By Joel M Skousen Editor World Affairs Brief

NUKE WW3As the US and Russia square up their support on opposite sides of the conflict in Syria, not a few mainstream news sources are beginning to fret about this confrontation breaking out into a larger war, which might go nuclear. In many ways the US is provoking Russia in Syria in sabotaging the ceasefire by attacking Syrian troops with US jets, sending in troops on the ground to advise and arm the Syrian opposition, and threatening a “no fly” zone over any place US troops reside. Most of the talk of war is in the EU and UK but at least one US general is putting out bravado about easily beating the Russians in a war, while admitting it will be deadly on both sides. On the one hand, it is a good thing that some people are waking up to the threat of the Russian military, which is already deep into strategic rearmament, but on the other hand, panicky claims too early will only put people back to sleep if they don’t pan out soon. Dozens of subscribers have written to see if all this means my timetable for WWIII has changed. This week I’ll give my updated analysis.

Daisy Luther wrote probably the most comprehensive “worry piece” about war breaking out between the US and Russia, in the Activist Post, listing “8 Alarming Warning Signs” which I’ll reference as the basis and counter point to my arguments.

How many more indicators do we need to see to realize that a major confrontation between Russia and the West is approaching rapidly? Is World War III upon us? Because it’s certainly starting to look that way, and I am far from the only person saying it. The most alarming thing about it is that WWIII is most likely to involve nuclear weapons, which brings the destruction to a level that threatens the very existence of humanity.

Frankly, you have to be more than an armchair journalist to understand all the strategic factors involved in going to war on such a worldwide scale. As I will analyze below, while the factors for a deadly confrontation in Syria are the highest they have been since Russia intervened, the strategic factors for a much wider conflict are not even close yet.

Steve Rosenberg, Russia correspondent for the BBC tweets constantly about the situation in Russia. To quote him: “When 1 Russian paper talks about a war between US & Russia, that’s worrying. When 2 papers do it, it’s very worrying.”

The Sun, a British tabloid, also voiced concerns for war, but, ..

read the rest: http://www.thesurvivalistblog.net/how-close-is-a-us-russia-war/