The World is a Powder Keg. Is WWIII inevitable?

[garric]

When I look at the world right now, I can't help but feel that a World War is inevitable. There is just so much conflict and strife going on in the world today, theres no other way to go.

Europe never recovered from World War I and World War II. The economies of France, Britain, and Germany are doing fine right now, but soon they will have severe problems. The Democratic Socialist styles of government is very inefficient. Europe is no long a world power, it is in a state of decline. Russia is no longer a power anymore, and the country is very poor (I visit Russia periodically, once in a few years.).

Germany is in stagnation. The western world is going to fall indefinitely. There are many factors, such as the Housing Bubble bursting, which will lead the world into another depression.

And while the western world is falling, China is becoming stronger. Many people predict that China will be a world power in 2020 or so. It may be sooner. China has a very large population and it's economy is ever expanding.

The Middle East is in Crisis. America invaded Iraq and is now regared as an evil force to most countries in the middle east. Bush was reelected, now threatens Iran. Israel provokes things further, no nation in the middle east wants a Israeli state, yet the United States still supports Israel.

North Korea has nukes, will probably try to invade South Korea again.

Throw in a bunch of terrorism, and economic uncertainty, and watch everything blow up.

Does anyone else feel that another World War is near?

 

[Provolution]

Not really.

 

[garric]

Care to elaborate?

 

[North King]

When I look at the world right now, I can't help but feel that a World War is inevitable. There is just so much conflict and strife going on in the world today, theres no other way to go.

World War 3 is unlikely. World war, on the other hand, seems inevitable, yes.

Europe never recovered from World War I and World War II. The economies of France, Britain, and Germany are doing fine right now, but soon they will have severe problems. The Democratic Socialist styles of government is very inefficient. Europe is no long a world power, it is in a state of decline. Russia is no longer a power anymore, and the country is very poor (I visit Russia periodically, once in a few years.).

Have to completely disagree. See political affiliation for details.

Germany is in stagnation.

Not really.

The western world is going to fall indefinitely. There are many factors, such as the Housing Bubble bursting, which will lead the world into another depression.

Yup.

And while the western world is falling, China is becoming stronger. Many people predict that China will be a world power in 2020 or so. It may be sooner. China has a very large population and it's economy is ever expanding.

Yup. And I don't see anything wrong with that.

The Middle East is in Crisis. America invaded Iraq and is now regared as an evil force to most countries in the middle east. Bush was reelected, now threatens Iran. Palestine provokes things further, no nation in the middle east wants a Palestine state, yet the United States still supports Palestine.

I agree with all of this, except replace Palestine with Israel.

North Korea has nukes, will probably try to invade South Korea again.

Doubtful. They aren't that stupid. They will probably try diplomatic unification. Or federalization. Or something.

Throw in a bunch of terrorism, and economic uncertainty, and watch everything blow up.

Does anyone else feel that another World War is near?

No, but localized conflicts and especially insurgencies are quite likely.

 

[garric]

Er yes, sorry, I meant Israel.

 

[Xen]

no, and for the record, the only conflict which coudl ever arise in any possibility (as things stand now0 that woudl lead to a "world war" woudl be a American-Chinese conflict, isnt goddamn likelly at all.

 

[Knight-Dragon]

Moderator Action: Moved to OT.

 

[amadeus]

Europe's population is smart enough to know when the gravy train is derailing. They'll throw out their socialist-friendly leaders soon enough, if they want to grow, that is.

The Middle East has been relatively quiet lately, and when it has made headlines, the headlines are mostly good (Mubarak supposedly offering multi-candidate elections, revolution in Lebanon.) We're going to have our good times and our bad there. Unfortunately, the bad times sell newspapers.

China's "economic miracle" is going to end and when it does, the CCP is going to be in trouble. Once the yuan stops flowing in, people will be a lot less tolerant of communist excess.

WWIII ain't happenin'.

 

[QuoVadisNation]

All though I have to admit that peace never lasts, and war is inevitable, I simply cannot perdict anything like that because I can't forsee future events. But at the current time, no.

 

[SeleucusNicator]

We have not reached a techological level at which it makes sense for any nuclear great power to go to war with any other nuclear great power. Both sides would simply be wiped out. You won't see a true World War until somebody achieves nuclear superiority -- or believes that they can achieve it.

What you're going to see is more Cold War-type jostling for power. US against EU/China.

 

[Sword_Of_Geddon]

I think that in the future, the US and the EU could merge with Canada into some sort of Western Union, this will become more likely in the future when America loses its super-power status and can no longer exist economicly under its current form. The innvitable slide towards this could be hastened(by Hillary Clinton type internationalists) or slowed down(by a strong new Domestic Policy).

 

[Masquerouge]

When I look at the world right now, I can't help but feel that a World War is inevitable. There is just so much conflict and strife going on in the world today, theres no other way to go.

There have always been conflict and strife going on in the world at ANY TIME. The only difference is, now you're aware of them because of progress in medias coverage. And I'm really willing to bet my hand that there was MORE conflicts and strife in the precedent centuries, just because of one thing : Europe is at peace right now. That puts a serious dent in the global number of conflicts, does it ?

Europe never recovered from World War I and World War II. The economies of France, Britain, and Germany are doing fine right now, but soon they will have severe problems. The Democratic Socialist styles of government is very inefficient. Europe is no long a world power, it is in a state of decline. Russia is no longer a power anymore, and the country is very poor (I visit Russia periodically, once in a few years.).

Not at all. Mmh. I think discussing the merits of so-called "democratic socialist styles of government" is going to be a thread in itself, so to make it short : it works. Just remember, people across the world have different ideas about what a government is for. You call it 'inefficient', but what does that mean ? I can call the US govt inefficient because the US poverty rate is higher than in France, Germany and the UK, yet I'm sure you would say 'but that's not what I mean by efficient".

Germany is in stagnation. The western world is going to fall indefinitely. There are many factors, such as the Housing Bubble bursting, which will lead the world into another depression.

Errr nope again. Economical growth comes and go. You've got to realize that what is exceptionnal is constant economical growth. The norm is periods of high growth followed by periods of small recessions. Germany ruled Europe a few years ago, and it's likely they will rule Europe in a few years. And the housing bubble bursting is not world-wide.

And while the western world is falling, China is becoming stronger. Many people predict that China will be a world power in 2020 or so. It may be sooner. China has a very large population and it's economy is ever expanding.

Well, that's quite a good news, isn't it ? China becoming a world power means they will have to integrate the world economy, which means then that they will have to link and ally with its trading partners, which means the probability of a world war will lessen. Plus having more than 1 billion people coming to the world market is a huge, huge advantage for companies all around the world.
Maybe you don't like it because you want the US or Europe to stay at the top, I don't know, but frankly the more economically powerful China gets, the better for the world.
You've got to realize that it's much more efficient, if you want to get wealthy and powerful as a country, to become an economical superpower than to wage wars. And I'm pretty sure the Chinese have grasped this.

The Middle East is in Crisis. America invaded Iraq and is now regared as an evil force to most countries in the middle east. Bush was reelected, now threatens Iran. Israel provokes things further, no nation in the middle east wants a Israeli state, yet the United States still supports Israel.

Well, yes, the Middle East is in crisis. But once again, will that degenerates to world war ? Probably not. Middle East countries have everything to loose if they declared war. That means, nobody to sell oil to, that means, no more money.

North Korea has nukes, will probably try to invade South Korea again.

China will NEVER let anything trouble its current period of prosperity. China depends way too much on the stability of the asian continent (South Korea, Japan, Thailand) to allow a clown to foil its growth.

Throw in a bunch of terrorism, and economic uncertainty, and watch everything blow up.

Terrorism will not lead to world war, that's for sure. While it's spectacular and dangerous, and should be fought by all means, by its very nature terrorism is not capable of fighting a true, open world war.

Does anyone else feel that another World War is near?

While I will readily admit that the world needs some fixes and patches, and is really, really far from a peaceful place, I'm pretty much convinced no World War is near.

 

[CurtSibling]

The world is already at war.

 

[Xen]

@curt; but a world at war, and a world spannign war are still two different things, unfortunatelly, they are just about as bad as eachother.

 

[CurtSibling]

@curt; but a world at war, and a world spannign war are still two different things, unfortunatelly, they are just about as bad as eachother.

And this is different from what I said in what way?

......

 

[HamaticBabylon]

Some are saying that the 9/11 attacks are simpler to the one in 1941 (pear harbor attack). Some are even saying that the U.S’s “war on terror” is a secretly concealed plan, or more accurately “A campaign against opposition to U.S domination”…thus the beginnings of the third world war are under way.

 

[CurtSibling]

Here in the West, we are in an ideological war against extremist islam.

It is a war that has brewed since men wore iron coats and clashed swords.
While we have moved on, the jihadists still dream of battles from 800 years past.

This is war - And it can have only have two outcomes:

...The reform of islam or total destruction of Middle Eastern power.

That is the bottom line.

.

 

[Reno]

I seriously doubt that there will ever be a third world war, just because of the reasons that prevented the Cold War from actually becoming a real war. Too many WMD's that the US, Russia, China and India already have, it would not make any sense to start a nuclear war unless you have 100% certanty that your opponent will not be able to retaliate.

 

[Xen]

And this is different from what I said in what way?

......

well, a world war involves most of the earth taking definite sides in a true, large scale conflict, in a total war style of atmosphere that hasnt truelly been present in warfare since WWII, and the re-emergenc eof such a style of warafare that pits nation agiastn nation, with any all resources, man or material liable to be called up when neccsitiy bellows woudl be disasterous.

a w world at war is essentially what we have now; many contries in individual, unrelated skirmishes, with a few full blown wars ravaging the landscape.

 

[CurtSibling]

Not so.

A world war is when most nations are alligned in a war that spans the globe.

The war does not have to include hollywood style mega-battles or nuke hurling destruction.

If you can think outside the TV-mode for a moment you can see we actually are invloved in a globe-spanning conflict of ideologies.

But see it whatever way you want - I see it this way.
...