sanctions last month in response to the North’s February nuclear test.

Some security analysts accuse the US of needlessly provoking Kim with a string of military measures at a delicate moment in the new leader’s consolidation of power. (At 29 or 30 years of age, Kim is the world’s youngest head of state, having assumed power at the death of his father in December 2011.)

But many other experts say the US has acted prudently as the unknown quantity in charge inPyongyang – who has already overseen a worrisome nuclear test and long-range missile launch – has recently issued increasingly incendiary threats.

The US is simply covering its security bases, the latter reasoning goes, while it tries to figure out who Kim is and how best to approach him.

No one can even be certain that Kim is the guy in charge in North Korea, some analysts say. “You can conclude that as a leader he seems to be quite risk-acceptant, but there’s also reason to be cautious and ask questions like, ‘Is he really in charge, or is it a family clique or council?’ ” says Walsh. “Certainly the US government is still asking, ‘What are his relations with the military?’ ”

Given the deep uncertainties about North Korea, the US public seems to be broadly supportive of the Obama administration’s approach – taking precautions militarily even as it imposes new sanctions to try to influence the North’s behavior – according to a new Monitor/TIPP poll.

But the poll also suggests that the public may be out in front of the administration by strongly favoring the kind of “dialogue” the White House is pursuing with Iran over its nuclear program but has not yet proposed with North Korea.

More than two-thirds of Americans – 68 percent – say they favor opening direct talks with the North Korean regime, according to the poll conducted March 25-30. Only 24 percent disagree with the idea of dialogue.

Even more popular is the imposition of economic sanctions. Nearly three-quarters of Americans – 74 percent – support exerting economic pressure and even increasing it with additional measures.

Much less popular among a war-weary populace is the idea of military intervention to “remove” North Korea’s nuclear installations. Still, a sizable minority of 40 percent would support such action, while 53 percent oppose.

And among self-identified Republicans, military action against the North has the support of a small majority – 51 percent.

MIT’s Walsh says he sees very little chance of US military action against the North, because he says no one involved in the current ratcheting-up of tensions wants a military confrontation – neither the US nor the North, nor South Korea.

The danger, he says, is that someone makes a mistake that gets the military ball rolling.

And more long term, Walsh worries there will be repercussions from the precautionary actions the US has taken that the Obama administration may not wish to see. President Obama could see his nonproliferation and disarmament goals set back by the US “brandishing” of its nuclear-ready aircraft, and not all of North Korea’s neighbors will interpret the US measures as a reassuring display of the US nuclear umbrella.

“Clearly one of [the US] goals is to reassure states like South Korea and Japan, ‘You don’t have to go nuclear because we can protect you,’ ” he says. “But on the other hand, my guess is that the Russians and the Chinese aren’t too happy about the US flying nuclear-capable [aircraft] near their borders.”