World War III: what are your predictions?

Don't you think that in such a case, since it's impossible to conquer by force, some Malevolent Forces could undermine and, ultimately, conquer a country not through military means, but through financial and ideological methods?

Whoever presses the button, they consider themselves one of the world's greatest masochists, on a global scale. There is always a chance of retaliation, and it's not insignificant. Launching a nuclear missile could trigger a conflict that would cause enormous damage to the country that launched it. I don't even need to talk about all the dangers leading to the extinction of humanity. There may be quite a few inadequate people in the government, but there probably aren't too many complete idiots. In general, I think that a nuclear war is not in our near future.

Scientific and technological... regression?