SINCE COLD WAR, THE NUMBER OF ARMED CONFLICTS HAS INCREASED, CREATING THE WARM WAR ERA

When the United States and the Soviet Union were the two head-to-head combatants in the Cold War, it was easy to understand who the enemy was.

But the two nations never engaged in actual military conflict throughout the entire Cold War period.

It is interesting, then, to note that of the globe's 193 nations, 65 were engaged in some armed conflict in 1999. Seventeen new nations made the list last year, and a dozen were dropped off. The record year for armed conflicts was 1995 when there were 71 nations involved. Curiously, in the years near the end of the Cold War, such conflicts numbered about 35.

A report from the National Defense Council Foundation blamed military coups and a backlash against democracy as reasons for the increase in this present-day period, which the report calls the "Warm War Era."

Using other criteria, the CIA counted 31 conflicts in 1999, and the Center for Defense Information, using still other parameters, listed 37 active wars.