WW3 now a real possibility

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It seem that the possibility we will soon see a nuclear war is frighteningly real.
http://www.vox.com/2015/6/29/8845913/russia-war
I don't want to die in a nuclear blast or fire, or dying of radiation poissoning.
Also one of my brothers is in the canadian military and he's planned to be sent in eastern europe (Poland, if I remenber right.) I don't want either him or me to die.
I just don't know how to deal with that, even though I was alive in the 80s, a scary moment during the Cold War, I was too young to know or understand the threat.

Maybe the U.S should leave Russia alone...I certainly don't want to die of getting bombed, just because the U.S wants to be all hard-headed and try to take on Russia who we wouldn't win against even if we had some justified reason to try to I don't think. They make a better ally...than enemy I think as far as best route for minimal death on our side. But its been a possibility since after WW11, I was reading an article that says russia has been on the verge of pushing their button of doom more than once since than.

F*** and over some age old battle over Eastern Europe of all things...great.

No, we're not on the verge of World War III.

You will run into these sorts of articles all the time. Those sorts of articles have been around since the late 1940's, when Russia first exploded an atomic bomb.

The only time we ever came even somewhat close to a nuclear war was in 1962. President Kennedy called Khrushchev's bluff.

I don't believe we're on the verge of WW3 either, I think the US has been needling Russia trying to get them to react then playing the victim when they do but I don't think the US would ever initiate nuclear war and neither will Russia. I also agree that we would be much better allies than enemies with Russia, we have a lot in common and share a common enemy is Islamic terrorism. If it happens, it will probably be by mistake or by hackers or something and this has almost happened before. There is no point worrying too much about it, I mean obviously I oppose everything that could lead to that point but ultimately I can't control the fate of the world if it is meant to be. Same thing if there is an asteroid or some Revelations Left Behind type stuff.

True, if it happens it happens....worrying about it will just make you feel anxious, and more anxious. I do hope its just another one of those making it sound worse than it is articles. I suppose the part about the unclear treaties/obligations of the U.S to defend nations in Eastern Europe or whatever was concerning then again I've heard care has been taken since WW2 to prevent those kinds of unclear treaty situations with wars waiting to happen...but how much care has really been taken.

The thought of Iran and North Korea using nuclear bombs against the U.S. and other countries worries me too.

North Korea has 10 nuclear weapons, probably the least of any country of potential concern...and I thought some kind of agreement/conclusion was reached between Iran in the U.S. or something.

A nuclear war with Russia isn't any more likely now then it was during the reign of the Soviet Union. We did come close at least once, though. Nobody has anything to gain by starting one. Mutual assured destruction will most likely assure that any military action with Russia will of a conventional nature.

Yes, the deal with Iran has been concluded, but some people are saying we are making a HUGE mistake with the deal.

yeah because its not like iran has ever agreed to stuff then done it anyways. nope that never happens.

The problem with North Korea having nukes isn't that they might use them against the civilized world, it's that NK might use them at all. Once nukes are used, a nuclear response is a strong possibility. The most likely scenario is NK uses them against South Korea. The US is invested in SK and either defends SK or lets it burn. If the US lets it burn, US supremacy is severely weakened, which the US will not allow to happen. So the US is forced to invade and take out NK. China and Russia don't particularly like NK right now, but there is a big difference between disliking your neighbor (both nations share a border with NK) and watching them get destroyed by someone else you don't particularly like either. Even without US intervention, China would probably chose to participate in the 2nd Korean war. If nothing else, it would be a good opportunity to invade and take the whole peninsula, ostensibly they come in to support NK, but they wouldn't plan to leave after the war is done.

A US/China conventional war on the Korean peninsula is basically a coin toss. I'd probably put my money on China if it stayed conventional, but unfortunately, US soldiers and civilians have already been nuked, (you can't drop a nuke into SK without hitting Americans.) The punchline here is more nukes are detonated. It doesn't really matter who uses them or against whom they are used. Everyone can tell they are being used, (the reason we know NK has them is because their underground nuclear testing was detected,) so when you are sitting in a silo, and you know there is a nuclear war on the Korean peninsula, and all of a sudden your comms go down, because it's an old system and it happens, then you launch. Then everyone can tell that an ICBM was launched, and so they all launch.

So again, I won't die because I'm vaporized by a North Korean nuke. But a NK nuke will start a chain reaction that will cause the world to burn.
The US, China, Russia, France and UK have all had nukes for at least 5 decades. There have been various proxy wars and conflicts between them and they've all been resolved conventionally. As they say, an armed society is a polite society, and while there have been some petty bickering, it's unlikely any of them will start a nuclear war, (but they would, unfortunately, certainly conclude one.) India and Pakistan are kind of in the middle. They haven't been nuclear as long and seem like they don't want to start a nuclear war, but again, it just adds more pieces They are mostly concerned with each other. Israel, North Korea and Iran aren't as stable.
Israel is surrounded by enemies. While they have stated they would not be the first to introduce nukes to the region, if Israel is losing a conventional war for survival, the nuclear option starts to become the only option. However, for Israel to be losing said war for survival requires a unique set of circumstances I just don't see right now.
NK has a greater than normal chance to use nukes because the Supreme leader is potentially surrounded by sycophants who are afraid to tell him he's having a bad day and just needs to take a nap. He's been executing members of his fathers elites and consolidating power, so it isn't far fetched to believe he doesn't have any real advisers right now. That being said, he does seem very smart and hopefully he understands the severity of the situation.

Iran doesn't have nukes right now, but if they did, they've stated they would use them. So no one wants them to have any. An agreement has been worked out between them, the China, Russia, France, UK, US, EU and Germany to prevent them from having them. Currently the US is having debates in it's Congress on if it wants to be a part of the agreement, but regardless, Iran doesn't have nukes right now and is potentially at least a couple years away.

So the big worry, right now, really is North Korea. We don't really know what their command and control is on their nuclear arsenal, but if they detonate anything, Russia, China, and the US all use the nuclear triad (missile silo, strategic bombers and submarines,) meaning if any commander responsible for a nuclear payload suspects his country has been directly attacked they will use their nuke. So any communication issues could cause nukes to be launched. Right now, safe guards are in place to prevent false starts. But once a conflict has gone nuclear, those safe guards get relaxed quite a bit. And remember, both Russia and China share a land border with Korea.

All that being said, people understand the severity of nuclear weapons. No one wants to be the person that gets to spend the last few minutes of their life knowing they ended it all for everyone. Nuclear war is unlikely, however there is a very real possibility it might happen. The more nukes present in the world, and the more they are distributed among different factions, the more likely it is to happen. You are still more likely to die in a car accident though, so don't hold your breath.

Good luck and stay safe.

It really shouldn't, as neither China or the US(the two countries that spend the most on defense) would react favorably to any such action, and it would be a hideously Pyrrhic war for either NK and Iran. even if they tried it, the first world countries would probably roll up and pancake whatever idiot leadership initiated it.


note that neither Iran or DPRK are on this image, nor are they in the top 15 for defense spending/capita.

The Russian nuclear arsenal is so degraded that they are no longer the threat they were when they were the U.S.S.R., and we saw what came of that. Nothing. As far as these rogue nations that have the bomb go, they don't have the delivery systems to attack us. I'll lose sleep over something more immediate, not over something that probably won't happen.

Turn out the US is now sending F-22 in Europe; their best and most costly fighter jet. So it sound like tension is rising...

This really doesn't mean anything. The F-22 is pretty new, it was introduced in 2005, production was finished in 2011. F-22s were introduced into Asia in 2007, in Japan, they started participating in the annual joint US/South Korean military exercises in 2013. They were introduced into the middle east in 2009.
The F-22s made it's European debut in 2008, and have been used in joint exercises in Europe before. The media have latched onto this one this time because they are shiny and new and there is a 'mini-crisis' in Ukraine right now. Alright, it really sucks for Ukraine. This is kind of a mess for them and that region. But there are multiple sides to it and from a world view, it's unlikely WW3 will start over it.
Honestly, I was most pleasantly surprised yesterday when North and South Korea reached a deal, including NK giving an apology for the mine incident, (not really a strong one, but certainly a step in the right direction.)

Good luck and stay safe.

Mutually assured destruction. It won't happen.

Also it's entirely possible to survive a nuclear war.