Originally Posted by
langleybaston
Originally Posted by
_Agrajag_
that could result in a reduction of military aid to Ukraine, perhaps, as Ukraine might be viewed as a NATO proxy by some states.
I rather thought that everyone regards Ukr as a proxy for NATO.
We see a version or a rehearsal for WW III ................... just not like the books used to say.
It comes down to the degree of plausible deniability, as seen by every state on the globe, doesn't it?
Some states are going to view the present support to Ukraine as wholly justifiable on humanitarian grounds, as just action to take when supporting a country from an aggressor. Others may view it as the start of a proxy war by a major bloc or alliance. The latter view works both ways, many countries that have borders with Russia may well see Russian aggression as the greater threat than having assistance to Ukraine misconstrued as proxy warfare.
I very much doubt this is heading for WWIII. Looking back at the triggers for WWI, for example, the war broke out fairly quickly after the trigger event, the assassination of Arch Duke Ferdinand in June 1914. On the other hand we've had major conflicts since 1945, some lasting years (Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf wars, Afghanistan etc) that have really been proxy wars, either against the political ideology of communism or fundamentalist religion, or for ensuring that a tyrannical government wasn't able to grossly interfere with global oil and gas supplies.