World War 3 is once again entering the vocabulary of reports coming out of Europe. This time, Vladimir Putin has deployed 6,000 troops to the Arctic in reaction to NATO’s recent interest in the region. Since oil is at stake, the potential for conflict is considered to be heightened and many reports have compared the situation to the Cold War.

In a related report by The Inquisitr, Sweden has deployed its military in the search for an alleged Russian submarine. The situation quickly escalated and NATO nations have reported that Russian jets were intercepted near the search area. In addition, some reports claim a potential Russian spy was photographed near the beaches and now Sweden is threatening to used armed force in order to raise the potential Russian sub. But finding the unknown foreign vessel is proving to be the tricky part and the Swedish military admits the alleged Russian submarine is “like Jesus.”

According to the Examiner, recent events have the potential to be the spark that lights off World War 3.

“More than at anytime since the height of the Cold War, it seems like the entire world is on the edge economically, militarily, and geo-politically. And where something as small as a foreign vessel being believed to reside in another nation’s waters seems trivial in the big picture, the consequences of small events today can quickly lead to escalating tensions, just as the assassination of the Arch-Duke Ferdinand 100 years ago set the dominoes in motion to begin World War I, and a truly global conflict.”

In this case, Vladimir Putin is sending out Russian troops to defend oil. Russia’s plans to increase military presence on its northern border in order to protect claim to the extensive oil resources locked within the region. The 6,000 soldiers will be stretched thin across the entire arctic belt from Murmansk to the Chukotka Peninsula.

According to NewsWeek, the Russian troop deployment happens to coincide with a rapid rise in Russian military vehicles making incursions into their territories.

“Russia is engaging in a much more important power game here in the Baltic Sea region. The figures are startling. In 2010, only one Russian military vessel was spotted close to Latvian waters. This year, the figure has already exceeded 40, Latvia’s ministry of defence says. During the same period, the number of Russian military approaches to Latvian airspace resulting in scrambles by Nato’s Baltic air policing mission has skyrocketed from around five to more than 180. Neighbouring Lithuania has already seen 132 scrambles this year, up from four in 2010.”

Some have described this Arctic region as a second Middle East since oil and gas reserves are thought to represent between 17 and 30 percent of the global total. If you consider the belief that the world’s oil will run out within this century, it seems to be a legitimate point to claim World War 3 could be triggered by Arctic oil. In addition, economists and investors have declared World War 3 to be inevitable based upon global economics.

“Trillions of dollars of debts will be restructured and millions of financially prudent savers will lose large percentages of their real purchasing power at exactly the wrong time in their lives. Again, the world will not end, but the social fabric of the profligate nations will be stretched and in some cases torn. Sadly, looking back through economic history, all too often war is the manifestation of simple economic entropy played to its logical conclusion. We believe that war is an inevitable consequence of the current global economic situation.”

Fortunately, the seemingly connected events may not be connected directly at all, although allegations over the Russian submarine have reminded the world of the first Cold War. According to ZeroHedge, Russia announced hints about these plans back on October 11, 2014, days before the alleged Russian submarine was ever detected, so it’s unlikely that Putin took this action in response to Sweden deploying its own military troops.

What do you think about the comments indicating that Vladimir Putin could trigger World War 3 over Arctic oil and the hunt for the alleged Russian submarine?