If Putin sensed any chances of many countries getting involved in a going war in Ukraine, he wouldn’t have started it which means he predicted that there will not be any intervention from any country maybe expect sending military aid as we have seen the US and its allies do.
Of course, there are many reasons why the Ukraine war can’t turn into a world war III but I will give 5 specific reasons why I don’t think the world will go to war because of Ukarine.
1. the US is one of the big factors why the world will not go to war over Ukraine. The United States of America has the world’s most powerful military but because it has been involved in many costly wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, and Syria, most Americans don’t support war and especially not with Russia the second most powerful country militarily in the world.
So its this unwillingness to get to war with Russia that may save world war III. President Joe Biden of the US has made clear on many occasions that under no circumstances will the US send its military to fight in Ukraine and if the most powerful country on earth is not willing to go to war, then no country can go to war with Russia.
2. Europe’s dependency on Russia for energy needs and fresh memories of world II is the reason why Europe can’t go to war with Russia over Ukraine.
During the second world war, no place in the world saw much destruction like Europe, it didn’t only lose infrastructure but it also lost millions of people and its economy was also destroyed. For this reason despite all the high rhetoric we are hearing from politicians Europe will not likely go to war with Russia fearing the repeat of destruction at a much worse level than world war II in the age of nuclear weapons.
Europe also depends on Russia for energy needs to power its economy. In 2021, Europe got more than 31% of its energy needs from Russia, and the percentage increases to more than 40% when we talk about only natural gas which means going to war with Russia will cut off the energy supplies to Europe which will not only shoot up energy prices and inflation but many companies will also go bankrupt and out of business hence Europe will whatever it takes to avoid a war with Russia.
It should be noted that even though Russia faced the toughest sanctions from the US-led west, the energy sector was spared and this should tell you how important Russian energy supplies are to Europe. I know many people will talk of getting alternatives that are foreseeable but it’s a long to mid-term solution and it requires huge investments like building new infrastructure for gas and other energy renewables.
3. UN is another reason why the world will not likely go to war with Russia. You see Russia is not the first country to defy the UN and launch a war against another country and it will probably not be the last. In 2003, US-supported by the UK launched a war on Iraq in defiance of the UN, and in 1952 and 1956, Israel and UK with France launched a war on Egypt respectively citing defense purposes after Israel become worried that Egypt which was buying more and more sophisticated weapons would attack it and take away its land and give it to Arabs while UK and France launched a war on Egypt because Egypt nationalized Suez canal.
On all of these occasions, the UN did nothing even though the US applied sanctions on both UK and France because of launching strikes on Egypt by air and Sea. As you can see, Russia is not the first country to attack another country from land, air, and Sea. It happened in 1956 when UK and France attacked Egypt, 1991 when US-led NATO and allies attacked Iraq, 2001 when US and NATO attacked Afghanistan, 2003 when US and UK attacked Iraq, and in 2011 when France, Italy, UK, and the US attacked Libya.
4. The presence of Nuclear weapons is another reason why the world can’t go to war. It said that even the drunkard sobers upon hearing the talk of using nuclear weapons in a war because of its destructive power.
It this nuclear factor that even if the US wanted to help Ukraine would likely prevent it from doing so because when the US goes to war with Russia the likely hood of using nuclear weapons is very high since both countries have the largest nuclear arsenal in the world with enough nuclear warheads to destroy any city in the world with a population of 100,000 people ten times over.
It should also be noted that human civilians will not continue on earth if nuclear weapons were ever used because countries have nuclear warheads that can destroy this world many times.
5. Asia is the fifth reason why the world will not go to war. From the beginning of the Ukraine war and the crisis, Asian countries have been quiet with Asia’s largest countries like China and India calling for peaceful negotiation to resolve the dispute between Russia and Ukraine and many countries from Asia have refused to condemn or put sanctions on Russia with exception of Japan, Singapore, and South Korea.
It’s not only Asia which doesn’t support a war but also the world including Africa and Latin America, especially at this time when countries are still battling with the covid-19 pandemic which has almost destroyed the world’s economy. So the last thing the world needs now is a war which could create more suffering around the world.
When the most powerful military in the world is not ready to fight the second most powerful military in the world and Europe is still dependent on energy supplies from Russia to power their economy plus memories of the second world war still fresh in their mind and with the UN unable to do anything and the fact that nuclear weapons could be involved, prospects of a war in Ukraine enlarging to include the whole of Europe and the whole world is limited.
