Yes

by Patrick Boniface

Created on: October 05, 2010

A third global conflict is envitable. It is a simple truth that most people find abhorant and quickly bury the thought away and try to cleanse their minds of it, but the thought will not go away. The image of death, destruction, mutilation and suffering is one that lingers and it is only that though that has kept the human race from preying on itself for the last seventy years. Another shocking truth is that World War Three is overdue, the gap between the First and Second World Wars was only twenty one years and we've gone for seven decades without a World War. World War Three is coming, the only questions are when, where and what will be the flashpoint

What is a World War? It seems like a simple question and most people would automatically say a war that involves every nation on the planet. Essentially that is true but in both World War One and World War Two many nations were not participants, many choosing to be neutral. War is, when broken down to its basics, a conquest, a meeting of two rival ideologies (Communist/Capitalist or Socialist versus Nazism) or it can be based on religious fervor - a puritanital fundamentalism.

The coming World War Three will, almost all military analysts agree, will not be like the preceeding global conflicts and they also agree that the flashpoint that ignites the fire will be not like anything we have seen before. Resources. Oil, gas, water, food, electricity, metals even wood could be the ignition key to the start of World War Three. Oil is running out and many believe the true reason behind the American led invasion of Iraq was to secure the oil resources of Iraq, second only to Saudi Arabia in terms of accessible oil reserves. When Europe was held to ransom by Russia over the supplies of natural gas questions were raised over the security of supply of this important power and heating source. Water is also a keen indication of where a conflict might start, already one third of the world's population has no regular, safe access to drinkable water supplies, with a growing population for planet Earth this precious commodity will eventually be insufficient to meet the demands of eight, nine or ten billion people. Electricity is a key ingredient for normal life in the Western world, without it most of society would falter, we only have to see what happens when we have a power cut, we as people start to panic after only a few hours without power.

Metals are becoming scarce now that most of the world's resources have been exploited, those that remain in the ground are in increasingly inaccessable locations that require great expense to extract. Those nations that have the resources can charge exorbitant charges for them.

So where will the flashpoint be? Who knows? If we knew the answer to this question, we could prevent a global conflict after all. Where and when the conflict will start is a guessing game and governments have to invest in their insurance policies to ward it off, this insurance is their military forces.

There are some nasty parallels to both the First and Second World War developing around the world. Before both World War One and World War Two there was an arms race where one nation provoked the other into developing new and more deadly weapons. Each nation producing these weapon systems until the spark was lit and carnage ensued. In the case of the First World War it was old alliances between nations that set off the conflict when a little known Duke was murdered in Yugoslavia. In the Second it was to prevent Nazism from taking over Europe. Today, startingly China is investing 400 times more into its military than it did just five years ago. China already has the world's largest navy (number of ships), the largest standing army and a huge air force and Russia has stated it intends to rebuild its forces to close to its Soviet Cold War Levels. The West, meanwhile, are shedding weapon systems, ships, planes and personnel in undue haste because some gambling bankers brought the world to near financial disaster.

Most military analysts agree that Asia is where the next World War will start, and most also agree that it will be Taiwan that is the trigger. The scenerio they foresee is this, China, with its massively superior military will invade Taiwan and secure the island from retalitory action from America, who has sworn to defend Taiwan from aggression. America will be obliged by Treaty to respond militarily against China. China will then act against American interests around the globe. (They already own great swathes of industry, agriculture, resources and companies worldwide). America will do the same. Eventually American allies in Asia, such as Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Australia will be drawn in to the conflict and all too soon the world will be at war again.

The only unanswered question remains WHEN?

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