User blog comment:Slopijoe/Battlefield 3 caspian border gameplay/@comment-1647479-20110817041540/@comment-28584497-20110817043943

Okay, here's the deal.

In 2007, the entire world was ingulfed in flames. Very little info is given about its ignition, but it can be assumed that the aggressors were likely the MEC, which was allied to the China, thus dragging both the US and EU into a war. The war goes back and forth for a while, with Russia apparently having been involved in some kind of conflict with the EU according to one map's loading screen. After brokering some kind of peace, the EU manages to invade China from the North, while also getting involved with the northern part of the Middle East. At some point, the MEC and PLA invade mainland USA, likely to throw off the US in the Middle East and China, probably marking a last-ditch effort to win the war, while the US and EU were really clamping down on China and the MEC. Though, the war in China never seems to progress further than Manchuria. Most likely scenario is that the US and EU won that war, or at least the PLA signed a peace treaty.

The MEC, based on BF3, likely continued fighting, which would explain the US presence there. The PLR probably formed from the remnants of the MEC ground forces and maybe the Russian insurgents as well. The PLR probably starts going global, instigating another war between the EU/US and Russia. Something happens (my bet is that the PLR stages an attack on Europe, drawing Russian special forces in to try and stop the attack before it implicates Russia as the attacker.) and the war begins.