Opinion: Donald Trump vs. Kim Jong Un is exactly why the world should rid itself of nukes

To the editor: The Trump administration’s dispatching of the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson and its battle group to the Korean peninsula brings the world one step closer to a nightmare scenario envisioned in the last century: the nth power problem. (“Trump administration warns North Korea against provocation,” April 9)

As nation after increasingly unstable nation joined the nuclear club throughout the 1950s, ’60s and beyond, the question arose: Which would be the first, when losing or stalemated in some conventional conflict, to escalate by using these ultimate, city-smashing weapons?

Today we are approaching that scenario. Two nuclear-capable nations, each with an unstable leader, are challenging each other. Any nuclear exchange between the United States and the threshold nuclear power North Korea has the very real potential of bringing in Pyongyang’s far more capable ally, China — exactly what happened the last time the U.S. and North Korea faced off militarily.

From there? It is impossible to predict. But only a fool would be optimistic.

Ron Bonn, San Diego

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