#1 Abraham Accords
One of the highlights of 2020 will come from all regions of the Middle East. On August 13, the Trump administration announced that it had helped negotiate a negotiating agreement for the UAE to recognize Israel in exchange for Israel’s promise not to annex Palestinian territory at least for the time being. On September 11, Bahrain announced that it would join the transaction. Four days later, Trump held a signing ceremony for the “Abraham Agreement” at the White House, hoping that they would lead to “true peace in the Middle East.” Sudan reached an agreement in October 2020, followed by Morocco in late December. By the end of the year, speculation about Saudi Arabia’s membership continued. Although the agreements are of equal importance, they have not resolved the fundamental problem of peace efforts in the Middle East-the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. Palestine was not mentioned in the agreements, and the Palestinian leaders rejected these agreements. Diplomacy also has its costs. These transactions include the sale of large quantities of weapons to the United Arab Emirates and could put pressure on Sudan’s rapidly developing democratic transition. At the same time, the Trump administration brought Morocco together by abandoning the United States’ long-standing refusal to recognize Western Sahara’s Moroccan claims, which may increase the risk of conflict in the region. As with many diplomatic initiatives, only time will tell whether the benefits of the agreement exceed the costs.
#2 George Floyd Killing
Racism has been known to be one of the America’s original sin. On May 25, George Floyd, a 46 age Black man, was arrested for allegedly passing a counterfeit $20 bill in Minneapolis. The officers kept his knee on Floyd’s neck for eight minutes and fifteen seconds, ultimately the man breathed his last on the spot. Floyd’s death on the hand of a police officer, where they are supposed to “protect and serve”. Video of Floyd’s agitates a huge protests over the whole US and sparked a long overdue national debate about systemic racism. From Paris to Nairobi to Rio de Janeiro, people took to the streets to protest Floyd’s death and to highlight their own countries’ racial inequalities. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that “Racism is real. It’s in the United States, but it’s also in Canada.”
#3 COVID-19 virus
Things that start small can reshape the world. Few people noticed when news of an like an ordinary disease emerged last December in China had turned an outbreak of a new virus, or even on January 11 after China reported its first death from the disease. Nearly a year later, this viral disease had changed the way of life as we knew it. The WHO estimated in Oct 2020 that as much as 10% of the world population had already intact COVID; by year’s end a rough estimation of 1.6m people had died due to this virus. The novel coronavirus will not be the last of its kind.
