2022 In Review

"What the New Year brings to you shall depend a great deal - on what you bring to the New Year."

- Vern McLellan

A look back at events of 2022 that has affected us all at varying degrees as we enter into the New Year.

1.Russia Invades Ukraine.

Sometimes intelligence agencies are like the?mythical Cassandra, correctly predicting events only to be disbelieved.

Late in 2021, the U.S. and England began warning that Russia would invade Ukraine. Many European leaders, including Ukrainian President?Volodomyr Zelensky, dismissed the idea of war.

But on Feb, 24, 2022, Russia?launched?a "special military operation" that?it said?was needed to force the “demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine.”

To the surprise of the Kremlin and most military experts, Ukraine withstood the initial onslaught and then began to turn back Russian forces.

Russia's latest historical lineage of tyrants - Mini me look alike V. Putin - aka "Babies Killer," shall be hard pressed, if not already, by the Russian elite in 2023 if things continue as they are.

A la ... Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini?

Naw. Putin would get off too easy for what he has and done and continues to do in Ukraine.

WORD OF THE DAY

"You might be a rock ’n’ roll addict prancing on the stage / You might have drugs at your command, women in a cage / You may be a business man or some high-degree thief / They may call you Doctor or they may call you Chief

But you’re going to have to serve somebody, yes indeed -

You’re going to have to serve somebody / Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord / But you’re going to have to serve somebody"

“Gotta Serve Somebody” by Bob Dylan from his 1979 album "Slow Train Coming."

2. USA - China Tensions Expand.?

The great power competition between China and the USA got fully underway in 2022.

The Biden administration’s?National Security Strategy, released in October 2022,?made the point?bluntly:

“China harbors the intention and, increasingly, the capacity to reshape the international order in favor of one that tilts the global playing field to its benefit,” and the United States intends to “win the competition.”

China’s?belligerent response?to U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s?visit to Taiwan?in August 2022 highlighted just how tense relations have grown between the two countries.

In October, Biden took a major step to limit China’s rise by?denying it access?to the advanced semiconductor chips and technology essential to dominating fields like artificial intelligence. Biden also continued to urge allies to take similarly tough stances on China.?

3. Climate Change Intensifies.

Forty years ago, when scientists first warned of a possible climate catastrophe, it was a problem for the future.

2022 has showed that that perilous future?has arrived.

Once rare extreme weather events?became commonplace. Europe experienced?record heat waves that burned forests and dried up rivers. Pakistan endured a similarly brutal heat wave that was followed by epic monsoons that left as much as one-third of the country under water.

The U.S. southwest endured a record drought that shrank reservoirs like Lake Mead and?diminished crops yields.

On the other side of the country, Hurricane Ian wreaked havoc on Florida. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change of the United Nations?warned?in April that the effects of climate change will soon become irreversible.

But overall, government action continued to lag. The COP27 meeting at Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, ended with a?loss and damage agreement?that in theory will lead wealthy countries to compensate poor countries harmed by climate change. But no breakthroughs were made in cutting emissions.

Instead, the share of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere?continued to rise in 2022 and shall continue into 2023 and beyond.

4.?Iranians Protest.?

Regimes born out of protests can also be - toppled by them.

That reality must haunt the leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran, who in 2022 saw the most significant challenge to their rule since they came to power back in 1979.

When the news reached her hometown of Saqqez in northwestern Iran, hundreds of people?gathered?to condemn her death and Iran’s mistreatment of women.

The protests quickly spread throughout the country as Iranians across social, class, and ethnic lines marched to the slogan:

“Women, life, freedom!”

The government tried to quell the protests with force. By December, Iranian security forces had killed as many as?450 protestors?on the streets, and the government had begun?publicly executing protestors?convicted in rushed trials for crimes against the state.

The persistence of the protests in the face of government repression prompted?speculation?that Iran is in the early stages of a new revolution.

Perhaps.

But so far, the regime has shown no signs of splintering, and no one has emerged to lead the opposition. Should that change, Iran’s theocratic regime could be headed for the ash heap of history.

5. COVID Eases.?

Pandemics eventually end.

Three years after COVID burst onto the scene, the world appears to have turned the corner on the first global pandemic in a century. In September, the head of the World Health Organization?declared that the end of the pandemic is “in sight.”

The one exception to this trend is - - - China.

China pursued a "zero-tolerance policy" long after every other country had abandoned the strategy, preferring instead to impose draconian crackdowns whenever and wherever outbreaks occurred.

By late 2022, the Chinese people had begun?to rebel against what Chinese officials had hailed as their great success.

In December, Beijing?began easing?its COVID restrictions. However, it had not developed its own highly effective vaccine, refused to import highly effective Western vaccines - and - had a population with relatively little exposure to COVID.

So the death toll in China from COVID shall likely soar in 2023.

Even if China avoids the death tolls that the USA and other countries experienced in 2020, COVID shall remain a deadly disease there and elsewhere for years.

At the end of 2022, more than 2,000 Americans?are dying?of COVID each week.

6. Inflation Returns.?

Sometimes the good old days were not so good.

The late 1970s are a case in point.

Anyone who lived through those years experienced what it was like to see inflation eat through their paychecks. The inflationary spiral was broken only after the Federal Reserve raised interest rates and triggered a brutal recession. In the four decades since then the world has lived in a low inflation environment.

Indeed, for a time the bigger worry for economists was that inflation rates had?fallen too low?and might trigger a?disastrous deflationary spiral. That peril was avoided, but 2022 saw inflation rise?around the world.

The price spikes were driven by a combination of demand and supply issues.

On the demand side, years of easy government monetary policy combined with a flood of government spending to prevent an economic collapse during the COVID pandemic - put?more money?in consumers’ pockets.

7. Southern Border

The clause was enacted as part of the Public Health Service Act of 1944, but was rarely used before the COVID-19 pandemic that began in 2020. It remained in effect even as international flights resumed and the southern border opened for foreign visitors.

The policy, however, has continued to be used under the Biden administration as a tool to manage migration flows at the southern border even as the public health emergency has subsided.

Question: Has the VP of the USA, Kamala Harris, visited the Mexican / USA border since her appointment to "contain the surge of migrants" back in Mar. 2022 by President Biden?

Answer: No. Not one single time.

Migrant border crossings in fiscal year 2022 topped?2.76 million, breaking previous record. The 2022 numbers were driven in part by increases in the number of Venezuelans, Cubans and Nicaraguans making the trek north.

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And Finally: Gone But Never Forgotten in 2022

Sidney Poitier - A favorite of many and mine.

The Bahamian - American Hollywood star, known for films including the classics -?In the Heat of the Night, Blackboard Jungle?and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?died 94 years young.

William Hurt starred as General Thaddeus Ross in several installments of the Marvel Comic Universe, died at 71.

Kirstie Alley? - Cheers?and?drop dead gorgeous?star?Kirstie Alley?succumbed to colon cancer on Dec. 5, 2022.

Betty White - Beloved comedic actress career has lasted decades and spanned generations.

James Caan - Hollywood’s iconic leading man who rose to fame in the 1970s with his role as Sonny Corleone in?“The Godfather,”?died at age 82.

Angela Lansbury - Lansbury garnered her first Oscar nomination for her movie debut, “Gaslight,” in 1944. Her second came the next year for “The Portrait of Dorian Gray,” and again in 1962 as the mother who betrays her son and her country in “The Manchurian Candidate.” She received Golden Globes for the latter two films.?

The actress accepted an honorary Oscar in 2013, to go with the five Tony Awards she collected over a 40-plus-year span – beginning with “Mame” in 1966, and finally for a revival of the Noel Coward play “Blithe Spirit” in 2009.

Bill Russell - Few Homo sapiens let alone athletes have touched the stars in as many ways as Bill Russell.

He is, in short, incomparable.

The 11-time NBA champion with the Boston Celtics, and a two-time Hall-of-Famer (player and coach) and longtime civil rights activist and mentor died at 88. Basketball legends and world leaders alike took to public forums to express their sadness after learning of Russell’s death.

Michael Jordan said in part, “The world has lost a legend.” Larry Bird issued a statement during which he said he “always had tremendous respect for Bill as a man, as a player, and great champion.”

Among many others, former President Barack Obama also stated in part, “Today, we lost a giant. As tall as Bill Russell stood, his legacy rises far higher – both as a player and as a person.”

That legacy is unmatched, and surely, it will live on forever.

Fleetwood Mac’s Christine McVie - "She was the best musician anyone could have in their band and the best friend anyone could have in their life. We were so lucky to have a life with her." - Stevie Nicks

Jerry Lee Lewis was born on Sept. 29th, 1935, in Ferriday, Louisiana. He began playing the piano at age 9, copying the styles of preachers and black musicians that traveled through the area. He signed with Sun Records in 1956 and quickly became a star.

XTRA XTRA XTRA !

Flanked by military officers, Kim is shown walking in slow-mo and pointing as hangar doors swing open to reveal the massive intercontinental ballistic missile - trying his best to be Tom Cruise.

"A revolution now and then is a healthy thing" - Don't you think?

Happy New Year everyone!

My entire family wishes you and yours - World-Wide - a safe, healthy and prosperous 2023.