DAILY MAIL COMMENT: Trump should stop tweeting us into war and start engaging in calm, level-headed diplomacy

By DAILY MAIL COMMENT

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'In the past fortnight, Mr Trump has abandoned entirely his election campaign promises to avoid foreign entanglements.'

'In the past fortnight, Mr Trump has abandoned entirely his election campaign promises to avoid foreign entanglements.'

The Mail – like millions of people around the world who fear the outbreak of war – had hoped that over Easter the growing tensions in the Korean peninsula would abate. Instead, both sides seem determined to crank them up still further.

From the US, the drumbeat of war is growing louder. Not content with sending a powerful naval force to the region, President Trump ill-advisedly used Twitter to boast about the scale of the military build-up.

Fuelling fears of a pre-emptive strike against North Korea’s nuclear facilities, US security adviser Lieutenant General McMaster declared that the situation ‘just can’t continue’ and is ‘coming to a head’.

With chilling echoes of the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, Vice President Mike Pence also used a visit to the South Korean capital Seoul to insist that ‘freedom will ever prevail on this peninsula’.

The prospect of an unprovoked attack by the US is truly terrifying. It would inevitably spark a backlash from Kim Jong-un. Worse, it would risk dragging China into defending its close ally and raise the chances of a devastating nuclear conflict.

There is little comfort to be had from the failure of North Korea’s missile launch, although at least the regime did not attempt to detonate another nuclear bomb. Nevertheless, it has a frightening array of conventional weapons pointed at South Korea and has promised to respond to any attack with an ‘annihilating strike’.

If US sabre-rattling is designed to force China into restraining Kim Jong-un – the unhinged dictator it props up with food and power – and curtailing his nuclear programme, it shows little sign of working.

In the past fortnight, Mr Trump has abandoned entirely his election campaign promises to avoid foreign entanglements.

'Instead of a further act of recklessness in attacking North Korea, Mr Trump should step back from the brink and – if he is capable of it – start engaging in calm, level-headed diplomacy.'

'Instead of a further act of recklessness in attacking North Korea, Mr Trump should step back from the brink and – if he is capable of it – start engaging in calm, level-headed diplomacy.'

With former generals now apparently dictating policy, he has inflamed the Middle East with a cruise missile assault on a Syrian airbase and dropped the ‘mother of all bombs’ on Afghanistan.

Instead of a further act of recklessness in attacking North Korea, Mr Trump should step back from the brink and – if he is capable of it – start engaging in calm, level-headed diplomacy.

In his Easter address, Pope Francis urged restraint and told world leaders to have the ‘courage they need to prevent the spread of conflicts’. For all our sakes, it is a message they should heed – and urgently.

 

A bitter Remoaner

Theresa May deserves praise for defending the right of Christians in this country to speak out about their faith - she spoke authentically, as the daughter of a Church of England vicar

Theresa May deserves praise for defending the right of Christians in this country to speak out about their faith - she spoke authentically, as the daughter of a Church of England vicar

Theresa May deserves praise for defending the right of Christians in this country to speak out about their faith.

In her Easter message, the Prime Minister also voiced concern for the millions of Christians around the world who are persecuted and must practise their faith ‘in secret and often in fear’.

She spoke authentically, as the daughter of a Church of England vicar, and sent an optimistic message of unity and hope for the future of this country post-Brexit, which will have been well received by Christians as well as those of other faiths and none.

One exception was that cynical propagandist Alastair Campbell who said Mrs May had come close to claiming God would have voted Leave, when she said nothing of the sort.

It’s another falsehood to add to the long list that has poured from the poisonous mouth of this professional liar.

As for his claim that Britain is more divided than ever, isn’t it people like him –who bitterly refuse to accept the referendum result – who do more to sow division than anyone else?

 

Common sense suggests that offering GPs cash incentives to ration operations and scans makes it more likely that genuinely sick people will be denied appropriate treatment. That these perverse incentives now apply to some urgent cancer scans and heart tests is deeply worrying.

GPs are being paid millions to not refer patients for a variety of important tests including some urgent cancer scans, abdomen scans as well as knee and hip replacement surgeries

GPs are being paid millions to not refer patients for a variety of important tests including some urgent cancer scans, abdomen scans as well as knee and hip replacement surgeries

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