Entering 2022, the world looks more dangerous than it has at any time since the late 1980s.

Real conflicts of interest in Eastern Europe and the East China Sea have set the table for the first serious great-power conflict in decades. Crises in the Middle East, Northeast Asia, and the Himalayas continue to smolder.

Here are the five most dangerous flashpoints for the eruption of World War III, in descending order of peril. . .