What Constitutes a World War?

 

What constitutes the designation of a “World War”? Is it the number of countries involved? How many? Three, four, five? Maybe it has to involve more than one continent. Why do we think in geographical terms when applying the World War designation to a military conflict? Our current thinking is that it has to be physical combat between more than two countries to be declared a World War. This is wrong thinking and dangerous.

Russia is conducting a mortal attack on all freedom loving people of the world. Who does not love freedom? We, lucky enough to have freedom, take it for granted. And when we see it being attacked by means of war in some far away continent, we view it as a regional war. We trick our minds to believe that it is not our war. It is not our freedom at risk. It is not our people dying.

We (the United States of America) are bending over backwards to avoid starting World War III. Prime Minister Chamberlain tried doing that with Adolf Hitler. It did not work. He could not stop the initiation of a World War that had already begun any more than America can today. Mr. Chamberlain just provided Hitler with more time to better plan his attack, better build his might, better collaborate with fellow evil regimes. We may very well be providing Putin with more time to better collaborate with China and other evil regimes on how to divide the conquest. Does anyone know that for sue – no. Does anyone know for sure that this is not the case – no. Could Iran, North Korea or another rogue actor be involved. Maybe, we do not know. But we do know that sooner rather than later is always the best way to eradicate poisonous weeds. Russia’s success will bring in other evil nations. Russia’s defeat will have the opposite effect.

 It is not the scale of the geography involved that constitutes a World War. It is both the attack on the freedom of people for no other reason than conquest and domination and the alignment of allies and axis that makes it a World War. Ukraine’s allies are clear to be seen. The democracies of the world, led by NATO are stepping up to show support and to supply arms. Even if they are not courageous enough to do all they can, they have delineated themselves on the freedom allies’ side of the war. Those not clearly seen to be Ukraine’s allies are teetering on being among the new evil axis. When the world is so divided and armed combat has begun, we are in a World War. It just does not yet fit our conceived concept of the term.

Will Russia stop at Ukraine? Will they stop at Poland? Will they stop at Germany, England? Will they stop at Canada? Will they ever stop? Will China take advantage of the fog of Russia’s war to invade Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and/or New Zealand? What will Iran and North Korea do?

We do not know the answers to these questions. But we do know that at least one evil, maniacal man has started armed conflict against one country that holds the freedom values of the majority of nations on the globe. And through their failure to protest Russia’s actions, we see the alignment of a new evil axis. We should not wait for the aggressor to answer the question of how far this war will go. Rather we should dictate the answer - forcefully.

If Russia conquers Ukraine and does stop (temporarily with the façade of peace in our time), will we have been successful? Is it a success to prevent World War III in military geographical terms through the sacrifice of the Ukrainian people’s sovereignty and lives? Would it be another success if such a horror happened in Finland three years later?

Russia’s War on Ukraine is World War III. It is an attack on all freedom loving people of the world. Those standing with Ukraine include the United Kingdom, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Germany, Spain, South Korea, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Finland, Switzerland, America and many, many more. The majority of the world’s community of nations support Ukraine and a very few are standing quietly on the sidelines waiting to see how they can benefit from Russia’s provocations and conquests. The allies and the axis of the wartime world order are already clear to see. To be honest, they have been clear to see for several years.

We can see the wartime allies and axis. One member of the allies is under mortal attack. This constitutes a World War. Being afraid to fight it will not make it go away. Only courage will prevent it from every being bestowed the official World War title.

Americans are embarrassed that our President is cowering at every threat Putin utters. This is good. The President makes every decision based on the latest polling. This poll for strength will only go up. The President will then find courage. Let us hope it is before too much more horror. The freedom allies of Ukraine have united. The evil axis is awaiting to assess the strength of the allies’ response. World War III has started. The formidable Ukrainian army, the resilience of its people and the leadership of President Zelensky has shown that Ukraine, along with the allies’ support and participation can defeat the decaying empire of Russia’s inept military.