The world in the first 6 months of the year: "Gray tones" dominate!

(Baonghean) - Continuing the not-so-bright world color scheme of 2014, many analysts have predicted that it will be difficult to have a breakthrough in 2015. And as predicted, in the first 6 months of this year, the world continues to be covered by a gloomy color. Nghe An newspaper would like to introduce some outstanding events that occurred in the first 6 months of 2015.

Charlie Hebdo newspaper office attack

In the first days of the new year, the whole world was shocked by the shooting at the Charlie Hebdo newspaper office. On November 7, 2015, at 11:30 (Paris time), a car suddenly stopped outside the Charlie Hebdo newspaper office in District 11, Paris (France). Two terrorists carrying kalachnikovs and rocket launchers stormed the office and opened fire before escaping. A total of 12 people were killed and 4 were injured. Among the victims were 4 famous satirical cartoonists of Charlie Hebdo. At the time of the attack, the gunmen claimed to be members of the terrorist group Al-Qaeda and the reason for the attack was revenge for the newspaper publishing caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed. This was the first bloody attack on a newspaper office in France and the bloodiest attack in France in at least 40 years.

Memorial for murdered journalists near Charlie Hebdo headquarters.

Charlie Hebdo is a French satirical weekly, which often publishes cartoons, news, polemics and jokes. The weekly expresses anti-racist and left-wing views, so the satirical topics are directed towards the far right, religion (Catholic, Muslim, Jewish), politics, culture... Therefore, this weekly has been the cause of lawsuits, threats and attacks by extremists.

Despite having to endure many troubles, culminating in the terrorist attack on January 7, Charlie Hebdo has not given up its publishing strategy. After this bloody terrorist attack, the West and many anti-Islam countries expressed their solidarity against terrorism; or “stand with Charlie Hebdo”…

But this has caused some noteworthy controversies, which are the boundaries of freedom of information and the limits of freedom of expression on religious issues; and whether or not to make fun of the faith of a religion, specifically the Prophet Mohammed - a person who is highly respected by the Muslim world - by drawing caricatures. Because this only causes an increasingly large difference between Western civilization and the Muslim world, leading to conflicts that can only be resolved by violence, terrorist attacks or even war...

Nepal devastated after earthquake

According to statistics, the April 25 earthquake destroyed about 160,786 houses, damaged 143,673 houses, and destroyed 16,000 schools. Most of the villages in the mountainous areas were severely damaged. About 8.1 million people were affected, about 3.0 million people needed emergency food assistance. According to news from UNICEF, about 1.7 million children were severely affected by this disaster. In addition, an initial assessment report from the Nepalese archaeology department showed that about 60 temples across the country were destroyed. Reports from the Department of Archaeology under the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation said that more than 200 relics were damaged...

A lucky man was rescued from the rubble after the earthquake disaster in Nepal on April 25, 2015

Statistics show the horrifying devastation of the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that occurred at 11:56 am on April 25 in Nepal. However, according to forecasts, even now, nearly 2 months after the earthquake, the damage has not stopped. And these are just the initial statistics, but in reality, after the earthquake disaster, there will be countless other problems. And according to calculations by economic experts, this country is estimated to need 10 billion USD to rebuild after the earthquake. Even though after the earthquake disaster, relief efforts from the international community are still continuously pouring into Nepal, but to restore and rebuild the poorest country in the region is not a simple thing, not to mention the values ​​that can never be recovered...

Migrant crisis

In the first 6 months of this year, the world has witnessed a series of humanitarian disasters caused by people living in poverty, violence, war... from Africa, the Middle East and Asia leaving their homelands for Europe in the hope of finding a better life. But it is worth mentioning that the "European Dream" is so strong that these people cross the border regardless of the price they may pay with their own lives. According to statistics, in the past 15 years, more than 20,000 people have died crossing the sea to Europe. In 2014, the number of people who died crossing the Mediterranean Sea was 3,500. And in 2015, as of April 20, the number was over 1,500.

Migrants are rescued as a wooden boat carrying people enters the Rhodes Reef (Greece) on April 20, 2015.

So what is the reason that in the first 6 months of 2015, illegal migration has been happening continuously, despite the risk of losing lives? To answer this question, let's cite a country with many migrants by sea located across the Mediterranean coast to Italy, that is Libya. Since the "Arab Spring" coup d'état orchestrated by the West led to the collapse of a series of states in Africa, including Libya, after the coup d'état came chaos and loss of control of the newly established governments. Widespread violence has made people's lives like hell, creating a favorable environment for "brokers" to organize illegal sea crossings to make a living. Those who failed to cross the sea were arrested, brought back to the mainland and detained in concentration camps along the Mediterranean coast of Libya. They said that it was better to die at sea than to return home, because returning was considered as death. This explains why the media continuously reports that the number of deaths is increasing but the immigration situation is not decreasing.

Not as serious as Europe in terms of scale and number of deaths, but in Southeast Asia recently there has also been a humanitarian disaster when thousands of migrants were stranded at sea. The migrants are mainly from the unrecognized Rohingya minority community in Myanmar and Bangladeshi citizens, they seek to immigrate abroad to seek asylum in a new life that is less difficult and suffocating.

But the truth is that after the governments of Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia firmly refused to accept this influx of immigrants, the immigrants had to drift at sea in conditions lacking food, medicine, and fresh water. Fortunately, in the face of the risk of a humanitarian disaster, the governments of these countries and the international community joined hands to help.

The East Sea is stormy again

One year after China arbitrarily sent the Haiyang Shiyou 981 drilling rig, coast guard ships, missile frigates, and “chased” fishermen deep into Vietnam’s continental shelf and exclusive economic zone with the aim of creating a smokescreen and diverting the attention of domestic and international public opinion to cover up its sinister acts of monopolizing the East Sea through the realization of the “nine-dash line”, China has been rushing to transport raw materials to renovate and build infrastructure works on the islands of Hoang Sa and Truong Sa.

Satellite images show that China is stepping up illegal construction of artificial islands in the East Sea.

Thus, since 2009, when submitting to the United Nations the unreasonable nine-dash line claim that “licks” over 80% of the East Sea area, China has increasingly resolutely taken many measures to turn the East Sea into a “village pond”. Specifically, this country brazenly established Sansha City, including the two archipelagos of Hoang Sa and Truong Sa of Vietnam. This action of China has violated the provisions of international law and the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea that China signed with ASEAN in 2002 (DOC); hindered the process of building a Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC); continued to have many actions that destabilized, threatened security and peace in the East Sea.

Along with the illegal construction on the islands to realize the dark plot, the statements of high-ranking leaders such as Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi also did not conceal, even resolutely maintained the stance of "robbing" the East Sea. Mr. Wang once affirmed that Beijing "will not budge" on the issue of "protecting sovereignty in the Spratly Islands" in a meeting with his US counterpart John Kerry on May 16; or as in a statement issued on April 9, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying arrogantly asserted that the country "has indisputable sovereignty" over the Spratly Islands and surrounding waters; China's construction activities here are "completely reasonable and lawful" and "not only for civilian purposes but also to enhance national defense capabilities".

Notably in 2015, the official statements from the Chinese Government about the reclamation and construction activities in the East Sea are for military purposes, which is completely different from previous statements that China's construction activities on the islands are "only for commercial and civilian purposes".

Using economic and defense power to illegally compete for sovereignty over the East Sea and applying big-power relations to oppress smaller countries will further lower the prestige of a great power. Many countries consider China an ambitious and sinister enemy...

Thus, although only 6 months of 2015 have passed, the world has been continuously experiencing "dark" events, such as terrorism raging everywhere; increasingly tense instability in the Middle East and North Africa; natural disasters, humanitarian disasters due to illegal migration in Europe, Southeast Asia... However, there are still "rare rays of light" for hope, such as the event that Iran and the P5+1 group reached framework agreements to move towards signing a historic nuclear agreement and the US lifting the embargo, moving towards normalization with Cuba. Overall, this period or maybe the whole year of 2015 still contains a dominant gray tone. Because the ability to resolve conflicts, persistent crises and tensions in the remaining 6 months is unlikely to have any significant breakthroughs.

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