My bet is that the axis is going to be Russia, Iran, North Korea. Plus Venezuela, Yemen and Belarus as the axis supporters. Then there will be silent support from China and India. Their opponent will be the "global west" which they hope will not unite in time... One positive news is that Slovakia and Hungary will get a chance to repeat their historical mistakes.
Discussion
Are you looking at the tensions in Asia? Taiwan, China and Japan? I am sure DPRK will get dragged into the mess too. Also Southeast Asia with the border disputes, plus India and Pakistan? There are more angles and situations in the world than EU
Yes, probably not as closely as I should, but yes. I believe that China will wait for their chance, hence the silent support. What are Taiwan and the Philippines without support from the US? Japan is a slightly different story, but just a bit... Do you believe that the tension between India and Pakistan is more than just folklore? To me it looks like a ritual fight with maybe unwritten but closely followed rules.
Japan is 100km away from Taiwan, and US with Japan is likely to intervene. India and Pakistan, no idea, but people do stupid things all the time.
Russia, Iran and North Korea are already an "alliance" and the result is underwhelming at best. Iran and Yemen can become the problem to solve for a united Middle East (yes, Israel included). North Korea... the US soldiers from the peninsula are there to hold South Korea back, not to defend them, and one day they might decide that they have had enough, especially if the US decides to pull out the troops.
Venezuela, alongside Colombia and Brazil, will be the US's problem.
Regarding Russia... What people refuse to even count is that only the European NATO (without the US and other European countries, without pro-Russian countries, and even without Ukraine) has an army (soldiers and equipment) almost 4 times bigger than the US, and rapidly growing. Not to mention the quality of the Russian forces, equipment, and logistics. This time, the US won't be there to help them, as it was during World War II. Long story short, I'm not worried about another WW.
PS: I love your ending note. 😂