Unreliability of Donald Trump's US means a cascade of nuclear armament is on the way

Since coming back to office, Trump has taken a wrecking ball to the rules-based international order which his predecessors put in place after 1945

Protesters gather in front of the Iranian embassy carrying candles and Iranian flags during a stand honouring the Iranian armed forces generals, nuclear scientists, and their family members who were killed in Israeli strikes, in Baghdad, Iraq. Picture: Hadi Mizban/AP

At first glance, the recent joint US/Israeli attack on Iran looks like yet another flare up of regional rivalries in a Middle East tortured by endless conflict, intense geopolitical competition, and mass murder. 

Unlike previous iterations of conflict involving Israel, this bout has not triggered a wider conflagration, as was the case in 1967 and 1973.