With the conflict still going on in Afghanistan, the War in Iraq still going strong, the Israel conflicts growing stronger, the North Korea situation, and everything else that is going on is the world headed into World War III?
I think a better discussion is what constitutes a world war... My definition is not the number of nations involved but the intensity of these conflicts and the number of casualties. The worlds wars killed millions, and I don't see such a thing immediately on the horizon. The most troubling front, as I see it, is the India/Pakistan arms race. The U.S. is happily selling death machines to both sides ... not to bash the US as if we don't sell them weapons, the French or Russians will. I wonder if mutually assured distruction will be work now that they both possess atomic weapons.
If the Middle East blows itself up, there won't be any fuel to fight WWIII. Unless Russia and China and some small fries team up against the U.S. and India and some small fries, I wouldn't consider it a world war.
I don't know yet. It kind of seems like it, though. Natural fear wants me to say no, but I don't know. What's eerie is that that one guy who posted blogs on the internet a long time ago saying that he was from the future said that we entered world war 3 in 2006 or 2007, and nearly 1/2 of the world's population died as a result. Or something like that....
no, there have been many times where both the number and the scope of conflicts were worse post WWII. One good thing is that major powers are all going in the same direction (either in or toward capitalism) and IMO that will buffer great power conflicts for the forseeable future.
I see global stability weakening, but a world war is unlikely. I think climate change will be the most likely cause of increasing regional conflicts.
The World Wars were hegemonic. The Middle East is a rising power, but I don't see them really challenging for hegemony in the near future. If we get a fight between some combination of US, EU, China, and India, that can be a world war. I could see the Middle East getting involved a 100 years down the line if they can take their oil wealth and actually develop the rest of their economy with it.
before we know it...Japan will start re-arming itself, claiming "it's for self defense" and NK and Japan will go at it and South Korea and China will join NK against japan. Iran, Russia will join the party, forcing the US of A into it...blah blah blah... I know that "scenerio" will probably never happen. but history repeats itself...You never know?! I feel like playing some good old civilization after work...
I have been contemplating starting a thread exactly like this. It sure seems there are a lot of conflicts popping up all over the place. I hope it calms down soon.
Nothing different than what has been going on for centuries, we just have better news coverage and are better at killing. DD
another question has the iraq war enboldened all these countries involved? its like everyone is saying, if the us can do it, why not us.. or since the us is too tied down with the iraq war (militarily,financially, and politically), nows the time to take action..
WWI started cause some Archduke was assasinated and that one event sparked off the whole thing. To dismiss this and say it can't continue to escalate is keeping your head in the sand. I guarentee the White house is watching the very very closely 24/7. Already, Syria, Lebenon, Palastine, America and Isreal are involved. This ain't good. Odds are, it won't escalate. But the oxygen, ignition and fuel source is present.
