I want to ask....

[Hexen]

For experts (who know about the inner workings of capitalism & imperialism), due to recent alarmist fear mongering that has been going around this year (well remember the year though....) are we closer to a "WWIII" scenario according to world events (with the wars going on in Syria and also the possible upcoming war with Iran since I heard that Iran and Russia have a mutual defense pact but I can't find any evidence of this instead in conspiracy websites) or they are just going be proxy wars which is most likely?

Another question I would like to ask apart from this, is Global Nuclear War really plausible or is it really unrealistic and unlikely?

Can anyone give insight into this issue?

[Geiseric]

well it's kind of inevitable if Capitalism survives, sorry for the bad news. We just need to make the revolution happen before Fascists come to power. Intra - Imperialist wars over territory are kind of old news, I can't see Russia and the U.S. fighting over Iran or the Middle east, the conflict would create a crater.

Capitalists would destroy their own property as well if MAD came to fruition, I think they learned from the Cuban Missile Crisis that playing chicken really isn't a good idea. I think that a revolution would happen before a nuclear war though.

[ВАЛТЕР]

Never underestimate capitals thirst for profit.

As for a nuclear war, it would be insane to just rain nukes on each other. If it came down to nuclear weapons I'm betting they would stick to smaller yield tactical nukes on certain key positions. Nuclear war makes no sense as you can't move in troops into the affected areas due to massive amounts of radiation.

[Tim Finnegan]

well it's kind of inevitable if Capitalism survives, sorry for the bad news.
Why?

[Geiseric]

For the same reasons WW1 and II happened, capitalism decays and capitalists start fighting over the scraps of profit that can still be made.

[Tim Finnegan]

Even if we accept that narrative (which I am not inclined to do), that doesn't imply that there will be another world war, simply that war will continue and perhaps increase.

[Geiseric]

Fair enough, however the peace that's lasted the last half century is due to the utter destruction of europe, which is now rebuilt, with Germany at a central role as the leading imperialist state. The world economy is already going to hit a depression within the next year or so, meaning that the prospect of using war to "boost the economy," will be that much higher, and that's what i'm really afraid of, not the Arab spring conflicts.

[pluckedflowers]

I think there is a real conflict between the US, with its declining economic power, and other states such as Russia and China, who would hope to unseat the US from its general status as the world superpower. But just because the US is declining economically, doesn't mean it isn't still the world military superpower. It is. I think Russia and China realize this and have no interest at the moment in some kind of showdown with the US, as it would be too costly and success would not even be guaranteed. The US, at the same time, also realizes that it can only extend itself so much and that it, too, has no guarantee of success in such a war. So, if the old and new imperial powers have their way, I don't think we'll see a world war any time soon.

That being said, events can take on a life of their own. The situation around Syria is immensely complicated right now. There is a possibility of a conflict that could spin out of control, but there's really no way of knowing whether or not that will actually happen. Look at what happened a few years ago when Israel bombed Syria, for example. Nothing happened. Syria realized it was a bad idea to start a war with Israel, so it just tried to pretend nothing happened. The same thing could happen with Iran, should the US or Israel bomb it. Or it could try to launch a regional war. There's really no way to know.

All we can do is keep on keepin' on. And by keepin' on I mean some combination of drinking, sex, and radical organizing.