Monday, April 26, 2004

> Civil Wars >

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23-9-20 How The American Civil War Made Canada - Canadiana > .
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>> Civil Wars >>

A civil war is an intrastate war between organized groups within the same state (or country). A civil war is often a high-intensity conflict, often involving regular armed forces, that is sustained, organized and large-scale. Civil wars may result in large numbers of casualties and the consumption of significant resources. The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies. 

According to a 2017 review study of civil war research, there are three prominent explanations for civil war: greed-based explanations which center on individuals' desire to maximize their profits, grievance-based explanations which center on conflict as a response to socioeconomic or political injustice, and opportunity-based explanations which center on factors that make it easier to engage in violent mobilization. 

Most modern civil wars involve intervention by outside powers: about two thirds of the 138 intrastate conflicts between the end of WW2 and 2000 saw international intervention. Civil wars since 1945 have lasted on average just over four years, a dramatic rise from the one-and-a-half-year average of the 1900–1944 period. While the rate of emergence of new civil wars has been relatively steady since the mid-19th century, the increasing length of those wars has resulted in increasing numbers of wars ongoing at any one time. For example, there were no more than five civil wars underway simultaneously in the first half of the 20th century while there were over 20 concurrent civil wars close to the end of the Cold War. Since 1945, civil wars have resulted in the deaths of over 25 million people, as well as the forced displacement of millions more. Civil wars have further resulted in economic collapse; Somalia, Burma (Myanmar), Uganda and Angola are examples of nations that were considered to have had promising futures before being engulfed in civil wars.

The term "civil war" is a calque of Latin bellum civile which was used to refer to the various civil wars of the Roman Republic in the 1st century BC.


The Syrian civil war is/was an ongoing multi-sided conflict in Syria involving various state-sponsored and non-state actors. In March 2011, popular discontent with the rule of Bashar al-Assad triggered large-scale protests and pro-democracy rallies across Syria, as part of the wider Arab Spring protests in the region. After months of crackdown by the government's security apparatus, various armed rebel groups such as the Free Syrian Army began forming across the country, marking the beginning of the Syrian insurgency. By mid-2012, the insurgency had escalated into a full-blown civil war.

On 27 November 2024, it was reported that in a sudden offensive in northwestern Syria, rebels seized 13 villages, including the strategic towns of Urm Al-Sughra and Anjara, as well as Base 46, the largest Syrian regime base in the region. .... On 8 December 2024, Bashar al-Assad was reported to have fled Damascus. This was followed by an announcement by the Syrian army command to officers that the Assad regime had ended. On the same day, Russia confirmed that Assad left Syria and stepped down.


Thursday, March 20, 2003

2003-3-20 Invasion of Iraq

23-3-20 How Iraq changed in 20 years after US-led invasion | DW > .
24-1-26 Saudi Arabia's Catastrophic "Iran" Problem - Hindsight > .
23-7-25 Why US Troops Fought Wagner Mercenaries in Syria - T&P > .
23-6-3 Iraq, Iran, Syria, Hezbollah - Invasion +20 Years - gtbt > .
23-3-20 Iraq invasion & consequences - 20 years of hindsight - BBC > .

In March 2003, U.S. forces invaded Iraq vowing to destroy [fictional] Iraqi weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and end the dictatorial rule of Saddam Hussein. When WMD intelligence proved illusory and a violent insurgency arose, the war lost public support. Saddam was captured, tried, and hanged and democratic elections were held [in a society psychologically and bureaucratically unprepared for democracy]. In the years since, there have been over 4,700 U.S. and allied troop deaths, and more than one hundred thousand Iraqi civilians have been killed. Meanwhile, questions linger over Iraq’s fractious political situation.

sī vīs pācem, parā bellum

igitur quī dēsīderat pācem praeparet bellum    therefore, he who desires peace, let him prepare for war sī vīs pācem, parā bellum if you wan...