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The most sinister parlour game of our times is wargaming if, when and where Donald Trump will strike should he decide, as so many leaders before him have, that he needs a war to burnish his reputation as a decisive leader or to help the electorate overlook his blunders.

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The commander-in-chief is embarked on a $54 billion military spending spree to increase his options. At or near the top of Trump’s potential hit-list would most likely be North Korea, Iran, Russia and China. Another possibility is a wider war against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, and al-Qaida. In fact, that never-ending drama is already having new chapters written in Syria, Yemen and — although we don’t hear much about it yet — maybe Libya.

Each of these present different challenges. ISIL excepted, what these adversaries have in common is that they have long-range missiles and nuclear weapons, or badly want to have them. Even were there a good reason to hit one of the potential targets, attacking any of them is fraught with peril.