War and Terrorism. Brief definition and types.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s announcement that the United States is suspending the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty should worry everyone. […] The National Nuclear Security Administration announced that it has begun production of a new low-yield nuclear weapon […] Welcome to the new age of nuclear instability. This is a perilous time in which agreements that have restrained the most dangerous weapons on the planet are dissipating and threatening new technologies — including cyberweapons that could attack nuclear command and control systems — are advancing quickly. The likelihood of a nuclear accident or blunder seems to be growing by the day, 1 Feb 2019, The New York Times.

Donald Trump has announced he will impose “the highest level of economic sanctions” on Iran, violating an international nuclear agreement and a UN resolution, breaking decisively with US allies in Europe, and potentially triggering a new crisis in the Gulf, 9 May 2018, The Guardian.

President Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital on Wednesday and announced plans to relocate the US Embassy there, a move expected to inflame tensions in the region and unsettle the prospects for peace, 6 Dec 2017, Cnn.

You do have a military-industrial complex. They do like war, Donald Trump.

We Came, We Saw, He (Muammar Gaddafi) Died, Hillary Clinton.

The West would face an “asymmetrical, rapid, and harsh” strike if it crossed a “red line”, Russian president Vladimir Putin.

The people of China would never allow any foreign force to bully, oppress, or subjugate them. Anyone who dares try to do that will have their heads bashed bloody against the Great Wall of steel forged by over 1.4 billion Chinese people, China’s president Xi Jinping.

What is a war?

It is a conflict carried out by force of arms, either between countries, coalitions or between parties within a nation.

What types of wars are there?

1. Conventional warfare is the use of conventional weapons and battlefield tactics between opposing sovereign states, each one having access to large arsenals of military capabilities.

2. Convention warfare is related to battles between states’ regular armed forces. In opposition, unconventional warfare covers all military and quasi-military operations other than conventional warfare. It is is the support of a foreign insurgency or resistance movement against its government or an occupying power.

3. Asymmetrical warfare, insurgency, terrorism, etc. These terms are used when opposing forces are not equally matched, typically a violent conflict between a formal military force and an informal, smaller in number and less well-equipped opponent.

   For instance, the battle between Israel and some Palestinian organizations (Hamas and Islamic Jihad) is a classic case of asymmetrical warfare. Palestinian groups deploy rockets or suicide bombers against Israel and its army which is considered one of the most technologically advanced armies in the world.

4. Chemical warfare is the use of highly toxic man-made chemicals in battle, such as tear gas, sulfur mustard, or pepper spray, to kill, injure or incapacitate an enemy. Biological warfare is the deliberate use of biological toxins or infectious agents such as bacteria, viruses, insects, and fungi to produce disease and death in humans, livestock, and crops.

   The Geneva Protocol is a treaty prohibiting the use of chemical and biological weapons in international armed conflicts.

5. Nuclear warfare is the use of nuclear weapons (atomic, hydrogen, and neutron bombs) as a military strategy against enemies. Hiroshima and Nagasaki are good examples of this kind of warfare. They show in unequivocal terms that nuclear warfare is terrible, devastating, and should never be unleashed.

6. Civil war is a violent conflict between organized groups within a nation. It involves an internal conflict between warring factions, split along ethnic, religious, cultural or linguistic identities.

   

7. Cyberwarfare is an extension of policy by actions taken in cyberspace (cyber espionage, industrial sabotage, denial-of-service attack, cyber propaganda -the effort to control information in whatever form it takes and influence public opinion-, etc.) by state actors (or by non-state actors with significant state direction or support) that constitute a serious threat to another state’s security, or an action of the same nature taken in response to a serious threat to a state’s security (actual or perceived) (Shakarian, Paulo).

Ongoing armed conflicts

Some of the deadliest wars and conflicts of the 21st century are the war in Afghanistan, the Mexican drug war, the Yemeni Crisis, and the Tigray War. However, Taiwan is the biggest risk for a USA-China confrontation or maybe World War 3 and the risk of miscalculation is growing.

“Asia is sliding into a dangerous arms race as smaller nations that once stayed on the sidelines build arsenals of advanced long-range missiles, following in the footsteps of powerhouses China and the United States,” reuters.com, 20th July 2021.