The History of Our Conflicted Planet

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Wars and conflicts are as ancient as the human race. Periods of peace have generally been illusionary. The recorded history is less of peaceful transformations and coexistence and more of battles and wars, turmoils and bloodshed, and riots and pogroms. Even during the prehistoric times, invasions and battles were commonplace. Apart from hand to hand fights, sticks and stones must have been the weapons of aggression both by individuals and organised groups. Later on, swords and maces, javelins, huge slings and spear-throwers became standard weapons. The stone walls of Jericho, built around 8000 BC, confirm the humanity’s warlike nature. These walls, at least 13 feet in height, and backed by a 28 feet tall watchtower, were intended to protect the settlement from human intruders. These are located in modern Palestine.

The circa 1274 BCE Battle of Kadesh, involving Egypt’s Ramses II and the Hittite Emperor Muwatalli II, is the earliest conflict recorded in history. Fought on the shores of Orantes River near the modern day borders of Syria and Lebanon, the battle ended in a stalemate and a peace treaty.

The problem with peace treaties is that they ensure anything but permanent peace. Phases of peace are temporary, often uneasy, intervals before the next phase of bloodshed begins. Stalemates and even outright victories in war do not ensure peace for any stretch of time. Otherwise the two World Wars either would not have happened, or at lease ensured  permanent satiation of blood-thirst, which has not been the case.

Today, thanks to the lopsided priorities of global media, Ukraine and Palestine dominate the news headlines. But there are many other conflicts which have been tearing apart our world for decades. These conflicts are either internal to a country or international in character. Different agencies like the Global Conflict Tracker, Revise-Sociology, Rule of Law in Armed Conflict Online Portal (RULAC), and others, regularly enumerate conflicts in different parts of the world. These data tell us that:

1. Prominent arenas of conflict involve Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Syria, Turkey, Yemen and Western Sahara.
2. Wars and conflicts have been going on for months and years in Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Senegal, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Mali, Mozambique, Somalia, Kenya, Nigeria and the Central African Republic.
3. Most of the conflicts in Asia relate to territorial disputes involving India, Pakistan, China, Myanmar, Afghanistan, Taiwan, Japan, Philippines, and several others.
4. Colombia has been suffering from a series of internal armed conflicts for decades now. Drug cartels and criminal gangs have been destabilising Mexico for years. Other Latin American countries like Costa Rica, Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Argentina, El Salvador, and Brazil have been facing either international disputes and conflicts or internal disruptions. 
5. In the western world, Canada’s Quebec remains a potential hotspot. In Europe, Ukraine, Cyprus, Greece, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Denmark, Finland and Russia are facing international or internal conflicts.

What could the reasons for these conflicts be? Traditionally, we have ascribed these to colonial legacies, and rightly so. But there have been other factors at play, too. 

Apart from turf battles among major powers like China, Russia, and the NATO, there is a scramble for natural resources on land and sea. This rivalry can turn into a full-blown international war at any time. Of late, China has been flexing its muscles in the Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean regions, provoking the NATO powers to deploy their strategic assets there. This provides justification for the phenomenal increase in expenditure on armaments. India, Japan, Australia, USA, UK, France, China, and Russia are ratcheting up their defence expenses to unprecedented levels.

The USA has been the main culprit, when it comes to asserting hegemonic ambitions buttressed with the need for feeding its gargantuan military-industrial complex.

According to Noam Chomsky Americans have used military force or funded the use of military force in over 50 countries since the end of World War 2. USA has over 1000 military bases worldwide, and is by far the biggest aggressor since the last century. It used its military power to overthrow democratically elected governments that do not support American Interests. Chomsky points out that if America really wanted to support freedom and democracy around the globe, then it would, by now, have tackled the oppressive communist regime in North Korea, and it wouldn’t do business with countries such as Saudi Arabia and China which have dubious records where human rights are concerned.

In his documentary, ‘The War Against Democracy’, John Piger backs Noam Chomsky’s view. The documentary points out that the use of military force against foreign governments that do not support American interests has formed the backbone of America’s foreign policy since the end of World War 2. Afghanistan and Iraq are just two in a very long list of countries that the United States has used organised state violence against.  

David Harvey argues that the Iraq War was really ‘all about oil’. He points out that the continued global economic and military superiority of the USA is dependent on securing for the future a reliable supply of oil, most of which lies in the Middle East.

Naomi Klein avers that the American government uses war to destroy infrastructure in developing nations so that American companies can make a profit out of rebuilding that infrastructure. Klein points out that Dick Cheney, vice president of the United States when the US went to war with Iraq, was also CEO of a corporation called Halliburton, a company which won $2 billion in contracts to rebuild Iraq after the war.

Be it hegemonic ambitions or simply greed, the USA has been the most aggressive power since the end of World War 2. Let us take a look at the countries bombarded by the Americans so far. As the list shows, the USA had attacked many of these countries on more than one occasion.

1. China 1945-46
2. Korea 1950-53
3. China 1950-53
4. Guatemala 1954
5. Indonesia 1958
6. Cuba 1959-60
7. Guatemala 1960
8. Belgian Congo 1964
9. Guatemala 1964
10. 10.Dominican Republic 1965
11. 11.Peru 1965
12. 12.Laos 1964-73
13. 13.Vietnam 1961-73
14. 14.Cambodia 1969-70
15. 15.Guatemala 1967-69
16. 16.Lebanon 1982-84
17. 17.Grenada 1983-84
18. 18.Libya 1986
19. 19.El Salvador 1981-92
20. 20.Nicaragua 1981-90
21. 21.Iran 1987-88
22. 22.Libya 1989
23. 23.Panama 1989-90
24. 24.Iraq 1991
25. 25.Kuwait 1991
26. 26.Somalia 1992-94
27. 27.Bosnia 1995
28. 28.Iran 1998
29. 29.Sudan 1998
30. 30.Afghanistan 1998
31. 31.Yugoslavia – Serbia 1999
32. 32.Afghanistan 2001
33. 33.Libya 2011

The list is by no means exhaustive. And it will take a series of documentaries to explain the reasons behind such ruthless aggression. What we have been witnessing in different parts of the world are manifestation of the Americans and its NATO allies’ tendencies towards intervening in the affairs of different countries and regions on the pretext of restoring democracy or bringing about global order and peace. 

We know this is simply not true.