I have come up with some possible scenarios that can begin WWIII.

1. As Isriali troops seek out and destroy the remaining Hezbollah troops in Southern Lebanon, intellegence officers spot a shipment of Iranian missles heading for Southern Lebanon. The Isreali government destroys the convoy and bombs Irans nuclear facilities. After Iran recovers from the shock, Iran attacks Iraq, knowing that Americans are allies to Isreal. In Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Syria, violent street protests rise up. They overthrow the government and attack Isreal and America. All the other countries would be affected by high oil prices, so they'd join the fun to get oil.

2. Lets say Kim Jon Il continues firing missles. Lets say that one missle goes off-course and hits Tokyo, killing dozens of civilians. Japan would attack North Korea, quite possibly obliterating it. South Korea, China, and America would quite possibly attack N.K as well. N.K citiznes would flee to China and South Korea, but would be blocked by the army, much like Mexican immagrints. With North Korea out of the picture, Iran and Venezuela would have a reason to attack America, and that will pull in allies from all the nations.

3. Al-Quida has been trying to kill Pakistan President Perves Musharaff for a while now. What if they finnaly killed him? Well India, still recovering from the Mumbai bombings, would attack Pakistan. America would send special forces to hold the fighting, but they are killed by protesters. America would then attack one or both of them, causing other alles to jump in, as before.

Just like the assassination of Franz Ferdinad, a small thing can sprout into a war that changes all human life forever. In every war, there is always somone whe started it. In WWI, it was that assassin, in WWII it was Adolf Hitler. If WWIII happens, who could it be? Irans nuclear testing? The Isreal-Lebanon conflict? North Koreas missles testing? Al-Quida? Even America is a choice, for all we know.

What is happening in the Mid-East may just die down, or it could sprout into World War III. The world is on thin ice now. A single mess-up could crack the ice and send the world deep into the frozen water. That is all.

Interesting scenarios. Here's what I think:

1. I agree that it's possible Israel will turn its artillery on Iran (even though it would be a ridiculously bad strategic decision). The two parts I don't think are as likely are Iran attacking Iraq and the other Arab countries joining the war on Iran's side. The first I don't find likely because no matter how fiery their rhetoric, the Iranians aren't nearly stupid enough to take on the U.S. when they've just suffered a crippling missile attack from Israel anyway. The second is unlikely because the vast majority of the populations in those countries aren't radical enough to force a change of government. I mean, Jordan kicked out the PLO. Besides, most of those countries are Sunni, the majority denomination of Islam, while Iran is extremely Shiite. In fact, they're not even Arab, they're Persian. Many of the other Middle Eastern states aren't that fond of them enough to go to war to help them. However, they might dislike Israel and the U.S. enouh to make it not totally beyond the realm of possibility.

2. This scenario is a lot more likely. The one thing you're not taking into account, though, is that pretty much everyone in Asia hates Japan. So, let's say Japan does amend its constitution, whips up a huge army, and storms into North Korea. China and South Korea dislike Japan so much that there's as great a chance of them attacking Japan as North Korea.

3. I didn't know al-Qaeda was trying to kill Musharaff. I was under the impression that they liked Pakistan, since it is after all the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. In fact, the biggest grievance between Pakistan and India (aside from Kashmir) is that the Pakistanis are almost all Muslim and the Indians Hindu. If's it does happen, though, I could see the rest of the scenario happening.

what do you think the outcome would be of that. in WWII japan massacred bassically everyting they fought in china, they only stopped because they were blackmail about thier civilians being killed.

war is a seriouse thing, do you really think that a country would have a war purly for oil?. even if a country would send many men to their deaths you need to realise that a leader of a country will consider all aspects, the most threatening would be the counter attack. a good deal of urope is filled with sensible leaders after all.

also there is the fact that there exists somthing called negotiations that could stop the growth of a world war before it escalated to terrifying poportions. of coure there are countries who would be less inclined to this, the middle eastern countries may fight for religion, while a place like japan isn't easily quelled, they're the closest thing to a warrior nation. 5% of the population is in the military (though i'm not japanese so i dunno).

... they would get crushed. Badly. Japan doesn't even have an army, they have "self-defense forces" which I think are a couple thousand men. That's tiny compared to most countries these days. The Chinese army alone is more than 2 million people. It's not like the Japanese are going to start mass-producing Gundams or something. China, South Korea, and probably even Vietnam would relish eating them alive. The question is only whether they'd care more about getting revenge on Japan or stopping North Korea.

Why do you think Iraq invaded Kuwait (SP?) back in the 90's? I think oil may have been one reason.

There is the chance of that working but I have a little doubt that it will. The reason is that negotiations didn't work for WWII. Britian tried to make negotiations with Hitler so he wouldn't take over countries surrounding Germany. But we know that that didn't work. Back to the crisis today, if negotiations are made, they could just be using it for a surprise attack. Hitler did the same thing to Russia during WWII. They made an agreement to not fight each other, and when Russia was thinking they had just avoided war, Germany surprises them and invades.

In my opinion, negotiations is not going to work. Just my opinions

Grondy, chances are the Japanese don't really need an army. They could very easily defend themselves otherwise. Japan has the backing of the United States. If Japan is attacked, there's a number of military bases in Japan. The US could easily mobilize forces and kick most of Asia's ass. And who says they can't produce gundams/mobile suits? Maybe they can't mass produce them, but shit, just a few would wipe out a bunch of places, although it's highly unlikely that they are developing it. But with all the shit Japanese people make, hell... a Mobile Suit doesn't seem that farfetched...

Japan could send all those anime characters to pzn the chinese, :)

...Oh wait, this is LUE? Darn, :P

I was watching the news earlier today for like 15 minutes, and they were showing this small county in I think Lebanon(Sp? I KNOW it's wrong, but that's the way it's pronouced I guess :P) and some guys hiding in the surronding forest were just bombarding them with these small rockets and stuff, that's just pure madness, I'm sure those in the middle east would say WWIII has already started.

I know most vets would hate to fight for Japan, purely because of Pearl Harbor, which is quite shocking, (if you say I'm nuts for saying that, check my family line, almost pure marines). A real WWIII wouldn't go to well for us, ever since WWII, it seems that whenever the troops ar called up, protest spring up everywhere, and slows down congress dramaticly.

Well there's my not-even-two-cents, I'll probably post more later, my brother's bugging the hell out of me, >_>

Well, if you bring in the States, then that's a whole different matter. I'm simply saying that if you pitted Japan's Self Defense Forces against the People's Liberation Army I'm definitely betting my money on the PLA. Then again, just because the U.S. is backing Japan doesn't mean it'll be glad to jump into an Asian land war, especially if Japan is the aggressor. First of all, it's always a bad image to be the aggressor (though Bush doesn't seem to care much about this bit); second of all, we're already overstretched in Afghanistan, Iraq, and all the other countries we have troops stationed in; third of all, the only major defeats we've ever had have been in Asia, which doesn't bode well in further endeavors. (Vietnam? Korea? Yeaaah. Didn't turn out so good.)

Oh, and Unreal, you spelled Lebanon right. :P

They've made some already, you know. They don't work that well, but they exist. (Three, I think? o.o)

Prototypes of suits that work somewhat like Gundams, only with less maneuverability, no flying/space transport abilities, and no weapons. They're a bit clunky, but they work well enough; they're walking, arm-waving behemoths of steel. At least, I think it's steel. :/

Then again, the resources are a bit questionable. *Shrugs* I'm not quite sure I believe it, myself, but it sure as hell seems plausible.

Really? Awesome!

I would think that they'd make mobile weapons instead. Easier. Like a Tank on four legs with a few weapons.

hmm, but the main reason for making an anime mobile suit is for the speed, afterall, if it can dodge rockets which can be slow or easy to spot, plus the ability to take faster firing, difficult to dodge shots from machine guns then it would be great. otherwise the ones that you're talking about would be a waste of resources.

It's either a waste of resources, or waste of lives, and those saved lives are out there making money for the resources anyways :P