What will be the major SOURCES of conflict in the first decade of the 21 century in your opinion?

Question

What will be the major SOURCES of conflict in the first decade of the 21 century in your opinion?

Answer 1

Oil, Nuclear Arms, Terrorism, Imperialism, Technology.

China is building a strong military and has a grip on the United States' National Debt, whereas countries like Iran are beginning to flaunt their Nuclear capabilities, much to the UN's dismay. Oil is in ever-increasing demand, and if alternative fuels can't be resolved soon, expect conflicts- minor or major- to be fought over fuel.

Answer 2

Oil, gas:  (look at Iraq )control of the sources and  of the transportation routes of both energetic sources (i.e. Afghanistan for Unocal pipelines) .

Water: the control of water is already a source of potential conflict  for Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine and Jordan.

A big economic crash leaving masses of desperate more desperate than today

Answer 3

We have less than three years to the end of this first decade of the 21st century so any conflict that you refer to will occur rather soon.

All wars have an element of economics within the source of its conflict so I think that the rise and fall of national and regional economies will be behind much of the troubles.  And connected to the economic conflicts, I believe we may see trouble brewing in environmental front (especially over resources) as well, namely competition for water, fossil fuels and liveable/arable land.   We see the makings of an international economic shakedown.  It does not necessarily mean global depression, but it does illustrate how intricately our lives is influence by globalization and international trade and commerce.  History has shown that states with growing economies have often expanded their military, plus we also have seen countries with shrinking or collapsing economies use their military to prop up their weak political standing.

Global warming is not fiction.  Whether it is human induced or accelerated by humans seems to be the stumbling block to a larger international acceptance.  I see environmental problems causing mass migrations, ecosystems collapsing and elimination of basic resources.  If this were to happen . . . look out.  I don't care where you live, if there are millions, no tens of millions of people, without the basics (Americans? Indians? Egyptians? Chinese? Brazilian?) then they will go out in search of food, water and shelter.  Which countries will allow free passage across their borders and which countries will not?