WW III

Is anyone else seeing the pattern?

United States, France, and Russia joining forces. ISIS and Boko Haram teaming up. I hate to sound like the guy walking down the street with a sign that says "The End is Nigh" but what I see coming is World War 3, or at least what will in the future be known as such.

The world is becoming a very scary place. Your thoughts?

There have been conflicts like this since WWII was over basically. The cold war was basically 30 years of "WWIII could happen at any minute!" Then we launched right into Desert Storm, which had a lot more actual fighting but less tension (possibly due to actual fighting taking place). Then Al-Queda, now ISIS. It is entirely possible that the world had enough of World Wars after the second one.

Granted, my knowledge of politics is not the best and I wasn't around for the cold war and was too young to remember Desert Storm so I am fully acknowledging that I could be totally wrong. But that is my opinion.

I appreciate your point, Goken, but the Cold War was just that, cold. No shots were fired, no missiles were launched. The Gulf Wars were just generally USA against Iraq. What I'm seeing here are the groupings. Allies vs. Axis, so to speak. I don't know, but I get a chill when I think about it. One of those creeping, icy feelings that crawl up your spine.

"I feel cold. Death."

If you're interested in learning more about how the politics are unfolding, and what's driving them, you can start here with his article of ISIS: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/nov/16/isis-bombs-hostage-syria-islamic-state-paris-attacks

WWIII seems to be assymmetric warfare - war between belligerents whose relative military power differs significantly, or whose strategy or tactics differ significantly. WWIII is a war on you, I and the rest of the 'common' people because as things move along terrorists will target random people cause they can't get away with direct confrontation with the world's militaries, and also the governments have and will turn on their own people subjecting them to insane security measures and loss of liberties that do nothing to curb the terrorists.

I could go into all sorts of conspiracy stuff about US/EU/NATO trying to provoke Russia into attacking first, economic warfare with China, something happening with this ISIS stuff that gets Russia/China/Iran and others together against the West. Really no one can know for sure, I do know that this war against terrorism is just like fighting blind because there will always be collateral damage and backlashes with each step that is taken. It has the potential to never end until the major world powers agree to implement and all out police state which is clearly happening or going to happen. Then the UN and the militaries of the world will basically occupy the developing world or "third world subregions" as they have been called.

I've lately found myself wondering if perhaps World War 3 has already begun, Streen, and we just haven't dared to call it that yet. The nations and groups directly involved that I'm aware of are numerous: at a minimum, France, Britain, Russia, Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and - to the extent we attribute them with governing authority - Hezbollah and IS.

I've recently read that the accepted definition of a world war among historians and political leaders is an armed conflict involving at least 20 countries and spanning at least two continents. By that definition, it looks like the current conflict doesn't meet the grade so far - but it is still too tragic and severe.

I am not young. Given my youthful expectations that we were making our way to a radiant future, it's difficult to express how disappointing I find the current circumstances. Even if currently-active armed conflict was to cease immediately, absent miraculous and widespread incidences of soul healing its impact upon the psyches of millions of young adults and children will impact generations.

And yet we must not yield to despair. Making the best of our circumstances - whether pleasant or harsh - is a powerful means of growth in character and spirit. May we each endure, and find our way to better times.

US and Russia joining forces? I doubt it. Just because Russia is towing the line and condeming international terrorism, doesn't mean they're on the side of the US. Until as recently as a month ago they've been supporting different sides in Syria, before that tensions were very high between them about what Russia was doing in Ukraine.

https://www.rt.com/usa/320572-general-milley-russia-threat/
http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2015/08/15/424849/Washington-Moscow-US-military-buildup-
http://www.valuewalk.com/2015/11/us-military-faces-great-threat-from-russias-navy/
http://news.antiwar.com/2015/08/20/defense-secretary-russia-an-existential-threat-to-us/

The threat of the US vs a Russian/Iranian/whoever else (worst case scenario China) pact is far more worrying to me than the idea the States and Russia will team up against the comparatively tiny IS and BH.

Streen wrote: I appreciate your point, Goken, but the Cold War was just that, cold. No shots were fired, no missiles were launched. The Gulf Wars were just generally USA against Iraq. What I'm seeing here are the groupings. Allies vs. Axis, so to speak. I don't know, but I get a chill when I think about it. One of those creeping, icy feelings that crawl up your spine.

"I feel cold. Death."

No shots fired ? No missiles launched ? Uhm ... What would you call Korea and Viet Nam ? 'Hot' spots in a 'Cold' War ?

The period from 1945 to 1991 (and really ever since then) have not been a utopia of peaceful paradise. As it were, we tend to forget about conflicts that are but ideological. World War II was probably the last great geographical conflict. Then there was communism ... now it is radical religion ... Those don't have culturally and geographically homogeneous roots.

In short, World War III began when we switched from national to ideological conflicts ... there wasn't a date for that, but it happened. And we're still in it.

It will be difficult to identify a "WWIII" in the way we identified the previous conflicts. Even as late as WWII, the sides fighting were pretty well defined. It was "Allies" vs "Axis" and everybody knew who was who. The smaller nations in the middle pretty much had to pick a side or get run over. Even the neutral parties defined themselves as such. Ireland went as far as to place markings on the ground that could be seen from bombers in order to identify their country as apart from England.

Warfare was also waged by more established and agreed upon means. Nation states declared war and utilized military personnel to fight them. Granted, some underhanded shady stuff still went on, but it wasn't denied. When a U-Boat sank a cruise liner, it was because the cruise liner either had troops on it or it shouldn't have been there in the first place. Germany didn't apologize for it because it was a WAR.

During Korea and Viet Nam, things started getting a little tricky. It was "police action" with no real defined goals. International borders and boundaries were being ignored by all sides. Guerilla warfare and espionage came to the forefront with the battles being waged by intelligence agencies as much as by soldiers.

There hasn't been a "declared war" in any real sense in 70 years. It has been a war of ideas. This paradigm shift, along with new technology, has made the world a borderless free-for-all. War is no longer "Us" vs "Them" as a conflict of nations. It is combatants disguised as civilians throughout any country in the world. Airliners are shot down or disappear without any legal form of military retribution possible. What the U.S. or Russia or anyone else for that matter have to say about the rules of war mean very little in a cyber war waged between IS and Anonymous. We're in a brand new world, ladies and gentlemen. A global community where EVERY conflict is now a "world war".

*shrugs* I'm at a point where I'm like- "Can we just declare it and get it over with? Might save more lives in the long run to have every country go in and take out ISIS at once. *rolls eyes*