The flames of World War 3 ignited by imperialism are growing ever fiercer. The situation is moving toward the full-scale intensification of World War 3 through the expansion of wars and the convergence of battlefronts. In Eastern Europe, the war in Ukraine broke out in February 2022, while the West Asian war was shited in February 2026 from being centered on the war in Palestine that began in October 2023 to being centered on the war in Iran. From the Washington NATO Summit in July 2024 through the collapse of the Assad regime in Syria, imperialism continued its concentrated offensive. The Kursk incursion in August, intensive attacks on Hezbollah in September, the drone attack on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) in October, the lifting of restrictions on long-range missiles against Russia in November, the military coup attempt in the ‘Republic of Korea (‘ROK’)’ in December and the collapse of the Assad regime in December followed one after another. At the time, without the DPRK’s war deterrence capabilities and strategic patience, as well as the heroic struggle of the people of the ‘ROK,’ it would have been difficult to prevent the war in the ‘ROK’ and the resulting war in East Asia.
Imperialism is once again launching a concentrated offensive in the second half of 2026. In West Asia, the Israeli Zionists continue their attacks on Hamas, occupy southern Lebanon―Hezbollah’s principal stronghold―and carry out successive airstrikes on Syria with Türkiye as their target. The battlefield is expanding from the Persian Gulf to the Red Sea, while military tensions surrounding Saudi Arabia are rising, with Ansar Allah forces in Yemen to the south and Shiite militias in Iraq to the north. Even though the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz has been partially eased on the Oman side, the military confrontation between Iran and the USA continues. Iran is responding to the USA’s threat to bomb Iran with a threat to occupy Kuwait and Bahrain.
The Ukrainian neo-Nazis are expanding their drone attacks against Russia with the support of Britain and other NATO members. Lithuania and Finland have shifted their policies toward allowing the deployment of nuclear weapons. The Ukrainian neo-Nazis have attacked Iranian vessels in the Caspian Sea, thereby linking the war in Ukraine with the war in Iran and the broader West Asian war. This is presumed to be one of the items agreed upon in a closed-door agreement at the Ankara NATO Summit. In response, Iran expressed its determination to retaliate by declaring that it would attack NATO bases in Bulgaria in Eastern Europe and Cyprus in Western Europe. The danger of NATO becoming fully involved in the West Asian war, in addition to the involvement of Ukrainian neo-Nazis, is growing.
Previously, the course of World War 3 was expected to proceed from the war in Ukraine through the war in West Asia, becoming full-scale in East Asia, and then moving through the Eastern European war toward the Central American war. However, after this course was blocked in the DPRK and the ‘ROK’ at the end of 2024, beginning with Israel’s two attacks on Iran in 2025, the Iran war ultimately broke out in February 2026, and the West Asian war became full-scale. With the war in Ukraine now converging with it, the course of the war is changing to the order of the war in Ukraine, the West Asian war, the Eastern European war, the war in East Asia, and the war in Central America. The difference is that World War 3 enters its full-scale phase in the war in East Asia in the former scenario, whereas in the latter it does so in the Eastern European war. The imperialist strategy is becoming increasingly clear: if the path to launching a war in the ‘ROK’ and a war in Taiwan in East Asia is blocked, imperialism is determined, even at the cost of drawing all of Europe into war through the Eastern European war, to bring about the full-scale intensification of World War, expand the war across the entire world, and create a “New Cold War” system.
The decisive reason Russia decided to launch the special military operation in February 2022 was Ukraine’s push for NATO membership. This meant that NATO’s tactical nuclear intermediate-range missiles would be deployed in Ukraine and aimed at Moscow from right on its doorstep. The ultimate purpose of NATO’s eastward expansion policy was thus confirmed. In July 2026, citing the massive depletion of advanced conventional weapons in the West Asian war, the USA strongly hinted at deploying tactical nuclear intermediate-range missiles to East Asia. This was confirmed through the US Deputy Secretary of Defense’s mention of tactical nuclear weapons, media reports regarding redeployment to Japan and the ‘ROK,’ NCND remarks by a US military commander, and Japan’s first test-firing of Tomahawk missiles. Strong responses followed, including the DPRK’s statement of condemnation and its test launch of a hypersonic missile over the East Sea, China’s warning commentary and test launch of a cruise missile, and Russian President Putin’s visit to the Kuril Islands and Russia’s missile test launch.
Previously, an East Asian war was limited to DPRK’s war in the ‘ROK’ and China’s war in Taiwan, with a war in Japan remaining optional; now, a Japan war involving the DPRK, China, and Russia has become mandatory. Based on current trends, it is highly likely that the wars in the ‘ROK’ and Taiwan will erupt first, and as Japan intervenes, they will expand into a war with Japan. DPRK remains in a state of belligerence with Japan even today, and like the DPRK, China and Russia also experienced wars with Japan in modern times. The peoples of the DPRK and China can never forget the historical fact that Japanese militarism invaded the DPRK and China, turned them respectively into a colony and a semi-colony, and perpetrated unprecedented massacres and plunder. That very Japan today possesses vast stockpiles of plutonium along with advanced missile and satellite capabilities. The same is true of the ‘ROK.’ The DPRK, China, and Russia can never tolerate the nuclear arming of neighboring countries: Japan, a subordinate ally of US imperialism, and the ‘ROK,’ its colonial proxy. Under these circumstances, the USA is pulling the trigger of war by declaring that it will deploy tactical nuclear intermediate-range missiles, just as it did in Eastern Europe.
The rulers, Sanae Takaichi of Japan and Lee Jae-myung of the ‘ROK’ are both busy accelerating militarization and turning its land into a NATO logistics base, respectively, rather than solving economic and livelihood issues as promised during their election campaigns. It is only natural that the approval ratings of governments that abandon the public’s desire for reform and focus heavily on war preparations are plummeting. As history shows, exploiting military tensions to boost their collapsed approval ratings actually exacerbates internal contradictions. The effects of the well-worn ploy of trying to resolve internal problems through external conflict are temporary, while its consequences are devastating. Their adversaries are the nuclear-missile superpowers armed with hydrogen bombs and hypersonic missiles.
The Iran war is further uniting the anti-imperialist camp and deepening the divisions within the imperialist camp. The US government is presumed to have concluded a secret agreement with Chinese government in Beijing in May 2026, the so-called “Grand Swap.” Regarding this meeting, US President Donald Trump praised it as a “historic agreement,” while Chinese President Xi Jinping highly evaluated it as “a constructive strategic and stable relationship between China and the USA.” Based on a strategic agreement that went beyond the “small deal” of 3T and 5B, and the “big deal” of Chinese intervention in the Iran war and US non-intervention in the Taiwan war, and that included the establishment of a new financial system, the USA concluded an Memorandum of Understanding favorable to Iran and China visited the DPRK. The article that President Xi Jinping contributed to the DPRK’s Rodong Sinmun suggests this through its extraordinary and grand ideas such as “the postwar international order,” “a new historical starting point,” “inclusive economic globalization,” and “building of a community with a shared future for humanity.” Under conditions in which the anti-Deep-State forces in the USA are still unable to remove the Deep-State forces from the government and military, it appears inevitable that the strategy will be pursued along two tracks, one public and the other covert. Behind all these phenomena lies the essence of the unprecedented political and economic crisis of imperialism, particularly the end of US imperialism’s global hegemony. It is reasonable to analyze this as a sober and realistic judgments made out of necessity as US imperialism finds itself on the defensive, much like its strategy of “Fortifying the Western Hemisphere.”
Of course, such an analysis cannot deny the fact that the deployment of tactical nuclear intermediate-range missiles is a dangerous provocation that could accelerate a war in East Asia. The imperialist US government is playing a perilous “chicken game.” Whether it reaches an agreement with China, attempts to reach an agreement with Russia, or says it will reach an agreement with the DPRK, East Asia is currently facing an imminent danger of war. The nightmare of the world war, an unprecedented catastrophe for humanity, is being reproduced through the provocations and aggression of imperialism. In order to prevent war, the anti-imperialist camp is exercising maximum strategic patience and the strongest war deterrence capabilities, but the situation is developing according to the scheme for World War 3 that imperialism is pursuing. Those who play with fire will perish in the flames; imperialism cannot escape its fate of perishing in the flames of the war it has unleashed itself.
