The world in 2018, part one Powerful men who put their own interests first made for 12 months of strange and daunting paradoxes
It was a year dominated by a handful of powerful men whose actions frequently imperilled the lives of millions and jeopardised the future safety and resilience of the planet. America’s Donald Trump, Russia’s Vladimir Putin, China’s Xi Jinping, and a rogues’ gallery of like-minded, second-tier authoritarian figures around the world used their positions to advance national and personal interests at the expense of universal democratic, legal, environmental and human rights.
The arbitrary behaviour of these powerful men produced strange and daunting paradoxes. The American economy expanded, even as a US-China protectionist tariff war restricted global free trade. Europe marked the 100th anniversary of “the war to end all wars” amid fears of new conflict with Russia. Nuclear-armed states shredded key arms control pacts while ostracised Iran fought to save one. The furore over the murder of a lone Saudi journalist created more headlines than multiple human tragedies in Syria, Yemen and Afghanistan.
Continue reading...from The Guardian http://bit.ly/2V5zU0t
