2022: A Tumultuous Year

As curtains fall on 2022, here is a snapshot of the year gone by and the changed geopolitical world that it leaves behind

- MAJOR GENERAL ATANU K. PATTANAIK (RETD)

MESSI WINNING THE FIFA World Cup for Argentina will be remembered for long as the signature event of 2022, as the year winds down to its closing days. The match was mesmerising, professional to the core, captivating till the last, and left fans in the stadium and in front of screens across the world dazed and euphoric. A cheerful goodbye to an otherwise eventful and some would call a watershed year in the planet’s history.

Nearly two years after rumblings of a disruptive virus began emerging from China, the world entered 2022 with hope that the deadly virus simply melts away. The lockdowns, the disruptions in global supply chains, the economic hardships afflicting billions across the globe with job losses, the painful bans on travel and tourism, and the enduring struggles of hundreds of thousands of medical professionals to save lives seemed eternal. And then the miracle vaccines emanating from multiple laboratories to provide the much-needed respite gave us hope. The last big surge of Omicron variety that started in India around mid-January 2022 dissipated without inflicting the anticipated extent of damage. By middle of March, life started returning to normalcy, slowly at first, with a tinge of disbelief.

But even while the Omicron was peaking in India, an ugly war began in Ukraine on February 24, 2022. That devastating war continues till date, with no amicable end in sight, no agenda for peace talks and possibly little interest from both sides to seek a quick resolution. Of course, it must be understood that two sides we are referring to are not Russia and Ukraine but Russia and the US led west. Ukraine is merely a pawn in the global reset that is under works.