Monday, 15 December 2025

Retrospect – 2025

From Sleepy Joe to Sleepy Don

Wouldn’t it be nice to focus on the positives this year, the very good things that have stood out, yet Fogy looks back and cannot, for the life of him, find a single example that draws attention away from the underlying theme that seems to prevail — terrorism.

Israel’s attack on Gaza, both Ukraine’s and Russia’s attack on each other, with African and Asian nations all bent on enacting their own terrorist events.

Perhaps Fogy is being overdramatic and old age is blinding him to better things, or perhaps it was simply January 20th, inauguration day in the US, which marked the moment when the world suffered its most ferocious terrorist attack.

11 months of terror.

With executive orders rocketing out one after the other, we would be mistaken if we thought we had gone back in time to those first hours of 2017. The veracity and sheer violence of these new orders were as bad as many had predicted, with tariffs once again centre stage and immigration revived as the attack-dog mentality — now escalated to National Guard deployments in Washington DC and many other predominantly Democratic-held cities.

And a Supreme Court — supremely populated by a savvy engineer during his first term — unwilling to defy the wishes, nay orders, of the commander-in-chief. The use of power to make even outdated laws useful in meeting campaign promises has extended to exacting retribution against those who dared threaten him between reigns.

A disrupted planet spent weeks reeling from the perceived consequences of not acquiescing to the rule of a wannabe king. Weeks turned into months and the oscillating decision-making of their leader made basketball appear more like lawn bowls. Hell on earth, we might think — and for a great number it was — while for others eager to capitalise on the MAGA machine roller-coaster, fortunes were once again ripe for the making.

We now live in an age where trillionaires are spoken of as inevitable, billionaires multiplying and rising like cream on their now overly expensive coffee.

And most people, when asked, all express disbelief that it has only been 11 months. Yet 11 months in, nations have segregated, the political right rub their hands in glee, and the little man remains poorer than ever.

That reckoning did not unfold in isolation. Trump was quick to frame the Bolsonaro trial as evidence of political persecution, using it as leverage in trade rhetoric and threatening punitive tariffs against Brazil should its institutions continue down what he called an anti-democratic path. Justice became bargaining chip, sovereignty a negotiable inconvenience.

Add to this the DOGE crusade — austerity dressed as efficiency — running neatly parallel with mass layoffs now conveniently attributed to AI. Automation becomes the excuse rather than the cause, while balance sheets soar and livelihoods evaporate.

Nations are being forced to ignore the plight of the poor to play the rich man’s game, one that guarantees they can each stay on the same court.

Affordability was the platform that drove Americans to mistakenly believe once again that their future fortunes were guaranteed in the hands of a failed businessman, whose swarthy tongue layered lie upon lie of misinformation onto a willing herd. Now affordability, like so many other positives and negatives, is labelled a Democratic failure and dismissed as fake news.

So why is the world — and 2025 — so dominated by the American nightmare?

Mostly because their divine leader has poked his nose into every world event bar none. From stealing headlines and pocketing medals meant for others, to being awarded a pseudo peace prize by FIFA to compensate for his loss to the Venezuelan opposition leader who actually stood up to a bully in pursuit of peace in her own land.

Whose name dominates all newspaper headlines, for good or bad? That would be the American president. Lest we forget, a similar strategy dominated his first term — except now the world wants to believe he represents the future. Shame on them.

And what of the rest?

Climate change has followed its rocky road through Pará, with COP30 heavy on talk and future wishes now placed firmly in hiatus — a pause rendered explicit by an executive order declaring America’s automotive future to lie in combustion engines. This backward-leaning trend is to be endured for at least three more years.

Weapons shipments have increased dramatically; war appears to be the only real guarantee economies have to counter the continued trade domination of China.

Sporting events keep the minions entertained, and the media’s attention safely diverted from such trivial distractions as the future of the planet.

A prince no more, and a Harvard without its Summers — while other revered figures, Chomsky included, find their names dragged once more through the Epstein mire. Heads roll quietly, reputations fray publicly, yet the Teflon-coated Donald remains immune as the files expose, yet again, the fear and power games playing out behind the curtain.

And Hamas? Just one of the tangled Palestinian arms fighting for a long-denied sovereignty, now facing possible extinction under overwhelming Israeli firepower. Good or bad, their actions have ignited a renewed demand for international recognition.

There really should have been many other remarkable events that made 2025 a standout year, except that circumstance and disruption by a very small minority have overshadowed what might otherwise have been a positive year — instead dragged through an ever-deepening mire of convolution.

Roll on 2029.


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References & Context (2025)

US executive power, tariffs, immigration, and National Guard use

Supreme Court, executive authority, and institutional alignment

Global conflict: Gaza, Ukraine, regional violence

Global political shifts and inequality

Bolsonaro trial, Brazil, and US trade pressure

DOGE, austerity narratives, and public-sector restructuring

AI, automation, and mass layoffs

Climate change, COP30, and energy policy

Media dominance and political spectacle

Epstein files and institutional fallout

Nobel Peace Prize and international recognition

FIFA awards and international controversy

References reflect mainstream international reporting and institutional publications from 2025.

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