ADVERTISEMENTThe thresholds between years are paved with hopes. It stands true for each of us, as individuals, for the communities we belong to, for whole countries. It stands true, whether we celebrate the New Year on the 1st of January, at Norouz, or at the Spring Festival, the Chinese New Year. And – dare we say? – it stands true for mankind, as a whole. As the English writer Samuel Johnson put it, “the natural flights of the human mind are not from pleasure to pleasure, but from hope to hope”. Or should one cling more to Friedrich Nietzsche’s wisdom? The German philosopher saw hope as “the worst of all evils, because it prolongs man’s torments”. We’ll leave it to you to appreciate whether you tend to see the bottle as half-full or half-empty!
When it comes to us, here, at euronews, we can’t deny having put a little bit of hope when selecting the topics that we bring to your attention in our “World in 2014” page. That special brand of “realistic” hope that one learns to nourish when dealing with international affairs.
The hope of seeing the international community finally reaching out to the Syrian people and putting an end to a civil war that created the most severe humanitarian catastrophe of modern history. We take a look to Egypt, Tunisia and Libya, the first countries of the Arab Spring, hoping they find consensual ways of advancing towards a democratic reconstruction of their societies. We then focus on Iran and the interim nuclear agreement, and march on northwards, towards Afghanistan, discovering Churchill’s incredible insight, more than a century ago, about warfare in the region, and hoping that 2014 will put an end to the three decades of continuous war that marked indelibly generations of Afghans.
We take a look at the European Parliament elections, wondering what are the chances that the choice of the future head of the European Commission reflects more the political option of the European demos. We then take a big leap eastwards, to India, where the world’s most populous democracy will stand the test of the ballots in 2014. Further eastwards, we are taking a close look at the territorial dispute between China and Japan.
Crossing the Pacific, we set foot on the American soil, wandering whether the U.S. midterm elections will seal Obama’s fate. And samba our way down to Brazil, where football will summon us all not only to dance “Juntos num só ritmo”, “All in One Rhythm”. But also to pay attention to the increasing inequalities that the emerging economies face.
A hop across the Atlantic, we reach the green shores of Scotland, still a historical part of the United Kingdom, but for how long? Then reach the coasts of the Baltic Sea, where Latvia will become the eurozone’s 18th member “for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health”.
As for the digital dilemmas that have caught our attention … we have high hopes they will catch yours too!