WORLD WAR III ~

The U.S. and The Clash of Political Cultures ~ PART I

WORLD WAR III. It’s here, full throttle. It has been, for quite a while…escalating since the collapse of the Berlin Wall (the symbol of a world divided between two superpowers) in November 1989. It is defined today by a clash between Western liberal democracies and three radical regimes (Iran, China, and Russia) that seek regional hegemony and global domination.

WORLD WAR III, also, is not your vintage brand of World War.

Now, and in the future, the instruments of WWIII will be fought with a range of far more sophisticated, technological, destructive, and deadly tools: Disinformation. Cyberattacks. Weaponized AI, drones and robotics. Infiltration. Economic sabotage.

And, the new World War of the 21^st Century won’t be won with nukes. No side wants nuclear catastrophe (although, sure, the danger always exists that some Dr. Strangelove-ish General Jack Ripper will go nuts and pull the trigger).

At least, that’s what all the parties proclaim, notwithstanding their perpetual saber-rattling and brinkmanship. The fear of Mutually Assured Destruction (the mind-set that effectively prevented Armageddon during the Cold War years) may very well keep the atom at bay.

And yet, just to keep us on edge, the scientifically informed Doomsday Clock (a warning from the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists about “how close we are to destroying our world with dangerous technologies of our own making”) remains set (as of today) at 90 seconds to midnight, the closest it has ever been.

World War III is being waged on three notable fronts and setting the world on pins and needles:

• Russia’s aggressions and hostile measures in Eastern Europe ~ starting with the 2014 annexation of Crimea and the 2022 invasion of Ukraine; the suspension of the 2011 New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START); the rescinding of Russia’s ratification of the 1996 Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty; and the deployment last year of tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus;

• China’s Global Security Initiative and Global Development Initiative (formerly the Belt and Road Initiative), which together represent Xi Jinping’s vision of a new world order that elevates Chinese influence at the expense of American power. To the extent that Xi uses constraint in dealing with Taiwan and exercises its leverage over Kim Jong-un’s North Korean regime, the region’s temperature may yet avoid an explosion.

• Iran’s incitements and sponsorship of terrorism in the Middle East ~ the centerpiece of which is the collective jihadist assault against the sovereignty and legitimacy of Israel ~ and southwestern Asia, exacerbated by its continued work to develop weapons-grade uranium.

It is in the context of Iranian militance that the war between Israel and Hamas needs to be understood. It is the seething cauldron that heightens the intensity and danger of World War III.. If you thought that the war is just between Israel and Hamas, then think again, because the interests and stakes at play extend well beyond the Mediterranean and Jordan River and involve an unholy convergence of the agendas of Iran, Russia, and China.

Footnote: While these arenas of confrontation are real and immediate, let’s acknowledge that nations in other regions are developing the military and economic capacity to exercise influence on the international stage…presenting new complications in the conduct of World War III.

So it goes as it has gone before, our fate resting on the intelligence and maturity of the nation’s political leadership. Yet, if there is a time to worry about the capacity of this nation to act with strategic focus and resolve, it is now.

What will determine victory in this global struggle between political cultures is the will and determination of a people to sustain and withstand the strains and costs of perpetual vigilance. On that score, the U.S. is in deep trouble. While rogue states relentlessly pursue their long-term visions of dominance, America is virtually asleep at the wheel, immersed in its own civil war between the wingnuts of the far right and the far left and paralyzed by chronic failures of governance.

Thus, the stakes are higher than ever in the Presidential election of 2024. The choice now stands between two world views ~ isolationist versus globalist, autocracy versus democracy. While one Administration would roll back decades of social and economic progress and forgive the trespasses of its enemies, another would aim to propel the arc of progress forward and exercise diplomacy and force on behalf of global democracy.

I know where I stand. What about you?