Wwiii

[Nobody]

How many civilians were killed in the cold war?

millions, if you add up all of korea, veitnam, arab-israeil wars, afganistan and other smaller wars, millions dead. but i don't think it was a world war just a political enviroment that spawned smaller wars. I think the next world war will be either the world trying to stop america, or in a multipolar world a entanglemt of allainces similar to ww1 but with nuclear war.

 

[Winner]

Neither Cold war or War against the Terror can be considered as World Wars.

World War is a conflict, where major world powers are fighting real war against each other. I don't see anything like this now.

So sorry folks, but you must wait for your WW3. Let's hope it won't be long

 

[Ramius75]

There will be no major world war atm becoz there is little things that is worth fighting for. Everyone knows it. The proliferation of nuclear weapons make it harder for a country to start a war without getting itself kick in the ass or destroy in the process.

Some hotspots:
1) Taiwan - USA will not go into a war with china if Taiwan is under attack. reason, there is nothing worth fighting for. Unless Japan is pull into the conflict by trying to "defend" taiwan. Then maybe Japan is worthy for the USA to fight for. The current taiwan leader is under very heavy pressure from the USA atm, not to provoke China by declaring independence, and he himself is getting alot of pressure within Taiwan itself NOT TO. other recents events are 3 Taiwanese opposition parties visiting of China and meeting the leader Hu. And also the KMT for having a new leader Ma YinJui who is a pro unification leader. Lastly, the economic ties between taiwan and china are too great for the Taiwanese to "anger" china in anyway by fear of losing investment.

2) Pakistan, India - This is something more worrying but again, not much as Kashmir is NOT WORTH FIGHTING FOR. yeah, there are some skirmising around the border, but they are more for show. Can India conquer Pakistan ? Maybe, but is it worth it ? No. Both countries have nuke and they will use it. India nuke is more for China but Pakistan is aiming everything at India atm. Again, even if there is a nuclear exchange, most probably no other country will join in, Maybe Russia, china and USA will take the advantage and secure some resources there.

3) Israel, middle east - dont think anyone will care about them. but resources grabbing countries will be there to get there support.

Nuclear weapon has made WW obsolete atm. becoz of MAD, none of the countries dare to attack one another until 1 side decided to turn the tide and that is a missile shield. what if both countries have missile shield which can nullify all missile threat ? will conventional war be the "in" thing again ?

Every countries will develop their military unless there is real trust among the nation. If there is a new arm race, the human will be the end loser.

sorry for the gibberish, i type this during office hour.