This year marks 30 years since the Rwandan genocide in 1994, when a Hutu-majority government and a privately owned radio station with close ties to the government colluded to murder 800,000 people.
The year 1994 may seem recent, but for a continent as young as Africa (where the median age is 19), it’s more like a distant past.
Suppose this had happened today, in the age of the algorithm. How much more chaos and murder would ensue if doctored images and deepfakes were proliferating on social media rather than radio, and radicalizing even more of the public? None of this is beyond reach, and countries including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, and Niger are at risk—owing to their confluence of ethno-religious tensions, political instability, and the presence of foreign adversaries.
Here is a combined list of wars and conflicts initiated or significantly supported by the United States, with the stated reason being the promotion or defense of democracy:
Barbary Wars (1801–1805; 1815)
Mexican-American War (1846–1848)
Spanish-American War (1898)
Philippine-American War (1899–1902)
Bay of Pigs Invasion (1961)
Dominican Civil War (1965)
Lebanon Intervention (1982–1984)
Invasion of Grenada (1983)
Bombing of Libya (1986)
U.S. Invasion of Panama (1989)
Persian Gulf War (1990–1991)
Somali Civil War intervention (1992–1994)
Bosnian War (1995–1996)
Kosovo War (1999)
Afghanistan War (2001–2021)
Iraq War (2003–2011)
Libya Intervention (2011)
Syrian Civil War intervention (2014–present)
Support to Israel
Support to South Korea during the Korean War (1950–1953)
Support to South Vietnam during the Vietnam War (1960–1975)
Support to NATO allies in various conflicts
Support to anti-ISIS coalition (2014–present)
Support to Ukraine (2014–present)
You are welcome