Some leaders believe they are only truly powerful when they strike fear in others. They get heady with this sense of power and start playing god with people’s lives.
It could be that they gradually worked their way into this mindset. They could have started as regular, well-meaning public servants but degenerated into megalomaniacs after experiencing the perks and privileges of having everybody saying “yes” to them.
Some, like North Korean Kim Jong Un, are born and raised in an environment that led their people to not only admire or respect them, but to blindly revere them.
And so it is that North Koreans celebrated this week when their madman of a leader ordered the detonation of a hydrogen bomb more powerful than the one that leveled Hiroshima more than 70 years ago. It was a nuclear test, of course, but a provocative one, meant to show the rest of the world that Kim’s country is a force to be reckoned with.
As a result of the test bombing, a magnitude-6.3 earthquake was felt near the testing site and in parts of China and Russia.
But the effects of North Korea leader’s display of power transcends the temblors; indeed the world now stands on shakier ground as other countries ponder how they should respond to Mr. Kim’s threats. United States president Donald Trump, himself unhinged, warned of a massive military response. The secretary general of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, said the test is profoundly destabilizing as the Security Council prepares to hold an emergency meeting.
Manila officials say they do not expect a direct threat from a North Korea strike even as contingency measures are already in place.
Last week, Pyongyang fired a missile over Japan.
It is tragic how Kim and Trump can trade barbs like schoolyard bullies as if the rest of the world did not have other pressing crises to think about. There are extremism, and hunger, and hatred, and natural disasters. What good would any display of nuclear power do if not to fuel the lunacy of one man and challenge his foes to show theirs is greater?
Unfortunately, we are really at the mercy of these leaders, for better or for worse, but mostly the latter. We can only hold our breath as we hope they find other things with which to amuse themselves and that the stakes won’t be as high.