Foreign wars have long been a favorite way to distract the people from how crappy the domestic conditions are.
Also, going to war is like wiping the slate clean - economically.
Ok, to qualify as a “World War,” at least two of the world’s primary military powers would have to engage in full-scale fighting on opposite sides in most or all strategic areas of the world, correct?
It might take a scenario like this: the US/NATO/Israel vs. a coalition of Shi’ite Muslim (or Shi’ite-ruled) nations like Iran, Syria and Iraq (!) etc. probably backed by Russia fighting it out all over the Middle East, with some surprises (Hezbollah) in the Western Hemisphere, and even the Korean Peninsula in order to keep US forces engaged elsewhere.
Considering the weakness of the Obama Administration, Beck might be correct. It could start as an escalation of the Syrian Civil War. Turkey’s membership in NATO might complicate things, but they, Saudi Arabia and the US seem to back Syria’s rebels against the Assad regime, so they might fight a coalition of Shi’ite Muslim nations.
I tend to think the world was on the brink in 1979-1980 before Reagan took office. Had Carter won a second term...