Reply #12: Oh, I could posit it getting worse than that

[bmcatt]

After all, start with a US military that's already more focused on the Middle East than anywhere else in the world. Add in the heating-up elements of an air assault on Iran, and the fallout (pun semi-intended) from that. Besides China/Taiwan, we could also toss North Korea into the mix. After all, it's a pretty easy jump to say that the US would want to pull ground forces out of South Korea / the DMZ in order to have boots on the ground elsewhere. I can't see North Korea not taking advantage of that with either some serious saber-rattling or an outright attack.

And, let's be honest, once the first (third, if you want to count back to 1945) nuclear weapon is used in anger, all bets are going to be off.