“My mother?”

“Yes. Where is your mother?”

“My mother died today. Or, maybe, she did so yesterday?”

Just like from this kid, war takes almost a million things away from us. Home. Love. Peace. Everything. The renowned astronomer Carl Sagan once famously remarked that we, humans, strangely fight only to become the momentary leaders of a fraction of a dot, the Earth, when they do not have any idea about the vastness of the cosmos. Surely, ‘occhiolism’ would lead us a long way to salvation but we cannot deny that our perspective of the Earth always rules the present scenario. Great power conflicts defined the 20th Century. People witnessed two very deathly world war which killed more than millions of people and destroyed many more families. It reduced cities to dust, ships to debris and soldiers to martyrs. Even after World War II, the world could find itself being polarised into either USA or Russia, during the Cold War. After the signing of the Warsaw Pact in 1991, the Cold War too was officially declared end. However, even decades later, can we ascertain for sure that we aren’t on a road that leads to war?

Carl Sagan commented, in his book The Pale Blue Dot - "Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot" when the Voyager- I probe sent Earth's picture from millions of kilometres away, as just a dot.

Mikhail Gorbachev (seated left) dissolved the Warsaw Pact in 1 July, 1991.

Wars occur because we all want to fight to establish ourselves. If we trace our paths back to prehistoric times, we would find humans fought to survive in the wild. Since, the time they got rid of the wild, they were left with an attitude for struggle even when there was nothing to establish, which arose the tendency to create wars. Wars cannot solve problems and humans simply do not understand that. Let us trail our paths back to the Cold War. Both the Soviets and the USA started summing up weapons, mostly nuclear weapons. It was never a head-on battle. It was always a war of nerves. Every day, it seemed as the world was on the verge of another world war. The Cold War finally ended with Mikhail Gorbachev dissolving the Warsaw Pact in 1991. But do you think problems had ended forever, back in 1991?

Kim Il- Sung with Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh

North Korean troops planting their flag in South Korea
(Korean War 1950)

The word ‘World War III’ was first coined by the TIME Magazine, in its November 3, 1941 edition. Today, after 70 to 80 years, we can see what it might seem like. The U.S. and the Chinese warships are always at war with each other. Every month, there are incidents of Russian drones being shot down by Israeli defences. Tensions rise day by day, in the Middle East. Plans of secret reconnaissance satellites shock the world. The Korean War was the first close call to a third world war. The question of a unified Korea came up post-world war II. Ideally, the USA wanted a unified anti-communist Korean Peninsula while the Russians, along with the Chinese wanted a communist one. The north was primarily controlled by pro-communist Kim Il-Sung and the South by leading pro-democratic Dr. Syngman Rhee. The North and South got divided after UN intervened and the US withdrew their troops in June, 1949. But the withdrawal of all foreign troops left a potentially unstable and dangerous situation. One year later, after some border clashes, North Korean troops stormed into the South, which popularly was named the Korean War. This event gave quite a close conflict between the US and the Soviets. In such times, even seconds could avert a nuclear exchange.

Howitzers were effective defences against Israeli air force during the war.

Besides the famous Cuban Missiles Crisis of 1962, the world was pushed to the brink of war again during the famous Yom-Kippur War of 1973. The Arabs sided with the Russians while Israel sided with the USA, when the conflict began. However, Israel counteracted very well. The superpowers were eased with the UNSC 339 resolutions. The present state of world politics even reflects a lot on the possibility of another world war.

An ISIL flag being flown in Syria

One of the leading problems that could take us to another world war is ISIS. In response to rapid territorial gains and abuses of human rights, the world has been united in order to end these acts of ‘terrorism’. Leaders like Donald Trump (USA), David Cameron (UK), Stephen Harper (Canada), Emmanuel Macron (France), etc. have started to work together to end the ruthless acts committed by ISIS (now ISIL). It was ISIS that was responsible for the November 2015 Paris attacks, the December 2015 San Bernardino attacks, the December 2016 Berlin attacks and the May 2017 Manchester attacks. There is no doubt about the ISIS being an extremist organisation along with groups like the Talibans, but tensions rise as more and more super powers join the conflict. It is slowly cumulating into a much bigger war.

Kim Jong-un and Trump had peaceful talks on 12th June, 2018

Another quite apt reason for the next world war would be the Korean Crisis. Why did North Korea develop weapons in the first place? Isolated globally, after World War II, Korea saw nuclear weapons as its only deterrent against a world it believed was seeking to destroy it. It had even made 6 major nuclear tests. In April, 2018, the Korea’s two leaders agreed to ‘denuclearise’ the peninsula. On 12^th June, Trump and Mr. Kim met for peaceful sanctions to end tensions for the future. However, USA is persuading China to put pressure on North Korea. China’s denials are causing frequent South China attacks between the US and China.

Bashar al-Assad and Russian President Putin were always in the same team.
Russia siding with Syria in the Syrian Crisis has raised global tensions.

People protest against Gaddafi's rule during the Libyan Civil War.
(Libyan Civil War 2011)

The on-going multi-sided armed conflict in Syria is also one of the many ways that lead to the War. It is mainly a result of popular dissatisfaction with the Bashar al-Assad Syrian government. As Russia sides with Syria, the US sides with Syrian opposition, mainly Turkey. On the other hand, we have the present ISIL aiding in the conflict. Summing all the factors, this could be a potential site to harvest the next world war. The ongoing Libyan Civil War, beginning with the Arab Spring Protests of 2011, also poses threats to world securities. This Civil War was the cause of events like the First Libyan Civil War and the death of Muammar Gaddafi. Also, Qatar supporting the Muslin Brotherhood has been a major contributor to tensions.

Russian President Vladimir Putin (right) and Ukrainian President Yanukovych
(2014)

Russia’s imperialistic ambitions over Ukraine have also contributed a lot towards tensions between countries. From February, 2014, Russia has made several interventions in Ukraine. Russia has even taken hold of strategic positions. Russians had even annexed Crimea after a referendum. The NATO quickly got involved. This on-going issue has ever raised tensions between the US and the Russians. Several incidents have been reported like vehicles carrying arms and dead bodies crossing the Ukraine-Russian border, under the disguise of humanitarian aids.

Sino-Indian border tensions rise day by day, as more and more
world powers are getting involved

The Sino-Indian border disputes also contribute a lot to global tensions. The Jammu and Kashmir part of India has repeatedly been juggled by Pakistan and China for years. Several border conflicts occurred between India and these two countries. Intel even points to secret Sino-Pakistani roads to ensure war against India but nothing such has been proved yet. In June, 2017, a military standoff occurred between India and China in the disputed region of Doklam and it got global attention

.

A long gap has appeared for humans to work as a species rather than fight for their own differences. We can only stop wars if we can forgive our own differences. Because, only a dead man knows what war is.

"Politics is war without bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed."                                                                                                        -    Mao Zedong 

NAME: SPANDAN MALLICK
CLASS: XI 
SECTION: SCIENCE
SCHOOL: THE CALCUTTA BOYS' SCHOOL
FOR CONCORD 2018 BLOGGING CONTEST.