Since I am on the editorial train I might as well keep it going with my winners and losers of 2011 and what I think were the most important events. I just focus on news and sports because that is pretty much all I follow with any sort of regularity. The first segment is the news.
2011 Winners:
Twitter: Did any one piece of technology have any larger affect on the world than Twitter did? Twitter was used effectively in protests throughout the Middle East and helped to over throw regimes in Tunisia, Egypt, and Lybia. Besides its use in protests, Twitter is now being used by all sorts of people and groups. Many US Congressmen and Women are constantly tweeting to get their constituents more involved. In world news the Somalian group Al-Shabaab is now tweeting and using Twitter to boost their legitimacy as a group.
Barack Obama: The Economy may not be the strongest still, but in my book President Obama seems to have had a successful year. In 2011 alone Osama Bin Laden, Muammar Gaddafi, and Kim Jong Il are all gone. While the President may have only had a direct impact on one of those three being gone, I can only imagine that having those three gone could alleviate just a little bit of the stress of the job.
Another reason to see the President as a winner is the Republican field that appears to be running against him. Just see the blog post that I wrote directly blow this one if you want more details.
Iraq: Depending on your political views this was either a major win for the Iraqi people or a loss for the American people. I am going to call this one a win for everyone. The American government kept their signed deal with the Iraqi government to get all of the troops out. The Iraqis get to run their country with an American intervention. We shall see how 2012 plays out, but I think we can call 2011 a win.
Drones: They were everywhere this year. They seem to be a fairly efficient use of military technology. They are small and allow for there to be no pilot deaths should one crash or get shot down. Other than the recent fiasco with the drone in Iran, the drones had been overall positive in the effectiveness in 2011.
2011 Losers:
Syrian People: The Syrians appear to have gotten the short end of the stick when it comes to the Arab Spring. The Syrians have received no outside military help and no major help from the military. Their government continues to brutally crack down against them, and there appears to be no signs of it slowing down any time soon.
Nuclear Power: In a time where countries all over the world are looking for ways to become more energy independent Nuclear Power was becoming a much more solid option. Now with Nuclear disaster that happened in Japan following the Earthquake and Tsunami, all of the momentum that Nuclear Power had been building has now been lost.
The US Congress: Congress has become the model of ineptitude recently. They struggle to pass anything more than the most basic legislation, and even that proves to be ineffective at times. Twice the government has avoided a shut down by just a few days. Do not even begin to start on the Super Committee to fix the deficit. That appears to have been a giant waste of everyone's time.
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