Has World War III Already Started?
Yes, and it started in 2014
Are we fighting World War III right now? The argument can be made that the current global conflict, particularly centered around Ukraine, shares many characteristics with past world wars—multiple actors, new weapons systems, economic warfare, and pervasive propaganda.
The conflict, which arguably began with Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014, has seen the West's response largely in the form of diplomatic and economic measures, avoiding direct military confrontation. This avoidance is built on the presumption of nuclear weapon use. However, use of nuclear weapons is unlikely due to the significant strategic and political repercussions.
This new modern warfare is increasingly fought in cyberspace and through media. This new type of warfare aims to influence minds, shape perceptions, and create divisions through misinformation and fear. We are already fighting World War III whether you like it or not.
I'm happy to see I'm not the only one who sees that truth now...
Looking back at WWII we see it officially began Sept 9th, 1939...
But as you point out, actually had elements of it start much sooner... China for instance was invaded by Japan well before they bombed Pearl Harbor... Germany had taken back the Sudetenland before invading Poland... Getting very little in pushback from the rest of the world because they didn't want another war and frankly didn't care that much about the affected Countries if we're being honest about it... Putin seized Crimea with minimal pushback for exactly the same reason... Everyone had an excuse not to go to war... Obama couldn't have gone it alone even if he wanted to, the public backlash would have lost him the Presidency... Say what you will, but no one goes to war if they think it will lose them an election... And some will go to war if they think it will win them one...
Our grandchildren and later generations may end up looking back at all of this, for us recent history, and question what we were thinking when we didn't respond sooner and with more force to prevent what could end up being catastrophic later...
Russian propaganda = 25+ years of post- modernism criticizing Western institutions and liberalism. (Kuznar 2008:78) . As Ryan says, serial, cumulative pieces of misinformation-
1-question reality and representation (it's all “fake”). All history, literature, religion, is wrong/biased). Creates loss of trust with each other and ourselves. Life is portrayed as a movie/game, fact and fiction becomes inseparable.
2 make social media and documents the battleground by isolating text and language as “phenomena/phenomenology". For example, this allows Universities to teach qualitative analysis (opinions and feelings) are equal to (or more important than quantitative analysis (numbers, votes)
3-By applying literary analysis, words and images become weapons. For example, universities deconstruct “metanarratives” (such as history) with counter-storytelling (revisionism).
4 argue against method and evaluation (science) . The confusion during Covid, for example.
One outcome- encourages governments to fire scientists, as Canada has done.