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2002 in Review
By Jean-Francois Numainville, TheWorldJournal.com

Firstly, what we can say from the ending year is that there is nothing new under the sun. Pretty much nothing has changed since September 2001, after which the world was supposed to transform; if not that was true last year is even more so at the eave of 2003. For example, rich countries are even richer, and third world countries are still stuck in the same vicious. Moreover, the conflicts of 2001 (the war on terrorism, the middle-east turmoil and civil conflicts in Africa) increased their intensity instead of finding a solution. But 2002 also shown signs of hope, like the easing of tension between Pakistan and India. Now, lets have a look at what happened in the last 12 months.

On January 1st, the Euro is finally adopted and people and Europe can now use the same money wherever they are in the Union, except in the United Kingdom, which preferred to keep the British Pound. While the Union faced the dilemma of including Turkey (because of its poor human rights record) it agreed to include 10 new countries from Eastern Europe.

While the Euro performed well during the year, the Argentinean Peso continued it's descend, the crisis started in 2001 due to the high level of corruption of the government and the disbelief of the people in authorities.

The war in Afghanistan carried from last year continued to chase away the last the remainders of the Talibans and most the coalition forces were used to maintained order and democracy. The transports minister of the Afghan government was murdered while the President Hamad Karzai escaped from an assassination attempt. The country is still victim of high instability and women rights are not fully respected according to reports, which is very disappointing.

On February 9, Princess Margaret (the sister of Queen Elizabeth II) passed away at age 71 after a stroke. Just over a month later, the Queen Mother succumbed to a bronchitis ending a life that started 101 years earlier and fulfilled her duties with courage and respect throughout her time at power and after as the beloved "Queen Mum". During the summer, Queen Elizabeth invited the people of the United Kingdom to celebrate her Golden Jubilee, a reward after 50 years of reign.

The Dow Jones reached its peak in early March, at about 10 650 points, but then started a declined due to bad economic performances and the many scandal that rocked the corporate world. Stock markets around the world followed the same pattern in got to there lowest point in midsummer. The Federal Bank continued to lower its interest rates to even bellow the 2,00% mark. At year-end, most specialist in finance agreed to confirm that the recovery was already started pretty much all around the world except in the US, where the stagnant economy should regain its strength in the beginning of 2003.

In May, 30 people died in Indian Kashmir after an attack by separatists, this lead to an heighten in tensions with Pakistan, which almost lead to a full blown war between the troops massed along the borders of Kashmir. But after diplomatic negotiations, the conflict is now far less preoccupying then it used to.

The conflict in the Middle East just got more pointless and violent in the last 12 months, as Israel Prime Minister Ariel Sharon retaliated the people of Palestine, for every suicide bomber attack in his country. Sharon unsuccessfully tried to deport Yasser Arafat for lacking willingness to stop the suicidal attacks on Israel.

In September a speech addressed by American President George W. Bush to the United Nations ignited a war of words between Iraq and the US as well as spurring controversy in many European nations. France, Germany and Russia have greatly criticized the intentions of the United-States to get rid of Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction. So far Iraq has agreed to collaborate with the United Nations weapon inspector to set its record straight, but the risks of war are high.

On October 24, two suspects were arrested and later accused of the murder of 10 persons and for wounding 3 more. The sniper attacks put Washington D.C. in a terror mood for 3 weeks. To this day, we are yet to understand what could have possibly motivated John Allen Muhammad, an ex elite shooter, and John Malvo - 17 years old - to travel around the D.C. region in an old Chevrolet Caprice and shooting people by an hole in the trunk of the car.

In late fall, a group of Chechen terrorists stormed a theatre in Moscow where 750 people were kept hostage. After three days, the police charged the theatre by inserting nerve gas, killing all the rebels but failing to administrate the antidote in time to 129 persons.

A large scale drought as recently touched countries in Africa; Namely Ethiopia, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Swaziland, Lesotho and Mozambique threatening the life of 38 million people according to the World Food Program.

Finally, troubles between the president of Venezuela Hugò Chavez and the union of the oil industry workers lead a general strike in this industry, representing half of the country's revenues. Although the President has proposed a referendum to end this leadership crisis, the strike continues even despite an order from the Supreme Court.

Hopefully, in the next year, people will learn from their mistakes and try to make thing differently for once. Personally, I hope the best of luck to you all and that this coming year will be good and free of all those troubles that, you know, stop us from doing what we wish to do. Oh, yeah, I hope you'll remain readers of my stuff and will remain loyal to TheWorldJournal.com. :-)

© December 30, 2002

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