The world is in a pretty precarious position, but it has been so many times. I guess the difference is that this is the first time in history that the entire world is so connected, and the events in one location have direct repercussions in others. Even if we go back 90 years to world war two, it really wasn't a world war, it was just a very large war, that spanned multiple large countries with large armies, and large economies. If we were to have a global war now, it would be catastrophic, as it would spawn truly global fighting, that would impact heavily on every country on earth.