Photo via NY Mag
World prepares for possibility of nuclear war
By Braeden Mandrusiak, Contributor
Since the start of 2017, North Korea has been all over the headlines surrounding the continuation of its highly-criticized nuclear program, but the recent election of Donald Trump in the US has certainly caused a flare-up to an already contentious relationship between the two countries, bringing it to a potential breaking point.
The North Korean government has launched a multitude of missiles this year, with some narrowly missing Japan.
A recent UN security council vote has imposed a new set of sanctions on North Korea, which limits the country from receiving crude oil and petroleum imports; Russia and China went against their old ally to vote in favour of the sanctions to appease Trump, who has asked for more cooperation from those two countries.
Based on recent North Korean nuclear threats directed towards the US, Trump said they will “face fire and fury like the world has never seen.” Kim Jong-un responded by releasing invasion plans for the US territory of Guam to quell the rhetoric coming from Trump.
Joint US-South Korea military exercises against North Korea went ahead, even though Russia and China proposed a halt to them to appease Pyongyang.
The US and Japan are the primary targets of North Korean aggression, but Canada may be caught in the middle of a nuclear conflict if one does occur between the two countries.
Officials in Canada have considered joining the US ballistic missile defense program to protect the country from a possible nuclear attack; however, the Liberal government vetoed such efforts to retain a previous judgment made in 2005 by former prime minister Paul Martin.
“The extent of the US policy is not to defend Canada,” said Lt.-Gen. Pierre St-Amand of NORAD during a parliamentary committee meeting. Although the threat of nuclear war is serious, it seems as if the US and North Korea need to settle their playground feud through diplomatic action.
Diplomacy has been used in the past to resolve conflicts, and it seems like the best option that the world has. Military means will certainly bring about an unnecessary amount of grief for both sides, which will harm overall stability in a developing region of the world.
The use of empty threats will not lead to a resolution, so a solution must be implemented by the major players if the world hopes to avoid total annihilation.
