Conflicts Around The Globe

Pakistans fight against the Taliban

2009-10-17T23:33:00.000-07:00

Hello!!!!

Wow, how much as changed and yet how much has remained the same. The post below mentions Pakistan's fight against the Taliban in SWAT, and now, Pakistan is in a new conflict in South Waziristan. After a week of attacks on Pakistan's most secure installations, the government has finally decided to wage war against the Taliban and completely get rid of them. Unbelievably, Pakistan was trying to find a way of living with the Taliban or somehow have more cease-fires, but those didn't work in December, they sure are not going to work now. Now 28,000 Pakistan soldiers are fighting around 25,000 Taliban (including Uzbek Militants, although their number are not certain). Even though there aren't as many refugees expected (from 2 million before, to 500,000 now), it is still a very hard time for people in South Waziristan, as people's homes have been flatten and many civilians have died in this now 2 day conflict.

Two Big Events

2009-05-25T18:58:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!!!!

Two big events happened, first the Tamil Tigers were defeated by Sri Lankan Government forces, in a conflict that displaced 280,000 civilians; the battle was fierce, but it had to be done and the Tamil Tigers leader was killed (supposedly) which has made the remaining Tamil Tigers pursue a peace deal with the government, which the government is rejecting. This is a big step forward though, just a couple of weeks ago, the Tamil Tigers were using aircraft to attack buildings, the only terrorist organization with aircraft, no longer the case, after 25 years of conflict, its over, for good.

The second big event is Pakistan, on April 26, finally taking a HUGE step forward in the fight against the Taliban in the SWAT valley (in the past, a tourist destination) who are in controlling of about 30% of Pakistan's northern region. The Pakistani army, in Operation Black Thunderstorm, have been fighting a battle against the Taliban in an effort to retake Shangla, Buner, SWAT, and Lower Dir from the Taliban's forceful, stubborn grip. 2.4 million people have so far fled the SWAT valley. So far the conflict is, according to the Pakistani government forces "painfully slow", since they now have to go house by house looking for militants, while at the same time looking out for booby traps in said houses. The government forces have used helicopters to weed out the militants in an effort to get rid of them. Below is a video of these attacks.

So far in the conflict, 69 government forces have died, while 1,160 militants have been killed. The number of civilians kills is unknown, but about 1 to 5 million are far from their homes as refugees. This is an excellent help for the US fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan, this is what was needed, I wonder though if Iraq will just get worse while Afghanistan gets a little better, the opposite was happening in recent months.

Oh btw, yes North Korea tested a nuclear bomb, the one in 2006 had the force of 1 kiloton of TNT, this one had the power of 20 kiloton of TNT, it caused a 4.5 earthquake. North Korea is just showing off, the first word that pops into my head when the North Korean government (dictatorship) is mentioned is PROPAGANDA.

2009-03-15T18:30:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone, on the day that 4 US soldiers were killed in an explosion in Afghanistan, while the mayor of Kandahar survived another attack, the number of US casualties has hit 666, a scary number, both in the amount and the number itself.

Coalition Military Fatalities By Year

Year	US	Other	Total
2009	36	28	64
2008	155	139	294
2007	117	115	232
2006	98	93	191
2005	99	32	131
2004	52	7	59
2003	48	9	57
2002	49	20	69
2001	12	0	12
Total	666	443	1109

source: http://icasualties.org/oef/

Tamil Tiger's, Who Are These People?

2009-02-20T21:40:00.000-08:00

Hello, hope you are doing well. As you may know, Gaza is in ruins, hopefully going to be successfully rebuilt, but with so much destruction, its hard to say when it'll be back to normal. Now there is a "new" conflict, The Tamil Tigers rebels in Sri Lanka, called, "Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)". This conflict have been going on for a while, yet people outside of South Asia may not know too much about it.

The Tamil Tigers are trying to establish a separate state from Sri Lanka, and create a Tamil State, they are recognized as a terrorist organization, and rightly so. The Tamil tigers are responsible for explosions, suicide attacks, killings, recruitment of child soldiers, ethnic cleansing (against Muslims and Sinhalese from areas in their control), piracy, credit card fraud, and smuggling arms, and god knows what else. This conflict brings memories of the "mujahideen", not in the tactic they use (though not dissimilar), but in the fact that many people don't know these people, similarly to how we didn't know what a Taleban or Al-Qaeda was a few years back (the good old days), we found out what those were once the United States was attacked, now we will know the Tamil Tigers only if they are stupid enough to attack (not likely, except maybe a US embassy).

The Tamil Tigers are particularly dangerous, because they are the only rebel organization who has possession of aircraft! Aircraft, for a terrorist organization, surely that's a scary thought, although now they have appeared in the spotlight, for their recent fights against the Sri Lankan army, but also for their attack on Columbo, Sri Lanka, the largest city in Sri Lanka. They have attacked with two propreller airplanes, both shot down with anti-aircraft guns, one landed on a building, killing the occupants inside. The other plane fell on the Sri Lankan airport. The Tamil fighters have been mostly defeated by the Sri Lankan army in the past few weeks, they are now in a small part of the jungle, in the north of Sri Lanka. These attacks are obviously a last ditch effort, possibly to damage any targets, for instance the nearby air force headquarters. They have lost though, all that needs to happen now is the capture of their leader, Vellupillai Prabhakaran, which will end this stupid land grab attempt, that only destroys lives.

Yeah, I'm talking to you FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia)

Hamas In Denial

2009-01-21T15:44:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone, and Welcome to a New World. The Gaza-Israeli war ended on January 18, by the time Obama was made the 44th president of the United states, Israeli troops left the pile of a mess that is the Gaza Strip. Hamas now proclaims it has won, unfortunately, it is just propaganda, the people of Gaza know this. On the day of celebration for the, "great victory over Israel", almost no citizens came out to celebrate. How can people celebrate, when the area that is the Gaza Strip, is seen by everybody as an, "earthquake-looking zone". Gaza did not win, it was whipped by Israel until submission, and in about a week, Hamas will, stupidly try to shoot more rockets towards Israel, which will be meet by a very hard response by the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces).

Palestinians in Gaza, and around the world, know this is not even close to a win against Israel. More than 1,300 Palestinians killed, thousands more injured, without water, or shelter, not to mention, thousands of buildings crumbled or severely damaged. Unfortunately, Gaza has stupid leaders, I mean the stupidest people you can find, people who just do not get it: Violence Does Not Work (unless in self-defense). Hamas' exiled political leader, Khaled Meshaal says, "This is the first war we have won, the first real and large-scale war. That is why the battle in Gaza is a real turning point in the struggle against the Zionist enemy", which exactly shows what I mean. Someone who has seen the destruction cannot say they beat anybody, at anything, the only thing Hamas did is get citizens in the way, enough of them to cause International pressure to stop Israel (as always the case). Hamas is nothing now, Israel has shown its aggressive, too aggressive for some, and will not stop (unless international pressure gets in the way, similar to what happened in the war against Hezbollah). Having stupid leaders, like Gaza has, will only make things worse. The rebuilding of Gaza will cost billions, and yet, Hamas is going to start shooting rockets again! On Sunday! The idiots are gonna provoke Israel, yet again! Someday they'll realize that rebuilding is the way to go forward, not looking at the past, not fighting some war against your, "Zionist Enemy", Israel. Time to forget the past, Hamas.

Humanitarian Crisis In Gaza. Cease-Fire in future? Threat Of Hezbollah Getting Involved. Update in Afghanistan

2009-01-07T23:11:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone, hope your safe :). During the past couple of hours, I have come across a lot of images and video of families, men, women, children, teenagers, elderly, pets, innocent bystanders, people who need help. Israel, faced with international pressure to implement a cease-fire, has allowed, for some days, three hours at a time, to cease fighting to open "humanitarian corridors", and allow humanitarian aid, for the people of Gaza. Ever since the ground incursion began, 683 Palestinians died, while 3,085 have been injured, with 11 Israelis dead, 7 soldiers (apparently some died from "friendly-fire", cover-up perhaps?), and 4 Israeli citizens who died from rocket attacks. These numbers will, unfortunately, be outdated by the time this is posted. During the three hours cease-fire, people in Gaza have a chance to go shopping for life's necessities, everything from food to medical supplies. The saddest is that children, during this short three hour cease-fire, can play outside in the playground, I am sure the children feel, it is not enough. The UN also does not feel the three hours are enough to deliver ALL the supplies needed. The situation has become critical, with medical supplies running short, and only two foreign doctors helping.

France has managed to have an agreement that Hamas and Israel, actually want to consider. The Franco-Egyptian Initiative is probably not going to be implemented though, since it is not tough enough, from an Hamas or Israeli perspective. Israel wants to stop rocket attacks into its southern cities, and to stop weapon smuggling to Gaza, from Egypt. Hamas wants to end the blockade that prevents it to trade supplies, and to bring in people. This initiative has at least planted the seeds of good, somewhere.

This conflict is getting even more dangerous. Five Rockets, from Lebanon, have been fired into northern Israel, which makes you think, "Is Hezbollah, watching images of Israel strike Gaza, felt a need to act?". Israel responded, with artillery fire, that they say, hit precisely where the attack came from. This attack, probably came from a Hezbollah supporter, but probably not from Hezbollah itself. Hezbollah, in May, will want to secure their win in the parliamentary elections, which will help it stay in power, they cannot afford to be involed in this conflict. Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah has expressed concern, regarding a possible Israeli attack in Lebanon. Nasralled feels, "[They] are ready for any aggression, Death to Israel! If you come to our villages, our lands, our neighborhoods, you Zionists will discover that the 2006 Lebanon-Israeli war was nothing compared to what you'll face this time". Strong words, unfortunately he's right, they are stronger than before the war. If too much time passes, Hezbollah must, will, has to, feel SOMETHING, must have the urge to ATTACK! STRIKE! If the conflict keeps up, it will happen.

After all this time, we must all feel this is all that is happening, when it comes to conflicts, unfortunately, this is not the case. 20,000 US troops will go to Afghanistan in this countries own surge. In Afghanistan, U.S. led forces (US troops assisted), have killed 32 insurgents, who where making bombs, in an Eastern Afghanistan cell, they were part of the Taliban. The US led forces fought off 75 insurgents, and destroyed the materials that make bombs and weapons caches. Nearby residents complained that building actually were destroyed, when the materials and weapons were destroyed, killing innocent civilians, at least 22 bodies, they say, were recovered. While Afghanistan was the model for a successful war, a model for US troops in Iraq, unfortunately, a revived Taliban insurgency has made 2008 the deadliest for US troops in Afghanistan, 151 dead in 2008.

Shocking Facts You Did Not Know A Minute Ago - What does it all mean?

2009-01-06T21:35:00.000-08:00

Hello :), I came across a very interesting video showcasing fascinating, interesting facts, that will surely affect us in the coming years. Of course, this facts, I assure you, will affect modern warfare. For instance, one of the most, hope-inducing, imagination-inspiring, is the fact that, "We are currently preparing students for jobs that don't yet exist...using technologies that haven't been invented...in order to solve problems we don't even know are problems yet". While it may seem far-fetched, I wonder how many of those problems are related to warfare. How to build the most destructive satellite, like the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) nicknamed "Star Wars" program during the Cold War in the '80's. How about, Biological Warfare, surely terrorist are coming up with a way to deliver their poisons easily, cheaply, and efficiently. This is unfortunately, one of the most probable methods of terrorism the United States may encounter in the future.

"We are living in exponential times". They cite evidence of 31 billion google searches, A MONTH in 2008, compared to 2.7 billion in 2006. "To whom were these questions addressed B.G.? (Before Google)". Hmm I wonder? The potential for good and bad is huge, it is now easier to know many things, quickly, efficiently, and without cost. This makes it easier for terrorist to get their hands on valuable information, of course, as long as they can cover their tracks, a google search of, "Home-made Bomb" can't be good when the F.B.I. is onto you. I, of course, use search extensively, almost to the point of obsession, as seen on this picture of my browser taken a while ago.

One of the most interesting facts, which would be extremely beneficial for all parts of life is, "NTT Japan has successfully tested a fiber optic cable...that pushes 14 trillion bits per second down a single strand of fiber", that is "2660 CD's or 210 million phone calls every second." Even more amazing is that, "It is currently tripling every six months, and is expected to do so for the new 20 years." Just imagine the possibilities for life in general, but also for warfare, a soldier could receive footage, dozens of Gigabytes in size (for quality purposes) sent right into a computer, showing important strategical information, and showing the enemies movement across a battlefield. Once this can be achieved wirelessly, the world could get a lot more dangerous, especially with these smart phones gaining widespread popularity outside Japan and Korea, who have the best, most technologically advanced phones, they don't even look at an iPhone ( US companies are behind, because other countries use only one network, and invest in it, unlike US cell companies who use two different ones, Verizon and Sprint use the CDMA network, while AT&T and T-Mobile use the GSM network, makes it impossible to have the networks be compatible to other phones). Law enforcement will gain much from it, with cop cars possibly having this available, the digital TV transition, currently slated for February 19, is already freeing up valuable airwaves for fire, ambulance, police, who need it.

The most interesting and most scary (if you believe, "The Matrix" could happen in real life) is, "By 2013, a supercomputer will be build that exceeds the computational capabilities of the human brain", furthermore, "Predictions are that by 2049, a $1000 computer will exceed the computational capabilities of the entire human species." Let me be the first to say, I'm not thinking of how great this will play the latest, "Call of Duty" or any other game, but how this will completely change how we, as a species, will live. I would imagine a computer that powerful would have restrictions placed on it, just for the sake of safety, why would the average person need so much power? I surely wouldn't want a terrorist having that much power, for so cheaply, which is already happening. Here is the video, hosted at http://liveleak.com/

Fighting in Gaza, a Proxy War against Iran?

2009-01-04T22:45:00.000-08:00

As I type, the Israeli troops, tanks, naval, and airforce are fighting a ground war against Hamas. News organizations are reporting Gaza as, "split in two". Gaza is being invaded from three different points. Israeli troops are going to Belt Lahiya, Gaza City, and Khan Yunis, all in an effort to stop more than a week of rocket attacks to southern cities in Israel, as far away as Be'ersheba, more than 20 miles from Gaza. So far 70 people (and rising) have been killed, and only one Israeli soldier killed. 2500 palestinians are wounded, as hospitals are overcrowded with injured people, crying to help. Aid to these hospitals is hard to come by since it is dangerous to transport supplies.

All the fighting in Gaza has one purpose, to stop Hamas firing rocket attacks toward Israel, but the real way to stop this is to stop Hamas itself. Lets be clear, nobody thinks of Hamas as a legitimate government, it is a terrorist organization. It fires rockets unprovoked, is that not a terror attack toward Israel?, who Hamas hates to the core. Hamas believes in eradicating Israel and establishing a Palestinian state all throughout Israel, Gaza, and the Westbank. Hamas doesn't even want Israel to exist, which Fatah (the previous party in Gaza) at least recognizes Israel. How does this relate to Iran? Iran does not even recognize Israel either. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, president of Iran (although Ayatollah, the Supreme Leader of Iran, holds more power) has said Israel should be wiped off the map. Hamas is funded by Iran, even if Hamas is Sunni and Iran is Shia, Iran still supports Hamas' efforts. If Israel can bring down Hamas, then all those people in Arab States who believe taking down radicals like Hamas can make a Palestinian statehood a reality, will be emboldened with confidence against Iran. If Hamas "wins", similar to how Hezbollah managed an embarrasing stalemate against Israel, then Iran will benefit from Hamas' victory. Can the international pressure against Israel, stop Israel from successfully giving Hamas a crippling blow? Maybe, similar to how international pressure stopped Israel from totally eradicating Hezbollah, thus allowing Hezbollah to re-stock its supplies, making them stronger than before the war started.

The Iranian people are not evil, it is the radical thinking of people like Ahmadinejad that makes Iran look bad. Iran is not like the Taleban in Afghanistan, the image in America that it gets comes from Ahmadinejad's ridiculous statements against Israel. Saying, "the Holocaust is a myth" can sure give a country a very bad image, which is what Ahmadinejad did. I just hope they don't pull down Venezuela or any other country that Ahmadinejad supports.

My ignorance, our ignorance. What about the Gaza-Israeli Conflict?

2009-01-03T22:16:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone, this is my first post! :D I decided to start this blog, because I am terribly interested in what is happening around the world. I am especially interested in conflicts around the globe, and am amazed more people are not. Of course then I realize, most people may be depressed by this. Some may feel as, it does not matter to them, it does not matter to anyone around them. I find that eventually, someday, it will matter to you, as unfortunately we found out on September 11. Before that, did any of us even care about what was going on in the Middle East? or anywhere else? no and yes, some of us cared, and some of us cared, but did not bother to care enough to even know what was going on. For instance, did you know that over 400 people were killed on Christmas Day in Congo, by Ugandan rebels called, "Lord's Resistance Army" (LRA)? People's lips were cut off. Terrible events like this happened, yet we didn't know.

Osama Bin Laden was a big deal to the CIA, all the way back to 1998, he was a wanted man back then, now of course you know what happened. Back in 1979, Osama Bin Laden joined a Palestinian Sunni called Abdullah Yusuf Azzam, who was fighting against the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan. Essentially, he was "allies" with the United States in a way, since we were fighting a Cold War with the Soviet Union, now thankfully known as the Russian Federation (the deal with South Ossetia and Georgia was "iffy", but at least its over now, at least for now) so essentially we were helping them by providing weapons and training, though this is something that is not terribly hard to figure out. The US and others, gave aid to the "mujahideen" or a muslim freedom fighter (or terrorist depending on who you ask) who is in a jihad, a struggle, a religious duty. Eventually Osama Bin Laden split from Abdullah and started the beginnings of Al-Qaeda, to fight the Soviets. He was successful in getting the Soviets out, make life hard for them while in Afghanistan. Once the Soviets got out, came civil war in Afghanistan, that's where the Taleban come in. By 1998, Taleban was well established in Afghanistan, and was the primary ruling force in the country. The Taleban provided assistance to Osama who in return provided a lot of money and other support to the Taleban. Once the September 11 terrorist attacks where carried out, the Taleban became the United State's primary target, as you know, they are now gone, only their surviving "fans" survive, which have been giving the US forces a lot of trouble.

Imagine, if you knew what a "mujahideen" was, or where Afghanistan was in a map, back in 1998? Would you have foreseen something bad in the future? I sure did not know, in fact, the September 11 attacks came as an extremely rude awakening. On the morning of September 11, I woke up for school, a 10th grader waking up to another day of school. As I am eating breakfast, cereal, imagine my "amusement" as my parents, watching television at 6:30AM, told me that a plane had hit a building. I quickly dashed to the television, saw smoke from some small building coming out, then went right back to eating breakfast at the table. Imagine that. Imagine my ignorance as I ate breakfast, while all of this was happening. I just didn't know what was going on obviously. Once I did, I went nuts, realizing what was happening, friends at school, in the morning thought I was lying when I told them that a big commercial jet crashed into the World Trade Center. As I was sitting in class, watching the news coverage on television, I was thoroughly engaged and amazed at what I was witnessing. From the moment I got back home, I turned on the television, switched to CNN (which before then, I ignored) and watched it, for hours, for the following months. From that day forward, my ignorance was smacked in the face by knowledge. Big huge smack.

GAZA-ISRAELI CONFLICT, where did our big smack come for this? Remember the war Hezbollah had with Israel back in 2006? Yeah, essentially what is happening now is a repeat of what happened then. Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel, Israel responded, to protect from further attacks, by bombing (courtesy of the IAF - Israeli Air Force) and afterwards a ground assault, which is happening right now as I type, in Gaza. How did the Israel-Lebanon conflict end? The United Nations helped by getting a resolution in place, then this resolution was approved by Israel and Lebanon. Israel started to remove its troops, Hezbollah stopped firing, this ceasefire helped alleviate tensions. Hezbollah still fired rockets, but Israel didn't respond. Weeks later finally it was over, even if there was fighting after the ceasefire, it was over. Israel restraint itself, and Hezbollah disarmed groups. Similar ceasefire agreement was tried in the present Gaza-Israeli Conflict, but while Egypt and Lybia made the ceasefire, the US and UK rejected it because it did not say anything about Hamas and its firing of rockets, so here we are, with Israel's incursion into Gaza. Right now, Israeli forces are fighting Hamas soldiers. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak feels, "We have an all-out war against Hamas and its kind", essentially, they are at a war, while meant to stop Hamas and its rocket-firing into Israel southern region, it still means they want to bring down Hamas, even if they say that is not the intention. Is it? We have no way of knowing, although we can use our brains and figure out a logical conclusion to that question. Even now, Hamas fires rockets into Israel, fueling Israel's purpose of bombing, and now, invading Gaza. 25% of the over 460 Palestinians killed, were citizens, this number could rise, both, in the hours ahead.

edit: The taleban are not entirely gone, just not as they used to be before the invasion. It is ongoing and constant edits pointless but clarification is always nice =)