I don't see world war in our future, but I do see continuing conflicts in Asia as China asserts their increasing military and commercial might. America can try to hold them in check military or realize the world is changing.
Thomas Sowell: There are no solutions, just trade-offs.
Iran continues to develop their nuclear capability and the Israelis continue to rattle their sabers, threatening preemptive strikes against any nuclear facility that can be linked to a weapons program.
Kim Jong Il is nuttier than a squirrel turd and his progression plan seems to guarantee that pattern will continue. North Korea continues to be more concerned with their ICBM program than they are about the health and welfare of their citizens and they already have nuclear capabilities.
Hugo Chavez seems preoccupied with cancer (who wouldn't be) but if he comes to the realization that he is going to die soon he might attempt to destabilize South and Central America. Venezuela has established diplomatic relationships and military trade with Russia. Hugo is a big fan of Cuba and their regime too. I don't think it would be much of a stretch if it was discovered that Hugo and the Castro brothers were harboring terrorist organizations while they train for strikes in North America.
Al Qaeda is alive and well, the Arab spring may allow them to develop new bases of operation and make it easier for them to strike out against Western Europe and North America.
The Chinese and Russians seems to have settled down from the cold war and are now concentrating on industrial espionage to help their economies along and to keep pace with military technologies.
Then there are the backwoods militia Bubbas like Ted Kazinski and Timothy McVeigh who could easily carry out a single large scale operation INCONUS.
World War III? Maybe, IMHO it's far more likely we will see more domestic terrorism and other terrorist operations launched by foreign agents who don't represent any particular country. The softest targets are likely going to be favored because of the ease of access, public transportation, water supplies, and electric grids come to mind.
I can explain it to you but I can't understand it for you.
"Any man who thinks he can be happy and prosperous by letting the Government take care of him; better take a closer look at the American Indian." - Henry Ford
Corruptissima re publica plurimae leges; When the Republic is at its most corrupt the laws are most numerous. - Publius Cornelius Tacitus
outdoor338 wrote: Three months ago, in this space, I asked whether, if present trends were to continue, we could find ourselves embroiled in something like a Third World War. Working from that concept and the thoughtful remarks of a number of readers, I decided to delve into the question a little more deeply and, as a result, have produced a new e-book entitled The Blast of War: A Narrative History of the Third World War. The book, a “future history,” lays out how the present situation — if carried over into the future — could lead us into catastrophe.
The world situation today is as unsettled as it has been at any time since the late 1930s. Indeed, I believe that the underlying cause of this is the same as it was in that era: irresolute policies by Western leaders that will, if they are not corrected soon, leave nations with no choices except for abject surrender and all-out war. Time and time again world leaders have chosen to punt dangerous problems down the road rather than take the risks necessary to resolve them today. Some of these problems, such as China’s reckless pursuit of short-term growth as a substitute for political reform, unsustainable global debt loads, Iran’s headlong rush towards nuclear weapons, the illegal movement of ten million Mexicans into the United States, and Europe’s lackadaisical economic integration, can and will have no happy resolution. The question is what shade of terrible the results will be.
