It’s not just months of fireball bombings and human misery that amount to “The Return of the World War,” a Chicago expert says.
With two wars on different continents — in Iran and Ukraine — involving the U.S., Russia and Israel, with crossover support from European allies, Gulf states, China and North Korea, there is a state of World War underway, according to University of Chicago political science professor Paul Poast.
As the U.S. fires on or boards some non-compliant ships in the Strait of Hormuz, Navy officials say 27 ships in all have been turned away trying to access Iranian ports.
This comes as the clock ticks on a White House deadline for a peace deal with Iran or, according to President Trump, there will be a resumption of nationwide bombardment targeting all power plants and bridges.
About 1,400 miles away from Asia, Russia continues to wage war in Ukraine on the European continent. The multi-military and political crossover linking both battlegrounds makes this the definition of a World War, Poast said.
“You have the U.S. being a direct participant, direct fighter in the war in Iran. You have Russia being a direct fighter, direct participant in the war in Ukraine,” said Prof. Poast, who is also a senior fellow with the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.
“In each respective war, they are assisting the other side in a major way, providing intelligence, providing arms. Doing almost everything except pulling the triggers,” Poast told the NBC Chicago investigative team.
In a recent column the U of C political scientist wrote for the New York Times titled “A New Era of World War Has Arrived,” Poast makes the point that we are in such a war.
“Now, to be clear, we’re not talking about a world war at the level of World War I or World War II,” he said. “We haven’t reached something at that scale, and hopefully we will not reach something of that scale.”
The overwhelming concern is what happens next, he said. What if there is a third war front? Or a fourth. If China and North Korea become more directly involved or take offensive action in their own regions.
“North Korea is already involved in the war in Ukraine,” explains Poast. “They’ve been providing weapons, they’ve been providing military personnel, and could that potentially lead to a situation where North Korea decided that since the United States is drawing on resources, both in Ukraine and most notably now Iran, that they would decide, ‘You know what? Now is our time to take more aggressive measures towards Seoul (South Korea),'” he said. “And if that happens, could you end up with opening up a new Korean war, let alone the scenario of China deciding that now could actually be a time to take on Taiwan.”
Of course the Pentagon plans for concurrent wars in multiple locations and builds out tabletop exercises to move troops and equipment for handling a double or even triple front war. But for Poast and other geo-political experts, the concern is what seems to be a move lately toward using military options first and diplomacy later.
And with that for Professor Poast is the hardware wildcard. What happens if U.S. supplies of anti-aircraft and anti-missile firepower is diminished by the Iran War—and it’s needed quickly for some global mischief by China or North Korea?
