Evolving insurgent tactics in a world order characterised by multipolarity competition may now be increasingly characterised by overt proximity between militant actors and their state backers
The photograph of Major-General Chris Donahue—the last United States (US) soldier to leave Afghanistan on 30 August 2021—stepping onto the tail ramp of a C-17 Globemaster, flying out of Kabul was as symbolic of the culmination of the US’ two-decade-long ‘Global War on Terror’ (GWOT) as it was of a change in the political tectonics of insurgency. Even as multipolar contestation comes to occupy the space long occupied by counterterrorism within the broader global strategic imagination, insurgency—which shaped GWOT—has come to simply be driven by and influenced by the international strategic environment in which it is now pursued.
The civil war in Myanmar provides a vignette of what insurgency may look like in this new era. Myanmar is already a key region of concern for Indian policymakers. Besides concerns emanating from a shared border, mutual people-to-people ties, and the security repercussions for India’s Northeast at a time when the region is developing into a fulcrum for New Delhi’s Act East policy, New Delhi’s policies are also shaped by the displacement of Pakistan by China within its strategic calculus—the latter being a more active participant within Myanmar’s security landscape, supporting a variety of belligerents including the Junta itself. Tactics and strategies employed by insurgents might, therefore, provide a glimpse into the future of insurgency amid multipolarity—the likely trends that may develop, and how they might help shape the coming global order.
India’s economy will become carbon neutral by the year 2070, the country’s prime minster has announced at the COP26 climate crisis summit in Glasgow. The target date is two decades beyond what scientists say is needed to avert catastrophic climate impacts. India is the last of the world’s major carbon polluters to announce a net-zero target, with China saying it would reach that goal in 2060, and the United States and the European Union aiming for 2050.
China's carbon emissions are vast and growing, dwarfing those of other countries. Experts agree that without big reductions in China's emissions, the world cannot win the fight against climate change. In 2020, China's President Xi Jinping said his country would aim for its emissions to reach their highest point before 2030 and for carbon neutrality before 2060. His statement has now been confirmed as China's official position ahead of the COP26 global climate summit in Glasgow. But China has not said exactly how these goals will be achieved.
China's carbon emissions are vast and growing, dwarfing those of other countries. Experts agree that without big reductions in China's emissions, the world cannot win the fight against climate change. In 2020, China's President Xi Jinping said his country would aim for its emissions to reach their highest point before 2030 and for carbon neutrality before 2060. His statement has now been confirmed as China's official position ahead of the COP26 global climate summit in Glasgow. But China has not said exactly how these goals will be achieved.
A crucial U.N. conference heard calls on its first day for the world's major economies to keep their promises of financial help to address the climate crisis, while big polluters India and Brazil made new commitments to cut emissions. World leaders, environmental experts and activists all pleaded for decisive action to halt the global warming which threatens the future of the planet at the start of the two-week COP26 summit in the Scottish city of Glasgow on Monday. The task facing negotiators was made even more daunting by the failure of the Group of 20 major industrial nations to agree ambitious new commitments at the weekend.