(OPINION) Has World War 3 already begun? Some security experts believe so, others say it is only a matter of time until Russia’s invasion ignites the spark that triggers an existential global conflict.
There is still a reality where such a disaster is avoided – or at least delayed. But right now, with violence raging across Ukraine and hostilities ramping up between Moscow and Western allies, the risk of events blowing up into World War Three has never been greater.
And, given the advance in weapons – including nuclear warheads – since 1945, the potential consequences for the entire planet could not be graver. It is worth considering how events could unfold and why it is dangerous to assume the tragedy and suffering unleashed upon Ukraine will be contained within its borders. First of all – as Jens Stoltenberg, the secretary-general of the NATO alliance observed this week – war is dangerous. It is also unpredictable.
“This war is for all the world,” a haggard Volodymyr Zelensky told CNN from an underground bunker, surrounded by sandbags. The incredibly brave Ukrainian president is correct. Ukrainians are fighting for us, for the United States, for Europe, for you, for me.
To say, as Zelensky did, that his countrymen are fighting for “democracy and freedom” is absolutely right but may be too abstract for many Americans to grasp. Let me put it in more concrete terms: If Russia’s Vladimir Putin can take over a peaceful country by brute force in the 21st century, and deliberately slaughter civilians to achieve his goals, then we are all at risk.
He will not stop with Ukraine. If Putin can openly threaten nuclear war to scare off NATO from halting his aggression, then much of Europe is in danger. If this deranged killer can play dangerous games with cyberattacks and nuclear weapons, then the threat extends across the Atlantic to the United States.
“The Third World War has already started,” former Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, told me via a WhatsApp call this week. Only three weeks ago, I was meeting with her in her office at the Ukrainian parliament, whose members are now on Putin’s hit list. The Russian war criminal has already sent vicious Chechen hit teams into Ukraine to assassinate its leaders.
