I'm sure they thought the same thing about WWI and look how long that dragged on. Once a major war starts it would be impossible to control. And who will lead the outcry for peace? The Internet will surely be down with fiber optic cables sabotaged, computer viruses unleased, electric grids destroyed, etc. So how will people, or even governments communicate? Most of the means of communication we take for granted today would not exist for some time. Paraphrasing the movie War Games, the best option is not to play.

That's a tough one. The people I have been listening to have indicated, in one form or another, there will be communication.

Is it possible for certain forms of communication to go down, all forms of communications to go down temporarily or all forms of communications to go down permanently in certain areas? Yes, it is.

Jeanette Isabelle

For those in the United States one thing I would advise is read the foreign press. There's a situation I'm monitoring, not covered in the American media, ignited by an incident we are all familiar with.

I'm don't know if I'm allowed to mention the situation I'm currently monitoring. Let's just say it looks like a certain world leader will have turkey for dinner.

I have another suggestion. If there is something you wish you had done but for one reason or another you haven't, don't put it off any further. Having done something you really want to do may help boost morale in the time of crisis.

Jeanette Isabelle

I believe NPR had a piece on the situation to which you refer within the last day or so.... Some of our media outlets just can't get beyond the last prezzie debate.

I received approval to say this: Google "Russia Turkey" and click on "News."

I was told detailed analysis of the political situation, taking sides and so on is to be avoided.

I've already taken sides. In my defense I have taken sides in part because I don't approve of what one of the nations has done.

Jeanette Isabelle

I just perused the BBC app on my phone and am not seeing any particular reason to worry about impending doom.

Having lived through the Cold War (what some analysts now refer to as "WWIII") nuclear brinksmanship and working at the U.S. Capitol on 9/11/01, my perspective is to not devote a lot of time to dreading things over which I have no control.

On the other hand, I did notice today that there are only two rolls of toilet paper left in the house so a Costco run is in order....

And I have long coveted that gigantic "All American" chocolate cake in Costco's bakery so perhaps that is the thing I won't put off any longer.

Here's hoping the world gets through the holidays without any large-scale disasters, man-made or otherwise.

:-)

It was so simple when the world was bi-polar, just us and them. Now it's us and them, them, them, them and them too. Even some of the players who didn't make my list have nukes. I'm more concerned with a general economic slowdown and a world recession. The Great Depression ended with WWII.

Don't allow anything (family, finances) to stop you from getting that chocolate cake.

Jeanette Isabelle

Now there's a good nugget of wisdom... All the predictions of doom and gloom aside, don't forget to have a life. If things really go south you'll have plenty of opportunity to worry about the state of the world.

If things go really south (nuclear), it's going to be Arizona's and Mexico's problem. There's really nothing much that I can do about it, so I'm not going to worry about it. Except buy chocolate cake :-)