While El Nino effect was partly blamed for the year-end floods in South America, the US, the UK and India and drought, high temperature and sea level rise on climate change, the latter is increasingly creating havoc with deadly extreme weather blowing across the world and the governments of affected states have no clue as to how to handle the situation. The gradual warming of the earth has been scientifically established. The factors responsible are not unknown. But, the strong prescriptions recommended by scientists and global non-government organizations campaigning to protect the climate by reorienting the national development focus don’t seem to be quite acceptable to all nations. Developing countries blame the industrially advanced nations for poising the climate with carbon emissions for three centuries. And, these countries can’t make the less developed ones to foot the bill and suffer for their protection. The professed battle against the climate change comes at a huge cost. The less developed countries have neither the financial ability nor the will to fight the battle head on. The natural disasters in 2015 have been the worst in memory. In India, both drought and floods caused huge damages to its people and economy. They severely, affected agriculture and industry in states such as Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Maharashtra.

At the same time, the world became a lot more insecure planet for its people under growing human violence, hate campaigns, armed insurgency, religious intolerance and terrorist attacks sweeping through most of its parts. No country seems to be safe from these elements and terror attacks. Hitherto peaceful Europe, Russia and China are facing big threats from radical religious organizations. If Moscow had officially cancelled the traditional New Year celebration in Red Square on security ground, the entire western Europe, including Rome and Italy, spread intelligence networks deployed strong security personnel to protect their revelers. Factional fights in central, western and eastern parts of Africa and insurgency in north-western fringes of India killed hordes of people, including women and children, and held a few thousand school children, mostly in West Africa, as hostages by u;tra-rightist religious terror outfits as Boko Haram. In the last week of December alone, Boko Haram killed nearly 100 people in Nigeria. However, nothing could match the human disasters caused by highly radical and heavily armed Islamic State of Syria and Iraq (ISIS), killing, capturing and executing innocent people at will, forcing nearly two millions flee homes at great personal risk of life for safer shelters in Europe through Greece and Turkey. This is the biggest human exodus in 65 years after the partition of India and the creation of the state of Israel. No one really knows the future of surging West Asian refugees in Europe.

The year 2015 witnessed a big rise of ISIS, dwarfing the human atrocities of even al Qaeda led by dreaded Osama bin Laden, who was killed by a stealth operation by hand-picked US defence service persons at Abbotabad in Pakistan. To the surprise of the world, bin Laden quietly lived in a bungalow with his family in the Pakistani cantonment area for years under the watchful eyes of Pakistan security satraps until that fateful night. Laden’s fall and the rise of ISIS under Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi began around the same time. Abu Bakr, however, appears to be more enterprising commander with an enormous strength of money, men and military hardware. ISIS has been attracting youths from across the world using the social media for global communication and support. In 2015, ISIS struck havoc in parts of Syria, Iraq and Lybia inviting attention of two global super military powers, the US and Russia. Two massacres in France – first, at Charlie Hebdo in the morning of the 7th January of 2015, killing 11 journalists and staff of the satirical magazine and injuring 11 others, and, then, again on the 13th November, killing 130 people. ISIS may have backtracked from its earlier captured Ramadi in Iraq following heavy shelling by Iraqi forces, but they have vowed to return.

The New Year, 2016, is unlikely to be different from the previous year. In fact, it could be worse. A sense of fear and instability is looming large across the world. Natural calamities and terror attacks come mostly unannounced. Yet, countries are gearing up to face their impacts. If Russia cancelled the New Year eve celebrations at the Red Square to avoid a possible terror attack, Brazil is toning up its intelligence and security services to prevent attacks on the prestigious summer Olympic events this year. Countries like India, Bangladesh and Myanmar are keeping constant vigil and gathering intelligence against ISIS recruitment of their youth. It is time to improve regional cooperation to ensure peace across the world as terror targets are becoming increasingly unspecified. Highly populated south Asian countries would do well to have a collaborative arrangement to fight terror in the region and help each other against natural calamities. (IPA Service)