Keep in mind this is hypothetical, discussing what would happen if russia and syria were at war with america, whether or not nato got involved or not, and whether or not china jumped in as well.
My belief is this would end up being a regional conflict only, with america showing superior but ultimately backing out after seeing the russian forces inflicting too many casualties to defend syria, and america deciding it is not worth vast number of lives to take that desert hole in the wall.
Others may have possible scenarios, between how ends up fighting and how, as well as between russian vs american military in various aspects, please discuss all.
Hey Mr. Beer,
A few thoughts that jump out to me right away...
Globalization has created the codependency of markets for our economic function. I believe this alone would prevent some of the wilder claims that get tossed around, about nuclear war, with either of the 2 big powers, China and Russia.
Here's the skinny on the fat man... the neoliberal position, being the Obama position, has always been to topple the Assad regime. There's two main sides to this conflict.. the Free Syrian Army against the Assad regime. The many allies and factions here that fight loosely on the same team are, the Free Syrian Army backed by Saudi Arabia & other Gulf States, Turkey, and the United States... against the Syrian Army, backed by Hezbollah, Russia, and Iran. ISIS and Al-Nusra are mired in this conflict as well as The Kurds who can generally be lumped into the anti-Assad group. But, all 3 of these groups mainly hang around fighting each other while also fighting Assad.
All campaign rhetoric from Donald Trump indicated a reversal of these loose alliances from Obama era foreign policy and a transformation of the United State primary target from Assad to ISIS. This would mean that we would have to tell the Saudi's to pound sand, refuse to aid them in their proxy war against Iran.. and let Assad do his thing. Of which, he was close to beating back the rebels and eliminating them from his country. This is why Assad, jeopardizing victory by turning the United States on himself, makes no sense from a logical standpoint. After the Chemical attack, Trump seems to have a change of tune. Assad is now a "bad guy" because of "beautiful babies" Beautiful babies that Trump won't lift a finger for because they might be terrorists, of whom Trump has said he wishes murder would befall the families of. But, enough about Trump and how belligerent of a hypocrite he is.
I fear that this could spiral out of control, if Iran steps up and we see direct confrontation with Iranian troops. Or, if Iran is seen as the culprit in some military manuever, and we all know how unstable Trump is, from his being prejudiced against anyone who's name has an Al-Shabab or Muhammad. If Trump sees fit to retaliate against Iran, at Saudi Arabia's massive, massive, encouragements, we may be looking at an expensive and costly war for America. Remember, Saudi Arabia is currently fighting a proxy war against Iran and the Houthi rebels in Yemen, of which Saudi Arabia is currently accused of international human rights violations.. and they have coaxed the United States into helping them bomb Yemen.
Basically, to sum everything up, I'm not worried about a WW3 scenario being born out of Russia's presence, but, Iran's presence, and our steadfast loyatly to Saudi Arabia, raises scenarios I could see Trump getting the United States mired in. His rhetoric on Iran is ignorant and hostile. I don't trust him to know what's best for America, or stick to his campaign promises regarding isolationism. What a time to live in, eh?