WWIII will not be a shooting war.

[kentuck]

Contrary to what is happening in Ukraine right now.

In my opinion, WWIII may have already begun.

Russia is fighting the last obsolete war. Tanks rolling across boundaries and pummeling cities into submission is not the war of the future. Neither will it be nuclear weapons.

The war of the future will be fought with cyber weaponry, with economic weapons, with space weaponry, with information technology.

The present war in Ukraine is a war of the past.

[Sherman A1]

1. It will be a hybrid war should it come

All the cyber, economic, space weapons, tanks, missiles and alike still require a pair of boots on the ground carrying a rifle to occupy terrain.

[kentuck]

2. If you can win the minds...

...there is less need to win the ground.

[Sherman A1]

4. It will still require a pair of boots

As not all the minds will be won. No single method you mentioned will be 100% successful and even in combination they will not be any more successful than previous incarnations of things that would make war too terrible to pursue as a choice of nations.

[bucolic_frolic]

3. Really the world hasn't been this divided since Martin Luther's 95 Theses

and that sparked the 30 years war or the hundred years war - I'm too lazy to keep them straight, but they were religious wars, culture wars. Each country, even totalitarian ones, is being divided into factions from left to right, poor to rich, atheist to fundamentalist, democratic to fascist. I wonder if this isn't the new reality, normal going forward. These cleavages are within the State structures which are still vying for supremacy. Difficult for me to see how this de-escalates.

[kentuck]

5. The world has progressed to the point...

...where the wealthy, the powerful, the oligarchs believe they should control the levers of government, much more so than any time in past history, in my opinion.

[bucolic_frolic]

6. No argument there, and societies require order, that's how economies function /nt

[Meadowoak]

7. +1

[Blues Heron]

8. Just a matter of time before we nuke ourselves

I think it’s inevitable. Tactical ones first, then the big ones. We have already crossed the rubicon in terms of justifying city annihilation -just say it saves lives in the end.

[kentuck]

9. It is a scary thought...

...especially when the military leaders of nuclear powers refuse to talk with each other. It is unthinkable that a psychopath could gain control of that much power in any country.

[Blues Heron]

10. It is. Totally agree with Joe's statement about Putin

[kentuck]

11. In my opinion, Joe was right to make his statement...

...and he was also right to "walk it back". Everything is not black and white. It was very important for the Russian people to hear those words. There is a lot of ambiguity in war.

[Blues Heron]

15. I think so too

Joe knows exactly what he is doing.

[Walleye]

12. I think that's what economic sanctions are for, reducing or limiting Putin's power

We don’t talk about regime change in North Korea. Kim doesn’t actually have any power. Putin’s power is in his ability to extort us with oil and gas

[kentuck]

13. Countries don't have friends, they have "interests"...

That is why India and China abstain from voting against Russia in Security Council. Their "interests" is Russian oil. They need it.

[Walleye]

14. True. But our alliances are also based in our commitment to freedom and self determination

[kentuck]

16. Yes.

Those are legitimate "interests". As has been said many times before, "democracy is the worst form of government in the world...except for all the others."

[CrispyQ]

17. I never understood the idea of destroying the infrastructure of the country you want to take over.

IIRC, there was an old Star Trek where the people decided that destroying cities was stupid, so they had computer attacks, or virtual attacks, rather. If your city/area was hit with a virtual bomb, you had to report to a facility that would put you to death. It's hazy, but I think it was the original Star Trek.

[DarthDem]

19. You're Spot On

The episode is exactly as you described. It's called "A Taste of Armageddon." I don't want to reveal what Captain Kirk does when he and his crew are threatened by that society in case anyone wants to go watch it, but it's very, very high-concept science fiction and quite a thought-provoking episode.

[Midnight Writer]

18. I think it will be more like a corporate takeover.

Money will change hands, papers will be signed, handshakes all around, meet the new boss.

[Baked Potato]

20. Taking away the money arouses even the most insulated among us.

It’s a good thing until it isn’t, but it’s good now.

[BannonsLiver]

21. You should go to Ukraine and explain to people how it's a war of the past.