Okwufulueze Daniel|3 May 2017
The following statement was attributed to Albert Einstein: "I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones." And many agree. The crippling effect of a Third World War cannot be overemphasised. There's sound reason to believe that such a war would set man's progress back by centuries, if not millennia, and that's even if life as we know it can continue on earth after a Third World War which almost certainly will see the deployment of weapons that have the potential of modifying the genetic code of any surviving life.
The advancement man has achieved in technology has provided him with weapons that can put an end to life as we know it on earth. For decades, the fear of an imminent World War III permeated human societies. People worried about the subtle confrontations and proxy wars between the Big Powers, they were convinced that such confrontations will one day culminate in another world war —World War III. Actually, the fear of World War III has never left mankind since the start of the Cold War in 1947.
Some people have even claimed that World War III already happened, some claim it's ongoing. In describing the Cold War, some have said it was a world war since it was fought, although by proxy, on a global scale. On 1 February 2015, the Prime Minister of Iraq declared that the fight against ISIS was effectively World War III since ISIS declared a worldwide Caliphate and has since brought wars to different nations of the world. In response to the November 2015 Paris attacks, the Jordanian King, Abdullah II said we're facing a Third World War.
The fear of a Third World War, though old, is very much alive today, and it seems more rational now than it ever was. The US and her allies risk a possible military confrontation with Russia and hers. Just the other day, we heard that Donald Trump of America bombed Assad's Syria, an action that attracted criticism and a strong warning from Russia, Iran, and others. The warning assured the US of forceful retaliation should an attack on Syria happen again. As if that warning wasn't enough, North Korea issued hers, describing the exact kind of force she'll use against the US – nuclear strike. What!
Yes, North Korea has warned of a nuclear strike on the US at any sign of American aggression. It would also be recalled that Trump said North Korea was looking for trouble and that the US would deal with the North Korean problem if China won't help. The US also sent battleships towards the Korean peninsula in a move many see as an American defiance against North Korea which now threatens a nuclear showdown with the US.
With nuclear strikes on the table, one needs not wonder what's on the horizon. A Third World War is certainly what will result if North Korea goes ahead to do as she threatened. How about the fact that man has more than nuclear weapons to brandish. Weapons at man's disposal include biological and chemical. The effect of man unleashing these on himself is catastrophic, to put it mildly.
These weapons have the potential to end all life on earth. Perhaps movie plots where man destroys the earth so bad that it becomes completely uninhabitable only to go live elsewhere in space are beyond just plots. Perhaps projects like that of Elon Musk's SpaceX are just what the very rich need to not get disturbed over the woes a Third World War would bring.
To some of us, nations are currently beating the drums of a world war, leaving us to wonder if they've considered the consequences of such a war. We only hope and pray they have, at least for the sake of humanity.
We certainly don't need another world war.
Okwufulueze Daniel
Writes from Calabar
