915
Class War (lemmy.world)
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] underisk@lemmy.ml 61 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

There have been plenty of wars fought in the age of nuclear weapons that, strangely enough, have not resulted in the use of nuclear weapons. There's a few of them going on right now, in fact!

[-] Urist@lemmy.ml 4 points 7 months ago

Not directly between nuclear powers though.

[-] underisk@lemmy.ml 1 points 7 months ago

Which nuclear powers do you foresee entering into direct conflict in a theoretical WW3 scenario based on current conditions?

[-] Urist@lemmy.ml 4 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

In context of being a hypothetical world war, I do believe the current major powers, some of which have nukes, need to be involved. By definition, the answer to your question would have to be someone on this list.

[-] underisk@lemmy.ml 1 points 7 months ago

I don’t see how the current geopolitical climate results in any of those coming into direct conflict rather than just continuing to wage thinly veiled proxy wars. The only WW3 scenario I can imagine right now looks more like an intensification of the current situation.

[-] Urist@lemmy.ml 4 points 7 months ago

I do not see any world wars happening anytime soon either, given a somewhat rational (read non-suicidal) leadership of key nations. The original comment you responded to said that none would survive a nuclear total war, to which you replied that there have been wars fought in the nuclear age. This is true, even to the point of proxy wars between nuclear powers. However, they are not world wars, for which I think the original comment's argument holds true. In effect the idea is that a world war would almost by definition have some nuclear power on either side.

[-] underisk@lemmy.ml -3 points 7 months ago

If a world war can only exist between nuclear powers then does the first one (and most of the second) not count?

[-] Urist@lemmy.ml 3 points 7 months ago

No, but a conflict pretty much has to include major powers to escalate to a world war and the major powers coincide with the nuclear powers either directly or peripherally. I get the sense that you are arguing in bad faith here.

[-] underisk@lemmy.ml 1 points 7 months ago

It can involve the nuclear powers without them being in direct, overt conflict with each other. I'm not arguing in bad faith; I genuinely believe that your definition of "World War" is remarkably narrow and I feel I've been pretty consistent about trying to lay out my reasoning for that.

[-] Urist@lemmy.ml 3 points 7 months ago

Proxy wars historically have never constituted world wars by any account.

[-] underisk@lemmy.ml 1 points 7 months ago

Neither has it's participants' nuclear capable status.

[-] Urist@lemmy.ml 3 points 7 months ago

Yes, that is vacuously true. If it stops being so, recorded history will end.

[-] underisk@lemmy.ml -1 points 7 months ago

If all the nuclear powers aligned against all the non-nuclear states and waged a war of extermination against them, that would, by your terms, not qualify as a "World War".

[-] Urist@lemmy.ml 2 points 7 months ago
this post was submitted on 28 Jan 2024
915 points (95.9% liked)

Political Memes

5185 readers
3302 users here now

Welcome to politcal memes!

These are our rules:

Be civilJokes are okay, but don’t intentionally harass or disturb any member of our community. Sexism, racism and bigotry are not allowed. Good faith argumentation only. No posts discouraging people to vote or shaming people for voting.

No misinformationDon’t post any intentional misinformation. When asked by mods, provide sources for any claims you make.

Posts should be memesRandom pictures do not qualify as memes. Relevance to politics is required.

No bots, spam or self-promotionFollow instance rules, ask for your bot to be allowed on this community.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS