[gwern]

Gosh, it's almost like WWI where two of the largest most interconnected economies in the world were also bitter enemies who nearly destroyed each other.

Or maybe you meant we're actually in 'a weird post-post-modern dystopia epoch' and you're not simply ignorant of history and being hyperbolic...

[rdouble]

WWI history doesn't seem as much like the plot of a William Gibson novel as the international incident under discussion does.

[gwern]

Given the assassination plots, spies, mobilization orders, frantic telegraph communications and other things, it does, actually.

[rdouble]

WWI is more like a Neal Stephenson novel. I'll admit I never read the Difference Engine, though.