I'd even go so far as to say a hot war is inevitable. Not because of any particular reason, but because the US and China are the only superpowers left. And if t

I'd even go so far as to say a hot war is inevitable. Not because of any particular reason, but because the US and China are the only superpowers left. And if there's one thing power doesn't like, it's sharing. My very simplified view is that war happens when more than one 'power' axis vies for control of some sort of a geographic area. We're at a point in history where the last remaining relevant geographic area is the whole world, and the primary axis of power are China and the US. I don't think humanity has the capability of avoiding war in such a situation. I'll even venture into complete speculation, and posit that WWIII will be fought over, and largely in, Africa. In many ways Africa represents the last frontier on earth, with great natural resources but largely behind in many areas of development and not 'controlled' by either China or the US. South America would also be a potential hot zone, but it's too close to the US. China has realized this already and is investing heavily in Africa, while the US just in the last decade established Africom. Once the US' focus on the middle easy wanes a bit with oil decreasing in relevance, they'll turn their focus to somewhere else. The only reason the middle easy didn't turn into WWIII is because of the relatively powerful players in the area, including Israel, Saudi, Iran, and formerly Iraq. Large enough to hold their own, but not so large that they individually pose a threat to the US hegemony. That, and china wasn't really a relevant player in the world-war starting game until the 80's or 90's or so, and kind of missed the whole middle east war phase. But they're ahead of the game in Africa, and are establishing control there already. And as China transitions from developing country to rich country, they will, in turn, need overseas territories to vassalize themselves. So, there's my wild prediction, that WWIII will happen between the US and China as primary axis of power, sparked over something to do with Africa, right around the time when oil is no longer the US' middle-eastern siren song that it is today. Maybe in 20-30 years or so. Also around the time that millennials will be in the 'old guard', and have no living memory (on a broad, population-scale level) of how horrific war really is. Boomers had the WWII generation still hanging around to warn them off of WWIII, and they still nearly got us there.