Forgotten conflicts
Discussion
I was discussing current wars and conflicts with my wife yesterday and she mentioned Syria. I had to confess that I wasn’t exactly sure what the current situation was. Having checked it seems that the various parties have reached a sort of stalemate, with no formal end to the conflict but Assad has managed to hold onto power and regained control over most of Syria. At one point Syria was very much in the Western news but now doesn’t get mentioned. I suspect there are lots of other ongoing conflicts that are ignored by mainstream media. Ironically before the Hamas attack in October the Palestinian/Israeli conflict had pretty much dropped off the map.
Ongoing perma-war in that part of the world.
Russians I believe control a giant navy base & several air fields. Turkish meddling & incursions in the north. US outposts in several eastern locations. RAF Typhoon overflights daily (check flightradar24 mid morning/lunchtime.....). Iranians all over the place & several clandestine attacks by Israeli air force apparently to disrupt Iranian arms shipments to Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Oh, & die hard ISIS cells still in operation.
Hundreds of thousands dead, millions of refugees. Depressing & will probably go the same way as Somalia & Yemen.
Russians I believe control a giant navy base & several air fields. Turkish meddling & incursions in the north. US outposts in several eastern locations. RAF Typhoon overflights daily (check flightradar24 mid morning/lunchtime.....). Iranians all over the place & several clandestine attacks by Israeli air force apparently to disrupt Iranian arms shipments to Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Oh, & die hard ISIS cells still in operation.
Hundreds of thousands dead, millions of refugees. Depressing & will probably go the same way as Somalia & Yemen.
Depends what you mean by forgotten I suppose.....
Having been watching a lot of MASH recently, it does often seem that the Korean War is overshadowed by WW2 on one side and 'Nam on the other, despite the huge amount of western lives lost during the process. The 70-odd year stalemate may cause people to forget how brutal and bloody it was, something like nearly 5 million soldiers and civilians killed
Having been watching a lot of MASH recently, it does often seem that the Korean War is overshadowed by WW2 on one side and 'Nam on the other, despite the huge amount of western lives lost during the process. The 70-odd year stalemate may cause people to forget how brutal and bloody it was, something like nearly 5 million soldiers and civilians killed
Lybia is probably the most famous one I can think of after Syria, to my knowledge it's still ongoing with no body in full control of the country.
Yemem still ongoing, pops up occasionally in the news.
In Africa in general it seems that continent is never free from some sort of rebel movement or terrorist group fighting for something.
In Europe the Bosnian war was well known but the Kosovo war didn't seem to get the same coverage, and the pockets of fighting has only ended fairly recently when you include North Macedonia.
2008 Georgia war is easily forgotten by most.
Yemem still ongoing, pops up occasionally in the news.
In Africa in general it seems that continent is never free from some sort of rebel movement or terrorist group fighting for something.
In Europe the Bosnian war was well known but the Kosovo war didn't seem to get the same coverage, and the pockets of fighting has only ended fairly recently when you include North Macedonia.
2008 Georgia war is easily forgotten by most.
ChemicalChaos said:
Depends what you mean by forgotten I suppose.....
Having been watching a lot of MASH recently, it does often seem that the Korean War is overshadowed by WW2 on one side and 'Nam on the other, despite the huge amount of western lives lost during the process. The 70-odd year stalemate may cause people to forget how brutal and bloody it was, something like nearly 5 million soldiers and civilians killed
A lot of people don't realise how much the front lines shifted in Korea. South Korea was pushed back to a corner in the south east until August 1950, by November 1950 the North Koreans only occupied the far north until the Chinese crossed the Yalu river. The front line continues shifting around the middle until mid 1953 after China, Russia and the US had exhausted their appetites for war and sought peace.Having been watching a lot of MASH recently, it does often seem that the Korean War is overshadowed by WW2 on one side and 'Nam on the other, despite the huge amount of western lives lost during the process. The 70-odd year stalemate may cause people to forget how brutal and bloody it was, something like nearly 5 million soldiers and civilians killed
captain_cynic said:
A lot of people don't realise how much the front lines shifted in Korea. South Korea was pushed back to a corner in the south east until August 1950, by November 1950 the North Koreans only occupied the far north until the Chinese crossed the Yalu river. The front line continues shifting around the middle until mid 1953 after China, Russia and the US had exhausted their appetites for war and sought peace.
Funnily enough, I happened upon this today. It illustrates the shifting front line and changing fortunes of the two sides very well. https://9gag.com/gag/armQX6X?utm_source=copy_link&...
Skeptisk said:
I was discussing current wars and conflicts with my wife yesterday and she mentioned Syria. I had to confess that I wasn’t exactly sure what the current situation was. Having checked it seems that the various parties have reached a sort of stalemate, with no formal end to the conflict but Assad has managed to hold onto power and regained control over most of Syria. At one point Syria was very much in the Western news but now doesn’t get mentioned. I suspect there are lots of other ongoing conflicts that are ignored by mainstream media. Ironically before the Hamas attack in October the Palestinian/Israeli conflict had pretty much dropped off the map.
You may wish to watch these videos, to give you an idea what is going on in Syria, Libya and the rest of the Middle East. Please bear in mind, that the US supported Saddam Hussein against Iran and supported the Mujahudin (Taliban/Al Qaueda) in Afghanistan. The US/UK were responsible for the 1953 coup in Iran which removed a democratically elected prime minister - Mossadeq, then we were responsible for the 1979 Iranian revolution, where we believed that we could instal a "friendly" leadership of mullahs, before putting the shah's son back on the "Peacock throne".https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcWs4TFSjrY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TY2DKzastu8
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/oct/13/ci...
https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/2...
Cyprus.
As conflicts go, it's as benign as it gets but is still very much in play and surprising that it gets hardly any mention, particularly when you consider Cyprus to be a commonwealth nation.
They came close to a federalised state in 2017 with a deal brokered by Johnson when he was Foreign Secretary but Turkey wouldn't remove their Army in the north unless the UK removed theirs in the South. Some suggested Johnson could have pushed this further but....well.... 'Grandpops' being Turkish and all that!
As conflicts go, it's as benign as it gets but is still very much in play and surprising that it gets hardly any mention, particularly when you consider Cyprus to be a commonwealth nation.
They came close to a federalised state in 2017 with a deal brokered by Johnson when he was Foreign Secretary but Turkey wouldn't remove their Army in the north unless the UK removed theirs in the South. Some suggested Johnson could have pushed this further but....well.... 'Grandpops' being Turkish and all that!
andyA700 said:
You may wish to watch these videos, to give you an idea what is going on in Syria, Libya and the rest of the Middle East. Please bear in mind, that the US supported Saddam Hussein against Iran and supported the Mujahudin (Taliban/Al Qaueda) in Afghanistan. The US/UK were responsible for the 1953 coup in Iran which removed a democratically elected prime minister - Mossadeq, then we were responsible for the 1979 Iranian revolution, where we believed that we could instal a "friendly" leadership of mullahs, before putting the shah's son back on the "Peacock throne".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcWs4TFSjrY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TY2DKzastu8
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/oct/13/ci...
https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/2...
What was the UK/US involvenent with the Iranian Revolution in 1979?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcWs4TFSjrY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TY2DKzastu8
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/oct/13/ci...
https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/2...
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hstewie said:
hstewie said: There are loads.
I read something the other day about Ethiopia v Eritrea (I think) where half a million people have apparently been killed.
Can't honestly say I remember seeing/reading/hearing much if anything about it.
There was a massive ruck between Ethiopia and Somalia in the 70s; the russians started out supporting Somalia, but disapproved of the fight so they swapped surrogates and supported Ethiopia. The refugees from this fight caused dissent in Somalia and in part brought about the civil war there.I read something the other day about Ethiopia v Eritrea (I think) where half a million people have apparently been killed.
Can't honestly say I remember seeing/reading/hearing much if anything about it.
isaldiri said:
JuanCarlosFandango said:
Nagorno Karabakh seemed to be quickly forgotten.
Just as well really. The azeris managed to purge most to all the armenians out after the last round of hostilities without having to go all 1915 again which just might have caused a bit more of a ruckus...
isaldiri said:
hidetheelephants said:
Genocide is ok if it's bloodless?
It's usually kind of hard to genocide people without some (or quite a lot) element of bloodletting.UN said:
In 1948, the United Nations Genocide Convention defined genocide as any of five "acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group". These five acts were: killing members of the group, causing them serious bodily or mental harm, imposing living conditions intended to destroy the group, preventing births, and forcibly transferring children out of the group. Victims are targeted because of their real or perceived membership of a group, not randomly.[1][2]
Sri Lanka - 25+ years of Civil war and easily over a 100k perished in the final stages of the war in 2009.
Some parallels to N.Ireland troubles and Israel/Gaza situation albeit based on historical ethnic fault lines rather than religion and other aspects differ.
A country known for the stunning location/views and in general very accommodating population but for some reason since independence from the British, run by despots (irrespective of party) using good ol' divide and conquer policies...no accountability for past/current human rights violations and minorites shafted. That's before you mention the Useless for Nothing sorry UN who love sending a rep every so often for a free holiday but don't do much else. To be fair the despots don't care anyway.
A failed state that had so much potential but instead struggles to play both India and China (their paymasters) to obtain freebies whilst not antagonising either (strategic location etc).
No natural resources of significance and a tiny country hence not really high up the list for anyone. Though some entertainment to watch the India/China overtures to keep on side/influence. There may be no war now but the old guard still run the country hence why the protests seen last year are very 'quiet' now.
Some parallels to N.Ireland troubles and Israel/Gaza situation albeit based on historical ethnic fault lines rather than religion and other aspects differ.
A country known for the stunning location/views and in general very accommodating population but for some reason since independence from the British, run by despots (irrespective of party) using good ol' divide and conquer policies...no accountability for past/current human rights violations and minorites shafted. That's before you mention the Useless for Nothing sorry UN who love sending a rep every so often for a free holiday but don't do much else. To be fair the despots don't care anyway.
A failed state that had so much potential but instead struggles to play both India and China (their paymasters) to obtain freebies whilst not antagonising either (strategic location etc).
No natural resources of significance and a tiny country hence not really high up the list for anyone. Though some entertainment to watch the India/China overtures to keep on side/influence. There may be no war now but the old guard still run the country hence why the protests seen last year are very 'quiet' now.
- Disclaimer - the views above are mine and biased but I stand by them.
Edited by VR99 on Friday 5th January 19:28
VR99 said:
Sri Lanka - 25+ years of Civil war and easily over a 100k perished in the final stages of the war in 2009.
Some parallels to N.Ireland troubles and Israel/Gaza situation albeit based on historical ethnic fault lines rather than religion and other aspects differ.
A country known for the stunning location/views and in general very accommodating population but for some reason since independence from the British, run by despots (irrespective of party) using good ol' divide and conquer policies...no accountability for past/current human rights violations and minorites shafted. That's before you mention the Useless for Nothing sorry UN who love sending a rep every so often for a free holiday but don't do much else. To be fair the despots don't care anyway.
A failed state that had so much potential but instead struggles to play both India and China (their paymasters) to obtain freebies whilst not antagonising either (strategic location etc).
No natural resources of significance and a tiny country hence not really high up the list for anyone. Though some entertainment to watch the India/China overtures to keep on side/influence.
Ethnicity plays a part but religion is a big part of the animosity, a lot of corruption in the politicians and the chinese and the indians have no doubt helped out the corrupt with bungs and influence operations. Some parallels to N.Ireland troubles and Israel/Gaza situation albeit based on historical ethnic fault lines rather than religion and other aspects differ.
A country known for the stunning location/views and in general very accommodating population but for some reason since independence from the British, run by despots (irrespective of party) using good ol' divide and conquer policies...no accountability for past/current human rights violations and minorites shafted. That's before you mention the Useless for Nothing sorry UN who love sending a rep every so often for a free holiday but don't do much else. To be fair the despots don't care anyway.
A failed state that had so much potential but instead struggles to play both India and China (their paymasters) to obtain freebies whilst not antagonising either (strategic location etc).
No natural resources of significance and a tiny country hence not really high up the list for anyone. Though some entertainment to watch the India/China overtures to keep on side/influence.
hidetheelephants said:
Ethnicity plays a part but religion is a big part of the animosity, a lot of corruption in the politicians and the chinese and the indians have no doubt helped out the corrupt with bungs and influence operations.
Agreed, whilst the conflict has been framed in ethnic terms it's the influential Buddhist clergy that run the show (along with the corrupt despots) and if anyone doesn't agree then tough. India at one point (late 80's) armed/funded/trained the rebel groups and that didn't exactly end well for all sides in the conflict.
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