Ask HN: Why is USA starting world war 3 now?
Effectively, it's a continuation of the Gaza and Ukraine wars.
Israel and Iran have been fighting for years, with Iran generally using various intermediaries. The October 7 attacks were orchestrated and funded by Iran.
Having spent several years punishing the Gazans for it, Israel is moving on to Iran itself. It has enlisted the help of the US, who are going along with it for a variety of reasons.
One of those reasons is Ukraine. Iran has been helping arm Russia, and evade sanctions. The Ukraine war has been called "World War III" for four years now, pitting the West against a coalition of opposing forces, of which Iran has long been one.
This is the best I can do to "sanewash" it. In fact, a good chunk of it is arrogance, stupidity, warmongering, and distraction.
> The Ukraine war has been called "World War III" for four years now
While being restricted almost entirely to eastern Ukraine and fought by two nationalities with a few hired guns. People should examine the other world wars.
The other world wars started as conflicts between two countries that expanded to take in their allies.
Right now the West is desperately trying to walk a line of supplying Ukraine with money, weapons, and intelligence, but scrupulously avoiding putting any of their own force at risk. They think that is what will trigger the World War cascade of allies.
Which hasn't happened yet. Either they are right, or they are just prolonging the conflict by failing to step in.
> The other world wars started as conflicts between two countries that expanded to take in their allies.
So if this is all you need then every conflict is a world war.
> Right now the West is desperately trying to walk a line of supplying Ukraine with money, weapons, and intelligence,
Desperately? It's been the status quo for four years. We're all just waiting out the Russian economy or Putin's cancer.
> They think that is what will trigger the World War cascade of allies.
Lol you mean Russia's mutual defense pact with Belarus? It's not like China or India give enough of a crap about Russia to do anything other than watch and laugh.
> Iran has been helping arm Russia, and evade sanctions
Not sure this bit makes sense. The current occupant of the white house is firmly in the camp of Russia; that is plain for all to see. In fact, the current war is driving up oil prices and thus actually helps Putin, which may be intended. They are also lifting sanction on Russia.
He's not exactly in their camp. I hate to invoke Hanlon's Razor because a lot of what he does is malice rather than stupidity, but on Russia he has been inconsistent in a way that doesn't suggest that he's just following orders.
If he really wanted to just give up Ukraine, he could have. It's not as if he's afraid to piss off our allies. There's no 4D chess going on.
He likes Russia. He admires their strongman. He wants to be one too. He doesn't want to just give up Ukraine, but neither does he care what happens to it. Like Putin he's happy just to make everyone else deal with his random behavior.
He has a ton of advisers with conflicting goals. Some of them really do want to take down Russia, or prolong its involvement in Ukraine to distract them. Any explanation for this war is the sum of those conflicting advisors.
It's often said that he does whatever the last person in the room wants. I don't think it's quite true, but it's not way to understand how his contradictory actions come about.
How is this a world war? Iran has one ally that has no interest in helping it and one vendor state. The US has a coalition of two.
It's not "USA", it's Trump. No debate in Senate, no declaration of war, no House vote. You need to reset your assumptions.
Nah, we have to own up to the fact that we elected him. It's uncharitable to say the majority of Americans want this conflict, but the magas won the presidency and both houses.
The president is empowered to use the military without explicit congressional approval. There was a recent vote in congress on whether or not to reign this in, it failed.
The entire Republican party is complicit.
"Senate Republicans vote down legislation to halt Iran war in Congress’ first vote on the conflict" https://apnews.com/article/iran-war-senate-vote-war-powers-0...
It is absolutely, unequivocably and undeniably "USA". Trump was elected by the American people, twice, and the US hasn't actually declared a war since World War 2. So the precedent for the President to just go bomb whomever they want and ask permission later (and get it after the fact) is already well established and accepted.
And the US has been talking around war with Iran ever since they were added to the Axis of Evil by GWB.
As for why, the obvious answer is distraction from the Epstein Files but apparently Trump just "had a feeling" Iran was about to attack the US and this was considered a "preemptive strike." Again, not at all outside of the MO of the nation that ginned up the Global War on Terror on entirely false pretenses.
talk about needing to reset assumptions lol
Epstein files?
Indeed, Epstein was an Israeli intelligence asset, so Netanyahu has videos of Trump with underaged girls, so Trump will do anything for Israel
I mean, just look at America's main ally and take a guess. Israel's political goals would be jeopardized by a complete release of the Epstein files. War with Iran fills a joint US/Israeli political initiative of taking the heat off politicians and creating a common enemy.
Why wouldn't Trump start WWIII now?