Basically, WWIII has already started…
Question from the Internet:
“Hypothetically, would we even know if WWIII started?”
You are completely right.
We are not in times when wars start with an assassination of royalty, or by a clear declaration of war and physical attack on another country.
As Russia proved such a direct physical attack — even without a formal declaration — is still possible, but modern warfare is much more concealed and sophisticated and it is constantly ongoing.
Financing opposition or guerilla groups to destabilize others, aggressively promoting alliances up to the border to the “enemy” — like NATO — exerting constant financial, and economic pressures on others, using the overwhelming propaganda of mass media and the entertainment industry to turn the world against certain nations, cultures or religions are very effective warfare means of today’s world.
And when it comes to actual attacks, cyber-warfare, drones, and suffocating others by cutting energy or food supplies are much more effective than direct, physical attacks.
If we look back at recent history — since the Second WW, the US has lost most of its actual physical wars, either directly or considering their targets, still through its economic pressure, financial influence, the media and entertainment machinery, through covertly inciting, provoking conflicts and instability in other regions, nations the US have been in almost total control over the world for decades.
All this does not mean that we won’t enter into direct conflicts between the larger powers, Ukraine is already a proxy war between the US and Russia while the Ukrainians and Europe are used as cannon fodders.
And China can initiate war against Taiwan at any moment, the situation between India and Pakistan is always unstable while the Chinese/Indian border is also fragile not to mention the always volatile Middle-East where all greater powers have vested interests…
As long as we all blindly follow our inherently egocentric, subjective and individualistic/nationalistic and exploitative mindset, worldview, nothing can stop the present concealed world conflict on multiple fronts to turn into an actual, very complex and totally chaotic world war.
The problem is that at the same time we also evolved into a completely integrated and interdependent world, where there are no local problems any longer. The Ukrainian war has serious implications to the world’s energy and food supply and for the stability of the world’s markets, any further progression or other conflicts turning to direct war would fully collapse our socio-economic system which is already on life support.
A full-scale WWIII — we seem to be inevitably sliding to — can be avoided only when we all fully understand our total interdependence and that we are all sitting on the same sinking boat where we are still busy drilling holes underneath each other — drowning us all.