The unfolding of 2020
The year 2020 began like every other year with the pop and fanfare of welcoming yet another year accompanied by a huge display of fireworks throughout the world which to those in close proximity would indeed hear their bangs. The metaphor of the 'bangs' can be used to describe precisely how this year would begin and on 3 January, 2020 Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, who was head of the elite Quds force and seen as the second most powerful figure in Iran, was assassinated by a US airstrike while he left Baghdad International Airport on the orders of US President Donald Trump who accused the general of killing many people. The Pentagon also stated that this operation was also meant to 'prevent future Iranian attacks'. This assassination worsened the already precarious situation between Washington and Tehran. As tensions continued to rise between the two nations the Iranian armed forces 'accidently' shot a passenger plane down after mistaking it for a "missile" which belonged to Ukraine International Airlines tragically killed all 176 on board. US president Donald Trumps high profile impeachment trial also began in January 2020 following allegations that he froze military assistance for Ukraine in order to allow investigations to go through to possibly help his 2020 Presidential campaign and was acquitted in February by the Senate on two articles of impeachment. He faces a second impeachment trial in 2021 following the US Capitol riots which he is being accused of inciting. The outbreak of COVID-19 was arguably the biggest event in 2020 and still is up to now and has become the largest pandemic in modern times with the World Health Organisation (WHO) declaring it as a public health emergency and later a pandemic which has rapidly spread throughout the world infecting over 100 million and killing several millions to date. This has lead the medical profession to find ways to prevent its spread and due to the massive rise in cases this led to an extraordinary, and at times controversial, pace in finding a vaccine. The US government even called its response to COVID-19 operation warp speed with millions already vaccinated. The UK became the first country in the world to administer the vaccine to the public with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine being administered in December 2020 after the UK drug regulator approved it. Thus the race to vaccinate the world against COVID-19 begins and with this vaccination process comes the hurdles in getting it done such as persuading those who are against it and getting it to poorer countries which some critics argue have been left out of this process.
The 2020 Stock market crash (also called the Coronavirus Crash) was triggered by the lockdowns introduced by countries to prevent the spread of the virus which caused many to worry that it would mimic the 1929 Great Depression but fortunately due to unprecedented stimulus measures stocks increased to record highs and many economies recovered. This includes the US where the Dow hit high levels, although a lot of economic damage has been caused to many nations and will take a long time to recover. The oil crash of 2020 was also a significant highlight of the year which occurred as a result of a decline in demand for oil as people travelled less due to the lockdowns that were put in place. However the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), along with other oil producers agreed cut in production still exceeded demand leading to a surplus in oil which inevitably led to oil becoming very cheap to a point that it dipped into negative territory before prices later stabilised. Israel held elections in 2020 leading to a rare unity government between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud Party and his political rival Benny Gantz's centrist Blue and White Party after a tense election but due to disagreements between the two the country will yet again hold elections, for the fourth time, in March. Terrorism in the northern Mozambique province of Cabo Delgado intensified in 2020 with attacks beginning in 2017 with the seizing of the port town of Mocimboa da Praia by militants linked to the Islamic State group in August being a troubling development. An extraordinary summit was scheduled for January 2021 by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to discuss this situation further with hopes of coming up with national and regional strategies that go beyond just military options but was postponed due to the pandemic.
The Yemen Civil War continued with its brutality well into 2020 with hundreds of thousands killed since it began in 2011 with an increase in hostilities between the Houthis and coalition-led forces, and in April the Southern Transitional Council (STC) declared self rule in Aden and said it would govern the city of Aden and southern provinces. In December a new power-sharing government was announced following Saudi-led negotiations and has already started on very shaky and dangerous ground as an explosion took place at Aden Airport on 30 December which is believed to have targeted the newly formed government after their plane landed leaving dozens dead. Members of the newly formed government, included the Prime Minister, were all safely taken to the interim capital's presidential palace. On 15 June a deadly border clash between India and China occurred for the first time in over 40 years in a disputed region along a de-facto border between the two countries called the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the disputed Galwan valley through hand-to-hand combat causing casualties on both sides with each side blaming one another for starting the skirmishes. This led to international concerns since these two countries are nuclear powers, with the United Nations (UN) calling for "maximum restraint".
The senseless killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, USA by a police officer sparked mass protests throughout the country against police violence and racism and was seen as a tipping point following other high profile killings of black Americans. The political situation in Hong Kong continued to be a point of contention as a national security legislation was passed by China which many see as controversial and was defended by Beijing as necessary such as "preventing people stirring trouble" according to Hong Kong's sole representative on the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress. It was however criticised by pro-democracy activists such as Joshua Wong who said it was "the end of Hong Kong that the world knew before", although authorities in Beijing and Hong Kong insist it will not end freedoms nor investor interests. Lebanon which was already in the throws of both an economic and political crisis suffered a deadly explosion in its capital city of Beirut on 4 August, killing over 200 and injuring thousands, and badly damaging buildings near the explosion. The explosion was caused by 2750 tonnes of ammonia nitrate, which is highly flammable, igniting following a fire at a warehouse storing the chemical and causing widespread damage and it appears that the chemical had been stored negligently for years at the Port of Beirut and led to the resignation of Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab following public outrage over the explosion. In Belarus long-time ruler Alexander Lukashenko's 26 year rule was extended further by yet another controversial landslide election win which sparked the largest protests the country had seen to date due to allegations of vote-rigging which the government responded with a heavy hand. Mr Lukashenko suffered further humiliation by being heckled by workers who chanted "leave" while visiting a factory as protests against his rule continued to mount.
The Abraham Accords which is a US-brokered peace treaty led to the normalising of diplomatic relations between Israel and two Arab Gulf states, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, the first in 26 years, with the aim of making the region more peaceful by finding common ground and peaceful resolutions. It seeks to promote diplomatic and economic ties and expand it to include other Arab states, and is considered a historical breakthrough, and within the agreement there is a call for " a just, comprehensive and enduring resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict", however the Palestinians responded to this agreement with hostility and this shows the difficult barriers that still need to be overcome. The disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh was brought into the limelight in 2020 as violence flared up yet again in the region which is claimed by both Armenia and Azerbaijan, and is largely populated by ethnic Armenians, but internationally recognised as being part of Azerbaijan, with fighting between the two warring camps at its highest since the end of a deadly conflict in 1994 as a result of decades of animosity which I explain further in my blog post titled; The dangers of "frozen" conflicts thawing: The case of Nagorno-Karabakh. A peace treaty mediated by Russia was signed with the hope of finally beginning the long process of ending this conflict following several failed attempts.
The 2020 US Presidential elections was arguably one of this years highlights which included competitive primary elections amongst the Democrats with the Republican caucus largely endorsing the incumbent, then President Donald Trump. The elections were held on 4 November with the two main candidates being former Vice President Joe Biden who won the Democratic primaries after a third attempt and Donald Trump representing the Republican party with opinion polls largely in favour of a Biden win, despite not predicting Trumps win in 2016, with Biden winning both the popular vote and electoral college vote. Trump alleged voter fraud and refused to concede defeat despite officials, including the Attorney General William Barr, accepting the results, with Barr saying he saw no evidence of Widespread fraud. On 6 January, 2021 the US congress certified Biden's win with Vice President Mike Pence presiding over it (interesting enough Biden presided over the certification of Trumps win in 2016) following the storming of the US capitol by pro-Trump rioters to prevent the certification process, paving the way for Biden to be sworn in as the 46th President of the United States on 20 January, 2021 along with Kamala Harris who became the first female Vice President and a possible successor to Biden. On 31 December the United Kingdom (UK) finally left the European Union (EU) after what can be described as 4 years of often tense talks and at times a messy process of what has become known as Brexit, following a 2016 referendum in which the UK voted to leave the EU, albeit by a small majority. Although this has led to the EU losing a powerful member, the UK was the second largest economy in the EU after Germany and the sixth largest in the world in 2020 according to CMC markets, it makes the UK freer but also isolated in a turbulent world which is still battling COVID-19. The exiting of the UK from the EU brings to memory former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's infamous 'no, no, no, ' speech in 1990, in opposition to a supranational EU, with some of this same sentiment behind the Brexit movement. Although it is still too early to tell whether this decision to leave the EU was indeed a good or bad decision for the UK.
