It is hard to see the losing side not go nuclear.

Ser, that’s just it. When you’re talking about World War 3, someone from my Era automatically thinks that nukes are going to start flying. That’s what we were brought up to think.
When any of the Big Boys get involved, especially if they are going against each other, it’s going nuclear at some point. We in the US have said for years that we would not be the first to use nuclear weapons. If we start battling China or Russia, and they are losing, it’s a given they will resort to nukes to even the odds.
I really don’t want to go to battle with either Russia or China. These days, that can turn into a very, very dangerous situation for us.