What has happened this year? Generally speaking we can mention:
1) World war games
2) Technological war
3) Crisis – more or less stimulated by economic or political influence centres
If we take the world as a big board game, where players are setting their figures, we can say that the year 2011 was an extraordinary intensive period when the world biggest powers played very actively.
Arabic revolution
The year 2011 was the year of protests; the TIME magazine put a protesting man on its cover with reason saying that it is as a man of the year. All this has already started in February when the protests in North Africa were growing larger and larger. The presidents of Tunisia and Egypt resigned, but Libya’s leader – Muammar Gaddafi didn’t give up and declared that he would fight till the end. The rebels who fought against Gaddafi were supported by the West: France, Italy, Great Britain and USA. After a few long months the Libya’s capital Tripoli went down, then the Gaddafi’s home town Sirte was seized. The dictator was captured and killed. The photos of a young man holding a gun were famous worldwide – he killed the dictator and this gun became his trophy. The fall of the Libyan dictator contributed to the reinforcement of radical Islamic groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood. In only few months the environments near Europe became strong enough to threaten many Mediterranean countries in case of any serious conflict.
However, the “Arabic spring” wasn’t the same in every country. The similar protests in Syria were brutally quelled by the president Bashir al Assad – then the civil war burst out. In contrast to Libya, the country of Syria was supported by Russia. It didn’t agree for the interventions of the West and what is more, it provides arming for the Assad’s government.
American spies
The fact that the United States retreated their army from Iraq doesn’t mean that we can feel safe. Some say that a sudden attack on Iran is about to begin. This country situated near Iraq and Afghanistan plays a significant role in the region, whereas its president plays on American and European elite’s nerves. Apart from the American and Israel’s protests against the Persian declarations to build a nuclear power plant, there are also many outrages on Iranian scientists and nuclear objects – all that represents a real sabotage.
As for Iran, the one of the most popular cases concerned the ultra modern spy drone Sentinel which was to be taken over by Teheran; also, the photos of the special drone were published on the Internet. This can serve as an example of a landmark in the use of modern equipment in technological war although the USA claims that the loss of the special drone was coincidental.
In 2011 many interesting things have happened as far as the technology is concerned. Apart from the special drone which has given the access to the ultra modern and the cheapest technologies, we have the Teheran’s authorities which won out in propaganda by showing that they are able to break into the navigation systems and take control over the remote appliances. The more interesting thing is that shortly after the taking over the Sentinel, the American drone Reaper crashed in Seychelles. It happened just a few days after the China’s declaration of the opening of the first military base situated exactly on this archipelago. A bit earlier in Nevada there was a Trojan attack on the drone control center system which paralyzed the base’s activity for few hours. Is this a coincidence? Maybe. Or maybe not?
Cyberspace invasion
The year 2011 is a specific period when the technological war is waged rather in cyberspace than in a real world. A mysterious group of hackers called “Anonymous” plays an interesting role in this phenomenon. This ephemeral organization was famous of its spectacular attack on some governmental and personal websites. What is more, many people want to join “Anonymous” declaring the attack and destruction of Facebook or stealing some data from STRATFOR.
The huge wave of protests that happened all over the world took their beginning from the “Occupy Wall Street” movement; they also took the Guy Fawkes figure – the symbol of the “Anonymous”. However, this growing activity of the “hacktivists” is more spectacular than efficient. In many countries the censorship, such as the controversial project ACTA, is becoming more and more popular under the pretext of fighting against hackers, terrorism, piracy and child pornography. It is not the only attempt which arouses anxiety. Year after year there are more and more data about us accessible on the Internet – huge concerns as Google or Facebook are accused of violating the users’ privacy or even of giving those data to the third parties. We also have a growing number of ubiquitous tappings, bugs, cameras and transmitters in our telephones. Nobody really knows how much the Big Brother sees and knows about us.
Crisis – how much truth how much interests?
In 2011 we saw the third fundamental threat. The crisis, which erupted with the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008, has – after a brief period of stability – came back with even bigger momentum. The wave of unemployment and poverty that struck the United States was larger than anything seen in the past decades. In Europe the economies of EU counties have been weakened by the crisis in the euro area, which additionally led to the political unrests that cast many shadows on the future of the European Union in her present form. Greek, Spanish and Italian problems are not new discoveries, and even though they have been debated many times in the past 3 years only now they became the dominant issue, the issue that might change the European Union herself. We do not know whether the EU survives the year 2012. Some experts speak of necessary reforms and want to deepen the European integration, while others say we should abandon it for good. Politicians spread fear of next big war in Europe, the protests still go on the streets of Athens, cars are being burnt in many French cities. The crisis became an excuse for politicians to get to national financial reserves in the name of rescuing the people. But is it really about the people?
The atomic tragedy
Whatever direction will the 2012 take, we must remember that at the same time last year no one was able to predict the enormous tsunami that hit and ruined the shores of Japan on March 11th. This tragedy made people all over the world realize how much technology matters when confronted with the natural forces. Forces, that are so difficult to pacify, not even speaking of controlling them.
No one was able to predict the disaster in Fukushima and – reportedly – no one was able to predict the death of Bin Laden and Muammar Gaddafi. It seemed impossible that at the end of 2011 new alliances will begin to be formed among Asian states. The destruction of Facebook announced by Anonymous did not happen. Sheik Nazim’s prophecies about the Great War at the beginning of the month Muharram did not fulfill.
How will 2012 be? Some say it will bring solutions to all global problems, including a complete destruction of our whole civilization. Will it happen? Similarly to the previously mentioned cases, one thing is certain. Someone will make a lot of money out of it. He surely will have a lot of time in 2013 to spend it all.
No comments:
Post a Comment