Number of wars is on the wane, researchers report

[dArKeR]

The chilling sights and sounds of war fill newspapers and television screens worldwide, but war itself is in decline, researchers report.

In fact, the number killed in battle has fallen to its lowest point in the post-World War II period, dipping below 20,000 a year by one measure. Peacemaking missions, meantime, are growing in number.

"International engagement is blossoming," said American researcher Monty Marshall. "There's been an enormous amount of activity to try to end these conflicts."

For months the battle reports and casualty tolls from Iraq and Afghanistan have put war in the headlines, but Swedish and Canadian nongovernmental groups tracking armed conflict globally find a general decline in numbers from peaks in the 1990s.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2004/08/30/2003200889

LOL! Just in time for the Repuke convention!

[teryang]

1. Direct and indirect Civilian deaths not counted

<The Canadian center's director, Andrew Mack, said the figures don't include deaths from war-induced starvation and disease, deaths from ethnic conflicts not involving states, or unopposed massacres, such as in Rwanda in 1994.>

[mbperrin]

5. All those people wil be glad to know they didn't die in a war,

I betcha!

Oh, wait, they're DEAD, they can't be glad or sad.

This is one of the stupider hair-splitting exercises I've ever heard of.

[Nambe]

2. The neo-cons want to narrow it down to one war.

And'democracy for all.

[0007]

3. In my opinion were in the process of choosing up sides.

It seems like the U.S. is losing coalition members every day in the Middle East Scam.

[booksenkatz]

4. Don't worry

The grinning, kill-happy Fraud King will soon take care of this "problem."

[kayell]

7. All our wars are now just one war - the endless war on terra.

Easy fix.

[kayell]

6. The ratio of civilian deaths to troop death has been steadily climbing

for decades. Every war there are higher proportions of collateral damage, but those little brown people just don't count.

[daleo]

8. To bad this didn't work against Bush/Blair in Iraq

""The end of the Cold War liberated the UN" -- historically paralyzed by US-Soviet antagonism -- "to do what its founders had originally intended and more," Mack said."

[AnewerWay]

9. Does this mean Bush has reduced the worlds wars?

Film at 11:00...God help us all.

[gottaB]

10. absolutely not

It means that UN peacekeeping has been modestly successful at controling and averting conflicts in the last five years. I don't think the Bush administration has a stelar record on promoting the dpko.

Very informative site:

http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/peacekpg

[AnewerWay]

11. I'll spin it for Clinton

We'll say it's a delayed reaction to his erudite policies.