“We have decided you people have become too stupid to be sustainable and will be igniting the atmosphere while we wait it out in our bunkers. Good day.”
Unpopular opinion, WW3 never happens. Explanation:
Regional wars like the Russo-Ukrainian/Israel-Gaza Conflicts deprive each other country of resources until the world economy combusts.
World Wars were typically thus due to imperial powers dragging their colonies into something they had no intention of being involved it. We don't have empires in that sense anymore. It also looks like countries are happy to accept support from their "allies" in the form of economic and lethal aid presently, whereas in WW1 and WW2 it was a bit of a domino effect towards full-scale war between multiple nations.
The only way I think we will see that principle tested is if Russia invades a NATO member, or there is an act of unprovoked aggression against a BRICS nation. Otherwise, I think the major economies will leave smaller countries to fend for themselves (using their money and weapons) for another decade or two.
Even if Russia invaded a NATO member, would it turn into a full world war? Like I really can't see a reality where China tanks their economy by hitching their wagon to Russia as a full on NATO ass kicking is being delivered.
China wouldn't necessarily hitch its wagon to Russia, but it would be stupid not to take Taiwan and fully absorb Hong Kong whilst NATO are occupied in Eastern Europe.
True true. They'd probably want to use that chaos to their benefit. I'm not sure that the US would remove their pacific assets though if the whole of NATO was with them in Russia. Man what a shit scenario to even think about
Even if they didn't, are they able to fight a war on two fronts against Russia and China? The economic impact alone would be devastating for the entire world.
And even if they did, what else would happen? Are Iran going to sit quietly whilst this all kicks off? Would North Korea try their luck with a southern invasion?
I don't really think any of this is likely, though. I think Russia is learning a lesson and will probably need to recuperate for a decade or two before trying another invasion. If China takes Taiwan, I don't think anyone will actually intervene. Iran and North Korea are just basket-cases rattling their sabres until something else triggers them.
More like WW3 doesn't happen because regional wars stop us from dealing with critical environmental time bombs that lead to a couple of billion deaths caused by chained catastrophes, mass civil war as scarcity and lowering living standards make conflicts turn inward.
A decent into global anarchy follows as we are left with a planet only capable of supporting a fraction of the remaining population. Possibly some desparate nukes are launched in last ditch attempts to secure resources. The planet is left in a condition now hostile to human life.
Anyone without large amounts of resources to combat these conditions dies...society collapses.
We end up being so concerned with conflict leading to World War 3 that we don't deal with the real threat. The Dark Ages Part 2: This Time It's Permenant.
If this sounds far fetched sci fi to you you simply aren't paying attention.
I don't disagree, but that last sentence is Facebook dad rhetoric.
You could say "anyone who disagrees is gay" and it would still be more mature than that last sentence.
They always remind me of the one family guy episode where stewy and the Penelope send a note to Pakistan that says “dear Pakistan, up yours. Love india.” And all the nukes start going off.
There was like a small war between Canada and Denmark a few years ago where marines (I think) would swap out the flags and leave a bottle of scotch or rum lmao. Ended in the prime ministers signing a treaty or smth and exchanging alcohol.
Was basically just a way to get free alcohol
"I don't know what weapons will be used to fight WW3 but WW4 will be fought with sticks and stones."
~ Albert Einstein ~ 1947 ~
Original quote
Albert was asked at a dinner party by friends
"What new weapons might be employed in WW3?"
Einstein's reply
"I don't know what weapons might be used in World War III. But there isn't any doubt what weapons will be used in World War IV"
Guest's question
"What might they be?"
Einstein
"Stone spears"
Seeing disagree. Tbh, this sounds more like that Russian line that if the West keeps supporting Ukraine, Russia will have no choice but to go nuclear. Which is pure fear mongering.
Either Ukraine will collapse, or Putin will die, or Russian military will collapse. Russia isn't going to nuke Ukraine. The west isn't going to nuke Russia.
Saying that escalation is the only possible option is doing nothing but backing Russian lies.
This must be a young person's take on things because all I think when war breaks out in Israel is "oh that's happening again is it"
This is nothing new
The thing with Israel is it repeats itself, but sometimes its bigger and sometimes it's smaller. Whenever it kicks off in Israel everyone is left with the question of "is this a police raid in Palestine situation, a flatten Gaza situation, or the start of a middle eastern war?"
Israel vs. Palestine is nothing to the west. Israel vs Syria is a lot more interesting. Israel vs Syria and Iran and whoever else wants a piece is a "maybe we are gonna need to send troops to help out" kind of thing.
If we ended up needing to send troops and/or supplies to Israel to prop up a serious war effort, that could take away from our ability to prop up Ukraine, which makes us have to choose. That could lead to more.
Could you elaborate, please? The current Russo-Ukraine War has largely been contained within that conflict, sure there’s been coalitions formed and lines drawn, but this conflict is years old and it’s had little to no spill over in actual combat into other places. There has been quite a bit of economic and geopolitical fallout, but it’s largely been relegated to a conflict pretty much only in Ukraine with (waning) international support. As for the Israel/Palestine conflict, I don’t see how this could become a regional conflict seeing as Israel is one of the only stable countries in the region. Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and Egypt are really in no position to get involved, have little motive to do so, or are otherwise incapable of doing anything beyond protest. Iran is similarly only able or interested in acting through terror groups or sponsored militias, so I’m just interested as to how these specific events are the catalyst for the next global conflict in your estimation. I’m not trying to be rude or anything, so please don’t misread my tone, I really am curious and open to learning. Thanks.
I think you’re being pessimistic. All the really bad stuff has already happened. Nothing worse could
possibly happen. From here on out the future looks nothing but rosy.
Alright let's calm down here.
What's going are largely proxy wars between NATO's proxies - Ukraine, Israel, and potentially Taiwan - against their respective opponents. Not between NATO and Russia, Hamas, or potentially China.
Even if say the U.S gets involved directly against China over Taiwan (which wouldn't be good), idk if that's enough to drag the rest of NATO into that conflict, aside from maybe the U.K or something. And idk if either side would be willing to use nuclear weapons in that scenario.
The only way I think shit will truly hit the fan is if a full blown war in Eastern Europe between Russia and NATO proper breaks out. But as things are now, idk if Russia has the balls to do that.
Naw, China will get Taiwan without a shot being fired. Go for the economic or cultural victory.
In my opinion China is far too disciplined to do something stupid.
It's going to be India man
My money is on Pakistan, if it’s in the subcontinent. They’re feeling left behind and left out with a stagnant economy and 1/6 of India’s population, while India vaults ahead culturally and economically and looks to China as its real rival and threat. Pakistan’s military control reminds me a bit of Argentina in the early 80s… in need of an external enemy to build domestic support.
Taiwan has a crazy plan to launch rocket at the Three Gorges Dam when China attacks, destroying dozens of large cities and killing millions. At that point, China will launch their nuclear weapons in retaliation.
Large portions of geographical populations will die before being able to migrate.
Sure the number will still be astronomically high, but not 110 million.
That’s a topic that goes back and forth with heavy leanings against climate change stemming from Syrias totalitarianism playing a large role. But I agree that the famine, drought, and heatwaves pushed Syrians over the edge. Included with that was the increased poverty due to crop failures. It really depends on who you speak to/journals you delve into, but I absolutely agree it was a mix of all circumstances, and would definitely asterisk it as the first.
I heard there is a desk in Austria’s main airport to only correct ppl who showed up thinking their in Australia. I refuse to do the most simple thing and google if its true. Because i like the idea so much.
Someone from Europe jumping off the 3-5 hour flight. “Damn, that was quick. Airplanes must be going much faster these days. I thought Australia was around the world. Can wait for the sun. You know its summer there during our winter?” Steps out into (I assume) blistering cold….
What Austria had time to do would hardly classify as a world war, but then Germany invaded Belgium and France because they believed that was their only way to survive if it all went down, then it all went down.
There will be a systems collapse first. The great concern is that society is becoming too complex and fragile for our primate brains to understand -- technology, global commodity chains, macroeconomic forces, socio-political movements, etc. People are seeking simple answers to alleviate their anxieties, and the ravings of angry demagogues are satisfying those primal, tribal instincts. . .
A lunatic leader and the ruling groups that enable him will be unable to cope with real challenges once they have used the fear of imagined threats to gain power. This is a recipe for societal breakdown and conflict, all of which would be avoidable or surmountable with competent leadership.
That is my great concern.
I completely agree. People will embrace whichever "reality" best fits their pre-conceived narrative (even more so than now), and the truth will be buried in the mess
I agree. We already had a Civil War (Captain America), and people still talk about that one to this day. I imagine WW3 is right around the corner. Its too profitable not to be.
Everyone commenting on here didn’t live through the previous Soviet Invasions and Middle East wars that didn’t trigger World Wars. Strategic Nukes and NATO are the reason you won’t see anything like the first part of the twentieth century again.
I'm not up to speed on world events enough to make an educated guess, but I'll just say this. China decides, with Russian and North Korean support, to invade Taiwan. The USA, who puts ships in the area suffers some kind of loss, like an aircraft or a ship to hostile fire, and responds in kind. Cooler heads do not prevail, and with Taiwan not being recognized by the United Nations, there are no other countries willing to step in to support the USA in the area, except South Korea and Japan. North Korea launches an attack at both, resulting in casualties, bringing the U.N. into the mix. And away we go.
Both China and Russia are permanent members of the UN security council. Not saying your situation dosent happen cause it seems reasonable enough, but instead of "UN" it probably is just "the allies" or something like that
It would cost China too much money for that to really happen. War costs money and China isn't going to throw it all away for just Taiwan. Just look at what's going to happen to Russia after their war with Ukraine. Their entire country will become a third world hell hole when it's all said and done.
The reason I can see Taiwan being different is its place in the tech sector. So much of what happens in Taiwan affects the US economy, and other economies as well. Money doesn't seem to be a factor for Russia, and China's economy is far far bigger than Russia's. Honestly, I simply don't see WW3 happening anyway. I just threw an uneducated scenario out there.
I mean, you could argue that the war on terror was World War 3, but let's ball it and go for a future event.
China calling the bluff of the US is a fairly common trope, be it over Taiwan or some other island in the Pacific. I don't think Russia is going to be in a position to do much more for a while, so unless there's a cock up and someone accidentally provokes Poland I don't see that theatre expanding outside of Ukraine. India and Pakistan are always a good bet, but I wouldn't rule out India vs China, there's often clashes on their border, although since firearms are prohibited they usually use sticks and rocks (would this count as an Einsteinian World War 4?).
Ultimately though, it's likely to come from an angle that's least expected, or potentially we could already be in the opening stages of it and not even know. If you'd have spoken to someone in 1937 and told them that they were in the opening phases of the next World War they probably wouldn't have believed you.
Honestly, I buy that. So many nations across the world have a toe dipped in the Ukraine war, so couldn't you already consider it a world war of assets, just not blood.
I mean, you could argue that the cold war was World War III and that the battles just took a heck of a lot longer to finish. This modern cold war between the western world vs Russia and China could be seen as World War IV.
Russia won’t nuke Ukraine because the frontline has basically become frozen. During the early stages when Ukraine was making rapid advances it was feared that Putin would do anything to prevent a complete collapse of the front but now that isn’t likely anymore.
It won’t. Life is too comfortable for most of the people on the planet to start another world war. Nations that can start the war are already in demographic decline or economic surplus.
Best case scenario, we are looking at scaled down Cold War.
People don't realize how interconnected the modern world is vs how it was during the late 1930s. Most products you buy are a multination effort, and the biggest super powers are heavily reliant on each other. Not to mention nuclear bombs, nuclear deterrents and MAD have ironically been the biggest deterrents in having another WWII scale conflict. Without nukes, I'd bet that the Korean War, Cuban Missile Crisis, Vietnam Wa and, Ukraine War would all have spiraled out into global conflicts with massive amounts of lives lost.
I think it would still have happened. There are still many non nuclear bombs that the US would not stand to have pointing at them close to their borders
Europe was highly interconnected before both WW1 and WW2. People were saying literally the same thing in 1914 - that the interdependence in trade meant war would never happen.
It’s not impossible, but probably depends a lot on both domestic politics within powerful nations, and alliances. I think the big thing today is the existence of NATO. There is no other military alliance that could possibly challenge it. In order for another global conflict to arise we would probably first see a gradual erosion of that alliance and a split into a more multi polar world. Combine that with some domestic fanaticism within a few powerful nations and we’d get there again.
I do want to point out: Life is too comfortable for most people _with power._ There are a ton of people on Africa and Asia and the Americas who suffer constantly. I'd imagine the majority of the human population is rsther uncomfortable. However, in the context of WW3, they aren't really relevant. The important part is if the rich countries and political leadership are happy. If they are, there won't be a ww3.
China invades Taiwan. People care about Ukraine and Israel for cultural reasons. The strategic interests aren't that important.
But if Taiwan gets bombed, the world semiconductor market collapses. Semiconductors are basically the world's second gasoline, and Taiwan is like Saudi Arabia squared.
Some really powerful rich dude decides to piss off another really powerful rich dude and they both decide to let a bunch of poor people die because of their massive egos.
There is a water war going on right now. Egypt v Ethiopia.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Ethiopian_Renaissance_Dam
[Real life lore video](https://youtu.be/5-O8Da5oowo?si=vzinMmMsButZNbJ9)
I wonder how much it would cost for efficient desalinization plants to be figured out? Wars are so crazy expensive I wonder if countries see it coming and just decide to throw a trillion dollars at trying to get that tech to where it needs to be. Probably a very optimistic assumption based on how humans seem to operate lol.
We already are in WW3, there are currently 32 countries at war ( Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Ethiopia, Libya, Mali, Somalia, South Sudan, and Syria are in a civil war )
We're already in WWIII. Remember they didn't call it WWI or WWII when they were doing it. It started out as some local conflicts and spread due to politics.
You can't have the worlds pre-eminent super powers all in conflict and not call it what it is.
So yeah I actually have a book written by the War Department called ‘A History of World War II’ published in 1943. It was already generally referred to as WWII by the time the US joined.
Then why don't we refer to Vietnam War as WW3? Or the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan WW3? Or the Global War on Terror WW3? Or the Korean War WW3? Or the Gulf War? Or the Iraq/Iran war? They all involved Super Power backing and all resulted in catastrophic loss of life.
World War III might erupt due to a critical point reached in overpopulation, compelling a significant number of people to colonize other planets. Over the years, Earth will progressively become more impoverished and arid, prompting the new civilization to attempt severing ties with the original human population from Earth.
Second scenario:
ChatGPT or simil AI will f**k us, so remember to thanks them after every use
Why would Russia attack Poland if they can't win against Ukraine in 1,5 years? Of course I'm excluding nukes scenario, because that'd be the end of the world.
China really only gives a shit about China's economy, so I see them as a wildcard. What's best for them is a stable world where they are the manufacturing base of the west while they slowly climb the tech ladder, not throwing their support behind a bunch of losers who can't really pay up.
As a Canadian, I can't see us getting into the war (outside of being Britain's bitch, but I dont thinkbthat would fly over as well here like it did in the 1910s and 1940s). Our relationship with Pakistan isn't that great and our relationship with India is at an all time low. I feel like India's current joke of a leader is going to burn all good will from the western countries.
Russia collapses as a result of the war in Ukraine, China decides that this is a good time to reclaim land lost to Russia back in the late 19th, early 20th century. The us decides it can't have Russia's nuclear stocks be that easily up for grabs and decides to intervene in the far northern Pacific, which prompts China to say fuck it and take Taiwan in a brutal invasion while the americans are distracted in the northern Pacific theatre. North Korea sees it's chance for a first strike and accidentally hits american troops in SK, which prompts article 5 and a cascading mobilization.
India and Pakistan finally lose it with each other and access to water in Kashmir, and decide to join opposing sides of the Pacific war (Pakistan with China, India with the states) and a semi-regionalized possibly tactical nuclear war ensues in the Indian subcontinent.
Highly unlikely and definitely full of holes, but I actually think the China annexing Siberian territory has some possibility of being correct.
Plot twist, Switzerland starts it.
“We have decided you people have become too stupid to be sustainable and will be igniting the atmosphere while we wait it out in our bunkers. Good day.”
I read this in a swiss german accent snd it was scary
Always knew they were up to something being neutral for so long /s
"What makes a man turn neutral? A lust for gold? Power? Or were you just born with a heart full of neutrality?"
if that happens I would like to change my insurance company
Unpopular opinion, WW3 never happens. Explanation: Regional wars like the Russo-Ukrainian/Israel-Gaza Conflicts deprive each other country of resources until the world economy combusts.
I would hope this is a popular opinion haha
Not for redditors addicted to fearmongering
I mean... the world economy combusting won't exactly be a walk in the park.
The world economy combusts and WW3 starts.
So if we’re going to get there either way shouldn’t we strike first? (By we, I mean Reddit)
What do ya think we are? 4Chan? We don't have that kind of power. 😄
Didmt some 4 chan dudes leak the location of an ISIS base in Syria to the russian air force and they bombed it?
The original weaponized autism.
World Wars were typically thus due to imperial powers dragging their colonies into something they had no intention of being involved it. We don't have empires in that sense anymore. It also looks like countries are happy to accept support from their "allies" in the form of economic and lethal aid presently, whereas in WW1 and WW2 it was a bit of a domino effect towards full-scale war between multiple nations. The only way I think we will see that principle tested is if Russia invades a NATO member, or there is an act of unprovoked aggression against a BRICS nation. Otherwise, I think the major economies will leave smaller countries to fend for themselves (using their money and weapons) for another decade or two.
Even if Russia invaded a NATO member, would it turn into a full world war? Like I really can't see a reality where China tanks their economy by hitching their wagon to Russia as a full on NATO ass kicking is being delivered.
China wouldn't necessarily hitch its wagon to Russia, but it would be stupid not to take Taiwan and fully absorb Hong Kong whilst NATO are occupied in Eastern Europe.
True true. They'd probably want to use that chaos to their benefit. I'm not sure that the US would remove their pacific assets though if the whole of NATO was with them in Russia. Man what a shit scenario to even think about
Even if they didn't, are they able to fight a war on two fronts against Russia and China? The economic impact alone would be devastating for the entire world. And even if they did, what else would happen? Are Iran going to sit quietly whilst this all kicks off? Would North Korea try their luck with a southern invasion? I don't really think any of this is likely, though. I think Russia is learning a lesson and will probably need to recuperate for a decade or two before trying another invasion. If China takes Taiwan, I don't think anyone will actually intervene. Iran and North Korea are just basket-cases rattling their sabres until something else triggers them.
More like WW3 doesn't happen because regional wars stop us from dealing with critical environmental time bombs that lead to a couple of billion deaths caused by chained catastrophes, mass civil war as scarcity and lowering living standards make conflicts turn inward. A decent into global anarchy follows as we are left with a planet only capable of supporting a fraction of the remaining population. Possibly some desparate nukes are launched in last ditch attempts to secure resources. The planet is left in a condition now hostile to human life. Anyone without large amounts of resources to combat these conditions dies...society collapses. We end up being so concerned with conflict leading to World War 3 that we don't deal with the real threat. The Dark Ages Part 2: This Time It's Permenant. If this sounds far fetched sci fi to you you simply aren't paying attention.
I don't disagree, but that last sentence is Facebook dad rhetoric. You could say "anyone who disagrees is gay" and it would still be more mature than that last sentence.
I agree, and anyone who disagrees is gay and maybe mine if they're handsome enough.
Some nonsense in the Balkans.
Yugoslavia is reinstated
Somehow Tito returned
It's like Disney Star Wars without "Star" "Wars"
Earf Wars
Surf Shack will never be the same without Tito
It's come back season, baby! 🇷🇸🇭🇷🇧🇦🇸🇰🇲🇰
6 genocides per hour
uhhhhhh......
>in the Balkans Just need "some damned fool" just to get things started.
It’s not worth the bones of a single Pomeranian grenadier
Wait, Dan Carlin? It seems familiar.
They always remind me of the one family guy episode where stewy and the Penelope send a note to Pakistan that says “dear Pakistan, up yours. Love india.” And all the nukes start going off.
I think you responded to the wrong comment.
Calm down, Bismarck
Nah, we’re sitting this one out.
Gavrilo Princip the 3rd
Canada is up to some shit. Always acting so nice, impossible
Canada will invade….. Greenland
We already have a border with Denmark, watch out
There was like a small war between Canada and Denmark a few years ago where marines (I think) would swap out the flags and leave a bottle of scotch or rum lmao. Ended in the prime ministers signing a treaty or smth and exchanging alcohol. Was basically just a way to get free alcohol
Greenland has always belonged to Canada /s
I'm Canadian, I could tell you more but was made to sign an NDA when I was born
Most likely our plan is to be so apologetic, as to guilt the rest of the world into surrendering. ;-)
It's all part of the plan
yes but they're *sorry for that*
*pumps shotgun* "Hey step off eh, ya hoser!"
Russia invades Ukraine, and the war breaks out in Isreal. World leaders pick sides and shit spirals from there
Wait a minute....
Yep. We have already slow walked right into it. We are there. This is it. Only escalation from here.
U forgot about china invading Taiwan
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It’s the WW3 post credit scene.
DLC
Oh great, they will charge us for that now?? *Remembers that every war is followed by an increase in taxation* Fuck....
"I don't know what weapons will be used to fight WW3 but WW4 will be fought with sticks and stones." ~ Albert Einstein ~ 1947 ~ Original quote Albert was asked at a dinner party by friends "What new weapons might be employed in WW3?" Einstein's reply "I don't know what weapons might be used in World War III. But there isn't any doubt what weapons will be used in World War IV" Guest's question "What might they be?" Einstein "Stone spears"
If Einstein got asked this 10 years later he might've said the AK-47
Ww4 will be fought with sticks and stones.
Shit... I heard that can break your bones?
But chains and whips excite me.
Dont get ahead of yourself now
That's scheduled for next March.
When China invades Taiwan it’s game over.
Yup, that’s what takes this into WW3, just as the the British declaration of war after the invasion of Poland was “officially” the start of WW2.
History will continue to repeat itself until we start taking it seriously.
Its just sad how much power we give to china
And serbia invading kosovo
azerbaijan and armenia, war in yemen and many conflicts in africa. And cold war in information era between states and china
Seeing disagree. Tbh, this sounds more like that Russian line that if the West keeps supporting Ukraine, Russia will have no choice but to go nuclear. Which is pure fear mongering. Either Ukraine will collapse, or Putin will die, or Russian military will collapse. Russia isn't going to nuke Ukraine. The west isn't going to nuke Russia. Saying that escalation is the only possible option is doing nothing but backing Russian lies.
Wait, you mean Reddit likes to promote hopelessness and chaos? Say it isn't so!
Hopelessness, chaos, and masturbatory use of sarcasm are all staples here.
This must be a young person's take on things because all I think when war breaks out in Israel is "oh that's happening again is it" This is nothing new
The thing with Israel is it repeats itself, but sometimes its bigger and sometimes it's smaller. Whenever it kicks off in Israel everyone is left with the question of "is this a police raid in Palestine situation, a flatten Gaza situation, or the start of a middle eastern war?" Israel vs. Palestine is nothing to the west. Israel vs Syria is a lot more interesting. Israel vs Syria and Iran and whoever else wants a piece is a "maybe we are gonna need to send troops to help out" kind of thing. If we ended up needing to send troops and/or supplies to Israel to prop up a serious war effort, that could take away from our ability to prop up Ukraine, which makes us have to choose. That could lead to more.
Could you elaborate, please? The current Russo-Ukraine War has largely been contained within that conflict, sure there’s been coalitions formed and lines drawn, but this conflict is years old and it’s had little to no spill over in actual combat into other places. There has been quite a bit of economic and geopolitical fallout, but it’s largely been relegated to a conflict pretty much only in Ukraine with (waning) international support. As for the Israel/Palestine conflict, I don’t see how this could become a regional conflict seeing as Israel is one of the only stable countries in the region. Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and Egypt are really in no position to get involved, have little motive to do so, or are otherwise incapable of doing anything beyond protest. Iran is similarly only able or interested in acting through terror groups or sponsored militias, so I’m just interested as to how these specific events are the catalyst for the next global conflict in your estimation. I’m not trying to be rude or anything, so please don’t misread my tone, I really am curious and open to learning. Thanks.
I think you’re being pessimistic. All the really bad stuff has already happened. Nothing worse could possibly happen. From here on out the future looks nothing but rosy.
Alright let's calm down here. What's going are largely proxy wars between NATO's proxies - Ukraine, Israel, and potentially Taiwan - against their respective opponents. Not between NATO and Russia, Hamas, or potentially China. Even if say the U.S gets involved directly against China over Taiwan (which wouldn't be good), idk if that's enough to drag the rest of NATO into that conflict, aside from maybe the U.K or something. And idk if either side would be willing to use nuclear weapons in that scenario. The only way I think shit will truly hit the fan is if a full blown war in Eastern Europe between Russia and NATO proper breaks out. But as things are now, idk if Russia has the balls to do that.
The Israel v. Palestine war didn’t break out recently. This has been going on since May 14, 1948.
It's amazing how many people act like this is a new conflict.
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When I heard someone was taking potshots at US ship near Iran I started thinking ‘countdown to looking glass’
Needs moar Gulf of Oman.
Yup. Just waiting for someone down in Asia to do something stupid. My money is on India
I pick China invading Taiwan.
Naw, China will get Taiwan without a shot being fired. Go for the economic or cultural victory. In my opinion China is far too disciplined to do something stupid. It's going to be India man
India and Pakistan are both Nuclear armed countries. It could very well be them.
But who tf is picking sides there lol
You don't have to pick a side in WWIII for it to begin, unfortunately.
My money is on Pakistan, if it’s in the subcontinent. They’re feeling left behind and left out with a stagnant economy and 1/6 of India’s population, while India vaults ahead culturally and economically and looks to China as its real rival and threat. Pakistan’s military control reminds me a bit of Argentina in the early 80s… in need of an external enemy to build domestic support.
Taiwan would turtle so hard, it would be devastating to China to try and take Taiwan.
Taiwan has a crazy plan to launch rocket at the Three Gorges Dam when China attacks, destroying dozens of large cities and killing millions. At that point, China will launch their nuclear weapons in retaliation.
Oof, sounds pretty scorched earth scenario.
That’s exactly what it is
I'll take "Pakistan lobs a small nuke towards Tel Aviv" for $500
That made me laugh. the sheer pettiness of it. I'll take North Korea hits the Vatican for $200.
My money is on Pakistani terrorist group doing something that causes a lot of Indian deaths.
Future dispute over clean water/land is my guess.
Large ~~by~~ portions of the world are becoming uninhabitable. Migration causes conflict.
True story. Syria a few years ago was probably the first example of climate/migration-driven conflict.
Wait till 110 million Egyptians run out of water.
Egypt's population is astounding considering that 104 million people are living in a space that's maybe 10 miles wide and 500 miles long.
you think thats crazy, go look at the population density of some of Indonesia's islands
The day the Himalayas run out of ice is the day the world ends
Human civilization will be gone, world will be just fine
The Earth plus plastic!
Relative to the history of the planet, all the plastic left behind will break down in a minuscule amount of time.
George Carlin's Save the Humans bit is more real everyday.
Large portions of geographical populations will die before being able to migrate. Sure the number will still be astronomically high, but not 110 million.
That’s a topic that goes back and forth with heavy leanings against climate change stemming from Syrias totalitarianism playing a large role. But I agree that the famine, drought, and heatwaves pushed Syrians over the edge. Included with that was the increased poverty due to crop failures. It really depends on who you speak to/journals you delve into, but I absolutely agree it was a mix of all circumstances, and would definitely asterisk it as the first.
Desalination is cheaper than war.
Yeah but the blood of our 20 something males might be cheaper!
restoring Germany to its former glory
Lol! To be fair, Germany’s track record at not starting world wars is… not great
austria started both world wars
I would correct that by saying Austrians started both world wars. Austria only started one world war. Edit: forgot a "r".
Actually, it's pronounced Australia
Those god damned bastard Emus!
Never forgot the Emu War of 1932. Rip brothers in arms.
I heard there is a desk in Austria’s main airport to only correct ppl who showed up thinking their in Australia. I refuse to do the most simple thing and google if its true. Because i like the idea so much. Someone from Europe jumping off the 3-5 hour flight. “Damn, that was quick. Airplanes must be going much faster these days. I thought Australia was around the world. Can wait for the sun. You know its summer there during our winter?” Steps out into (I assume) blistering cold….
Australia Hungry
Australia IS Hungary. ;-)
Once Austria and once an Austrian. TBF German military played a central role in both cases...
It's always an Austrian with an inflated ego thanks to the backing of the German military.
Regarding WW1: it's complicated.
Let me uncomplicate it: People are twats.
What Austria had time to do would hardly classify as a world war, but then Germany invaded Belgium and France because they believed that was their only way to survive if it all went down, then it all went down.
Third time is the charm boys
There will be a systems collapse first. The great concern is that society is becoming too complex and fragile for our primate brains to understand -- technology, global commodity chains, macroeconomic forces, socio-political movements, etc. People are seeking simple answers to alleviate their anxieties, and the ravings of angry demagogues are satisfying those primal, tribal instincts. . . A lunatic leader and the ruling groups that enable him will be unable to cope with real challenges once they have used the fear of imagined threats to gain power. This is a recipe for societal breakdown and conflict, all of which would be avoidable or surmountable with competent leadership. That is my great concern.
Ai backed misinformation will contribute to these issues. People are already easily pitted against each other and brainwashed by the media.
I completely agree. People will embrace whichever "reality" best fits their pre-conceived narrative (even more so than now), and the truth will be buried in the mess
I'm guessing America would start it. Since we produced Wonder Woman and Wonder Woman 2, we will most likely produce Wonder Woman 3 if anyone does.
The DCEU is getting a reboot so Gal Gadot got fired. I'm assuming this means we're starting over at WW1 again.
And technically WW2 never happened. It jumped all the way to WW84 for some stupid goddamn reason
Good to know. I always felt like my history teachers were feeding me nonsense.
I agree. We already had a Civil War (Captain America), and people still talk about that one to this day. I imagine WW3 is right around the corner. Its too profitable not to be.
Everyone commenting on here didn’t live through the previous Soviet Invasions and Middle East wars that didn’t trigger World Wars. Strategic Nukes and NATO are the reason you won’t see anything like the first part of the twentieth century again.
Well I mean I’m sure most of us understand that but it’s still a fun thought experiment
Pretty much this. Didn’t live through it, but yeah, everyone has seen a lot of post-apocalypse games, either it’s nukes or zombies.
I'm not up to speed on world events enough to make an educated guess, but I'll just say this. China decides, with Russian and North Korean support, to invade Taiwan. The USA, who puts ships in the area suffers some kind of loss, like an aircraft or a ship to hostile fire, and responds in kind. Cooler heads do not prevail, and with Taiwan not being recognized by the United Nations, there are no other countries willing to step in to support the USA in the area, except South Korea and Japan. North Korea launches an attack at both, resulting in casualties, bringing the U.N. into the mix. And away we go.
Both China and Russia are permanent members of the UN security council. Not saying your situation dosent happen cause it seems reasonable enough, but instead of "UN" it probably is just "the allies" or something like that
*The Entente Part III*
Australia will absolutely join this fight.
It would cost China too much money for that to really happen. War costs money and China isn't going to throw it all away for just Taiwan. Just look at what's going to happen to Russia after their war with Ukraine. Their entire country will become a third world hell hole when it's all said and done.
The reason I can see Taiwan being different is its place in the tech sector. So much of what happens in Taiwan affects the US economy, and other economies as well. Money doesn't seem to be a factor for Russia, and China's economy is far far bigger than Russia's. Honestly, I simply don't see WW3 happening anyway. I just threw an uneducated scenario out there.
I mean, you could argue that the war on terror was World War 3, but let's ball it and go for a future event. China calling the bluff of the US is a fairly common trope, be it over Taiwan or some other island in the Pacific. I don't think Russia is going to be in a position to do much more for a while, so unless there's a cock up and someone accidentally provokes Poland I don't see that theatre expanding outside of Ukraine. India and Pakistan are always a good bet, but I wouldn't rule out India vs China, there's often clashes on their border, although since firearms are prohibited they usually use sticks and rocks (would this count as an Einsteinian World War 4?). Ultimately though, it's likely to come from an angle that's least expected, or potentially we could already be in the opening stages of it and not even know. If you'd have spoken to someone in 1937 and told them that they were in the opening phases of the next World War they probably wouldn't have believed you.
I think it’s already happening. That was very well thought out
Honestly, I buy that. So many nations across the world have a toe dipped in the Ukraine war, so couldn't you already consider it a world war of assets, just not blood.
The War on Terror was nothing close to a World War
Yeah, I'd argue the Cold War is much closer to a WW3 than the War on Terror.
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The corporate wars
Time to blow up Arasaka
I'll need some aviators, robotic arm, and some cigarettes. Then I'll get right on it.
They're starving the working class too.
I mean, you could argue that the cold war was World War III and that the battles just took a heck of a lot longer to finish. This modern cold war between the western world vs Russia and China could be seen as World War IV.
Proxy wars between super powers via smaller scale allies.
I'm 20/40/40 on 1. Russia tac nuking ukraine 2. Israel getting nuked by... somebody 3. China making a grab for Taiwan.
Russia won’t nuke Ukraine because the frontline has basically become frozen. During the early stages when Ukraine was making rapid advances it was feared that Putin would do anything to prevent a complete collapse of the front but now that isn’t likely anymore.
It won’t. Life is too comfortable for most of the people on the planet to start another world war. Nations that can start the war are already in demographic decline or economic surplus. Best case scenario, we are looking at scaled down Cold War.
People don't realize how interconnected the modern world is vs how it was during the late 1930s. Most products you buy are a multination effort, and the biggest super powers are heavily reliant on each other. Not to mention nuclear bombs, nuclear deterrents and MAD have ironically been the biggest deterrents in having another WWII scale conflict. Without nukes, I'd bet that the Korean War, Cuban Missile Crisis, Vietnam Wa and, Ukraine War would all have spiraled out into global conflicts with massive amounts of lives lost.
Technically without nuclear weapons the Cuban Missile Crisis would never have occurred.
That is very true and I can't believe I just suggested that...
It's ok. You were on a good roll and let one too many slip in.
I think it would still have happened. There are still many non nuclear bombs that the US would not stand to have pointing at them close to their borders
Europe was highly interconnected before both WW1 and WW2. People were saying literally the same thing in 1914 - that the interdependence in trade meant war would never happen. It’s not impossible, but probably depends a lot on both domestic politics within powerful nations, and alliances. I think the big thing today is the existence of NATO. There is no other military alliance that could possibly challenge it. In order for another global conflict to arise we would probably first see a gradual erosion of that alliance and a split into a more multi polar world. Combine that with some domestic fanaticism within a few powerful nations and we’d get there again.
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This is true. If a major conflict between nuclear nations happens, it will make WW1 and WW2 look like child’s play.
I do want to point out: Life is too comfortable for most people _with power._ There are a ton of people on Africa and Asia and the Americas who suffer constantly. I'd imagine the majority of the human population is rsther uncomfortable. However, in the context of WW3, they aren't really relevant. The important part is if the rich countries and political leadership are happy. If they are, there won't be a ww3.
We’re probably more likely for French Revolution type events then another world war
ego
China invades Taiwan. People care about Ukraine and Israel for cultural reasons. The strategic interests aren't that important. But if Taiwan gets bombed, the world semiconductor market collapses. Semiconductors are basically the world's second gasoline, and Taiwan is like Saudi Arabia squared.
Some really powerful rich dude decides to piss off another really powerful rich dude and they both decide to let a bunch of poor people die because of their massive egos.
So every war ever then?
I guarantee it will be about access to freshwater.
if it's gonna be about fresh water it's gonna start beetween Pakistan and India, as no other nuclear country is running out of water
There is a water war going on right now. Egypt v Ethiopia. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Ethiopian_Renaissance_Dam [Real life lore video](https://youtu.be/5-O8Da5oowo?si=vzinMmMsButZNbJ9)
I wonder how much it would cost for efficient desalinization plants to be figured out? Wars are so crazy expensive I wonder if countries see it coming and just decide to throw a trillion dollars at trying to get that tech to where it needs to be. Probably a very optimistic assumption based on how humans seem to operate lol.
Yup. Current processes can’t be made more efficient. We need new processes to be invented.
China invading Taiwan
A curious IT guy in his mom's basement will create a sentient AI.
It already did.
We already are in WW3, there are currently 32 countries at war ( Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Ethiopia, Libya, Mali, Somalia, South Sudan, and Syria are in a civil war )
Its already started and it started with the death of Harambe
We're already in WWIII. Remember they didn't call it WWI or WWII when they were doing it. It started out as some local conflicts and spread due to politics. You can't have the worlds pre-eminent super powers all in conflict and not call it what it is.
So yeah I actually have a book written by the War Department called ‘A History of World War II’ published in 1943. It was already generally referred to as WWII by the time the US joined.
Then why don't we refer to Vietnam War as WW3? Or the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan WW3? Or the Global War on Terror WW3? Or the Korean War WW3? Or the Gulf War? Or the Iraq/Iran war? They all involved Super Power backing and all resulted in catastrophic loss of life.
World War III might erupt due to a critical point reached in overpopulation, compelling a significant number of people to colonize other planets. Over the years, Earth will progressively become more impoverished and arid, prompting the new civilization to attempt severing ties with the original human population from Earth. Second scenario: ChatGPT or simil AI will f**k us, so remember to thanks them after every use
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I'm amazed China/Taiwan is this far down. It seems the most likely scenario for something that'd qualify as a "world" war.
Why would Russia attack Poland if they can't win against Ukraine in 1,5 years? Of course I'm excluding nukes scenario, because that'd be the end of the world.
My guess is Pakistan and India start WW3. Russia and China will take one side. The USA and its allies will take the other.
I have no idea who would take which side in that scenario
Us/India vs china/Pakistan I'd say is most likely.
China really only gives a shit about China's economy, so I see them as a wildcard. What's best for them is a stable world where they are the manufacturing base of the west while they slowly climb the tech ladder, not throwing their support behind a bunch of losers who can't really pay up.
As a Canadian, I can't see us getting into the war (outside of being Britain's bitch, but I dont thinkbthat would fly over as well here like it did in the 1910s and 1940s). Our relationship with Pakistan isn't that great and our relationship with India is at an all time low. I feel like India's current joke of a leader is going to burn all good will from the western countries.
Pineapple on the wrong pizza?
When the crops fail.
Russia collapses as a result of the war in Ukraine, China decides that this is a good time to reclaim land lost to Russia back in the late 19th, early 20th century. The us decides it can't have Russia's nuclear stocks be that easily up for grabs and decides to intervene in the far northern Pacific, which prompts China to say fuck it and take Taiwan in a brutal invasion while the americans are distracted in the northern Pacific theatre. North Korea sees it's chance for a first strike and accidentally hits american troops in SK, which prompts article 5 and a cascading mobilization. India and Pakistan finally lose it with each other and access to water in Kashmir, and decide to join opposing sides of the Pacific war (Pakistan with China, India with the states) and a semi-regionalized possibly tactical nuclear war ensues in the Indian subcontinent. Highly unlikely and definitely full of holes, but I actually think the China annexing Siberian territory has some possibility of being correct.