It’s not yet over; brace yourself for a rocky 2024
Smoke billows over Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza strip during Israeli bombardment on December 17, 2023, amid continuing battles between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
The Ukraine war entered its second year as the Middle East conflict upscaled into an Israel-Hamas war.
An October 7 Hamas attack in Israel from Gaza caused 1,200 mostly civilian deaths and 240 hostages.
Evidently, 2023 has been a challenging year for many of us. It can be described as an annus horribilis, a truly difficult year. As I got up on New Year’s morning and prepared for the day ahead, my routine was the same: Breakfast was breakfast, my neighbourhood looked the same and my car ran the same way on the same road. Nothing really seems to have changed. Or has it?
But while watching the news and reading the newspapers, nations around the world are making significant changes to public security in light of a year of hate crime incidents that have had widespread effects, leaving people feeling less safe, secure or hopeful. Because we are being plagued by both new and old players in the international crop of states and organisations that thrive on setting the West and its citizens on edge.
