Current Events > Remember when we all thought the Ukraine war would turn into WW3?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I'm talking about back in early 2022. A lot of people (myself included) were really, really anxious that it would be the start of WW3. I even have a few friends who thought it was the end of the world. Not that I blame anyone for being anxious during that time or anything since no one really knew what was going to happen. I'm just saying.

And yes. I know the war itself is still terrible regardless, with the devastation and countless loss of life. But I think we've pretty much all calmed down and have realized it was never going to be some world ending apocalyptic doomsday threat.

As long as Putin is still President of Russia we're still in danger because he's backed into a corner and could easily say "fuck it" and launch a missile.

I was arguing that Russia simply wasn't a threat to the west and that got a large amount of anger from people here lmao.

People like hockey bub went all out and wanted to invade Russia.

Shut the fuck up Duncan

tomorrow is a new day.

I dunno if anyone w/ a brain ever thought this, but like...it's still ongoing and could change rapidly, in the future.

Full_Pokedex posted...

As long as Putin is still President of Russia we're still in danger because he's backed into a corner and could easily say "fuck it" and launch a missile.

oh duncan pls stop

I mean... it still could, but it wasn't something that was going to happen overnight. WW1 and WW2 were ultimately the result of a LOT of global tension and other wars leading up to them for a few years, until a single event lit a spark that got everybody on board to go kill each other.

Right now we have at least two big conflicts going on (Russia v. Ukraine, Israel v. Pakistan) and fascism is rising around the globe. The powder keg isn't lit yet, but let's not kid ourselves here -- we're filling it up.

"all" of us did not think that.

The majority of people I saw say that would also often use that as justification for letting Putin win/making Ukraine surrender and accept whatever terms are presented to them.

Nobody took those people seriously and often were accused of being Putin propagandists, which many likely were.

I've literally seen a poster post RT here as a "legitimate" source to cite their claims lol.

I did not, in fact, think that.

I didnt really get the concern there. Nobody was starting WW3 over Ukraine. Im not trying to degrade the country but thats just how it is.

TMOG posted...

I mean... it still could, but it wasn't something that was going to happen overnight. WW1 and WW2 were ultimately the result of a LOT of global tension and other wars leading up to them for a few years, until a single event lit a spark that got everybody on board to go kill each other.

Right now we have at least two big conflicts going on (Russia v. Ukraine, Israel v. Pakistan) and fascism is rising around the globe. The powder keg isn't lit yet, but let's not kid ourselves here -- we're filling it up.

You mean Iran, not Pakistan.

Kradek posted...

"all" of us did not think that.

I knew someone was going to point it out that I said "all of us". I was originally going to change my topic title to something far less including of everyone. But since I can't go back and change my topic title, it's whatever.

And yes, I'm aware that not every single person on the planet thought it was going to be WW3.

dfranctv posted...

I knew someone was going to point it out that I said "all of us". I was originally going to change my topic title to something far less including of everyone. But since I can't go back and change my topic title, it's whatever.

And yes, I'm aware that not every single person on the planet thought it was going to be WW3.

Well I appreciate your consideration on your verbiage, however even on the Politics board it was not the majority of people saying this. It was always a minority position most often conjoined with "and this is why we should just give Putin what he wants" that had most people registering it as Putin propaganda, so much so that even the people legitimately concerned without the Putin angle often got lumped in with them.

We?

No, I don't remember that. It wasn't even a majority.

Just fearmongering types.

There were a bunch of smaller wars before WW2.

Bat178 posted...

You mean Iran, not Pakistan.

I actually meant Palestine. Not sure why the fuck my fingers decided to type Pakistan lol

https://youtu.be/ge4aPZrjLc0?feature=shared

i personally think we're in the modern form of the "Occupation of Czechoslovakia" part of WW2
or at the very least the "Spanish Civil War" part of the lead up

Aloc posted...

I was arguing that Russia simply wasn't a threat to the west and that got a large amount of anger from people here lmao.

People like hockey bub went all out and wanted to invade Russia.

I still believe we need to ensure Ukraine wins and it's bullshit that the GOP wants us to let Russia succeed.

This particular war of Putin's might not. The next one might, if he gets what he wants in Ukraine and he makes the calculation that he can invade his neighbours with impunity -- and the western democracies have to decide how many dominoes should be allowed to topple.

Remember when America immediately joined conflicts that were later called world wars?

It might turn into a cold war 2.0, don't see it turning into ww3 for 1 reason:

Nato and mostly the US usually can't wait to invade any country they view as hostile, yet they've always shyed away from Russia. I don't think that has changed

Wd all thought no such things.

You guys can look at all the shit going on rn and you think we arent already in WW3?

Kradek posted...

No because they dragged their feet entering both world wars. They didn't "immediately" do anything, except selling Ford vehicles to the Nazis, maybe.

We only entered WWI 6 months before it ended and WWII after Pearl Harbor. If the Japanese hadn't attacked us we might not have entered at all, or entered in the last 6 months again.

Yes, that is the point I was trying to make

It was mostly idiots, tankies, and right wingers claiming it as a reason to let Ukraine get conquered by Russia.

MrResetti posted...

Yes, that is the point I was trying to make

Oh, then my bad for missing that.

Kradek posted...

They didn't "immediately" do anything, except selling Ford vehicles to the Nazis, maybe.

IBM worked 24/7 to be able to ship equipment to the Nazis before the Government could ban all sales to Germany.
You know the Auschwitz tattoos? They were known as the IBM Numbers.

I remember commenting on just how careful the West was being to prevent it from escalating into a WW.

That was my answer to a couple of people who asked why we didn't intervene directly.

Foppe posted...

IBM worked 24/7 to be able to ship equipment to the Nazis before the Government could ban all sales to Germany.
You know the Auschwitz tattoos? They were known as the IBM Numbers.

Did not know that, thanks for the info.

I can't remember the user but we had one guy constantly fearful that WW3 would start immediately. Like posting about it daily.

Sandalorn posted...

I can't remember the user but we had one guy constantly fearful that WW3 would start immediately. Like posting about it daily.

Yeah, Duncan is just like that

Foppe posted...

IBM worked 24/7 to be able to ship equipment to the Nazis before the Government could ban all sales to Germany.

The company continued to sell to Nazi Germany, and provide on-site support for its card punch machines in concentration camp offices, through its foreign subsidiaries.

Chicken posted...

You guys can look at all the shit going on rn and you think we arent already in WW3?

Just wow...

I still dont know Biden is letting all the innocent people die in that conflict. Just kill Putin. North Korea and China won't do a damn thing.

Chicken posted...

You guys can look at all the shit going on rn and you think we arent already in WW3?

No, I think we're in a world that's suffering from a lot of violent regional and internal conflicts, but which aren't all interlocking nor driven by the same actors in the way that Cold War conflicts were, when the planet was deadlocked between two rival superpowers who fought proxy wars in Asia, Africa and the Americas that cost millions of lives.

I never thought that.

maxpkmf posted...

I still dont know Biden is letting all the innocent people die in that conflict. Just kill Putin. North Korea and China won't do a damn thing.

One does not simply kill another countrys leader.

It's never out of the question, though Israel-Gaza is FAR more likely to spiral into WW3, and even that isn't overly likely to.

Foppe posted...

One does not simply kill another countrys leader.

Then we would very likely wind up in a war that they would blame Biden for.

At least it's different from the "just appease Putin."

Foppe posted...

One does not simply kill another countrys leader.

How about they do it difficultly then

Trumble posted...

It's never out of the question, though Israel-Gaza is FAR more likely to spiral into WW3, and even that isn't overly likely to.

I think it's unlikely. Israel/Gaza is much smaller in scale than any of its previous full-blown wars, and it's not even fighting more than one country at a time. And unlike previous conflicts, the Arab countries would be fighting for The Palestinians (who they don't care about), as opposed to territory (which they did care about). We've also seen that previous smaller conflicts (e.g., invasion of Lebanon) didn't really interest the surrounding countries enough to get involved (or maybe they were quietly happy to have Israel do the job).

Hostilities in WW2 started in 1937, when Japan invaded China. It took two years for Germany to attack Poland, another year and a half for Russia to be attacked and another six months for America to enter.

In essence, it took about four years for it to escalate from a series of regional invasions to truly being a world war.

If we were working with the WW2 timeline and saying that the invasion of Ukraine was equivalent to the invasion of China, then wed be a few months away from the invasion of Poland

Just because it hasnt happened yet, does not mean the potential to spiral out of control isnt still there.

Any conflict has that potential. The issue was, as already brought up, the vast majority bringing up concerns were also playing that anything less than total appeasement would cause Putin to start WW3.

There is a gulf of difference between vigilance and awareness and what was being peddled by the vast majority of those who claimed concern.

maxpkmf posted...

I still dont know Biden is letting all the innocent people die in that conflict. Just kill Putin. North Korea and China won't do a damn thing.

Yeah, peace is just one assassination away!

Remember what happened when they killed Iraqs leader?
Saddam Hussein raised to power.

TMOG posted...

Right now we have at least two big conflicts going on (Russia v. Ukraine, Israel v. Pakistan) and fascism is rising around the globe. The powder keg isn't lit yet, but let's not kid ourselves here -- we're filling it up.

This I think is the most realistic take. The world isn't just, fair, or particularly sensible. There aren't spirits, gods, or angels looking out for mankind, and we can be as irrational as any other animal. Nuclear weapons will represent an existential threat to human civilization as long as they continue to exist.