World War III - A Prediction

[Aramike]

I'm currently tasked with writing an essay summarizing my belief that a third world war is just barely over the horizon. Inspired by some fairly "fiesty" discussion here, I figured that I would try something new - writing with an audience. I'm hoping to avoid pitfalls and inaccuracies due to my overlooking of something, and I figured this would be fairly innovative.

This is not intended to be a political discussion in any way. Nor is it intended to decide right versus wrong. It's simply going to be a summary of my theories regarding current national stability. I also don't need any spelling or grammar help - already have enough of that.

I know it may be a tad lengthy and heady, so I don't expect a flurry of responses. But any help anyone can give is appreciated.

So, without further ado...

Preface:

Going in to the year 2009, the world faces greater uncertainty than ever before. The United States of America is engaged in two unpopular wars. Russia is showing signs of a communist re-emergence with its recent displays of solidarity with Venezuela and Cuba. Iran and North Korea have clear intentions regarding nuclear weapons. The People's Republic of China (PRC) is liberalising material consumptions. Isreal is, well, Isreal. A world-wide fiat economy is facing a total collapse. These are just a few examples.

It is of my belief that we are quickly approaching a tipping point. Governments are finding it increasingly neccessary to take extreme steps to preserve their economies. Rhetoric between nations are more clearly defining moral differences, creating an air of anger, hostility, and sometimes pure hatred. A large contingency of the populations of the more prosperous countries are becoming more and more resentful of their governments' political aspirations and leanings.

Moreso, we're entering an era of nearly unfetterred access to communication. This brings with it an unforseen side-effect: ideas are flowing far more easily than bare information. For every snippet of raw news, there are seemingly hundreds of blogs explaining to the reader how to interpret it.

Governments that used to be able to control the dissemination of ideas find that control decreasing rapidly. This is both encouraging and frightening - I believe that freedom of speech is a basic human right. But, I also understand that some ideas are inherently dangerous.

We find ourselves in a world where even the worst among us can reach out to millions.

The world's resources are decreasing as its population explodes. Planet Earth is smaller than ever before. Cultures extend beyond national boundaries - your very neighbor could easily be your sworn enemy. Where oceans and borders separated us, fiber optics and satellites have brought us closer together than ever before.

I'm not saying that any of this is "bad".

Simply, I believe that these are the perfect ingredients for the next world war.

Next: Part 1 - History