WW3... possibly...

[Crinkle]

Economic turmoil in Europe followed by a socialist leader being elected in one major state and a coalition of extremist parties elected in another due to large unemployment and lack of confidence in the current system. I wonder where I've seen this before...
Hopefully they will sort their stuff out. I'm at the right age for conscription and I sure as hell don't want that to be reintroduced for another major war...

[Max 'DonXavi' von B.]

As long as the three major European powers (GB, France and Germany) keep the shit down, nothing will happen. I hope that Hollande and Merkel will make friends because that will be vital for the European future..
However I fear that Hollande will kill the Euro with his political program and a real financial crysis will overcome Europe and subsequently the whole earth. These are the last days of capitalism, people. It has failed, even if in a less dramatical way than Communism.

However this won't result in a war in my humble opinion. People are not as dumb as they were last century.

[Cranialwizard]

As long as the three major European powers (GB, France and Germany) keep the shit down, nothing will happen. I hope that Hollande and Merkel will make friends because that will be vital for the European future..
However I fear that Hollande will kill the Euro with his political program and a real financial crysis will overcome Europe and subsequently the whole earth. These are the last days of capitalism, people. It has failed, even if in a less dramatical way than Communism.

However this won't result in a war in my humble opinion. People are not as dumb as they were last century.

Perhaps not, but all it takes is one stupid guy to hit the big red button. Remember when the USSR was turned into the Russian Federation? 1000s of nuclear weapons went unaccounted for, we don't know where they are or who has them.

IMHO I would think that in France, there would be some guy who would think to take matters into his own hands. A lot of people in America were actually frightened that the newly elected President Obama would be assassinated/gunned down like John F. Kennedy.

You can argue that Capitalism still works, but there needs to be an Imperial system to work with it hand in hand I believe. You as a country need to be able to stimulate your own economy before you can begin to stimulate and influence others. Following the Spanish-American war and Roosevelts's presidency, the US was in a prosperous mode for the most part, primarily because we had a substantially strong armed forces and were moving into the big wig of industry. Jumping to Post-War in Europe, with the US' Marshall Plan, Billions of dollars were sent into the damaged and stripped nations in aide, and it resulted in a huge boom in the States.

There needs to be a degree of foreign involvement but being able to control it to where things do not spiral out of your favor. (OPEC Oil Crisis, in the case of the US) Take a look at Switzerland. Though I have not lived there, they have a fairly stable economy from what I read, and haven't been involved in a war since 1818(?). (This is because every man and woman in Switzerland must purchase and own a gun. But here's the twist: 1 in 10 people are not permitted to own a gun; they must own a rocket-launcher or a rocket-propelled weapon  )

[Crinkle]

Hopefully the "war", if it does occur, will merely be a repeat of the Cold war. In such way that no person would invade or attack a country through fear of losing one or more of their cities. Especially with the economy in such anunstable position.
And even if they did go all out nuclear then what would the countries involved have to gain? They can't populate the area to extract resources or force trade anymore due to the area being completely inhospitable.
In a war without nukes, should they be banned somehow, the war would draw to a close. In the end though the losing leader would most likely set off nukes in some sort of last ditched effort to get revenge on anyone that attacked them. Either way a war today, a proper one and not some occupation of middle eastern states, would cause annihilation of all major powers. Leaving africa, a place none would bother to nuke, to rise up and claim dominion over the area.

sounds fun

[Max 'DonXavi' von B.]

Wars like we used to know them are not possible anymore. Especially in a global sense, there would only be some kind of Cold War or total destruction. Everyone with a brain inside his head will try to avoid the latter.

[BurroDiablo]

Hollande isn't a Socialist, he may be part of a 'Socialist' Party, but he's no more left wing than Ed Miliband here in the UK (i.e, not very), he's a Social Democrat. Currently the absolute break down of society is more likely than another World War, most Western militaries can barely get their shit together when it comes to current wars fighting shepherds in caves, War on a global scale would either bankrupt every country involved or destroy us all... and I don't believe we're stupid enough to do either of them.

[Tehcumseh]

, with the US' Marshall Plan, Billions of dollars were sent into the damaged and stripped nations in aide, and it resulted in a huge boom in the States.

The Marshall plan wasn't to really aid countries in need after the war it was to help them repel communism and become a capitalist country because the cold war from the american standpoint was containment so it was stopping communism from spreading  (I hope this is correct and i'm not just sounding like an ass  but its what i learned)

[Tehcumseh]

In a war without nukes, should they be banned somehow

NATO and UN passed a law type thing where the use of a Nuclear Weapons was banned and the U.S. and U.S.S.R dismantled a lot of the nukes(or so we are told  ) but i mean that's more of a countries choose weather of not to follow the law. So yeah also this is just what i heard so don't quote me on this.

[Pac-Fish]

They disarmed a lot of their old one but there are still hundreds, maybe even thousands in circulation (sounds so silly for something so deadly ). The US will never truly rid themselves clean of Nukes because they'd lose their bite. Who would screw with a country with like 2000 nukes (I don't actually know the exact number)?

[Cranialwizard]

, with the US' Marshall Plan, Billions of dollars were sent into the damaged and stripped nations in aide, and it resulted in a huge boom in the States.

The Marshall plan wasn't to really aid countries in need after the war it was to help them repel communism and become a capitalist country because the cold war from the american standpoint was containment so it was stopping communism from spreading  (I hope this is correct and i'm not just sounding like an ass  but its what i learned)

Marshall Plan was offered to all of Europe, including the Soviet Union. The USSR and the Eastern European nations whom fell to Communism subsequently denied that aid.

Marshall plan can be called an example of containment, yes, however you can more closely associate it to economic stimulus. Containment was certainly a goal, but the result of that methodology came to be a huge economic stimulus for the United States post war, and rebuilding/establishing pro-capitalist governments, which would in turn trade with the US instead of the USSR.

On the topic of Imperialism, it somewhat exist today but is frowned upon by the UN. (Notice I didn't say NATO.) The UN messed up when they denounced Imperialism in my opinion. It didn't even work (Their denouncing). Just caused a ton of chaos.

[stealthattack1]

i think were breaking a few forum rules here, but anyway, definitely there will not be a ww3 in Europe. as maxi said, the three major powers will avoid conflict at all costs, not only because they know the consequences, but also because they are all members of the EU, and as such will be loath to start a conflict. however, the most possible major war to come would IMHO  between Russia/Iran/China/US/fill in the blank.

[Pac-Fish]

And also with the previous WWs there was no WMDs which plays a big factor.

[stealthattack1]

true dat.

[Sommarkatze]

If not... ALIENS ATTACK!? And every country on the earth unit to fight them off! <3
Except north korea, they have a secret pact with the aliens !

[stealthattack1]

crysis much?