Purely hypothetical, if WIII occured, what country would most likely start it?

Just wondering what all your opinions are. (As the question states above)

(Not sure if they're any other topics like this, if there are please excuse me, but I couldn't find any using search)

My opinion: North Korea

Why: Tensions are already soaring between DPRK and USA, and soon enough one side or the other will do something to annoy the other (e.g. test nukes).

(edited 11 years ago)

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Reply 1

joey11223

Nah North Korea would just get itself blown up, even China is starting to turn on them now as they don't want the hassle. I honestly think if South Korea invaded right now that China would not retaliate against them.

I imagine that a string of events would eventually lead to WWIII and you'd probably have historians arguing over which event really sparked the chain reaction. However I'd imagine it would relate to Iran, something like Iran testing a formidable nuke and America deciding to carry out a pre-emptive strike and going a little overboard. This causes Irans neighbours and possibly China (though I think it would help indirectly with weapon supplies for as long as possible) to decide America has overstepped the mark and push American forces back.

Reply 2

That Bearded Man

I agree with Joey - WWIII would stem from the Iran v Israel(Palasteine) and the reaction of Russia in all this

Reply 3

Dragonfly07

I was thinking North Korea too, but then I realised they couldn't possibly start WWIII because no one would be on their side. They would be one of the fewest countries that would just say "yeah, WWIII? We're up for that, bring it on".

To be honest if there was a WWIII then it would be between the west and Muslim countries (started by America and most countries that aren't Muslim supporting America), but it wouldn't last very long because of the huge gap in power...

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 4

dontbtz

WWIII will occur when P vs NP is solved (If P=NP). There will be security threats to every computer network in the world, banking and economic crises.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 5

tohaaaa

Original post by Dragonfly07

I was thinking North Korea too, but then I realised they couldn't possibly start WWIII because no one would be on their side. To be honest if there was a WWIII then it would be between the west and Muslim countries (started by America), but it wouldn't last very long because of the huge gap in power...

Interesting, but surely the Muslim Countries wouldn't get to that stage as they will know of the potential threat from the main superpowers?

Reply 6

Aj12

Most likely would be in the China sea, China provokes war with Japan bringing in the US as well as nearby nations. Could turn global if Russia jumped in on the Chinese side. This is based on a lot of assumptions though.

Reply 7

aspirinpharmacist

WWIII won't happen because Ozymandias will wipe out the population of several of the world's major cities and frame it on Dr Manhattan, and we will unite against a common enemy and avert a third world war.

Reply 8

tohaaaa

Original post by aspirinpharmacist

??? - I don't understand.... :colondollar:

Reply 9

Hal.E.Lujah

Whichever highly industrialised country ran out of oil first.

Reply 10

aspirinpharmacist

Original post by tohaaaa

??? - I don't understand.... :colondollar:

Watchmen. Watch it. :lol:

Although I've just given away the plot

Reply 11

tohaaaa

Original post by Hal.E.Lujah

Whichever highly industrialised country ran out of oil first.

Surely then they'll just begin trading with other countries, since if they're highly industrialized. I'd assume they'd have the money to pay for trade???

Reply 12

Dragonfly07

Original post by tohaaaa

Interesting, but surely the Muslim Countries wouldn't get to that stage as they will know of the potential threat from the main superpowers?

Doesn't seem to be stopping Iran. They're pretty irrational.

Reply 13

tohaaaa

Original post by Dragonfly07

Doesn't seem to be stopping Iran. They're pretty irrational.

Right, but then, won't WWIII be very quick as the USA and all the over allies will just go in an wipe them out?

Reply 14

Hal.E.Lujah

Original post by tohaaaa

Surely then they'll just begin trading with other countries, since if they're highly industrialized. I'd assume they'd have the money to pay for trade???

Well then they wouldn't have run out of oil would they :lol:

But once those countries run low and stop trading? And if they can no longer exploit an eastern country for oil? That's when international politics will escalate extremely quickly.

Reply 15

tohaaaa

Original post by Hal.E.Lujah

Well then they wouldn't have run out of oil would they :lol:

But once those countries run low and stop trading? And if they can no longer exploit an eastern country for oil? That's when international politics will escalate extremely quickly.

If that IS the case, then what will happen when ALL oil runs out?
Surely there will be nothing to fight over?

Or will some country find a way to create chaos?

Reply 16

Hal.E.Lujah

Original post by tohaaaa

If that IS the case, then what will happen when ALL oil runs out?
Surely there will be nothing to fight over?

Or will some country find a way to create chaos?

What are you asking? :s-smilie:

Reply 17

tohaaaa

Original post by Hal.E.Lujah

What are you asking? :s-smilie:

Sorry, should have made it more clear. I am asking what are the possible scenarios that could arise from total oil depletion.

Would this create more world wars? (Off topic a bit, but just curious to know).

Reply 18

TheHistoryStudent

Oddly enough I don't think NK would start it actually.

Not due to a lack of North Korean aggression mind, I think they perhaps would be stupid enough to attack Seoul or the US, but in that situation I think, if NK were the aggressor, I don't think it'd escalate beyond a regional conflict because North Korea's main ally, China, would probably at that point sell North Korea down the river I think.

While I know they're both communist (at least politically in China's case), I think if that were the situation it were facing down, potentially fighting one of it's biggest markets for export, it'd judge the potential economic damage it could suffer from a war with the US to outweigh the need to stand shoulder to shoulder with it's communist "brothers" in North Korea, and would in that situation, especially if North Korea were the aggressor, treat it as the inconvenient pain the in the arse it actually is and not bother with the hassle of riding to it's rescue on a big white horse...

---

My bet if WW3 were to start would be that it would actually be started out of a conflict between Iran & Israel to be honest... as it seems likely to me that those two will come into conflict in the future, and Iran arguably is considerably more powerful (and hence more likely to win) than North Korea is/would be (though in the grand scheme of things, Israel & the US would still probably win)...

I think if such a conflict were to occur, it'd have the effect of consuming the whole middle east in warfare, divided between those who support Iran and those who support Israel & the US (which I think could produce some surprises, even if most of the arab world hates Israel, as Iran could be seen again as a bigger threat at that moment). You've then got countries like Russia which might then get involved too to protect their interests in the Middle East, and China too potentially helping the side it wants to.

Though I think if that happened Russia & China would try to avoid outright conflict with US forces to avoid a full on declaration of war between them - maybe it'd be a bit like the Cold War era, and be a proxy war between them for influence in the region without outright conflict erupting between the powers behind the scenes so to speak.

I dunno... My gut feeling tells me we're headed toward a great deal of tension (perhaps another cold war type thing) over the issue of Iran and such (as well as dwindling resources), with not necessarily the threat of nuclear Armageddon preventing it spilling over, but the threat of the economic damage such a conflict would reap preventing it instead. It's partially because of that I think we need in the west to become self-sufficient for our energy needs before it happens (or at least not dependent on imports), by investing in solar, wind, wave, nuclear and if we're really really lucky and crack it, Fusion.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 19