Imminent World War 3?

With the Middle Eastern Islamic countries fighting with the west over oil, what is the real hope for Israel. They recently found oil, and I'm sure the islamic states aren't happy with that, being that the islamic states seem to be hell bent on crippling the western oil market. So what do you think is going to happen?

Israel is fine. They have the USA on their side. Besides, they have tonnes of weaponry, and their enemies know that. No state is stupid enough to invade Israel. It's ironic how the Holy Lands could potentially end up being Hell on Earth.

lol ohhh the irony. Yea i Agree, ISrael will always have USA backing. And Britians im sure.

But world war 3 is already starting about 15 or so countires are involved in the war in iraq.

no one is at war with iraq. the US-led coalition was at war with the Saddam government. The current government is allied with the Coalition, and Iraq is, therefore, not at war.

Furthermore, the countries involved in Iraq are resolving civil conflict, and are there to provide aid for, and rebuild, the nation of iraq.

True, and besides, the war did actually end a while ago. I can't see what's happened in Iraq escalating anytime soon realistically.

World War 3 wouldent happen until China or Russia or both got involved in a war. The Middle East doesnt make up the entire world they just give the rest of the world a lot of its oil.

Lol i don't think anything is going to happen anytime soon. Just alot of fighting. I don't think world war3 will come unless more countries fight.

we're fine for now, anyways if anyones gonna start ww3....its canada >.>

I think that the US is gonna piss somebody off and it will lead to a chain of events that eventually puts the European Union against someone like china

Just a tidbit of info for you, alot of the worlds nuclear arsenal is fast becomng smaller because alot the Uranium-233/235/238, Lithium-6 deuteride, and Plutonium-239 in the weapons built before 1980 are decaying and so these weapons have been or are soon to be decommissioned. This will leave alot of economically weak states who might have blown a load of their GDP on their nuclear arsenal a few decades back when all out nuclear war seemed imminent and deterrents were seen as essential, probably will very soon be dismantling and subsequently won't be able to afford to renew their weapons.

As for Israel they aren't in any real danger of being invaded nor turned into a nuclear wasteland as they not only have the backing of the USA and many other western states they also have the highest Nuclear Arsenal/Population ratio of all the nuclear states.

I think I should also add that alot of people seem to think that any old Joe in his basement can produce a small nuclear device in a short amount of time à la mode The Sum of All Fears and destroy a whole city. This is completely ludicrous it takes years of development, massive amounts of machinery, and teams of nuclear physicists, not to mention billions of dollars to create a relatively low yeild device. The only viable 'nuclear' solution for terrorists involves using a large amount of conventional explosives salted with a sizable (relatively impractical) amount of the Cobalt-60 isotope packed above the explosive core releasing the intensely radioactive material downwind to the target* rendering it a hazardous radioactive environment for a long while**.

In my opinion we're not exactly in imminent danger of a nuclear device of any kind being detonated in a terrorist attack but a 'dirty bomb' using highly radioactive, long lasting fallout is technically possible, but near impossible to produce and transport for detonation in a clandestine fashion due to the amount of materials needed for it to be effective.

* Most likely a densely populated urban environment to maximise death as a result of the attack.

** Rougly 17 years but if anyone is interested just post and I'll write a program a bit later to calculate it exactly and leave it running overnight and update when it's done.

well with commander Stupidity at the helm no one knows, who knows what country he decides to poke with a stick next, but i think that a huge war is deffinetly imminent

If we don't get out of Iraq, everyone will be at war against us, this time, we're the Nazi's

Wow. I want to punch you for saying that. We're not feeding "dissenters" into woodchippers feet first. We're not randomly conducting executions and we're not herding Iraqis into concentration camps. In many cases, all we're doing is patrolling populated areas when insurgent suicide bombers see their "opportunity" and blow up themselves and seventeen civilians just to kill two US Marines. That place was just fine before we got there? Bullshit.

The lack of knowledge at what is actually going on here appalls me, as does the rampant spread of extreme neo-liberalism. Actually, I take that back. That last one frightens the hell out of me.

I don't consider this a matter of IF America strikes another in the Middle East, its more of WHO and WHEN. Israel is a nice country and the U.S. has to do all it can to help them out. So soon enough, we'll see Damascus get attacked. Watch what I say and see it come true.

I don't think a World War is imminent.

World Wars 1 and 2 came as a result of powerful nations drawing more countries in through alliances.

E.g. In WW1, Britain only entered the War because Belgium was attacked, and Germany invaded France (the German Schlieffen Plan compelled Germany to attack France if ever it was opposed by Russia) because it's ally, Austria-Hungary, was fighting Russia.

The Alliances between these nations pulled the World into the Wars - particularly because of Britain's Empire. That is what makes a World War - strong powerful nations figthing across an immense battlefield.

The situation in the Middle East is not the same, for the following reasons.

Firstly, it is not a war between states. The US and Coalition forces are occupying an allied state - Iraq is not ruled by Saddam - it's government is pro-USA. The fighting that occurs is between a Military force (the Coalition armies) and an Insurgent force. These Insurgents are not representatives of any one nation. Therefore, it is a Guerrilla War.

Secondly, as a result of the above, strong armies are not opposing each other. Military power is held very much by the Coalition, as they have the resources and manpower of their developed nations behind them. Thus, any War would not last long. Remember that the Coalition forces destroyed the previous Iraqi Army very swiftly.

Thirdly, the USA and the opposing nations in the Middle East are EXTREMELY reluctant to enter into military conflict with one another. Both sides know that it will be very damaging in all respects - politically, socially and economically. What would the benefit of going to war be?

Besides, Iran and Syria both know perfectly well not to anger any of America's Middle Eastern allies, and the attacks by Hezbollah on Israel were out of control of the Lebanese government.

In summary, a world war would not arise in the Middle East because the conditions do not exist for such a war to exist. The war would by contained within the Middle East, and would be over quickly.