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NEW DELHI: Year 2014 has been eventful filled with big news stories that have shaped the discourse on militancy, politics, race, justice, foreign policy, and even health. It has seen the rise of a new militant group -- the Islamic State, a resurgence of cold war hostilities, the largest democratic election in the history of the world, the biggest aviation mystery, a one-sided assault that left a record number of civilians dead, and one of the biggest health crises in modern times.
The Citizen recaps the eight most news-worthy developments of this tumultuous year.
The Islamic State
No list that attempts to recap the headlines in 2014 will leave out the Islamic State. The militant group -- with strongholds in Syria and Iraq -- have drawn the United States into a protracted war, with the US-led coalition conducting airstrikes in the two countries.
The militant group has declared a caliphate in territory under its control in June, and efforts led by the US and allied groups to defeat the group have been unsuccessful thus far.
So who are the Islamic State? And how did the group come about?
The short answer lies in the post 2003 context of Iraq. After the US invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, a need emerged to replace the security vacuum with a new political elite.
Whilst the US was quick to blame former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri-al-Maliki’s divisive politics for the rise of the Islamic State, the irony, unsurprisingly, is that the US has played an instrumental role in Maliki’s rise to power in the first place, in addition to consistently supporting Iraq’s divisive politics. This includes siding with the Iraqi government’s military crackdown on Anbar last December and the decision to clamp down on protests in Falluja using the rouse of “anti-terrorism.” Falluja was the first city to fall to IS militants at the beginning of this year.
This creation of identity-based politics, paved the way for sectarian identity to become a key political factor.
The Islamic State has existed under various names, first coming into existence in early 2004 as the Jam??at al-Taw??d wa-al-Jih?d, or "The Organization of Monotheism and Jihad" (JTJ). As the group expanded from Iraq into Syria -- establishing a stronghold in Ar-Raqqah province -- it renamed itself the "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant", or the "Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham” in 2013, under the supervision of its current leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who took over in 2011.
The advance of anti-government forces in Syria, was made possible in turn, by the United States and allies assistance to Sunni rebels, who share with the US the objective to topple Alawite leader Assad. The US greenlighted Turkish and Saudi aid to anti-Assad rebels, supplied these groups with material and financial assistance, and used the CIA to train rebels at a secret base in Jordan.
Russia Versus The United States
2014 saw tensions mount between the United States and Russia, with the former levelling a series of sanctions on the latter as a result. At the end of 2014, the rouble has crashed and analysts project further trouble.
The fallout stemmed from the crisis in Ukraine, with the US blaming Russia for supporting rebels in the country’s east that eventually led to the secession of Crimea, which in turn, moved to join the Russian Federation.
Putin vehemently denied the claims. Crimea’s move toward independence was a democratic expression of free will, the Russian President maintains.
As 2014 draws to a close, chaos continues to reign in Ukraine with pro and anti-independence factions pitted against each other.
Malaysian Airlines
The crash of AirAsia flight QZ8501 on Sunday, along with the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 -- with 227 passengers and 12 crew members on board -- and the shooting-down of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 in July over war-torn Ukraine -- with 298 people on board -- has sealed the fate of 2014 as one of the world years for aviation, and worst-still for Malaysian aviation.
A confirmation of the death of the 162 passengers and crew aboard QZ8501 has brough the commercial aircraft fatalities to a staggering 986 this year, the highest annual death toll since 2005.
The crash of QZ8501 is the year’s 20th fatal commercial aircraft accident and, perhaps more alarmingly, the seventh major airline crash.
Other crashes in 2014 have included: a Nepal Airlines Twin Otter aircraft crashed into a mountainside near Sandhikhark, Nepal, on February 16, killing all 18 on-board; TransAsia Airways ATR 72-500 crashed near Magong Airport in Taiwan on July 23, with 48 passengers and crew being killed after the plane missed its first runway approach; an Air Algerie MD-83 passenger aircraft dropped off the radar and crashed while flying over Mali, en route to Algiers from the Burkina Faso capital of Ouagadougou killing all 116 on board; an Iranian-built Sepahan Airlines plane crashed shortly after takeoff from Tehran International Airport, killing 39 on board.
#BlackLivesMatter
2014 focused attention on issues of race and discrimination in the United States. Most recently, anger swelled following the shooting of 18 year old African American Antonio Martin in Berkeley, St. Louis.
Earlier this month, protesters took the streets in cities across the US to over the death of Eric Garner, who was killed in an apparent chokehold by a white New York police officer. The protests began after a grand jury decided not to press charges and followed similar protests over a grand jury’s decision to not indict a white police officer who shot to death an unarmed African American teen Michael Brown in Ferguson, St. Louis -- very close to where Martin was shot.
In November, police in Cleveland, Ohio, shot dead a twelve-year old African-American boy waving around what turned out to be a toy gun at a playground. In October, protesters took to the streets of South St. Louis following the fatal shooting of an African-American man by an off duty police officer.
Other incidents that have grabbed headlines have included 17-year old unarmed Trayvon Martin, who was killed by a neighbourhood watch captain. The shooter was eventually acquitted of murder in a racially charged case. Another case is the killing of 17-year old Jordan Davis, who was, along with his friends, shot at by a man for playing “loud music.”
These incidents have brought to the surface years of frustration at a system where black men are far more likely to be shot at than their white American counterparts.
The Indian General Elections
The 16th Lok Sabha elections concluded with a victory for the BJP. Running in nine phases from 7 April to 12 May 2014, it was the longest election in the country's history, with 814.5 million people were eligible to vote -- making it the largest election in the world.
The National Democratic Alliance, led by the BJP, won a sweeping victory, taking 336 seats. The BJP itself won 31.0% of all votes and 282 (51.9%) of all seats. It is the first time since the 1984 Indian general elections that a party won enough seats to govern without the support of other parties. The United Progressive Alliance, led by the Indian National Congress, won 58 seats, 44 (8.1%) of which were won by the Congress, that won 19.3% of all votes.
Gaza
Tensions continue between Israel and Palestine, with over 2500 people, mostly civilians, being killed in Israel’s 50 day assault on the Gaza strip this summer. The two reached a shaky ceasefire in August that has since, been violated on at least two instances.
Even as hostilities have come to a close, conditions in Gaza remain deplorable, with the Palestinians condemning the obstruction of reconstruction of the Gaza Strip. "The continuation of the blockade, coupled with the closure of the border crossings and the delay of reconstruction will push the Gaza Strip to explosion for which Israel will pay the price," Hamas spokesperson Fawzi Barhoum said in a recent statement.
Meanwhile, tensions stemming from the issue of access to Al Aqsa mosque continue to simmer. As do tensions stemming from the issue of settlements in the West Bank. A few days ago, Israeli authorities approved the building of at least 623 settlements on the West Bank in the space of just one week. The decision came amid growing tensions in the region ahead of a planned UN vote on Palestine’s statehood.
The Peshawar School Attack
On December 16, the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) attacked an army-run school in Peshawar, killing about 150 people, mostly children. The attack focused the world’s attention at the barbaric act, and thus, on militancy in South Asia.
In neighbouring Afghanistan, 2014 marked the end of the US led 13 year Afghan war. The Taliban declared the defeat of US and its allies in the war in Afghanistan, a day after the coalition officially marked the end of its combat mission.
Of course, the formal declaration of the war’s end is a mere technicality, with 10,800 troops sanctioned to stay in the country after the close of the year. The role of these troops was expanded to include targeting Taliban fighters, with it previously having been limited to training the Afghan military and in counterterrorism measures against the Taliban.
The Taliban, meanwhile, have been stepping up their fight within Afghanistan, targeting security forces and international aid agencies. In fact, a recent report by the United Nations has said that at least 3,188 Afghan civilians have been killed in the conflict in Afghanistan in 2014, making the year the deadliest yet in terms of non-combatant casualties.
Given this reality, there is a need for South Asian nations to work together to combat militancy, and the reaproachment of ties between Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani are a small step in the right direction.
Ebola
As the year draws to a close, authorities in Liberia said Monday there have been dozens of new Ebola cases erupting along the border with Sierra Leone -- proving a major setback to the fight against Ebola.
What is Ebola?
It is a virus with a high fatality rate that was first discovered in 1976. Ebola hemorrhagic fever is the disease cause by one of five different Ebola viruses, with the fifth virus, Reston virus, causing illness in some animals but not humans.
The current ebola outbreak is in West Africa, affecting Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.
The epidemic has now killed over 7000 people. Nearly 3,400 people have died from Ebola in Liberia over the past year with nearly 8,000 cases though health officials say the situation has improved especially in the capital, Monrovia. The situation also seems to be slowly improving in Guinea. However, cases are on the rise in Sierra Leone, which has now eclipsed Liberia with more than 9,000 cases, according to the World Health Organisation.
(Did we leave any big stories out? Tell us in the comments)
