Conflicts, wars, skirmishes and "incidents" - where is the intel?
I need a list of websites detailing current/latest conflicts worldwide. That and info on the arms trade in relation to those conflicts. So far I am using the websites of the biggest regional news agencies, and scan them for military info, also a few scientific publications, even a few blogs. So far I have found the below to be most useful for this purpose:
en.rian.ru – Ria Novosti, Russian News Agency
www.pap.pl – Polish Press Agency
uk.reuters.com – everybody has heard of Reuters
http://www.xinhuanet.com – Chinese News Agency
www.aljazeera.com – Al Jazeera, naturally
http://www.cfr.org/ – the Council on Foreign Relations (US)
www.nato.int – the NATO website
and to a lesser extent, the UN website – www.un.org/en/peace
Even Vice News has some interesting material (like the piece on arms trade conventions in the Middle East they did a while ago).
Also the American Foreign Affairs journal, the British (though for some reason highly US-centric) The Economist (should be “The worldwide conflict and political news with a pinch of economics to justify the name” imho), and the Polish New Eastern Europe quarterly, can all be quite useful for digging out related information.
That is the problem though. I have to dig through a myriad of websites and publications to get to the latest info, AND get a more or less unbiased view of what is going on. I was wondering if perhaps there is a website that covers armed conflicts exclusively and provides solid, objective information on all/most of the current conflicts, big and small (and micro). Maybe I’m missing something here.
Wish there was something like a “Linked-In for mercenaries” ;-)
Appreciate suggestions to supplement the above list.
Cheers,
the fremen (otherwise known, from this moment onwards, as Bazooka Bob)
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10 Answers
@BazBo
Wow, you’ve already got far more resources than I’ve known about the subject.
Sorry I don’t have anything to add but thanks for the great list. It may seem difficult but there sure is a lot more information at our fingertips than there used to be.
As far as I can tell for more detail it’s different for each case. Regional upstart websites will have the boots-on-the-ground intel.
Snopes might provide you with information on matters inaccurately circulated on the internet. For example, I got a forward this morning concerning Obamacare and Muslim exemptions, and the word Dhimmitude. I sent it on then decided to look it up. On Snopes I found that such forwards are false in their assertions.
This looks like a good source but I didn’t have time to thoroughly check it out. It’s called The Armed Conflict Database from the IISS.
They mention a 30 day free trial subscription.
”• contains the latest information on all conflicts, including political developments, military trends and the types of weapons being used
• provides details on the parties involved, and analysis on the human – including fatality and refugee numbers
• provides an historical background, event timeline and annual assessment, for each conflict
• includes a list of selected non-state armed groups, their estimated strength, origin, political or ideological aims, and areas of operation.”
I think this summary on Wikipedia of current armed conflicts could be a good jumping off point for further exploration. I would take each conflict mentioned and google for further info perhaps adding in the search term arms trade.
@Earthgirl it certainly looks promising, thank you for the thoughtful, detailed answer. They say they’re global, they look American, and seem relatively unbiased at first glance; do you know by any chance where they are based out of? i.e. what sort of bias I should be expecting (if any)?
@fremen_warrior Unfortunately nothing is perfect, so nothing is perfectly unbiased. :) A gquick google search turned up this
But I still think this could provide the sort of info you’re looking for.
I followed some of the links on their website, that is the IISS, and I searched for more articles about the arms supply situation. Here is a list of articles. Perhaps you could get free access through a library in your area.
SIPRI might be worth a look but you have to subscribe to access a lot of the information.
“Wish there was something like a “Linked-In for mercenaries” ;-)”
I can’t believe there isn’t. Maybe they’ll find you through this question. ;)
“Linked-in for mercenaries” Probably just get on the mailing list at Blackwater/Xe.
Although I suppose there are a lot of independents in that field.
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