A nuclear crisis from hell

Controversial: North Korea said it had successfully tested a new ballistic missile, triggering calls for an urgent UN Security Council meeting. — AFP

GEORGE W. Bush invaded Iraq to remove its – ultimately nonexistent – weapons of mass destruction. Barack Obama used cyber weaponry and sanctions to deter Iran from building its own atomic bomb.

Now Donald Trump faces North Korea, but stopping its nuclear and missile programme may prove impossible, creating what may be his first and perhaps defining international crisis.