WORLD WAR III

Michael Goodwin's column in the New York Daily News caught my attention: "It's World War III and the US is Out of Ideas." http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/433715p-365242c.html He argues that "World War III has begun."

The feeling that the wheels are coming off the world has only one recent comparison, the time when America's head-butt with communism sprouted hot spots from Cuba to Vietnam. Yet ultimately the policy of mutual assured destruction worked because American and Soviet leaders didn't want their countries hit by nuclear bombs.

Such rational thinking is quaint next to the ravings of North Korean nut Kim Jong Il and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. They both seem to be dying to die - and set the world on fire. And don't forget Osama Bin Laden's declaration that it is the duty of every Muslim to acquire a "Muslim bomb." Is there any doubt he would use it if he had it?

Goodwin admits to being a pessimist. I don't know his politics, but he is critical of both Democrats and President Bush. No one seems to like pessimists, but the times don't seem to reinforce those inclined to be optimistic.

Actually for some time now I have thought about similarities between the times in which we live and the war fears of the 20th century. Before World War I there were serious crises and active terrorist groups--anarchists and Slav nationalists. I know some would say the West is more like the appeasers of the 1930s, but, except for a few Churchillians, most people in the 1930s weren't thinking war was an actual possibility until it happened. Before 1939 terrorist groups were not active as in pre-1914 Europe. And obviously neither period had the weapons systems (nuclear, biological, and chemical) that we have today, but, especially in the case of World War I, this did not prevent huge casualty rates from occurring. I don't think the current crisis are comparable to cold war crises--Soviet leaders were good materialists and recognized what nuclear war would do.