2014 was unarguably a year of many different catastrophes, misunderstandings and human atrocities. The age old conflict between Israel and Palestine has claimed many more lives and the unspeakable acts of terror and mass murder carried out by ISIL in Syria and Iraq seem to have paralysed the global community.
It’s not just wars that have startled the world, but also a great deal of political disputes like the one we’ve seen between the Ukraine and Russia and later between the “West” and the “East”.
“It’s like the cold war all over again and I’m extremely uncomfortable with this deep contempt between our President Putin and the West,” the Owner of a small Bakery in Moscow told us. “There are so many bad things happening in our Country and I know the West isn’t too fond of our way of life, but for the sake of peace, please keep using diplomacy and come to a mutually satisfying agreement.”
Unfortunately this man’s plea for peace didn’t seem to make its way to the Russian President, who keeps blaming the NATO for all the troubles his country is experiencing right now. “Our decision on Crimea was partly due to … considerations that if we do nothing, then at some point, guided by the same principles, NATO will drag Ukraine in and they will say: ‘It doesn’t have anything to do with you”, President Putin said in an interview.
Earlier this year Russian troops started entering the Crimean Peninsula in the eastern part of Ukraine, which lead to a global dispute between the NATO and the Russian President who claims that “Everything in Crimea speaks of our shared history and pride,” Putin said. ”The residents of Crimea and Sevastopol turned to Russia for help in defending their rights and lives, in preventing the events that were unfolding and are still underway in Kiev, Donetsk, Kharkov and other Ukrainian cities. Naturally, we could not leave this plea unheeded.” The long term effects of the array of sanctions that were imposed on Russia throughout this crisis, are yet to be seen.
There is no doubt that the current situation in Crimea is a heavily debated topic, but the sickening cruelty of the IS terror in Iraq and Syria have overshadowed every other topic that unfolded this year. ISIL or ISIS is a terrorist organisation that has declared sharia law in the mid east and is currently terrorising vast parts of Syria and Iraq. So far the terrorist group has killed more than 25,000 people, according to the “UN Report on ISIS”.
“On 3 August, ISIL herded approximately 450−500 women and girls to the citadel of Tal Afar in Ninewa where, two days later, 150 unmarried girls and women, predominantly from the Yezidi and Christian communities, were reportedly transported to Syria, either to be given to ISIL fighters as a reward or to be sold as sex slaves,” the report stated.
“2015 must be the year the world wakes up and delivers a safer, more just future for children and young people. We all must play our part in ensuring this is the case. Do not let this opportunity go to waste.” This was an excerpt from Malala Yousafzai’s letter to global leaders.