2022 brings in a world that is deeply
divided the us and china are slipping
further into a new kind of cold war that
will go on to define this century and
force the rest of the world to decide
where it stands
taiwan and ukraine are both dangerous
flashpoints where this cold conflict
could turn hot
and all this division is a tragedy for a
world that needs to focus on common
threats like climate change and the
pandemic
here in germany the new government finds
itself in the thick of things chairing
the g7 and desperately trying to salvage
a diplomatic route out of the crisis
over ukraine
new chancellors usually get a 100 day
grace period but no such luck for olaf
shorts in 2022.
the omicron variant will already
determine success or failure his very
ability to govern climate policy will be
another such test all of shorts will
have to prove his claim that he can
transform germany to a green economy and
create wealth at the same time all along
schultz will also need to prevent fault
lines within his governing coalition
from becoming all-out cracks he and his
green foreign minister annalina berbak
have already made very different
statements on how understanding germany
should be of russia or china for
instance
only if schultz can forge a joint line
in his coalition can germany live up to
those expectations within the european
union and beyond
2022 is shaping up to be another year
fraught with challenges for the european
union with geopolitical tensions rising
so
a phrase you will be hearing frequently
is strategic autonomy what is that you
ask well here in brussels that term
embodies europe's desire to stand on its
own two feet to produce more here
instead of having to buy everything from
china and to defend itself without
having to rely on the united states and
nato that could include an eu army as
well as efforts to ramp up production
for products like semiconductors here in
europe
now this push for autonomy is really the
brainchild of the french president
emmanuel macron he wants europe to dream
bigger and assert itself globally but
not everybody is on board some think
it's a useless pipe dream but france
holds the first rotating presidency for
the european union in 2022 so emmanuel
macron will be forging ahead
2022 will indeed be a very crucial year
for china and that mainly has to do with
two big events ahead the first one being
the beijing winter olympics which will
be held in february and observers
basically perceive this event as an
accelerator of the already widening gap
between the west and china
while the chinese government promotes
the beijing winter olympics as a
milestone of a country that has become a
world power
the west mostly debates about a
political boycott of the games and also
debates about the
increasing human rights violations
inside the country
then in autumn there will be the biggest
political event of the year the 20th
party congress and during that event xi
jinping is expected to proclaim his
third term in office and that will make
him the longest serving chinese leader
since mao zedong
and if you look back under xi's rule
over the last 10 years he has
transformed the country tremendously
and so far he doesn't show any signs of
easing control
tensions between taiwan and china
continue to grow as president xi jinping
refuses to rule out using military force
to reunify with the democratic island
taiwan is going to implement new
policies for military resurface starting
from january 2022. researchers can be
asked to train in consecutive years
rather than every other year and the
training period will be extended from 7
days to 14 days
amid beijing's threat taiwan has been
fostering relations with eu countries
delegations from france lithuania and
slovakia visited the island in the past
12 months
taiwan opened a de facto embassy in
lithuania prompting a furious reaction
from beijing lithuania will open its
representative office in taiwan in early
2022.
and domestically taiwan will hold local
elections in november it's the first
national ballot since president thai
england got re-elected and it is seen as
a limited test for the 2024 presidential
vote
[Music]
it began with dances and tears of joy
biden supporters euphorically celebrated
the announcement of the election results
in november 2020
a year later not much of that remains to
this day trump supporters doubt the
legitimacy of the election
over time it is becoming clearer how
close the u.s came to a coup d'etat on
january 6 that would have prevented the
transfer of power from donald trump to
joe biden
it is one of the pitfalls of the u.s
electoral system that the president is
already in campaign mode after just one
year in office the midterm elections
will determine on november 8th whether
president biden will lose his ability to
govern it is quite likely that the
majorities in both houses will go to the
republicans and they can and they will
prevent anything the democrats can claim
as a success in the upcoming 2024
presidential campaign
in the extremely radicalized united
states everything is now politicized
in the fight against the corona crisis
which has already claimed over 800 000
lives
political interests come before the
common good
the same is true of the climate crisis
which has hit the country with more
extreme weather more frequently the
biggest challenge facing america however
is how secure its democratic
institutions are
they are under attack at every level
this year the stage is set for whether
one of the oldest democracies may slip
into an autocratic system
it might sound inconceivable for many
but it is quite possible
the united nations is predicting that
nearly 300 million people in the world
will need humanitarian aid in 2022
more than half of that number
africans
ethiopia south sudan nigeria and the
sahara countries face a raft of
challenges including war terrorism
hunger climate change and the
coronavirus pandemic
democracy is also eroding human rights
abuses are projected to increase as
leaders in many african countries try to
hold tight on power against the choices
of their citizens
militaries in west africa and the whole
of africa have shown a desire for power
mari chad guinea and sudan are countries
to watch come 2022
all of them have seen militaries taking
up political responsibilities in their
hands leaving civilians instead of
despair
the pandemic is also expected to
threaten the economic catch-up initiated
in recent decades by african countries
big economic countries like south africa
and nigeria will be affected
but stronger rebound is expected for
countries like ivor coast morocco rwanda
and kenya on a positive note china is
expected to deliver at least 1 billion
vaccines
senegal and rwanda plan to start
producing their own vaccines in 2022.