September 04, 2017

It's the end of the world as we know it

located:	Korea, North, Korea, South, USA, China, Russia, India
editor:	Gurmeet Singh

OK, OK, it is an overdone reference, but if you woke up on Sunday morning feeling like the world was about to end, nobody would have called you foolish. North Korea tested a Hydrogen bomb, escalating tensions in the region and across the world, making a military conflict with the country fairly likely.

Trump talked big, obviously, and managed to offend China in the process of calling for increased dialogue. Work that one out, if you can. South Korea carried out simulated attack on North Korean nuclear sites, demonstrating its own potential for force, while leaving the door open for peaceful solutions.

There have been calls for a massive military response. There have been calls for further sanctions against North Korea. But no path forward has thus far been made clear - nobody as yet knows what the best route for the international community is. Should the world seek to destroy North Korea's economy? Should it appease the government? Is China deliberately cultivating this rogue state so to upset American stability? Nobody seems to be quite sure what to do.

But that is not necessarily a bad thing. The last time the world reached a nuclear impasse, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, it took a little under a fortnight for any concrete solution to be found - and that came after a delay in action. Both America and Russia bluffed, not giving away their hands, showing military strength, but neither making a decisive move - indeed, it was precisely this lack of action which enabled leadership to come to a peaceful agreement, involving political compromises.

Maybe that could also happen this time. The difficulty, it would seem, is that not only are there more actors involved, there are more potential flashpoints. Not only must China, Russia, India, America, South Korea and others act together, the tone of their work must also be one of de-escalation. And given the fact we have spent months laughing at Donald Trump's twitter tendencies, that seems to be no small task. In all seriousness, it seems the whole world could go to war because of a tweet.

Obviously, we hope some peaceful solution can be found. The outgoing strategic racist Steve Bannon wasn't wrong when he commented that millions of people in Seoul would die if a tipping were reached - instantly. And that would be obviously the worst of all possible worlds.