'World War 3 Has Already Started': 'Dr. Doom' Nouriel Roubini On What Could Ignite The Cold War Into A Hot One

Turkish-born American Economist Nouriel Roubini said this week that a cold war between the U.S. and China is worsening and World War 3 has already begun.

The Broader Implications Of Ukraine War: Speaking on U.S.-China tensions and global geopolitics at the 2022 Yahoo Finance All Markets Summit, Roubini discussed the ongoing war in eastern Europe, and why he believes “it's the beginning of something else.”

“World War III has already started. It started in Ukraine, because this conflict has broader implications that are going well beyond Russia and Ukraine,” Roubini said.

The professor emeritus at New York University’s Stern School of Business is known as “Dr. Doom” for accurately predicting a number of bearish events, including the 2008 financial crisis.

The escalation into a hot world war, where armies engage in battle as opposed to a cold war, where countries attempt to upstage each other politically, will ignite over “a confrontation between US and China on the issue of Taiwan,” Roubini said.

Roubini believes the direct confrontation will take place within the next five to 10 years.

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The Trigger: It’s been widely reported Chinese President Xi Jinping is watching Russia’s invasion of Ukraine closely to form a potential strategy for how to take back Taiwan. Roubini believes China’s reunification with the east Asian island country is Xi’s top priority with which he hopes to cement as his legacy.

“He [Xi Jinping] wants to pass through history as the man who reformed China, (it) is because he wants to pass through history as the man that united (the) mainland with Taiwan,” Roubini said.

Roubini sees the future event as the trigger that will explode the U.S. and China into a full-blown hot war.

“We don't know whether it's going to happen, how it's going to be resolved, but that's where we get to World War III among other things,” Roubini added.

On the issue of China, Roubini also echoed some of the concerns that Sir Jeremy Fleming, director of the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) U.K. spy agency, addressed during a speech at the Royal United Services Institute on Oct. 11.

Both men agree that China’s strategic advancements in attempting to control data and technology will define the future and is the largest national security threat.

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Originally published on Oct. 19, 2022.

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