Proxy wars everywhere, the planet already in flames ...

The planet is full of serious conflicts and the definition of war probably needs to be redefined in our era

by system failure

We read and hear the term "proxy war" with an increasing frequency inside the blogosphere and through various analyses. Has the type of wars changed dramatically? Do we need to redefine the term "war"? It appears that after September 11, 2001 attacks the new type of the so-called "proxy wars" has been adopted not only by terrorists and groups of extremists, but even by the most powerful nations too.

War probably needs to be redefined in a sense that either it is not conducted directly by nations, or, nations themselves simulate methods more familiar to paramilitary groups, avoiding a full force conflict in open front. Moreover, the line between victory and defeat is not clear at all, and in most cases it is of less importance.

A list of recent proxy or proxy-type wars

After the 2003 invasion of Iraq, we meet the new type of wars more and more frequently. A short list includes:

• The 2006 Lebanon War, which was actually a war between Israel and Hezbollah. Although many support that Israel has been defeated by a non-national army, the result remains controversial. The war is also considered sometimes as an Iran–Israel proxy conflict.

• The continuous Gaza-strip war. A type of ongoing/interrupted war conducted by Israel. The cause of this ongoing conflict is often presented by the Western media as the Hamas aggression through rockets inside the Israeli territory. However, Israel exhibits always excessive violence causing the deaths of many Palestinian civilians, while blocking humanitarian aid, which shows that there is an intention of ethnic cleansing in this overpopulated small piece of land and its final occupation by Israel.

• The war in Afghanistan. After the US invasion and their allies at the beginning of the previous decade, the type of war in Afghanistan has changed dramatically. It appears that the US are seeking a way to withdraw forces from another dead-end war, which turns out to be extremely costly and inexpedient. The US are currently using Afghanistan as one of the experimental fields for a new type of war through Unmanned Aerial Vehicles known as drones. Although this type of war supposedly conducted against specific targets (dangerous terrorists), there is plenty of evidence about the high inaccuracy of these systems causing the death of many innocents.

• The war in Syria. The Western official position propagated by the mainstream media, is that the war was caused by the brutal Assad regime during the Arab spring. The reality is that this is another proxy war by the Western puppets against the Russian influence in the East Mediterranean and Iran, by trying to throw from power their strongest ally in the area. The proxy war is conducted by the US and its allies in the area (mostly Turkey and Saudi Arabia), who indirectly support ISIS through various ways. The chaotic situation can also be proved by the fact that Turkey is exploiting it, to promote its independent agenda, conducting parallel proxy wars.

• The Ukraine conflict. A proxy war against Russia by the West, next to the Russian borders. Behind the color revolutions, one can always find US financed organizations. The Western allies would not dare to face directly the Russian army. In the Ukraine conflict one could find private armies of mercenaries. The most stupid action by the Western puppets was to support neo-nazis against the local Russian populations. This was something that exposed their real intention, which is to encircle Russia through puppet regimes who would permit the Western military presence in their territories.

• The Libyan War. Another proxy war by the West through the Arab Spring to throw an undesirable regime. The war brought absolute mess inside the country and increased the arc of the Islamic extremism throughout north Africa to Iraq and Syria. Although it can be considered a "preventive" proxy war to destabilize regimes that could offer an opportunity to Russia to expand its influence in the wider Mediterannean, it could be also considered a preventive action against the Chinese economic expansion in the entire African continent, according to some analysts. Eric Draitser of StopImperialism.org, points that Libya needs to be understood as the staging ground for a continent-wide destabilization all throughout the North Africa and West Africa region for the purposes of preventing China from consolidating its position and providing Africa with an alternative development model. These countries understand that they are enslaved by debt, enslaved by corporate capital to the West, that their independence is nominal at debt and they see in China a potential alternative development path. That is what the US and its allies have to crush, and terrorism is one of the ways that they are doing that. (fa.ev/from-paris-to-syria-libya) Boko Haram fits perfectly in this plan.

• Russia vs Turkey. In reality we have already an indirect conflict between two major players in the East Mediterranean and the Middle East. Turkey exploits the chaos in Syria to enhance the Syrian Turkomans and fulfill Erdogan's dreams for territorial and influential expansion in the wider Middle East. The Russian intervention is a big barrier against these ambitions. The recent incident with the downed Russian jet by the Turkish forces marks the start of a small scale conflict between the two countries. The Russians responded by bombing a Turkish convoy allegedly carrying weapons to militants in Syria.

• Turkey vs Kurds. Turkey also exploits the current chaos and tries to crush Kurdish resistance. One of the reasons that supports ISIS is to use it against the Kurds. It is a sub-proxy war by Turkey in the area according to its own agenda. The US are probably not very happy with that, because they want to use ISIS in full force against Assad and consider Kurds as allies.

• Conflicts in Caucasus - Xinjiang China. Another type of proxy wars by the US and the West in an effort to destabilize the two major opponents in the global arena: Russia and China. Turkey exploits also this situation to expand its influence in regions far from the Turkish territory, using the advantage of the related Turkic minorities. Russia has another reason to see Turkey as a threat, despite the common economic interests between the two countries.

• The Yemeni Civil War. A proxy war by the US against the forces supported by Iran, in an effort to throw another friendly-to-Iran regime. Saudi Arabia and other allies are used for this war with the US providing indirect assistance.

• Paris attacks, other attacks in Western soil. It is the new type of a full asymmetric war conducted by Islamic extremists inside Western urban areas. The West discovered that it has to face an unprecedented situation which seems to be very difficult to confront: suicide bombings. Although this situation has proven that the US imperialism has lost the control of its creation called ISIS, these attacks are quite convenient for the implementation of the new conditions that include the gradual elimination of the civil liberties inside the Western societies.

Old-fashioned wars extremely costly and inefficient

It appears that direct wars between nations are extremely costly and inefficient in our days. The increasingly complex environment in the multi-polar world is not suitable for full-scale conflicts. The continuous armament even of less important regional powers, is another preventing factor towards this perspective.

According to the new perception, victory in a war is of less importance. What matters is to achieve specific goals that have been set. The United States were the pioneers of this strategy since the end of WWII, as they managed to fulfill specific goals, increasing substantially their global influence without actually winning any war!

But the ultimate victims are real and always the same. Thousands of innocents who lose their lives, or, being forced to abandon their homes, their countries, towards a totally uncertain future. In the "unofficial" proxy wars conducted by powers behind the scenes, there is no need of respect to human rights. Thousands can be killed, tortured, or, displaced, without these crimes could ever be punished.