Events, Verisoph

2001 Richard Perle chairs the Defense Policy Board 0 cit. Richard Perle, a PNAC signatory, becomes chairman of the Defense Policy Board, an advisory panel to the Secretary of Defense. From that seat he was an outspoken advocate for confronting Iraq. He held the chair until 2003, when he stepped down amid questions over conflicts of interest. politics / war ●●

11 September 2001 Flight 11 strikes the North Tower 0 cit. At 8:46 in the morning, hijackers fly American Airlines Flight 11, a Boeing 767 taken over after takeoff from Boston, into the north face of the World Trade Center's North Tower. The impact and burning jet fuel trap hundreds of people on the floors above. It is the first strike of the September 11 attacks. society / war ●●●●●

11 September 2001 Flight 175 strikes the South Tower 0 cit. At 9:03, hijackers fly United Airlines Flight 175 into the South Tower as television cameras, already trained on the burning North Tower, record it live. The second strike makes clear the country is under a coordinated attack. Both towers are now on fire. society / war ●●●●●

11 September 2001 Flight 77 strikes the Pentagon 0 cit. At 9:37, hijackers fly American Airlines Flight 77 into the west side of the Pentagon, the headquarters of the US military. The crash and fire kill 125 people in the building along with all 59 passengers and crew aboard the plane. It is the third of the four hijackings that morning. society / war ●●●●

11 September 2001 Passengers fight back on Flight 93 0 cit. United Airlines Flight 93 is hijacked after leaving Newark, but passengers learning of the other attacks by phone storm the cockpit. The plane crashes in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania at 10:03, killing all 44 aboard. The 9/11 Commission concluded the hijackers' likely target was the US Capitol or the White House. society / war ●●●●

11 September 2001 Nearly 3,000 people killed 0 cit. The attacks kill 2,977 people across New York, the Pentagon, and Shanksville, not counting the 19 hijackers. The dead include office workers, airline passengers, and 441 first responders, most of them New York City firefighters and police who died when the towers fell. It is the deadliest attack on American soil. society / war ●●●●●

12 March 2001 Pokot raiders kill about fifty Marakwet at Murkutwo 0 cit. Before dawn on 12 March 2001 a large group of armed Pokot raiders attacked Murkutwo in Marakwet East in the Kerio Valley. Around fifty people were killed, scores were injured, hundreds of homes were burned and thousands of livestock driven off. The Murkutwo massacre showed how gun-driven raiding had abandoned the older customary limits and became a symbol of the valley's insecurity. society / war ●●

1 July 2002 Founding of the International Criminal Court 0 cit. The Rome Statute of 1998 enters into force, establishing the first permanent international court to try individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. diplomacy / politics / war ●●●

7 October 2002 Founding of the Collective Security Treaty Organization 0 cit. Six former Soviet states adopt a charter turning the 1992 Tashkent Collective Security Treaty into a permanent Russia-led military alliance, the CSTO. diplomacy / politics / war ●●

20 May 2002 Independence of Timor-Leste 0 cit. no story Timor-Leste's independence is restored after Indonesian occupation and a UN transition, following the 1999 referendum. politics / war ●●●

25 November 2002 Founding of the Department of Homeland Security 0 cit. After the September 11 attacks, President Bush signs the Homeland Security Act, merging 22 agencies including the Coast Guard, Secret Service, FEMA, and the new TSA into one department. It is the largest government reorganization since 1947. politics / war ●●●●

14 August 2002 Natanz enrichment site exposed 0 cit. An Iranian opposition group reveals a secret uranium enrichment facility at Natanz and a heavy water plant at Arak. The disclosure opens two decades of inspections, sanctions, and negotiation over Iran's program. politics / war ●●●

27 March 2002 Netanya Passover massacre 0 cit. A Hamas suicide bomber attacked a Passover meal at a hotel in Netanya, killing 30 people. The attack prompted Israel's Operation Defensive Shield in the West Bank. politics / war ●●●

23 October 2002 Moscow theatre hostage crisis 0 cit. Chechen militants seized the Dubrovka theatre in Moscow and held hundreds hostage. Around 130 hostages died, most from the gas used by Russian forces during the rescue. politics / war ●●●

c. 2002 CIA rendition and black site program expands after 9/11 0 cit. Following the September 11 attacks, the CIA establishes a network of secret overseas detention facilities, or black sites, and expands a program of rendering terrorism suspects to third countries. Detainees at these sites were subjected to interrogation methods including waterboarding, sleep deprivation, and stress positions, later documented in the 2014 Senate Intelligence Committee report. politics / war ●●●

22 September 2002 France launches Operation Licorne in Ivory Coast 0 cit. France deployed troops under Operation Licorne after a rebellion split Ivory Coast, formally to protect French and other foreign nationals but effectively taking a central role separating combatants for nearly a decade. Ivory Coast, a former French colony still using the CFA franc and hosting French economic interests including major agribusiness and infrastructure investments, became one of the clearest 21st-century cases of continued French military involvement in a former colony's internal conflict. diplomacy / war ●●

24 September 2002 Iraq weapons dossier published 0 cit. The government published a dossier on Iraq's weapons capabilities, drawing on assessments from the Joint Intelligence Committee, which included a widely publicised claim that Iraq could deploy chemical or biological weapons within 45 minutes of an order to do so. The dossier was used to support the case for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. No such weapons were found after the invasion, and the dossier's sourcing and drafting later became the subject of official inquiries. diplomacy / politics / war ●●●

27 November 2002 9/11 Commission established 0 cit. Congress and President George W Bush established the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, known as the 9/11 Commission, to investigate the circumstances surrounding the attacks of 11 September 2001. Chaired by former New Jersey Governor Thomas Kean, it examined intelligence failures, aviation security, and the government's emergency response. It held public hearings that included testimony from senior national security officials. politics / war ●●

2002 Angola's oil funds a war and an opaque elite 0 cit. As Angola's long civil war ended in 2002, the government financed itself with offshore oil through the state company Sonangol, while the UNITA rebels had run on diamonds. The International Monetary Fund and campaigners reported large gaps between oil income and the public accounts, with billions unexplained. Angola became a case where oil wealth flowed to a narrow elite and foreign partners while much of the population stayed poor. economy / politics / war ●●

2002 Total Information Awareness 0 cit. A Pentagon research office led by John Poindexter proposed Total Information Awareness, a plan to mine vast pools of data to spot terrorists before they struck. Its all-seeing-eye logo and open aim of pulling together financial, travel, and communication records caused a public backlash. Congress cut its funding in 2003, though similar ideas resurfaced elsewhere. politics / technology / war ●●

2002 MoD settles unexploded ordnance claims from herders 0 cit. Britain's Ministry of Defence agreed to pay compensation to Maasai and Samburu herders killed or maimed by unexploded munitions left on training ranges used by British troops. The settlement, in a case brought by the law firm Leigh Day, covered hundreds of claimants. It documented that live-fire training near local communities had caused deaths and injuries over many years. society / war ●●

1 June 2002 The Bush Doctrine of preemption 0 cit. In a commencement speech at West Point, President Bush lays out a policy of striking threats before they fully form, rather than waiting to be attacked. The idea became known as the Bush Doctrine of preemption. It matched the forward, assertive posture PNAC had long argued for. politics / war ●●●

17 September 2002 The 2002 National Security Strategy formalizes preemption 0 cit. The Bush administration publishes its National Security Strategy, which puts preemptive action against emerging threats at the center of American policy. It also stated a goal of keeping the United States militarily unmatched. The document turned themes PNAC had promoted into official government strategy. politics / war ●●●●

17 September 2002 The 2002 US security strategy names failing states as a threat 0 cit. The US National Security Strategy of 2002 stated that America was threatened less by conquering states than by failing ones. Written after the September 11 attacks, it argued that weak states like Afghanistan could shelter terrorist networks and endanger other countries. This framing put weak and failing states at the center of security policy and shaped the demand for tools that could rank them. politics / war ●●●

20 March 2003 to 18 December 2011 Iraq War 0 cit. no story A US-led coalition invades Iraq and overthrows Saddam Hussein, citing weapons of mass destruction that are never found. The occupation collapses into insurgency and sectarian civil war killing hundreds of thousands. politics / war ●●●●

26 February 2003 to 31 August 2020 War in Darfur 0 cit. no story Darfuri rebels rise against Khartoum, which responds with Janjaweed militia campaigns widely described as genocide. Around 300,000 die and millions are displaced. war ●●●

10 January 2003 North Korea withdraws from the NPT 0 cit. After the collapse of the Agreed Framework, North Korea announces its withdrawal from the Non-Proliferation Treaty, the only state ever to leave it. Yongbyon restarts and reprocessing resumes within months. politics / war ●●●

19 December 2003 Libya renounces its nuclear program 0 cit. After secret talks with Britain and the United States, Muammar Gaddafi announces Libya will abandon its nuclear and chemical weapons programs. Centrifuges bought from the A.Q. Khan network are crated and flown out for destruction. politics / war ●●●

12 May 2003 Riyadh compound bombings 0 cit. Al-Qaeda suicide bombers struck residential compounds housing foreigners in Riyadh, killing 39 people. The attacks pushed Saudi Arabia to intensify its campaign against Al-Qaeda. religion / war ●●

c. March 2003 Embedded press in the Iraq War 0 cit. The Pentagon placed hundreds of journalists with combat units during the invasion of Iraq. Embedding shaped how the public saw the war and tied the press closely to the military. culture / war ●●

2003 Halliburton, no-bid contracts, and the Iraq War economy 0 cit. The 2003 Iraq War brings a surge of military contracting, including no-bid contracts to firms like Halliburton, whose former CEO was the sitting vice president. The war becomes a much-cited modern example of the profit interests entangled with the decision to fight. economy / war ●●●

17 April 2003 Stevens 3 report published 0 cit. John Stevens published the findings of his third and final inquiry into collusion between security forces and loyalist paramilitaries. He concluded that there had been collusion in the murders of Pat Finucane and others, including the passing of intelligence to loyalist gunmen, failure to arrest known killers, and the destruction of evidence. Stevens stated plainly that his investigation had been obstructed throughout its fourteen years. politics / war ●●●

c. May 2003 Stakeknife exposed as Freddie Scappaticci 0 cit. Media reports publicly named Freddie Scappaticci, a senior figure in the IRA's internal security unit responsible for interrogating and executing suspected informers, as the British Army agent codenamed Stakeknife. Scappaticci denied the allegation but fled Northern Ireland shortly afterward. His alleged dual role raised the possibility that British intelligence had allowed informer killings to proceed, or been complicit in them, in order to protect its highest-placed agent inside the IRA. politics / war ●●

18 July 2003 David Kelly dies amid Iraq dossier row 0 cit. Government weapons scientist David Kelly was found dead after being named as the likely source for a BBC report alleging the Iraq dossier had been embellished by Downing Street. The Hutton Inquiry into his death concluded he took his own life and largely cleared the government of wrongdoing, though its findings were criticised by some as too favourable to ministers. The episode intensified public scrutiny of how intelligence assessments had been used to justify the Iraq war. politics / war ●●●

c. 1 March 2003 National Guard deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan 0 cit. Beginning with the 2003 invasion of Iraq and continuing through the war in Afghanistan, the Pentagon relied on the National Guard at a scale not seen since World War II, deploying hundreds of thousands of Guard soldiers on repeated combat tours as an 'operational reserve' rather than a strategic reserve held back for emergencies. Guard combat brigades held ground in Iraq's Sunni Triangle and elsewhere, while Guard aviation, engineering, medical, and logistics units were deployed continuously through both wars. The reliance on the Guard strained relationships between deployed soldiers, their civilian employers, and their families, and prompted lasting policy debates over how the Guard should be used. war ●●●

c. 2003 The contested death toll of the Congo wars 0 cit. The International Rescue Committee estimated that around 5.4 million people died as a result of the Congo wars, most from disease and starvation rather than direct violence. That figure is widely cited but contested, and other researchers have argued the methodology overstated the toll. The true number remains disputed, but by any estimate the human cost ranks among the worst of modern conflicts. society / war ●●●

2003 The Kimberley Process targets blood diamonds contested 0 cit. Governments, industry, and campaigners launched the Kimberley Process, a certification scheme meant to keep diamonds that fund armed rebellion out of world trade, after wars in Sierra Leone and Angola. It was a direct response to the "blood diamond" trade, which is covered more fully in the De Beers record. Critics argue the scheme defines conflict narrowly and lets abusive but non-rebel regimes pass, so its real effect is disputed. diplomacy / economy / war ●●

20 March 2003 The UN is sidelined over the invasion of Iraq 0 cit. The United States and Britain invaded Iraq without a Security Council resolution authorizing force, after failing to win one. Secretary-General Kofi Annan later said the war was illegal under the UN Charter. The episode showed that when a superpower is determined to act, the UN can be brushed aside. diplomacy / war ●●●

20 March 2003 The Iraq War revives the 'war for oil' charge 0 cit. A US-led invasion topples Saddam Hussein, justified officially by claims of weapons of mass destruction that were never found. Many critics argued oil was a central motive, a charge the governments involved denied. (Cross-references covert operations and the Middle East.) politics / war ●●●

c. 2003 Al Udeid Air Base becomes the US hub in the Gulf 0 cit. Qatar builds Al Udeid Air Base in 1996 and the United States moves its regional air command there after leaving Saudi Arabia. The base hosts the forward headquarters of US Central Command and thousands of personnel. It becomes the main air operations center for US wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and across the Middle East. diplomacy / war ●●

c. 2003 Camp Lemonnier becomes the main US base in Africa 0 cit. The United States takes over a former French Foreign Legion post in Djibouti in the early 2000s and builds it into Camp Lemonnier, its only large permanent base on the continent. It hosts several thousand personnel and serves as the hub for surveillance, special operations, and drone flights across the Horn of Africa and Yemen. Djibouti's location at the mouth of the Red Sea makes it strategically valuable. politics / war ●●

20 March 2003 The invasion of Iraq 0 cit. A United States-led coalition invades Iraq and topples Saddam Hussein, carrying out the regime change PNAC had publicly urged since 1998. The group had openly advocated this policy for years, and many of its signatories now held the posts that planned and ran the war. Critics call it PNAC's war and argue the group drove it; others note the decision had many causes, and that documented overlap of personnel and policy is not the same as sole causation. politics / war ●●●●●

c. June 2004 Kivu Conflict 0 cit. no story Dozens of armed groups, including the Rwandan-backed M23, fight over eastern Congo's people and minerals in the long aftermath of the Congo wars. Millions have died or been displaced in two decades of violence. war ●●●

4 February 2004 A.Q. Khan network exposed 0 cit. Abdul Qadeer Khan confesses on Pakistani television to selling centrifuge technology and bomb designs to Iran, Libya, and North Korea. The world's largest private proliferation ring is dismantled, and Khan is pardoned the next day. politics / war ●●●

April 2004 Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal 0 cit. Photographs surfaced showing US Army soldiers abusing and humiliating detainees at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, including physical abuse, sexual humiliation, and staged images with corpses. The images caused international outrage and damaged US credibility during the Iraq War, prompting courts-martial of low-ranking soldiers while questions about command responsibility for interrogation policy went largely unresolved at senior levels. The scandal remains a central reference point in debates over detainee treatment and military accountability. politics / war ●●●

7 November 2004 Second Battle of Fallujah 0 cit. U.S. Marines led a major offensive to retake the insurgent-held city of Fallujah, resulting in some of the heaviest urban combat American forces had faced since the Vietnam War. The battle killed dozens of Marines and thousands of insurgents and civilians, and left much of the city devastated. It became a defining, and controversial, engagement of the Iraq War for the Marine Corps. war ●●

14 July 2004 Butler Review criticises Iraq intelligence 0 cit. The Butler Review, chaired by former Cabinet Secretary Lord Butler, reported on the use of intelligence in the run-up to the Iraq war. It found the 45-minute claim should not have been included without clearer caveats and identified weaknesses in the intelligence assessment process, while stopping short of blaming individuals by name. The review led to reforms in how the Joint Intelligence Committee assessed and presented raw intelligence. politics / war ●●●

14 July 2004 Butler Review on Iraq intelligence 0 cit. Lord Butler's review examined the intelligence used to justify the 2003 invasion of Iraq, particularly claims about weapons of mass destruction in the government's September 2002 dossier. It found the intelligence was unreliable and had been presented with more certainty than was warranted, and criticised informal decision-making processes in government, though it did not conclude that intelligence had been deliberately falsified. The review contributed to a wider reassessment of the case for war. politics / war ●●●

22 July 2004 9/11 Commission report 0 cit. The 9/11 Commission Report concluded that the attacks succeeded because of failures of imagination, policy, capabilities and management across US intelligence and law enforcement agencies, including a lack of information-sharing between the CIA and FBI. It recommended sweeping reforms, including the creation of a Director of National Intelligence to coordinate the intelligence community and the National Counterterrorism Center. Most of its major recommendations were subsequently enacted by Congress. politics / war ●●●

c. 2004 The resource wars over coltan, cobalt, and gold 0 cit. Long after the formal peace, armed groups and neighboring states kept fighting over the mineral-rich east, financing themselves through coltan, gold, tin, and cobalt. The country holds much of the world's cobalt, a metal central to modern batteries and electronics, tying global supply chains to the conflict. UN reports and rights groups have documented armed control of mines, forced labor, and the illicit export of Congolese minerals. economy / war ●●●

2004 Collier and Hoeffler debate greed versus grievance in civil war 0 cit. Economists Paul Collier and Anke Hoeffler published influential research arguing that the ability to loot resources, more than political grievance, predicted the risk of civil war. Their finding suggested that valuable, lootable commodities like diamonds and oil can fund and prolong armed conflict. Other scholars pushed back, saying grievance and history still matter, but the study framed how the world talks about "conflict resources." economy / politics / war ●●

27 June 2004 CPA Order 17 grants immunity in occupied Iraq 0 cit. The Coalition Provisional Authority issues Order 17, which shields foreign forces and contractors in Iraq from Iraqi legal process. The revised version signed just before the handover of sovereignty extends that immunity past the occupation. It leaves private security firms operating with little accountability under local law, a point that returns after the 2007 Nisour Square killings by Blackwater guards. politics / war ●●●

October 2004 The stated rationale for war unravels 0 cit. The Iraq Survey Group, led by Charles Duelfer, reports that Iraq had no stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction at the time of the invasion. The finding undercut the main public justification for the war. It sharpened the debate over how the case for war had been built and who had pushed it. politics / war ●●●

July 2004 Al-Qaeda named as the perpetrator 0 cit. The 9/11 Commission concluded that the attacks were planned and carried out by al-Qaeda, the network led by Osama bin Laden, and executed by 19 hijackers. Bin Laden, who had declared war on the United States in the 1990s, later publicly acknowledged ordering the attacks. This is the finding of the official investigation into who was responsible. politics / war ●●●●

9 November 2005 Amman hotel bombings 0 cit. Suicide bombers from Al-Qaeda in Iraq struck three hotels in Amman, killing 60 people, most of them Jordanians at a wedding reception. religion / war ●●●

14 February 2005 Assassination of Rafic Hariri 0 cit. A large bomb killed former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri and 21 others in Beirut. The killing sparked the Cedar Revolution and the withdrawal of Syrian forces from Lebanon. politics / war ●●●

26 September 2005 IRA decommissioning completed 0 cit. The Independent International Commission on Decommissioning, headed by General John de Chastelain, announced that the IRA had put its entire arsenal of weapons beyond use, witnessed by independent clergy observers. The move followed the IRA's July 2005 statement formally ending its armed campaign. Decommissioning removed a major obstacle to restoring the power-sharing institutions set out in the Good Friday Agreement. diplomacy / war ●●

7 July 2005 7 July bombings expose prior MI5 contact with plotters 0 cit. Four suicide bombers killed 52 people on London's transport network. Subsequent Intelligence and Security Committee reviews found that MI5 had previously come across two of the bombers during other investigations but had not judged them a priority for further inquiry, prompting criticism of resource allocation and information sharing within the Service. The findings led to changes in how MI5 triaged leads on domestic extremism. politics / society / war ●●●

2005 Ivory Coast tops the first index 0 cit. In the 2005 debut edition, Côte d'Ivoire ranked as the most vulnerable state. The country had been split in two by civil war between a government-held south and a rebel-held north. The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, and Iraq also sat near the top of that first list. politics / war ●●

12 July 2005 Turbi massacre kills scores of Gabra 0 cit. On 12 July 2005 hundreds of armed raiders attacked Gabra settlements at Turbi in Marsabit District, in a clash tied to a long feud with Borana neighbours over grazing, water and revenge killings. Reports put the dead at about fifty-six that day, many of them children, with the toll rising further in later revenge attacks. Thousands fled toward Marsabit town. society / war ●●

11 December 2006 Mexican Drug War 0 cit. no story The Mexican government deploys the military against drug cartels, triggering fighting among cartels and security forces. The conflict has killed several hundred thousand people, with tens of thousands missing. society / war ●●●

12 July 2006 to 14 August 2006 2006 Lebanon War 0 cit. Israel and Hezbollah fight a 34-day war after a cross-border Hezbollah raid. The war devastates southern Lebanon without decisively weakening Hezbollah. war ●●

9 October 2006 North Korea's first nuclear test 0 cit. North Korea detonates a small plutonium device underground at Punggye-ri, becoming the ninth state to test a nuclear weapon. The UN Security Council answers with the first of many sanctions resolutions. politics / war ●●●●

c. 2006 Nkunda's CNDP reignites North Kivu 0 cit. The renegade general Laurent Nkunda formed the CNDP, a mainly Tutsi movement that claimed to protect Congolese Tutsi from the FDLR and fought the national army in North Kivu. UN experts reported that Rwanda supported the group, which Kigali denied. The rebellion showed that the peace deals had failed to pacify the east. politics / war ●●

2006 Calderón's war on the cartels 0 cit. President Felipe Calderón sent the Mexican military against the cartels, opening a war that killed tens of thousands and displaced many more. The crackdown splintered the big groups into more violent factions and blurred the line between the drug trade and the state fighting it. politics / war ●●●

June 2006 The rise and fall of the Islamic Courts Union 0 cit. In 2006 a coalition of Sharia courts, the Islamic Courts Union, defeated the warlords and briefly brought order to Mogadishu, welcomed by many exhausted residents. Fearing an Islamist state, Ethiopia invaded late that year with US backing and drove the Courts from power. The intervention scattered the movement and pushed its hardline youth wing toward armed insurgency. politics / religion / war ●●

23 April 2007 Founding of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons 0 cit. Antinuclear campaigners launch ICAN in Melbourne to push for a treaty banning nuclear weapons. The campaign helped achieve the 2017 UN ban treaty and won that year's Nobel Peace Prize. diplomacy / politics / war ●●

6 September 2007 Israeli strike on al-Kibar 0 cit. Israeli aircraft destroy a secret reactor under construction in the Syrian desert, built with North Korean help. Both sides keep silent for years; Israel only acknowledges the raid in 2018. politics / war ●●●

14 August 2007 Qahtaniyah bombings 0 cit. Four coordinated suicide truck bombs struck Yazidi towns in northern Iraq, killing about 796 people. It was the deadliest car bomb attack of the Iraq War. religion / war ●●●

c. 2007 Al-Shabaab emerges as a jihadist insurgency 0 cit. Out of the wreckage of the Islamic Courts, the militant youth wing known as Al-Shabaab grew into a jihadist insurgency, later pledging allegiance to Al-Qaeda. It fought the transitional government and African Union peacekeepers, seized much of the south, and imposed a harsh version of Islamic law. The group carried out mass-casualty bombings in Mogadishu and attacks in Kenya, and remained a potent force despite losing territory. politics / religion / war ●●●

December 2007 Post-election violence engulfs Kenya 0 cit. A disputed presidential result in December 2007 triggered two months of the worst violence since independence, with killings along ethnic lines in the Rift Valley, Nyanza, Nairobi, and beyond, and organized reprisals as well as heavy police force. More than a thousand people were killed and hundreds of thousands were driven from their homes. A power-sharing deal brokered by Kofi Annan ended the crisis in early 2008. The death toll and displacement are documented; the finding that much of the killing was organized by local elites comes from the official inquiry that followed. politics / society / war ●●●

17 February 2008 Independence of Kosovo 0 cit. no story Kosovo declares independence from Serbia, nine years after the Kosovo War; it is recognized by many but not all states. politics / war ●●●

7 August 2008 to 12 August 2008 Russo-Georgian War 0 cit. Russia defeats Georgia in a five-day war over the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. It is the first Russian invasion of a neighboring state since the Soviet collapse. politics / war ●●●

26 November 2008 2008 Mumbai attacks 0 cit. Ten gunmen from the Pakistan-based group Lashkar-e-Taiba attacked hotels, a railway station and other sites across Mumbai over three days, killing 175 people. The attack strained relations between India and Pakistan. politics / war ●●●●

27 December 2008 to 2009 The Gaza War of 2008-2009 0 cit. Israel launched a major offensive in Gaza in late 2008, called Operation Cast Lead, after rocket fire. About 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed in three weeks. politics / war ●●●

c. 23 May 2008 Waki Commission appointed on post-election violence 0 cit. The Commission of Inquiry into Post-Election Violence, chaired by Court of Appeal judge Philip Waki, was established to investigate the violence that followed the disputed December 2007 election, in which more than 1,100 people were killed and hundreds of thousands displaced. politics / war ●●

2008 The contested toll of 5.4 million dead contested 0 cit. The International Rescue Committee estimated that some 5.4 million people had died as a result of the conflict between 1998 and 2007, most from disease and starvation rather than direct violence, which would make it the deadliest war since 1945. The figure is contested: the Human Security Report Project argued the IRC's choice of baseline mortality rate inflated the total, suggesting a much lower number. Even critics agree the death toll ran into the millions and was overwhelmingly caused by the collapse of health, food, and shelter. society / war ●●●

January 2008 The IRC's disputed 5.4 million Congo death toll 0 cit. A series of IRC mortality surveys estimates that 5.4 million people died as a result of the war in the Congo since 1998, mostly from disease and hunger. The figure became one of the most cited death tolls of any recent conflict. Later analysts, including the Human Security Report Project, argued the surveys overstated the toll by using a questionable baseline; the number remains disputed. society / war ●●

1 October 2008 AFRICOM is created as a dedicated Africa command 0 cit. The United States announces a new Africa Command in 2007 and makes it operational in October 2008. No African government offers to host its headquarters, so AFRICOM stays based in Stuttgart, Germany. Its creation marks a formal expansion of US military attention to the continent. politics / war ●●

2008 Somalia holds the top rank 0 cit. Somalia took the number one spot on the index in 2008 and held it every year through 2013. The country had no functioning central government for years, along with armed conflict, piracy off its coast, and repeated famine. Chad, Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo were regular fixtures in the top group alongside it. politics / war ●●●

26 July 2009 Boko Haram Insurgency 0 cit. no story The jihadist group Boko Haram wages an insurgency across northeastern Nigeria and neighboring states, killing tens of thousands and displacing millions. The conflict continues despite regional military campaigns. religion / war ●●●

25 September 2009 Fordow enrichment site revealed 0 cit. The leaders of the United States, Britain, and France disclose a secret Iranian enrichment plant buried in a mountain near Qom. The fortified site hardens Western suspicion and becomes central to later negotiations. politics / war ●●

15 June 2009 Iraq Inquiry (Chilcot Inquiry) established 0 cit. Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced a public inquiry, chaired by Sir John Chilcot, into Britain's involvement in the Iraq War from 2001 to 2009, covering the decision to go to war, military planning, and the aftermath of the invasion. The inquiry took evidence from ministers, officials and military commanders, including former Prime Minister Tony Blair. Its report was delayed for years, partly over disputes about declassifying communications between Blair and US President George W Bush. politics / war ●●

8 April 2010 New START 0 cit. US-Russia treaty limiting each side to 1,550 deployed strategic warheads with verification and data exchanges. It is the last remaining bilateral nuclear arms control treaty between the two powers. diplomacy / politics / war ●●●

c. June 2010 Stuxnet attack on Natanz 0 cit. A sophisticated computer worm, later attributed to the United States and Israel, is discovered after destroying centrifuges at Natanz. Stuxnet is the first known cyberweapon to cause physical damage to a nuclear program. technology / war ●●●

11 July 2010 Kampala World Cup bombings 0 cit. Al-Shabaab suicide bombers struck two venues where crowds were watching the football World Cup final in Kampala, killing 74 people. religion / war ●●

c. February 2010 Chelsea Manning leaks classified files to WikiLeaks 0 cit. US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning passed hundreds of thousands of classified military and diplomatic documents to WikiLeaks. The material fueled the year's major WikiLeaks releases and led to Manning's arrest in May 2010. politics / war ●●●●●

5 April 2010 WikiLeaks publishes Collateral Murder 0 cit. WikiLeaks released classified US military video of a 2007 Apache helicopter attack in Baghdad that killed civilians and two Reuters staff. The footage drew global attention to the conduct of the Iraq War. politics / war ●●●●

25 July 2010 WikiLeaks publishes the Afghan War Logs 0 cit. WikiLeaks released about 75,000 classified US military reports on the war in Afghanistan, coordinated with several major newspapers. The documents detailed civilian deaths and previously unreported incidents. politics / war ●●●●

22 October 2010 WikiLeaks publishes the Iraq War Logs 0 cit. WikiLeaks released nearly 400,000 classified US Army field reports from the Iraq War, the largest leak of its kind at the time. The records documented civilian casualties, detainee abuse, and other incidents. politics / war ●●●●

15 June 2010 Saville Inquiry report published 0 cit. Lord Saville published the report of his twelve-year public inquiry into Bloody Sunday, finding that none of those shot by paratroopers had posed a threat, that soldiers had given false accounts afterward, and that the killings were unjustified and unjustifiable. It overturned the findings of the original 1972 Widgery Tribunal, which had largely exonerated the soldiers. Prime Minister David Cameron apologised in the House of Commons on the day of publication, and a police investigation into the killings was subsequently opened. politics / war ●●●

10 February 2010 Court of Appeal rules MI5 knew of Binyam Mohamed's torture 0 cit. The Court of Appeal ordered the disclosure of a summary showing UK intelligence officers had known of the mistreatment of British resident Binyam Mohamed during his detention and interrogation abroad after 9/11. The ruling was part of a wider set of legal cases alleging British agencies were complicit in the rendition and torture of terrorism suspects held by other countries. The government maintained it did not condone torture but faced sustained litigation and settlements over the allegations. politics / war ●●●

6 July 2010 Government announces detainee inquiry into rendition claims 0 cit. Prime Minister David Cameron announced an inquiry, chaired by retired judge Sir Peter Gibson, into whether British intelligence agencies were implicated in the rendition and mistreatment of detainees after 9/11. The inquiry was suspended in 2012 amid ongoing police investigations and its work was later folded into review by the Intelligence and Security Committee, which published its own findings on the allegations in 2018. politics / war ●●

15 June 2010 Saville Report on Bloody Sunday 0 cit. The Saville Inquiry's report found that the killings on Bloody Sunday were unjustified and unjustifiable, that none of the victims posed a threat, and that soldiers had fired first and then lied about it afterward. Prime Minister David Cameron apologised in the House of Commons on the report's publication, calling the killings 'unjustified and unjustifiable'. The findings reversed the 1972 Widgery Tribunal's conclusions that had largely blamed the victims. politics / war ●●●

c. 2010 The Training Lands and Airfield at Nanyuki 0 cit. BATUK is not only the Nanyuki barracks: British units train across vast leased ranges in Laikipia and Samburu and use the airfield at Nanyuki, one of the largest foreign-army training footprints on the continent and a standing military presence on Kenyan soil decades after independence. The live-fire ranges are the source of the unexploded ordnance that has killed and maimed herders and of recurring disputes over land and compensation. society / war ●●

9 July 2011 Independence of South Sudan 0 cit. no story South Sudan becomes the world's newest country after a referendum that followed decades of civil war with the north. politics / war ●●●

15 February 2011 to 23 October 2011 First Libyan Civil War 0 cit. no story An Arab Spring uprising against Muammar Gaddafi becomes a civil war in which NATO air power backs the rebels. Gaddafi is captured and killed, but Libya fragments in the years that follow. politics / war ●●●

15 March 2011 to 8 December 2024 Syrian Civil War 0 cit. no story Protests against Bashar al-Assad spiral into a multi-sided war drawing in Iran, Russia, Turkey, the United States, and jihadist groups. Over half a million die and half the population is displaced before rebels topple Assad in December 2024. politics / war ●●●●

24 January 2011 Domodedovo airport bombing 0 cit. A suicide bomber attacked the international arrivals hall at Moscow's Domodedovo Airport, killing 37 people. A North Caucasus militant group claimed responsibility. politics / war ●●

14 March 2011 Peninsula Shield Intervention in Bahrain 0 cit. Saudi Arabia and the UAE sent GCC forces into Bahrain to help crush the protests. The intervention showed the Gulf monarchies' resolve to prevent unrest from spreading. politics / war ●●●