I know what you’re thinking, “Is this really happening? How has World War III already started within our lifetime?”   

People across the globe have the idea that wars must be fought with missiles, which is inaccurate. Across all human history, governments, states and small civilizations have fought in many subtle ways. However, now we are obsessed with nuclear options, and for good reason. Over the last century, the Earth has almost been blown-up numerous times. Now, we have one more reason to believe it’s a strong possibility, as the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, has just ordered the Ukrainian President’s head.  

The term “nuclear close call” means an incident that could have led to at least one unintended nuclear detonation or explosion. These incidents typically involve a perceived imminent threat to a nuclear-armed country, which could lead to retaliatory strikes against the aggressor.   

Just between the 1950s and the 1960s alone, there were nine “nuclear close calls.”  

One of them occurred on Nov. 5, 1956, during the Suez Crisis. The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) received several reports including an unidentified aircraft over Turkey, Soviet MiG-15 fighters over Syria, a downed British Canberra medium bomber and unexpected maneuvers by the Soviet Black Sea Fleet through the Dardanelles appearing to signal offensive Soviet actions. Considering previous Soviet threats to use conventional missiles against France and the United Kingdom, U.S. forces believed these events could trigger a NATO nuclear strike against the Soviet Union. In the end, all reports turned out to be errors, misinterpreted or exaggerated. The perceived threat was due to a coincidental combination of events, including a wedge of swans over Turkey, a fighter escort for Syrian President Shukri al-Quwatli returning from Moscow, a British bomber brought down by mechanical issues and scheduled exercises of the Soviet fleet.  

Another occurred on Oct. 25, 1962, during the Cuban Missile Crisis. U.S. military planners suspected sabotage operations might precede any nuclear first strike by the Soviet Union. Around midnight on Oct. 25, 1962, a guard at the Duluth Sector Direction Center saw a figure climbing the security fence. He shot at it and activated the sabotage alarm, automatically setting off similar alarms at other bases in the region. At Volk Field in Wisconsin, a faulty alarm system caused the Klaxon to sound instead, ordering Air Defense Command (ADC) nuclear-armed F-106A interceptors into the air. The pilots were told there would be no practice alert drills, and according to political scientist Scott D. Sagan, “fully believed that a nuclear war was starting.” Before the planes could take off, the base commander contacted Duluth and learned of the error. An officer in the command center drove his car onto the runway, flashing his lights and signaling the aircraft to stop. As it turns out, the intruder was merely a bear.  

Sagan wrote that the incident raised the dangerous possibility of an ADC interceptor accidentally shooting down a Strategic Air Command (SAC) bomber. Interceptor crews had not been given all of the information by SAC of plans to move bombers to dispersal bases (such as Volk Field) or the classified routes flown by bombers on continuous alert as part of Operation Chrome Dome. Declassified ADC documents later revealed that “the incident led to changes in the alert Klaxon system […] to prevent a recurrence.”  

These are only a few instances of terrifying human error. Nuclear powerhouses like the U.S. and Russia don’t play, and if they are under threat, the whole world will go down with them.   

The whole NATO alliance pledged to exclude Russia from the economic system, and now Russia has fewer and fewer options on the table. It is extremely important to understand that Russia’s exports represent 30% of all energy Europe imports during a major inflation crisis across the globe. Russia also has the second-largest nuclear arsenal in the world, more than all of Europe combined.  

Russia is feeling threatened, and we should not take that lightly. World War III has already started. Although as of right now, March 17, 2022, it is merely economical through the use of sanctions. However, if Putin cannot overthrow the current Ukrainian regime, it is only a matter of time before he either will be deposed (unlikely, as he has been in charge for the past 16 years), he will perform an energetical embargo with Europe or he will start dropping bombs. It’s time to start building our bunkers.