Heightened danger of all-out war

ARE we on the brink of a third world war? There are three clusters of signs that compel us to probe this question:

i. The nature of the event itself – the reckless assassination of top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani on the orders of the president of the United States of America, Donald Trump, on Jan 3 at Baghdad airport, and the fears it has generated of a full-scale war between the two countries and other actors;ii. The events that preceded and followed the Jan 3 murder that portend the danger of a much bigger conflict in the world’s most tumultuous region; and