Sunday, December 30, 2012

REVIEW: A Look Back at My Wishlist for 2012

Tomorrow sees the end of 2012, so I'd like to look back at the wishlist I posted (duplicated below) on this blog back in January, just to see how the year panned out after all...

Here is a mix of things that I look forward to (or really hope happen) in 2012 (in no particular order):



* NO WAR IN IRAN!
OK, this is quite possibly my biggest wish for the world in 2012. The United States and its cohorts (lapdogs) must stop being global bully. The world simply cannot afford this war - thankfully no war has yet occurred with Iran, although 2013 could be quite a different story...
* More of Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert weaving their magic against the financial terrorists on the Keiser Report and all over the alternative media - and thankfully Max and Stacy, now married (what a couple they must be!), continued to rant and rave like no one else on television...all to their inimitable credit






* Wikileaks getting back to its deserved prominence of 2010 - we need them - unfortunately, the premier whistleblowing organisation in the world was very muted during 2012 - disturbingly so, perhaps?


* Julian Assange beating his extradition to Sweden/ not being found guilty for the trumped up charges against him in that country - he may (for now) have escaped extradition to the United States...I mean, Sweden...but the price he's had to pay for that 'freedom' is to be holed up like an exile in the Ecuadorean embassy in London.
* The alternative media going from strength to strength - I'm not sure about 'strength to strength,' but it certainly didn't capitulate to Orwellian media tactics either

* A 'two-tier', more corporatist Internet being stopped in its tracks! NO! Still stopped...or is on hold? For now...

* Greece declaring bankruptcy and exiting the Euro - hooray to the drachma! Neither happened, which were amongst my biggest disappointments of 2012. Instead the pathetic 'Euro project' lumbers along and Greece continues to fall to pieces...
* Sarkozy losing the French Presidential election - the diabolical Merkozy grip on the EU must cease He may have lost, and we thankfully no longer have to cringe at 'Merkozy' cuddling each other on the world stage, but getting the driest French politician in living memory instead (Hollande) is somewhat of a Phyrric victory
* Syria not going the way of Libya -Not yet, but it worsens day by day, as Western- and Islamicist and Gulf regime-backed 'rebels' hack away at what is left of Assad's regime
* A weakened military and truer democracy in Egypt - Fat chance. Morsi is cover for the Muslim Brotherhood, and now all we can do is watch Egypt slide hopelessly down the slope of grubby, fanatical Islamic fundamentalism and the joys of sharia law...what a waste of a revolution (for now)...
* The continuation and growth of the Arab Spring - Not much of a Spring this year, although the rumblings and protests do continue in Bahrain of all places... 


* Less madness in Iraq - That certainly didn't happen in 2012

* Ditto in Afghanistan - Ditto to the situation in Iraq...


* Palestine getting more recognition by the international community - Amazingly, this did occur just a few weeks at the General Assembly of the United Nations - it may only be 'observer status' but it was a BIG victory for those wanting an eventual state of Palestine

* Israel being less of the apartheid bully state it loves to be - Not a chance. Israel may be 'fighting for it's survival' amidst a sea of belligerent and frankly despotic Islamicist nations (which, let's be honest, most of them are), but that still gives it no right to oppress the Palestinians as they continued to do in 2012
* The continuation and growth of Occupy Wall Street and every other 'Occupy' movement around the world - The world economy, certainly in the United States and Europe, is very far from being out of the proverbial woods, and the middle classes continue to get eroded, but there is no denying that the OWS movement was a shadow of its former self in 2012








* Michael Schumacher winning races again in Formula 1 and proving why he's the best ever - go Michael! Alas, it was not meant to be. Not a win for the entire season, and, worse still, Michael decided to retire for a second time at the end of this season past. Thanks anyway, Michele!
* Ferrari winning races and doing a lot better this F1 season - Forza! Ummmm, 2nd in the World Drivers' Championship and second (by a mile) in the Constructors' Championship, and only three victories in the year - it wasn't an horrific year to be a tifoso, but neither was it a stellar year. How one yearns for the halcyon Schumacher-Brawn-Todt era at Maranello...


* More meaningful and practical international dialogue on climate change - Much ado was made of this year's COP held in Doha, but I remain skeptical...in fact, I really hate saying it, but I become more despondent on this issue with each passing year...

* Less environmental disasters, wherever and however possible It wasn't exactly the apocalypse in 2012, but there were still environmental disasters aplenty, great and small

* More medical breakthroughs, especially in stem cell research - Can't really comment on this, as nothing noteworthy caught my attention - however, I wouldn't presume to know if any huge breakthroughs did occur - my attention was too often elsewhere...

* Less conspicuous consumption, less greed - the planet can't take it (I can't take it) Jeez, what was I thinking to be wishing for this...?!

* Less religious fanaticism of all stripes - religious lunacy remains one of the biggest cancers in the world - Again...what was I thinking...?!

* More social and political unrest and upheaval in China - it needs it, we need it - Didn't come to pass this year - and all the more the pity for that...may those revolutions yet come

* Less stupidity, bad grammar and bad manners, thank you very much! As if!!!
Those are some of my bigger wishes for 2012.
Oh, and the American Presidential election? Who the hell cares...Yip, that pretty much summed up that...great foresight, Vittorio! ;-)

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