What was the biggest event of 2011? The Japanese tsunami, the debt crises of the United States or Europe, or the deaths of Osama bin Laden, Kim Jong-Il, Muammar Gaddafi or even Steve Jobs? or was it something else?
In a year in which the world population reached 7 billion (October 31), the Gregorian Year MMXI has revealed no less hype, drama and tragedy than we are used to seeing. Perhaps, in terms of enormity, the following ten events can be considered (in reverse order of ‘countdown’ importance) as the biggest and most memorable:
NUMBER TEN – NASA’s Space Shuttle Program Concluded
Atlantis’ last, Flight STS-135, concluded the final mission of NASA’s Space Shuttle Program when it lands at the Kennedy Space Center on July 21. 135 missions were conducted between 1981 and 2011. In addition to launching space probes, satellites, and working with the International Space Station, the Program’s most memorable legacy could unfortunately be the 1986 Challenger and the 2003 Columbia disasters.
NUMBER NINE – Twin terrorist attacks in Norway
The world is shocked when it learns of the 76 people who died in simultaneous attacks on Oslo and the island of Utoya on July 22. What the terrorist designed to divide the country actually unites him in his pain. It forces many democracies to reconsider their approach to justice for such situations.
NUMBER EIGHT – Death of Steve Jobs
While Steve Jobs’ death (October 5) pales into insignificance compared to other critical world events of the year, there is no question of the impact that death, and therefore his life, had on the world. Millions of tributes are written as the world mourns the passing of a technological genius.
NUMBER SEVEN – Famine in the Horn of Africa
Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya are engulfed in a famine that affects the livelihoods of almost 15 million people; the worst in 30-60 years. Various aid agencies work together in troubled regions to help as much as possible and further the plight of these ultra-poor in the comparatively rich Western world. This crisis sickens several seasoned social justice commentators with the scale of the famine and the resulting desolation and the comparative apathy of the world’s response.
NUMBER SIX – Muammar Gaddafi assassinated
Reports on the death of the Libyan dictator on October 20 reach the halls. It is a victory not only for the local population, but also for democracy and hope for the wider region and the more global world. Just two months earlier, during the Battle of Tripoli, the Libyan rebels overthrew the Gaddaffi regime.
NUMBER FIVE – North Korean “esteemed leader” Kim Jong-Il passes away
On December 17, North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Il dies of a heart attack at the age of 69. The news slowly trickles onto national television and trickles down to the international community within 48 hours, as many brainwashed North Koreans go into severe mourning. Soon the disputed successor emerges: Kim Jong-Il’s youngest son, Kim Jong-Un. This event generates widespread interest and concern about regional and global threats due to political instability. A genocide of a million and an army of a million are the legacies of Kim Jong-Il.
NUMBER FOUR – US Debt Ceiling Crisis
At the end of July, the culmination of 30 years of mounting debt, coupled with the aftermath of the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, sees America’s days since bankruptcy; As a result, President Barack Obama designs the Budget control law, 2011, in the legislature. The US government bond is lowered for the first time in the nation’s history.
NUMBER THREE – Osama bin Laden assassinated
What is arguably the largest event of 2011, given the sheer magnitude of a terrorist’s destructive legacy, perhaps the greatest influence on world affairs in the first decade of the 21st century, ends on May 1. Bin Laden’s death provokes a torrent of emotion around the world. months before the 10th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks.
NUMBER TWO: Impending collapse of the euro
The economies of Greece and Italy, among others, severely stretch the sustainability of the euro. Major political and economic reforms are underway as the euro system teeters on the brink of collapse, threatening to drag the world into a prolonged recession.
NUMBER ONE – Japan earthquake and subsequent tsunami
On March 11 at 2:46 p.m. (Japan Standard Time), the magnitude 9.1 of the Great Underwater Tohoku Earthquake, with an epicenter 70 km from the mainland, at a relatively shallow underwater depth of 32 km, hits mainland Japan, via a tsunami, shortly. later. The biggest secondary impact is on Sendai and the Fukushima nuclear power plant, initiating a protracted national nuclear emergency. At an estimated economic cost of $ 235 billion, the World Bank ranks it as the costliest natural disaster on record. Almost 16,000 people die, almost 6,000 people are injured and some 3,600 are still missing in 18 prefectures. Significantly, this earthquake shifts the earth painstakingly off its axis.
© 2011 SJ Wickham.