There will probably never, ever be a world war as we knew it again. Public sentiment is too divided, and military equiptment is too expensive.
Many similar remarks were made after WWI and before WWII. They were never uttered by the Germans, though.
Similarly, I am not hering these kinds of remarks from the Arab world...quite the contrary. There are many threats to cause another holocaust.
I think the prospect of a third WW is all to close and feasible.
Saudi Arabia, with Jordan, Egypt and several Persian Gulf states, chastised Hezbollah for “unexpected, inappropriate and irresponsible acts” at an emergency Arab League summit meeting in Cairo on Saturday. The Saudi foreign minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, said of Hezbollah’s attacks on Israel, “These acts will pull the whole region back to years ago, and we cannot simply accept them.”
Not to mention that Hezbollah and Hamas are much too small to start a world war without the support the above-mentioned nations. A civil war within the Arab region is brewing, however, as a growing number of Arab leaders and citizens are getting seriously concerned about the organized effort to turn the region into a medieval theocracy.
I read a Macleans piece on Prince Alwaleed today. In his efforts to promote modernization of his backward society, and to diplomatically comply in the meantime with its backward laws like the prohibition on women driving, he has hired a female pilot for his personal plane. He has also said publicly that he is "in full support of Saudi ladies working in all fields". He (backed by his $24 billion, some of which may actually belong to other wealthy Saudis) is obviously not on board with the jihad program. http://www.macleans.ca/topstories/business/article.jsp?content=20060724_130673_130673