Vox Atlas

Before Qassem Soleimani was killed in a US air strike in Iraq, he was arguably Iran's second most important leader. He commanded the soldiers and spies of Iran's elite Quds Force, a group whose job was to forge partnerships with militias across the Middle East, through which Soleimani spread Iran's influence and his own. From Hezbollah in Lebanon to the many Shia militias in Iraq, these groups played a central role in the medley of wars that have roiled the Middle East for the last few decades. Soleimani didn't invent Iran's use of proxy militias; that dates back to at least 1979, when Iran's new regime looked around the region and found many enemies and few friends. But 40 years later, thanks in part to Soleimani's work, Iran has the advantage in the Middle East.

As of early March 2020, a new coronavirus, called COVID-19, is in more than 70 countries and has killed more than 3,100 people, the vast majority in China. That's where the virus emerged back in December 2019. This isn't a new phenomenon for China; in 2003, the SARS virus also emerged there, and under similar circumstances, before spreading around the world and killing nearly 800. Both SARS and COVID-19 are in the "coronavirus" family, and both appear to have emerged from animals in China's notorious wildlife markets. Experts had long predicted that these markets, known to be potential sources of disease, would create another virus. The markets, and the wildlife trade that supports them, are the underlying problem of these pandemics; until China solves that problem, more are likely to emerge.

Man-made climate change is warming the planet's atmosphere and oceans, and the effects are being felt the most at the poles. In Antarctica, home to the largest chunk of ice on earth, ice shelves and glaciers are beginning to collapse, and one in particular could spell disaster. The Thwaites Glacier, in West Antarctica, has retreated more than 14 kilometers in the last two decades as warm ocean water undermines it. The glacier is situated on a downward slope that falls deep into the center of Antarctica. It's why scientists are racing to find out how close it is to total collapse - and what that would mean for future sea levels.

Coffee is one of the most popular commodities on Earth. It's grown by nearly 125 million farmers, from Latin America to Africa to Asia. But as man-made climate change warms the atmosphere, the notoriously particular coffee plant is struggling. Places like Colombia, which once had the perfect climate to grow Arabica coffee, are changing. Now, experts estimate the amount of land that can sustain coffee will fall 50 percent by 2050. It's not just a crisis for consumers but for the millions who have made a livelihood out of growing coffee.

On August 4, 2020, a massive explosion rocked Beirut, the capital city of Lebanon. The blast occurred when sparks in a warehouse hit a stockpile of ammonium nitrate — a highly explosive material — that was stored in the city's port. It was one of the largest accidental explosions in history and it couldn't have occurred at a worse time for Lebanon. For the past several years, the country has been sliding into an economic depression and a political crisis. The root causes began during the country's 20-year civil war and extend to the organization of the government, in which control is divided among the country's many religious sects. After years of corruption and negligence, Lebanon's people are now stuck picking up the pieces.

What is NATO? And why is it still around? For 150 years, the US avoided formal alliances. Then, after World War II, it abruptly changed course, and began to build a network of alliances unlike anything that had come before. Over the next few decades, the US used those alliances to keep countries around the world close, and to fight Soviet expansion, by making a promise that it would go to war if any of its allies were ever attacked. After the Soviet Union fell, the initial purpose of those alliances was gone, but the US recommitted to them, signaling again and again that the central promise of those relationships was still in effect. It kept doing so for the next 25 years. Then the US elected a leader who took America’s global relationships in a new direction. President Trump was skeptical that America’s network of alliances was still beneficial to the US. He began to distance the US from those alliances, raising doubts about whether America would actually follow through on the promise at the core of them if provoked. Some allies moved closer to Russia or China, both of whom had attempted to undermine America’s alliances. Today, the future of those alliances is on the ballot in the US. One of the major presidential candidates in the 2020 election wants to return the US to its former status with its allies; the other finds its decades-old alliances costly and cumbersome. The world is waiting to see which vision Americans prefer.

On September 27, 2020, explosions rocked the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. It’s a small, mountainous piece of land in the Caucasus, between Europe and Asia. For more than 30 years it’s been the center of a conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Both countries claim the territory and have dug their armies in along its borders. These explosions were the start of another round of fighting. Since 1994, Nagorno-Karabakh has been controlled by Armenians, but in just a few weeks in 2020, Azerbaijani soldiers captured most of the region. Outgunned by advanced drones, Armenian forces had no choice but to retreat and finally agree to a ceasefire in early November.