A year of refugees and terror victims

The year 2017 started with much of a chaos. January saw Indians standing outside the banks to get their currency changed due to a massive impact of the demonetization. The situation was similar at almost all the Airports around the world. One week after he took office, President Donald Trump issued an executive order placing strict travel restrictions on people coming to the U.S. from seven predominantly Muslim countries. One day after President Trump’s inauguration, somewhere close to 4.6 million women marchers made their presence known in all 50 states as well as dozens of countries abroad. The protest was to register voice against his choice of words for women in his campaign that were in bad taste. Trump preferred being in news for odd reasons and he continued to do so throughout the year. Americans couldn’t really understand how they had elected Trump as their president. Each of his tweets and rants at media, co-workers, party men, opposition and even other world leaders spark a frenzied reaction each time; analyzing its meaning and impact. He even made fun of newly elected Prime Minister of England Theresa May who has been facing the inherited challenges of Brexit. His dozens of typos like the infamous “Covfefe” raised curiosity. His dig on dictator of North Korea for a reason that may appear genuine, and the consequences disastrous kept North Korea in the headline as in September it tested a hydrogen bomb believed to have the capability to strike Japan and the US coast. United Nations imposed sanction, and now Trump had turned his attention to Jerusalem by declaring it the capital of Israel.
U.S. intelligence agencies determined that Russian had interfered with presidential election. The question still lingers on, was there any collusion with the Trump campaign? The probe saw a number of officers in the US administration making way.
FBI Director James Comey was suddenly fired. Former national security advisor Mike Flynn had to leave in February, just 25 days into the term, after it was revealed he lied about his contact with the Russian government. Anthony Scaramucci was brought in as the new communications director and press secretary and got the boot after an explosive phone call to a high-profile journalist repeatedly angered the new chief of staff, General John Kelly.
In addition to England, Spain too faced challenges on the home front with Catalonia voting for a breakaway. The area would need a closer watch as the political landscape could witness a deep change as it was witnessed in the case of Zimbabwe and France, with the departure of Robert Mugabe and the arrival of Emmanuel Macron as France’s youngest head of state since Napoleon. In a landmark ruling, former Bosnian Serb general Ratko Mladic was jailed for life by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Yugoslavia war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide.
Canada too witnessed a change in political platform. Jagmeet Singh won the NDP’s federal leadership race in a first ballot vote, becoming the first non-Caucasian leader of a federal political party. Conservatives too elected Andrew Scheer, a former House of Commons Speaker, as party leader. Canada saw itself at the opposite end of US on NAFTA talks.
Nations around the world were hit by Islamist terrorist attacks, starting with New Year’s Day, when a gunman from Uzbekistan opened fire in a nightclub in Istanbul killing 39 people. The Islamic State claims responsibility. On March 22, a man drove a car into pedestrians on a pavement along Westminster Bridge in London. The perpetrator, a Briton who had converted to Islam, stabbed a police officer to death before being shot dead by the police. The most deadly attack occurred on November 24, when more than 300 people were killed by gunmen in a mosque during prayer in the city of Bir al-Abed, the main city in northern Sinai. Such attacks highlighted that terrorism has now become an epidemic and world leaders have done nothing much.
Syria has had its share of bad phase throughout the year. As the year comes to an end, the Syrian army forces backed by Iranian-backed militias pushed deeper into the last rebel-held enclave near a strategic border area with Israel and Lebanon in a new expansion of Tehran’s influence in the war-torn country. However, the influence of ISIS in these countries still continues.
In the Middle East Saudi Arabia and its allies severed diplomatic ties with Qatar. In the biggest diplomatic crisis to hit the region in years, they accused Doha of supporting “terrorists” and of being too close to Iran, Saudi Arabia’s regional rival. Then, on November 4, Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri announces from Saudi Arabia that he is resigning – before later doing a u-turn – citing Iran’s “grip” on Lebanon.
Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif was barred from public office by the Supreme Court of Pakistan for a period of 10 years. He was also put on the Exit Control List to prevent him from leaving the country as fallout of the verdict by the court on Panama Papers.
Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi continued to grow in statute. The plank of good governance promised by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) got due attention leading it to register massive victories in the state elections in Uttar Pradesh, followed by retention of power in Gujarat and dethroning the Congress Party in Himachal Pradesh. However, its ally the Akali Dal was relegated to the third position in Punjab. BJP throughout 2017, was on a consolidation mode and that prompted it to rollout a single tax regime in the country – goods and services tax (GST) on July 1.
From Myanmar, since August hundreds of thousands of Rohingya fled over the border into Bangladesh, as the military intensifies its clampdown on the minority group. The plight of Rohingya was discussed at various forums including United Nations without much respite. They have been crowded on boats and ping-ponged between nations that don’t want them. Many have been made to stay in neighboring Bangladesh with no right to their land.
The year failed to control terror, and assure refugees of a livable state with major challenge coming from the leaders who appeared nowhere close to solving it.