World War I and II are futile to the might-be incoming war, the third World War. You might laugh this time, but it will happen. Due to the recent events of the 21st century, it will happen. Some of the events are: 9/11, Sabah crisis, and N.K.'s declaration of war. So be prepared. I think it would be a nuclear war. But cyber warfare is more likely than the former.
[quote]"Wars will subside, but war can't be prevented" ---------- Anonymous
Economic war... like the one with Iran for say? Every war start with economic presure, as even the smallest hostilety make trading difficulte. Its like a first step. You cant maintaine an army without cash.
Those are sanctions. I am not saying that sanctions are not part of an economic war strategy, but in this case the issue is of nuclear nature; America and Israel don't want Iran to produce nuclear weapons. They gain no economic advantage from sanctioning Iran.
What is already going on in terms of economic 'warfare', although I'm stretching the term a bit here, is industrial espionage. But there has already been a case where for example the American government would prevent a French car manufacturer (Renault I think it was) to expand (if I remember well the market in question was the Chinese one) and favour the American GM; more market territory for GM brings forth a serious economic advantage for America and deprives France of these new markets.
Oil wars are usually very localised, because they're over idiotic dictatorships which have made the mistake of not co-operating with the West. A good example of this (and people will bash me for this) is Iraq; Dubya might have had his own reasons, but for Blair and the rest it was about oil. That was a farce, though. In terms of water, we won't likely run out (it's not being consumed, just recycled as it were), but distribution is an issue. We could go to war over it (and it wouldn't be as localised as oil wars), but I think MAD would still triumph. More topically, what do you think about Ukraine?
>> "Oil wars are usually very localised, because they're over idiotic dictatorships which have made the mistake of not co-operating with the West."
Your reason is the reasoning of a dictator. Since when is not co-operating with the West a justification to start a war? You think the West has the right to dominate other countries? That's horrible to those who don't live in the West. Doesn't the West have enough resources themselves but refuse to use them before they deplete the resources of other countries? Don't you know that the US still has massive amounts of raw oil within their own borders? When the oil resources are depleted in other countries the US can monopolize the last remain oil... causing even more poverty and causing governments to get desperate. Acts while being desperate are rarely good for survival.
>> "A good example of this (and people will bash me for this)..." Most of us live in a free country in which the freedom of speech is protected. You are as much entitled to your opinion as any other, no matter how smart, good, ridiculous or cruel your opinion might be. It's unfortunately certain that some secret service(s) and companies will use it to set up a profile about you and determine the potential threat you might be based on your comments (as they do with everyone).
---------------
I do however agree that World War III will be because of greed. Could be oil, could be land or whatever. Or the reason made public is to beat the next "axis of evil" as the republic president of the US once called the unknown target. It's a word someone would use to describe his/her opinion about something or someone. It could be a harmless group or it could be the resistance against the oppressor, who become scapegoat for the next war. Justified resistance is hardly tolerated by the US when it's against the US. No matter what, if it gets on wrong terms with the US it will be war or assassination. The truth is and will always be cruel. US senators called for assassinations before... that's uncivilised behaviour. In my opinion the US will be causing what will become the next world war. Of course, I hope they won't because I hate all kinds of war, violence, torture, rape, gun ownership, mutilation, spying or fighting in common.
I do like whistleblowers. They are brave employees who risk their lifes and their job and maybe also that of their relatives and friends to bring corruption, illegal activities, spying, ignored murders or whatever to the attention of the world (note: with world I mean more than only the US). Sure their will be calls of uncivilised people to assassinate them as they damage national interest. The question however is why would that damage national interest if whatever a country is doing is not against international law and is not an act of war or whatever dark schemes should never be publicized. However if the country does do something like that it sure damages national interest and such actions should never be done. So uh... they reap what they sow! The dark side of the US is still not fully known... so there could also be something in there which would cause the world war III...
