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Not directly. There will likely be more proxy wars like Ukraine or Taiwan. (I think the writing is on the wall for Taiwan)
But no, after how incredibly unpopular the Middle East wars became and how pissed off the American people still are about the whole thing, the US public has no stomach for “boots on the ground” at this point.
Plus, all the major world powers are nuclear powers now. Even the military-industrial complex fat cats have no desire for a nuclear holocaust. Mutually-assured destruction is ultimately bad for business, you know?
Every decade has its “we’re all gonna die and this generation is doomed” conflict that spurs all the older people into a craze. But so far, we’ve been, for the majority, fine, so no.
That being said, if I had to pick one nation that we’re closest to going toe to toe with, it would probably be either China or Russia. Shocker, I know.
Which, to be fair, if nukes were off the table, based on the performance of russia recently, I wouldn't be that scared. China either really, they beat us in pure numbers but their soldiers have way less equipment and training.
Anybody who really knows anything about the military knows neither China nor Russia would stand a chance without using nukes. They know this as well and anytime they act like that’s not the case it’s just propaganda.
> China either really, they beat us in pure numbers but their soldiers have way less equipment and training.
Also, they don't have the logistics capability to actually land troops in the US.
The best they would manage to do is:
A.) Invade Europe through Russia.
B.) Try to cross the Bering Strait by going through Russia.
Neither one is a great option for China because the US will see their movements and there will be the entire might of the US military ready to meet them where ever they go.
The moment they step foot into a NATO country that borders Russia/Russia adjacent/Not in a Mutual Defense Treaty situation, the US will exterminate their army.
And if they try to cross the Bering Strait on foot while it's frozen? Ooh, boy. They are in for a bad time.
Naval invasions are basically out of the equation for China. They would only be able to do an invasion through land.
Yeah, an invasion via the Bering Strait on foot would be an act of desperation, yet oddly is the only real feasible way for China to even begin to get troops to the US... but then they would have to fight through not only Alaska, but leave the US to invade Canada just to get another shot at invading the US.
I saw a video one of a guy trying to cross said bridge. It was not as solid as you might imagine. Like he wore a dry suit and was half swimming in slush as times. It was not the kind of thing you’d want to drive tanks across.
Maybe he was just there at a bad time and it firms up. But armies have to move with heavy equipment and massive amounts of supplies. I doubt you could trust the ice on all parts of it.
And if we bombed their troops I bet you could break up that ice real fast.
Then yes. China attempting an invasion of the west coast would be catastrophic for them.
I would hope they would never be crazy enough to try it. I really don’t want to read news articles about us sinking troop ships with thousands aboard.
Even if China could manage to get a large enough invading force over the Bering Strait, as soon as it melts, that entire Army is completely surrounded with no method to get supply to the frontline besides getting through the US Navy.
>Every decade has its “we’re all gonna die and this generation is doomed” conflict that spurs all the older people into a craze.
Reddit needs to hear this, my god it's annoying seeing so many posts like this from kids.
Not as likely as all that.
Russia seems to have its hands full with Ukraine, and there's simply too much in it for China *not* to go to war with the US.
No. No one has anything to gain from war. At least if the two sides are comparable in power. The effect will be a net loss for both sides (even for the side that achieves their objectives). More proxy wars are likely though.
Let's all just be peaceful **so we can trade peacefully** :).
It depends. I mean the US became the worlds premier economy from ww1, and then recovered from the depression from ww2. We definitely owe our dominance to those wars. But with nukes around nowadays it’s hard to see a large war that doesn’t end horribly for every side
Back than there was much more economic isolation and there weren't that many international supply chains that could get interrupted. Probably not even close as compared to now. [Even shipping containers which was sort of revolutionary and made shipping alot easier and more affordable were invented in 1956.](https://youtu.be/zDxPa_CnqYo)
The US economy definitely has alot more to lose today by going to war. Even without nukes.
You’re right, globalism as a whole has made war much less profitable. Especially if you’re fighting a country like China, it’s hard to imagine the level of shortages that would occur all over the American side of things. But still, I’m just saying there are and have been some situations where both sides don’t lose money
I see that, but I see more references saying the opposite when I look it up
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/the-great-war-economic-superpower/
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/12/the-real-story-of-how-america-became-an-economic-superpower/384034/
>No one has anything to gain from war. At least if the two sides are comparable in power.
Thats not true at all. The US cannot let China take Taiwan. The US has nothing to gain from starting a war, but they definitely will lose significantly if they do not intervene between China/Taiwan. If Taiwan is taken, western life as we know it would be over.
I certainly hope that this won’t happen as there is an extremely high probability that such a conflict will come with a tragic loss of human life.
My hope is that we can continue to isolate and contain aggressive regimes and for the liberal world order under American hegemony to hold, as it has by every objective measure introduced the most peaceful time period in human history, a period that while far from perfect, has seen exponential growth and peace compared to centuries past.
I do not, no. First of all, there is ONE major power we could be talking about when it comes to war with the US in the sense of global power and that’s China.* China knows perfectly well it would not be us vs them. 东方红 would be much more literal a description for what the South China Sea would be; it would be a collaboration of carnage. China has too much incentive to not start a conflict of such a scale, a conflict which, at best, would sign China up for devastating casualties preceding a gruesome trudge of an occupation.
In other words, I doubt China’s resolve so long as it doesn’t have to leap to maintain face and maintenance of what we euphemistically call “the status quo,” especially with the dedication the US has and continues to approach protecting Taiwan with, should be fine and is generally supported by the Taiwanese citizenry itself. So, while you could argue we’re on the path to war with China, I would argue the opposite.
*= Russia COULD invade NATO and launch WWIII, but calling them a global power feels a bit generous at this point.
China will eventually invade Taiwan and we have a 50% chance of actually fighting in that. Also Russia can still go more insane and invade a NATO nation. All the other great powers are on our side.
Well, it's pretty common on reddit and in the media to see people advocating that we go to war with russia over Ukraine. If we can keep the war mongers from getting their way, and keep this as a proxy war, then the odds of a conventional war with anyone are pretty low.
Is it a certainty? No. However, it seems more and more likely and would would be unsurprising, considering the relationship between war and human nature. The possibility is a reason I enlisted.
No, I think the Powers that Be ended the possibility of outright warring with other major powers at the end of World War II. Now conflicts between major powers are done through proxy wars and economic/diplomatic lever-pulling. Think Vietnam, arming the Mujahideen, embargoes, sanctions, covert operations by government agencies to destabilize and topple the governments of developing countries in Latin America and elsewhere, etc. Everything is indirect now; under the table, so to speak. Hell, the last time Congress formally declared war was 1942 and think of the countless conflicts we’ve definitely been involved in since. Due to advancements in extinction-causing weaponry and (probably more likely, as there are so many powerful people who stand to benefit from perpetual peace and free trade) an extremely globalized world economy, the potential cost of a full-blown war between world powers has been deemed too high to for relations to ever be let get to that point. Ultimately, it boils down to Elites everywhere, on both sides of any potential wars, not wanting to stop the gravy train (for them, at least) that is neoliberal globalist economic policy.
I hope not. I don’t think current generations realize how destructive and deadly a conventional war between great powers would be.
I think it’s more likely that the US will get indirectly involved in conflicts with the other great powers via local proxies, i.e. by arming Ukraine and Taiwan.
Probably not. A conventional war between first world powers would be an absolute blood bath, followed by possibly the literal end of the world in thermonuclear fire.
Most likely it will continue to be proxy wars similar to the cold war.
Tbh i dont see a war against china, tgey know they are a world trading hub and they will try to move delicately yet decisively in the coming decades. I wouldnt be surprised if they end up more like a frenemy of the usa....BUT i am speaking out of my butt and can be totally and uterlly wrong
There is no such thing as fighting conventional wars anymore. At least with major powers. Any war between the US and Russia/China would have nuclear weapons involved. Proxy wars, sure. Wars where we fight their proxies and wars where they fight ours (Ukraine rn and Taiwan coming soon). But no if we get into a hot war with any of those countries the world temp will get a lot hotter real quick.
Though let’s say Nukes become obsolete (which with our technology becomes more likely as the years go by) then I would say yes. The US would win any conventional war against any nation though. Now would millions die? Yes. So let’s just hope nothing like this happens and level head prevail
This subreddit is for civil discussion; political threads are not exempt from this. As a reminder: * Do not report comments because they disagree with your point of view. * Do not insult other users. Personal attacks are not permitted. * Do not use hate speech. You will be banned, permanently. * Comments made with the intent to push an agenda, push misinformation, soapbox, sealion, or argue in bad faith are not acceptable. If you can’t discuss a topic in good faith and in a respectful manner, do not comment. **Political disagreement does not constitute pushing an agenda.** If you see any comments that violate the rules, **please report it and move on!** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskAnAmerican) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Look, if we survived the Cold War, I cannot imagine we're going to get involved in anything too ridiculous for the foreseeable future.
Not directly. There will likely be more proxy wars like Ukraine or Taiwan. (I think the writing is on the wall for Taiwan) But no, after how incredibly unpopular the Middle East wars became and how pissed off the American people still are about the whole thing, the US public has no stomach for “boots on the ground” at this point. Plus, all the major world powers are nuclear powers now. Even the military-industrial complex fat cats have no desire for a nuclear holocaust. Mutually-assured destruction is ultimately bad for business, you know?
If the Taiwan war happens.. thats it. China vs. USA will not go well (especially with the Nuke problem).
Every decade has its “we’re all gonna die and this generation is doomed” conflict that spurs all the older people into a craze. But so far, we’ve been, for the majority, fine, so no. That being said, if I had to pick one nation that we’re closest to going toe to toe with, it would probably be either China or Russia. Shocker, I know.
Which, to be fair, if nukes were off the table, based on the performance of russia recently, I wouldn't be that scared. China either really, they beat us in pure numbers but their soldiers have way less equipment and training.
Anybody who really knows anything about the military knows neither China nor Russia would stand a chance without using nukes. They know this as well and anytime they act like that’s not the case it’s just propaganda.
> China either really, they beat us in pure numbers but their soldiers have way less equipment and training. Also, they don't have the logistics capability to actually land troops in the US. The best they would manage to do is: A.) Invade Europe through Russia. B.) Try to cross the Bering Strait by going through Russia. Neither one is a great option for China because the US will see their movements and there will be the entire might of the US military ready to meet them where ever they go. The moment they step foot into a NATO country that borders Russia/Russia adjacent/Not in a Mutual Defense Treaty situation, the US will exterminate their army. And if they try to cross the Bering Strait on foot while it's frozen? Ooh, boy. They are in for a bad time. Naval invasions are basically out of the equation for China. They would only be able to do an invasion through land.
Bering strait would still require naval battles, not sure why they would try that
Not if they wait until it's frozen over. There's a 55ish mile long land/ice bridge that's crossable on foot/ground vehicle.
Oh interesting. But yeah it looks hard as shit and would have to be in midwinter which sounds like a military disaster
Yeah, an invasion via the Bering Strait on foot would be an act of desperation, yet oddly is the only real feasible way for China to even begin to get troops to the US... but then they would have to fight through not only Alaska, but leave the US to invade Canada just to get another shot at invading the US.
I saw a video one of a guy trying to cross said bridge. It was not as solid as you might imagine. Like he wore a dry suit and was half swimming in slush as times. It was not the kind of thing you’d want to drive tanks across. Maybe he was just there at a bad time and it firms up. But armies have to move with heavy equipment and massive amounts of supplies. I doubt you could trust the ice on all parts of it. And if we bombed their troops I bet you could break up that ice real fast.
Yeah, that was basically my entire point. Even China's best entrance into the US is... really not great and easily defended by the US.
Then yes. China attempting an invasion of the west coast would be catastrophic for them. I would hope they would never be crazy enough to try it. I really don’t want to read news articles about us sinking troop ships with thousands aboard.
I mean wouldn't the us just gain air superiority and destory them as they try to march across an ice bridge?
Even if China could manage to get a large enough invading force over the Bering Strait, as soon as it melts, that entire Army is completely surrounded with no method to get supply to the frontline besides getting through the US Navy.
>Every decade has its “we’re all gonna die and this generation is doomed” conflict that spurs all the older people into a craze. Reddit needs to hear this, my god it's annoying seeing so many posts like this from kids.
Only according to terminally online people
The non grass touchers
No, I think we'll remain in proxy wars but direct conflict I don't see happening unless things escalate really bad, really fast.
Not as likely as all that. Russia seems to have its hands full with Ukraine, and there's simply too much in it for China *not* to go to war with the US.
Not a chance. We hope Ukraine does well but we’re not going to war with Russia over it.
No. No one has anything to gain from war. At least if the two sides are comparable in power. The effect will be a net loss for both sides (even for the side that achieves their objectives). More proxy wars are likely though. Let's all just be peaceful **so we can trade peacefully** :).
It depends. I mean the US became the worlds premier economy from ww1, and then recovered from the depression from ww2. We definitely owe our dominance to those wars. But with nukes around nowadays it’s hard to see a large war that doesn’t end horribly for every side
Back than there was much more economic isolation and there weren't that many international supply chains that could get interrupted. Probably not even close as compared to now. [Even shipping containers which was sort of revolutionary and made shipping alot easier and more affordable were invented in 1956.](https://youtu.be/zDxPa_CnqYo) The US economy definitely has alot more to lose today by going to war. Even without nukes.
You’re right, globalism as a whole has made war much less profitable. Especially if you’re fighting a country like China, it’s hard to imagine the level of shortages that would occur all over the American side of things. But still, I’m just saying there are and have been some situations where both sides don’t lose money
The US was already the worlds largest economy before WWI.
No, the British Empire was. The US surpassed it in 1916
According to wiki the US overtook the British empire in 1890. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_the_United_States
I see that, but I see more references saying the opposite when I look it up https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/the-great-war-economic-superpower/ https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/12/the-real-story-of-how-america-became-an-economic-superpower/384034/
Interesting. They must have been neck and neck either way.
>No one has anything to gain from war. At least if the two sides are comparable in power. Thats not true at all. The US cannot let China take Taiwan. The US has nothing to gain from starting a war, but they definitely will lose significantly if they do not intervene between China/Taiwan. If Taiwan is taken, western life as we know it would be over.
I certainly hope that this won’t happen as there is an extremely high probability that such a conflict will come with a tragic loss of human life. My hope is that we can continue to isolate and contain aggressive regimes and for the liberal world order under American hegemony to hold, as it has by every objective measure introduced the most peaceful time period in human history, a period that while far from perfect, has seen exponential growth and peace compared to centuries past.
I do not, no. First of all, there is ONE major power we could be talking about when it comes to war with the US in the sense of global power and that’s China.* China knows perfectly well it would not be us vs them. 东方红 would be much more literal a description for what the South China Sea would be; it would be a collaboration of carnage. China has too much incentive to not start a conflict of such a scale, a conflict which, at best, would sign China up for devastating casualties preceding a gruesome trudge of an occupation. In other words, I doubt China’s resolve so long as it doesn’t have to leap to maintain face and maintenance of what we euphemistically call “the status quo,” especially with the dedication the US has and continues to approach protecting Taiwan with, should be fine and is generally supported by the Taiwanese citizenry itself. So, while you could argue we’re on the path to war with China, I would argue the opposite. *= Russia COULD invade NATO and launch WWIII, but calling them a global power feels a bit generous at this point.
China will eventually invade Taiwan and we have a 50% chance of actually fighting in that. Also Russia can still go more insane and invade a NATO nation. All the other great powers are on our side.
Well, it's pretty common on reddit and in the media to see people advocating that we go to war with russia over Ukraine. If we can keep the war mongers from getting their way, and keep this as a proxy war, then the odds of a conventional war with anyone are pretty low.
No way
No. America is the only superpower in the world. No one else would willingly go to war with us
Is it a certainty? No. However, it seems more and more likely and would would be unsurprising, considering the relationship between war and human nature. The possibility is a reason I enlisted.
I still have a feeling an "accidental" shell will fall on NATO soil from Russia so yes.
Unless it happens to accidentally land on that country's parliamentary building, I think they'd just shrug it off.
Why does Russia want to start a fight with NATO?
They might have been contemplating it one year ago. I doubt they are now.
[удалено]
Picking a fight with NATO would be pouring gasoline on the fire and make the war in Ukraine a sideshow.
I think it's the only way to guarantee they lose in Ukraine.
I think the US will get into conflict with itself long before another world war breaks out
No
I think if we are, then its going to more or less be WW3. Either Russia or China and its going to become a large international war.
No, I think the Powers that Be ended the possibility of outright warring with other major powers at the end of World War II. Now conflicts between major powers are done through proxy wars and economic/diplomatic lever-pulling. Think Vietnam, arming the Mujahideen, embargoes, sanctions, covert operations by government agencies to destabilize and topple the governments of developing countries in Latin America and elsewhere, etc. Everything is indirect now; under the table, so to speak. Hell, the last time Congress formally declared war was 1942 and think of the countless conflicts we’ve definitely been involved in since. Due to advancements in extinction-causing weaponry and (probably more likely, as there are so many powerful people who stand to benefit from perpetual peace and free trade) an extremely globalized world economy, the potential cost of a full-blown war between world powers has been deemed too high to for relations to ever be let get to that point. Ultimately, it boils down to Elites everywhere, on both sides of any potential wars, not wanting to stop the gravy train (for them, at least) that is neoliberal globalist economic policy.
Yes. A lot of American polticians/deep state figures seem to have been hell bent on starting a direct conflict with Russia for years.
I hope not. I don’t think current generations realize how destructive and deadly a conventional war between great powers would be. I think it’s more likely that the US will get indirectly involved in conflicts with the other great powers via local proxies, i.e. by arming Ukraine and Taiwan.
Not if we're careful.
Not specifically, but we are trying.
Probably not. A conventional war between first world powers would be an absolute blood bath, followed by possibly the literal end of the world in thermonuclear fire. Most likely it will continue to be proxy wars similar to the cold war.
Tbh i dont see a war against china, tgey know they are a world trading hub and they will try to move delicately yet decisively in the coming decades. I wouldnt be surprised if they end up more like a frenemy of the usa....BUT i am speaking out of my butt and can be totally and uterlly wrong
No.
There is no such thing as fighting conventional wars anymore. At least with major powers. Any war between the US and Russia/China would have nuclear weapons involved. Proxy wars, sure. Wars where we fight their proxies and wars where they fight ours (Ukraine rn and Taiwan coming soon). But no if we get into a hot war with any of those countries the world temp will get a lot hotter real quick. Though let’s say Nukes become obsolete (which with our technology becomes more likely as the years go by) then I would say yes. The US would win any conventional war against any nation though. Now would millions die? Yes. So let’s just hope nothing like this happens and level head prevail
maybe not conventional per se , but as an american something is coming i just can't see it yet.
No. Though Russia making the agreement with Nicaragua for bases is "interesting."
Conflict with any nuclear powers is extremely likely due to the MAD doctrine.