Opinion | The Doomsday Clock is ticking. Between Trump and Iran, how close is the world coming to nuclear war?

In the best-case scenario, Trump will be voted out of office this year. In the worst case, Trump’s America and eight other nuclear powers might bring the world to the brink of disaster. All it takes, as Iran has shown, is ‘human error’

Reading Time:4 minutes

Published: 1:00am, 14 Jan 2020Updated: 5:27am, 14 Jan 2020

Without becoming too defensive about America at this rocky passage in its political history (well, it is difficult to defend), I will nonetheless offer something of a defence, since almost no one else wants to try, but maybe someone ought to. So let’s start with this: whether the current American president’s actions and policies are indefensible is not the point.

At the worst, President Donald Trump is in office for another term but then he’s out. Does any other superpower offer such term-limited peace of mind?

Even so, America is not one person any more than China is one person or even one party. To be sure, even if the best comes to pass – a one-term Trump presidency – a lot of bad things could happen in the year ahead. That’s why many Americans are not letting up.

Our civil society sector is anything but brain-dead – and is supported politically as well as financially by many Americans who are well aware of our flaws and the limitations of our government no matter what political party or politician is at the top.

The average educated American respects more than one secular or political god. I worship several myself, and next week one of them will step into the spotlight for an annual ritual that reminds us of both the enduring value of our civil society organisations and the kinds of issues they fearlessly take on.

Select Voice

Choose your listening speed

Get through articles 2x faster

1.25x

250 WPM

Slow

Average

Fast

00:0000:00

1.25x