[b]The outgoing year witnessed several momentous developments—in politics, economy, sports and entertainment—to mention but some. The most visible of these would perhaps be the civil war in The Ukraine, which saw that country lose one part of its territory, Crimea, while effective control of the bulk of its eastern frontier presently hangs in the balance. Israel and Hamas were at each other’s throats again, but the ferocity of the war between both—and the scores who paid with dear life across both sides—shamed statesmen everywhere for their failure to halt the carnage. The Islamic State (IS) also emerged in full force on the political consciousness of the world, throwing whatever calculations there were on Syria into the dustbin, while effectively threatening the nascent democracy and well-being of the Islamic Republic of Iraq. The periodic beheading of innocent hostages by the IS, broadcast in colour on social media, became a frightening reminder of how graphically weakened the international security system has become.

Sustained conflict and terrorism in Afghanistan, Pakistan and The Philippines made the world perpetually unsafe, as did the growing influence of ‘copycat’ terrorist groups in Algeria, Mali and Nigeria, which became a sad reminder of the failure of western ‘solutions’ to crises in the world and particularly in Libya, a country that completely failed to function as one in 2014. There are many who would concur that weapons dropped into that country by the North Atlantic alliance in the war to remove Colonel Gaddhafi from power have played no small role in destabilising West Africa. Across the continents, peace seemed to have eluded many. From those who pick up assault rifles and go spraying schoolmates with lead in the US, to ‘lone wolf’ terrorist attacks in various parts of the world, including, in Australia of all places, prove that the menace of the 21st century terrorist seemed to have become a permanent feature of our everyday life.

The growing incidence of nationalism in the world, coupled with shrinking economies will likely instigate more tensions in the global arena in the in-coming year. China, Japan and other Asian states proved this much by their aggressive contest for land in the South China sea. Furthermore, the crash in global oil prices in the dying moments of 2014 and the failure of most oil producing countries to correctly anticipate and properly respond to this phenomenon serves to remind the world of how temporary certain indices of growth could be in the face of unpredictable trends in global trade.

Rea more at http://www.gaskiya.net/[/b]