In searching for any kind of precedent, some have looked to Harry S Truman, who famously told Japan in 1945 that if they did not surrender, “they may expect a rain of ruin from the air, the like of which has never been seen on this Earth”. But the differences are obvious. Truman made that statement after he had already dropped the atomic bomb, not before. He did not precede that fateful action with bluster and rhetoric, but silence. More fundamentally, Japan posed no atomic threat to the US: unlike North Korea, it did not have even an embryonic arsenal. … [Read more...] about Trump has taken us to the brink of nuclear war. Can he be stopped?
Asia pacific
Joe Biden will lead the US back to international cooperation
Pandemic diseases such as Covid-19 are a classic example of an international externality that individual governments can’t adequately address on their own. International cooperation is a far more effective way to investigate local disease outbreaks and warn of global dangers; coordinate research, development, production and distribution of vaccines or treatments; and agree on procedures for restricting or quarantining cross-border travellers. The WHO is not perfect, but it is obviously needed now. … [Read more...] about Joe Biden will lead the US back to international cooperation
Coronavirus digest: US braces for post-Thanksgiving ‘surge’
"Often the big news story has a technical word that's associated with it and in this case, the word pandemic is not just technical but has become general. It's probably the word by which we'll refer to this period in the future,'' Peter Sokolowski, editor at large for Merriam Webster, told the Associated Press. … [Read more...] about Coronavirus digest: US braces for post-Thanksgiving ‘surge’
Plastic in paradise: Goldman prize winner’s fight to protect Bahamas
The importance of indigenous rights was also recognised in the choices for Asia and North America: Paul Sein Twa, who led the successful struggle of the Karen people to establish a 1.35m-acre peace park and biodiversity zone in the Salween river basin of Myanmar, and Leydy Pech, an indigenous Mayan beekeeper, who led a successful legal challenge against Monsanto’s plans to plant genetically modified soya beans in southern Mexico. … [Read more...] about Plastic in paradise: Goldman prize winner’s fight to protect Bahamas
