How many wars in the world now?

[The idea]

How many wars are taking place in the world right now? If you wish to itemize them, then you might like to categorize them into a few categories. (1) Conventional wars; (2) Civil wars; (3) Wars by proxy; (4) Cyber wars; etc.

[evildave]

A couple of different links.

http://schema-root.org/news/war/

http://www.strategypage.com/fyeo/qndguide/default.asp

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/worldview/page/0,11916,713897,00.html

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/worldview/page/0,11916,713897,00.html

[The idea]

The evidence suggests that I started this thread. So, please, someone else post some specific information that can be absorbed without chasing a trail of breadcrumbs.

Are various people around the world but outside of the USA actually a bunch of robots hooked into television and radio or do they have some independent source of information about important wars that are taking place around the world right now?

[a_unique_person]

I don't think there has ever been a point in history when there hasn't been a war going on.

[The idea]

Originally posted by a_unique_person
I don't think there has ever been a point in history when there hasn't been a war going on.
Are there any wars going on right now that are, in your opinion, important? How many of them would you rate as important?

What if Israel went to war with The Principality of Liechtenstein and the war lasted for 35 minutes and nobody died. Would that be an important war, in your opinion?

[varwoche]

This thread has a relatively high threshhold for entry.

Are you seeking facts, or is this a quiz, or a survey about attitudes pertaining to war?

Maybe you could post a list of wars to start the ball rolling.

[The idea]

Originally posted by varwoche
This thread has a relatively high threshhold for entry.

You should be able to make a contribution to this thread without any real difficulty.

Originally posted by varwoche
Are you seeking facts, or is this a quiz, or a survey about attitudes pertaining to war?

I am seeking facts summarized in an interesting way plus maybe some first-hand knowledge from anyone who has it.

Originally posted by varwoche
Maybe you could post a list of wars to start the ball rolling.
Here's the first item in our list:

(1) Sudan

Maybe someone else can post approximate stats on the number who have been killed or injured so far and the approximate date when the fighting began and/or intensified considerably. Also, what are they fighting about? Is the conflict in Sudan basically a disagreement about whether Batman or Superman is a better Superhero?

[Richard G]

A better question is how many wars today involve Muslims.

[Hutch]

An even better question is if Richard G has as many active brain cells as there are wars going on. Place your bets!

Congo (or is it still Zaire)--Rather quiet now, but I believe foreign troops are still there and sparring for advantage.

Chechnya--Guess this could be called a "police action", but the number of soldiers involved and the casuality lists sure make it seem like a real war.

Nepal--Corrupt Government vs. Rabid Maoists.

Sri Lanka--Tamil Tigers for Independence

Actually, in comparision to most of history, it's rather quite. Asia is at peace (albeit shaky on the Korean Penisula), South America and Central America have no Civil Wars going on (watch out for Venezsula<sic> however), Europe is quite (as long as NATO keeps sitting on the Balkans, and while Africa remains a mess, the Liberian and Namimbian conflicts appear over and Rawanda is recovering from that bloodbath.

[Ladewig]

What if Israel went to war with The Principality of Liechtenstein and the war lasted for 35 minutes and nobody died. Would that be an important war, in your opinion?

If Liechtenstein won, it would be.

[The idea]

Is the USA the most important country in the world and therefore any war involving the USA is extremely important or is there some other reason for the huge amount of attention on this forum and elsewhere focused on the war in Iraq?

[Troll]

Originally posted by a_unique_person
I don't think there has ever been a point in history when there hasn't been a war going on.

wow, you finally got one right. How does it feel after being you for so long? haha

[The Don]

Originally posted by The idea
Is the USA the most important country in the world and therefore any war involving the USA is extremely important or is there some other reason for the huge amount of attention on this forum and elsewhere focused on the war in Iraq?
Most of us live in Western democracies. Our opinions are influenced to a degree by what we see in the media. Of the world's wars, the ones we hear about are:

- Iraq, lots
- Israel/Palestine, lots
- Chechnya, some
- Various African wars, from time to time

The reason why wars are reported include:

- Are we directly involved ?
- Are we indirectly involved ?
- Is a ally involved ?
- Is a foe or former foe involved ?
- Are lots of people dying

Probably in that order. If a British soldier in Iraq sprains an ankle it probably is viewed to be a more important story than a few dozen killed in a war in a country that was never part of the Empire.

The reason we talk about Iraq so much is becuase it's big news and so many of us have easy access to information on it (and hence can more readily substantiate our opinions). The reason why it's so prominent in the media worldwide is that almost every country is either:

- involved directly
- allied to a country involved directly
- vocal in their opposition

No mystery there then. OTOH if you feel that the world is picking on the USofA because we're jealous of your power and your freedom, carry on believing it and that it's the only reason we talk about Iraq is that we're secretly (or perhaps not so secretly eh ?) happy that American servicemen are dying out there and that it represents a bloody nose for the US