Rou

If you have watch some of the right wing puppets... I mean, pundits... you might come away with the impression that World War III has begun. I don't know if it started with Newt on NBC, or he was just the first really loud voice. But it's bullshit.

His version of things says that conflicts and disturbances in Iraq, Afghanistan, North Korea, India and Israel are the beginning of the next glabla war. He also alludes to a number of terrorist plots that were "uncovered" / stopped recently. He didn't mention Ethiopia, but let's toss it in for fun.

A few of his moronic partners in crime have gone so far as to say we're in world war IV or V, depending on the perspective. I might take the Cold War as WWIII, but I'll be damned if I can figure out how we all missed WWIV.

No matter what version of reality you want to accept, none of those conflicts is a world war. I dunno. Maybe Newt doesn't know enough to tell the difference. Maybe he just wants to play some smoke and mirrors to help his cronies in Nov. But the truth of that matter is Israel v Hezbollah is a very localized conflict, as are pretty much everything else that he listed. For the most part, these conflicts are handled locally with international watchdogs doing their best to keep and maintain the peace. For the most part, it’s going pretty well. Things are edgy in some areas, but mostly a long way from true wars.

North Korea is has nukes. And it’s doing missile tests. OK, big fucking deal. From a World War perspective, it lacks the whole “war” aspect. It's a diplomatic confrontation with a lot of saber rattling.

Afghanistan is doing the same thing it’s done for decades. Fight with itself. This time, there are US soldiers there ‘chasing’ around an old guy with a dialysis machine. Basically, extra targets and a slightly higher profile. War, but still very localized. So much so, that it’s totally contained inside the borders.

India and Pakistan are arguing again. With guns. Again. Overall, situation normal since the British left. Both sides have nukes, which is bad. Still, this is limited to the two nations involved. Lots of external countries are trying to talk everyone down and restore peace. Not much to see here. Certainly no world war situation.

Iraq is localized as well, with some bonus points for terror groups. Those groups are in conflict with US forces and the regime those US forces have helped install. The terror threat offers the potential for targets in the US, but so far, not much on that front. I sure CIA/FBI has stopped some number of those attacks.

Ethiopia and Somalia hadn’t done much yet when Newt spoke, but no one cares either because it’s in Africa. For some reason, the world has never cared much about the place, sad to say. It’s also not threatening to expand throughout the continent. Maybe a little war between two sides. I doubt it’ll last more than a year. Bad enough, sure, but hardly on the scale of world war.

And finally, we’ve got Israel. The best hope for a World War. Nope. All action has been in a very small region. Mostly at targets in Lebanon with some rocket attacks from terrorist groups hitting Israel. There is potential there because Syria and Iran could team up to do something about it if they get provoked. Of course, Israel could smack down both countries pretty damn fast. Standing behind the scenes you have the US/UK on one side and Russia/China on the other. All of those parties are interested in preventing the conflict from expanding. Mutually Assured Destruction and all that. Still, up to now, it’s localized. It will probably stay that way because Israel has no interest in expanding its borders, and can defeat any force in the region that is thrown at it.

Now in comparison to those local conflicts, let’s take a look at World War II. Japan and Germany work together loosely as an Axis. Japan invades China and Korea and much of SE Asia including British colonies, and then attacked the US, Russia and Australia. Germany invades Austria, Belgium, Netherlands, France, the Balkans, Poland, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Greece and most of North Africa, and then attacked England, Russia and US.

See the difference? I do. And this isn’t a fucking world war. It’s a number of localized, unorganized conflicts occurring at roughly the same time. It’s probably due to the draw down of US and Russian influence following the end of the Cold War. Combine that with widespread religious fanaticism, US forces being stretched very thin, stir, and you have yourself a number of annoying problems in the world. But we’re a long way from anything I’d even try to classify as a global war.

Maybe I have to think outside the box like them. It's a new world war for a new age? Still, most of those conflicts only link is that they're going on at the same time. Most of them are a long way from war even, let alone World War.