Politicophobia (Elections)

[Leafers]

Elections are coming up, and boy do I get this every time we get a new president! Hillary would get us in a war with Russia and China and start WWIII, and trump supports the use of nuclear weapons. Is this really the best we could get this year? PLEASE tell me I'm not the only one that gets anxious during elections, I'm not fearing a nuclear war as much as I am WW3 with Russia and China, not worried about the current tensions between Russia and the U.S since that shouldn't escalate and it's nowhere near as bad as the Missile Crisis. I'm worried that if Hillary gets in, she'll declare war against Russia for those cyber attacks, and China would get involved. Can anyone back up why I shouldn't be so worried about this, or are we doomed to another horrific war?

[MyNameIsTerry]

You won't be alone on this one. Certainly the GAD & Panic boards have threads like this.

If you had joined 2 months earlier you would have seen some of us discussing the EU referendum and a year before that, the Scottish referendum.

We all know anxiety has a big problem with change & uncertainty - that's essentially what the issue is with voting. I remember having it in our General Elections years ago. War would trigger me and more so something that may cause some civil unrest.

Doomed to a war? Well, money makes the world go round and that's certainly never truer with the likes of the Clinton's. No one will want nuclear war, all sides lose in that and it would destroy all businesses and none of them want that, and they whisper in our leaders ears about what they shouldn't be doing.

I can't deny the issue with Hilary, many of us in the UK think the same about her. We can only hope that those around her, and the military leaders, remind her that such action means losing voters due to losing their loved ones lives. No one person ever controls a country unless they are a king/queen, emperor or dictator, and even then there is an army of snides behind them willing to stick a knife in their back. We have democracies, they are still corrupt and not what the word really means, but they do mean much more involvement by opposition parties, politicians and campaigners of other natures.

Another thing to consider is, and I apologise if this seems critical of your country because it's a criticism of your leaders and not the people, but the US has a habit of being a typical bully - it picks on those that can't fight back. It waves it's sabres around a lot telling others how to live. Obama would wade into Syria in minutes if Putin hadn't gone in. Your country will think twice about engaging a similar military power, any war would mean enormous losses to your armed forces. I don't think your fellow countrymen/women want Vietnam all over again in terms of losses.

[Leafers]

It's not critical at all, it's fact. With most other countries too, if you aren't in NATO- your a target. If Ukraine was in NATO all that drama with Russia wouldn't have even happened. Maybe it's all muscle flexing, that's what I like to keep telling myself. I think for Hillary to do what she'd want to it would have to pass congress, which congress may or may not even agree to what she wants. I hope the U.S just butts out of Syria and just lets Putin and his men handle it.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Yeah, the EU are trying to ditch NATO to make themselves a military power so they can't be influenced by the US. Thankfully, we are getting out of that madness soon. They have been pushing at Putin a bit too.

It's like a game of chess with real pieces, like something out of Greek antiquity with their gods.

That's what people over here are talking about too, back out and let Putin get on with. He's had more success ridding us of ISIS so far. It worries me that we are all cosying up to rebels who are friends of ISIS when we are supposed to be at war with them. And then there is the issue of Saudi Arabia and whether they are worse than Assad is? And we were all cosying up to Assad not too many years ago.

I don't think there's any real solution to the Middle East. A regime falls and another bunch of nutters take over. We think we can influence them but ultimately they are what they are.

I feel very sorry for the people caught up in between. If we can help them, great, but helping these rebels doesn't seem the way to go.

I guess what we can do is remember that it's always a standoff. Putin knows a major war would decimate his country too and like all politicians they are greedy. So, are the people he associated with, just like in our countries. They may do things like this in Syria but ultimately they want to preserve the flow of money. And then countries like China and the EU are always there helping to tip the balance back again by nagging either side. And in some way, we all trade and make each other money.

Hilary doesn't like the cyber attacks for a reason just like I'm sure she would like everyone attached to her email server issues to "disappear" and for Assange to "disappear" too. Whether she would engage in war, I hope not, but I expect the wet teams and black ops will be busy with a leader like her.