World War 3 could be on the horizon as the Pentagon announces a quadruple increase in its 2017 budget and turns its back on promises made to Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union. US-NATO troops are to be positioned close to Russia’s borders. And to maintain U.S. hegemony in where half the world’s population lives, China is put under military and economic pressure by Obama’s strategic pivot to Asia. The world socialist movement recognizes the threat of a nuclear war and is asking the working class to carry out a world socialist revolution before the capitalist ruling class destroys the world. WSWS reports: Defense Secretary Ashton Carter’s speech Tuesday previewing the Pentagon budget for fiscal year 2017 spelled out Washington’s advanced preparations for military confrontations with the world’s second- and third-largest nuclear powers, Russia and China. Delivered to the Economic Club of Washington, DC, an appreciative audience whose sponsors include the major arms manufacturers Boeing and Northrop Grumman as well as financial giants like Bank of America and Goldman Sachs, the defense secretary’s speech presented an unabashed declaration of Washington’s intentions to assert its hegemony over the world’s markets and resources by whatever means necessary, up to and including a nuclear [...]