Eine Krise ist keine Zeit für Amateure

India and Pakistan are inching closer to a war that could have catastrophic implications for their region and the world, Tom Nichols writes. Is the Trump administration willing, and competent enough, to help keep the peace?

“It is in America’s interest to prevent a larger conflict, which would be a diplomatic and humanitarian disaster on multiple levels even without the introduction of nuclear weapons,” Nichols continues. “The possibility of a nuclear exchange, however, is so terrible that it is in a category of its own. Even if the use of nuclear arms were contained to the two warring nations, the disruption—and radioactive fallout—would spread across the region, and eventually make its way to American shores.”

“American presidential administrations have various interagency tools and processes that help the executive branch navigate its way through high danger, short timelines, and conflicting information,” Nichols writes. It may be that all of this is happening right now in the White House; “to paraphrase a famous Ernest Hemingway line,” Nichols continues, “it would be pretty to think so.”

“Trump, at least judging by his answer to a reporter’s question yesterday, seems unaware of what’s going on or what’s at stake,” Nichols writes. In his remarks, Trump called the situation a “shame,” drawing on “the kinds of stock phrases he employs when he’s confronted with information he seems to not fully grasp.” Trump made his remarks during a swearing-in ceremony for the amateur diplomat Steve Witkoff—a real-estate mogul with no foreign-policy experience—as his special envoy to the Middle East. “Likewise, it is improbable that Hegseth and Gabbard are up to the job of handling a major crisis,” Nichols continues.

Marco Rubio—the only person besides Henry Kissinger to have ever run the National Security Council and the State Department simultaneously—does seem busy, “to his credit,” Nichols continues. “But it would be more reassuring to see the administration focus far less on its internal grievances (and insulting our allies), and more on keeping the nuclear peace.”

Read more here: [https://theatln.tc/m0AxjoYZ](https://theatln.tc/m0AxjoYZ) 

— Evan McMurry, senior editor, audience and engagement, *The Atlantic*