[Plantagenet]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('jboogy', ' ')no foreign troop has ever set foot on a nuclear nation's soil since Nagasaki?

[jboogy]

Are you picking my nits again Plantain? At least I know you still care.

[AWPrime]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('highlander', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('AWPrime', '[')]Actually russia has the biggest hydrogen bombs. But they only made them so strong because their guidance systems were so bad.

[btu2012]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('eastbay', 'N')ow, in the past Europe has repeatedly attacked itself, as we all know. It will probably attack itself again and the best target is obviously Russia, which is about the only European nation that has lots of oil.

[btu2012]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('EnergyUnlimited', 'R')ussian and American nuclear weaponry is of comparable design and quality, so you will see similar results. So we won't see many mutants. Americans and Russians will be comparably well incinerated.

[Ivan_M]

perhaps the only prediction that can be made of WW3 is that it will be very very short.

[kakkerlak]

O well...

Collapse of Europe?
I don't know much about Eastern-Europe and honestly i don't really care. Western-Europe, the important part, is never going to collapse. Europe is ONE. In difficult times it is very handy to have many trustworthy allies and Europe knows this.

Europe as military power?
Europe is able to raise a very powerful military if necessary and Europe is able to crush any oil exporting nation just as easy as the US can do. Also don't forget Europe doesn't have to deal with a very big ocean separating it from the target; We can even walk to the Middle-East if desperate enough.

For now, as long as the US military is around, it's smarter to just sit back and watch the US fight for us. As long as it's possible to simply buy resources there is no serious problem for Europe.

Europe and Russia?
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('eastbay', 'I')t will probably attack itself again and the best target is obviously Russia, which is about the only European nation that has lots of oil.

[evilgenius]

The Russians will launch a first strike against the US sometime deep into the coming depression. The US won't retaliate, they will need what they have left to try and recapture or hold the Middle-East. After the US Navy is worn down trying to hold back the Red Army, and initially succeeding only to succumb to the inevitable (Israel will be their stumbling block), the Chinese and their allies will try their hand at taking the ME. About this time the US will receive the rest of what it didn't get the first time so that they can't support the Chinese.

Europe wins, by default.

[Ludi]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('evilgenius', 'T')he Russians will launch a first strike against the US sometime deep into the coming depression.

[btu2012]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('kakkerlak', 'I') don't know much about Eastern-Europe and honestly i don't really care. Western-Europe, the important part, is never going to collapse. Europe is ONE.

[btu2012]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ludi', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('evilgenius', 'T')he Russians will launch a first strike against the US sometime deep into the coming depression.

[kakkerlak]

The point i try to make is that country's like Germany, France, Italy, Belgium or The Netherlands will never go to war with each other ever again. It's more likely Europe will become a single nation in the future. Eastern-Europe and other new members are just handy to have included in the EU.

In the minds of people Europe looks different then it looks on paper.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('btu2012', 'E')urope is currently hopeless without NATO and highly dependent on the US for its security. It didn't fight a serious war for 50 years.