War in 2023

Full on war between the Syrian government forces and rebel groups the Syrian government was backed by Russia and Iran with military Support while the Rebels were backed by the United States and their allies or another way to put it would be this was a cluster that's absolutely FUBAR as of 2023 the President of Syria Bashar al-Assad is now in control of 70% of the Nation's territory he regained that territory Langston large part to the support of Iran and Russia's military this has led to serious rehabilitation in some parts of the world community the Arab League for example has reinstated Syria after a 12-year suspension which means outside is less isolated the economic sanctions that have been leveled against his war-torn country has made him so isolated that large parts of the Nations economy has become a narcos state the Syrian military has earned large sums of money selling and exporting and amphetamines that are nicknamed the poor man's Coke this feels like the reverse of what we normally hear instead of former soldiers leaving to go run a cartel we have the actual military turning into a drug operation a&i news claimed that it has become the primary lifeline of the country's economy they reported it generates 90% of serious foreign currency it's gotten so bad that Syria earned 57 billion dollars in illegal pills trade ani states that that's three times what the Mexican cartels revenues supposed to be this is a case of weaponized drugs what I mean by that is serious president Bashar Al Assad could use his control of the production of these illicit pills as leverage against his negotiate to lower the export of the addictive substances as a favor to nearby countries like Saudi Arabia that are facing an influx of these drugs nations have all kinds of ways to create instability in their Neighboring countries on the plus side though for now it seems like Isis terrorist forces inside Syria have been seriously weakened over the past few years at its peak the CIA stated in like 2014 that Isis had about 31,000 Fighters at their disposal and that number is now as low as 2000 according to estimates in fact according to Critical threats.org Katherine Zimmerman and Nathan Vincent wrote a great article there about how Isis and Syria has had to restructure their entire command network to go back into hiding just stay home I assist you've had enough already why is Isis still threat though well there's about 10,000 Isis Fighters held in detention facilities throughout Iraq in Syria this unresolved aspect from the war against Isis has been a persistent problem it's not as simple as just releasing the Isis Fighters back into the Wild though because many of those Fighters come from foreign countries who aren't exactly still to have them return back home the Syrian observatory for human rights reported that 600,000 people have died in Syria since the beginning of the conflict in 2011 5.4 million refugees live abroad the majority in Jordan Lebanon and Turkey with a smaller number in Europe the next up is Mexico Mexico is a strong partner of the United States the two economies are closely tied together at the hip what happens to one of affects the other for better or for worse cartel violence has left an estimated 30,000 people dead annually since 2018 the council on Foreign Relations outlined how the state has also been responsible for many of the human rights violations during their war against the cartels this crisis is another one of the factors contributing to a migration crisis in the United States in fact there were 2.5 million Encounters of migrants recorded at the U.S Mexico border in 2023 the migration policy Institute States that's a new historic high this influx of people has put a strain on America's infrastructure and their ability to handle the migration which is tragically led to people sleeping on streets and not being properly cared for the most recent developments include the fact that mexico's Congress passed a reform in August 2022 that allows the military to carry out domestic law enforcement until 2028 that is absolutely shocking let that sink in think about it if you had the military every day on the street corner policing you the reason it has consequences for regular citizens is because when military forces are given a domestic police mission but we tend to see is increased cases of abuse of power human rights groups claim that's exactly what we're starting to see because the Mexican military police have started to erode the treatment of their civilians the council on Foreign Relations reported that Mexican citizens have lost their rights in many cases and face arbitrary detention and extra judicial killings journalists often faced targeted assassinations inside Mexico even several YouTubers have been taken out by Mexican cartels for saying the wrong things the government of Mexico is increasingly militarizing their control of civilian infrastructure even announcing in June 2023 that they would give control of mexico's Airport to their Navy military searches make the TSA look non-invasive so Mexico is authorities appear to be cracking down on the cartel threat in some areas however reuters reported 95% of the raids on drug Labs were against inactive old Labs why would that be the case reuter spoke to four traffickers who said the cartel bribes Mexican army commanders to raise their old Labs and keep their active One safe this is Led to people in the United States starting to question at what point does the violence become bad enough that the U.S needs to take some kind of action to Curve it this remains to be seen but let's go a little bit East to the country of Haiti has 11 and a half million people they're located on the island of hispanola in the Caribbean geographically Haiti is positioned between the Caribbean Sea to the South and the Atlantic oceans of the north the country is beautiful and yet tragically it's the poorest in the Western hemisphere at its closest point it's 700 miles away from the United States since the mid-20th century there's been a rise in political instability and all kinds of natural disasters that have pushed migration from Haiti to the close proximity United States for example in 2022 2023 gangs are now fighting each other for control of the country and Haiti even the Nation's proverb signal how much struggle they've been through one in particular stuck out to me and it goes like this really bad is not yet dead and what that conveys is the resilience and the belief that things can get better for the people of Haiti despite the current difficulties according to the council on Foreign Relations the powerful gangs have essentially become the de facto authority especially in the capital in fact these gangs even control much of the Nations economic levers a Coalition of the nine largest Gangs of Haiti are known as the G9 and they successfully blockaded Hades largest field terminal in 2021 this place is responsible for 70% of the country's gas they then made some absurd crazy demands asking for the resignation of the prime minister who was like no way the report goes on to state over 2,400 Asian citizens have been killed and abducted within eight months span leading to vigilantes attempting to take control the law into their own hands and Haiti in response in October 2023 the United Nations Security Council finally approved a multinational security Force led by the Kenyans to help the Haitian police counter the Gang violence please are hurting we're so badly that 6,000 officers have quit nearly half of their total Force the United Nations resolution drafted by the U.S and Ecuador essentially authorizes the Kenya LED mission of an estimated 1,000 officers to take all necessary measures which is another way of saying that they can pull triggers and usually who Force to take down the gangs this are German phrase that I recently learned that I'm gonna butcher but it goes like this d lagi vaar emir Zoe Ernst which translates to the sky has always been falling even though there is conflict around the world that doesn't mean the world has becoming a worse place there are still millions of people working every day towards peace and this next example shows us how the international community plans to hopefully restore order in one place next we travel to Somalia Africa the country of 17 million people that's in absolute chaos right now according to the UN they nation is on the brink of famine which seven million food insecure and one million displaced by drought meanwhile the United States in China compete for favor with the nation the Institute for security studies explain Somalia's geopolitical importance this way Somalia has the longest coastline on the African continent it's near key waterways for international trade like the choke point called the bad l-men Dev Strait recent maritime weapon smuggling from Iran to Rebels in Yemen Transit straight through Somalia for many years when people thought of Somalia they thought of piracy and hijacking of civilian cargo ships but those instances have seen a steep decline however it's been replaced by international armed smuggling fueling nearby conflict in Yemen there's been a United Nations Arms embargo on Somalia for the past 31 years lifting it would let the country acquire new modern weapons for their police and military security forces however there's a major risk that those weapons would fall into the wrong hands The Terror group known as al-shabad has grown here in Somalia since its origins in 2006 since then Al shabad has turned into one of the world's richest terrorist organizations by extorting money from locals and stealing money from people at checkpoints and roadblocks according to the council on Foreign Relations this group has capitalized on The Weakness of somalius Central government starting in 2007 there has been a United Nations peacekeeping mission largely led by Kenya and Ugandan soldiers originally the force was about 3,000 soldiers strong at the insurgency peak in 2011 The al-shabad Terror group controlled large sections of somalias territory including parts of the capital Mogadishu in 2010 the UN security mission grew here to 7,200 troops after an additional Battalion from Uganda join them the result of that operation was Kenya forces were successfully able to push al-shabob terrorists out of these territories I'm not sure if you're aware the level of U.S military intervention here that aims to keep stability in the region but since 2007 the U.S has given Somalia forces more than half a billion dollars to help train an equipment they've launched frequent drone strikes against terror groups here then in 2022 the U.S president Joe Biden approved the deployment of hundreds of U.S special operators on the ground into Somalia stability in this country is extremely important to a number of great powers so the UN peacekeepers have been in Somalia for well over a decade they're looking now forgiving away to transition out 18,000 personnel from the AU transition mission are authorized to stay until the end of 2024 when most people think of Somalia expanded its colonial control into what is now modern-day Somalia in 1991 Somali land declared independence from Somalia in February 2023 Somaliland troops attacked a village situated along the contested border with Somalia and Somali land forcing thousands to play with hundreds killed or wounded another location in Africa that saw a lot of conflict in 2023 was a Sahel region what happened here is that six countries from Guinea in the west to Sudan and the east are now controlled by military huntips they all came to power in a coup where the overthrew the former government this led to the French military pulling their forces out of Nigeria and on December 22nd the last French forces border planes and left the country after ten years of fighting against terrorism there this is left to security vacuum that Carousel already trying to take advantage of with increased attacks as we talked about earlier Isis was largely destroyed in Syria in Iraq but their organization is now on the rise inside West Africa according to multiple sources in order to try to prevent that from happening by Keno Faso Molly and niger all the hunter military leaders anyone who's anyone from the coups are meeting to try to create a new federation they want to pull some resources of their own to fight the terrorists what they're calling the alliance of Sahel states now I'm an infringman on expert on Africa so let's see what Nate Allen and associate professor at the Africa center for Strategic Studies has to say about it all he claims that in reality the partnership is in part and effort to entrench and legitimize their military governments instead of an effort to stop terrorism because they have limited capacity that really combat them but hopefully that's not the case and they're able to finally stop the growing threat on their own next we travel over to India with a massive population of 1.4 billion people apparently India and Canada have beef now this must be the strangest two countries that a problem with each other of all time in September 2023 India suspended all visas to Canada citing quote security threats to its citizens this is because the Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused the Indian government of assassinating a sheep political and religious leader on Canadian soil this tension comes from long running separatist movements and Chic dominated areas of India's northern Punjab region India is trying to fight off an internal insurgency violence in the Punjab region dates back to Indian independence in 1947 separatists fighting reached a peak in 1980s but since died down India is a diverse country that relies on a parliamentary democracy to represent a wide range of minority groups however a recent rise in Hindu nationalism is fueling a rise in separatist movements as these groups fear losing their representation in India's government she can dep end in the north is not the only internal conflict India's managing take a look at this religious map of India notice the central Hindu population surrounded by a concentration of Christians in India's northeast in May of 2023 Indian troops were ordered to quote shoot on site and response to ku protests in the region violence against the Christian minorities appear particularly a hard hit with over 500 churches burned down and destroyed according to local Media however most of this violence has managed to slip under the radar it wasn't until day 78 of the fighting that India's Prime Minister modi publicly addressed the ethnic conflict according to the BBC the Indian government has deployed 40,000 soldiers paramilitary troops and police to the region hopefully this influx of state troops can help re-establish security in the region and restore a sense of normalcy it's important to note this region is facing increased violence India Pakistan and china all have their border disputes here and are dealing with an increased level of terrorism now that the Taliban is in control of Afghanistan we talked earlier about how Isis was destroyed in Iraq in Syria but they are reportedly popping up like guacamos Afghanistan where they have a safe Haven now according to a 2023 pentagon assessment the Islamic state is now using Afghanistan as a headquarters to coordinate attacks not just enough around the world so that begs the question what has been happening in Afghanistan since the Taliban took over are they having fun with the bureaucratic process of governing Afghanistan in November 2023 the Taliban brought a whole slew of radical laws that ban women from going to public parks universities or gyms and by radical I mean extremist now you might think the Taliban and Isis are besties but in actuality they're actually sworn enemies we don't get too much in the weeds here but basically the Taliban Isis have very different ideological beliefs sometimes the irony is too much for me relative stability no government has governed the entirety of Burma since 1941 on November 28 2023 opposition forces to myanmar's current Hunter vowed that it was the beginning of the end for their military dictatorship why does this conflict matter to you wherever you live on the geopolitical scale Myanmar shares a border with China the stability of Myanmar is of the utmost interest to China due to their Economic and strategic Investments here China has invested significantly in the infrastructure projects in Myanmar some of which are designed to limit their vulnerabilities to oil imports what happens here is important to keep an eye on in February 2021 myanmar's military ousted the democratically elected government in a coup d'etah set to cardio dance music since then a loose collection of rebel groups have struggled to retake Myanmar from the military some of the most prominent groups include pro-democracy gorillas take a look at this conflict event tracker despite the conflict continuing into its fourth year the map shows a steady growth and intensity one reason behind the recent changes is that these pro democracy rebel groups may have found in unlikely friend China Rebels have used their recent gains in the border areas between Myanmar and china to crack down hard on illegal scam and online gambling operations that have plagued Chinese authorities for years when the coup happens some suspected China of supporting The Hunter to prevent me and Mars democracy from creating links to the west however an article published in foreign policy magazine argues that returning a democracy to Myanmar could give China a more reliable economic partner the recent state loss of the border area between China and Myanmar to rebel groups means that's a curb the incessant scamming and online gambling syndicates China will now have to work with Rebels rather than the official government it's a big deal when the biggest kid on the playground is now working with the other team as the hunter continues to lose control on the ground in Myanmar their forces are now taking to the sky November saw Sevenfold increase in civilian deaths from increased airstrikes reports put 2023 as the deadliest year for civilians with an estimated 8,640 losing their life over the course of the conflict these deaths will likely only further alienate the regime and attract new Fighters to the rebel cause there are three prominent rebel groups in Myanmar together they formed the three Brotherhood Alliance however this Alliances only part of the roughly 39 different insurgencies that are fighting against the hunter like other insurgencies in New Guinea and Syria this wide variety of groups all with their own agendas means that even if the hunter are successfully overthrown there is still a high likelihood that the country will still not find complete stability however unlike Syria and New Guinea Myanmar does have some history with Dem ocracy what this means is there's hope that if rebel forces are successful they can find a way to work together to share power through a Coalition of government rather than turn towards fighting each other moving West to Armenia and Azerbaijan why does the conflict between our media and Azerbaijan matter to the rest of the world before a few years ago I couldn't find the place on a map and it's actually a strategically important location these two countries border some of the most influential nations in the world like Iran Turkey and Russia there are planning to potentially build a new massive shipping route from China that extends through here this route would circumvent the normal one that goes to Russia a lot is at stake here a lot more than some people realize the Armenia Azerbaijan conflict over the semi-autonomous nor gorno karabach region began in February of 1988 this will region that lies inside of Azerbaijan but it's historically made up of Armenians the first conflict occurred when azerb aijan declared