Filenews 31 December 2021 - by Xenia Tyrki
Another special but at the same time difficult year, due to the pandemic conditions, is closing, and 2021 has cast a heavy shadow over the world with Greek-speaking mutations being here. At the same time, the situation in the Middle East was also difficult in 2021, while at the same time the planet was preoccupied with widespread fires and a climate crisis.
The situation in the Middle East was very difficult in 2021 as well. In May, tension over the controversial eviction of Palestinian families in the Sheikh Jara district of east Jerusalem for Jewish settlers sparked violent clashes for 11 days. Over 230 Palestinians were killed, including 65 children and 1900 were injured. On the Israeli side, 12 people were killed and 343 injured.
Afghanistan, with the Taliban's dynamic and rapid return to power, is now a good example of how military intervention in one place is ultimately not enough to ensure prosperity and security. The images of thousands of desperate Afghans trying in every way to leave their homeland marked the year that is leaving. All the more so since months after the complete occupation of Kabul we know very well that there is little hope for a better future.
2021 will be remembered for the particularly high temperatures recorded, as well as for the extreme weather phenomena that the planet has experienced. Scientists' predictions for the future are bleak. This was not enough, however, to take courageous decisions at the Glasgow summit in October on climate change. COP26 was described as the last chance for the planet, but the commitments made do not appear to be capable of stopping Global Warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Destruction but at the same time magnificent images of the eruption of the volcano Kubre Viecha in La Palma, Spain. Before the erode of the volcano, the west side of La Palma was scattered with houses, roads and crops. Later, the slow flows of lava descending from the small volcanic peak in the Canary Islands dramatically changed the landscape, resulting in parts of the island for months now looking more like a lunar landscape than a paradise.
The Ever Given a giant ship cut global trade in half when on March 23, 2021 it wedged into the Suez Canal. It has caused a rise in container fares but also a diversification in transport, as delays and costs have increased, with the result that alternative ways of making alternative ways begin to appear in some cases more attractive.
No one expected Lionel Messi to leave Barcelona, where he played since he was a child, where he grew up and became the great footballer he is today. And yet the poor condition of the "club" pushed him into the arms of the French PSG. However, in the face of his new contract, Lionel Messi quickly forgot the tears he shed as he left Camp Nou.
Closed borders turn out to be unable to keep migrants out. 2021 was marked by incidents on the Belarusian border with Poland and on the Morocco-Spain border. Migratory flows continue and the frontline states of the European Union are protesting because they are carrying a disproportionate burden.
The Turkish currency lost more than 40% of its value in 2021 and inflation broke the 21% barrier. If you add the successive departures of you-come to the Turkish Ministry of Finance, the changes of the guard at the helm of the far from independent Turkish central bank, but the remarkable decay that has now been consolidated for Tayyip Erdogan himself and the ruling Justice and Development Party in the opinion polls, then it is easy to see how difficult the Turkish leadership is in.
The tornadoes that swept through Kentucky and five other U.S. states tragically resulted in the deaths of at least 77 people, including ten children. The destruction was biblical, as entire cities disappeared after the sweeping passage of more than 30 tornadoes.
If 2020 was the year that the coronavirus pandemic took us by surprise, 2021 was the year we learned to live with it, or at least we tried it. Now, in our hands we have a very important weapon, vaccines. This has not prevented the coronavirus from shutting us down again in our homes, killing many people and causing huge problems for the health systems of many countries. If there's one thing we've learned from this experience it's that we're all in this war together and the enemy doesn't discriminate.
2021 will remain as the year that Evia was burned. The records mention more than 512,000 acres of burnt forest, making the disaster the greatest of all time in Greece by a fire. Residents, volunteers and firefighters fought a relentless battle with the fire for days, with their lives constantly in danger. Finally, when the fires went out, they left a huge ecological disaster, apocalypse and thousands of desperate people.
The curtain was dramatically dropped on Donald Trump's departure from the White House. Thousands of his followers, including half-naked self-appointed "shamans," fantasized conspiracy theorists and openly racist nostalgic for the Confederacy, attempted on Jan. 06, two weeks before Joe Biden was sworn in as the country's president, to forcibly invalidate the election result of the 2020 election, storming the Capitol in Washington. The tragic toll: 5 dead, hundreds injured and the most powerful democracy in the world in crisis.
The US is often confronted with racial incidents, as even today there are laws that consolidate inequality. The deaths of blacks by white police officers, as was the case with George Floyd, remind everyone that despite the steps forward, much remains to be done. The reason for the mass demonstrations, however, is not only police violence. Most African Americans no longer seem to believe that their lives are important and that they can realize all their dreams.
With the country in a state of shock due to the incidents on Capitol Hill, Joe Biden was sworn in as the 46th president of the United States and Kamala Harris became the country's first female vice president. His tenure is fraught with difficulties and so far there has not been a spectacular result. This does not surprise anyone, on the one hand because the USA remains a highly divided country and on the other hand because his own party is constantly putting obstacles in his way.
The Pandora Papers revelations came to light back in early October, bearing the stamp of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists to remind us of something we already knew. That no matter what happens, no matter how many laws are passed, there will always be rich and powerful people who will seek a duty-free shelter for their riches in tax havens around the globe.
After four terms in Germany's chancellery, Angela Merkel left. The Social Democrat Olaf Scholz, supported by the Free Democrats and the Greens, aspires to lead the country into a new era.
