What's going on with war in the world right now?

1. 80

   Amy Naylorposted 9 years ago

   What's going on with war in the world right now?
   
   I am so blissfully ignorant right now to all the global conflicts that I am kind of half aware are happening.
   So, if you're following the news, can I please have a brief overview of the different things that are going on?
   I feel like now is the time to face reality and discover what's happening in the world around me, it's just difficult to start when you don't have any idea about anything and there are an overwhelmingly large amount of news stories out there.
   Or is brief not possible? Maybe links to places on the internet that I could subscribe to would help.
   Thanks in advance!

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2. 82

   dashingscorpioposted 9 years ago

   Amy, "Ignorance is bliss." - No truer words have ever been spoken.
   There has always been wars and unrest around the globe. However at this time the media is focused on activities in the Gaza Strip where the conflict is between Israel and the Hamas-controlled Palestinian territory.
   The other news grabber is Russia's attempt to rebuild the Soviet Union by getting involved in the Ukraine conflict..
   The debate going on in the U.S. is over what we should do about it. The last thing the U.S. wants after fighting two wars for 10 years is to put boots on the ground in either conflict. Congress feels the president ought to be doing more and yet they themselves are unwilling to put forth any "resolution" to declare war. No elected official wants to go on record as voting to go to war.
   Lastly the majority of citizens in the U.S. are more concerned with feeble economic recovery. There is a growing "isolation movement"  where many folks feel we shouldn't bother getting involved in either conflict. They say we have enough on our plate with the immigration issue on the borders and the lack of decent paying jobs. It's also has been rationalized that there will never be any "peace" between Israel and Palestine. They have hated each other for hundreds if not thousands of years.
   It's not smart to push another superpower country like Russia who has just as many nuclear bombs into a head to head war. Some of our allies are also dependent on Russia for energy.
   The only other alternative is they support one side and we support another. Historically these types of wars have never had a positive outcome for the U.S. No one truly wins!  http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/un- … story.html
   http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/eur … story.html

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3. 80

   junksellerposted 9 years ago

   In a nutshell, the world is changing. Post WWII, the world became a two-polar world with the two powers being America and Russia and global relationships in many ways played out as a struggle between the two, for example the Vietnam and Korean wars as well as the struggles for Central and South America and Eastern Europe, etc.
   
   With the fall of Russia in 1991, that changed. America was the only power, and as nations came out from under the authority of the Russian sphere they had to find their own way. Many new nations formed from the former Soviet Republic, including Ukraine, and most have been relatively stable. In other cases tensions led to conflict such as what happened in the Bosnian War (1992-1995).
   
   Now the world is becoming multi-polar. China is now a very powerful economy and rapidly developing a powerful military. Russia is resurgent, in large part from fossil fuel sales, Europe can be considered a somewhat unified bloc, and one can also consider the rising economic powers of Brazil and India.
   
   Why does all of this matter? well because lots of the conditions under which people live, including their governments as well as the lines on the map which form their countries, have been established by the powers that be (or powers that once were).
   
   As spheres of influence and power erode and shift, historic conflicts which had been suppressed are coming to the surface.
   
   That is what happened with the Arab Spring and the overthrow of governments in Egypt, Tunisia, And Libya. In the Ukraine the relative shift of power between Russia and the West, has brought about the conflict in the Ukraine, which essentially amounts to Russia trying to re-exert its influence. The tension over the South China Sea is an example of China flexing its new-found muscles.
   
   The Middle East is a mess and has been for a long time. There is no simple way to explain it, but it includes not only internal historical conflicts but a century's worth of meddling by outside nations. Israel being a primary example as are our recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Frankly, I think everyone is just tired of it.
   
   There is no easy way to get informed. I would consider relatively decent and objective news sources to be Al Jazeera, Reuters, and NPR. Personally I stay far away from CNN and the other American stations (ABC, MSNBC, CBS, etc) and especially stay away from FOX News. You will have to develop a talent for recognizing bias and propaganda. There is a LOT of it out there.

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      Daveadamposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Who does the UK & the USA buy most of it stuff from?, that's right China a country with no human rights at all..Then!, we have the cheek to go around the world posing as the worlds "policemen"..Double standards or no standards?, no standards.

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4. 52

   Nicole Nichols-Smposted 9 years ago

   Someone once told me that whenever there are a large number of male births opposed to female then there is a war 20 years later. I have never been able to find anything to substantiate this data and even asked some professors. However, it may just appear that way since there has always been conflict in the world.

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