Which of these ongoing potential problems is worse and more likely?
Threat #1
Conventional conflict over Ukraine with NATO and US, possibly escalating to nuclear war with Russia..
-- Russia says they're trying to support a truce in Ukraine, but by announcing new sanctions that are expected to be formally approved on Monday, the EU's leadership "is practically sending a signal of direct support to the 'party of war' in Kiev.
Britain said on Friday it could contribute 3,500 troops to a NATO rapid response force defending against new threats like the Ukraine crisis. The rapid reaction force is meant to reassure former Soviet satellites such as Poland and the Baltic states that fear an emboldened Russia will turn its sights on them. --
Threat #2
ISIS attacks on US soil with devastating results, possibly even knocking out the power grid, crippling the US for months..
-- When Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel warned last month that the Islamic State (IS) is an “imminent” threat to the United States, a number of lawmakers and analysts seized upon that claim.
“This is really the first group that has the wherewithal in terms of financing” to potentially strike on US soil, said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D) of California, who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee. IS, also called ISIS and ISIL, has “heavy equipment, heavy explosives, the ability to move quickly.”
Indeed, many have argued that IS now represents a far greater prospect of peril to US interests than Al Qaeda does. --
Threat #3
Ebola virus spreading slowly thru the US, possibly becoming more infectious thru mutation.
Z-mapp and other inoculations either can't be manufactured fast enough or lose effectiveness..
-- Obama told NBC's "Meet the Press" that the Ebola outbreak, which has killed 2,100 people in African five countries, was unlikely to spread to the United States in the short term.
But he added there could be implications if Washington and other powers did not send urgently needed equipment, public health workers and other supplies to the region.
"If we don't make that effort now, and this spreads not just through Africa but other parts of the world, there's the prospect then that the virus mutates. It becomes more easily transmittable," he said in the interview broadcast on Sunday.
"And then it could be a serious danger to the United States," he added. --