Top Ten Global Events of 2011

Arab Spring:

The spark lit in December 2010 by the Tunisian Mohamed Bouazizi who torched himself to death in protest against the regime morphed into an almighty wave of protests and demonstrations that swept Tunisia,Libya, Syria, Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen, Algeria, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco and Oman in its surge, fueling fire to unrest in countries like Lebanon, Mauritania, Sudan, Saudi Arabia and Western Sahara where relatively minor protests took place. An attempt to incite the Third Palestinian Intifada led to border clashes with Israel and Egypt lifting the Rafah border blockade to allow Palestinian residents from the Gaza Strip to pass through,  and estrangement with its long time ally Turkey was also viewed as being inspired by the ‘Arab Awakening’. Tunisia’s Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali stepped down in January; Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak was second in line to leave a month after the Tunisian autocrat; Libyan long-time dictator Moammar Gaddafi was killed in October, the Yemeni leader has promised to relinquish power in February and Arab and international communities have gotten together to put an end to the bloody crackdown in Syria.

Osama bin Laden and Gaddafi killed:

2011 witnessed the deaths of three very controversial dictators and terrorists. The First of which was Osama bin Laden, the head of the Islamist militant group Al-Qaeda and most wanted international terrorist was killed by Navy SEAL Team Six in Abottabad, Pakistan on May 2^nd this year. This spawned the most vituperative period in US-Pakistan relations, from which it has still not recovered. The second in line was the capture and killing of Libyan dictator Moammar Gaddafi. He was hiding in a storm hole in the town of Sirte, Libya when rebel fighters found him and brutally killed the dictator in manner reflective of the viciousness of the Libyan uprising itself.

Death of Kim Jong Il:

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, known for his cult personality and penchant for irking the USdied of a cardiac arrest at the age of 67 during a train ride. His son Kim Jong Un is expected to succeed him.

Occupy Wall Street:

The Occupy Movement refers to a global movement against exploitative capitalism and growing income inequality. It started on September 17^th this year in Zuccotti Park in the NYC Wall Street district, with hundreds of people chanting slogans and demanding they, the 99%, be heard. The protests were carried out against rampant corruption, high unemployment; undue influence on the government by financial corporations and rapidly engorging social and economic inequality. Considering the specter of financial crisis that has been looming for a while only to blow up in everyone’s faces recently, the protests quickly picked up momentum with high profile celebrities, college students and spokespeople joining hands with the 99% creating Occupy Wall Street movement into a global protest that spans 900 cities worldwide and still counting.

Eurozone Crisis:

The Eurozone debt crisis emerged when the extent of Greece’s accumulated debt was discovered as being fifteen percent greaterthan its total annual income, owing to excessive borrowing at interest rates kept stable by larger economies like Germany and France. This plunged the financial community in Europe into an abyss it would take €3 trillion in bailout money to pull out of, only €1 trillion has been raised so far and economic projections for Europe and the rest of the world in 2012 seem quite bleak. This year saw a financial penumbra looming over the biggest economies of the world.

War on Iraq Ends:

President Obama commemorated the coming end of war in Iraq by paying tribute to returning troops at Fort Bragg, North Carolina on 14 December this year, fulfilling his campaign promise, but unlike the stable, sovereign and self reliant Iraq Obama talked about in his speech, counterfactuals suggest a country smoldering in its instability.

NATO Attacks base in Pakistan:

Early Saturday Morning at the Pakistani check post in Salala, NATO helicopters stormed the base firing indiscriminately and killing 24 soldiers including two commission officers due to a communication failurebetween the Pakistani check post and the NATO Operations Officer in Afghanistan. A delay of 45 minutes in communication was reported in the NATO investigation of the incident during which damage to military equipment and the loss of Pakistani lives had occurred. This incident was considered by many as the last nail in the coffin for Pak-US relations that had been souring over the entire course of this year.  Pakistan in retaliation to this not only pulled out of Bonn II Conference, halted transport of NATO supplies across its border into Afghanistan on 27^thNovember but also had drone strikes on Pakistani territory stopped indefinitely. Military relations with the US are still simmering despite NATO investigations, which Pakistan also refused to consider on authority, especially since Obama never formally apologized for the grave error on America’s part that cost the Pak army so many lives.
Palestinian Statehood Bid:

Adopting American advice of using diplomatic channels rather than force to obtain legitimacy as a state in the region, Palestine President Mahmoud Abass gave a stirring speech in the UN General Assembly and submitted his proposal for statehood for Palestine. Half the world cheered at this initiative and support came pouring in from all kinds of channels. While this dream of obtaining statehood will be deferred with the US bent on vetoing the proposal, Palestine was incorporated into UNESCO this year, a milestone where Palestinian attempts to gain legitimacy are concerned. Israel and Hamas also began a major prisoner swap on October 18^th this year.

US-Iran Nuclear Controversy blows up:

America and Iran upheld the conundrum on the issue of nuclear proliferation this, any hopes Iran had for empathy from Barrack Obama to end the three year old stalemate were dashed with another opportunity for reconciliation bungled. Iran’s nuclear program far from developed enough to give anyone nightmares is a constant itch on the world’s backside. From two nuclear facilities exploding in Iran killing eminent scientists and Brigadier General Hassan Moghaddam, mastermind behind Iran’s nuclear program to spy charges on US nationals and drone crashes on Iranian territory, American Iranian relations have at best been venomous. In October this year  US officials linked Iran to an alleged plot to assassinate. UN warned Iran to comply with International Atomic Energy Agency and to prove to the best of its ability the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program.

Capture of Bosnian General at large:

Former Bosanian Serb commander Ratko Mladić who had been at large for fifteen years was finally captured at Lazarevo, a farming town north of Belgrade on May 31^st and  extradited to the Hague. He was responsible for the massacre of around eight thousand muslims at Srebrenica in 1995, and will be tried for war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity in what was the largest mass murder after World War II.  This took place after Kosovo earned legitmacy as a state at the ICJ earlier this year.

Tacstrat Analysis

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