NATO encroachment towards the Russian border was made possible by the withdrawal of American support for NATO under the Trump administration which emboldened an aggressive Putin to invade .
Trump had a strange friendship with Putin originating from the fact that Russia is accused to have interfered with the US elections in favor of Trump and their unlikely bromance gives credence to the claims which have never been denied .
The US immediately threw a raft of sanctions against Russia and among the Russian retaliatory measures was to cut off gas and oil supply to Europe which is what caused the economic hardships being experienced in Europe at the moment and the fears of a difficult winter .
The sanctions , which have been ignored by China and India , have created a political rapprochement between Russia and China which will affect the balance of global power especially when you throw in India as a growing power that wishes to stay neutral .
Brazil , in July 2022 , under the leadership of Bolsonaro opposed the sanctions against Russia , demonstrating the level to which the US global influence had deteriorated and although the extremist president lost to the progressive Lula , Brazil ’ s stand is yet to be declared by the new regime .
2022 is the first time that the BRICS nations have taken a common stand against the US which means that a third sphere of influence is being created causing concern to the US and European governments that held the sway in global politics .
What is of more immediate concern is that there are several countries , namely , Saudi Arabia , Egypt , Iran , Turkey and Argentina who have either applied or are considering joining the BRICS which will not only strengthen the coalition but offer an alternative trading and political bloc .
Unfortunately Europe in 2022 is undergoing its most trying economic and political upheaval without the capable hands of the long serving German chancellor Angela Merkel , who retired at the end of 2021 and was accepted as the unofficial leader of Europe . No one has filled her shoes yet .
In 2022 the COP27 conference took place in Egypt and as usual it is a battle between the developed countries , the prime causers of climate change who do not wish to take responsibility and the developing countries who bear the brunt of climate change .
A breakthrough resolution was extracted at the very final moment before COP27 closed , the agreement is to provide ‘ loss and damage ’ funding for vulnerable countries hit hard by climate disasters . This is the closest that the first world has come to admitting culpability for climate change .
Ochieng would have been hesitant to add World Cup 2022 to this discussion since the only claim to fame that international extravaganza has is that every four years it turns full grown men into bumbling and mindless zombies and the nearest most people get to nationalistic fervor .
The body that runs the World Cup , FIFA , is the closest institution to a supragovernment as it operates with such independence and secrecy that no national government can discipline its officials even though FIFA is more famous for corrupt mafia type deals rather than the promotion of sport .
World Cup 2022 had its fair share of controversies . The first to be staged in a desert , in a closed country with human rights issues and a very opaque reason why this global event was even awarded to a country that is not known for football raising accusations of sports-washing .
Qatar World Cup 2022 will be remembered as the world cup that banned the sale of beer , actually alcohol , raising a fundamental question whether a hosting country can impose its religious preferences on its international spectators . FIFA has moved into a contentious space packed with peril .
Yet this apparently devout Muslim country allowed LGBTQ communities to show public displays of affection by allowing them to hold hands and kiss in public . Now is this not an overt display of double standards and hypocrisy ?
World Cup 2022 was steeped with controversy right from the beginning and this particular tournament has set into motion a political , religious and social discourse which sports in general are supposed to transcend and have been vehicles of unification rather than of discrimination .
Ochieng would like to note that while significant changes happened in 2022 on the global stage which have and will continue to affect the Kenyan life on a daily basis ; momentous events were also taking place locally to define the year 2022 .
Kenya held the first genuinely peaceful election where the underdog in the race emerged the victor . It is strange to use the term underdog since the person in question was the incumbent vice president pitted against an opposition powerhouse this time supported by the sitting president .
How the battle lines were drawn as a contest of the haves and the have nots is a story for another day but suffice to say that the then vice president who had reason to know how the government works made a slew of promises to be delivered within the first hundred days .
Ochieng is not clear who came up with the hundred day mantra , it must have been a management guru who pointed out that when in a new office show quick wins to endear oneself to the electorate and reaffirm their good choice .
This ridiculous and truly unnecessary selfimposed time line has become an unwelcome burden to the new administration and has only painted them as campaign liars and forced them to resort to pointing fingers to the old regime for all the current problems .
It is precisely those problems that they were elected to solve and they are the ones that promised the quick fix . But as Kenyans are wont to say , things are different on the ground , so the new administration needs to up their game and cease the blame game .
A host of unforced mistakes have brought to light the naked fact that there is a huge difference between populism and the running of a government . The spates of arrogant roadside declarations that have had to be retracted give an impression of an amateurish team .
The abandonment of the rule of law and the dropping of nearly all high-profile graft cases will surely come back to bite as the message being sent out to Kenyans is that it is okay to steal and murder as these accomplishments will win one high office .
2022 has ushered in a rule of the thugs , by the thugs ostensibly for the people . The last word on democracy is not yet out as it is on its deathbed internationally and locally it is in ICU . The political elite are definitely having the last laugh .
It is opportune to remind Kenyans that in Kenya , politics is serious business and people seek political office to get economic power with which to buy political power . Kenyans do not elect their leaders they are bought by the leaders . The marketing caveat still holds ‘ caveat emptor ’.
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