WWIII: Is it being Preponed??

It ain't fun and games anymore as the turmoil in Asia worsens. Not much hope from UN, as its objectives towards a peaceful, cooperative and stable world have long been sabotaged by both its creators and owners alike. What is left of it is a increasing defunct organisation that has a more or less pro west narrative. With middle east succumbing to witch hunt and petro-dollars hunger by the western forces, focus now is steering towards the rouge Asian nations. While the west may not have any direct economic interests here apart from the weapons sale, but the actions of these rogue states to destabilise peace and threaten the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the neighbouring nations has only lead to further intimidation thereby creating a situation of unrest. Whether it is North & South Korea or Pakistan and India relation, the conflict has slowly and steadily gone ugly and out of control resulting in a mad arms race with consequences that pose threat to the rest of the world not just these regions. A clash or a war among them would pose a threat of use of nuclear weapons in all likelihood. Again one cannot expect China to behave responsibly and help curtail the situation as China itself has been fueling the fire directly or indirectly in order to pursue its own interests. As for Russia, it is calmly observing the current scenario and waiting to choose sides basis developments as they unfold.

At the time when middle east is already burning. Any new conflict if triggered especially involving nations with nuclear strike capabilities will only lead to catastrophic consequences, if not total annihilation. We have seen it in the past and the numbers highlighted below are a gentle reminder of damages that were inflicted upon all parties the last two times they were involved in such a global catastrophic affair:

Ever since 911, a witch hunt disguised as war against terrorism started on a global platform. The consequence of which if put in simple words are 'collosal chaos'. Post Afghanistan fiasco ended middle east nations became the hot bed for a wild goose chase and were literally ripped apart. Post Iraq and Yemen it boiled down to Assad regime in Syria. Till date millions have perished and even greater number have been injured and rendered homeless and are now desperately seeking refuge in European countries and elsewhere. Worst of all this war created the demons called Islamic State (IS) who have wrecked havoc in the region and are spreading their agenda in the rest of the world with Islamic nations being the most succeptible targets.

All is definately not well as confrontation between Russia and allied forces worsens post the latter bombing a troop of few dozen Syrian soldiers. Allied forced however have continued to remain in denial and have instead in an uncalled move, warned of strikes against Syrian forces, to which Russians have reverted with by elaborating on their counter offensive measures. The have gone to the extent of warning to shoot down nato jets if need be. Situation continues to remain tense. Relations between Russia and the US are at their lowest since the Cold War and have soured in recent days after Washington pulled the plug on Syria talks and accused Russia of hacking attacks. Even Iraq has now warned of regional war in case Turkish forces doesn't end their outing on Iraqi soil. There have been reported cases of confrontations between Iranian and US forces.The Sun, a leading tabloid published from the United Kingdom, has said in its report that the Russian government has ordered all its citizens staying abroad to return home at the earliest. It certainly appears that a storm is coming, sooner than expected!

North Korea despite having UN sanctions imposed upon itself continues to fuel up its nuclear arsenal which it claims to be a deterrence against the threats from west. While it may be right to certain extent and one may want to believe the deterrent concept considering the constant US bullying and their dubious wars in the middle east killing millions of civilians and destroying atleast 5 nation for cashing in on petro-dollars. But then again a nuclear arsenal at disposal of a rouge state with a dictator rule poses equally grave threat to the peace in neighbouring region.

Amidst the series of missile launches by North Korea and then their recent fifth and precisely the largest nuclear test conducted so far in september sending shock waves in the neighbouring region, has made fellow South Koreans as well as Japan increasingly concerned. China, North Korea's neighbour and lone major ally, has repeatedly expressed anger at the United States and South Korea for their decision to deploy the US Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) defence system in the South to counter missile and nuclear threats from North Korea. With US now pushing to expedite the deployment of THAAD in South Korea has made the situation increasingly tense. Both China and North Korea have warned South Koreans of retaliatory actions if they chose to go ahead with the deployment. It was this fear that previously led to the South Korean residents revolt at the original proposed site for THAAD deployment at Seongju region, southeast of the capital, Seoul. However South Korea seems unmoved by the setback as its ministry of defence gears up to use the golf course at the high end Lotte Skyhill Seongju Country Club, as the new deployment site at a whopping cost of $90.54 Million. This has led to fresh salvo of threats both from Pyongyang as well as China. Latest one where China didn't mince its words stating "...China means what it says, when it talks about taking counter measures". Already US interference in South China sea has led to bitter standoffs between the two super powers.

Situation between arch rivals India and Pakistan doesn't seem any better than Korea situation as they gear up for a possible fifth and decisive clash which may in all likelihood turn into a nuclear conflict in the Asian subcontinent, for the simple reason that while India as the fastest growing economy of the world is fully capable of sustaining a war while on the other hand Pakistan with a crumbling economy surviving on foreign aids would not be able to sustain a conventional warfare. Identical to North Korea their nuclear know how supplier Pakistan and its fast growing nuclear arsenal is posing a threat to the peace and stability in the region. A rouge state and safe heaven for some of the most wanted terrorists like Ayman Al Zawahiri (Al Qaeda head), Haafiz Saeed (JuD head) etc continues to remain a hot bed of terrorism supplying jihadi forces and suicide bombers to the rest of the world to pursue the wahhabi agenda.

The conflict between the two nations isn't new and dates back to 1947 since Pakistan's partition from India. Pakistan has been constantly engaging in proxy war - slipping in Mujahideens and actively creating and funding terrorist sleeper cells to destabilize India especially Kashmir. China again the connecting link here is playing the guardian angel for Pakistan in an attempt to intimidate India. It has its economic interest in the reason to the CPEC(China Pakistan Economic Corridor) project. It's repeated veto in UN against India's bid to ban Masood Azhar, the chief of terrorist outfit JeM says it all. While India has exercised restraint but amidst the repeated provocations it becomes difficult to maintain the status quo, especially when this year itself till the first week of Dec'16, there has been as many as 437 ceasefire violations along the loc. The attack on Uri military camp in sept where 19 Indian soldiers were killed by Pakistani mujahideen or the more recent attack at Nagrota base has sent shock waves across the country, on top of it bodies of soldiers being mutilated has made public outrage rise to extreme proportions forcing the ruling dispensation to act against the perpetrators of terrorism. The Pakistani establishment, defence, terrorist outfits as well as the army issuing warning of nuclear strike has but fueled up the fire. Indian Army in response has been firing reiterating and in oct'16 itself carried out a surgical strike destroying atleast 7 terrorist launch pads across the border, killing an estimated 35-40 terrorist who were planning to sneak into India via Kashmir. Indian PM has also up the ante exerting pressure on Pakistan by outlining a foreign policy of global isolation to make Pakistan a pariah state. Infuriated Pakistan has promised retaliations while the unrest among its army too is building up. Both India and Pakistan are nuclear state that are aggressively strengthening their defence capabilities. Pakistan's increasing nuclear stockpile and tactical nuclear capabilities always pose a threat to the stability in the region considering the jihadi forces operating at large through its soil. A possible military coup (as in the past) or Jihadi forces gaining control of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal can be anybody's worst nightmare.

It a delicate situation at the moment and with the war clouds certainly growing, civilians on both side can only pray for peace!