The new year doesn't promise much more than the outgoing one

It was a year of elections. At least 64 of them in various parts of the world. The outcomes questionable in India, welcome in Britain, chaotic in France and undesirable in the United States.

While the dubious continuance of Narendra Modi in power adversely affects a majority of Indians, internationally, the return of Donald Trump at the helm of the US — he will be sworn in on 20 January — is the most worrying.

Trump’s outrageous ambitions know no bounds. His hotel management business is accused of evading taxes in Panama. In response, he threatened annexation by the US of the Central American country. Indeed, his rhetoric spills over into converting Canada into the USA’s 51st state and acquiring Greenland, a huge, autonomous island of Denmark in the North Atlantic, "for the purposes of National Security and Freedom throughout the World".

His transition team declined to comment on his statements. TIME magazine chose him as its ‘Person of the Year’, while Denmark increased its defence spending to protect Greenland.

Wars persisted in Eastern Europe and West Asia with no signs of a resolution in either. Indeed, the circumstances got more complicated in the latter region, with a sudden end to half-a-century of the Assad family’s authoritarianism in Syria. The colliding strands of Islam and the Christian-Muslim tension that characterises the country renders reconciliation an uphill task. A Christmas tree at a town centre was set on fire, underlining the challenges ahead.    

In India’s vicinity, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh was ousted from office — here, too, the public grievance was authoritarianism — leaving the Modi regime virtually friendless among its neighbours. New Delhi is now confronted with an awkward demand from Dhaka seeking Hasina’s extradition from India (where she sought and was granted sanctuary), based on a 2013 treaty between the two nations.          

From floods in Afghanistan and Pakistan, which killed over a thousand people to landslides in Wayanad, which took more than 250 lives, natural disasters, whether because of climate change or not, ravaged the earth.

But there was a fortnight’s celebration of camaraderie in the summer as the world’s athletes assembled in Paris for the Olympic Games to delight people worldwide.

For the wellbeing of the world, Trump’s election victory mirrored the disappointing mindset of American voters. One can only hope his occupancy of the White House will not cause the havoc the international community fears it will.

The brazen criminality of the Israeli regime, headed by an extremist prime minister in Benjamin Netanyahu, towards unarmed Palestinian and Lebanese civilians, including women and children, represented the worst in human behaviour.

In sharp contrast, the dignity and fortitude of Yulia Navalnaya (who is exiled in Germany) amid the devastating news of her Russian dissident husband Alexei Navalny’s death in a prison was exemplary.

The planet’s richest person, Pretoria-born Tesla and X chief executive Elon Musk’s ambitions as a transnational disruptor is a matter of concern. His official assignment is to lead a new department of government efficiency in the incoming Trump administration. But it was rumoured that he might donate $100 (0.02 per cent of his wealth) to the United Kingdom’s Far Right Reform party to help it win the next general election in 2029, such is his reported hatred of the British Labour party and its leader and present Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.

Under the UK’s Electoral Commission rules, an individual who is not registered as a voter in Britain cannot gift or loan money to a British political party. However, a UK-registered company incorporated in the UK, which carries out business in the country, is permitted to do so.

So, potentially a British company owned by Musk could provide funds to Reform. The Guardian newspaper reported, ‘Caps on political donations are being considered by ministers (in the British government) as part of sweeping reforms to the UK electoral system.’

In short, the new year doesn’t promise to be any better than the outgoing one.

Ashis Ray can be found on X @ashiscray. More of his writing can be read here