Opinion | Today’s Opinions: Spare a thought for nuclear war with China
“This is a danger that China hawks — and the U.S. public in general — do not pay sufficient attention to,” he writes. Instead, we let ourselves believe that outright nuclear conflict is off the table, a wrong idea reinforced by committee hearings and war games that focus on anything but.
If you need help getting the nuclear juices flowing, Max imagines in his column a scenario that shows exactly how easily escalation could occur. No spoilers, but as a person living in the major U.S. city closest to China (Honolulu), I will be thinking about nuclear war plenty!
Short of actual warfare, the United States also needs to compete more effectively with China in the story it tells the world. And former defense secretary Robert M. Gates writes that what this requires is a greater investment in public diplomacy.
With Max’s doomsday clock ticking, Gates lays out a timely pitch for a revamp for “the country that invented public relations.”
Chaser: The Editorial Board late last year explained the dynamics of the nuclear arms race going from two powers — the United States and Russia — to three, with China.
Europe is failing the migrant crisis
In just a four-day period this month, Italian authorities had to rescue more than 3,000 migrants trying to make their way on boats from North Africa. Only a few weeks earlier, a vessel headed for Calabria fatally capsized with shore in sight.
Migration to Europe is again a crisis. And Europe’s response — “bungling, inhumane and denialist,” the Editorial Board writes — is one, too.
The Board’s editorial explains the causes of the surge, reaching into sub-Saharan Africa, and it proposes both short-term fixes and a long-term solution. They might be…