Give him the Nobel Peace Prize

Give him the Nobel Peace Prize | Daily Tribune

Although Donald Trump possesses some flaws as we all do, he also has admirable qualities we can all strive to follow —- traits that have been instrumental in helping him achieve outstanding success. His legacies qualify him for the Nobel Prize for Peace.

Trump has the talent and charm to make warring men friends. He met both Kim Jung Un, the leader of North Korea, and Moon Jae-In, the President of South Korea, right at the border village of Panmunjom, a breakthrough for peace, symbolic of his obsession.

Trump also struck a peace accord between Israel and the United Arab Emirates. The peace pact between Israel and Bahrain may be followed by the rest, as Kosovo agreed to recognize Israel, and Syria also moved to imitate. During Trump’s presidency, peace was starting to grow across the Middle East.

Many scholars have posited that a global thermonuclear war with a Cold War-era stockpile, even with a current smaller stockpile, may lead to human extinction. This position was bolstered when nuclear winter was conceptualized and modeled in 1983.

Can humans survive a nuclear war between NATO and Russia?

Russian leader Vladimir Putin has suggested that he would consider using nuclear weapons if confronted with a NATO military response in Ukraine, or if faced with a direct threat to his person or regime. That means that Russia’s conflict with Ukraine is a personal matter for Putin, and if death becomes a certainty to him, he might as well take the entire world with him and his regime.

If the war spreads to a NATO country like Poland, a direct US-Russia confrontation would take place, with a clear degree of runaway nuclear escalation. Our world, therefore, is now closer to nuclear conflict than at any other time.

The advice of His Eminence, Luis Antonio “Chito” Cardinal Tagle, has become relevant for all the 91 million Roman Catholics (80 percent of 114 million Filipinos) here and abroad to lead the prayer, to take heed of his advice on the life-giving touch of Jesus.

“My dear brothers and sisters, let us all beg Jesus to touch us, and continue to touch us. Let us beg Jesus to touch us, our families, and our world.”

Cardinal Chito’s advice: Take heed. “Let us have the courage to go to Jesus to touch Him, and do not allow the envious devil to touch us, and continue touching the world, destroying the world.” Because there is now the likelihood of complete human extinction.

What would a full-scale nuclear exchange look like in reality? Is it truly global Armageddon? Would it be survivable for some people and places?

Many scientists have investigated the question. The result of their investigation is not known by many. It must be because, in peacetime, no one wants to think the unthinkable.

In 1932, Einstein asked Freud, “Is there any way of delivering mankind from the menace of war?” Freud answered that war is inevitable because humans have an instinct to self-destroy, a death instinct that must be externalized to survive.

How can the world prevent a nuclear war?

Reducing the risk of nuclear war will require domestic policy changes in all those countries, as well as cooperation and verified agreements between them. Diplomacy has a strong track record.

Nuclear weapons are meant to deter nuclear attacks by other countries. However, current policy allows the United States to begin a nuclear war by being the first to use nuclear weapons in a conflict—in response to a non-nuclear attack by North Korea, Russia, or China.

A “no-first-use” policy would take this option off the table. The United States could pledge that it will never be the first to use a nuclear weapon, regardless of the circumstances.

Doing so would reduce the risk of a miscalculation during a crisis and limit the possibility of a non-nuclear conflict escalating into a nuclear one.