So, there’s this cheery little quote I ran across today: “Iraq remains the center of what Jordanian King Abdullah now refers to as the Third World War.”

Source: World War Three may have already begun in Iraq and Syria

Let’s hope he’s wrong.

In other news mid-east news, the House of Saud has become the number three on the list of world’s biggest defense spenders.

In Eastasia, North Korea is trying to pop thermonuclear reentry vehicles on top of its Rodong-1 missiles.

Also, this past Monday the Peoples Republic of China announced it has sent nuclear missile subs to sit off the west coast of the US.

“This isn’t Pearl Harbor, but if people on all sides aren’t careful, it could be ‘The Guns of August.’”

-Kurt Campbell, former US Assistant Secretary of State for Asia

China’s also invoked Article 9 of its Friendly Cooperation Treaty (aka FCT, or ‘Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation’) with Russia.

Article 9 states as follows:

When a situation arises in which one of the contracting parties deems that peace is being threatened and undermined or its security interests are involved or when it is confronted with the threat of aggression, the contracting parties shall immediately hold contacts and consultations in order to eliminate such threats.

Basically, invoking mutual defense. Why? Duh. Among other things, the ongoing dispute in the South China Sea.

Other reasons? I’d be willing to consider a narrative where China’s recent financial woes were the result of some new form of economic warfare. Possibly in retaliation for recent federal data breaches. But we’re getting to the point where I’d rather not be suggesting such things.

Russia’s probably helping North Korea with their missile tech. After all, the Rodong is just a SCUD missile.

Now, you’ll have to excuse me – I need to do some research on those Chinese subs.