mmxxiv (12. 124)

As this calendar draws to a close and we look forward to 2025, we again take time to reflect on a selection of some of the things and events that took place during the past year. Thanks as always for visiting. We’ve made it through another wild year together.

january: The ruling Progressive Democratic Party secures the presidency in Taiwan, along with Bangladesh and the Marshall Island, kicking off the biggest year for elections.  The International Criminal Court rules that Israel must take all measures to curb genocidal conduct in Gaza but falls short of ordering the halt of the incursions.  Japan lands on the Moon.

february: Violent volcanic eruptions force evacuation in Iceland.  King Charles III announces he has cancer and will step away from public-facing duties for the present.  Ex-Fox News pundit Tucker Carlson interviews Vladimir Putin in Moscow. 

Special council investigating Joe Biden’s unauthorised retention of classified material from his vice-presidency opts not to press charges, citing the US president’s failing memory.  Long time host of NPR’s Morning Edition, Bob Edwards, has died, aged 76.  Israeli forces push further into Palestine, escalating raids in Rafah.  Jon Stewart returns as host of the Daily Show after a nine year hiatus.  Opposition leader and Putin critic Alexie Navalny found dead in remote arctic penal colony where he was detained for the past three years.  The Supreme Court of Alabama has declared frozen embryos legal persons and fearing for legal peril, university clinics in the state have suspended in-vitro fertilisation procedures in response to the ruling.  One hundred thousand protest votes of uncommitted for Joe Biden are cast against Joe Biden in the Michigan Democratic primarily over his support for Israel.  Veteran senator and Trumpism foil and sometimes enabler, Mitch McConnell, announces he will step down as leader of the Republican Party in November.  Dissident Nalvany is permitted a public funeral.

march: Fashion doyenne Iris Apfel passes away, aged 102.  One day ahead of the Super Tuesday primaries, the US Supreme Court ruled that no state can keep Trump off the ballot.  Over a hundred Palestinians are massacred by Israeli force as they rush a rare relief convoy entering the besieged city of al-Rashid.  Nikki Haley drops out of the race for the Republican party nomination for presidential candidate. 

Joe Biden delivers a wide-ranging, fiery and impassioned State of the Union address, remonstrating that one cannot just love their country when one’s side is winning.  Dragon Ball Z creator Akira Toriyama passed away, aged 68.  Facing an imminent ground incursion into Rafah, the Speaker of the US Senate called for Israeli elections and regime change, as America’s petition for an immediate ceasefire was vetoed in the UN by Russia and China.  Accused of monopolistic practises harmful to innovation and consumers in the “superior smart phone” market, the US department of justice files an antitrust lawsuit against Apple.  Wild media speculation left the royal family with little choice about coming forward with the Princess of Wales cancer diagnosis.  A terrorist attack at a music venue on the outskirts of Moscow kills dozens, burns down the concert hall.  A abstention by the US during a UN ceasefire vote allows the resolution to pass, triggering the ire of the Israeli government though the assault on Gaza continues unabated.

april: Seven humanitarian aid workers of World Central Kitchen were killed in an Israeli airstrike whilst travelling along a pre-authorised aid corridor to bring food to the starving outside of Deir al-Balah.   Israel

kills several top Iranian generals in a bombing of the country’s embassy in Damascus, Syria.  A powerful earthquake strikes Taiwan, displacing thousands.  Actor and comedian Joe Flaherty passes away, aged 82.  México severs diplomatic relations with Ecuador after raid on its embassy in Quito resulted in the apprehension of the former Ecuadorian president seeking asylum there.  OJ Simpson passes away, aged 76.  Iran launches a barrage of projectiles at Israel in retaliation for its attack on an embassy in Syria.  The historic Børsen of Copenhagen is severely damaged by fire.  Unprecedented flood inundates the Gulf of Arabia.  Israel strikes back against Iranian military installations.  In an extraordinary Saturday session, the US House after months of delay passes separate foreign aid packages for Taiwan, Israel and Ukraine.  The US Federal Communications Commission votes to restore net-neutrality.  Fresh from declaring being poor a crime, the US Supreme Court entertains Trump’s claim for presidential immunity.  The criminal trial against Trump stemming from a hush-money payment made to a porn-star begin in Manhattan. 

may: Protest rage on college campuses across the United States for the country’s materiel support for Israel and the universities’ financial ties in the ongoing assault on Palestine. 

Author Paul Auster passes away, aged 77.  A second whistleblower formerly employed by Boeing dies within the space of month.  Labour sees big gains in UK local elections.  Stormy Daniels gives testimony in the Trump trial.  US announces pauses in delivering Israel materiel aid after resolution for incursions into Rafah.  Legendary grindhouse director Roger Corman passes away, aged 98.  Author Alice Munroe passes away at 92.  The president of Slovakia narrowly survives an assassination attempt.  The president and foreign minister of Iran die in a helicopter crash near Azerbaijan.  The Internation Criminal Court of the Hague issues arrest warrants for Israeli leader Benjamin Netayahu and Hamas in Gaza head Yahya Sinwar.  China conducts provocative military drills around Taiwan, expressing dissatisfaction with the newly elected president.  Russian air assaults continue against Ukraine.  Ireland and Norway join Spain in recognising the state of Palestine, while Israel presses on with incursions into Rafah despite condemnation from the UN.

june: México elects its first woman president to continue the liberal and progressive policies of her predecessor.  

After the US authorises limited use of American munitions defensively on Russian territory, Putin suggests that Russia could arm countries looking to target the West.  The coalition governments of Olaf Scholtz and Emmanuel Macron face dissolution following significant gains by far-right parties in EU elections.  Charges stemming from not disclosing his drug addiction while purchasing a fire-arm, US president Joe Biden’s son Hunter is found guilty with no pardon in the offering.  Project scientist for the Voyager programme Edward C Stone passes away, aged 88.  At the height of the pandemic, the Pentagon rans a secret disinformation campaign in the Philippines to discourage people from taking the Chinese-developed vaccine.  Putin and Kim meet for a summit in North Korea.  Baseball great Willie Mays passes away, aged 93.  Veteran actor Donald Sutherland dies, aged 88. A disastrous debate performance against Trump causes some prominent Democrats to urge Biden to step down as the party’s candidate.

july: Labour wins in the UK General Election.  France’s second round of voting keeps the extreme right from power.  Iran elects progressive reformist Masoud Pezeshkian.  Actor Shelley Duvall passes away, aged 75.

Just ahead of the US Republican National Convention, an assassination attempt was made against presumptive party candidate Trump, who forty-eight hours later announces junior senator from the state of Ohio, JD Vance as his running-mate.  Ursula von der Leyen reelected as European Commission president.  Veteran actor Bob Newhart has died, aged 94.  A massive IT outage linked to Windows PCs disrupts banks, travel and media outlets globally. Israeli president Netanyahu addresses the US congress with thousands protesting his presence as the assault on Gaza continues.  Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed during a raid by the Israeli Defence Forces on his compound in Tehran.  Joe Biden calls for radical reform for the US supreme court, including term limits, an enforceable code of ethics and a constitutional amendment limiting broad immunity from prosecution for holders of the high office. 

august: a prisoner-exchange sees American journalists detained in Russia freed.  Anti-immigration riots spread violence in Sunderland over several days.  Trump agrees to debate Harris but only on his terms. 

Global stock markets had a case of the Mondays and sharply decline faced with a possible US recession and opposing currency policies.  Kalama Harris picks Minnesota congressman Tim Walz as her running-mate in the American presidential election.  Google found in violation of anti-trust laws for its monopolistic practises in advertising and creating a walled-garden.  During the first night of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Joe Biden formally and symbolically passes the torch to Harris and Walz in a moving speech capping a fifty-year political career.  Potential spoiler candidate independent RFK Jr drops out of the US presidential race and endorses Trump, who in exchange vows to declassify more files on the Kennedy assassination.  French authorities detain Telegram founder Pavel Durov at the ORLY departure lounge over lack of moderation on the platform abetting organised crime.

september: the Israeli public call for a nation-wide general strike after the bodies of six hostages held by Hamas are recovered over the government’s handling of the war that has lasted nearly a year with no signs of ending. 

Consummate, veteran actor James Earl Jones has passed away, aged 93.  Trump and Harris hold a televised debate, meeting one another face-to-face for the first time.   China raises its retirement age for the first time since the 1950s.  Catastrophic floods strike central Europe, with thousands displaced in Poland and Czechia.  After a series of deadly knife attacks, German reintroduces checks at all of its land borders.  A second assassination attempt on Trump is thwarted as he is golfing on one of his courses.  Israel planted explosive devices in thousands of pagers used by Hezbollah months ahead of a coordinated explosion that killed nine individuals and wounded hundreds.  Tens of thousands evacuate southern Lebanon as Israeli airstrikes intensify, killing over five hundred individuals.  The king of Thailand signs same-sex marriage bill into law, making the nation third in the Asian-Pacific region to recognise LGBTQ+ equality after Taiwan and Nepal. Veteran actor Maggie Smith passes away, aged 89.  New York City mayor Eric Adams indicted on fraud and corruption charges.  Continuing to bombard Beirut, Israeli Defence Forces have killed Hezbollah senior leader Hassan Nasrallah.  Singer-songwriter and actor Kris Kristofferson dead at 88.  Israel launches a limited ground offensive into southern Lebanon.  

october: Former American president Jimmy Carter turns 100.  US ports shut down as dockworkers go on strike. Tehran fires a barrage of hundreds of missiles into Israel.  The Europa Clipper is launched to study the Jovian satellite. 

As Palestinians continue to be displaced by violence in Gaza and the West Bank, Israel has expanded combat operations into Lebanon, Iran and Yemen.  Trump is interviewed by podcaster Joe Rogan. Israeli Defence Forces kill Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in Gaza, with Israel vowing to take Rafah.  Israel bombs weapons depots near Tehran as the forced depopulation of northern Gaza continues.  Moldova holds a referendum, narrowly deciding to pursue EU membership.  Parliamentary election results in Georgia are rejected by president Salome Zourabichvili, who calls for mass rally and investigation into voting irregularities that gave the pro-Russian Georgian Dream party a controlling majority.  North Korea deploys ten thousand soldiers to Russia to fight in western Ukraine.  Israel bans the UN agency for Palestinian refugees from operating in the occupied territory while bombing a five storey apartment complex in northern Gaza, killing scores.  Scores of people are killed as flooding ravages Valencia. 

november: Veteran entertainment producer Quincy Jones dead at 91.  Following a controversial outcome in Georgia, Moldova re-elects pro-Brussels government of Maia Sandu.  Elon Musk to spend election night with Trump watching returns—handing over executive control of X to the former president.  Donald Trump is re-elected as the president of the United States. 

The coalition government of Germany collapses.  Australia bans social media for youths under sixteen years of age.  Canada orders Tik-Tok to cease operations in the country but lets users keep the app and continue making content.  Already ravaged by successive hurricanes that has rendered the country’s electrical grid inoperable, an earthquake strikes Cuba.  Youtube celebrity Jake Paul fights Mike Tyson to an audience of sixty-million.  Russia launches a major attack on Ukrainian infrastructure, and Biden authorises the use of long-range missiles into Russian territory.  Pope Francis calls for investigations to determine whether Israeli forces are engaging in genocide in Palestine.  Thomas E Kurtz, co-inventor of BASIC, passes away, aged 96.  The International Criminal Court issues arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahyu, former defence minister Yoav Gallant and Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif, possibly killed by an Israeli airstrike in July, for war crimes in the prosecution of the offensive in Palestine.  After thirty-five years with the show, Pamela Hayden announces her retirement from The Simpsons.  Israel and Hezbollah reach a truce to stop the war in Lebanon.   Trump announced a tranche of punitive tariffs for Canada, Mexico and China that will only punish US businesses and consumers, a possibly add to inflationary pressure at the supermarket, a major factor in re-electing Trump to office.  Syrian rebels take Aleppo as government forces retreat.  

december: Trump nominates Kash Patel to head FBI, prompting Biden to give his son a blanket pardon.  South Korea declares martial law.  The CEO of a major America health insurance provider is assassinated in broad daylight in New York City.  Romanian constitutional court annuls election after suspected Russian interference.  Syrian rebels capture Damascus as Bashar al-Assad reported flees the country.  Taking advantage of the power vacuum, Israel launches heavy airstrikes on Syrian defences and infrastructure.  The diet of South Korea votes to impeach the country’s president.  Tabla virtuoso Zakir Hussain passes away, aged 73.  A day after being tried in absentia for the war crime of using chemical weapons, a top Russian general was assassinated by an exploding e-scooter in Moscow.  The Pelicott rape case concludes in France.  A vehicle-ramming attack strikes the Magdeburger Christmas Market.  Russia accidentally downs an Azerbaijani civilian airplane while repelling Ukrainian attacks.  Former US president Jimmy Carter passes away, aged 100. 

blue line, red line (11. 855)

In a statement delivered amid the sonic booms of Israeli fighter jets conducting mock air raids in the skies over Beirut and actual strikes on the southern border, Hizbollah secretary general Hassan Nasrallah addressed for the first time publicly the coordinated denotations of booby-trapped pagers and walkie-talkies Tuesday and Wednesday that killed three dozen supposed operatives and seriously maimed thousands as low-tech communication devices exploded in orchestra after receiving the trigger signal at the same time. Israeli intelligence manufactured and distributed the rigged handheld pagers through a series of Taiwanese and Hungarian shell companies beginning in 2022 once it surmised that Hizbollah were avoiding cell phones for fear that their messages could be intercepted, and whilst this surprise simultaneous assault is arguably more targeted and discriminating than the bloodshed in Gaza, the injuries sustained happened in public, in the markets and in traffic and not on individuals actively carrying out the business of the organisation, in violation of the on prohibition on landmines and similar traps, causing mass panic and overwhelming Lebanon’s and Syria’s emergency care infrastructure. Potentially six thousand of people could have been killed all at once in this unprecedent attack. Nasrallah called the sabotage an act of war, vowing to keep fighting until aggression in Palestine ends. Though not acting during the immediate chaos, Israel is committing to this “new phase” of the war in order to return settlers to the north of the country on the countries’ disputed border region and the occupied Golan Heights.

mcmxcvi (11. 227)

Due to the periodic nature of the Gregorian calendar, 2024 corresponds precisely to the year 1996, twenty-eight years ago. We can speculate further what historic events from that year might resonate with the coming one, like in January, with the re-election of Yasser Arafat as president of the Palestinian Authority, the February peaceful transition of power in Haiti and a ceasefire in Sarajevo, March’s intimidating military exercises conducted by China along the coast of Taiwan, April’s Hutu genocide in Burundi, the arrest of the Unabomber, Israeli’s Operation Grapes of Wrath as retaliation for terrorist attacks perpetrated by Lebanon, May’s Port Arthur massacre which prompts Australia to introduce a nationwide ban on gun-ownership, the truce in Chechnya or the election of Benjamin Netanyahu, July’s cloning of Dolly the Sheep, the re-election of Boris Yeltsin or the Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta Georgia, August’s first three-parent human baby, November’s re-election of US president Clinton. We also have the choice of recycling the calendars from 1968 or 1940.

mmxxii (10. 419)

As this calendar year draws to a close and we look forward with anticipation to 2023, we again take time to reflect on a selection of some of the events that took place in 2022. Thanks as always for visiting. We’ve made it through another wild year together, and we’ll see this next one through together as well.

january: Violent protests erupt in Almaty in response to the Kazakh government ending fuel subsidies and lift price caps on petrol and heating oil, prompting a coalition of former-Soviet military forces to intervene. The US reflects on the one year anniversary of the Capitol insurrection and the fragile state of democracy.

Legendary actor Sidney Portier passed away, aged 94, as did singer Ronnie Spector (*1943). Tragically, seventeen individuals are killed in an apartment fire in the Bronx. Disturbingly the US Supreme Court blocks vaccination mandates for private companies-upholding the requirement for public sector workers. Two Democratic senators-who derailed president Biden’s Build Back Better plan-are also opposed to changing legislative rules to overturn the filibuster, allowing Republicans to block the enactment of a voter-rights protection bill. There are widespread calls for the resignation of Boris Johnson over revelations of work-dos during strict lockdown. The Queen strips Prince Andrew of his titles and military leadership roles over his association with sex pest Jeffrey Epstein and allegations of sexual assault. Russia seems poised to re-invade Ukraine, first undermining their cyber capabilities.  The Pacific island group volcano Hunga Tonga-Hunga Haʻapai erupted violently, triggering tsunami waves halfway across the world in California and Nova Scotia. Performer Meatloaf has passed away, aged seventy-four as did comedian and actor Louie Anderson at sixty-eight.  Zen Buddhist monk and peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh who protested the Vietnam War and introduced mindfulness to the West dies aged ninety-five.

february: The leader of a defeated though resurgent ISIS, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Quarshi, is killed in a US airstrike in Syria.

Tensions continue to mount in Ukraine over the spectre of an Russian invasion, with the US suggesting that Russia will stage a false-flag operation as a pretext to advance.   Truckers in Canada protesting COVID restrictions, mandatory passports blockade Ottawa; separately Justin Treudeu, Jacinda Arden and Keir Starmer need police intervention to be rescued from rioters.  The Queen celebrates her Platinum Jubilee with seventy years on the throne.  So called Canadian Freedom Convoys of big rig truckers shut down three key border crossings into the US, causing knock-on effects including factory shut-downs.  Provocatively, Russia begins military exercises in Belarus and on the Black Sea. 

Two powerful, successive windstorms, Ylenia and Zeynep, cause damage through a corridor in German after wreaking havoc in England and Wales (as Dudley and Eunice).  The Candy Bomber, Gail Halvorsen (previously) passes away, aged 101.  As the UK announces the relaxation of legal measures to combat the spread of the COVID virus, the palace announced that the Queen has contracted a mild case of it.  Putin recognises the sovereignty of break-away Ukrainian territories Donetsk and Luhansk and deploys peace-keepers to the regions nearly eight years to the day after applying a similar tactics to Crimea. 

march: Numerous Western companies suspend operations in Russia as sanctions intensify.  Shelling of civilian targets across Ukraine shows no signs of abating though the invasion has not been the easy and instant take-over that was apparently expected. 

Inflation surges as the price for everything spikes with the price of oil.  Many news outlets suspend reporting from Russia following passage of legislation that threatened individuals with fifteen-year sentences for spreading “fake news.” Sustaining a minor infection, US supreme court justice Clarence Thomas was discharged from hospital, a week after he was admitted. The news comes as the congressional panel investigating the 6 January attack on the US Capitol sought testimony from his wife and conservative activist, Virginia Thomas, after the revelation of a text message exchange between her and the White House chief of staff, urging him to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.  People Power Party candidate is narrowly elected president of South Korea.

april:  The US Senate, after much acrimony, confirms Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court. Though vice president Harris would have been the tie-breaker in the case of a fifty-fifty split, no Black woman in this forum had the chance to vote.  Viktor Orbán with fourth consecutive term as leader of Hungary. 

North Korea appears to be on the verge of resuming nuclear tests after a pause of five years, escalating regional tensions, after demolishing a symbolic hotel that held out the possibility of reconciliation. Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan was ejected by a vote of no confidence.  Hundreds die from mudslides in the Philippines and flash floods in South Africa.  Russia retaliates to the destruction of its flagship of the Black Sea fleet with renewed shelling in Kyiv and Lviv, having shifted focused to the southeastern part of Ukraine to create a corridor through rebel-held areas to Crimea and the sea.  Emmanuel Macron holds his presidency against Marine Le Pen.  Twitter agrees to sell itself to Elon Musk.  Moscow confirms Russia assault on Kyiv during visit by UN secretary-general António Guterres, meeting with the Ukrainian leader just after a summit with Putin.

may: A leaked draft opinion from US Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito suggests that the court is poised to over-turn the 1973 precedent that affords women access to abortion. 

The remaining contingent of soldiers holding Mariupol’s bulwark of resistance in the Azov steel plant have surrendered to Russian forces.   Australia’s conservative coalition government is defeated for the first time in a decade and the Labour party takes control.  A gunman espousing the Great Replacement Theory, tying into all the regressive, racist social movements in the United States, murdered ten individuals in Buffalo, New York.  A shooting at an elementary school in Texas takes twenty-one lives.  A dire shortage of baby formula in the US is on-going.  Monkeypox is spreading rampantly.  

june: the UK and the Commonwealth celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. 

Prompted by the publication of the Partygate investigation, Boris Johnson weathers a confidence vote by fellow party members but with more negative ballots than the votes that ended the ministries of Thatcher or more recently May. Portions of the January 6 select committee hearings are being televised.  The US Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade and Planned Parenthood v Casey, prohibiting access to abortion in more than half of America and putting at risk same-sex marriage, gay rights and access to contraceptives. 

july: Russia takes control of the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine.  Yet another mass shooting occurs in the US, this time at an Independence Day parade in a Chicago suburb. 

Compelled by the resignation of over fifty chief ministers and secretaries (including those appointed a day and a half earlier) ultimately, cumulatively over the Chris Pincher scandal, Boris Johnson announces he will step down as leader of the Conservative Party but plans to hold on to his prime ministership until the party conference in the autumn.  Former Japanese prime minister Shinzō Abe is fatally wounded in an assassination attempt.  Actor James Caan passes away, aged 82. After massive unrest and protesters storming the presidential palace, Sri Lankan leader Gotabaya Rajapaska steps down.  After reaching a deal brokered by Turkey, the first Ukranian grain transport vessel sails into the Bosporus, bound for Lebanon.  Pioneering actor Nichelle Nichols passed away, aged eighty-nine.

august: In the backdrop of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and intensifying incursions from mainland China, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi visits Taiwan.  Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri is killed by a blade-wielding drone in Afghanistan.  The conservative state of Kansas rejects a referendum to outlaw all abortions.  The FBI conducts a search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate for mishandled government documents.  The US congress passes Joe Biden’s Build Back Better act. 

Taking a cue from Belarus, the governors of Texas and Florida are bussing migrants to New York and California.  Olivia Newton-John passes away after a long battle with cancer.  Fashion designer Issey Miyake (三宅 一生) has also died, aged eighty-four.  Actor Anne Heche died after sustaining serious injuries in a car accident.  Salman Rushdie was stabbed by an assailant whilst delivering a lecture in Chautauqua, New York.  Joe Biden announces a jubilee on student debt that will positively impact millions of borrowers.  A redacted affidavit shows that over one hundred eighty classified documents were being sought at Mar-A-Lago, which Trump illegally removed when he left office.  Pakistan is devastated by heavy monsoons.  Ukraine begins a counter-insurgency to retake Kherson.  Mikhail Gorbachev passes away, aged 91.  

september: Liz Truss is chosen as new Prime Minister to replace Boris Johnson.  Queen Elizabeth II passes away, aged 96, with London Bridge protocols enacted.  Ukraine is seen to make major incursions into Russian held territories as municipal officials in Moscow and St Petersburg call for Vladimir Putin’s resignation. 

Charles III is proclaimed as new monarch as UK and Commonwealth enter a period of remembrance and mourning.  A Florida federal judge appoints a Special Master to review documents seized from Mar-a-Lago.  The UK economy tanks after Truss chancellor Kwarteng borrow more to reduce tax on business, garnering rebukes from Germany, the US and the IMF as the Pound Stirling approaches parity with the US dollar.  Iranians rage against their government after a young girl dies in custody of the morality police.  Russia appears to have sabotaged the Nordstream pipelines, rendering them unusable even if the gas is turned back on.

october: A hurricane batters Puerto Rico and Cuba, Florida and South Carolina.  Putin annexes four more regions in Ukraine though the hold is tenuous.  Coolio and Loretta Lynn pass away.  A mass shooting, knife attack takes place at a nursery in Thailand with two dozen children killed.  Joseph Biden pardons all of some six-thousand individuals charged with marijuana possession on the federal level.  Rhetoric over the use of tactical nuclear weapons by Russia is increasing. 

Ukraine damages the twenty kilometre bridge linking the annexed Crimea to the Russian mainland, a key supply route, across the Kerch strait.  In retribution, Russian attacks on civilian targets and infrastructure increase markedly.  Kwasi Kwarteng is dismissed, giving the UK four chancellors in as many months amid wide-spread calls for Liz Truss to resign.  Accomplished actor Robbie Coltrane passes away, aged 72, as does Angela Lansbury, aged 96.  Rishi Sunak becomes prime minister of the UK after being voted leader of the Tory Party. The husband of senior congressional member Nancy Pelosi is attacked by a man with a past of espousing fringe right wing theories with a hammer, the target intended to be the Speaker of the House.  Twitter is delisted from the stock exchange as Elon Musk takes over the platform.  Over one hundred and fifty individuals in Seoul are crushed in a stampede during a Halloween party in a narrow alleyway.  Citing continued Ukrainian drone attacks on its Black Sea fleet, Russia pulls out of a UN brokered arrangement to facilitate grain-shipment.

november: World leaders gather in Sharm el-Sheikh for COP27.   Ukrainian cities contend with power blackouts after Russia targets the country’s infrastructure.  Founding father of election science Sir David Butler passes away, aged 98. The anticipated repudiation of the US Democratic party failed to materialize, counter to polling and pundits’ expectations with those Republican candidates aligned with Donald Trump underperforming and falling short in the broad sense, holding the GOP bastions of Florida and Texas.  The UN announces the world population is at eight billion. 

At a ceremony at Mar-a-Lago, Donald Trump announces his third candidacy for the presidency, much to the dismay of a Republican party whom cannot challenge his bid.  Artemis I launches on its way to the Moon.  Speaker Pelosi steps down as party leader in the House of Representatives.  In response to Trump announcing his intent to run for president, a move in part calculated to frustrate legal action against him, Attorney General Merrick Garland appoints a special counsel to investigate the insurrection that Trump instigated and the US Supreme Court rules that Trump must turn over years of tax returns to Congress.   Mired in controversy, the World Cup hosted by Qatar commences.  Continued Russian airstrikes on Ukrainian infrastructure and utilities have caused a near total blackout in neighbouring Moldova.  Earthquakes cause mass destruction in West Java and Turkey.   The UK Supreme Court blocks a second referendum for Scottish independence.  Fame and Flash Dance singer Irene Cara passes away, aged 63.  Demonstrations against the government and the ruling party not seen in China since Tienanmen Square erupt in China over COVID lockdown protocols and after the emergency response to an apartment fire is apparently delayed due to restrictions and added barriers to restrict movement. Fleetwood Mac singer Christine McVie dies, aged 79. 

december: Chinese authorities begin relaxing COVID prevention measures in response to protests.  The G7 nations and the European Union try to enforce further sanctions against Russia by banning oil shipments by sea and placing an upwards price cap per barrel. In response to massive protests, Iran disbands its morality police.

Scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National Labs announce a breakthrough in harnessing the power of nuclear fusion for energy production.  During its final session before dissolving, the January Sixth Committee recommends to the Justice Department to bring four criminal charges, including inciting insurrection, against Trump.  The Specials lead singer Terry Hall passes away, aged 63.  In his first trip abroad since the Russian invasion, Zelenskiy speaks before a joint-session of Congress in Washington, DC––appealing for continued aid from the United States.  Much of the US is pummelled by a bomb-cyclone, a monstrous winter storm that forces the cancellation of holiday travel. Bolivian police detain opposition leader Luis Fernando Camacho for his role in the 2019 protests that prompted then-president Evo Morales to resign. Putin issues a decree prohibiting the export of Russian oil to countries and organizations that adhere to the US$60-per-barrel price cap that Australia, the European Union, and the G7 member states agreed upon earlier this month. The decree will be in effect from February through the summer.  Legendary footballer who made soccer the beautiful game, Pelé, passes away, aged 82, as well as fashion icon Vivienne Westwood.

prairie fire organizing committee

Making a forceful statement against armed US overtures in Lebanon and Grenada, a bomb-blast tore through the virtually empty senate-side of the Capitol building on this day in 1983. The day’s session had adjourned nearly two hours prior to the explosion and an anonymous caller representing the “Armed Resistance Unit” of the Resistance Conspiracy—the American-based branch of the broader organisation called the Nineteenth of May Communist Order (also known as M19 and a splinter-group of the above committed to fighting imperialism, racism and sexism)—called the switchboard and issued a warning minutes before detonation. No one was present to be injured—though the suspected targets included Senator Robert C. Byrd, an ardent proponent for both incursions, with a portrait of statesman and Massachusetts senator Daniel Webster (*1782 - †1852) hung near the chamber’s cloakroom damaged nearly beyond repair as the evening’s only casualty. Five years later, the accused parties were brought before a federal judicial trial for the Capitol bombing plus two related terror attacks on Washington area military installations.

bayreuth-beirut

Though overshadowed by the protests triggered by the ignorant and ridiculing portrayal of Islam, the Pope went ahead with a planned trip to Lebanon, originally and without taking sides for the seated regime or the rebellion to urge peaceful resolution to the civil war in Syria. Neighbouring Lebanon has taken in tens of thousands of refugees fleeing the violence, and there are fears that the conflict may spread.

As Benedict XVI reaffirmed to his audience, however, Lebanon has struggled to become a model nation, recapturing the harmony and hospitality that was thrown into turmoil with independence and its own civil war, pulled in different directions by other regional players. Much of the crowds that thronged to see the Pope, I am sure was comprised to a large extent by the forty-percent Christian population that the country hosts, but the government declared a public holiday over the weekend for the Pope’s visit so more people might have the chance to see him. Lebanon also hosts the spectrum of Islamic sects and traditions, who by turns, have also been targets of intolerance. The message of peace, understanding and empathy, I think, was not restricted to any one demographic of the audience and takes on a more urgent meaning in light of other, reviled and impugned embassies.