Curtin's Cast Episode 51 - 8 April 2026 - Misha Zelinsky on World War 3

Has World War 3 already begun — just without a declaration? This week on Curtin’s Cast, Nick Dyrenfurth and Kos Samaras are joined by the excellent Misha Zelinsky — Fulbright Scholar, economist, lawyer, and national security expert — to unpack a confronting idea: We may already be living through the early stages of the third great global conflict of modern times. From Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine to chaos in the Middle East and rising tensions in the Indo-Pacific, Misha argues we are witnessing an unevenly distributed, undeclared world war — driven by a loose but dangerous alignment of authoritarian powers. On episode 51 we cover: Why historical analogies (1930s, WWI, Cold War) only go so far Why defence experts now see a 20–30% chance of global conflict this decade The rise of a “bad guys club”: Russia, China, Iran, North Korea How Western democratic deterrence failed — slowly, then all at once How modern warfare contains multiple overlapping theatres — military, economic, cyber — along with the familiar use of proxies Whether democracies are strong enough — including internally — to prevail This is a serious, sobering conversation about power, geopolitics, and whether the world has already crossed a threshold we don’t yet recognise.