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The reality of M.A.D. is exactly why it didn't break out into open war between the US and USSR, and was instead fought through proxies. I don't see why a global proxy war isn't either a war, or isn't global.

There have also been reports of actual US-USSR combat, where the identities of one party or both have been denied; the largest-scale espionage war ever seen, diplomatic war, and ideological war. Is there any doubt, that absent M.A.D. doctrine, the USSR would have launched a war to control as much of the planet as they could?

So the two sides fought a war, a real one, by the only means they could - via proxies, diplomats, and spies. Thus I maintain that it was a war, and it was fought.

I see no rationale for the Iran-Contra fiasco, or our supply of rebels in Soviet-held Afghanistan, absent the context of war between the two nations.

Maybe a French surrender should be the detrermining factor if a war is truly a World War? Maybe...but I digress!

I am in absolute agreement with this! In WW3, the French surrendered in 1968. In WW4, they surrendered in 2001, '02, or '03, perhaps all, depending on how you look at it. (In the latest case, they achieved the distinction of surrendering to both sides simultaneously - a remarkable diplomatic feat, if you ask me!)

I guess we're going to have to agree to disagree, because it looks like our debate has come down to a matter of semantics. The important thing is that we all realize that we are in the beginning stages of a true World War, the number of which is irrelevant. Joe and Jane Sixpack need to be made to understand that we are fighting a war against the global Islamist jihad, which is being financed by Saudi Arabia, and armed by North Korea (China, too?). The sooner the administration admits this, and goes for the head of the monster instead of the tentacles, the sooner we can write the final chapter of this World War, be it 3 or 4.

Are there Frenchies serving in Afghanistan? If so, it's never too late for them to surrender to the Taliban, or maybe to Ali Babba, the opium farmer. They've already surrendered their testosterone, and any national dignity they may have left.

Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!