This has now become a serious, real-world question. There can be no misconceptions when it comes to world war, as the stakes are too high for everyone. Therefore I have complied these following maxims, through a study of history regarding the true nature of world war. It is most important that we never forget these lessons.

Immutable Rules of World War:

1) The side that is allowed by all other nations to push for war (Germany in WW1 & WW2) eventually gets its way. When militarism is treated with indifference in elite circles, and “war fever” is allowed to grip powerful nations, then a world war becomes inevitable. History has proven that a crisis with global implications (such as control of the world’s oil supply) overwhelms individual leaders and carries everyone into the conflagration. This is where Donald Trump and his fascist White House cabal have led us today, with the complicity from top Democrats connected to the US deep state, as they push for war.

2) World war takes on a life of its own. It consumes everything through destruction, and it can’t be stopped easily. All sides fight to complete exhaustion. The only “winners” are the ones who don’t have to fight. These are the classes who contrive war, then reap the spoils in the name of nationalism. For the working masses of every population it means hardship, hunger, and often being driven from home. The only way to stop a world war is to prevent it from starting.

3) No nation with a significant military can remain “neutral.” The US stayed out of both world wars for as long as possible under capitalism, for reasons of self-interest. US Presidents Woodrow Wilson (1913-21) & FDR (1933-45) knew that reserving American manpower gave them leverage in diplomacy as the battles raged from the start. But trading with Great Britain is the act of an enemy from Germany’s perspective– in both wars; and threatening to cut off Japan’s oil was the trigger for their surprise attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

4) The rule under imperialism, the highest level of capitalism is: “Choose your friends wisely.” Tethering to a loser(s) is a no-win move. This happened to Germany in the Great War (1914-1918), when it created a Central Power alliance with the crumbling Hapsburg monarchy of Austria-Hungary & the Ottoman empire in Turkey. Neither of these semi-corpsed dynasty remnants had anything close to a modern army, command structure, or military economy. Neither could resist Allied advances without German support, command & equipment for the entire war. Their lands were ravished by imperialist destruction & bloodlust.

5) Small nations & vast regions without government control, are the pawns of competing powers. They are expected to provide safe harbors, resupplies, safe passage, and anything else a controlling power needs during war. If a tiny government or territory acquiesces to all this, then it can remain “neutral,” which means its cities won’t be destroyed. As stated earlier, the rule under capitalism is “choose friends wisely,” but small nations usually don’t have a choice.

6) The side that controls the seas & air– wins the war. Great Britain controlled the oceans in the Great War, despite being unable to completely solve the German U-boats. The UK had a massive fleet, with enough industrial capacity to replace its losses– for awhile at least. Germany’s merchant fleet was not allowed to move in either world war, while the Allies received vital aid from Canada & the US. In World War II (1939-45), US ships & military aircraft controlled the Pacific theater after the Battle of Midway in June 1942. This allows effective embargo, which cripples any nation’s war machine & deteriorates domestic morale.

7) Nationalism is every nations’ religion & ideology. Propaganda & jingoism are part of every government’s war drive. This happens in print, in film, and with war songs in history. History teaches us that “fake news” has been around for a long time, as long as there have been class divisions– which is the entirety of human civilization. Censorship, manipulation & blacklisting are not new policies, only their forms in which they are practiced are new. Their first targets are always socialists. Nationalism, entangling alliances, and secret diplomacy are the biggest enemies of world peace.

8) Socialists, internationalists & artists are the first to be jailed & killed. The biggest fear of every ruling class is socialist revolution. The masses don’t want war. They are coerced into fighting for their country. When war sours, armies begin to mutiny, and class rule is threatened. That’s when world wars are ended, as the internal threat to its existence becomes primary over any imperialist ambitions. For example, French socialist Jean Jaures (1859-1914) was assassinated at the outset of the Great War. Most socialists fled to neutral countries at that time, including Lenin (Switzerland) & Trotsky (United States), before returning to Russia after the overthrow of the tsar in March 1917. Leon Trotsky was assassinated in Mexico City in August 1940 by agent of Joseph Stalin– at the outset of WWII.

9) Revolutionists are first to be killed after the war too, especially on the side that lost. Karl Liebknecht & Rosa Luxembourg were revolutionary socialists who were executed by German secret police in January 1919. This was done to achieve “stability,” for the new Weimar republic which would last until January 1933, when Adolph Hitler’s Nazi party (which was losing political influence) took power without firing a shot. The Nazis were handed power by the military & industrial elite to eliminate the socialists for the ruling class. Hitler did that, and much more in the name of capitalist exploitation.

Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the Bolsheviks was shot and badly wounded in August 1918. He eventually became ill, and died from multiple strokes in 1923-24, which were side-effects of that assassination attempt. This helped pave the way for Stalinist (bureaucratic) degeneration of the Russian Revolution. It should be understood that the Russian Revolution of November 1917 was the biggest impetus towards ending the Great War, as all governments then recognized the threat of a workers rebellion at home, due to its influence.

Today, Julian Assange & Chelsea Manning are in jail because they revealed government war crimes to the world. Ex-CIA analyst Edward Snowden had to flee to Russia for asylum. Embassies are being invaded in London & Washington, and their occupants forcibly removed. I defend all these courageous whistle-blowers because I know if I don’t, then I’m next. At some point one must realize how personal this is for everyone.

10) Most people who haven’t experience war first-hand, have little idea what it really means. Soldiers who came back from the trenches in the Great War had their stories largely dismissed by the population, who preferred to believe the propaganda. If one is insulated from the realities if war, or takes no interest in learning its lessons, then one is a philistine. The only way to make the ruling elites learn, is to make them personally accountable for the pain & consequences of world war. Otherwise they lazily drift off into post-modernist philosophical nonsense to justify their ideology of war & inequality.

World War II wasn’t any episode of Hogan’s Heroes (1965-71), either. This half-hour sitcom was brilliant in its crazy-concept comedy, mostly due to its talented cast, including Werner Klemperer, Bob Crane, Richard Dawson, etc… In reality, in Nazi Germany, every Allied prisoner along with Col. Klink, Sgt. Schultz, and the rest would be tortured & then shot dead during or after every episode.

In American propaganda terms Hogan’s Heroes is their biggest & most-influential TV hit ever, still running in syndication everywhere. Hogan’s Heroes is hilarious escapism, a psychedelic trip of its time about a horrible war, manufactured & produced by Hollywood for its powerful friends in Washington. It’s okay to laugh, as long as one truly comprehends the history.

11) World war is a class war. Rich people rule, talk loudly, & thrive; while poor people obey, fight, & die. The military is like this too, with its privileged ranks of officers who command behind the lines, while the enlisted men & conscripts battle on all fronts.

12) Machines are more powerful than men & their “fighting valor.” The Great War was so-named because it introduced modern warfare to the world. Trenches, machine guns, heavy guns, barbed wire, flamethrowers, modern artillery with explosive shells, tanks, & poison gas were all used on the field of battle. Battleships, cruisers, aircraft carriers, destroyers & U-boats changed naval warfare forever; as did airplanes for controlling the skies in reconnaissance, strafing & bombing. No soldier can stand in the face of such overwhelming & frightening firepower. World War II innovation began with radio & telephone communication. This later facilitated concentration camps, gas chambers & atomic bombs as more efficient means for killing people.

13) Economic inequality, leading to mass discontent, is the trigger for war. Capitalist theory demands that economic crisis at home be resolved by unleashing violence on a global scale. That is the essence of world war. Today there are trillions dollars in hot money with no place to go, while masses of people are jobless and/or homeless. The US dollar is being dumped globally, so soon enough hyperinflation will come to America, and even those with good jobs won’t be able to afford necessities like they used to. For over a decade the Federal Reserve has electronically printed money for the rich, who have invested it in nothing productive, but simply hoarded it for themselves. All US government spending is for the military, and now foreign powers are rearming themselves. Russia & China are massively dumping dollars and stockpiling precious metals, which are essential for technology & to a war economy. This is the combined foreign response to Trump administration economic sanctions, trade tariffs & military threats.

14) A nuclear war is unwinnable, as it implies mutually assured destruction. For a small window between the atomic bombings of Hiroshima & Nagasaki in August 1945, and the development of nuclear capabilities by the USSR in the early 1950’s, there was a frightful period when one superpower had supremacy. That equalized itself by the 1970’s, and any arms race since then has always proved futile. You can not win a nuclear war, even on a small scale, as the blow-back & nuclear winter implications are immense & uncontrollable. The nuclear option always needs to be left off the table. Instead it is wielded threateningly by madmen, which only portends catastrophe, unless checked globally by the working masses.

Final thoughts on world war:

Media saturation of lies & fake news, combined with the Democrats emphasis on identity politics, has led to mass apathy in official US politics. There is no anti-war movement from the Democrats, because they insist on lining up behind the likes of John Kerry, Barack Obama (drone president & deporter-in-chief), Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden– who are all hawks. The news networks, CNN & MSNBC fill their airtime with middle-class radicals who endlessly pontificate, in an era when liberalism is dead. Every one of these feminist, racialist, and/or LGBT identity-politician charlatans opposes the mobilization of the workers in a mass anti-war movement, due to their ties to the Democrats. They are all traitors to the cause of peace.

This is where we end up when a master manipulator in politics (Roger Stone) gets a sociopathic child (Donald Trump) elected POTUS, who is then manipulated by every right-wing element in Washington (Bannon, Miller, Bolton, Pompeo, etc) through arrogance & stupidity. When asked yesterday (Thursday), if he was about to go to war with Iran, Trump responded flatly, “Hope not.” This is a very low-IQ response to the most-serious question, “Are you about to start World War III?”

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