"Divide your timetable by 10 and you've got it."
I believe you are right, we are 5-7 years away from the next great world war. It takes real time to build a technology saavy military with modern combined arms tactics. Add to that China and Russia having to conduct more shared exercises with the new equipment/tactics. They are close but not there yet in my opinion. Both countries economically have the means to easliy continue this effort and grow their militaries into something scary.
When the crap does hit the fan, I won't be surprised to see at least one if not 2-3 weapons on NYC/LA & Chicago. This would instantly destroy our economy. We would figure out who was responsible and retaliate but I would expect Russia and China (along with Iran and North Korea) to make it's moves within the first three months of this attack. This would include an all out nuclear attack by the above mentioned countries. I was reading an article here a couple months ago about China building underground facilities similar to Russia's underground cities/complexes. The bummer for us in this scenerio is Russia has her own energy source and we don't. I believe we will win long-term but it's certainly an Armeggedon type scenerio in-between.
Ummmmmmm.....I beg to differ, but the reality is that nobody wins.