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Why the Trump presidency may seem like a joke, but poses grave dangers for world peace
Philip Bowring says Donald Trump has unleashed global chaos with both words and deeds, and is making the US lose friends, but his seemingly ludicrous antics should not deter attention from the risks they pose
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Oh for the day when one will not have to think about Donald Trump and the damage he is doing to the US, Asia and the world in general.
Last month, the US president was busy creating more chaos in the Middle East, by backing Saudi Arabia – the biggest single source of Islamic extremism – in the campaign against Qatar launched by its hot-headed young crown prince. Now North Korea is proving fertile ground for counterproductive policies.
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Trump’s threats against North Korea are dangerous – if only because they raise blood pressures on all sides and thus the danger of overreactions. But they are also futile, for the reason that has long been obvious – Kim Jong-un possesses a nuclear deterrent.
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The neighbours have been living with this reality for some time, cities in South Korea being vulnerable to conventional weapons and those further south and in Japan to his missiles.
They do not like it but know that they can do nothing other than rely on the much greater deterrent force of the US. So it merely shows selfishness when the United States starts talking aggressively, because there is now the possibility that America might itself soon be within the reach of Pyongyang’s nuclear-tipped rockets.
Watch: Graduating US student in China slams Trump
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