With all that’s going on domestically between inflation, higher gas prices, baby formula shortages, and threats of gun grabbing, we tend to forget that around the world there are nations that don’t like us and they’re spending their time trying to join the nuclear club. A couple recent developments on that front range from shake-your-head amusing to worrisome for our allies in the Middle East.

First of all, North Korea made news by accepting the chairmanship of the United Nations’ Conference on Disarmament. Yes, that North Korea — the belligerent communist nation that has launched over a dozen ballistic missile tests since the beginning of the year in pursuit of its illegitimate nuclear weapons program. On Tuesday, Joe Biden’s administration warned North Korea of a “swift and forceful” response if nuclear testing continues, and both the U.S. and South Korea on Monday tested ballistic missiles in a show of force.

As a statement from 40 NGOs under the UN Watch umbrella aptly noted, “Having the North Korean regime of Kim Jong-un preside over global nuclear weapons disarmament will be like putting a serial rapist in charge of a women’s shelter.”

While the term is only four weeks and is described as largely ceremonial, the fact such a fox is put in charge of the hen house should give one pause about the role of the UN.

That four-week term for North Korea, however, might be twice as long as Iran needs to create the nuclear fuel needed for a bomb, despite the supposedly watchful eye of that same UN. As Laurence Norman at The Wall Street Journal tersely put it: “Iran’s stockpile of 60% [highly enriched uranium] is now above the so-called significant quantity that defines how much nuclear material could be needed for a nuclear weapon. Experts say it would take Iran just a couple of weeks to convert the 60% material into 90% weapons-grade fuel.”

Of course, that could be bluster designed for Iranian leaders to try and roll the Biden administration like they did his former boss, Barack Obama, but the pessimism on our part is likely justified. The mullahs’ poor track record and secrecy when it comes to their nuclear program, despite their contention that the IAEA’s report “is one-sided and fails to reflect Iran’s extensive cooperation with the IAEA,” means we may be dealing with a nuclear Iran sooner rather than later. So much for Obama’s never-ratified Iran treaty.

The bigger threat from Iran, though, is directed at Israel, which the Islamic Republic regularly taunts with provocative tweets, including a “doomsday clock” set for its destruction. Notably, Iran was almost up to 40 pounds of enriched uranium back in December when that linked article was written, meaning it’s processed over 50 pounds this calendar year. And the Biden administration wants to make nice with these guys?

This accounts for two of the three members of the original “axis of evil,” the third of which (Iraq) was the subject of much of our time and treasure over the last two decades so it wouldn’t join the club of nations with “weapons of mass destruction.” Yet when the plot line of the nation’s currently most popular movie revolves around curtailing the nuclear capability of an unnamed rogue country, it’s obvious that these matters are on someone’s mind.