World War III

Everyone seems eager for World War III to start very soon.

And of course, there are some similarities between what’s happening now in the world, and how the other great wars began.

Attacks are increasing globally, with Paris taking the brunt of the force.

At the very beginning on 2015, the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo had its offices attacked. Perhaps children in the future will learn about this, just like we learnt that the shooting of the Austrian, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, began the first war?

And will the shooting down of a Russian war plane by Turkey be the initial act of war, just like Germany invading Poland?

You could even trace it right back to its initial origins when Bush and Blair started the Afghan and Iraq wars. The killing of Saddam Hussein meant there was no-one to keep these radicalised groups at bay, meaning they could begin to take over huge swaths of land, and become Syria’s problem too. Isis, or whatever we’re calling them this week, began.

Of course, I can see these similarities, like anyone could, but is this just people watching too many films and thinking it looks like a cool idea?

Perhaps they were hoping World War 3D?

It Can Never Happen

I’m not talking about the unions between countries, or the nuclear deterrent which apparently exists.

pic.twitter.com/OwSBjrxP2u

— nushin arbabzadah (@NNushin) November 28, 2015

Incidentally, this threat has come around quite handily for those protesting that we keep the UK nuclear submarine Trident… But because we rely on so many counties to keep our country going comfortably. Plus, the world can’t exactly afford a war at the moment. Almost everything here is imported. Food, cars, technology, building materials and Black Friday. There are even thousands of miles of pipework, allowing us to have gas which comes from Russia. Straight away, we go to war with them, we’ve lost a major fuel source. That fact alone I feel makes the prospect of us getting involved in a world war minute. And there is rarely a war in the world war we’re not involved with… And it’s the same for many of the countries in Nato. So it all seems pathetic really. Russian entered Turkish airspace for a few seconds and they blow them out of the sky. Now Turkey is pointing the trigger at Russia. Yet we all know that Russia could defeat Turkey with ease and precision. As that Internet meme goes, Putin will be eating Turkey for Christmas…

With all the trimmings (h/t @DVATW) pic.twitter.com/4HDAfTp6N8 — The Poke (@ThePoke) November 25, 2015

And I’m not even sure who the war would be against… Russia is against Isis; that’s why they’re bombing them. And so is Turkey. But this tension comes about because they both have ulterior motives. Russia is protecting Assad. Turkey wants Assad gone. It’s all confusing.

If the enemy is to be Isis, then it would be impossible to have a world war. Firstly, they are, in reality, an easy target that just couldn’t fight back. Take away their audience and money, and what have they left? No real military power, that’s for sure. They’re getting upset because everyone has started called them Daesh, so maybe war isn’t for them.

Isis are no match for the Nazis. There’s no central character to hate. They haven’t got a Hitler to rule over them. They’re just a collection of small radicalised groups who plan cowardly attacks against innocent people. I suppose that might be why Russia keeps being mentioned because Putin is a good enemy for everyone to hate. He even sounds like a bad guy!

Or Are We Already Fighting World War III?

At the end of the day, if we fought in the traditional sense, it would be over within an hour. One nuclear bomb and that’s the war over. It would be too easy. The victor would only be the one who was closer to the big red button when war was declared.

Of course, that wouldn’t be very sporting, so there just wouldn’t be any particular point.

Could you really convince our youth to fight for Queen and country? Unless national service was renamed ‘Call Of Duty’ and it had good graphics, there’s no chance.

And in the age of social media, the only wars we’re actually capable of is with sweary rants and badly Photoshopped pictures.

So having decided that a modern world war could never be fought in the traditional sense, what would World War III look like?

It’s possible that it would look exactly the same as how conflict looks now. Perhaps these aren’t actually terrorist attacks. This is just what modern warfare looks like.

The days of sitting in cold, muddy trenches, spending years fighting across a field, are over. And in reality, that’s not such a bad thing.

Well this should simplify things: “The Anti-ISIS Coalition.” via @Patbagley pic.twitter.com/dcRoeC2cTu — Ex-Muslims Forum (@CEMB_forum) November 28, 2015

But at the end of the day. I’m ignorant to all the details. I can’t tell you what we should and shouldn’t do because I know a very small percentage of the facts. Just like everyone else gesticulating on the Internet, in the pub, in the newspapers and on the TV.

So really, it’s a civil war. But it has a global impact. Even impacting me. I was almost late to work one day because of the traffic caused by migrants storming the channel tunnel… Shocking, I know.

We keep pretending that this war isn’t our problem, but in reality it is. In many ways. And as many countries are starting to realise this, more will be joining the fight in Syria. So in that sense, it will be a world war but localised to Syria.

I’m sorry to disappoint everyone, but Word War III isn’t coming. At least not in the way you’re expecting. And if I’m wrong? Well, the Call Of Duty will mean I’m sent off to fight anyway, so that seems punishment enough.

Let me leave you with a few words of wisdom…