Flashpoint (politics)

In international relations, a flashpoint is an area or dispute that has a strong possibility of developing into a war.

The original definition of flash point refers to the igniting of a volatile material at the lowest temperature at which it can vaporize to form an ignitable mixture in air.

Current political flashpoints

• The Taiwan straits between People's Republic of China and Republic of China
• The Senkaku Islands between People's Republic of China and Japan
• Korean Peninsula between North Korea and South Korea
• The Golan heights between Syria and Israel
• Israeli-Lebanon border between Lebanon and Israel
• Kashmir between India and Pakistan
• The Spratly Islands see Spratly Islands dispute
• Imia/Kardak - Aegean dispute
• The Shatt al-Arab between Iraq and Iran
• Possible second Falklands War (see Falkland Islands sovereignty dispute)
• Gaza Strip
• Abyei between North and South Sudan
• Escalation of the Syrian Civil War and Iraqi insurgency (2011–present) into a larger conflict. (See 2014 military intervention against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant)
• Post-Soviet frozen conflicts (i.e. South Ossetia, Abkhazia, Nagorno-Karabakh)
• Possible NATO invasion of Iran (see Nuclear program of Iran)
• Possible Russian military invasion of Ukraine (see 2014 Crimean crisis and 2014 pro-Russian conflict in Ukraine)

Historical political flashpoints

• The Balkans
• Bosnia
• Berlin (see Cold War)
• Sudetenland
• The Rio Grande valley
• Alsace-Lorraine (France Germany border)
• Soviet Union – United States relations (see Cold War)