I am going to bed wondering if war will break out on the Korean Peninsula.
Scary prospect bordering on unthinkable. With men like Donald Trump and Kim Jong un, unpredictable and reckless, it is possible that they will actually provoke the other to react without thinking about the consequences that it will have on so many lives for so many years to come.
So far it seems that China, South Korea, Japan, and Russia unanimously want a peaceful resolution but Trump has made a move that could lead to war.
I long to see all nuclear arsenal disposed of in this world and for Donald Trump and Kim Jong in to meet face to face in a room.
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And thank you David for all your comments too. It's really hard to trust Trump and his inner circle with one exception, which is that he hopes to gain a lot of money and approval from his actions.
I agree with you Rob that we shouldn't despair despite our foolish nature but I must admit that I feel quite powerless and have no idea what to do about Trump and his threats to the Korean Peninsula.
It is easier to view North Korea as one homogenous and vast military bureaucracy than to view the global culture in the same light. Our refuge in government is refuge in military bureaucracy; we are generally saved from seeing the consequences too closely and choose more virtuous identities. A reflection back through our lives at just how strenuously we have worked towards a more compassionate culture will usually show just how much we really have chosen samsara. We really are not so peaceable, particularly when threatened. We are not so generous, nor so compassionate. How much easier to go with the flow and the flow in our time is too often to at best turn our backs on such horrors and adopt a sense of inability to have any personal impact on this flow.
I say that each of us has certainly added to this great grief and regularly done so and also that this should not be a factor in not acting for change. The best I can say of this time is that we still have time in which we can act for change and there is urgency in doing so in whatever way may seem to be useful and appropriate.
Yes, I know what you mean. The big political goings on are like a larger than life theatre that reflects the same bombu nature back to us as we encounter in smaller ways (though to each of us personally feeling larger) every day.
With Cuba, Khrushrev did a deal. US took missiles out of Turkey in return for Russia taking missiles out of Cuba. Of course, the Western press only publicised one half of the deal. In this present situation the parallel question would be to do with whether the US and China really do have an understanding or not. China's view would be basically we'll pull out of supporting the north if you pull out of the south, but I can't see that happening.
The horrible thing about so much of this is the old adage that the best form of defense is attack. So much brinkmanship.
Judging by the number of cruise missiles that were successfully destroyed in the Syrian attack I expect that even if North Korea as nuclear weapons and a method of delivery that these would be destroyed in the many thousands of kilometres to the USA or even Japan. But the whole of Korea could be destroyed in minutes and then repercussions likely to lead to large use of nuclear weapons.
Kim Il Sung has 'apparently' stated that any aggression felt by the presence of the US fleet approaching his country would result in him attacking the US with nuclear weapons. Yes this is Bay of Pigs standoff with much more of consequence in weaponry and this time there seemsno khrushrev type of leader who would back down on US willingness to enter nuclear war.
Yes, it is alarming. Trump has found that he can regain some of the popularity that he was losing by doing spectacular things on the world stage. He seems to like making big bangs that then get talked about approvingly on US TV. In the Korean situation that could be very dangerous. It seems likely that he will try to do something spectacular and all then depends upon how the other side respond. With the bombing in Syria, the other side (in that case Putin/Assad) effectively kept their cool and, apart from a few diplomatic skirmishes, have just carried on as if it did not happen, fairly confident that it is not likely to be repeated any time soon. With the mega-bomb in Afghanistan, the other side (here it is IS) is not in a position to do anything directly though they may well retaliate in a little while with some horrible incident. Such a retaliation is not likely to change the big picture very much, however. In a sense therefore, those two were easy "wins" for Trump and he desperately needed to score some popularity points after the failures of his initiatives on health and immigration. Korea could be different. Let's hope that with the efforts of the other powers in the region, some peaceful way through this can be found. Korea needs reuniting, not blowing up.