In a week in which former allies in a redividing globe separately commemorated the 80th anniversary of the end of the second world war, the sense of a runaway descent towards a third world war draws ever closer.

The implosion of Pax Americana, the interconnectedness of conflicts, the new willingness to resort to unbridled state-sponsored violence and the irrelevance of the institutions of the rules-based order have all been on brutal display this week. From Kashmir to Khan Younis, Hodeidah, Port Sudan and Kursk, the only sound is of explosions, and the only lesson is that the old rules no longer apply.

Indeed Fiona Hill, the policy analyst and adviser to the UK government on its imminent strategic defence review, argues the third world war has already started, if only we would recognise it.

  • Buffalox@lemmy.world
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    5 hours ago

    To talk about the Gaza conflict in the context of a world war is ridiculous.
    Yes the human atrocities are enormous, and the moral sickness equals Nazi Germany. But it is not part of a “world war”.
    Yes there are many conflicts around the world ATM. But many separate conflicts do not equal a world war.
    And no we are not already in a world war.

    • SreudianFlip@sh.itjust.works
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      4 hours ago

      Scenario: Israel strikes Iran with missiles, but this time Iran responds for real, with many dead. Maga shithawks jump on the conflict like they’ve been drooling to. Escalation spreads to Iraq and the arabian peninsula. Russia leans in heavily but in other theatres, chaotically. The E.U. steps in under the guise of defence, and with internal tensions stretched thin due to authoritarian members of the union. Ukraine gets more intense as China assists Russia more openly and the USA pulls out.

      While things are peaking elsewhere, the PRC makes a move on Taiwan. Shit gets real everywhere, multiple African nations pulled in. Layers upon layers of conflict reflect the global complexity of it all.

    • taladar@sh.itjust.works
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      5 hours ago

      If anything current could be called a prelude to a world war it would be America’s trade war against the rest of the world because virtually nothing else going on involves enough nations to qualify.

      • Buffalox@lemmy.world
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        5 hours ago

        I agree, also because USA is alienating allies, and this clearly emboldens China, Russia and Iran.
        But this will hurt USA too, and Trump will hopefully declare victory soon and end it.

    • blakenong@lemmings.world
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      5 hours ago

      Yeah literally no one is “warring” over this. They aren’t even making harsh comments. Everyone it seems wants the Muslims dead.

      • Buffalox@lemmy.world
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        5 hours ago

        IDK why Israel is getting off so easy, there is clearly moral opposition to it, but nobody is doing anything?

        • blakenong@lemmings.world
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          5 hours ago

          Well, the moral opposition is actually pretty low. On here, yeah, we don’t want genocide. But, think about the average angry uneducated citizen of the world. Muslims are often seen as terrorists because so many of the terrorists follow Islam. They might think: not all Muslims are terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslims. Which is obviously not true because there are plenty of non-Muslim terrorists. But you know how people are.

          • Buffalox@lemmy.world
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            4 hours ago

            I agree that there are problems with Islam extremists, just as there are problems with other extremists. But obviously we should not solve the problem by becoming the problem ourselves. In Gaza Israel is the extremist, and it is insane that Israel is allowed to control it like it was some sort of criminal ghetto prison.
            As I see it, Israel is a failed experiment, and the countries behind it need to step in and resolve the situation and at a minimum stop further Israeli settlements.

        • FistingEnthusiast@lemmynsfw.com
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          4 hours ago

          Because they still claim to be victims

          It’s a huge part of the Israeli identity to claim that they’re persecuted for their religion

          I don’t care about their superstition.

          I care that they commit atrocities, do truly foul things for the US so that the Americans can maintain deniability, all while being disgusting hypocrites

          Israel only exists so that the West has a permanent presence in an oil-producing region. That’s all it ever was