The Long-Term Effects Of Angola's Civil War

Over the course of history, the United States has a reputation of getting involved with other nations to sort out disputes, arguments, conflicts, wars, etc. One specific example of U.S. Military Involvement is the 1980 El Salvador Civil War. The El Salvador Civil War was a civil war that lasted from 1980 to about 1992. The war slowly arose due to little uprisings in society, promises to improve economy and lifestyles that were never fulfilled, and the push of communism beliefs onto the people who didn’t believe in them. The U.S. Military would not get involved unless their is a violation of human rights, or if mankind is being put into harm's way. The U.S. involved themselves in the Civil War of El Salvador because they had enough evidence and support for specific claims, had the appropriate authority, and fought for an outcome that suited the needs of humanity.

Since 1970 the United States has been involving itself in foreign policies and issues concerning drug trade, violence and war in developing countries. For example, when overdoses in cocaine started to arise across the country, the U.S. began to suspect issues. Now at this time Pablo Escobar and the Medellin Cartel were creating an international cartel with its basis in Colombia. Now the when we got involved a number of issues arose. These cartels and other groups begin to revolt, causing chaos and in attempt to take over the government. While the fear the U.S. puts into the minds of these groups may be to our advantage, it also brings serious issues. These groups are known to kill and harm citizens and public spaces when they are threatened. We must keep in mind that these groups have multinational coverage and networks within their countries government.

Over a period from 1960-1965, the first Republic of the Congo experienced a period of serious crisis. There was a terrible war for power that displayed senseless violence and the desperation to rule. There were many internal conflicts among the people. The country eventually gained independence from Belgium. For many countries this would be a time for celebration. Unfortunately for the people of the Congo this became a time to forget. Almost immediately after independence and the general elections, the country went into civil war. Major developed cities like Katanga and Kasai wanted to be independent from the Lumumba government. Different factions started to fight the government and Katanga and Kasai tried to secede from the rest

The Angolan Civil War was a major civil conflict from 1975 to 2002. The war started after Angola gained independence from Portugal in November 1975. A power struggle between the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) and National

Imperialism in Africa began in the late 19th century. It began when King Leopold II began the Scramble for Africa. All of the major colonial powers went after Africa. Their goal was to gain the most wealth and to have the most territory. Having more territory and claiming valuable parts of the continent was a symbol of power. Imperialism in Africa had negative and positive consequences on both the Europeans and Africans, these can be shown through human rights issues, new industry and advancements, and wealth and influence.

Chief among the threats to the United States today is ISIS. To be able to know how to properly address this problem, one need only look at the beginning of the conflict to understand how to end it. The reason ISIS went from a ragtag militia to an armed force capable of fighting both the Iraqis and Syrians, was with the equipment and training provided by the US government and our allies. This was done with the explicit purpose to enact regime change and create a free, secular state. Granted, at the time they thought they were arming democratic loving rebels. But doesn 't that just prove that we don 't have the competence to be getting ourselves involved in conflicts where we can 't tell who the good guys are?

US armed intervention seeks mainly to counter the “threat of good example”. Chomsky suggests the real domino theory refers not to the threat of communism spreading, but the idea that a country may develop a successful socialist state and economy independent from the US, thus setting an example for other countries where the US has economic interests. This may result in a domino effect where these other countries are influenced to do the same and develop independence from the US, thus threatening US hegemony. There are two types of domino effects: the threat of communism which is used to justify US intervention to the public, and the actual threat of “good example” which motivates US to suppress socialist movements in countries like Guatemala, East Timor, Laos, Grenada, and Nicaragua. The real motives for US intervention are therefore for its own material and strategic gains, under the pretense of propagating the ideas of freedom and democracy.

There are many challenges when it comes to rebuilding failing states and retraining their militaries. The practice is done for the purposes of advancement of political objectives, also the attempt to provide stability within a hostile region, saving a fragile nation from collapse, and to provide support to oppressed groups and populations aligned with similar value structures. It is not a new policy tactic for the United States, there have been several cases where America has played a big role in nation reconstruction and redeveloping regional armed forces. While there have been some successful campaigns in these efforts to fight insurgency, improve conditions in regional civil conflicts, and stabilize areas, it has not always been effective policy. The United States has had a pretty varied legacy with these types of interventions. From different case examples, it can be concluded that when a liberator is rebuilding a state or a military, and is dealing with a population that is multi-ethnic and has deep religious divisions, the effort is probably more likely to fail than to succeed. Further research also indicated that acting multilaterally produced much better results with nation reconstruction/intervention. Usually, during intervention campaigns, short term goals were reached, although there are often issues with achieving long term goals of peace and stability.

So I think our approach of engaging to get extreme leaders or regimes out of power, is not always the best idea. I think our tumultuous track record in the Middle East gives me basis for my negative feelings. However, I don’t say that with the naivety of someone who pretends there aren’t heinous crimes carried out in countries where leaders don’t have the peoples’ safety or best interests at heart, and we’ve also got to acknowledge the civilian deaths that happen because of our own U.S. drones and airstrikes. Why We Fight, cites the Iraq War as an example where the U.S. may not have even gone abroad to promote liberty. The approach of going abroad in our own self-interest is not one that sits easily with me. Charles Lewis

“The New American Foundation's Brian Fishman recommends a patient approach of training and modestly arming rebels,” said an online article for the Council of Foreign Relations. Others suggest that the U.S. should reach out for the non-extremists in Syria and work with them to most importantly secure the collapse of Assad’s regime. The U.S. helped over the

Mandela’s vision was no different in Liberia’s civil war where the unity of Christian and Muslim women used prayers to appease the violence in their country. As the LURD forces were near the homes of Monrovia, the families gathered at their churches. They felt safe there and began praying for

4 Analyze the effects of the cold war on apartheid in South Africa or on another specified issue and region or country.

The civil wars in these African countries creating an outcry from civilians after experiencing injustices and corruption throughout decades. Whilst leading to civilians fleeing Sudan and Sierra Leone to start new lives. The histories behind both wars are quite similar as both were solely motivated by natural resources and power imbalance. As The Revolutionary United Front had established in 1991 as rebel army that shared one goal, which was to overthrow Sierra Leone's government. Often referred to as the “Blood Diamond” conflict. Although diamonds and natural resources were a significant motivating factor, there were other causes to the Sierra Leone Civil War. Such as the pre-war frustrations and injustices that had transpired for decades.

One of the greatest challenges for the anti-Assad rebellion has been fighting a well-armed, well-supported Assad regime (Sorenson, pg. 13). The United States has provide arms and support to anti-regime fighters, but not nearly at the same pace as Russia and Iran have resupplied Assad. Also, rebels lack cohesion, as there are numerous anti-Assad factions that are attempting to overthrow the government, often times competing with each other. In order to bring the rebels together, and form a stronger rebellion against Assad, this course of action requires U.S. military presence on the ground. While I do not submit that the United States lead the attacks, we should instead embed ourselves with Syrian rebels, providing direct training and mentoring to the rebels, as well as providing support from aircraft and long-range artillery. Similar to operations in Libya, the U.S.-led air attacks can directly attack Assad himself, paving the way for a more successful rebellion. While we cannot possibly unite all of the rebel groups, we must show and provide a unified front for

Nick Smith Mr. Britton War & Peace H 18 October 2016 An Analysis of Proportionality In War There is something rather odd in the way America has come to fight its wars since World War II. It’s unimaginable that we would now use anything even remotely approaching the full measure of our military power (aside