Rainbow, I see your point about the U.S. detecting a large troop movement heading from central America towards the border. It's a valid concern. The Chinese are believed to have an anti-satellite capability already and so maybe that could explain the U.S.'s inability to detect the approaching threat. Although I forgot to put it into the timeline, I'd also been thinking that the war had started to go nuclear by then. All of that said, I like your explanation of how the war with Mexico gets started, and I also like your idea of the Russian's seizure of Panama. I think your scenarios are more plausible overall. I am torn, though- I do like the idea of a large Russian unit operating on American soil. I'll have to think more about how to accomplish this in a more realistic way.
I also see your point regarding Latvia. It just seems likely that the U.S. is headed in that direction now, even before the Russians annex Eastern Ukraine. I could be persuaded not to base U.S. troops there. I suppose basing U.S./NATO troops in the Baltics could be seen as an escalation in U.S.-Russian relations and I suppose a major base in Poland would be still be reassuring to our Baltic NATO allies. At any rate, when the Russians do invade the Baltics, the U.S. is already heavily committed to major combat operations in East Asia. But, your concern is definitely valid. Maybe NATO doesn't have a permanent military presence in Latvia, but only steps up the number of joint exercises that it conducts there. By the time Russia makes its move, there are no major NATO units in the Baltics. Does that work better?
I'm not sure where the major ground fighting involving the Chinese would occur. So far, we've got a green water naval war going, and perhaps renewed land combat against the Vietnamese. Should that be the focus? Should we also posit a collapse of the NK forces, necessitating yet another Chinese intervention there? That seems likely should the NK show major signs of weakness.
We also need to start thinking about how to drag the Middle East into WWIII. I'm not sure the U.S. would be able to sustain any significant presence there if it was also fighting both China and Russia. Syria seems a likely axis for a regional war. It would get Turkey involved which would open up opportunities for Russia and perhaps even Greece to seize disputed territories in the region.
And how and when does this WWIII go nuclear? I'm kind of thinking that the U.S. might be the first to use nuclear weapons, probably tac-nukes, likely starting in the fighting against the Chinese. Or, do we pin the very first strikes on North Korea?
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