WWIII has already begun

(MENAFN) Many talk about the possibility of World War III, imagining it as a repeat of 20th-century conflicts like the 1941 Barbarossa invasion or the Cuban Missile Crisis nuclear standoff. However, war has changed. The new global conflict has already begun, even if many have yet to recognize it.

For Russia, this pre-war phase ended in 2014; for China, in 2017; and for Iran, in 2023. Since then, this modern, diffuse form of war has intensified. It is not simply a new Cold War. Since 2022, the West’s efforts against Russia have become more forceful, raising the risk of a direct nuclear clash with NATO over Ukraine. Although Donald Trump’s return to the presidency temporarily reduced that risk, by mid-2025, hawkish forces in the US and Western Europe had pushed tensions dangerously close once again.

This conflict involves the world’s dominant powers: the United States and its allies on one side, with China and Russia on the other. The war’s global nature is not due to its size but the high stakes involved—the future global balance of power. The West views China’s rise and Russia’s resurgence as existential threats and has launched economic and ideological campaigns to stop these shifts.

For the West, the war is about survival, not only geopolitically but ideologically. Western globalism—across economic, political, and cultural dimensions—cannot accept alternative civilizational models. Elites in the US and Western Europe are determined to maintain their dominance, seeing diverse worldviews, sovereign nations, and independent civilizations as threats.

This helps explain the West’s harsh responses. When Joe Biden told Brazil’s President Lula he wanted to “destroy” Russia, it revealed the true meaning behind terms like “strategic defeat.” Western-backed Israel’s actions in Gaza, Lebanon, and against Iran demonstrate this doctrine. In early June, similar strikes targeted Russian airfields, reportedly involving US and British forces. To Western strategists, Russia, Iran, China, and North Korea form a unified adversarial axis, which guides military planning.

Compromise is no longer considered an option. These are not isolated crises but ongoing, overlapping conflicts. Eastern Europe and the Middle East are current hotspots, with East Asia—especially Taiwan—long seen as a future flashpoint. Russia is actively involved in Ukraine, engaged in the Middle East, and may soon become involved in Pacific tensions.

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