I have never been tuned into the mentality that plows forward into a new year sparkling with resolutions for reform of self and/or the world.
As you become a tad older, new year’s eve is but an opportunity to eat and drink foods and beverages that will linger as indigestion well into the first week of January.
However, I cannot abandon thoughts about 2024. After all, there is so much current chaos that it is difficult not to look back on 2023 with some sniffs of nostalgia.
Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.
Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.
Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.
Don't have an account? Create Account
Prospects for the new year seem dim considering the “now” of 2023.
First, that the insanity of an agonizing war in Gaza will continue unabated for several more months. Like some unwanted body growth Hamas can be held culpable for much of the carnage endured by residents of Gaza.
Hamas is largely supported by an unstable theocratic regime in Iran. Notice that most Arab countries are not rushing to support Hamas or even supply funds or weapons. Hamas is an Iranian spawn.
Israel, led by a right-wing politically dubious warmonger, doubtless would rather be left to thrive than carry on an expensive and largely fruitless scorched-earth war that is claiming so many civilian lives.
I’ve been both to Israel and Palestine and would only wish residents less violence and a more peaceful and prosperous world than either are now experiencing. Citizens of Gaza I rather suspect would much prefer safety, security and a significant improvement in their lifestyles and opportunities to prosper.
Surely, no Gazan can garner much benefit from Hamas’ inflicted disaster.
Meanwhile, another malicious warmonger is Russia’s emerging latest dictator pressing his war against Ukraine. Personally, were I inclined to a 2024 new year’s resolution it would be that Putin quickly be consigned to an uncomfortable extended stay in hell. Perhaps one even worse than that he has inflicted on the people of Ukraine.
Putin’s legacy of an insane war against people he presumes to be of similar kin to himself will eventually be recorded in history as a barbaric act by an aspiring Nazi-style dictator.
Like many dictators, Putin clearly has some mental issues and we can only hope that in 2024 somebody will ease his mental distress. Perhaps an extended vacation in a Siberian resort with political opponent Alexei Navalny.
And another completely barbaric war forecast to continue in 2024 is the genocidal butchery taking place in Sudan. Mass murder of people simply because they belong to an alleged “wrong” tribe reeks of Rwanda’s murderous genocide binge.
Almost 10 million people, many of whom have been raped, tortured and expelled from their homes, is the byproduct of one of the most disgusting attempted power grabs in the 21st century as Sudanese Armed Forces contest with a collection of paramilitary pirates known as the Rapid Support Forces.
Insanity, however, is not just confined to three gruesome and senseless wars overseas.
North America has its own homegrown absurdity unfolding in 2024 America’s presidential election year.
It is difficult to understand how a country that positions itself as democracy’s beacon can tolerate a creature who is so dismissive of that democracy. Donald Trump sees immigrants as threats to the “purity” of America’s bloodlines.
How can a country with a largely literate population support a creature who lacks a basic moral compass and any semblance of ability to understand that America cannot survive without its friends and neighbours and immigrants?
Trump would wall the southern border and one of his aspiring opponents wants to wall the northern border. That could be a challenge building a wall through the Great Lakes and St Lawrence river.
But so many introverted minds now dominate the Trump Republicans is it any wonder they have no idea that walls and isolation won’t keep the rest of the free world or democracy’s opponents at bay? America seems always in the process of reconciling big-power status and obligation with a fundamental core sentiment of isolation.
Meanwhile, in Canada, Justin Trudeau will continue to wattle and daub his way to another election while Pierre Poilievre also wattles and daubs his concept of a winning Conservative election platform.
Is there hope for 2024? Of course, just open you heart and your mind and see what happens.
Lloyd Brown-John is a University of Windsor professor emeritus of political science. He can be reached at lbj@uwindsor.ca.
Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion and encourage all readers to share their views on our articles. Comments may take up to an hour for moderation before appearing on the site. We ask you to keep your comments relevant and respectful. We have enabled email notifications—you will now receive an email if you receive a reply to your comment, there is an update to a comment thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information and details on how to adjust your email settings.
Brown-John: Dragging in another new year
24
6
30.12.2023
I have never been tuned into the mentality that plows forward into a new year sparkling with resolutions for reform of self and/or the world.
As you become a tad older, new year’s eve is but an opportunity to eat and drink foods and beverages that will linger as indigestion well into the first week of January.
However, I cannot abandon thoughts about 2024. After all, there is so much current chaos that it is difficult not to look back on 2023 with some sniffs of nostalgia.
Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.
Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.
Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.
Don't have an account? Create Account
Prospects for the new year seem dim considering the “now” of 2023.
First, that the insanity of an agonizing war in Gaza will continue unabated for several more months. Like some unwanted body growth Hamas can be held culpable for much of the carnage endured by residents of Gaza.
Hamas is largely supported by an unstable theocratic regime in Iran. Notice that most Arab countries are not rushing to support Hamas or even supply funds or weapons. Hamas is an Iranian spawn.
Israel, led by a right-wing politically dubious warmonger, doubtless would rather be........
© Windsor Star
visit website
login
who are we?
contact us
qosheapp
Toi Staff
Gideon Levy
Belen Fernandez
Rami G Khouri
Mort Laitner
Donald Low
Ali Fathollah-Nejad
Nikkei Editorial
Michael Kwet
