T
October 29, 2022
David Ignatius, in his October 28, 2022 Washington Post column, argues that the United States should cautiously engage diplomatically with Russia. He makes a point of not being critical of the United States’ policy regarding the Ukraine war, but focuses on the more far-reaching issue avoiding WWIII, given Putin’s reckless talk about nuclear weapons.
It is hard to disagree with Mr. Ignatius’ hope that the United States and Russia communicate at least in off the record conversations to avoid making a terrible situation in Ukraine even worse. But it started me thinking, where else in the world besides Ukraine is there armed conflict ongoing in 2022. The data is startling, and bad.
Uppsala University in Sweden, with 52,000 students and ranked in the top 100 universities in the world, maintains the Department of Peace and Conflict research. The Uppsala Conflict Data Program defines war as "a state-based conflict or dyad which reaches at least 1000 battle-related deaths in a specific calendar year." Fatality figures include any combatants killed in action as well as any civilians who were deliberately killed (for example, by bombings or other attacks).
Using that definition, the World Population Review identifies, besides Russia and Ukraine,
Myannmar, where there have been more than 10,000 deaths in its civil war as of September 22, 2022; and the following list of countries with between 1,000 and 10,000 deaths during 2022, including our next door neighbor Mexico:
Category: 1,000 to 10,000 casualties in 2022 (ongoing conflicts):
Country
Type of conflict
civil war & terrorist insurgency
terrorist insurgency
civil war/drug war
terrorist insurgency
civil war
terrorist insurgency & political unrest
civil war & terrorist insurgency
drug war
terrorist insurgency
civil war
ethnic violence
terrorist insurgency
civil war
civil war
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/countries-currently-at-war. (Visited Oct. 28, 2022).
Thus, currently there are 17 countries at war, either domestically or externally, as with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In particular, about two-thirds of Africa is plagued by civil war, ethnic violence, or terrorist insurgency, as shown by the World Population Review map available at the site above.
In addition, here in the United States, so far in 2022, nearly 17,000 men, women and children have been killed by guns, which does not include the nearly 20,000 suicides by gun. https://www.gunviolencearchive.org. (Visited Oct. 29, 2022).
So while we pray for a quick and peaceful end to the Russia-Ukraine War, let’s not forget the many other places where war and violence rage, including here at home.
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