Off-late, confrontations among different nations are becoming overtly complex. The Israel-Palestine combat, the Russia-Ukraine war, Middle East ruffle, and countless other such severe skirmishes are haunting the entire human community. But to read such a regular series of tensions, we are wrapped in labyrinths monumentally misleading mindsets.

Since World War II, 56 series of various bilateral and trilateral wars have been fought in total. Should the fighting mostly among some European countries be called ‘World War’ or not? This may ignite debate in the domain of linguistic hegemony. Nonetheless, the football tournament played by most European countries is named the World Cup. Similarly, the ongoing inter-state tensions are tagged as conflicts and nations supposedly sponsoring or supporting those are assumed as World Power. But the bitter truth is that neither the recent clashes are simply conflicts nor are those powers world powers. These misled understandings are the bi-product of linguistic dominion  then unmasking embedded violence of knowledge to colonize the mass mindset.

As found archived, 92 countries have actively been involved in those clashes since World War II. Various researches and study reports (along with Global Peace Index, 2024 by Institute of Economics and Peace) have published following several heartbreaking facts about the consequences and damages of such upsurges. In the year 2024 alone, 162,000 people have died in wake of these wars. Economic losses worth $193trn are projected while 110m people have reportedly become refugees or displaced. Despite professed interest to work for permanent and unshakable peace worldwide, 108 countries have increased their military power and are still compounding it including drones—post UN’s establishment. In the last 40 years, the rate of ending warfare by a country winning it has dropped from 49 to nine percent, and the rate resting through mutual dialogue has fallen from 23 to four percent. This indicates that brawls are becoming endless and everlasting. Even children are victimized mercilessly. In 2023, 450m children were reported of being at risk of killing, abducting, mutilating, conscripting into military forces, and sexually assaulting. 

The entire world community has been suffering beyond words. Poverty, energy crises, and the rising rate of inflation are noticeably uncontrolled. Scholar Lei Tain, infers egregious and apocalyptic outcomes in a study titled: The impact of the Russia-Ukraine Conflict on Global Economic Stability and Political Security. Disruption in the supply of goods and services, breakdown of mutual trust and goodwill are its new dimensions. Mental anguish, a network of rumors, hate and invective speeches, fear, and trafficking are destabilizing the compass of quality life. The shift from ‘soft to hard power’ and from ‘proxy to real war’ is undeniable. But many analysts are cultivating a misleading maze by accepting battles as ‘conflict’. These fights are not conflicts but highly complex and compounded crimes, at-least on five grounds. 

Compounded crimes

First, when a person kills another person: it becomes a serious crime, violates the law, and insults democracy. In the above cases, the state is killing people. Murder committed by the state is absolutely a crime. Second, it is even profoundly atrocious that not one or two people but a mass slaughter, huge holocaust and brutal murder are exercised. Third, states are entrusted with the responsibility of protecting their lives. 

Unfortunately, agencies to be the protector are metamorphosing to devilish devourers. It is already a crime to deviate from the responsibility to protect. By engaging in murder, the volume of crimes is doubled. Fourth, in politics, three different terms agitation, conflict and terror have separate meanings. The agitation is usually peaceful and comes to a conclusion through harmonized agreement. Conflict is fought and intended to gain power by vanquishing the enemy through armed struggle. Warfare is mobilized by targeting only the enemy. But in terror, not only the opponent is hit, the unarmed and ordinary civilians are attacked. In the current scenes, common people are plagued millions of times greater than that of the designated foes. 

Fifth, it has also caused widespread suffering and suffocation to those who are not involved in attacks. Therefore, these incidents that we have been confusingly understanding as conflicts are collective and organized crimes.

Furtherance, we are assimilating the countries heading or helping these fights as power states. In such incidents after World War II, America and Russia are directly or indirectly opposing each other as scholars and studies globally hint. From Korea, Germany, Vietnam tensions to Russia-Ukraine stress, whatever is happening on the ground is  portrayed as the brainchild of these two countries on the status of world power. But, considering these powers as world powers is another fatal fallacy flourishing in a galaxy of academicians. 

Fatal fallacy

Some arbitrary analyses that rank the first and second place to countries in the ‘world order’ or declare them as ‘First and Second Power’ have been corrupting the consciousness for a long time. Usually known as ‘an agent-based model’, such a conclusion has been exclusively drawn based on military power alone. However, recently, a distinct concept of ‘World Power Index-70’ has emerged and been popularly discussed in lead schools of Political Science across the globe. This narrative rescripts the assumed rulebook for requirements for the power-states. 

Foremost 10 catalogues to consider any country as powerful include: area, population, size of economy, average income per capita, level of happiness, per person purchasing parity, currency strength, nuclear status, investment in public welfare activities, and green economy-oriented steps. The first seven countries across the world are listed in each index to create a matrix of ‘World Power Index-70’. Normally, area, population, size of economy, nuclear status of the respective country have no significant relationship with the quality of life of citizens. Countries which we call world powers are usually in the first seven in these lists. 

Contrary to these, average income per capita, level of happiness, per person purchasing parity, currency strength, investment in public welfare activities, and green economy-oriented steps lead to a strong, close, and direct relationship with the quality of life of citizens. However, the world powers that we have fallaciously mentioned so far are nowhere in these indexes in the first seven ranks; most of them are not even in the first 15th to 20th. Many other countries except the USA and Russia are championing the order. Parag Khanna’s The Future is Asian and Richard McGregor’s Asia’s Reckoning can be relevant references for details. 

Now the pressing question comes: should we consider those in the first seven on the index that destroy citizens’ lives as world powers or those in the first seven on the index that have a close and direct relationship with quality of life as world powers? Should we measure world power in terms of the ability to destroy lives and destroy the earth or should we measure it based on the intent and practices that are prone to save lives and preserve the earth? Let’s get rid of the misperception and misleading illusion.

The world powers that we have been referring to so far are not the world powers but destructive forces. Even the confrontation that they are mastering skill in is not conflict but serious and severe crime against humanity.