You have a very vivid imagination Ken.....kenneal - lagger wrote: ↑12 Feb 2024, 01:24 We are not pushing for a direct war with Russia but Russia is certainly pushing for one with us. Seems like Putin the Mad wants to go out with a Big Bang!! I've read, and I agree, that people think he is hanging on for Trump to be elected so he is given a free hand to deal with Europe without any US interference. Putin would probably settle for Europe and let China take the Far East. They would leave the Muslim Middle East to Iran and divvy up Africa and South America between them with China taking the most valuable bits. The US would then fall under the combined thumbs and become a backwater as it loses all its world trade.
Putin isn't going to 'take' Europe... They're struggling enough as it is fighting Ukraine and even if they were to overpower them, NATO is still in tact if he's stupid enough to venture any further... Even if Trump wins the next election, he wouldn't be allowed to pull the US out of NATO, despite what he says...
China really wants Taiwan, and periodically flexes its muscles with others in the region, like the Philippines... but Japan, South Korea, India act as a bit of a counter-balance.... Would be interesting to see whether the US would step in and protect Taiwan if Trump wins the election...
China might also be eyeing some Russian territory in the east, especially as the demographics are changing..., if Russia gets significantly weakened, Putin might end up in a different war in his back yard, which might be interesting.....
There are x2 'brands' of Islam - Shia & Suni - Saudi Arabia would never let Iran have a free hand in the ME. They act as counter-balances to each other. Iran is surrounded by enemies and doesn't have limitless resources...
Africa and South America are always being exploited by somebody for their resources. At the moment it's the big corporations - personally, I don't see that changing anytime soon....