India, Sept. 1 -- World War II began on September 1, 1939. Eighty-seven years later, the global landscape shows eerily similar geopolitical fault lines, yet with some crucial differences that have, so far, prevented another World War.

Let us first look at how WWII broke out. On September 1, 1939, Germany, under Adolf Hitler, attacked Poland to regain claimed territories, expand eastward for "Lebensraum" (living space), and assert dominance in Europe. The Nazi ideology viewed the Slavs as an inferior people, and Poland was seen as an obstacle to Germany's imperial ambitions. Despite signing a non-aggression pact with Poland in 1934, Hitler violated it, using a false flag operation at Gleiwitz to justify the invasion. The Molotov-Ribbentro...