Brett Wilkins Jun 16, 2025

Flight-tracking websites showed dozens of Air Force aerial refueling planes departing from military bases in the United States and heading to Europe on Sunday, fueling speculation of direct U.S. involvement in the widening Israeli-Iranian war.

Military-focused news sites reported that around 30 U.S. Air Force KC-135R and KC-46A tankers were identified by flight-tracking software in what The Times of Israelcalled an “unprecedented mass deployment” to Europe.

    • Match!!
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      485 days ago

      Imagine starting WW3 the weekend after 3% of your population came out to protest for other reasons. Your war weariness debuff will hit 100% in one turn.

    • @barsoap@lemm.ee
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      5 days ago

      It’s not a world war if it’s not from the Austrian region of Germany, otherwise it’s just sparkling aggression.

    • @null_dot@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      45 days ago

      Yeah. It feels that way. What defines a world war anyway? Is it just when “most” countries become engaged in a major conflict?

      • @eagleeyedtiger@lemmy.nz
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        15 days ago

        I assume most nations of the world taking part is correct. According to Wikipedia WW2 is considered to have started after the invasion of Poland and subsequently UK and France declaring war on Germany, however there were other events beforehand:

        The causes of World War II included unresolved tensions in the aftermath of World War I and the rise of fascism in Europe and militarism in Japan. Key events preceding the war included Japan’s invasion of Manchuria in 1931, the Spanish Civil War, the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937, and Germany’s annexations of Austria and the Sudetenland. World War II is generally considered to have begun on 1 September 1939, when Nazi Germany, under Adolf Hitler, invaded Poland, after which the United Kingdom and France declared war on Germany.

        Considering how much the world has changed since then with advances in technology etc., I think WW3 will look very different if it happens.

    • @Evil_Shrubbery@lemm.ee
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      35 days ago

      Yeah, like which of the recent events will be in future textbooks as the trigger for WWIII, and how will it all lead back to WWI (like WWII is basically a direct consequence of conditions of pre-WWI and major events related to the war & post-war treaties - WWIII in this config is a consequence of WWI/WWII & the forced hegemony/colonialism of USA that followed).

      • @prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        05 days ago

        WW2 happened like 25 years after WW1.

        It’s already been over 80 years since the start of WW2, so I’m not sure you can really assume that they’ll be that related.

        • @Evil_Shrubbery@lemm.ee
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          25 days ago

          So what caused WWII?

          I assume your answer is ‘one man’?

          In the same way “terrorist groups” arent created by the dominant force exerting mass injustice?

          • @prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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            4 days ago

            There’s no singular cause of WW2. However, in retrospect, many people would say when Germany invaded Poland.

            That said, USSR and Finland were already fighting at that point, as well as Japan and China. It’s not a clear line.

            Why would you assume that my answer would be “one man”? It was an incredibly complex conflict that was really a collection of smaller regional conflicts with various allies between them.

            • @Evil_Shrubbery@lemm.ee
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              4 days ago

              Why would you assume that my answer would be “one man”? It was an incredibly complex conflict that was really a collection of smaller regional conflicts with various allies between them.

              &

              There’s no singular cause of WW2.

              Because basically all of those reasons are the same as WWI but amplified by the restrictions (manufactured economic crisis) posed upon Germany at the end of WWI.

              That is why I said it can be viewed as the same war.
              (Imho - anyways it’s literally just semantics, perhaps propaganda of the victors a bit.)

              Much like (the recent-ish) Russia in Ukraine - it’s usually not viewed as two separate wars, one in 2014 & the other in 2022. Bcs it’s the same thing, it was oblivious that it isn’t over & both Russia & NATO/Ukraine have all been actively preparing each year.

              However, in retrospect, many people would say when Germany invaded Poland. That said, USSR and Finland were already fighting at that point, as well as Japan and China.

              Yeah, Japan in China started basically in 31 (13 years after official end of WWI, a much more European thing), whereas Germany’s first foreign move was the military invasion of Austria in 38.

    • @brachiosaurus@mander.xyz
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      25 days ago

      WW3 is any ruler biggest dream because it would grant them the highest amount of power they can get. WW3 won’t happen as long as people refuse to go to war because rulers never fight their wars and they need pawns who do die for them. You will get a world war once enough people get brainwashed to fought one. Watch out for government and war propaganda.

      • @Bouzou@lemmy.world
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        14 days ago

        My God though, can you imagine magas abiding by wartime rationing?? People lost their shit when they were asked, “Please maybe just don’t sneeze on strangers in public 5 times a week…”

      • @hydroptic@sopuli.xyz
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        5 days ago

        Both world wars look like “clear lines” to you after the fact. Of course you can just point at, say, Ferdinand getting assassinated and go “yeah that’s what started WW I” but do you think anyone at that time thought “yup that’s going to start the mother of all wars”?

        As others have pointed out they absolutely didn’t look like clear lines when they were kicking off.

      • @Evil_Shrubbery@lemm.ee
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        5 days ago

        They have been.

        Months after assassination of Ferdinand the actual fighting began, and most projected it would be just anther war (common at the time in Europe, tho less common each century). People living through it knew nothing about it upfront.

        We wildly think of WWII beginning with the invasion of Poland, but it took months for everyone (England included) to realise it wasn’t a war between two countries.

        Not to mention how WWI & WWII are basically the same war in two seemingly inevitable parts.

        And we have had a ton of proxy and/or cold wars between Russia & USA since WWII ended.

        • @taterthotsalad@lemmy.world
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          -35 days ago

          Because it is not normal. Nor is it mentally health to be fearful and scared of everything and nothing.

          It’s a chronic mental health issue. But yeah go ahead and wave it off harder. That will make it healthier. Internet is getting dumber.