between the situations in Iraq, Afganistan, and Iran and the impending oil crisis - the stars may be aligning

Yeah, we bomb Iran, Iran nukes Israel, and then:

IT'S ON!!!!

I'm kinda happy to see it happen in my lifetime.

frostingspoon says he said so couple years back and the verge ain't gotten less vergier since. Just sayin'.

yeah, but a few years ago Iran was being "agreeable" and nowo they're threatening to bomb Israel if we (meaning the US) make one false move.

no. not even close.

My statement was actually along the lines of "If we bomb Iran, Pandora's fucked."

And I stand by it, dumbass administration dumbasses.

when gas hits $4/gal people are going to FREAK.

I am so glad I am a carless treehugger

i don't know if we're any more on the verge than we were during the cold war or cuban missle crisis. my guess is things go that way, more or less.

Unless we spur them past the brink of normal crisis by, oh, maybe bombing Iran.

Which wouldn't be a clever thing to do.

Doesn't a "World War" require two opposing super powers?

but what if you factor in terrorism? Something that wasn't going on then, there is a stealth element with a totally different enemy that can be blamed

america has no arch dukes, so i think we're safe.

the United States v. The Middle East?

They may freak, but they won't do a damn thing about it.

I think it means that there are handfuls of major countries (not necessarily world powers) in the world alligning against a handful of other major countries.

For instance, Tajikistan, Crete, and Malta joining forces against Laos, Singapore, and Sicily is not a world war.

But, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Egypt, Iraq, Afghanistan against say, the U.S., England, Pakistan, and Russia may be a World War. And you can bet that if something liek this happened China would be helping out Iran's side.

I suspect terrorism was present then, as well. I'm talking totally out of my ass on this one, i.e. it's all supposition and includes no discreet research or expertise, but "terrorism" as we know (underground, clandestine) didn't take form until Israel had kicked the living shiite out of their neighbors. After Israel comes out the clear winner from organized, armed conflict, the arab partisans are left with nothing but partisan terror. It's not much different from what the Spanish did to the French in the first decade of the 19th century, or what many eastern Europeans did the Nazis and then the Russians in the 1940's and 50's.

Whereas Earth v. Mars is a War of the Worlds. It's a subtle distinction.

I suspect that if it comes down to this, China will keep it's yap shut. They know where the markets are, and they know they need access to western consumers.

I also don't think Saudi Arabia and Egypt join the likes of Syria and Iran. At most, you've got two additional players--Iran and Syria. If it goes to full-blown "war" and not depose the dictator and try to exert order, we'd go in hard, beat the living crap out of 'em, and get the hell out. Leave a rear guard to man the pumps and escort the supertanker convoys--drive earl back down to $18 a barrel.

yeah, but they didn't like, knock down skyscrapers, etc.

also, keep in mind the US has ALREADY invaded two nations.
World Wars take years to really get going (ie Germany was already in Austria, Poland, etc etc several years before the real deal broke out)

the death of Franz Ferndinand was a minor incident in and of itself, but it was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. We too have the right amount of tensions between various nations that one more incident could make it all blow up...

don't you think North Korea will jump in, if only to align with other psycho-dictators?

feels like it.

Ya see. I am thinking worse case scenario. Personally, I don't think we are anywhere near the "verge" of WWIII. But, worse case scenario, not just politics rules in times of an actual world war. It becomes way more personal and if they thought they would have a chance(and they may) I think that Saudi Arabia and Egypt would join them. Weren't a majority of the hijakers on 9/11 Saudi? Not that that means that all Saudi's would oppose the U.S. but if those types were in power, they may.

And worse case scenario again, if things were really bad and it looked like there was a chance that the U.S. would be defeated, I think that China would join them up. It depends on how bent on world domination they are. Plus, China really is a serious "enemy" of ours. We're just playing nice right now. It's the only reason North Korea really is so vocal at times about how they'll bomb stuff. They know that if push came to shove, China has their back. Same with any opposing force, I think, of the U.S. If China wants to continue in their newfound "capitalistic communis" then we may be ok there. However, seeing as how they have never really been all that concerned with world business and the capitalistic mindset, one could guess maybe it's a fake and they're leading us on. Who knows? Either way, I think we are far from a third WW.

God bless you, carless treehugger.

who the hell would start a war over oil?

I don't see it. Neither the USA nor Iran is going to get too many countries that sympathize with their cause to jump on the bandwagon. As I see it, you might get the USA, UK, Israel and possibly Germany, Japan, Canada, Mexico, Italy and Australia lending some support, but probably not large troop numbers. Iran might get limited support from Syria, Hamas and a few nations like Sudan, but probably won't get ardent Islamic support.
Russia only wants to sell weapons and supplies to Iran, and while China isn't a fan of Iran having weapons, they'd never risk their International standing right now.