Commentary: 2011 will be one to remember

[unhappycamper]

Frida Ghitis is a contributing columnist for the Miami Herald.


Commentary: 2011 will be one to remember
Posted on Sunday, April 3, 2011
By Frida Ghitis | The Miami Herald

Stop for a moment. Look around you and make a note of this time and place, because years from now you will want to remember where you were when 2011 happened.

Moving along the path of human events, we have reached a fork in the road, a turning point in history. We don't know what lies ahead.

As this is written, the United States has - most reluctantly - entered another war in the Middle East, ostensibly to prevent a dictator, Libya's Moammar Gadhafi, from slaughtering his people. But, it's not just Libya. The entire Middle East is boiling.

~snip~

If any part of the world underwent the kind of transformative and unpredictable upheaval we see now in the Middle East, it would count as a major development. But when the turmoil happens in that politically radioactive region, all our lives could feel the effects. The Middle East is the source of two exceedingly powerful exports. One is oil, whose every change in supply sends jolts through the global economy. The other is ideology.

Many believe the Middle East rose to prominence only because of its oil riches. But the region triggered major global ideas and events long before oil was found. It brought the world monotheism, Christianity, Islam. It was at the center of the Crusades, the Ottoman Empire, Arab-Israeli wars and the rise of militant Islam. The Middle East has shown its ability to change the world.

[tavalon]

1. Yes, I think she is right

[GliderGuider]

2. She's absolutely right - 2011 looks like it will be the turning point.

Peak Oil is here, food and oil prices are skyrocketing, the global economy is in tatters, the Middle East is on the boil, the Arctic Ice is melting faster and faster, extreme weather events are multiplying and threatening harvests everywhere. If there was ever a clear case for one year to become an inflection point in human history, this is it.

[Demeter]

3. Yes, This was the year the human species Exterminated itself

through genetic drift from the fallout of Fukushima. It took a couple of generations, but at least the cockroaches survived....