The year 2014 is crucially remarkable overwhelmed by a
series of crisis that occurs simultaneously unlike other years in the past as
many world leaders labeled the year as the most challenging era in our time. In
general, the major events thought to be the most provoking are Ukraine
Crisis, Israel-Gaza conflict, the outbreak of Ebola, the immediate rise of
Islamic caliphate, World Cup, the missing Malaysian airline and its shooting
down over the eastern region of Ukraine. Minor events are hostage of hundreds
of school girls by Boko Haram in Nigeria, the FIFA’s scandal, the hostage siege
in Sydney and the crash of AirAsia’s plane. However, people are a bit relieved
by shrinking the oil price across the globe amid the raging conflicts by the
end of the year—thanks to the soaring business of oil in the United States. In
this repeatedly globalizing era, a small event can easily spark the light all
over the world within minutes as the events of 2014 witness. Some are reflected
as the following;
Ukraine Crisis
The crisis facing Ukraine is partly because of the
game of geopolitics played by Mr. Putin, the imperialist-minded president of
Russia. This crisis is in place between Russia and Ukraine even though the
eastern rebels are just a puppet. Logically speaking, those who support
corruption are corrupted, too. And so is Russia for supporting the corrupted
Viktor Yanukovych which is the starting point of the line. The western
governments put blame on Mr. Putin, accusing of orchestrating the crisis by
providing the rebel groups with military hardware and sophisticated weapons
that the rebels can never afford to buy by their own capacity. The west blessed
him with heavy sanctions in response to his political conduct in Ukraine;
seizing territory and was believed to engineer the war and refused to
investigate the shooting down of civilian airliner. In retrospect, Russia is
never late counter-blaming the west for supporting Ukraine, particularly US as
the sole player of the Ukrainian crisis in a bid to reduce the Russia’s sphere
of influence. Despite all this, Putin’s popularity at home is soared following
the annexation of Crimea from Ukraine. At this point, the Russian people, as
the Economist observed, are foolish enough to trade prosperity for
nationalistic favour. The Kremlin’s administration always suppressed dissent,
squeezed out opposition and controlling the media by the ingredients of
patriotism and ultra-nationalism. The unwillingness to help solve the shooting
down of Malaysian Airline consolidated a heavier sanction.
Critically, Putin is very unwise as he failed to see
the consequences of his aggressive actions. As the saying goes “ye shall reap
as ye sow”, the collapse in the ruble is for now caused by his belligerence,
greed and paranoia. Against the backdrop, the Kremlin’s administration will be
again overshadowed by kleptocracy in the future. For many political scientists
and experts in the west figured out this crisis as a tactic tested against the
Obama’s administration by Vladimir Putin. The crisis appears to be prolong if
left unsolved in early of 2015. And Russia and Ukraine are key to tackling this
nationalistic issue rather than the involvement of the west. Both of the
countries do need to realize that thousands of lives have been lost and
insisting on their national interest will mean further escalation of civil war.
The optimistic hope is that the fall of Russian economy can eventually persuade
the Kremlin to the productive conclusion.
The Israeli-Gaza conflict
The conflict between Israel and Gaza can be quelled only
for a short time. The light can be started any time because they had on-and-off
conflicts in the past. The Israeli-Gaza conflict in 2014 was all about Hamas
militant group and Israel. The rocket fire from Hamas militants in Gaza and a
heavy response of air strikes from Israel after the abduction and killing of
three Israeli teenagers sparked the all-out war. In that civilians were
confined and suffering a great loss. It took 22 days to put an end to the
conflict. What are the real issues behind the war? Hamas’s charter is committed
to Israel’s destruction and Israel’s top priority is to defend its territory
from militants’ attacks. Part of Hamas’s launching attacks against Israel is,
assessed by some analysts, that Hamas feel isolated and losing support from its
main allies such as Egypt, Syria and Iran, because of political changes. And the
only way they presume to gain support is to attack Israel at the expense of
civilian casualty. Such is the rogue and stupid strategy. The demands from the
two sides can hardly be met. Hamas wants Israel to lift the imposed
restrictions on the movement of goods and people in and out of Gaza Strips
whilst the Netanyahu’s administration made clear that they wanted Gaza or Hamas
to be demilitarized at all for the safety of Israeli citizens. At the height of
uncertainty, Egypt came as a rescuer, brokering the ceasefire agreement between
the parties that finally halted the conflict. With that being achieved, everyone
knows that it would not last long, though.
Since the founding of the Israel state in 1947, history
proves that whoever war waged against Israel will receive more or less supports
from the Islamic countries. So far, no leader in the world can help solve the
problems faced by Israel and its neighbors on a permanent deal. After all in
all, the world hope that Gaza will be well rehabilitated in 2015 after getting
more than six billion donations from wealthy countries and Israel will be in
peace, but the unexpected phenomenon can swing back Israel into another game of
conflict in the very near future.
The Outbreak of Ebola:
The epidemic disease of Ebola, starting in West
Africa, claimed 7,800 lives. The response toward the deadly disease was very
slow. It was due to the density of a number of crisis challenging big
countries, who are the decision makers in the Security Council at United
Nations. The one who died first of this disease was a toddler named as Emile
Ouamouno a family member of Etienne before spreading to his sister Philomene on
Christmas Day in 2013 and passed away before New Year, then spread again to
other members of community in Guinea. It was later recognized as Ebola in March
this year after it began to spread across international borders. Scientists
believe that the toddler before his death had been near a tree harbouring the
free-tailed bats. Fruit bats are the commonly suspected carriers of Ebola virus
and believed to have been linked with the previous outbreak of Ebola in Africa.
On a more basic level, one of the solutions among many
in tackling the Ebola outbreak is to fight against poverty. Because the rich
countries can afford for treatment whereas the poverty-stricken West African
countries can hardly survive from deadly disease. This Ebola outbreak leaves
the world with a great lesson that a united hand is much needed in countering
the challenges lie ahead.
The rise of Islamic Caliphate or ISIS versus Boko Haram:
The brutal scene of killing innocent people in public
and in sight of children shocked the world. This is the emblem of ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham) on the
world stage. Skeptically at one point, when the Islamic caliphate emerged in
Iraq, it is surprising to learn that the Muslim countries are not blaming them
except for the victimized countries, Iraq and Syria. There are many theories
and conspiracies swirling around the rise of these extremist groups. Some say
this is the counterproductive of US’s invasion of Iraq. On the other side, some
analysts suggest that the caliphate is a political or religious idea linked
back to the history of Ottoman Empire.
In the case of Boko Haram, the corrupted government of
Nigeria showed no will to help ease the pain of families of victims when the
extremist group abducted more than 220 school girls. At later stage, the
government took actions and running after the group in the north after facing
domestic and international uproar. The groups claimed to have affiliated with
ISIS.
When it comes to the US role in marauding ISIS, the
Obama’s administration was deliberately delayed responding to this campaign, insisting
that it was the inside issue of Iraqi government and pressuring the Nouri
al-Maliki’s administration to relinquish power. The US feared that the effect
of isolating Sunni group can only wreak havoc in the fragile Iraqi political
spectrum. Finally, under a high volume of pressures from international partners
and his own Shiite political party, Mr. Maliki made concession, but it was too
late after ISIS capturing a large swathe of areas.
In reality, decades after spending trillions of dollars
on the two-war fronts, Afghanistan and Iraq, US has been truly weary of war.
And United States is prudent enough to form coalition forces in the fight of
ISIS. The battle is ongoing and will be going for some time, but the strength
of ISIS have been more and more sipped through the unceasing launching of drone
and airstrike campaign by coalition forces with the support of Iraqi government
and Kurdish Peshmerga forces.
To calculate the impact toward transnational borders, there
is no greater fear than ISIS was recruiting foreign fighters via the use of
social media, and an immediate propaganda campaign was staged in order to carry
out attacks on foreign soils, which is translated as transnational terrorism. Cyber issue become an intensified attention of the international leaders and experts alike. ISIS
with a combination of international fighters and its sympathizers are a threat
to the world in general. And the prospect of handling those returning home is a
more challenging. At the start, the victories of ISIS were celebrated across
the globe by its supporters and fanatic groups, including those in Indonesia
and Malaysia. Such occurrences are a reminder of how the governments need to be
well prepared ahead.
Academic experts suggest that it is common to see the
rise of extremism whenever the force of instability pushing hard the weak
states. And there is similarity with what happened to ISIS as the Islamic
groups are exploiting the weak states of Iraq and Syria through the channel of
Arab Spring. With all concerted efforts, ISIS, however, would be exterminated
in the foreseeable future. Their immediate rise left questions. At the end, the
countries that need to learn lessons most from ISIS are neither the western nor
eastern countries, but the Arab countries.
Shooting Down and Mystery of Missing Malaysian
Airlines
Malaysia was struck by the worst tragedy in history,
losing its largest airliners; one was shot down and another missing with no
ability to track down so far. For record, Malaysian airline is among the top 20
largest airliner in the world.
The shooting down of Malaysian airline in the airspace
of sovereign Ukraine became an added problem to the existing crisis in Ukraine.
From the view point of laws, shooting down commercial airline without giving
warning first and where there is no fly
zone designated, no matter the battle is raging, is a violation of international
laws. A number of news agencies provided details of how Russia handed the Buk
missile to pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine.
And the disappearance of MH-370 is one of the great mysteries
in aviation history. There are plenty of conspiracies giving assumption from
communications made between pilots and ground stations to the captain’s
frustration towards the result of Malaysian election, yet nothing can explain
us to date. The search is going on in the southern part of Indian Ocean with
the hope of finding the track.
Sports: World Cup, FIFA
The 2014 World Cup reminded us that none of any
countries should attempt to bid for hosting world cup without knowing its own
capacity. On the match days of World Cup, the scene of work in progress was
widely seen and there was tickets returned due to stadium not being fit for
audiences. It was a shame to people of Brazil as well.
Following the chaotic moments during world cup coupled
with the allegation of corruption in awarding Russia and Qatar hosting World
Cup in 2018 and 2022, there come the scandals revealed in British media
agencies. What is mostly striking is the disclosure of how FIFA’s structural
organization and leadership are deeply disorganized and corrupted. FIFA has
billions of dollars benefit per year, yet it was registered as non-profit
organization, which means FIFA must be tax-exempted. Furthermore, leaderships
on the top are rampant with corruption as it has longstanding reputation for it.
Although there are plenty someone can do within 20 years of leadership on the
top, Sepp Blatter, president of FIFA never attempted to make any reforms, but
stupidly attempting to grip the power by bidding again the seat of presidency
for the fifth times. This is the real drama of a revealing corruption, meaning
that Mr. Blatter tries to run the FIFA during his lifetime. Some critics say he
is no better than Muammar Gadaffi of Lybia, Kim Jun-Un of North Korea.
Corruption and scandal cases if not solved as early
possible as it could damage the reputation of the world’s most watched entertainment
sport in the future.
The concluding events of the year:
The sudden fall of Phillips Huges, an Australian cricketer while playing Cricket
in Sydney shocked a great wave of sadness accompanied by the hostage siege
again in the Lindt café in Sydney that questions the legal system in Australia,
the collapse of Russian economy thanks to the plummeting of oil prices and the Sony hack in which the Obama's administration accused of North Korea for masterminding the act, and the tragic crash
of AirAsia plane, which cost 162 lives in inland sea while en route to Singapore from
Surabaya in Indonesia.
What teaches us from the events of 2014:
The year 2014 is a doom for world leaders because the
conflict, crisis and tragedies occurring are concurrent in parallel. Of all,
the most dangerous event of the year assumed is Ukraine crisis for it is all
about the game of geopolitics. It is simply because it can turn the world into
another Great War. At some points, some rushed to predict that “we are back to
Cold War period” based on Mr. Obama’s accusing of Mr. Putin as having Cold War
mentality. The root cause of geopolitics, as we can define by today measure, is
the effect of hyper-nationalism and ultra-patriotism. These are, of course,
extremely dangerous.
Looking at the world’s reactions towards Russia, China
has been careful of handling the South China Sea dispute, having being well
aware of the consequences awarded by international community. The tone of
imperialist president Xi during his speech delivered in Australian parliament
while attending G-20 summit in Brisbane was a gesture of great wisdom learnt
from the mistakes of Russia, the main ally of China.
Secondly, the Islamic militant in Middle East, esp,
ISIS reached the pinnacle of extremism. These militants are the most atrocious
and brutal groups recorded in modern history. It is in fact the problem of
Middle East. On critically assessing, the actual actors in countering ISIS should
be the Arab world, not putting the challenges on the shoulder of US nor the
European states as stated earlier. Central to this idea, the undying war
happening in the Middle East is between the Shiite and Sunni and this seems to
be on the go. This extremism ideology upheld by ISIS is a virus purely stemmed
from the Islamic religion by which the name of god “Allah” was used by ISIS
militants in killing people. Yet, the world is experiencing difficulty to
control the sentiment of religious extremism. Again, this might be perhaps another
great issue for 2015.
In between the issues facing the Middle East, one of
the issues that catch everyone’s eyes and fear for the failure of handling is the
ongoing nuclear deal between Iran and the West, particularly US. Compared with
the prospect of consequences of failure to achieve it, the inhumanity of ISIS
can mean little to the impact. To add more variables, the pursue of nuclear arm
by Iran is a perceived threat to the world beyond the threat of ISIS in the
region. For that, degrading ISIS is as much important as to disarm Iran from a
nuclear capability.
In the light of ISIS and its transnational supporters,
the laws pertaining to anti-terrorism and immigration have been reviewed
accordingly, mostly by the western liberal democratic nations. For this instance,
the Sydney hostage siege could happen although Australia has the most
comprehensive and strictest anti-terrorism law in the world. In this regard, no
nation is immunized from the risk of terrorism or extremism.
Aside from the odds of what was happened in 2014, a
good lesson that teaches us is that the war, conflict, crisis, and catastrophe that
separate communities, people and nations are in turn vital elements again that
unite the enemy’s hands together.
Overall, the disappearance of MH-370 is not only a
disaster for Malaysia nationals but also for the entire industry of aviation
and all humanity, and as consequence, the loss was felt throughout the world.
The same feeling and sympathy is echoed around the world again when spread the
news about the crash of AirAsia. The loss of humanity in 2014 is countless. The
truth lies behind all of tragedy, including Malaysia airliners and AirAsia is
that there will be no alternative mechanism created for today and tomorrow that
can predict in order to avoid the incident. This shows human wisdom and
capability is limited. Cyber issue is constantly reminding us of further escalation of tension between countries. Climate change has significantly captured the global attention in this year. This is a great change in sight.
To conclude the whole events of 2014, hundreds of
thousands of lives were lost because of the man-made conflict and crisis, and which
can be defined as power, greed, nationalism and extremism. Upholding these evil
ideologies will lead us into the trajectory of larger tragedy in the future. Agonizing
grief and angst overwhelmed the world of 2014 and thus there is no winner at
the end.
