Unit 4 Shatterbelts Galore

Sudan, Balkan, Ukraine, Russia, Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Vietnam, and Korea are all considered shatterbelt regions because each of these regions are endangered by local conflicts within the states/between the countries, that also includes the involvement of opposing great powers outside the region. In each of these regions major world powers compete for influence and resources.

Sudan falls under the definition of a shatterbelt region because since 2010, in a disputed election, ethnic and cultural tensions have risen. A ongoing conflict being the South Sundanese Civil War. In December 2013, President Kiir charged his previous appointee Riek Machar and ten others of endeavoring an upset d'état(Overthrow of existing govt.). Machar denied attempting to begin an upset and fled to lead the SPLM – in restriction (SPLM-IO). Battling broke out between the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) and SPLM-IO, touching off the common war. Ugandan soldiers were conveyed to battle nearby the South Sudanese government The United Nations has peacekeepers in the nation as a major aspect of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS). Battling proceeded and would be trailed by a few more truce understandings. By 2018, nine resistance gatherings, including NAS, NDM of Lam Akol, FDP of Gabriel Chang, SSPA of Costello Ring and SSLM however remarkably excluding SPLM-IO, had joined to shape the South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA) to collaboratively negotiate with the government. Balkan is a shatterbelt region because it had the crossroads of three major countries, Ottoman, Russia, and Austro-Hungarian. Each of the European powers had their own ambitions and objectives with regards to the Balkans. Because of external influence from countries like Russia, Balkan countries created alliances and wars were waged. This began the creation of Balkan shatterbelts. Korea and Vietnam are both shatterbelt regions because majority of the battling occurred during the 1950s and 1960s, focusing on Korea and Vietnam. After the spread of Communism into Eastern Europe and China during the 1940s, the democratic West became worried that Communism would keep on working its way through Asia. East Asia qualifies as a shatterbelt from 1945- 1976 because of U.S. occupation in the area after World War II and subsequent alliances with South Korea, Taiwan, and Japan, China's presence in the region, and Soviet ties with Mongolia and North Korea. This was known as the Domino Theory. The Korean Conflict finished with the line among North and South Korean in basically a similar spot as it was previously, the 38th equal. The West couldn't push back Communism, however had halted its encouraging. The following significant clash in the territory occurred for similar reasons, however in Vietnam. In 1975, Vietnam turned into a brought together nation indeed as a Communist state. The Ukraine and Russian conflict is in a shatterbelt region because Eastern European states found themselves literally and figuratively between the democratic West and communist Soviet Union. Following the fall of the Soviet Union, smaller nations within the former member states struggled for autonomy.  The Crimean peninsula was conquered by Russia, then after the fall of the soviets Crimea was given back to Ukraine, but it was heavily influenced by Russia. Russia is once again trying to push territory and boundaries and is trying to push through Crimea, which is already majority Russian. So Russian influence makes the fight more difficult. The U.S and other superpowers do not want Russia to take more land, but Russian influence creates a challenge. Finally Turkey, Syria, and Iraq are a shatterbelt region because following the fall of the Soviet Union, ethnically defined territories pushed for autonomy and to claim more territory. Key states in the area involved themselves in the conflicts. They are all scrambling to assert claims over two vital rivers that run through the region.

 Cultural geography play a role in Sudan conflict by Sudan gained independence on January 1, 1956. The establishment of a provisional constitution failed to settle two critical issues for many Sudanese: whether the state would be secular or Islamic, and whether the country would be unified or operate under a federalist system—issues that continue to cause conflict within Sudan today. The first war was fought between the government in the North and the rebels in the South. The second civil war was also caused by cultural and political factors as Islamist's in Sudan pressured the president to abolish the south's semi-autonomous government, declare Arabic the official language, and institute Sharia law throughout the country. Which only raised tensions. The actions outside countries have taken have been reactions from Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America. They had all just spoken out about what their country believes about the conflict and how they are monitoring South Sudan, ready for action. Almost all action was to help ad deteriorate violence and harm to civilians.

The role of cultural geography plays in this conflict is that the Balkans have been inhabited since prehistoric times. The Albanians, Greeks, Romanians, Slavs, Hungarians, and other nationalities have all inhabited Balkans at one point or another. This shows how because of the many inhabitants Balkans has contained, conflict resulting from clashing of cultural and beliefs of rights over the land have occurred. Physical geography has played a role in the conflict because its geography revolves around the areas situation as a peninsula, its mountains, and its rivers. Balkans has not been isolated from nearby regions and its seas have served as both barriers and entry points. The mountains have divided the regions into small ethnic groups and distinct separate national cultures. The actions outside countries have taken are when the Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated i a Balkan city the Austro-Hungarian government was given pretext to crush Serbian nationalism. And from this WWI began, which involved the world superpowers and major conflict between all countries. All superpowers got involved as ell as many small countries and all of the allies.

The role cultural geography plays in Ukraine and Russian conflict is that when Soviet movement and Communism was at its most wide spread and peak it had overtaken Ukraine and many other countries along the borders of Russia. Because of this, after Russia was pushed back and Ukraine became independent again it is still heavily influenced by Soviet ways and culture. So current Russian advances through Crimea and other areas of Ukraine and taken easily as the citizens are already pro-Russian. Physical geography plays a role in the Ukraine and Russian conflict because Ukraine is in control of a major choke point, which Russia would find very nice to have access to. Also if Russia was able to take control and spread communism to Ukraine once again it will continue to keep spreading and try to once again reclaim other countries it had control of for choke points and resources. Countries like the U.S and Europe have got involved as they want to limit the spread of communism and the share of those vital choke points. U.S does not want Russia to take control of any more countries though it does not want to get to heavily involved.

Physical geography plays a role in the conflict because the Cold War deepened the tensions over water, Turkey joined NATO whilst Syria and Iraq kept close ties with the USSR .Second, the issue with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) was a major bone of contention between the two countries until the 2000s. Lastly, the territorial dispute over the Hatay province was a major source of tension between the countries until 2005. The tensions brought the dispute to another level in the 1980s-1990s, as Turkey started to use water as an instrument to put pressure on the other co-riparian states and linked it to issues not related to water. Mountain ranges kept cultures in separate areas. As there are different ethnicities and cultures all through out Syria, Turkey, and Iraq cultural geography is wide spread. From the 1960s to the 1990s, tensions among the co-riparian states of the Euphrates-Tigris Basin hampered cooperation over the rivers. Since 1999 , when Turkey was granted the status of candidate country for membership to the EU, the country started transposing and implementing the EU body of legislation, including the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD). The renewed cooperation which was observed among the three co-riparians in the 2000s reflects the influence of the WFD. This is just one example of outside actions. The EU had gotten involved to help Turkey's water policies.

Physical geography plays a role in North Korea and South Korea conflict because of the DMZ splitting the North and South Korea. Each wanting to take over, but staying separate due to the larger powers supporting each side. Cultural geography plays a role because as North Korea sided with powers such as Russia and Mongolia, South Korea sided with the U.S and other like powers. Putting communism vs socialism once more. The tension between North and South only continued to rise as different views and cultures are spread throughout each. Action outside countries have taken are mainly just common allies and agreements to support them. Which helps but also does not help the conflicts. These outside forces have helped because neither country wants to get into anything too heated, so no major actions have been played. But it also does not help because if there is one wrong move it could be the signal for something big. Which would blow up tensions and not be anything good.