Yesterday was the 80 year anniversary since the end of the Second World War in Europe – a day known now as VE Day, and a day which sees celebrations, parades, and memorials across the continent.

Yet this year what is meant to be a significant milestone is instead an occasion being observed under the ever growing spectre of a world which is on a precipice and under a dark shadow of ever-increasing conflict.

War continues to rage in Ukraine, as Russia’s invasion shows no sign of coming to an end, with efforts for a long-lasting ceasefire and end to the deadly conflict proving thus far to be futile.

In Palestine meanwhile, leaked and later confirmed plans show that Israel will expand its military offensive to include the “capture” of Gaza and the holding of its territory, forcing the displacement of some 2.1 million Palestinians who live in the Gaza Strip.

Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich summarised the plans: “We are finally going to conquer the Gaza Strip. We are no longer afraid of the word ‘occupation.’ We are conquering Gaza, clearing it out and taking control of every area we enter.”

The same minister has said that his idea of winning in Gaza would mean the territory would be "destroyed" with civilians moved to a "humanitarian zone" in the south of the Palestinian territory. From there, he said, they would start to "leave in great numbers" to third countries.

The plan has ignited new fears of what is tantamount to an ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, with Israeli forces already blocking all humanitarian deliveries into Gaza for two whole months.

And in the last few days, tensions between India and Pakistan boiled over after India launched strikes on both Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir. India said it targeted “terrorist infrastructure” in the wake of a tourist massacre in India-controlled Kashmir last month.

There was more escalation yesterday as Pakistan said it downed 25 Indian loitering munition drones across the country after a “serious provocation.”

Armed conflicts continue elsewhere: Africa remains riddled with fighting, which intensified in areas in recent months as an allegedly Rwanda-backed militia group invaded the Democratic Republic of Congo -  a country which itself has been dogged by conflict for the last 30 years.

We cannot forget other conflicts which, it seems, are waiting to happen – relations between China and Taiwan remain extremely tense, while the President of the United States of America – a country once considered the cradle and protector of the free world, but now seen in some parts as a looming threat to security – has time and time again expressed expansionist desires over places like Greenland.

“I don’t rule it out,” President Donald Trump said when asked if he was serious about using military force to invade Greenland, which is a part of Denmark. “I don’t say I’m going to do it, but I don’t rule out anything,” he said.

A Wall Street Journal report this week cited two anonymous sources, and said that the US is escalating its intelligence gathering on Greenland  to focus on identifying individuals in Greenland and Denmark who support the Trump administration’s desire to take over the island.

This all makes for harrowing reading.  80 years on from the deadliest conflict in mankind’s history, the world and its people have a growing sense of unease: A growing sense that the conflated desires of a rabble of world leaders and their power-addled brains may plunge the world into a new age of conflict and a new age of darkness that, this time, it might not manage to recover from.

VE day may have been yesterday – but rare have been the occasions in the last 80 years that the world stands on the precipice it does today.

One only hopes that reason, and peace, may prevail.