Poll Says Americans Believe World War III Will Happen: What Do They Think is Going on Right Now?

A recent poll conducted in Japan and in the U.S. indicated that a larger percentage of Americans than Japanese believe that they will see another world war in their lifetime.

They're right. It's happening right now.

The 9/11 attacks on the United States were the first shots of World War III. Since then, the U.S. and a coalition of various nations have invaded and occupied two Islamic countries.

This war is unlike any other war fought. Instead of nations declaring war and going at it with huge armies, navies and air forces, this war is nations against terrorists and their sponsors. The enemy uses time bombs and other kinds of explosives and are already near the targets that they intend to attack and destroy. There is no need for them to land troops on the shores of Britain or the U.S.: they're already here. The enemy has no navy to sink or air force to destroy.

The days of industrialized nations mobilizing and switching their economies over to war production are probably over. Wars will continue to go on, but Allies vs. Axis or NATO vs. Warsaw Pact types of conflicts are very likely finished.

World War I was all about groups of nations declaring war on one another or a member nation of one alliance attacking another nation from another alliance and thus bringing in the entire coalition.

World War I unfolded thus: Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary was assassinated by a Serbian assassin; Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia; Russia came to Serbia's aid by mobilizing; Austria-Hungary had a treaty with Germany against Russia so Germany declared war on Russia; France had a treaty with Russia and so declared war on Austria-Hungary and Germany; Germany demanded Belgium stay neutral as it sent troops across Belgium's border to attack France; Belgium refused the German demands so Germany invaded; Great Britain had a treaty to defend Belgium and declared war on Germany. Member states of the British Empire also declared war on Germany; the U.S. eventually came in as an ally of Britain and France and Russia. The treaty system ensured that if two small European nations got into a food fight that all of Europe would get into it as well.

World War II was not limited to European soil; it took place in Europe, Africa, Asia and other regions of the world. Free nations fell to Nazi invasion and occupation; Japan tore through Asia. The U.S. lend-lease program kept the Allies in the fight until the U.S. entered the war against Germany and Japan following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

So, yes, World War III is currently underway. World War IV may be fought with nuclear weapons, but World War III won't. Terrorists may use nuclear or atomic weapons against the coalition but there will be no nuclear response from nuclear-armed America or Britain or France. Since the terrorists are already living near their targets, no sane government would use nuclear weapons on its own territory to kill an al-Qaeda cell while killing hundreds of thousands of its own people in the process.

This goes back to old-fashioned detective and law-enforcement work as well as military action using forces that are already in the field. That's how World War III will be fought.