The Year in Review
A review of the most important international events of 2023.
Ştefan Stoica, 06.01.2024, 14:00
Massive Hamas attack on Israel
On October 7 last year, commandos of the Hamas organization entered south Israel from the Gaza Strip and committed massacres in border towns and at a music festival. The toll was around 1200 dead, including children. 240 people, including elderly and children, were taken hostage. The scale and virulence of the attack surprised and horrified Israel and the democratic world. Images of the atrocities committed by the Hamas terrorists are difficult, if not impossible to watch, according to members of parliaments, including the Romanian one, who had access to them. Israeli police are investigating possible sexual violence committed by Hamas members, including gang rapes or mutilations of corpses. Israel’s military response consisted in massive bombing of Gaza, followed by a large-scale ground operation with the stated goal of eliminating Hamas. The humanitarian situation in Gaza, one of the most populated regions in the world, has rapidly deteriorated and became worrisome. Criticized for the scale of destruction caused by its military operations, Israel has claimed that Hamas is responsible for the plight of Palestinian civilians because it has developed a vast underground military infrastructure in civilian areas. In addition, analysts say, Hamas holds the population captive to the ideology of hatred. A temporary truce allowed the release of Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and the intensification of humanitarian aid to Gaza. According to the UN, over two-thirds of the 2.4 million Gaza inhabitants have been displaced. The number of civilians killed has been estimated at more than 22 thousand. Romania has evacuated over 300 of its own citizens and their family members from Gaza, upon request.
The second year of the war in Ukraine
In June last year, the Ukrainian army launched a promising counter-offensive, fueling hopes that the aggressor, Russia, will take decisive steps back in the conflict it started in 2022. Despite the Western military aid of billions of dollars, Ukraine only succeeded in taking back some small towns in the south and east. The war in Gaza has partially shifted the attention from the war in Ukraine, a country that did not make it a secret that it fears a reduced commitment of its Western allies. The fears proved to be justified to a certain extent, as the American Congress ended the year 2023 without validating the package of billions of dollars in aid to Ukraine, due to the disagreement between the Republican and Democratic groups of President Joe Biden. On the other hand, a declassified report of the American intelligence services, published last year, estimates that Russia lost more than 315,000 soldiers in Ukraine, that is 87% of the forces engaged in the war, hundreds of planes and thousands of tanks. According to the NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, these losses underline the strategic error of President Vladimir Putin of invading Ukraine, and the result is that Russia is weaker politically, militarily and economically. For the first time since its outbreak in its vecinity, small incidents related to the war involved Romania. Thus, drones used in the conflict, fell on Romanian soil or entered the country’s airspace.
Finland in NATO, Ukraine and Moldova closer to the EU
The Russian aggression on Ukraine had major geopolitical consequences. It forced Sweden and Finland to renounce neutrality and military non-alignment, and crystallized the pro-European option of Ukraine and of its smaller neighbor, Moldova, a colateral victim of the conflict. On April 4, 2023, less than a year after its official application, made against the background of the danger represented by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Finland became the 31st member state of the North Atlantic Alliance. The 1300-km long border between Finland and Russia thus doubled the latter’s border with NATO. Before the invasion, President Putin wanted reduced NATO presence in Europe, especially in the proximity of Russia, but after the invasion of Uraine, he got more of it. Sweden will surely follow. As for the European Union, its leaders decided, last December, to start accession negotiations with Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova, countries that had been granted candidate status in 2022. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hailed the decision as a victory for his country and for Europe, a victory that motivates and strengthens, while the Moldovan President, Maia Sandu, said that the success achieved is owed to the entire society, to all those who choose democracy and prosperity.
Devastating earthquakes and fires, in the hottest year in Earth’s history
At the beginning of February, a strong earthquake, which entered the list of the most destructive in the last 100 years, devastated the southeast of Turkey and part of Syria. It left behind 56,000 dead, of which 6 thousand in Syria. Another major earthquake occurred, in September, in the center of Morocco, and caused the death of 3 thousand people. On the other hand, 2023 was the warmest year on record, according to the European climate change service Copernicus. Scientists warn that the planet will continue to warm up as long as greenhouse gas emissions are increasing. Record temperatures were accompanied by droughts, wildfires and storms. In Canada, more than 18 million hectares of forest burned and 200,000 people were displaced. Greece and Hawaii also faced serious fires.
Coronation of Charles III
On May 6 last year, King Charles III was crowned in a lavish ceremony. Charles had become king in September 2022, following the death of his mother, Elizabeth II. It was the first time in 70 years that the United Kingdom witnessed the coronation of a head of state. A month after the coronation, King Charles made a private visit to Romania, a country he confessed that he is very fond of. A great admirer of Transylvania, he got involved in preserving the Romanian cultural heritage, buying and restoring old houses in the countryside, which he saved from destruction. (EE)
