December 19, 2025
Why is global conflict surging? On Ian Explains, Ian Bremmer takes a look at the major wars and armed struggles taking place in a world that’s becoming more fractured, more volatile, and increasingly defined by hostility. While there were some breakthroughs in 2025—a shaky ceasefire in Gaza, averting a possible war between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan—the fact is that right now, the world is experiencing nearly 60 wars and armed conflicts. The most since the end of World War II.
President Trump has called himself the “Peace President” and spent much of his diplomatic energy this year striking peace deals in some of the world’s crises, claiming to have solved “8 of the 9 wars.” But recent clashes on the Thailand-Cambodia border as well as renowned violence in eastern Congo have observers worried some of the White House deals may not stick. Meanwhile, fighting rages on in places like Sudan, Myanmar, the Red Sea, and Africa’s Sahel region. Are they isolated crises or symptoms of a global order breaking down?
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