Top Five Unknown Hot spots

William R. Collier Jr. (With additions by Ron Lewenberg)

The American Freedomist

We all know about the usual hot spots, and we can now add Georgia to that list, but there are other, less known areas that may seem unlikely as hot spots. Often the latest flare up is not where we expect, or at least where most people expect, but if you consider the history of that location it does not usually surprise people that a conflict occurred.

1. Kallinin Oblast- Formerly called Memel, this is a land-locked triangle of land between Poland and Lithuania that is controlled by Russia and that contains many ethnic Germans. The Germans have heavy economic ties here, the Poles and Lithuanians see this are as a foothold for Russia and yet neither want the Germans to be involved there. The status of this area is still in dispute.

2. Byelorus- Byelorus (Belorussia or “White Russia”) is ruled by a communist dictator, but many in Byelorus want to get out from under his control. Russia dominates Byelorus as a virtual satellite and there are over a hundred thousand White Russians each in neighboring Poland and Ukraine.

3. Crimea- Located on the southern shores of the Ukraine, divided from the mainland by a small isthmus, Crimea is home of Odessa, a Russian naval port, but it is Ukrainian territory while many of the ethnic groups wants to remain part of Russia.

4. Malvinas Island/Falkland Islands- After the Falkland war the British regained control over these virtually barren islands by defeating the Argentinean invaders but Argentina has not relinquished its claim and the balance of forces may be more favorable to the Argentineans today than in 1982.

5. Taiwan/Spratley Islands- the Spratley islands are claimed by Taiwan, China, and the Philippines who all have a presence there and recent storied that there may be oil under the waters located around these islands may ramp up the possibility of a Chinese move to seize them, a move that the Philippines and/or Taiwan, not to mention the US, Australia, Indonesia, and Singapore would oppose.

       6. Amur River Valley- The border between Russia and China. Chinese are crossing into Siberia and settling along both sides of the river. Chinese nationalism and irridentism, not to mention mineral intersts, will push China into Siberia.

7. The arctic oil fields- Thanks to better technology and changing ice flow patterns, Arctic Sea oil is no drillable. Russia, Norway, Canada, and the US all want a piece. Russia has claimed all of it.

       8. Gulf of Guinea- This African Gulf, divided between Angola, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Ghana, and some islands, is home to oil and natural gas. Many nations claim the same fields. 

       9. Nigeria (General)- Nigeria is divided between the Muslim north and Christian and animist south and includes the Igbo People (Ibo) who fought for and lost a war of independence in the late 60’s

       10. Nepal- This Buddhist kingdom is in the midst of a Maoist revolution sponsored by China. India is not happy, to say the least. 

NOTE- Items 6-10 submitted by Ron Lewenberg

I will add to these hotspots until we have a list of the top 20 unknown potential hot spots.

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