It's not WW3

[TheRealityCheque]

To wish people would stop conflating the Ukrainian invasion with WW3.

It's shite and completely unacceptable and my thoughts are with thee innocent people affected but it is not a world war and isn't going to become one.

IABU - WW3 is here
IANBU - it's a localised war.

This is not a unique event. Am genuinely curious as to how many posters were more than three years old in 1991.

@MonStylo

This is not a unique event. Am genuinely curious as to how many posters were more than three years old in 1991.

I spent a lot of my time at high school (DW insists I should call it secondary school, but it had "High School" in it's name ...) with friends learning how to read a dosimeter, and building a geiger counter. With help from our physics teacher.

When the great storm hit Britain in 1987, there was a pause of time when I thought we'd been hit by a nuclear blast. And that was the moment I made peace with my maker. It's hard to convey how profound an experience it is to believe - even for a few fleeting moments - all you love and ever loved is gone forever.

This is very different to any close calls of the past. This is the closest to world war 3 we have ever come so far.

I was at Uni in 1991!

@notsurehowtostop

This is very different to any close calls of the past. This is the closest to world war 3 we have ever come so far.

Why?

@notsurehowtostop

This is very different to any close calls of the past. This is the closest to world war 3 we have ever come so far.

Maybe those that recall the Cuban missile crisis could comment ?

It's worrying, and has the potential to escalate if course, but it's not ww3.

Putin I think described the break up of the USSR as the greatest tragedy of his life. My concern would be that conflict would spread to other former Soviet states. Putin is testing the West to see how they respond.

The thing about Russia and the USA is that they have huge landmasses - a nuclear strike to any part of the UK with a modern nuclear weapon would devastate the entire country. Goodnight Vienna.

God, I remember the "duck and cover" leaflets through the door in the early 80's. The thought of nuclear war terrified me as a kid. It feels way less likely to happen now than it did then .

I've seen multiple headlines today saying that this invasion is the most dangerous moment since WW2. That's why I'm saying it seems like the closest we've been to WW3.

We are in for some severe economic pain, higher inflation & sanctions that will also hurt us but WW3 hopefully not.

Putin is testing the West to see how they respond.

Putin has tested the West, and knows how they will respond. The UK will be sitting this one out mainly, as there's too much dirty Russian money in our political system to actually do anything. Why do you think that register of foreign property owners never quite materialised ?

@MonStylo

This is not a unique event. Am genuinely curious as to how many posters were more than three years old in 1991.

I imagine quite a lot of us.

I think personality is just as significant as age, in informing reactions TBH.

www.atomica.co.uk/main.htm

It's this cheery document I was thinking of. Nightmare material.

There used to be a big deal about the UK being hit because there were US cruises based on UK soil. Anyone know if they are still there? Google suggests not but not sure if an just missing something.

So we've had 2 years of social media certified virologists, now here come the military experts!!

Cruise missiles that is. I don’t doubt there are a lot of US cruises

If Putin attacks a NATO member state then it will be a war between Russia and all NATO members including UK. I doubt he will do that but there's always a risk of some rogue officer overstepping the mark.

Deranged megalomaniac sends his troops in to invade 'annexe' another country because he thinks he is invincible and believes he can do what he likes.

What could possibly go wrong? After all, it's not like it hasn't happened before...

[quote Chocolattay]@BarrowInFurnessRailwayStation.

This is how he comes across to me as well. He’s always been odd and aggressive but he’s reached a new level.

It’s like he’s bitter about getting old and so thinks he’ll just take everybody else with him.[/quote]
It is worrying. When you think how long serving Prime Ministers fall victim to their own PR after 6 years or so (Thatcher, Blair) and similar with second term US presidents (lots of them), it’s really not surprising that a Russian despot should lose all proportion after 20+ years. That’s why democracies don’t keep leaders this long.

BTW, was just checking that it WAS more than 2 decades that he had been in control and look what some way has done to his Wikipedia;

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Putin

There is no ww3, yet.

No one here can possibly predict what will or won't happen. Most of you predicted at the beginning of 2020 that coronavirus wouldnt be a problem. You have no more information on what Putin may or may not do, or even what Johnson or Biden may or may not do, than you did on covid.

This could be limited to Ukraine only. Or he could hit NATO countries after someone tries to stop him. No one knows.

@Grantanow

If Putin attacks a NATO member state then it will be a war between Russia and all NATO members including UK. I doubt he will do that but there's always a risk of some rogue officer overstepping the mark.

Well they have "accidentally" dropped a missile on a Turkish boat near Odessa... all it takes is one knee jerk reaction to one act of collateral damage

Germany annexed the Sudetenland in 1938. We tried to negotiate a pact about borders in Europe but that was never the intention and WW3 broke out.

This does feel very similar...

@blacksax

Deranged megalomaniac sends his troops in to invade 'annexe' another country because he thinks he is invincible and believes he can do what he likes.

What could possibly go wrong? After all, it's not like it hasn't happened before...

This one sits very still while he speaks and doesn’t wave his arms around.

That’s all the reassurance I can find on that point.

He sits still but his feet tap furiously, the man is dangerous