Irish Examiner view: A world on permanent alert

The number of unpredictable players in geopolitics is increasing. Lines of communication have, somehow, to be kept open in worrying times

Smoke rises after shelling in Odesa, Ukraine, this month. Daily vigilance in a fragile world, made much more dangerous by Russia’s attack on Ukraine, is now a necessity. Photo: AP/Nina Lyashonok

It is 65 years since the first great novel of nuclear apocalypse shook the world. On the Beach, written by Nevil Shute after he emigrated to Australia, foresaw the aftermath of mutually assured destruction in the Northern hemisphere “with the last seismic record of explosion on the 37th day”.

World War III, caused by a superpower escalation after a nuclear attack on Italy by Albania, has polluted the atmosphere with fallout. People are still around in Melbourne, using ox carts. Suicide pills have been issued as the radiation clouds drift southwards.