User blog comment:Jeremiah Garland/World War III?/@comment-3984166-20121209192916/@comment-3112181-20121209221019

Good points. However:

- The "communism" Russia will return to is not pure communism, but rather a loosely-based socialist economic system reminiscent of Soviet policy. While Russia has indeed become more capitalist over the years, the Communist Party of Russia accumulated almost 20% (one-fifth) of the votes in the most recent election, which may not seem like a lot, but was nonetheless second place to Vladimir Putin's "United Russia" party. While Putin's policies may not be extremely communist, the ex-KGB member has nonetheless been the leading man of Russia since 1999 (many suspect him of vote rigging), also not to mention that human rights in Russia have dwindled dramatically under his reign. I also urge you to read this article from three days ago, which further states Russia's intentions to return to a Soviet-like state.

- Most people from the early 1900s would look at the Ottoman Empire and never imagine them becoming a liberal, secular, republic. Still, they did so under the rule of President Ataturk, and have ultimately become a western nation. True, countries such as Libya, Egypt, and Iraq are going through a serious transitional era. However, it's a start. The Qadaffi, Mubarak, and Hussein regimes are long gone, and through heavy American influence (especially in Libya and Iraq) I believe them to emerge as liberal secular states just as Turkey did. After the rebels in Syria overthrow the Assad regime, America will do the same thing: step in and establish a liberal republic. Places like the United Arab Emirates, and maybe even Qatar, are already very liberal.

- As for Palestine and Israel, you're right. Alone, Palestine could never take down Israel. But, as I said above, Palestine would receive heavy support from Iran, and ultimately, Russia. The US, having their own problems with China, and the EU, struggling to protect Europe from Russia, would hardly be able to help Israel, who'd really have very few, if not any, allies left in the region by that point.