What was the biggest event of 2011? The Japanese tsunami, the US or European debt crises, or the death of Osama bin Laden, Kim Jong-Il, Muammar Gaddafi or even Steve Jobs? or was it something else?
In a year in which the world population reached 7 billion (October 31), the Gregorian Year MMXI has revealed no less hype, drama and tragedy than we are used to seeing. Perhaps in terms of enormity, the following ten events can be considered (in reverse ‘countdown’ order of importance) as the biggest and most memorable:
NUMBER TEN – NASA Space Shuttle Program Completed
Atlantis’ final flight, STS-135, concluded the final mission of NASA’s Space Shuttle Program when it touched down at the Kennedy Space Center on July 21. 135 missions were flown between 1981 and 2011. Aside from launching space probes, satellites, and working with the International Space Station, the Program’s most memorable legacy may unfortunately be the 1986 Challenger and 2003 Columbia disasters.
ISSUE NINE – Twin terror attacks in Norway
The world is shocked when it learns of the 76 people killed in simultaneous attacks in Oslo and the island of Utoya on July 22. What is designed by the terrorist to divide the country actually unites it in spite of him. He forces many democracies to reconsider their approach to justice in such situations.
NUMBER EIGHT – Death of Steve Jobs
While the death of Steve Jobs (October 5) pales in comparison to other critical world events of the year, there is no doubting the impact such death, and thus his life, had on the world. Millions of tributes are being written as the world mourns the passing of a technological genius.
NUMBER SEVEN – Famine in the Horn of Africa
Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya are trapped in a famine affecting the livelihoods of almost 15 million people; the worst in 30-60 years. Various aid agencies work together in troubled regions to help where they can and to promote the plight of these ultra-poor in the comparatively rich Western world. This crisis sickens social justice commentators for several seasons with the magnitude of the famine and resulting desolation and the comparative apathy of the world’s response.
NUMBER SIX – Muammar Gaddafi assassinated
Reports on the death of the Libyan dictator on October 20 reach the halls. It is a victory not only for the local population, but also for democracy and the hope of a wider region and a more global world. Just two months earlier, during the Battle of Tripoli, Libyan rebels overthrew the Gadaffi regime.
NUMBER FIVE – North Korean “Dear Leader” Kim Jong-Il dies
On December 17, North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Il dies of a heart attack at the age of 69. News slowly appears on national television and leaks out to the international community within 48 hours, as many brainwashed North Korean citizens go into severe mourning. Soon the disputed successor emerges: Kim Jong-Il’s youngest son, Kim Jong-Un. This event generates widespread interest and concern about regional and global threats due to political instability. A genocide of a million people and an army of a million people are the legacies of Kim Jong-Il.
NUMBER FOUR – US Debt Ceiling Crisis
At the end of July, the culmination of 30 years of mounting debt, coupled with the fallout from the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, sees the United States within days of bankruptcy; As a result, President Barack Obama designs the Budget Control Law, 2011, in the legislature. The US government bond is downgraded for the first time in the nation’s history.
NUMBER THREE – Osama bin Laden Assassinated
What is arguably the biggest event of 2011, by the magnitude of a terrorist’s destructive legacy, perhaps the greatest influence on world affairs in the first decade of the 21st century, ends on May 1. Bin Laden’s death causes great emotion throughout the world. , significantly months before the 10th anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks.
NUMBER TWO – Imminent collapse of the euro
The economies of Greece and Italy, among others, are testing the sustainability of the euro. Major political and economic reforms are under way as the euro system teeters on the brink of collapse, threatening to drag the world into a prolonged recession.
NUMBER ONE – Japan earthquake and subsequent tsunami
On March 11, at 2:46 p.m. (Japan Standard Time), a magnitude 9.1 underwater mega-earthquake in Tohoku, with an epicenter 70 km from the mainland, at a relatively shallow underwater depth of 32 km, hits mainland Japan via a tsunami shortly afterwards. The biggest secondary impact is at Sendai and the Fukushima nuclear power plant, starting a protracted national nuclear emergency. With an estimated economic cost of US$235 billion, the World Bank rates it as the costliest natural disaster on record. Almost 16,000 people are killed, almost 6,000 people are injured, and some 3,600 are still missing in 18 prefectures. Significantly, this earthquake moves the earth minutely off its axis.
© 2011 SJ Wickham.
