With this blog barely a year old and due my relatively busy schedule (coupled with a penchant for procrastination), we have not been able to post that much content, but we would like to end the year with the top 5 issues that we feel made a lot of impact.
5. Geopolitical earthquakes one after another
The rise of populist movements from both sides of the political spectrum, the resignations of and removals of various heads of state, struggles to resolve armed conflicts, among others. To enumerate:
- Impeachment of Park Geun-hye (South Korea), Dilma Rousseff (Brazil)
- Resignation of British PM David Cameron, New Zealand PM John Key, Italian PM Matteo Renzi
- Death of former Cuban Fidel Castro, Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej, Uzbek President Islam Karimov
- Brexit and the upset victory of the ‘leave’ camp
- Ratification of the Colombian FARC peace deal and its subsequent rejection in a referendum
- Increased Russian involvement in the Syrian civil war, especially Aleppo
- Failed coup attempt in Turkey which resulted in President Recep Tayyip Erdogan cracking down further on dissent
- North Korean nuclear threat
- Resolution of the Spanish government crisis with Mariano Rajoy keeping his seat
- Election victory of Tsai Ing-wen and the resumption of cross-strait tensions
- The rise of the alt-right movement
- Victory of Donald Trump
- The Philippine drug war
- Rescue of the Chibok girls
- Economic collapse of Zimbabwe
- Continued tensions in Ukraine
The list goes on.
4. Terrorist attacks
The most recent of which, the Berlin attack, assassination of Russian ambassador to Turkey Andrey Karlov. Some of those were:
- Nice, France
- Brussels, Belgium
- Davao City
- Cairo, Egypt
The list goes on.
3. Social media responsibility
The use of social media has become more prominent, with calls for responsibility increasing. The spread of so-called “fake news” and the heavily toxic air of debate has been a worrying trend.
The above mentioned are meant for our international audience, as this year we have tried to reach a readership outside of the Philippines. The top 2 will be geared towards our local readers.
2. Media trends
- The never-ending claim for television rating leadership (ABS-CBN vs. GMA)
- MMFF’s shift to one based on independent productions
- Baron Geisler’s issues
The list goes on. For more on these, visit Ralph Domingo’s From The Tube (fromthetube.wordpress.com) or Timow’s Turf. (timowparagas.wordpress.com).
1. Philippine political landscape
By next year, the blog might start to avoid talking about Filipino politics as it has become so divided at such a point people are being bullied.
- Duterte’s victory
- The ruling on South China Sea
- The war on drugs
- Marcos burial
- Independent foreign policy
The list goes on.
We have not delved into details as it might be depressing and provoking to some and it takes lots of research to squeeze an entire year in one short post.
From us in Banat, we wish you a happy holidays and may 2017 bring us peace in our minds.
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