Current Wars

" ... war had been literally continuous, though strictly speaking it had not always been the same war. For several months during his childhood there had been confused street fighting in London itself, some of which he remembered vividly. But to trace out the history of the whole period, to say who was fighting whom at any given moment, would have been utterly impossible,... Oceania was at war with Eurasia and in alliance with Eastasia. In no public or private utterance was it ever admitted that the three powers had at any time been grouped along different lines....

".... national leaders, their advisors, and their bureaucracies are capable of gross overconfidence, sloppy analysis, lapses of objectivity, wrong-headed preconceptions, disregard of facts that cast doubt on those preconceptions, zeal at the cost of rationality, suppression of debate, punishment of dissent, and other failures, fallacies, and fantasies that can lead to wrong choices and bad results. The propensity of human beings to blunder seems as great in matters of war and peace as it is in daily life. Not every decision to go to war is a blunder: sometimes it is a rational, even best, choice. Similarly, not all wars are avoidable or, for that matter, ought to be avoided..."

Blinders, Blunders, and Wars: What America and China Can Learn
David C. Gompert, Hans Binnendijk, Bonny Lin

Other Conflicts

The Review Conference of the Rome Statute, held in 2010 in Kampala (Uganda), adopted, inter alia, a set of amendments relating to the definition of the crime of aggression and the provisions for the exercise of the Court's jurisdiction. The International Criminal Court may exercise jurisdiction over the crime of aggression after 1 January 2017, once thirty States Parties have ratified the amendments, and subject to a decision by the Assembly to activate that jurisdiction.

"Men, this stuff that some sources sling around about America wanting out of this war, not wanting to fight, is a crock of bullshit. Americans love to fight, traditionally. All real Americans love the sting and clash of battle. You are here today for three reasons. First, because you are here to defend your homes and your loved ones. Second, you are here for your own self-respect, because you would not want to be anywhere else. Third, you are here because you are real men and all real men like to fight.

When you, here, every one of you, were kids you all admired the champion marble player, the fastest runner, the toughest boxer, the big-league ball players, and the All-American football players. Americans love a winner. Americans will not tolerate a loser. Americans despise cowards. Americans play to win all of the time. I wouldn't give a hoot in hell for a man who lost and laughed. That's why Americans have never lost nor will ever lose a war; for the very idea of losing is hateful to an American.

You are not all going to die. Only 2% of you right here today would die in a major battle. Death must not be feared. Death, in time, comes to all men.

Yes, every man is scared in his first battle. If he says he's not, he's a liar. Some men are cowards but they fight the same as the brave men or they get the hell slammed out of them watching men fight who are just as scared as they are. The real hero is the man who fights even though he is scared. Some men get over their fright in a minute under fire. For some, it takes an hour. For some, it takes days. But a real man will never let his fear of death overpower his honor, his sense of duty to his country, and his innate manhood.

Battle is the most magnificent competition in which a human being can indulge. It brings out all that is best and it removes all that is base.

War is a bloody, killing business. You've got to spill their blood, or they will spill yours. Rip them up the belly. Shoot them in the guts. When shells are hitting all around you and you wipe the dirt off your face and realize that instead of dirt it's the blood and guts of what once was your best friend beside you, you'll know what to do!

I don't want to get any messages saying, "I am holding my position". We are not holding a goddamned thing. Let the Germans do that. We are advancing constantly and we are not interested in holding onto anything, except the enemy's balls. We are going to twist his balls and kick the living shit out of him all of the time."

Patton, June 5, 1944, speech to US troops in England]

Stefan Lindemann defined armed conflict as "a civil war if: (a) the parties are politically and militarily organised, and they have publicly stated political objectives; (b) the government is a principal combatant; (c) the main insurgent organisation(s) are locally represented and recruit locally, though there may be additional external involvement and recruitment; (d) the conflict causes at least 500 to 1000 deaths during the first year or at least 1000 cumulative deaths in the next three years; (e) the conflict is characterised by sustained violence, with no three-year period having less than 500 deaths; and (f) the weaker party is able to mount effective resistance, measured by at least 100 deaths inflicted on the stronger party."

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said 30 March 2022 two billion people – one-quarter of humanity – are living in conflict areas today, as the world experiences the highest number of violent conflicts since the end of World War II in 1945. He told the UN Peacebuilding Commission that last year 84 million people were forced to leave their homes because of conflict, violence and human rights violations. “And this year, we estimate that at least 274 million will need humanitarian assistance,” he said.

The Armed Conflict Database is an annual survey is published by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS). According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) in London, the past few years have seen a considerable increase in the number of war victims. The number of war dead rose from 56,000 in 2008 to 180,000 in 2014, even though instead of 63 only 42 armed conflicts were counted. In 2013, for the first time since the end of the Second World War, more than 50 million people were refugees.

In 2015 Globally, conflict fatalities amounted to 167,000, which was less than the 180,000 documented in 2014. The last edition of the Armed Conflict Survey covered 42 conflicts around the world. This new edition deals with 37 conflicts, a slightly smaller figure.

The United Nations defines "major wars" as military conflicts inflicting 1,000 battlefield deaths per year. In 1965, there were 10 major wars under way. The new millennium began with much of the world consumed in armed conflict or cultivating an uncertain peace. As of mid-2005, there were eight Major Wars under way [down from 15 at the end of 2003], with as many as two dozen "lesser" conflicts ongoing with varrying degrees of intensity.

Most of these are civil or "intrastate" wars, fueled as much by racial, ethnic, or religious animosities as by ideological fervor. Most victims are civilians, a feature that distinguishes modern conflicts. During World War I, civilians made up fewer than 5 percent of all casualties. Today, 75 percent or more of those killed or wounded in wars are non-combatants.

Africa, to a greater extent than any other continent, is afflicted by war. Africa has been marred by more than 20 major civil wars since 1960. Rwanda, Somalia, Angola, Sudan, Liberia, and Burundi are among those countries that have recently suffered serious armed conflict.

War has caused untold economic and social damage to the countries of Africa. Food production is impossible in conflict areas, and famine often results. Widespread conflict has condemned many of Africa's children to lives of misery and, in certain cases, has threatened the existence of traditional African cultures.

Conflict prevention, mediation, humanitarian intervention and demobilization are among the tools needed to underwrite the success of development assistance programs. Nutrition and education programs, for example, cannot succeed in a nation at war. Billions of dollars of development assistance have been virtually wasted in war-ravaged countries such as Liberia, Somalia, and Sudan.

Globally, armed conflicts result in unprecedented waves of population displacement, both within and across borders. Armed conflicts are associated with direct consequences like deaths, diseases, stress, migration and environmental destruction; indirect socio-economic disruption in the form of institutional, infrastructural and human capital destruction; and opportunity costs like famine due to disruption of agriculture as well as poverty due to disruption of commerce and education.

Conflicts disrupt the socio-cultural set up of communities and destroy sources of people's livelihood. Post-conflict socio-economic reconstruction needs to encompass programs that restructure people's morals and values through counselling. HIV/AIDS prevention programming in post-conflict communities should deal with socio-cultural disruptions that emerged during conflicts. Some of the disruptions if not dealt with, could become normalized yet they are predisposing factors to high risk sexual behavior (HRSB).

Pervasive conflict and war often catalyze the disintegration of communities and families as well as the disruption of social norms governing people's sexual behaviour. Men who lose their status in their communities or families due to armed conflict are more likely to resort to alcohol abuse and to engage in HRSB.

Most women also become vulnerable given their increased dependence on men for physical or economic security. Since many displaced persons are forced to leave their homes, women may be forced to trade sex with armed men or other people supposed to protect them in exchange for food, water, shelter, protection and other basic commodities. Such "survival sex" might involve sex with men infected with sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV. Women are also likely to suffer at the hands of boys and young men who become child soldiers and are forced to become violent and abusive as part of their training.

Living in IDP camps affected people. Cultural values and norms lost their sting. Children stopped respecting their elders. Dishonor of sexual sanctity through transactional sex and practices like incest mirror the consequence of exposure to conflict. Men lost their wives and daughters to soldiers. Soldiers took people's wives since they had more money. HRSB was associated with concentration of people in camps where idleness and unemployment were the norm. Reports of girls and women who had been victims of rape and defilement by men with guns are common. Signs of living in conflict include food insecurity, poor and overcrowded housing, learned helplessness, and apathy. Many people display persistent worries, hopelessness, abuse alcohol and suicidal ideas.