Opinion page 2-Doomsday Clock at 2 minutes to Midnight

Opinion page 2 Thomas Terrio's View from the West, In my View-March 8, 2018

Doomsday Clock at 2 minutes to Midnight

Not since 1953 have Atomic Scientists moved clock so close

By Thomas Terrio

The Chinese have an ancient curse which says, “May you live in interesting times.” Well my dear friends we most certainly do; specifically when it comes to the relationship between the United States of America and the global community. President Donald Trump’s latest fixation to add additional tariffs on all foreign steel and aluminum is simply just another example of impulsive decision-making in his volatile administration.

At first, Trump appeared as a saviour to America’s downtrodden; someone who would “Make America great again.” He would do this by putting coal miners and farmers back to work, and by bringing the smartest minds together in an effort to improve America’s socio-economic order; a socio- economic order burdened by a national debt that has now gone beyond $18 trillion US.

What explains his charging-bull approach to politics along with his Machiavellian trade techniques, is the fact Trump is a businessman who never held elected office before, and now appears to be acting with impunity as President of the United States. For example, suddenly threatening to scrap the long-standing North American Free Trade Agreement, shook the capitols of Canada and Mexico. Quite obviously, Trump is allowing his lack of political experience to get the better of him.

Trump has also twisted the truth in many ways by creating doubt in journalism and the media with the term “Fake news” as a standard for any comment or report he disagrees with. America under Donald Trump is now more polarized than ever. You are either with the President, or not.

What’s worse is his audacious handling of international affairs regarding Russia, China, North Korea and Iran. Indeed, one of his first campaign mistakes was asking the Russian government for assistance in recovering Hillary Clinton’s questionable emails. In July of 2016 candidate Trump said, “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. I think that you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press—let’s see if that happens, that’ll be nice.”

Special counsel Robert Meuller is now investigating whether or not there was collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government to illegally influence the outcome of the 2016 American presidential election. Furthermore, under the Trump presidency, Russia, China, North Korea and Iran have increased their military capabilities as well as their bravado.

These are dangerous times. The Doomsday Clock established by the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists has moved the clock 2 minutes to midnight. “The Bulletin was founded in 1945 by Manhattan Project scientists who ‘could not remain aloof to the consequences of their work.’” Nuclear weapons along with other weapons of mass destruction now deployed on a global scale by the major powers are a real threat to the existence of humanity. Remember, it took the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end World War II. In my view, any such conflict between the major powers developing into a third world war will end in the same way―with the use of nuclear weapons.

Vladimir Putin’s speech on March 1 warning the US of Russia’s “invincible” nuclear triad is only one example of the rise in tensions. China, like Russia, has also stepped-up its activity in the South China Sea and elsewhere with a new military strategy challenging the US and its allies with a more aggressive stance called Anti-Access/Area Denial. Furthermore, the rogue state of North Korea has recently completed the development of a nuclear capable ballistic missile.

In 2015, after lengthy discussions throughout the international community, Iran agreed to the peaceful development of its nuclear energy. The agreement under President Barack Obama involving Iran and the U.S., Russia, China, Great Britain, France and Germany called on Tehran to limit its nuclear program to peaceful activities in exchange for lifting punishing UN sanctions. Trump has claimed the nuclear deal with Iran is “the worst deal ever.” Today, Iran is in a proxy war in Yemen against so-called American ally Saudi Arabia, in an attempt to expand its sphere of influence in the Middle East.

Indeed, when Donald Trump speaks from a prepared speech, he’s simply not believable; and when he speaks without a prepared text, he’s impulsive, confrontational and unpredictable. Based on this attitude, confusion and angst abounds in the global community.

A confrontational approach, whether political, economic, or involving the military―usually ends in confrontation. And at the moment, President Trump’s impetuous approach to decision-making appears to be a clear and present danger to world peace and global stability. I hope I’m wrong, but only time will tell.