FROLITICKS

Well, another year is coming to an end. Like a lot of bloggers, I’m thinking back to what I see as the top ten biggest events of 2015.  Some are earth shattering, some are not.  There is no particular order of precedence, much the choice depending on one’s politics or interests.

1. The first event for Canadians was the election of Justin Trudeau’s Liberals to form the next federal government, and the defeat of Steven Harper’s Conservatives. Apparently, according to Conservative attack ads, young Mr. Trudeau was mainly elected because of his nice hair and good looks.
2. The U.S. presidential primaries began for both the Democrats and Republicans. Far more interesting is the Republican circus, clowns and all, hosted primarily by one Mr. Donald Trump. May Allah help America if this is the best that they can put forward as presidential candidates, including the likes of Hillary Rodham Clinton.
3. A shooting in Ottawa, Canada, shootings in San Bernardino, California, and attacks in Paris, France raise once again the specter of home-grown terrorism. The expression ‘radicalization’ has now entered our vernacular. There is now a struggle between maintaining our civil rights and defending national security. Beware, Big Brother is watching.
4. Saving our planet, and in turn ourselves once again emerged as a major issue. The accord on climate change arrived at in Paris took center stage. Like many well intentioned hand shakes and marriages, there were a lot of promises made. Time will tell whether they can be kept.
5. Technology kept moving forward, with the likes of self-driving vehicles, smart wearable pieces, Uber, multiple uses for drones, virtual reality devices, etc., etc. However, questions still remain about their social impact. Like all technologies, they can be used or abused.  The real question is whether they are really needed.
6. Civil war in Syria and the rise of the Islamic State in the Middle East resulted in ‘Coalition’ air strikes in Iraq and Syria. The situation became even more convoluted and complex, with so many different groups and foreign states involved. Far be it for me to even attempt to explain its complexities, including what the Islamic State’s self-proclaimed ‘caliphate’ is all about.
7. The re-emergence of the Taliban in Afghanistan in taking over several regions, such that the United Nations now believes that control of around a quarter of all Afghan districts is now being “contested” between state forces and Taliban militants. It sure looks like the U.S. will have to keep some forces on the ground in order to support the Afghan security forces.
8. Oil prices on world markets plummetted. This has had a particular serious impact on oil producing countries such as Canada, the U.S., Saudi Arabia, Russia, Venezuela and others. Some experts have even forcast that crude prices could stay low for the next 15 years in a world awash with oil. However, even lower gas prices at the pumps in North America have done little to help with any economic recovery.  The drop in oil prices hurt Russia a whole lot more than economic sanctions applied by the European Union and the U.S. in response to Russia’s aggression in the Ukraine.
9. Syrian and other Middle Eastern/African refugees fled by the hundreds of thousands into Europe. Since the Second World War, there has never been such a major and tragic human influx. Even Canada has agreed to help accept some of the refugees (possibly some 50,000), while the U.S. is still debating how many it might be willing to accept in the light of national security and immigration concerns.
10. Rounding off the selected highlights was the impact of extreme weather events around the world. These included devestating droughts, floods, fires, mud slides, tornadoes, hurricanes, etc., etc. Some parts of the world saw the warmest temperatures in our short human history.  Debates continued over whether these events were related to ‘climate change’?  Each evening, it was rare that some weather event didn’t make the news, national or local.

I hope that my list is fairly comprehensive, but I’m certain that you all can add to or change some of the events. Happy New Year.  May the force be with you.

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