Is there a genuine fear about World War 3 breaking out in the current climate? How commonly held is that sentiment, if at all?

33 comments

1. >My question pertains to how ubiquitous the feeling is, if at all, about a third world war breaking out?

   I think, no one here really care if WW3 break out here , because it will change nothing for obvious reasons

2. England: I get the impression that most people don’t feel very strongly about this subject. I think people have a vague sense that the world isn’t as safe as before. But the notion of Russia coming to our doorstep seems laughable, so the Russian threat doesn’t feel personal like it might in the Baltics, for example.

   Almost nobody seems to be taking suggestions of conscription for fighting in Europe seriously. People here widely distrust the UK government for contributing to a deteriorating quality of life (edit: and sleeping on the fact that there’s mass murder in Gaza).

   Simply put, the feeling is that our government is the last institution that has the credibility to order us to go to war somewhere. Why should we take war commands from the spoilt, rich, privileged politicians who have only made our lives more difficult?

   Personally I’m not very afraid of that a NATO-Russia war will happen. I think things are pointing in the right direction that we’re generally more aware of Russia’s capabilities now, as well as our weaknesses as a continent.

   I’m optimistic that Europe will turn that around and do what is required to deter Russia. I do think we are at the stage where Russia can no longer be trusted to act according to “unspoken” rules and norms. Therefore we need to be more prepared as a continent to be self-sufficient. Russia or not, it’s ridiculous that our continent is so incapable of defending itself. And apparently, we’re only learning that lesson now.

   I’m interpreting the war warnings as an indication of what could happen to vulnerable NATO/European states if we don’t take Continental self-sufficiency more seriously. Not a definite prediction of the future.

3. Don’t worry. Vlad will eventually run out of influence and friends and money and end up like every other Russian govt official. He might fall out a window, have a car accident or even get the flu!

4. I worry that the general public in Europe will blink and break rank within NATO, causing WW3 by emboldening Russia.

   The tougher we act, the less worried I am.

5. With Trump still being possible candidate for US Presidency, others countries choosing Putin backed Populists and other problems, it’s sadly a very real possibility.

6. tabloid is trying to distract people from real and dire day to day problems.. nuclear war is far away

7. I’d say we’re already in WW3. But unlike the last two this one is a combination of a lot of small and medium conflicts. That is not to say things might not heat up even more but it has started. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is just a small part. But also Israel’s rampage through Palestine, the Houthis attacks in the red sea, the attacks on American bases in Iraq, the civil wars flaring up all over northern and central Africa, with quite a bit of help from Wagner.
   It seems to me that Russia has a motive to instigate most of these things, or at least encourage. Instability in the middle east will make oil more expensive, so countries might decide to rather buy russian oil than deal with the troubles in the middle east. In the African countries where Wagner is active they’re exploiting local resources and so on.

   Maybe I’m pessimistic but I’d rather be mentally prepared for the worst instead of getting surprised.

8. I think it’s a strange contradiction –

   a. Tell your people there’s not chance for war = Russia sees weakness and gets more aggressive = potential war

   b. Tell your people war is coming = Everyone prepares for war = Russia decides not worth it = Peace

   There is a logic.
   Of course you can argue that kind of thinking got a lot of people in trouble in the past.

9. Sometimes it helps to read history books.

   Sure, the current situation is not nice, but we were closer to WW3 several times during the cold war.

   But the internet and social media didn’t exist, so you would get the news much slower.

10. Is it a World War only if the West is involved, say NATO (with or without the US) vs. Russia or the US vs. China?

11. EDIT: I’m in the UK.

    My experience is that people try to avoid the subject as much as possible. But in general, where I live people don’t really like serious conversations. But even among close family and friends I’ve noticed a tendency to avoid talking about something so unpleasant.

    So to answer your question: they don’t fear it because they don’t think it’s going to happen to them.

12. Not really no, or at least I’ve never seen anyone here fearful about it. It might sound harsh or bad but people generally doesn’t care about the war in Ukraine that much either.

    The military is not very popular and haven’t been for a long time so no politician is happy to start saying anything that will imply conscription or that we are going to war.

13. It seems pretty close in Eastern Europe. Russian missile in Poland few days ago, drone crashed again in Romania overnight. Just 1 spark away.

14. I think in the average population nobody expects a war or is thinking about it very much.

    I think people remain very uncertain and uneasy about what we should do to help Ukraine. The bombing of Gaza I think has left people uneasy about listening to our politicians talk so certainly about who’s the bad guy and the righteousness of our military policy. People undoubtedly remain hugely empathetic to the Ukrainian people but I think if asked what they think the UK government should do about the war you would see a huge variety of opinions with some thinking we should ramp up our support and do everything to help (though most wouldn’t volunteer to go themselves or to send our troops) and others thinking that the cost of the war in terms of lives is already too high and we should do everything to obtain a peace even if it means Ukraine accepting losing some territory. War is a thorny moral issue and I think if asked few Brits would say our current support is particularly morally responsible or militarily effective though I’m not sure anybody has a better path. This is also still a conversation you would have to start with your average brit it’s not top of the news or political discussion.

    I do think there is a lot of genuine worry in the government and amongst politicians (if not your average person) about what happens if trump is elected president again in november and pulls American military and economic support for the Ukrainians. European countries don’t currently have the manpower or money to support Ukraine to the same level without US support.

15. We take the threat seriously and we are getting ready but I don’t think many people are worried or have anxiety about the possibility. I’m getting ready myself by working out a lot, learning how to use guns at shooting ranges, I also consider joining Territorial Defence Force but I am not sure they will accept me as I take ADHD meds.

16. I’m in Norway. I have lived through most of the cold war. Never before have a Norwegian military leader warned of an upcoming war with Russia.

    What scares me, is that Norwegian military is snooping on Russia. They do have access to information no others can get.

    Russia probably has real plans of attacking further European countries.

17. I would not call a war against one degenerate regime a world war. In fact as single precise shot on putins bunker would end all the tensions.

18. It’s not very much held at all, but I’m by the impression that someone seems to be more fan of the thought of it than others.

19. In greece currently it’s actually no. But in the last couple of years, it was basically like it was going to happen tomorrow with turkey

20. No, I don’t have any fear for that. At least not for an all out war. On the other hand, there is already a somewhat World War 3 when you take in account cyber warfare and economic warfare. We already see a divide between democratic states and authoritarian states. We already see digital warfare, we already see foreign agency interfering in things like elections but also economic protection and trying stealing intellectual properties. I do worry about these kind of things and what the future holds.

21. Don’t know anyone that is worrying about WW3 here tbh, we’re on the western edge of Europe so most people think if anyone did happen we’re in a safe-ish area of the world.

    But yea basically no one is worrying about WW3 here, mainly because not many people think it will happen in the first place.

22. Just read this

    >Even if a NATO ally is attacked and Article 5 is invoked, the president needs to obtain **congressional authorization** before sending the military into a conflict zone or otherwise using force.

    With this in mind, I think it’s fair to suspect a win for Trump will embolden Putin and Xi to trigger WW3, seeing as it will with all likelihood not include American support.

23. Just read this

    >Even if a NATO ally is attacked and Article 5 is invoked, the president needs to obtain **congressional authorization** before sending the military into a conflict zone or otherwise using force.

    With this in mind, I think it’s fair to suspect a win for Trump will embolden Putin and Xi to trigger WW3, seeing as it will with all likelihood not include American support.

24. Peace comes from defence and strength. A lot of people have become WAY too comfortable so it’s time to scare a few people and rebalance towards defense for a while.

25. Not that I’ve seen. Many want a capable defense here, but that’s not out of fear for WW3.

    > Sweden: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-01-09/sweden-aims-to-reactivate-civil-conscription-to-boost-defense

    I can’t access that article and read what it actually says, but the reactivation of the civil duty isn’t really a new development. It was recommended when its military counterpart was reactivated in 2017. After a number of years of bureaucracy with reviews and proposals it went into effect earlier this year.

    It’s just returning more towards what we had before the poor defense policies of the late ’00s. The active draft system we have recruits a fairly small share, but it is needed.

26. I don’t believe that a third world war will break out. I do however have an escape route wherever I live.

27. 1. Russia has aggressively attempted to redirect democracies in the west, in order to destabilize NATO

    2. Russia has used sabotage in EU and NATO countries. Including many assassinations, not all of Russian nationals either.

    3. The Russian population has been completely brainwashed to get it ready for war.

    4. Russia and China are both facing demograhic crisis. Different ones, but both make war attractive to their leaders.

    Yes I’m concerned. We should be tackling this right now, by immediately gearing up our war economy, if we want to have a change of keeping this small. But It seems to me our leaders are getting our minds ready for war as well. Which doesn’t make things look better.

28. Russia knows that it wouldn’t stand a chance against the combined forces of NATO. At this point both parties try to act tough in public to not lose their face. These proxy wars are happening since the end of WW2. No one in my closer surroundings thinks that their will be a WW3.

29. I see more and more people worried about potential war with Russia, but nobody’s talking about WW3 yet. People around me are getting worried about getting taken into the military, and I think most are treating the threat very seriously. The military preparations like buying equipment make me feel much safer for sure. The tension is pretty high but nowhere near as high as after the Ukrainian war started. Literally, everybody was panicking and preparing. People were saying Russia is gonna attack us next. My grandmother even had a passport ready to flee (she’s from the generation not believing in NATO or that anybody would help Poland). We followed every step of the war for the first few days in fear (like on the breaks at my school, people would check the news and yell stuff like, “RUSSIANS AREN’T IN KYIV YET!”). After Ukrain was doing good, the tension dropped a bit, and even now that it rises again, it’s less of a shock. I feel that the fear of war lessended ever since Russia isn’t doing that well in Ukrain

30. Mate, Russia cannot even handle the second poorest (or poorest?) country in Europe and somebody should be concerned about them taking on the NATO? Even without USA (so at like 10% of strength) they would stand no chance.

31. If it does happen, we’re basically going back to the stone age due to nuclear war. I’d just hope for a quick painless death rather than try to live through that.

32. hmm – the strongest military power is on the brink voting a fascist, russia is one a rage trip of atrocities, china thinks about expanding it’s territories … not to prepare would be quite a stupid thing for european countries.

33. This isn’t something that tends to come up in conversation here, though one could say it’s due to us having the benefit of being far from Russia (at least compared to other countries in Europe). But these days I’m not so sure, and I do believe there is the possibility that this war will spread to other countries as well. Whether that be an actual world war, who’s to say.

    It’s just so surreal witnessing a war happening in Europe. I was alive during the Balkans War, but was far too young at the time, so this is the first I witness such a conflict. I also can’t believe how we’ve let it drag on for so long.