The world is now grappling with a number of unresolved conflicts not only with certain rogue nations, but with murderous terrorist groups as well.

The recent annual assessment of The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) is not very encouraging. General Director John Chipman firmly stated: "Many parts of the world are engaged in brutal combat . . . Overall the dangerous triptych of Iraq, Afghanistan and Iran continues to dominate the security agenda as do the wider, iconic problems of terrorism and [nuclear] proliferation" (The Guardian, May 25, emphasis added throughout).

The Middle East, where we see a resurging Taliban problem in Afghanistan, continued crippling loss of life by insurgencies in Iraq, and a stubborn Iran seemingly determined to acquire nuclear weapons in violation of the nonproliferation treaty it has signed, dominates world security concerns. But in fact the global security landscape threatens to boil over in the year ahead when crucial tipping points could come together resulting in several simultaneous crises around the world.

Among them are China's continued military expansion and aggressive hunt for oil, the undisguised nuclear ambitions of North Korea, the explosive Palestinian problem and increasing violence in Southern Asia and parts of Africa such as the Sudan.

Apparently China wants to build a navy that will challenge America in the Pacific. The Chinese military buildup has become obvious, including an additional deployment of 300 J-10 fighter jets. China has also expressed great interest in buying land-attack cruise missiles from Russia.

Realistic assessments of China's military budget show that defense outlays now approach 3 percent of the nation's gross domestic product. IISS leader John Chipman stated, "[Military] expenditure is on a sharp upward trend and will remain so in view of popular and elite support for accelerated defense modernisation and because of China's increasing capacity to sustain spending at a high level without noticeably undermining other developmental goals."

The Chinese military trajectory is no secret, nor is the country's continuing designs on Taiwan.

The IISS also stated that North Korea now has "enough plutonium to build between five and 11 nuclear weapons." Consider noted historian Niall Ferguson's report in The Sunday Telegraph: "In 2002, the North Koreans restarted their nuclear facilities at Yongbyon (which had been closed under the US-North Korean agreed framework of 1994) with the clear intention of enriching uranium. Since then they have been busy producing weapons-grade plutonium" (June 4).

The Western world, even along with Chinese and Russian participation, has engaged in periodic diplomacy supplemented with generous economic sweeteners. But as Mr. Ferguson concludes, North Korea "shows no sign of renouncing their nuclear ambitions."

The latest report (by writers of the Financial Times stationed in Washington D.C. and Seoul) is truly frightening. "North Korea is preparing for a possible test of an intercontinental ballistic missile with the potential to hit the US, according to Washington officials. A senior official said that there were 'enough indications' to suggest that Pyongyang was getting ready to fire a Taepodong-2 missile from a launch pad in North Korea ."

There is, of course, a possibility that Kim Jong II, the North Korean dictator, is simply indulging in a dangerous bluff hoping to create some sort of an international crisis.

As Jesus Christ foretold, the time before His return would be one of "wars and rumors of wars" (Matthew 24:6). His description sounds remarkably like our day! (Sources: The Sunday Telegraph, The Guardian [both London], Financial Times.)