Can we prevent WW3?

comedy4all said:

As you put it “the human way or the old fashion way” are the same thing. The human way is to use whatever weapons are available to kill and destroy. People always use the word humane to represent the finer bits of human nature.

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You are right, of course. I meant "humane", my apologies (I am a non native English speaker). Also "piece of cake" instead of "peace of cake".

Proud South Korean said:

I'm astonished how quick people are to assume that a WWIII will happen.

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If a man has killed many times before and is still injuring people to this day; where is the evidence that he would not commit another murder. Wars have happened throughout the entire history of humanity, it is more logical and sane to assume that world war three would occur then to assume that it would not.

If America can learn that we are not the "god-chosen" saviors of the world whose job is to "fix" everybody elses problems and wrong-doings, perhaps we can prevent a WW3.

If America can learn to let other countries and other people live life as they chose to live it without our interference and without our influence, then perhaps we can prevent a WW3.

If America can get back to being a much more independent entity, and let go of the idea that we can "save everybody" outside our borders we might be able to prevent a WW3.

The trouble is we are too damn stubborn to think that others can survive and thrive without our direct "help".

I don't think WW3 has started yet.

I fear a preemptive, unprovoked military strike on Iran could possibly be the start of it.

I hope I'm wrong, but I fear I'm not.

Dragonfly said:

If America can learn that we are not the "god-chosen" saviors of the world whose job is to "fix" everybody elses problems and wrong-doings, perhaps we can prevent a WW3.

If America can learn to let other countries and other people live life as they chose to live it without our interference and without our influence, then perhaps we can prevent a WW3.

If America can get back to being a much more independent entity, and let go of the idea that we can "save everybody" outside our borders we might be able to prevent a WW3.

The trouble is we are too damn stubborn to think that others can survive and thrive without our direct "help".

I don't think WW3 has started yet.

I fear a preemptive, unprovoked military strike on Iran could possibly be the start of it.

I hope I'm wrong, but I fear I'm not.

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If we were to stay out of the world and let them do as they will; world war three would have started a long time ago. And if we sit here in America like a turtle saying do as you like just leave me alone; not only is world war three certain to occur but we will not be a part of it. Now what fun would that be?

comedy4all said:

If we were to stay out of the world and let them do as they will; world war three would have started a long time ago. And if we sit here in America like a turtle saying do as you like just leave me alone; not only is world war three certain to occur but we will not be a part of it. Now what fun would that be?

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Funny.....the world survived many thousands of years without the USofA.

I'm pretty sure we are not "saving" the world on a daily basis.

I don't see a WW3 happening in the manner of the previous two World Wars - nations against nations, fighting on wide fronts for land, resources and people. The shape of the world doesn't fit that concept any more. There will be (as there always have been) ongoing localised conflicts which will be part of wider power struggles but it's in not in the interest of anyone with influence to escalate to wider scale conflicts.

To be honest, I don't really think anything has significantly changed throughout the modern era. The World Wars were quirks of history, sequences of fairly local events combining in to something larger at random rather than by any intent. It could even be argued that WW1 was "just" a European conflict that dragged in the colonies of the European Empires and WW2 was really two separate conflicts - Europe/North Africa and the Pacific - so not really a world war either.

I think the weakening of the super-powers of the past, globalised communication and the virtualisation of many resources makes that kind of thing very unlikely on a world-wide scale.

Dragonfly said:

If America can learn that we are not the "god-chosen" saviors of the world whose job is to "fix" everybody elses problems and wrong-doings, perhaps we can prevent a WW3.

If America can learn to let other countries and other people live life as they chose to live it without our interference and without our influence, then perhaps we can prevent a WW3.

If America can get back to being a much more independent entity, and let go of the idea that we can "save everybody" outside our borders we might be able to prevent a WW3.

The trouble is we are too damn stubborn to think that others can survive and thrive without our direct "help".

I don't think WW3 has started yet.

I fear a preemptive, unprovoked military strike on Iran could possibly be the start of it.

I hope I'm wrong, but I fear I'm not.

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If the US has an isolationist attitude and behavior then that allows all others to gain the weapons needed to start annihilating each other at which point the US will have to get involved. Fragile and necessary areas like the Middle East would destabilize quickly. This would not be a very good tactic.

Dragonfly said:

Funny.....the world survived many thousands of years without the USofA.

I'm pretty sure we are not "saving" the world on a daily basis.

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The technology, range of weapons and means to deliver them was not present thousands of years ago. US presence is necessary to add to the stability of those areas where war would occur quickly and provide assistance to our allies in order to maintain balance in those areas where Russia and China are helping their allies.

I literally laughed at those who predicted a WWIII with words carelessly tossed around such as "Russia" (as if they actually know how the actual word is pronounced or its capital for that matter), China, the Middle East, and such, and arguing around the vague notion how as man always had war, WWIII will happen.
1) The oversued argument citing past wars
Past wars didn't have enough firepower to literally destroy Earth a thousand times over. We now do. Although a WWIII is possible, it wouldn't be because of Russia, China, the Middle East, or such predictions. If it happens, it will be because of a fatal accident (and you may note that there has been too many close cases), not out of purpose or geopolitical rivalry. Othere may cite how people in the past predicted that dynamites and such would put an end to war. That is true. However, the sheer destructiveness of nuclear bombs is the exception. Dynamites and such killed thousands and the analysts at that time had no delusions about that. We fully know (thanks to Hiroshima and Nagasaki) what even a small nuclear bomb can do (the nukes used at that time are puny compared to what modern bombs do).
There will be many wars. Perhaps the Iranian regime will fall in a civil war. However, there'll be no full-blown international WWIII with regional hegemonies sending armies (as if their economies and logistical system can support them) or shooting nukes at each other.
2) Geopolitics
The ferocity of modern geopolitics pales in comparison to what the Cold War was. It spawned several wars that make today's mini-wars in Africa and the Middle East look puny. Everybody knows this argument, and it is indeed cliched so I won't go much further. Chinese and Russian ambitions aren't as insane as many predict. Nowadays, wars are waged in the currency exchange, in history books, in the Internet, in fact, every avenue except physical war. The Chinese have indeed mastered this technique.

I picked that there would be a world war 3 but not in my lifetime. I do care though, because it could be in my grandchildren's lifetime. Either way, what America and other nations do now will set the stage for WW3. If we continue to play world police and invade every other nation that there is a cry for help from, or invade every possible threat to us, then WW3 is going to be a lot sooner, a lot longer and malicious. It is childish to think that what we are doing now will not effect other later on down the line.