Spy & Spirit #8

Wars of 2023 #1

These collages feature war images from The Economist over a ten-month period. February 2023 – December 2023.

Of all eight pieces, only this one spans a full three-month period – February, March, and April 2023 – meaning the rest of the year was more dreadful…

Obviously, Ukraine features prominently, but the rest of these scenes aren’t from combat. In the top right corner, there are big photos of the tension in the South China Sea. Asian rivals preparing to fight the regional giant with America’s help.

In the bottom right corner, commemorating twenty-five years since the Good Friday Agreements ended thirty years of war between Catholic Republicans and Protestant Unionists in Northern Ireland.

In the center-left, a cartoon summarizing twenty years since the US invasion of Iraq: Uncle Sam in desert camouflage just shot himself in the foot. That’s because invading Iraq catalyzed America’s hegemonic decline, and we’ve known that since 2005. The years of occupation witnessed the 21st century’s bloodiest sectarian conflict. How would Iraqi Shias and Sunnis perceive the violence in Belfast, where local animosity consumed a fraction of Baghdad’s inferno and in double the time? (15 years vs 30). Can you imagine a pan-sectarian truce across the Arabian Peninsula? ‘Good Friday’ has a really nice ring to it in Arabic – Jumea jayida - جمعة جيدة

There’s also an aerial photo of a massive demonstration in Israel, probably Tel Aviv. Protests began in February against Binyamin Netanyahu’s efforts to undermine Israel’s constitution by curtailing the power of the courts. It was unpopular. The public backlash caused acute divisions and instability in Israel. Did this enable Hamas’ massacres of October 7th? Or was it Bibi’s insistence on maintaining the Gaza Strip as an infected, festering wound for the past 15 years?

This is Spy –

The contest

And this is Spirit –

Cause and effect