As the calendar turns to 2025, let’s take a moment to reflect on the past year’s experiences and catch a glimpse of the future. 2024 was a year of turmoil and transformation, particularly in the Middle East, Bangladesh, and the United States.
The world witnessed the American version of Karma during the 2024 presidential campaign when Trump’s loose gun-control laws backfired on him, yet, despite having a near-death experience, he still intends to uphold the red flag law. The triumphant victory of Trump in this highly polarized presidential campaign demonstrated that America votes with a wallet, rejects absurd woke culture and its outlandish ideas of human rights, equality, and social justice. America is distressed by soaring costs, unsecured borders, and rising crime and needs economic stimulus and not culture wars.
Another news that gained attention in 2024 was Trump’s warning to pull out of NATO. A longstanding pact of shared military doctrine, equipment, planning and training cannot be dismissed as insignificant overnight, suggesting that Trump’s threat to exit NATO may be a strategic move to prompt the member countries to contribute a fair share to the NATO defence fund.
Regarding President Joe Biden, well, last year, the US special counsel described his memory as fuzzy and faulty, which raised serious concern over his ability to govern the country. However, President Biden’s final decisions in office serve to debunk the claims of forgetfulness as baseless. He did not forget to grant an unconditional pardon and safeguard his son against future prosecution for tax and gun-related offences! He also acknowledged George Soros, the most dangerous man, with the country’s top civilian honour. The lame-duck president has thwarted Trump’s promise of ending the Russia-Ukraine war in a day by granting Ukraine 500 million dollars in military aid. And now, at the eleventh hour, he is pushing hard to secure the Israel hostage deal to ensure Trump does not get the credit for World Peace by any means.
In 2024, the United States ranked among the leading countries in terms of expenditure on research and development. Despite its significant scientific progress, it appears that these advancements are not being effectively translated into the US government policies and laws that promote social justice.
On the Russia- Ukraine front, despite huge financial aid from Biden and stringent sanctions imposed on Russia, Ukraine appears to be struggling in the war due to a heavy shortage of manpower. By the end of 2024, Ukraine had almost lost all the territory it had earlier captured in Russia, which could severely constrain the country’s negotiation power in upcoming ceasefire talks with Russia.
The year 2024 has been disastrous for the Middle East. The events triggered on October 7, 2023, quickly gained speed and intensity like an avalanche gathering force careening downhill. That force displaced many lives from both sides and shattered a mighty Saudi-Israel’s Middle Eastern dream.
Within a remarkably short period, Israel demolished the Iranian’s six-front aggression through its military might. And transformed the nation’s past trauma into a triumph! The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for the Israeli Prime Minister and turned a blind eye towards Iran’s aggression and Israel’s struggle for its existence.
The sudden collapse of the Assad regime in Syria was the most shocking event of 2024. It dealt a severe blow to Iran’s Middle Eastern strategies, as Assad’s drug economy was the financial backbone of its proxies. The fall of the Assad regime has disrupted Iran’s ability to sustain its “axis of resistance” across the Middle East.
Now, for the newly formed Syrian regime to achieve peace and economic stability, it must first secure international recognition and support despite its ISIS history, or else the country might plunge back into another civil strife.
In 2024, despite oil prices remaining low due to weak demand, Saudi Arabia and the UAE were able to maintain their strategic approach to achieving resilience and sustainable development, thereby staying afloat and safeguarding their non-oil revenues and foreign investments, thanks to their cautious, positive-neutral stance amidst the geopolitical chaos. In 2024, the Wealthy expats continued to select the UAE as their top choice, surpassing the US, Canada, and Singapore.
Global upheaval in 2024 marked the emergence of a “new axis of power” formed by Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea, which poses a substantial threat to the US and its allies in the present and future.
In Asia, the 2024 Bangladesh crisis serves as a reminder that the US meddling in foreign countries has always led those nations into even bigger turmoil. The recipient of a peace award, regardless of how noble he might be, cannot assure peace to the country if his leadership disregards the rights of minorities, lifts the ban on extremists, frees imprisoned militants and offers pardons to terrorists.
While the global conflicts continue, India, under Prime Minister Modi’s leadership, has successfully preserved its strategic ties with all the countries involved in the ongoing conflicts. Through prudent diplomacy, India maintained domestic stability and safeguarded the Indian expats living overseas.
The most controversial Justin Trudeau-Khalistani issue appears to have fizzled out with no lasting impact on India, as the US government finalized the sale of armed drones to India in October 2024, resolving an earlier stalemate. And now that Justin Trudeau is gone, Canada may resume free-trade talks with India to revive their economy and escape Trump’s tariff trap unless they wish to be the 51st State.
(The author is a foreign affairs expert. Views personal.)
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