One more madman to usher in apocalypse?

North Korea's growing nuclear arsenal is troubling. But so is our whole global standoff.

Kim Jong-un.
(Image credit: Illustrated | Getty Images, iStock)

Every single one of us is, in a sense, insane. We face terrible threats every day, yet manage to go about our lives as if they don't exist. We drive (38,000 deaths a year). We walk (6,700 pedestrian deaths). We just hang out on the planet, emitting (150,000 deaths from climate change).

And every day is a new chance of nuclear war. The threat ebbs and flows with the headlines and the madmen behind them.

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Jason Fields

Jason Fields is a writer, editor, podcaster, and photographer who has worked at Reuters, The New York Times, The Associated Press, and The Washington Post. He hosts the Angry Planet podcast and is the author of the historical mystery "Death in Twilight."