Forces: Annual Wars Update

[Valin]

Strategy Page

January 1, 2024: This is our annual summary of current war zones and an overview of where it is all heading. After this overview there is the alphabetical list of the war zones and a quick summary of how the local mayhem has been proceeding. Since we have been covering this sort of thing for over twenty years now, there are many war zones that have gone quiet. We left most of those in summary, with a note that those wars had gone dormant, and maybe extinct. History shows that dormant is more common than extinct. Forever wars, or at least multi-century ones, are an ancient tradition.

Overall things are a lot more peaceful than the headlines or Internet chatter would have you believe. Like most major trends, world peace just kind of sneaked up on everyone and a lot of people have not noticed. Thanks to modern tech, mainly ubiquitous access to cell phones and the Internet, any mayhem anywhere on the planet easily becomes another news item for a global audience. This gives the impression of more violence when it is nothing more than unprecedented general access to violence that until recently was never broadcast worldwide and accompanied by video. That gives a false impression that has not been widely acknowledged. Historians, anthropologists, and archeologists have found that centuries ago life was a lot more violent, and we have long known that life spans were much shorter. This is still the case with surviving tribal and Stone Age cultures as well as what we have come to call failed states like Somalia, Yemen, and Afghanistan.

(Snip)

With the exception of Ukraine, there are examples of international opposition to empire rebuilding. This was the case with Iran, which had economic sanctions reinstated in 2018. This led to a reduction in violence because of less Iranian financial support for the foreign wars and international troublemaking in general.

Most current wars are basically uprisings against inefficient, corrupt, and oppressive police states or feudal societies which are seen as out-of-step with the modern world. The Internet and widespread adoption of smartphones made most people on the planet aware that a better life was not only a possibility but that many people, especially in the West, had lived the good life for generations.

Many revolutions are led by radicals preaching failed dogmas like Islamic conservatism, Maoism, and other forms of radical socialism, that still resonate among people who don't know about, or care, about the dismal track records of these creeds. After 1991 Iran replaced some of the lost Soviet terrorist support effort. Iran keeps Hezbollah, Hamas, and a few smaller groups going, and that's it. Terrorists in general miss the Soviets, who really knew how to treat bad boys right. No one has yet replaced the Soviets in that respect, an accomplishment even most Russians would rather not dwell on.

Current Wars

Listed in alphabetical order. Text underneath briefly describes current status.

(Snip)