Unconfirmed reports about Russian missiles striking a Polish village on the border with Ukraine has sparked fresh concerns about the World War III.
Although Volodmyr Zelensky has blamed the incident on Russia which has killed two people, US officials assessing the strike have suggested that the missiles were fired by Ukrainian forces.
Given that Poland is a member of NATO there are worries that the entire alliance could be drawn into a global conflict with Russia.
But, what would happen if WWIII did break out?
If the US fights, Germany, France, Poland and the United Kingdom will follow. But, as it stands, the United States has no reason to fight Russia apart from maintaining the integrity of the NATO alliance.
According to National Interest, if Russia were to take parts of the Baltic, it would be unlikely for them to hold stolen territory for long due to Nato airpower.
Last decade, the US discarded its "two-war" doctrine, designed to prevent North Korea from launching a war while the United States was involved in fighting.
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Each country has its own goal, so Russia and China coordinating simultaneous hostilities in the Pacific and Europe are unlikely.
However, while the US might create the conditions for war by using diplomatic and economic means, Russia or China would be the ones to pull the trigger.
The US can still win two major wars at the same time, according to the news outlet, "or at least come near enough to winning that neither Russia nor China would see much hope in the gamble." And this is because they continue "to maintain the world's most formidable military and because it stands at the head of an extremely powerful military alliance."
The US cannot maintain the level of dominance forever, says the publication. However, they do have international support from some of the most powerful countries in the world that they can count on for some time.
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