Conflicts & Crises

Current and recent conflicts, escalation risks, and battlefield updates.

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A New Myanmar Is Emerging: How a Stalemated Civil War Became a Victory for Beijing

A New Myanmar Is Emerging: How a Stalemated Civil War Became a Victory for Beijing

After five years of war, Myanmar's rebellion is fracturing, the Tatmadaw is regaining ground, and the only real winner sits across the border in China.

Simon Whistler · May 30, 2026
Pakistan Besieged: How the Balochistan Insurgency and Afghan War Are Converging at Once

Pakistan Besieged: How the Balochistan Insurgency and Afghan War Are Converging at Once

Pakistan faces a hardened Baloch insurgency, an undeclared war with Afghanistan, the TTP, and IMF dependency—all at the same time, with no clean exit.

Simon Whistler · May 29, 2026
Has Israel Bitten Off More Than It Can Chew? The Strain of a Seven-Front War

Has Israel Bitten Off More Than It Can Chew? The Strain of a Seven-Front War

Israel's near-continuous war across seven fronts is exposing manpower shortages, interceptor depletion, and a coalition collapse over the draft and settler violence.

Simon Whistler · May 28, 2026
Iran's Sleeper Cells Weren't Real. The Alternative Is Worse.

Iran's Sleeper Cells Weren't Real. The Alternative Is Worse.

Iran's threatened sleeper cells never materialized during the Iran War. What emerged instead was a gig-economy sabotage campaign that's harder to stop.

Simon Whistler · May 23, 2026
Will the RSF Defections End the War in Sudan?

Will the RSF Defections End the War in Sudan?

As founding RSF commanders defect to Sudan's army with men, weapons, and intelligence, the SAF gains its best chance to break the stalemate — at a steep moral cost.

Simon Whistler · May 23, 2026
Cuba at Zero Day: How a Fuel Collapse Became Washington's Next Regime-Change Gamble

Cuba at Zero Day: How a Fuel Collapse Became Washington's Next Regime-Change Gamble

Cuba has run out of fuel as the US tightens a post-Maduro squeeze, indicts Raúl Castro, and courts his grandson for a negotiated transition.

Simon Whistler · May 21, 2026

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The Sahel at War: When the Government Is Worse Than the Jihadists

The Sahel at War: When the Government Is Worse Than the Jihadists

Across Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso, military juntas backed by Russian mercenaries are killing more civilians than the al-Qaeda insurgency they claim to fight.

Simon Whistler · April 11, 2026
The Gaza Disarmament Deadline: Why the Ceasefire Could Split the Strip in Two

The Gaza Disarmament Deadline: Why the Ceasefire Could Split the Strip in Two

Gaza's ceasefire faces a make-or-break disarmament deadline. Inside the Board of Peace plan, Hamas's defiance, and the risk of two Gazas.

Simon Whistler · April 10, 2026
Three Deals, No Agreement: Why the US-Iran Ceasefire Collapsed in Twelve Hours

Three Deals, No Agreement: Why the US-Iran Ceasefire Collapsed in Twelve Hours

The US-Iran ceasefire fractured within a day over Lebanon, the Strait of Hormuz, and three rival versions of the deal. Here is what fell apart and why.

Simon Whistler · April 9, 2026
The Iran Ceasefire: What We Know and What We Don't

The Iran Ceasefire: What We Know and What We Don't

Inside the two-week Iran ceasefire over the Strait of Hormuz, the rival US and Iranian peace plans, the pressures that forced both sides to the table, and whether it can hold.

Simon Whistler · April 8, 2026
Iran War Update: The F-15 Rescue, a Rejected Ceasefire, and Trump's Hormuz Deadline

Iran War Update: The F-15 Rescue, a Rejected Ceasefire, and Trump's Hormuz Deadline

How US forces extracted a downed F-15E airman deep inside Iran, why Tehran rejected Pakistan's ceasefire, and the strikes converging on Iran's energy grid.

Simon Whistler · April 7, 2026
Ethiopia Has Entered Sudan's War: How Two of the Century's Worst Conflicts Could Merge

Ethiopia Has Entered Sudan's War: How Two of the Century's Worst Conflicts Could Merge

How Ethiopia's covert backing of the RSF and the fall of Kurmuk threaten to merge Sudan's civil war with the Tigray War into a regional mega-war.

Simon Whistler · April 4, 2026