The empires of the world are tired. The populations of the West are being replaced and that of Russia is simply dying off. China steals its technology and its sources of theft are decadent, despite the advances still being made.
The Germans and Japanese of World War Two were vastly outnumbered and outgunned. They were overwhelmed, not outfought. In real terms, they were better than the empires of today.
The British Empire was a superpower until it destroyed itself against Germany. The United States was aroused to greatness. Stalin turned the Soviet Union into a superpower by industrializing before the war and by seizing territory during the war.
World War Two ended with the introduction of nuclear weapons. Such bombs did not win the war, though they ended it early. They changed the world by threatening to destroy it.
As of AD 2026, the United States of America is the only superpower... but is in decline. Russia is still powerful but has lost most of its Soviet influence. Britain and Germany are still powerful... but barely. China, despite its vast population and relative prosperity... is crippled by systemic incompetence.
World War Three today would be slapstick horror. It would be murderous buffoonery. If not for nuclear weapons, the empires of the world would collapse from within rather than conquer each other. Alas, the stupid and the cowardly can now destroy nations without a fight... and are likely to do so.
