2025: A glimmer of hope?

The year 2025 is almost coming to a close but one cannot help but ponder on the extraordinary events that have shaped the global discourse. The decade of the 2020s began with a pandemic that shook the nation's to their core and as soon as the pandemic started to come to an end no sooner was Europe faced with a war situation in the East as Ukraine and Russia's simmering tensions over the years, led to the outbreak of a full fledged conflict which Russia calls a "special military operation", which however is viewed by Ukraine as Russian aggression. The US President hosted Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska this year, the first time a Russian leader had visited the US in many years as US President Donald Trump used his influence and personal diplomacy to solve the conflict. The conflict is still ongoing but Trump is determined to find solutions to end it as he has just played a key role to cease the conflict between Israel and Palestine which has been seen as a major breakthrough in international relations with Trump been applauded in bringing the war to an end. It is undeniable that ending such a conflict does not happen over night and many hurdles need to be overcome which is by no means an easy feat and only can be achieved with strong and committed leadership and bringing different sides to the negotiating table just as President Trump did with the Israeli leadership, the Arab world, most prominently Egypt and Qatar as well as Turkey and is an ongoing peace process to make the Middle East region safer as the goal. Conflict continues to plague many parts of the world and there is an effort by global leaders to halt these conflicts with some occurring such as between India and Pakistan as well as Rwanda and the DRC. It is by no means an easy task and often times skirmishes will occur but with diplomacy taking centre stage in geo politics away from hard power tactics 2025 is fast becoming a year of the beginning of diplomacy being given a greater chance than ever before and it is encouraged and hoped for that more conflicts can be resolved by end of the year.