Every year is unique in itself. If you love soccer  and happen to be a fan of Argentina, the year 2022 could not have ended on a better note. The FIFA World Cup 2022, first mega soccer event to be held on Asian Arab soil, may have  brought the world, riddled by factionalism and unending East-West rivalry,  together but peace continues to elude the globe.

The world, even after two years, is still scarred by a possible revival of Corona pandemic in new attire. With economies shattered and inflation remaining uncontrollable, challenges of 2023 may shake humanity to its bones, with reliable quality health care remaining the biggest global challenge. Though the Russian President  Putin has been quoted saying that he wants an immediate end to war in Ukraine, indications of the present conflicts make exit look remote. New Year 2023 will bring in new hopes, new challenges and a more complex and competitive world to live in. International travel will be no more the same. With uncertainty over Covid pandemic travelling to the coming year, a new world order, especially the one opposed to mandates and lockdowns, may push the global economies into a new fix. With interest rates rising and the household going out of control with no visible signs of inflation remaining within reasonable limits, the socio-economic fabric of the world at large is set for a drastic change. Governance and politics will face unforeseen challenges to set new equations in global order based on fiscal health of nations, both developed and developing. While 2022 will be part of history by the end of the week, it would, as usual, be remembered  for witnessing heightened strife, partial to major failure in controlling disease and human suffering, and emerging new icons of global power. If international air travel got a big hit in the beginning of the year, air travel became a contentious issue with major airports presenting chaotic scenes with their inability to control rush as people wanted to enjoy freedom from shackles of state-induced mandates. Though the sports industry worth over 140 billion Euros started to vibrate again with major world sporting events, including FIFA World Cup, the 2022 Winter Olympic Games (boycotted by Political leaders of many nations, including the US and Canada), Commonwealth Games, T20 World Cup and US Open minus Novak Djokovic being held with spectators filling the stands, still many events, including the 2022 Asian Games, remained on hold. Russia and Belorussia continued to be on the hit list of both the IOC and the US-led lobby for its invasion of Ukraine, the world witnessed a number of nations, including Sri Lanka,  crumbling under their fractured economies. Afghanistan landed in hands of the Taliban and the Chinese aggression over its claim of Taiwan remained bullish. When the year 2022 started, no one would have imagined China, Russia and Pakistan getting on one side leaving the US red-faced. India surprised all with its neutral stand on Russian invasion of Ukraine besides taking over the Presidency of the G20 promising to work for ending global terrorism and restoring the right of dignified existence of smaller and less powerful nations. Welcome year 2023. Let it be a year of the common man and not those playing with human values and lives. Hope you, 2023, bring along solutions to problems – poverty, disease, unemployment and inflation –  for which the current powers have no answers.

(Prabhjot Singh is a senior journalist. He can be reached at prabhjot416@gmail.com

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