When anticipating the coming New Year, one should take stock not only of what happened and affected humanity, but also one’s personal views and behavior, that is, how affected was one by events of the prior year, how he or she reacted, to what degree was one’s perception flawed and did events justify expectations.
In that regard, I must confess that I was seriously more wrong than right. Events rarely justified my expectations or forecasts. I must add that I am an optimist by nature and perhaps this contributes to my frustration.
I am a bit of an amateur political analyst. Frankly, there are no experts. I must admit that 2024 was one of my worst years. Perhaps this is because I am a Ukrainian born in America where I take an active part in public life. I support Ukraine, because that is how my parents raised me and in particular because it is in a struggle for its very existence.
This is not just a noble component on my part, but somewhat even selfish, because for me Ukraine is a big part of my existence and ordinary life. I travel to Ukraine three times annually, even now during the war.
How today’s struggle will end in my mind is not only dependent upon the work of the Lord, but also much on the efforts of the Ukrainian people and the people of Ukraine. I belong to the first of these. I have personal interests in Ukraine and I want to expand them.
I never expected what happened in America on November 5th, 2024. For me, Donald Trump is a clown, and is evil incarnate.
By the way, he confirmed this once again recently on Christmas Day 2024 when he presented himself through his communication networks as simply mentally ill with his narcissism and passions. Apparently, he was emotionally distressed that Baby Jesus was getting all the attention.
Frankly, I was not as surprised by his sacrilegious jealousy as much as by his election by essentially stupid white Christians, case in point the current Speaker Mike Johnson and the like. I would apologize for the word “stupid,” however in this case it clearly fits.
Faith is a wonderful virtue in the Judeo Christian tradition. It is also very dangerous when it is exploited by charlatans. The Lord gives people free will. Unfortunately, this affords a great opportunity for said charlatans.
Today, there are no charlatans more evil in the world than Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump.
They rule their respective populations by exploiting human weaknesses. Putin uses the Moscow culture of the glory of the great empire.
This culture of strong rule is also in Trump’s mind. We laugh at recent Trump comments about encroaching on Panama, Greenland and even Canada. Perhaps his simply stupid statements should be regarded as the painful reasoning of an abnormal person.
However, we must also realize that this abnormal person was elected by a relatively large majority of the American electorate. Anyone who says that this is not who we are as Americans needs to reexamine the American electorate. Add to this total control in both houses of Congress and a Supreme Court with no Code of Ethics.
Living in America, I meet people, especially women, who say that they do not talk to their husbands about these topics because their husbands are rabid MAGA supporters. Others talk about the religious factor, saying that she or he voted for Trump because they felt that he protected Christian moral values. I shake my head in disbelief when I hear the combination of the words “Trump” and “Christian morality” in the same sentence.
After the election, however, I thought that even Trump was capable of becoming semi-normal. I was very wrong about this again. Trump is basically an evil caveman who neither reads nor prays. Those who voted for him are not much better.
World politics have proven to be a bitter disappointment as well. At the helm is an international network eighty years old if you consider the United Nations, that is, an international institution promising the possibility of the rule of international law. There has been little if any progress. Sure more institutions have sprouted but the rule of law has not advanced much.
Perhaps this effort has been marred by the populism that has taken hold in the USA and is attempting and making advances to take hold in Europe. Worse, the world leaders of international organizations are rarely individuals suited to their positions.
They are simply chosen for the sake of inclusion or because of a rotational system.
Striking examples are the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who, by the way, was once highly praised by my friends from the Permanent Mission of Ukraine to the UN. Sure he was amiable as a low level dignitary. What transpired?
The UN Secretary-General went to Kazan, to Tatarstan, and to Russia to meet with Putin and others during the Summit of the so-called BRICS countries. What did he think would be the consequences? He didn’t think at all. There is a UN (International Criminal Court) arrest warrant against Putin. Guterres did not go to arrest Putin. He went to support him in his isolation.
He is not the only one.
The Holy Father has compromised himself and the Catholic Church several times in 2024, with misplaced words of wisdom such as Ukrainian-Russian brothers and panegyrics about the mordant murderous Russian emperors perhaps manifesting support for that mantle to be placed on the current Russian Criminal Vladimir Putin.
The European Council has been compromised so many times in the last six months by its rotating chairman, Prime Minister Viktor Orban. After Orban, Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico went to Moscow. Two very cowardly leaders met with a criminal convicted under the UN Charter and yet Hungary and Slovakia enjoy membership in the European Union and NATO without consequences. The rule of law practically died in 2024.
Yes, 2024 was bad. It was even worse because it left consequences for 2025.
