President Donald Trump's foray into nuclear politics has created a "giant firestorm" that makes a nightmare scenario increasingly likely, according to one political scientist.
Robert Pape, a political scientist at the University of Chicago, argued during a recent episode of "The Court of History" podcast on the Legal AF Network that Trump's demand that Saudi Arabia sign the Abraham Accords, and thereby normalize relations with Israel, is likely to backfire. Pape noted that the agreement provides no way to prevent Saudi Arabia from enriching uranium because there is no oversight or enforcement.
"President Trump seems to realize this has touched off the giant firestorm," Pape said, noting that the deal increased Saudi Arabia's chances of getting a nuclear weapon from 98% to 99.999%.
Once Saudi Arabia has a nuclear weapon, it's only a matter of time before other nations start knocking, Pape said. All of a sudden, nuclear weapons would proliferate across the globe.
"What does it mean for [countries] besides Iran? It means the [United Arab Emirates] knocking on the door, 'Hey, what do you mean Saudi Arabia doesn't have to abide by these gold standards? We want to slip them as well here.' And then, of course, it doesn't take much to start looking at why Ukraine is not going down this road ... And why isn't Poland talking about doing this?"
Pape said the situation could result in another forever war "quagmire" that Trump is unable to pull the U.S. out of.
"If you thought you couldn't have made the situation worse, there was already a fire, and we're already pouring gasoline on the fire," Pape said.