A state of disorder

From wars to natural calamities and accidents, the world has seen a turbulent year in 2015. Nevertheless, multinational accords, such as the Iran deal and the Paris agreement, remained glimmers of hope in this year of extremes. Here’s a brief review of the year:

 

Terror attacks:  From Paris to California  

January 7

Two gunmen storm the office of French satirical weekly 

Charlie Hebdo  – notorious for its irreverent depiction of religious figures – and kill 11 members, including its chief editor Charb Charbonnier

 

 

March 5-8

The self-proclaimed Islamic State demolishes Iraqi ancient cities of Nimrud, Hatra and Dur-Sharrukin

 

April 2

Al-Shabab, an ally of Al-Qaeda, kills 148 people, mostly students, in an attack on Garissa University, Kenya

Ramadan attacks by the IS (June 25-26):

*Car bombs kill 220 in the Syrian city of Kobane

*Attack by gunman kills 40 people in tourist resort in Port El Kantaoui, Tunisia

*Suicide attack on Shia mosque in Kuwait kills 27 people

 

October 5: IS militants blow up two ancient temples and the Arch of Triumph in Palmyra

 

October 10: Suicide bomb kills 100 people in a peace rally in Ankara, Turkey

 

November 13 :  In a string of attacks, owned up by the IS, on France, in places like the national sports stadium, Bataclan theatre and bars and restaurants

 

December 2 :  Radicalised couple, the wife an IS sympathiser, massacre 14 people in a gun attack on a community centre in San Bernardino, California.

 

Battle against extremism

 

February 5: Jordan launches air strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria following the brutal murder of a Jordanian pilot

 

September 30: Russia launches air strikes in Syria, supporting President Bashar Al-Assad

 

December 3: British bombers join U.S. and French air strikes on IS targets in Syria

 

The exodus

September 2: The dead body of three-year-old migrant Alan Kurdi found on Turkish shores leads to unprecedented introspection on treating the refugee crisis as a humanitarian one rather than security-related issue.

 

Number of people crossing to Europe in the hope of a better life reaches one million, a majority of them from Syria 

 

 

 

Calamities and accidents

 

March 24: Airbus owned by Germanwings crashes in the French Alps, with all 150 people on board declared dead.  

 

April 25: An earthquake of 7.8 magnitude kills nearly 9,000 people and destroys half-a-million homes in Nepal. A massive aftershock in May kills dozens more

 

June 30: Indonesian Air Force plane crashes into crowded residential neighbourhood in Medan, killing 143 people

 

August 12: Explosions in a chemical storage facility in Tianjin, China, kill at least 165 people

 

September 24: Stampede in Mina, near Makkah, during Hajj leaves more than 2,200 people dead

 

October 31: AirbusA321, going towards St. Petersburg from Sharm el-Sheikh, crashes in Sinai, killing 217 passengers

 

Poll positions

 

January 25 and September 20: Syriza, having won the January elections in Greece on an anti-austerity plank, fails to soften bailout conditions despite an overwhelming referendum.

 

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is forced to call for snap elections, resulting in a second victory for the party in September.

 

January 8: Major Opposition parties unite behind ex-Cabinet Minister Maithripala Sirisena to defeat Mahinda Rajapaksa in Sri Lanka 

 

March 17:  Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party wins its second general election in Israel in two years.  

 

March 28: Nigeria’s former dictator Muhammadu Buhari wins against Goodluck Jonathan in the first democratic transition of power in the country

 

May 7: The Conservatives, led by David Cameron, win in the U.K.  

 

June 7: Turkish general elections: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s AKP loses parliamentary majority for the first time since 1999.

 

Hung Parliament leads to another general elections in November giving back the AKP legislative majority

 

October 19: Justin Trudeau pulls off an upset in Canada’s federal elections, ending nine years of Conservative rule.  

 

November 8: Aung Sung Suu Kyi’s NLD wins 86 per cent of seats in the Myanmar Parliament, in the first free election since 1990

 

December 20: The two-party dominance of the post-Franco era shows signs of ending as the anti-austerity Podemos and the centrist Ciudadanos between them, win nearly 35 per cent of votes and 30 per cent of seats in Parliament

 

Glimmers of hope

July-4: Iran agrees to a historic nuclear deal to limit its ability to produce a nuclear weapon in exchange for the lifting of sanctions

 

July 20: U.S. and Cuba restore full diplomatic relations after 54 years

 

November 7: The Presidents of China and Taiwan exchange a historic handshake and warm words in the first summit since the two sides split in 1949

 

December 12: In a historic accord to end COP 21 in Paris, 195 nations approve deal to keep global temperature rise below 2 degree Celsius

Voices of inclusiveness

“The contemporary world, with its open wounds which affect so many of our brothers and sisters, demands that we confront every form of polarisation...”

Pope Francis (Address to the U.S. Congress, September 24)

“There is a lot of sentiment that enough is enough, that we need fundamental changes, that the establishment is failing the American people,”

Bernie Sanders (Brookings Institution, April)

"If we now have to start apologizing for showing a friendly face in response to emergency situations, then that’s not my country.”

German Chancellor Angela Merkel (in September 2015 responding to criticism that Germany was welcoming too many refugees )