I’ve come to the conclusion WW3 is a trigger word for people that grew up during the Cold War. We we’re well conditioned to believe WW3=nuclear holocaust.
But what if I told you the Cold War was actually WW3? Think about it. We had several “proxy” wars all over the globe in an ideological/influence struggle between the superpowers. Presidents/leaders were assassinated, governments were toppled, dictators and democracies were installed (and subverted).
This Ukraine conflict is almost a continuation of the same struggle except this time communism isn’t part of the narrative. It’s more of a global fascist/authoritarian movement entering an overt violence phase to destroy a democratic government.
There’s also this weird implicit assumption the United States gets to decide when “WW3” begins. Never mind that Putin and his band of assholes have been fighting this war for years rather openly.
My point here is whatever most people think WW3 is “supposed” to look like probably isn’t going to happen, which is a good thing.