Welcome to World War III. No, it’s not some dystopian COVID dream—it’s happening right now, right under your nose.
But unlike the great wars of the past, this one isn’t being fought only in trenches or across battlefields littered with tanks, as we see in Ukraine. It’s happening in the shadows, through proxies, with the stakes higher than they’ve ever been.
I saw the beginnings of this when I was on the USS Cole as a sniper overwatch team with SEAL Team 3 GOLF platoon. Two dirtbags in a dingy filled with explosives almost sank a $2.2B American warship.
This is a new type of war, I remember thinking as a young twenty-something Navy SEAL.
We’re witnessing a full-scale collision between authoritarian regimes—China, Iran, and Russia—and the West, and make no mistake, it’s a war for control, influence, and survival.
Let’s start with Ukraine, where the brutal invasion by Russia is just one front in this global conflict. Putin didn’t roll his tanks into Kyiv because he felt like it. Ukraine is the battleground for a much bigger game—one where Russia is trying to rewrite the post-Cold War order while the West, led by the U.S. and NATO, is doing everything it can to stop him. As Ukrainian President Zelensky said recently, “This war is not just about our land; it’s about the future of the entire civilized world.”
If that’s not enough to set off your internal DEFCON alarm, take a hard look at Gaza. The latest eruption of violence there is not just another flare-up between Israel and Hamas; it’s another node in the proxy war between Iran and the West. Iran, with its tentacles deep in the region, has made it clear they’re playing the long game, and let’s not forget who is backing their bench, China and Russia. Every missile fired, every drone sent by Iran, is a move on their chessboard—a challenge to Western influence in the Middle East.
The war in Gaza has helped take the global spotlight off Putin.
Welcome to World War III. No, it’s not some dystopian COVID dream—it’s happening right now, right under your nose.
But unlike the great wars of the past, this one isn’t being fought only in trenches or across battlefields littered with tanks, as we see in Ukraine. It’s happening in the shadows, through proxies, with the stakes higher than they’ve ever been.
I saw the beginnings of this when I was on the USS Cole as a sniper overwatch team with SEAL Team 3 GOLF platoon. Two dirtbags in a dingy filled with explosives almost sank a $2.2B American warship.
This is a new type of war, I remember thinking as a young twenty-something Navy SEAL.
We’re witnessing a full-scale collision between authoritarian regimes—China, Iran, and Russia—and the West, and make no mistake, it’s a war for control, influence, and survival.
Let’s start with Ukraine, where the brutal invasion by Russia is just one front in this global conflict. Putin didn’t roll his tanks into Kyiv because he felt like it. Ukraine is the battleground for a much bigger game—one where Russia is trying to rewrite the post-Cold War order while the West, led by the U.S. and NATO, is doing everything it can to stop him. As Ukrainian President Zelensky said recently, “This war is not just about our land; it’s about the future of the entire civilized world.”
If that’s not enough to set off your internal DEFCON alarm, take a hard look at Gaza. The latest eruption of violence there is not just another flare-up between Israel and Hamas; it’s another node in the proxy war between Iran and the West. Iran, with its tentacles deep in the region, has made it clear they’re playing the long game, and let’s not forget who is backing their bench, China and Russia. Every missile fired, every drone sent by Iran, is a move on their chessboard—a challenge to Western influence in the Middle East.
The war in Gaza has helped take the global spotlight off Putin.
These things are just the visible skirmishes. The real battle is happening out of sight. China, the grandmaster of quiet warfare, is waging its own campaign through economic manipulation, cyberattacks, and global influence operations. Their Belt and Road Initiative is just a softer form of imperialism, buying up influence across Asia, Africa, and Europe.
As Xi Jinping said, “The great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation is no dream—it’s happening now.” And that should send a chill down your spine.
Make no mistake—this war is being fought with 5G networks, quantum computing, and artificial intelligence, but its consequences will be as real as any tank blitz or carpet bombing. China’s influence over critical global infrastructure, from undersea internet cables to rare earth minerals, gives it a stranglehold on future power that rivals anything the Soviet Union could’ve dreamed up.
When you start paying attention to the motives and benefits of conflict, you can start to see through the smoke, and the chess board comes into view.
The real kicker? Most people have no clue that it’s already happening. They’re lulled into complacency by cheap tech, flashy news cycles, and TikTok distractions.
Meanwhile, the authoritarian regimes of the world are sharpening their knives in the dark, striking where America is weakest, where we’re divided, and where we don’t expect it. A lot of this is happening at home with the spread of disinformation across the internet.
So, what does World War 3 look like? It looks like what’s happening now.
It’s a hybrid war—fought with proxies, economies, and hackers, but make no mistake, it’s a war all the same. And if we don’t wake up to this reality soon, the West might find itself in a losing position before the real bullets ever start flying and a red flag is hoisted over the capital.
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Disclaimer: SOFREP utilizes AI for image generation and article research. Occasionally, it’s like handing a chimpanzee the keys to your liquor cabinet. It’s not always perfect and if a mistake is made, we own up to it full stop. In a world where information comes at us in tidal waves, it is an important tool that helps us sift through the brass for live rounds.
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