Talk of World War III has been all over the internet in the past 24 hours following the assassination of top Iranian battlefield commander, Gen. Qassem Soleimani, in a US drone strike.
The killing is widely expected to result in more hostilities between Tehran and Washington, with the former vowing to retaliate and the latter moving to deploy thousands of additional troops to the Middle East.
Although many analysts have predicted a limited clash (perhaps in the form of more drone and missile strikes) but not a full-on military conflict, WW3 has nevertheless been trending on Twitter since Friday. Some people have tried to laugh it off, but the unease is palpable.
The website of the US Selective Service System went down after young people flocked there to find out how to avoid military enlistment (the US military is composed solely of volunteers and there has been no announcement that compulsory service would be re-instated).
Some said they would dress up as a woman to escape the draft.
Pledging allegiance to Russia might also turn out to be a wise move.
But it’s important to remember that war is no joke, others said, calling on the jokesters to show some empathy.