Can we be headed for World War III?

1. 74

   algarveviewposted 12 years ago

   Can we be headed for World War III?

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2. 87

   Doc Snowposted 12 years ago

   This is one of those questions that seems a bit vague.  Of course we 'can,' but is there something in particular that concerns you?
   
   The Iranian situation is a risk for world peace, although whether it is likely to trigger a world war is questionable:  what one needs historically for a real "World War" is a couple of really large alliances, so that belligerence for one pair of nations drags in more and more countries to the fight.  (World War I is the classic example:  a Yugoslav assassinated an Austrian, causing Austria-Hungary to issue an ultimatum to Serbia, causing Russia to defend the Serbs, bringing Germany in to defend the Austrian-Hungarians, bringing England and France in to oppose Germany.  The war contagion kept spreading over the next four years.)
   
   In today's multilateral world, it may be a bit harder for such conflicts to spread quite so quickly and widely:  military power is much more distributed today than at the beginning of the twentieth century, and there are a number of power blocs, with ties probably looser on average than they used to be.  Trade is also much more multilateral, which means that war is more obviously 'bad for business' than it used to be.
   
   Still, one should never say never.  No-one expected World War One before it happened--nor did anyone expect it to last four years, nor that it would decimate a whole generation of European youth, impoverish whole societies, and begin the complete de-stabilization of the existing world order at that time.
   
   And as climate change continues to degrade the conditions to which our agriculture and infrastructure are adapted, we can expect many potential causes of war to follow:  people (it is often said) will "raid before they starve."  For more, see:
   
   http://doc-snow.hubpages.com/hub/Climate-Wars-A-Review

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3. 77

   JohnGreasyGamerposted 12 years ago

   It depends what the circumstances would be. Our economy's going to Hell, leaders are getting greedy with oil (due to fuel crisises), religions are crumbling and immigration is going on left, right and centre. However, leaders do have strong links so I highly doubt there'll be a World War that you or I will live to see.
   
   After seeing previous wars, you'd think that we've learnt our lesson.

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4. 53

   whonunuwhoposted 12 years ago

   There most likely will be a world war, as seen in WWI and WWII,every few years. There are just too many big kids on the block who want to control everything. As far as WWIII, I believe that we have already begun the early stages of it and it will get more involved in only a short while. It appears that it will be Korea or Iran that will get the ball rolling. If the world survives this one, then somewhere down the road, most likely there will be WWIV.I don't mean to sound like a pessimist, but there are way too many hostilities and an economic down swing, which usually is one of the major causes of war.
   Perhaps leaders of the major countries will take notice of history and not become victims of greed of the power hungry and ruthless types, who usually come to no good somewhere down the road. Hitler, Mussolini, Napoleon, all serve as good examples of such leaders,who caused their countries much grief and loss of life in their brief holding of control.Leaders of some lesser countries who do not deserve the respect of mentioning their names all will eventually come to their rewards, just as Hussein and other Middle Eastern Terrorists have done in the recent past. A shame that many good people from these countries have to suffer for the actions of a few bad apples. I pray that our God intervenes and that no more costly wars happen again. Life is just too precious to waste in such terrible disasters.

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5. 61

   Lions Den Mediaposted 12 years ago

   The Department of Homeland Security just order 450 million rounds of .40 cal "hollow point" ammunition and over 150 million rounds of .233 rifle rounds. So I don't know what is on the horrizon as far as war, but apparently the U.S government is worried about something, because "hollowpoints" are killing rounds -- not target or incapacitation -- they are disigned to kill...period.

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6. 0

   Old Empresarioposted 12 years ago

   For it to be called "World War III", is has to be related directly to World War I and World War II. I don't see Germany making a comeback to snag Europe and Russia a thrid time.

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7. 0

   Larry Wallposted 12 years ago

   We have been headed to WWIII ever since WWII ended. With the end of World War II, we knew the atomic bomb could come into action again. The Iron Curtain separating eastern and western Europe was a major political issue. The Soviet Union had developed into a superpower. The Korean conflict was knocking at our door. The McCarthy Red Scare grabbed the headlines with its Congress--approved hunt for communist infiltrators. Russia put the first artificial satellite into orbit. We thought they were watching us. We practice hiding under our desks at school. Vietnam was not too far away. The Jewish state of Israel was creating, leading to conflict with the Palestinians. Vietnam would soon be coming. Thrown in at least three financial crisis since Word War II and it looks like we have been on the brink of WWIII ever since. We have been in war around the world, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and other places. We had our own internal was during the 1960s. We had ships boarded, there was 9-11 and flying today is similar to a military maneuver.  If you put it all together, it is possible that we have been fighting WWIII for more than 60 years and just have not realized it. That is a scary thought.

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8. 92

   jbosh1972posted 12 years ago

   Politics and government have gotten alot more complicated since the days of WW I and WW II.  Take the cold war for example, it lasted 30 or 40 years.  It consisted of numerous smaller conflicts and campaigns like, Vietnam, Russia vs Afganistan, marxism in Central and South America, The cuban missle crisis, bay of pigs etc etc.  I believe that the cold war was WW III and that WW IV begun with the twin tower attacks of 9/11/01.  That evening we where bombing Afganistan, in 2003 we attacked Iraq and now Iran is in our crosshairs.  So we left the war on communism and declared war on Islamic fanatasism.  I would bet this one will last at least a generation like the cold war.
   
   War is business and the defense industry is determined to keep the populace on high alert with potential enemies as long as there is money to be made.

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