Christmas is over and the last days of the year 2010 have come. It is time to look back onto a year which comes to an end and into the future, which will hopefully be better. For some it was a very hard year for some others it was a boring year with no special incidents at all. After all 2010 was no year which will be remembered like many other years before. The big topic of “climate change” or the “financial crisis” are over yet. Stocks are going up again, the economy is stable and growing quiet well, and world trade has reached new levels. It seams that everything went better, than expected a year ago. But good news are seldomly remarked by the majority. Much more our society, driven by the media, is fascinated by bad news – the disease of our times. Well, we had a few this year, like earthquakes in Haiti, Chile and Japan, flood in Pakistan and an ongoing war in Afghanistan.Terrorism was mild in 2010, only little damage was done to people and property worldwide. There has been no bigger war among nations or civil wars anywhere. All in all it was a quiet peaceful year. China is on the way of becoming economically Nr. 1 in the world, but will definitely no role model for a modern state. The strong support on European Nations which have stepped into big financial troubles, by buying bonds of states, is one sign of China’s rising political influence. On the one hand China is dependent on Europe as an important market for it’s products, on the other hand China is becoming more dominant on the global stage. It is hard to say a this point in history, which one will profit more from the deal: China or Europe? I personally have a strong tendency to believe it will be China. But one thing is for sure: It will be more difficult for European politicians to criticize China (for example for it’s problematic practise considering human rights and democracy). May be we will get a new definition for democracy under the influence of China, at least looking into the future for more than ten years.
The end of a year is also the time, when we make plans for the new year. Will we be successful, will we be happy, will we win or lose? These are fundamental questions which concern us all and many are very fearful of losing what they have. Unfortunately by being afraid of losing we rise our chances to fulfil our negative prophecies. Today I read of a poll made in Europe and America about the expectation for the new year. Most people are slightly optimistic, but a bit less than for the year 2010. It would be interesting to compare the new year polls of many years with the development which really occurred afterwards. Is there a correlation between expectation and what really becomes fact or not? Well if it is so, there are major dominant factors and powers in the world which do not seam to be interested in a prospering world. But that is just a thought of mine.
What about democracy in other regions of the world? We have seen a long period of dictatorship in the Arab world. May be people are rising their voices and can overthrow the one or other dictator in that region of the world – my hottest tip: Egypt.
2010 was a partially boring year. I hope that 2011 will be a glorious, prosperous and happy new year. A year which makes people more conscious about themselves and the world around them, would refresh the weery minds of western people. May everybody be happy and rich! That is my personal wish for the world in 2011!
