By Armita Rohani
A five-minute speech can kill millions and put the world in turmoil; one bomb, one order, or one man, can lead the world to decades worth of destruction. With international tensions at a record spike—as well as public ignorance—another world war is far from unlikely. Even the Bible affirms this in Matthew 24:6-7: “And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places.” The past is repeating itself, the future is inevitable; it is time to wake up and realize it.
Although the last “great war” started nearly a century ago, war has been all too common in the present day. Whether it was the U.S. v.s. Afghanistan, or– the more recent–Russia v.s. Ukraine, possibly even Israel v.s. Palestine, the world has never truly been at peace. People in first world countries may claim they know what oppression and violence may feel like, yet have never experienced its true horrors first hand: so long as they’re not affected, it’s not happening elsewhere. But it is, and it can easily get out of hand, all because of MAIN. China and North Korea have been rampantly militarizing (militarization), alliances between the communists and dictators–although not secret–have formed (alliances), both China and Russia are aiming to be the next economic superpower (imperialism, gaining wealth), and every dictator wants a piece of glory for themselves and their “superior” country (nationalism). The situations are lining up, the dominoes are falling into place, and comparing Putin to Hitler has never been easier.
A young, German nationalist with one of the most famous mustaches in history, Hitler aimed to reclaim lands in Austria-Hungary that originally belonged to the German Confederation in 1815. Becoming the leader of the Nazi party, and then appointed as dictator in 1934, Hitler began his conquest of conquering land–starting with Austria–easily, as the allied powers were determined not to be involved through the process of appeasement. After taking over Austria and Czechoslovakia, with no resistance from the allies, Hitler invaded Poland–an ally of Britain and France. Now in allied territory, the two latter countries had no choice but to declare war on Germany, while the United States gave supplies and ammunition to their European allies under the Lend-Lease Act; they eventually joined the war after the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbour in 1941. One of the worst wars in history, World War 2 left 53 million people dead: 15 military and 38 civilian.
Image: US Department of Defence
A Russian dictator who yearns for glory for himself before his death, Putin declared war on Ukraine to reclaim lands that originally belonged to the Soviet Union in 1922. The President of Russia has currently claimed land holdings in the Crimea region and is facing tolls from the Ukrainian counteroffensive. Although the U.S. and their allies are supplying weapons and billions of dollars to the Ukrainians, all of that will change after the 2024 election.
55% of Americans believe that we should stop giving money to Ukraine, that we should pay attention to our own country and realign funding to Americans; here’s why that’s stupid. We quit funding, it means we are going straight back to appeasement: abandoning Ukraine for the Russians to take apart. The allies of the U.S. will most likely rethink their own funding—either limiting it or cutting it off completely. It’s international funding and supply of weaponry that has been able to keep Russians from storming Ukraine like the Nazis did to France; if we cut off those funds, we hand Ukraine over (remember, Putin’s allies have been loyal and fruitful to him during this war). Now since we willingly gave Ukraine to Putin, what’s stopping us from giving away other countries like it’s the bloody lottery? The only thing that has made this war not a total fallout is because there are no American soldiers supplied from Congress or even a presidential order on Ukrainian soil, because if that were to happen, the U.S. would need to declare war on Russia first (granted, there are American soldiers and marines fighting on the Ukrainian front; however, they are volunteers—mostly veterans—who have willingly gone to fight). However, if Putin were to invade a NATO country (bloody lottery), the United States and its allies would be forced to declare war—under article five, “The Parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all”–thus triggering another World War.
This dilemma will only become more heightened with the attacks that are going on in Israel and Palestine; even the Israeli prime minister has declared that this will mean war. It will only turn into a world war if Palestine or Israel gets its other allies involved, pushing them to declare war on the former, causing the latter to declare war on the other, giving you a tasty recipe for World War III. The minute that larger, first world countries declare war or get militarily involved (not just by funding), is when everyone else will fall into the domino effect, send troops, and unleash bloody hell.
Ever since the first world war, the entire “rosy retrospectrum” of war has been wiped away. War’s not glorious, it’s not fun or any other misconceptions people had back then; there has never been a winner, it has always been the one who lost less. People in this generation may be blind to its damaging effects or ignorant to the sacrifices made by the older generation, but there’s no other way to put it. It’s brutal, and its horrors are beyond anything anyone could ever imagine. Survival is heavily based on chance/luck, it’s you versus the All Mighty, and with a generation so lost on morals and religion and salvation, only the Lord will know how escalated the next one will be.
In the end, war is inevitable, more than enough people will die, and God knows if America will remain triumphant. Tensions are exceedingly high and enough wars have been going on already; it’s only a matter of time until one of them escalates and drags in everyone else. Until we break free from the ignorance of our past, can we actually solve our problems.
Image: HistoryNet
