Photo Courtesy of Rajanews, CC BY 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Photo Courtesy of HDPTCAR from Bangui, Central African Republic, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
President Biden is leaving office, handing over a world marked by unprecedented danger, conflict, and instability to President Trump. Under Biden’s tenure, the global stage has seen escalating conflicts, economic uncertainty, and widespread political upheaval. In 2024, 81% of the world’s population was exposed to violence, with an average of 52 conflict incidents reported daily.
Civilians have borne the brunt of the violence, with one in eight people worldwide directly exposed to conflict. According to ACLED (Armed Conflict Location & Event Data), global conflict levels have doubled in the past five years, with nearly 200,000 violent events recorded in 2024 alone. Amid this escalating unrest, Donald Trump’s return to the U.S. presidency signals potential shifts in international alliances, emphasizing the urgent need for renewed diplomacy and humanitarian action to address rising global instability.
In 2024, the wars in Ukraine and Palestine emerged as the deadliest conflicts of the year, starkly highlighting fractures in global stability. In the Middle East, Hamas’s 2023 attack on Gaza triggered a sweeping Israeli retaliation, escalating into a regional conflict involving Hezbollah and Houthi rebels. Over 50,000 lives have been lost since the October 2023 attack, with 35,000 fatalities occurring in the past year alone. The ongoing violence and lack of a ceasefire suggest this conflict will continue well into 2025. Meanwhile, in Ukraine, civilian casualties for the year totaled 39,081, with overall losses exceeding 57,500 killed and 250,000 wounded, underscoring the devastating human cost of the war.
As of December 2024, President Biden has committed over $62 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since the beginning of the Biden administration. This support includes military aid, humanitarian assistance, and financial backing. Additionally, the U.S. has provided substantial economic aid, including debt relief measures, to support Ukraine’s economy. In total, the U.S. has allocated approximately $175 billion in various forms of assistance to Ukraine since Russia’s invasion in February 2022.
Myanmar remains one of the world’s most complex and devastating conflict zones, with the ongoing turmoil following the 2021 military coup plunging the country deeper into chaos. By 2024, over 170 active non-state armed groups were operating weekly, ranging from ethnic armed organizations to pro-democracy militias. These factions frequently shifted alliances, fueling a volatile and unpredictable conflict environment. The military junta’s brutal campaigns, including airstrikes and mass arrests, have exacerbated the humanitarian crisis, displacing millions and devastating countless communities. This instability has significantly contributed to a global death toll that exceeded 233,000 in 2024, while minimal international intervention and a widening power vacuum have left Myanmar’s crisis as a threat to regional security across Southeast Asia.
The Myanmar government continues to target churches, schools, hospitals, camps for internally displaced people, and civilians in its brutal campaign against opposition. While previous U.S. administrations imposed sanctions on Myanmar, their impact has been undermined by China’s military and financial support for the junta. The Biden administration, however, has done nothing to assist the people of Myanmar or to curb Russia and China’s continued supply of weapons to the military regime.
The Syrian war took a dramatic turn in 2024 with the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, a development that has sent shockwaves through global security dynamics. Assad’s ouster, driven by a coalition of rebel forces, has left Syria in chaos, with competing factions and extremist groups vying for control in the ensuing power vacuum. Among these groups, ISIS has seized the opportunity to reemerge, capitalizing on the instability to regain territory and influence. This resurgence not only threatens the region but also raises the specter of a renewed global terror threat as ISIS seeks to expand its operations beyond Syria.
The collapse of Assad’s government disrupts existing geopolitical alignments, particularly for Russia and Iran, who heavily invested in propping up the regime. As Syria spirals into uncertainty, the risk of broader regional conflict and the global repercussions of unchecked extremism, mass displacement, and escalating humanitarian crises loom large, underscoring the fragile state of international security.
In response to the Syria conflict and the ensuing threat of Islamic extremism, Biden removed the $10 million bounty on Abu Mohammad al-Jolani. Al-Jolani, the head of the al-Qaeda-linked group Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), has long been associated with extremism.
Regional conflicts in 2024 compounded global instability, with hotspots like Sudan, Nagorno-Karabakh, and Haiti intensifying chaos. Sudan’s civil war and the Nagorno-Karabakh crisis displaced thousands, while Haiti’s descent into gang control added to the turmoil. West African insurgencies, unrest in Ethiopia, and Taliban-led violence in Afghanistan further fueled the global conflict landscape. Syria’s post-Assad power vacuum and Libya’s increased unrest highlighted the fragility of states grappling with instability, while Lebanon’s rise to the “extreme” conflict category underscored worsening political violence.
Despite a decline in violence in Yemen, with events dropping significantly since 2020, new areas like the Red Sea and Sahel became battlegrounds for jihadist groups, militias, and external mercenaries, exacerbating civilian suffering. Advanced warfare methods, including bombings and remote violence, accounted for over 90,000 events in 2024, reflecting a shift toward more sophisticated, widespread tactics by both state and non-state actors. Civilian exposure to violence increased dramatically, with conflicts expanding geographically and involving diverse adversaries.
As 2024 ends, the outlook remains grim. ACLED forecasts a 15% rise in conflict events for early 2025, with monthly fatalities expected to reach 20,000, driven by violence in key hotspots such as Palestine, Myanmar, and Ukraine. External actors’ involvement in conflicts like Syria will critically shape whether violence escalates or stabilizes. The predicted 20% annual increase in global violence underscores the urgency for addressing and mitigating these crises.
President Trump is inheriting a fragile economy and a world fraught with danger. With hope, he can leverage his strength and deal-making skills to address global violence before it escalates into further instability or collapse.
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