The ongoing persecution of Uyghur Muslims in China's Xinjiang province has the potential to escalate into a humanitarian crisis to which the world may not respond effectively. The history of such crises, such as those in Yugoslavia and Rwanda, demonstrate the difficulties in coordinating a response that is both humanitarian and politically strategic.
Sam Harris and Paul Bloom discuss the ethical questions surrounding atrocities committed by nation states and how levels of force and speed of response should be determined.
The Battle of Shanghai between China and Japan in 1937, the opening round of the Second Sino-Japanese War, was influenced by global public opinion and involved significant casualties on both sides before Chinese resistance ultimately collapsed.