Russian Asia Expert Warns of Coming Global Chaos and Danger of World War III

July 22, 2020 (EIRNS)—In an op-ed titled “Split Societies, Global Chaos and World War Three: We Could Be In for the Most Tumultuous Era in Modern History,” and published by RT, Artyom Lukin, an associate professor of international relations at Far Eastern Federal University in Vladivostok, Russia and an expert in Asian affairs, wrote: “As we cross into the second half of 2020, there is little hope left that our misfortunes will end when this annus horribilis goes out. We may be entering one of the most cataclysmic and fateful periods in the history of humankind. There is the growing realization that humanity is in for an extremely rough ride that could last at least a decade.”

Lukin, who has spoken in the past at events at the Wilson Center in Washington and the Valdai Club in Moscow, said the crisis has been building for years, and “probably began with the global financial crisis of 2008-09,” but the COVID-19 crisis has brought everything to a head, including “split societies” and ungovernability in much of the West. “There is a classic ‘revolutionary situation’ in the present-day international system.... The vacuum of governance will lead to more chaos in global politics.... China is perhaps the only major island of relative stability in the global tempest.”