Wars and Rumors of Wars

“Wars will continue to flare up between sinful human beings as long as they live in this fallen world, in which Satan is at work…. Christ himself declared there would continue to be ‘wars and rumours of war’ [Matthew 24:6]…. Only when he returns in glory to bring this world to its end and fully subjugate Satan will war cease.”

So says The Lutheran Study Bible, “Divine Warfare,” p. 376. That doesn’t mean we have to like it. We must acknowledge that we’re stuck with warfare, hoping and praying to keep it manageable.

But that’s a tall order at the moment, considering that nine countries now hold a total of 12,000 nuclear weapons.

The Current Top 10 Most Deadly Conflicts

Granted, Russia and the U.S. hold more than 90 per cent of those 12,000 weapons. But as tensions escalate around the globe, that’s hardly reassuring.

Here are the most violent conflicts currently being waged around the planet, with their minimum estimated fatalities over the last two years:

• Russia vs. Ukraine: 98,000
• Israel vs. Hamas: 43,000
• West African insurgencies/terrorism: 24,000
• Sudan Civil War: 14,000
• Myanmar conflict: 13,000
• Mexican drug cartel violence: 11,000
• Boko Haram insurgency (Nigeria/Niger/Chad): 9,000
• Somali Civil War: 8,000
• Ethiopia civil conflict: 8,000
• Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) counterinsurgency/conflict with Rwanda, 7,500.

Let’s look briefly at each of these 10 conflicts with their causes

Russia vs. Ukraine: This is the world’s most significant conflict right now and has been since Moscow invaded its former Soviet province in 2022, citing the oppression of ethnic Russians and NATO’s overtures to Kyiv. To date, the Biden administration, with Republican support, has sent well over $175 billion in military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine. 

All Ukrainian territory from the Crimean peninsula to the northeast bordering Russia is now in the latter’s hands, while the latest Ukrainian counterattack into Russian territory is actually a relatively small salient. However, the situation is complicated because most major news outlets have abandoned objective reporting for pro-Zelensky cheerleading. 

Peace anytime soon is unlikely, as the Ukrainians are the victims, and the Russians feel betrayed by the West. Ukraine has little hope of defeating the more extensive, powerful Russian military in the long term. (And Kyiv is wearing out its welcome in Berlin, at least, as it turns out it was the Ukrainians, not the Russians, who blew up the Nordstream pipeline.) 

This is a war between two Orthodox Christian nations. The situation is byzantine, but the Ukrainian government is now persecuting the Orthodox churches affiliated with Moscow, to which about 20% of the population belongs.  

Israel vs. Hamas: The latest round of this millennia-old conflict kicked off last October when the jihadist group broke an agreement and massacred more than 800 Israeli civilians, in addition to military members. Israel’s understandably massive response, including its invasion of Gaza, has claimed the lives of more than 40,000 Palestinians if the latter’s counts are accurate (always questionable when they come from a terrorist organization). 

Of course, Hamas is really only Iran’s proxy in Tehran’s apocalyptic attempt to erase the “Zionist entity” of Israel from the map. Iran also goads its other puppets, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in distant Yemen, to attack Israel. The US has long supported Israel, giving it more foreign aid than any other country since World War II. Evangelical Christian backing, in particular among Republicans, has pushed this. 

But the Democratic Party is increasingly dominated by “anti-Israel progressives.” 

Ceasefires come and go in this struggle, but the overall conflict will continue to boil because the Iranian regime and Hamas don’t want peace with Israelis; they simply want them dead. However, the small Palestinian Orthodox Christian community in Gaza that has been caught in the crossfire between the two nations may beg to differ.

West African violence: This series of conflicts stretches from Mali to Chad, with governments battling Islamic terrorists and the latter groups fighting each other. The major players are Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wa-al-Muslimin (“Support Organization for Islam and Muslims), affiliated with al-Qaidah, and various Islamic State-linked groups. 

Although the new government in Niger recently kicked the USA out and invited the Russians in instead. This low-grade but deadly warfare will continue as long as jihadism does — which is to say, for the foreseeable future. This is an inter-Muslim conflict involving very few Christians.

Sudanese Civil War: The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), led by Abd al-Fattah al-Burhan, are fighting the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) under Muhammad Hamdan Daqlu, or “Hemedti” (whom some Sudanese supposedly consider the Mahdi). 

Egypt backs the SAF, the United Arab Emirates, and Russia backs the RSF. Saudi Arabia has been trying to broker a peace deal. 

The current administration sponsors peace talks in Switzerland, although only the RSF has sent a delegation. The bottom line is that the conflict won’t end anytime soon. Again, this conflict is almost entirely between rival Muslim political and military groups, which Sudan has experienced since the Ottoman Empire.

Myanmar civil war: This violent political disunity is exacerbated by ethnoreligious strife in the country formerly known as Burma. The military staged a coup in 2021 after its political wing lost elections. 

The junta then cracked down on opponents, predominantly the Muslim Rohingya minority, which the Buddhist majority disliked. Considering modern Myanmar’s many coups and constant ethnic strife, any peaceful cessation of the current troubles will likely be temporary. Christians, who make up about 6% of the country’s 55 million people and a majority in the Chin state, are also targeted for persecution by the military junta.

More Conflicts

Mexican drug cartel violence: Unlike other conflicts on this list, Mexico’s troubles stem from rival drug gangs fighting each other and the federal government. In fact, the central criminal groups effectively control different parts of the country. 

Also, the death toll may be much higher than reported if the many tens of thousands of “disappeared” Mexicans are, in fact, dead (as is likely). 

Trump wanted to designate the cartels as “terrorists,” but “experts” ultimately persuaded him not to do so. But even the Biden administration admitted that Chinese companies are complicit in Mexico’s fentanyl trade, which kills 100,000 Americans yearly. 

Although Mexico is predominantly Catholic, many of the cartels venerate syncretistic “narco saints” like Santa Muerte — a practice condemned by the Vatican.

Boko Haram insurgency: The jihadist group in northern Nigeria started out allied with the Islamic State but later broke with it — not over Islamic ideology (they all agree as fundamentalist Sunnis) but over power. 

It’s also become active in neighbouring countries, employing suicide attacks and regular military tactics against government forces, Christians, and other Muslim groups. The Ansaru offshoot is also problematic: In the last decade, these two groups have killed at least 50,000 Nigerian Christians, mostly Catholics. 

Boko Haram remains powerful and will continue to be, drawing on the jihadist imperative of Islam and the dysfunctionality of these African states.

Somali civil war: This conflict has three antagonists: the feeble government, the al-Qaida-linked group al-Shabaab, and the Islamic State. The US and African Union are militarily assisting the Mogadishu government. Ethiopia has also invaded several times to go after al-Shabaab. Since the country is over 99% Muslim, this conflict is also really part of the ongoing global battle between Islamic factions.

Ethiopian civil conflict: Ethnic and religious divisions have plagued Africa’s second most populous nation for years. No one ethnic group constitutes a majority, although Oromo and Amhara are the largest and generally hold power. 

Ethiopia is Africa’s most prominent Christian nation, with 67% of the populace identifying as such. Almost half of Ethiopians are Orthodox, but more than 10 million are Lutheran—making it the largest Lutheran country in the world. However, it’s also one-third Muslim. 

The most recent bout of warfare saw the central government fighting another group, the Tigrayans. After that ended, fighting erupted between federal forces and regional militias. Ethiopia has also threatened Eritrea, which broke away in 1993 and whose control of the Red Sea coastline keeps Ethiopia landlocked. America provides humanitarian aid to Ethiopia and only admits to nonlethal military assistance. The conflict has lessened but shows no signs of resolution.

DRC civil war: DRC is one of four countries on that continent with more than 100 million people (along with Nigeria, Ethiopia and Egypt). It’s home to a dozen major ethnic groups speaking many languages, with French as a common tongue (thanks to decades as a Belgian colony). 

DRC is over 90% Christian, primarily Catholic. More than over 100 armed groups operate there, including Islamic State (although DRC is less than 2% Muslim); some are funded by neighbouring Uganda and Rwanda. 

DRC has the world’s largest cobalt reserves and massive amounts of copper, gold, and lithium. China has gained control of that wealth by supplying Kinshasha with weapons. This remains the most dangerous flash point in Africa. 

The Second Congo War, fought between DRC, Rwanda, and Uganda from 1998-2003, killed between three million and five million people. In 2021, the US assisted both DRC and Ugandan government forces against the so-called “Allied Democratic Forces,” an IS-linked group. 

Are Wars Getting More Frequent or Bloody?

Are wars and violent conflicts increasing in scope and severity? Though interstate wars have increased since 1870, one can also claim that “we’re living through one of the most peaceful times in human history.”

The approximate death toll for the top ten deadliest current conflicts totals about 235,000. Even doubled amounts to a small percentage of the world’s eight billion people. 

However, some of those conflict areas, particularly central Africa, have seen much more massive fatalities in recent years. And, of course, the current conflicts involving nuclear powers (Russia, Israel) have horribly destructive potential. At the same time, the China-Taiwan, Korean, and India-Pakistan face-offs are also fraught with atomic danger.

America’s military budget of $831 billion is already more significant than the following nine nations combined, with $35 trillion in debt.