Although we always have the impression that we live in the most difficult times of humanity, in fact humanity has never had less disease, poverty and wars in its written history than today. The information and communication revolution made us follow events and receive information within seconds from all over the globe, and processing all this information is often difficult, tiring and sometimes even depressing, but peace and war, wealth and poverty, health and disease have always coexisted and humanity has always found the form, the way and the will to prioritize the good.
Author: Sefer Selimi Jr.
Human history is a slow time development where the years follow one another, marking little progress or regression to create the future from the perspective of which the past is then treated. The year we left behind will go down in history as one of the years that shook this slow development, shaking to the foundations the global infrastructure built for more than 30 years in Europe and beyond. Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine created deep shocks in all areas from security, energy, economy, information to culture.
Security infrastructure – the final divide between Europe and Russia
After the fall of the Berlin Wall and the dissolution of the Soviet Union, a security system was built in Europe where a large part of the former communist countries of Eastern Europe joined the NATO pact and thus sealed the collective defense against any reoccupation of possible from Russia. Although the latter has not stopped for a moment to keep these states in the orbit of its influence through hybrid interventions, invasion or military intervention against them is impossible without instigating a direct war with the USA and consequently a War of Third World. Russia’s military intervention aimed at the full occupation of Ukraine, launched on February 24, 2022, put Russia indirectly in conflict with NATO countries, which largely provide direct military, financial and humanitarian aid to Ukraine. Here, two countries lead the list, the USA and Great Britain, which are also the main guarantors of Kiev’s nuclear demilitarization in the 1994 agreement, when Ukraine surrendered its nuclear weapons in exchange for a guarantee of protection from any eventual invasion. The Russian invasion also prompted a rapid arms race, mainly among the countries that share a border with it or Ukraine and, moreover, two democracies that had no aspirations to become part of NATO, Norway and Sweden now they have started the formal process of membership in the alliance, which makes a complete and clear separation between the European countries and Russia.
Energy – acceleration of the process towards renewable energies
Until the beginning of the Russian aggression in Ukraine, a large number of European Union states, and here in the first place the largest economy of this Union – Germany, were largely dependent on Russian gas which came through ” Nord Stream 1” and was supposed to double the amount through the new Nord Stream 2 pipeline in 2022. Despite many direct warnings, especially from the US, that Europe’s heavy dependence on Russian gas is made the Union hostage to President Putin, the same warnings were stubbornly ignored. In 2022, it was proven that the president with imperialist ambitions, Putin, does not hesitate and at the first moment he turns Russian gas into a blackmail weapon against everyone who depends on him, therefore realizing the unfavorable position, the revolution towards energy sources of Renewable energy has gained tremendous momentum across the globe and countries are investing billions of dollars in photovoltaics, wind farms and other renewable energy sources.
Economy – inflation and recession towards sustainable economy
Rising oil prices, the energy crisis and disruption to the raw materials supply chain fueled high inflation across the globe. A global economy, which was just beginning to recover from the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, was hit hard, turning it once again towards recession. This forced and is forcing governments to find innovative forms and mechanisms to promote a stable economy that will be able to withstand similar shocks in the future. The new year is expected to bring economic stabilization and likely to restore growth, but everything will depend on more factors, the most important of which is how energy prices will move.
War and peace – coexistence throughout history
Although we always have the impression that we live in the most difficult times of humanity, in fact humanity has never had less disease, poverty and wars in its written history than today. The information and communication revolution made us follow events and receive information within seconds from all over the globe, and processing all this information is often difficult, tiring and sometimes even depressing, but peace and war, wealth and poverty, health and disease have always coexisted and humanity has always found the form, the way and the will to prioritize the good.