World War Three !

The fear of a nuclear war that may end human life on this planet has not eventuated and for a long time we felt safe sheltering behind the MAD stalemate.   The United States of America and the Soviet Union faced off with huge nuclear arsenals - and the certainty that there would not be a winner because in a nuclear war they were both " Mutually Assured of Destruction ".

That concept still virtually stands as far as the original nuclear powers are concerned, but the nuclear club has widened to include India and Pakistan, Israel and North Korea.  These are unstable parts of the world but acquiring nuclear weapons was probably more a matter of defence than plans for territorial conquest.  We have learned to live in a nuclear armed world.

What should  be concerning us is the increasing use of chemical weapons and this is happening in civil wars.  Countries are quite prepared to use this type of warfare against their own citizens, as we have seen in Iraq and more recently - Syria. All the major powers have researched chemical and biological weapons and if we ever manage to stumble into a third world war there is every probability that they will be used.

Perhaps the greater danger is coming from the intolerance to refugees and the coming dangers the experts are warning us about.  It looks unlikely we will manage to contain global warming and the world will face increasing sea levels, and there is a doubt that as we head to a world population of ten billion that food supplies will be sufficient.   Hunger and privation could send new waves of people swarming across borders in search of relief.

We have seen how quickly compassion turns to anger, and anger into creating obstacles to halt the flow.  Self preservation is a powerful motive and in a world of dwindling living space the tribal instinct for preservation comes to the fore.   Once we are convinced that our way of life is threatened we embrace methods that go against our normal conscience.

Of course all this could be prevented if we managed to bring global warming under control and bring progeny numbers within the range we could afford to feed and educate, but everything from religion to poverty and ignorance is making that impossible.  The survivors are the countries that can feed themselves, and those that can't seem destined to become the homeless.

The use of chemical and biological weapons in civil wars seems to be a warning of what is coming in the future.  Perhaps that  nuclear bogey is the threat that never eventuated !