Advertisement
Opinion

Don’t just blame Trump as the world nears a tipping point

Kevin Rafferty worries that a conflagration is brewing from the deadly mix of an expanding list of political hot spots and incompetent leaders

5-MIN READ5-MIN
Kevin Rafferty worries that a conflagration is brewing from the deadly mix of an expanding list of political hot spots and incompetent leaders
Kevin Rafferty
New threats have begun to grow: not merely a slow suffocating end because of destruction of the delicate environment and ecosystems protecting the planet; but potentially fiery political and military conflicts. Illustration: Craig Stephens
New threats have begun to grow: not merely a slow suffocating end because of destruction of the delicate environment and ecosystems protecting the planet; but potentially fiery political and military conflicts. Illustration: Craig Stephens
A recent New Yorker cartoon shows the head and elbows of a leonine old man, a real Ancient of Days, appearing wearily through a cloud, addressing a small human with halo and wings, while below the Earth explodes in a profusion of nuclear mushroom clouds. The Ancient comments: “Pretty good. The ending was a bit predictable.”

Has the Earth reached a tipping point, where its very future is in doubt? In the past few weeks, new threats have begun to grow: not merely a slow suffocating end because of destruction of the delicate environment and ecosystems protecting the planet; but potentially fiery political and military conflicts.

“America first” President Donald Trump said he was so moved by the deaths of dozens of people from chemical weapons that he ordered the attack of the Syrian base from which the aircraft had taken off. His message: the US is back with its big stick to beat the wicked world.
Advertisement

In Asia, political and military temperatures are rising, so fast that some experts fear there is a danger of a small accident or miscalculation leading, potentially, to the incalculable damage of a nuclear war.

The immediate flashpoint is the Korean peninsula. Trump ordered the deployment of a naval strike group to the waters off Korea to try to get North Korea’s Kim Jong-un to stop defying UN nuclear weapons sanctions.
Advertisement
Trump’s national security adviser H. R. McMaster claimed that sending the strike force was a “prudent” response to Pyongyang’s “pattern of provocative behaviour”.
In response, Pyongyang declared itself “ready for war”.
Advertisement
Select Voice
Select Speed
1.00x