A video from the last day of 2023 at the Task & Purpose YouTube channel gives a pretty good summary of the kinds of war our world saw in 2023. Not only does it show us the potential use Americans might have for the right to keep and bear arms in the United States, but also shows us how dangerous it can be for people who have had that right infringed. (article continues after video)
One important fact he shows in the beginning is that there was more armed conflict in 2023 than in previous years, ending what had been a trend of less conflict. So, warfare is on the rise. It’s also important to keep in mind how far-flung conflicts can be connected in unobvious ways, meaning that things happening next door and even in the United States can be affected by some of these seemingly irrelevant conflicts abroad.
He starts with Syria, giving a history of the conflict there since 2011. What started as protests and mild revolt became a full-scale civil war, which in turn became a proxy war between different big countries. Bashar Al-Assad managed to get most of the country back, and is now influential globally again. This has led to sanctions against Syria backfiring, and turning the economy into a narco-state that exports illegal drugs to neighbors and globally to stay afloat.
In other words, Syria went from being an oppressive regime to a failed state to being run by a drug cartel. This lends a lot of credibility to the argument that authoritarian regimes are basically all turning into a business alliance instead of ideological partners.
But hey, at least ISIS and Al Qaeda have been largely minimized for now, so it’s not all a loss.
This brings us to Mexico. Obviously, there are some serious parallels and connections between what’s happening in Mexico and Syria, given the control cartels have. While some places are better than they were the last time cartels warred, the overall situation is deteriorating. As many as 30,000 Mexicans have been killed in the fighting every year since 2018.
But, the cartels are starting to become a smaller problem than the Mexican government, which is becoming very authoritarian and repressive in its attempt to regain control of the country. So, facing this double squeeze of violence and authoritarianism, many people want out, and this is helping to drive a border crisis with the United States that we’ve all been seeing in the news. In 2023 alone, 2.5 million migrants were seen crossing the border (a new historic high).
Sadly, this influx of people who are just looking for a better existence has made it much harder to keep the bad people who shouldn’t be in the United States out, which directly affects us here at home, even in places far from the border. This leads to serious discussion over whether the U.S. should step in to stop the dual crisis of criminal violence and an increasingly militant government in Mexico, which is all tainted by corruption.
Not far from Florida, Haiti is another warfare hotspot. Like Mexico, Haitians are fleeing to the United States (often through Mexico) to avoid violence after the country’s president was assassinated and the whole place descended into chaos. A multi-national security force led by Kenya and the UN are now authorized to shoot to kill in the country as needed.
Somalia, as it has been for a long time, is also in chaos. But, given the country’s long coastline and key strategic location, the United States and China are now competing for influence there. Weapons smuggled from Iran to Yemen’s Houthi rebels passes through the area, sometimes landing in Somalia, and those weapons are now being used against the U.S. Navy in a conflict that’s connected to fighting in Israel (another place where gun rights are proving vital).
Later in the video, he gets into Afghanistan, which is already becoming a major home to terror groups in the world following the United States disastrous pullout. But, the Taliban and ISIS aren’t getting along, and ironically the Taliban are using U.S. equipment to fight an insurgency.
Another hotspot is Myanmar (aka Burma). As we’ve discussed previously, the conflict there has been heavily influenced by 3D-printed guns (a trend that has only accelerated), so it’s a good indicator of what gun rights can do. Now, the conflict is sucking China in, and they’ve started backing the rebels instead of the military junta, largely because it better supports Chinese interests now.
So, it could be argued that JStark1809 (the now deceased inventor of the FGC-9) played a key role in preserving democracy in the country. This flies in the face of the assertions the Bloomberg-funded Johns Hopkins gun control front made.
So, there’s no doubt that access to arms is a key ingredient in freedom. From Mexico (where guns are denied) to Israel (where guns are coming back) to Myanmar, the proof is in the pudding.
