Girish Mahajan (Editor)

Flashpoint (politics)

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In international relations, a flashpoint is an area or dispute that has a strong possibility of developing into a war.

Contents

The original definition of flash point refers to the igniting of a volatile material at the lowest temperature at which it can vaporize to form an ignitable mixture in air.

Current political flashpoints

  • The Taiwan straits between People's Republic of China and Republic of China
  • The Senkaku Islands between People's Republic of China and Japan
  • Korean Peninsula between North Korea and South Korea
  • The Golan heights between Syria and Israel
  • Israeli-Lebanon border between Lebanon and Israel
  • Kashmir between India and Pakistan
  • The Spratly Islands see Spratly Islands dispute
  • Imia/Kardak - Aegean dispute
  • The Shatt al-Arab between Iraq and Iran
  • Possible second Falklands War (see Falkland Islands sovereignty dispute)
  • Gaza Strip between Hamas and Israel
  • Escalation of the Somali Civil War
  • Abyei between North and South Sudan
  • Escalation of the Syrian Civil War and Iraqi insurgency (2011–present) into a larger conflict. (See 2014 military intervention against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant)
  • Post-Soviet frozen conflicts (i.e. South Ossetia, Abkhazia, Nagorno-Karabakh)
  • Possible re-escalation of the War in Donbass (see pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine)

    • Historical political flashpoints

  • The Balkans
  • Bosnia
  • Berlin (see Cold War)
  • Sudetenland
  • The Rio Grande valley
  • Alsace-Lorraine (France Germany border)
  • Soviet Union–United States relations (see Cold War)

    • References

    Flashpoint (politics) Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA