Random observations

2014 so far

I have not been writing much in terms of adding content on this site, except for the referendum on Scottish independence, even though there have been some important pieces of news that may well shape our lives for the foreseeable future. While there is still a whole month to go, I wonder how 2014 will be remembered in history.

Since the end of the World Cup in Brazil, in which the hosting country came out well, even if the home team’s dreams ended in shambles, many news items have been rather depressing. May be the World Cup just was a massive distraction that masked serious issues. The two most important festering issues for some time have been the rise of what is now commonly referred to as ‘so-called’ Islamic State and the horrors of the Ebola virus. Besides these two, there were and are many other events and occurrences. There was a war between Israel and Hamas. The situation in Ukraine has not been resolved, it is probably worsening at the moment, and a passenger aircraft had been shot down. More recently, demonstrations in Hong Kong could destabilize and change the political system in China.

Each of these things can be momentous and change our lives fundamentally: which issue will have the most significant and long-lasting effects? That is hard to predict. There may be something that look minor at the moment which could turn out to be the biggest of all. Interesting but uncertain times ahead.