Please do not refer tο war in Ukraine as World War III...

After the end of World War II, there were many conflicts where one of the major nuclear powers was at war, while other major nuclear powers supported the opposing side. By the way, North Korean soldiers often participated in those conflicts. Because the DPRK can't export anything else.

"The Korean War, Vietnam, Afghanistan, the Arab-Israeli wars, some African wars. It always involves the direct or indirect participation of key powers. Someone fights, someone supplies the enemy with weapons, someone sends money and mercenaries, and someone provides cover in the UN Security Council. It's just that usually, it was far away from Ukraine. And now they attacked us. But this has already happened."

Psychologically, we want this to be not just our problem. We want it to be as important to the world as it is to us. This is natural. But it doesn’t change the reality. There is no direct confrontation, army versus army, between nuclear powers. And they very much want to keep it that way. They want it to remain our problem, and we would act the same in their position.

So, the confrontation remains cold, just like during the Cold War. Our case is unique only because the war is happening directly in Europe. That's why even German ministers call Russian aggression more than just a regional conflict. Because it’s closer but not more than that.

"So if you don't consider the Vietnam War a world war, you shouldn't call our war one either. And if you do, then it's definitely not the Third World War, but something like the tenth."

And is China and Russia an enemy of the Western world? Of course. But so was the USSR. It attacked with propaganda. Yet this did not make the conflicts of those times into world wars. The USSR invaded Afghanistan, faced sanctions, and the U.S. supplied weapons to the Mujahideen. Was that a world war? A rhetorical question.

The desire to call this a world war is understandable. It’s very similar to when some charlatan claims to be a prophet and starts talking about the end of the world. And people believe. People want to believe. It's comforting to think that you live in a time of defining events. It's nice to feel at the center of attention. But the apocalypse hasn’t happened yet.

It’s also clear why Zaluzhnyi talks about a world war. He is working to support Ukraine. We need attention. We need the British to see this war as their risk too. But we shouldn’t fall victim to our own propaganda. This creates expectations. And unmet expectations lead to significant disappointments.

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About the author. Serhii Fursa, investment expert, blogger.

The editors don't always share the opinions expressed by the blog authors.