Countries at Risk: Analyzing the possible causes of World War III

Amid increasing major conflicts globally, numerous military and political experts are suggesting that the onset of World War III may be imminent. However, the actual proximity of another global war remains a subject of intense debate.

According to Ukraine's former Commander-in-Chief, General Valerii Zaluzhny, the Third World War has already begun, or at least that was the claim he made in a speech at Ukrainska Pravda's UP100 award ceremony.

Zaluzhny reasoned that the inclusion of North Korean soldiers in Russia’s fight to defeat Ukraine on the battlefield as well as Iran and China’s assistance to Russia signaled that the third World War had arrived according to Poltico’s reporting. 

The former Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief isn’t alone in his opinion, either. Mark Toth, a national security advisor, and Colonel Jonathan Sweet, a former US intelligence officer, made the same bold claim in an article for The Daily Mail. 

“This third global conflagration doesn't look or feel like what Hollywood envisioned,” the two experts claimed. “No mushroom clouds or apocalyptic wastelands. Rather, it is war by a thousand cuts, conducted across multi-regional and multi-domain battlefields.”

However, not everyone thinks that World War III has already kicked off, though many do warn that the global political situation is a major problem, a problem that could lead to a new battle between superpowers competing for global dominance. 

What World War III would look like is also a hotly debated topic. Two experts attempted to game out for Newsweek in a recent article that pointed out the flashpoints the world is facing and what a modern global conflict might look like today. 

Retired Rear US Admiral Mark Montgomery and former acting Secretary of Defense for Policy James Anderson told Newsweek that Russia wasn’t the only bad actor that could initiate a new world war. The planet’s biggest problem is regional tensions. 

Problems between the world’s five biggest players—Russia, China, North Korea, Iran and the United States—could initiate a new global conflict, especially when it comes to the ambitions of Russia, China, and Iran. 

Russian ambitions beyond Ukraine in the Baltics or Poland could become a flashpoint that might ignite a larger hot war with NATO while China’s desire to reintegrate Taiwan into the mainland could be our biggest issue according to Anderson. 

Admiral Montgomery pointed to issues related to Russia as the biggest flashpoint that could lead the world to a global war and added that Iran was the second most likely flashpoint because of Tehran's willingness to attack Israel through its proxies in the Middle East. 

If a global war does kick-off, the next important question of course is which countries would be involved. According to Newsweek, strategists believe that any world war would likely quickly see cooperation between countries like Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran.

China, North Korea, and Iran have all already shown a willingness to work with Russia, while on the other side of the conflict, the world would likely see NATO countries along with Australia, India, and Japan on the other side of a fight in some capacity.  

"More precisely, it would involve the big players – Germany, France, UK, Italy, Poland, and, depending where the attack comes, probably the Baltics, would be the most heavily involved as well," Anderson explained if a Russia flashpoint leads to conflict. 

"In terms of involvement in the Indo-Pacific for scenarios involving Taiwan, Japan almost certainly would be involved to some extent since we have so many bases there," added Anderson, who noted Australia has signaled it would support the US if China indeed Taiwan. 

According to Anderson, in a scenario where China invaded Taiwan, it is likely Malaysia and Indonesia could be a part of the conflict because of their locations. The Philippines could also get pulled into the fighting if China targeted one of Manilla’s allies. 

There are so many possible scenarios that it's difficult to say for sure which countries would be involved in World War III, but the main players have been covered across a variety of likely scenarios, though we should hope none of these scenarios play out. 

Never miss a story! Click here to follow The Daily Digest.