Billions of the world’s population went into an unprecedented frenzy of celebrations 10 years ago on January 1, 2000, to welcome the new millennium, hoping that unlike the last millennium, especially the last century, which was replete with wars and other man-made calamities, the world would be at peace with its inhabitants.
The entry of the new millennium itself was engulfed by the fearsome suspicion that computers would crash and plunge the world into economic and commercial crisis. But that did not dampen the resolve of the world to celebrate.
Enter President Bush
On January 1, 2010, the world will again reflect on what the first decade of the new millennium has brought to the world. On the eve of the new millennium, the Americans elected Texas former Governor, George W. Bush, to succeed William Jefferson Clinton, who had served two terms at the White House.
The controversy that accompanied the electoral process would mar both of Bush’s two terms at the White House. It started with an injunction filed by the Democratic Party to the Supreme Court in Florida, in which they cited electoral malpractices. The Supreme Court declared Bush President, and from then on, the world was to witness one of toughest decades in recent times.
9/11
The first major disaster of the New Millennium hit the world’s greatest power, the United States, on September 11, 2001, when Islamic fundamentalists loyal to America’s sworn enemy, Osama bin Laden, attacked the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers in New York City, the Pentagon and Pennsylvania.
That attack, which came to be known as “9/11”, since it happened on the eleventh day of the ninth month (September), received the highest condemnation in recent memory.
Then Palestinian President, Yasser Arafat, said, “I send my condolences, and the condolences of the Palestinian people to American President Bush and his government and to the American people for this terrible act.”
Arafat was speaking to reporters in Gaza.
“We completely condemn this serious operation. . . We were completely shocked . . . It’s unbelievable, unbelievable, unbelievable,” said a visibly upset Arafat.
The late Pope John Paul II was among the world’s religious leaders who lined up to condemn the ‘horrific’ attack.
Osama bin Laden
Prior to the September 11, 2001 attack on America, Osama bin Laden was called America’s most wanted terrorist suspect. The U.S. State Department said Osama bin Laden is “one of the most significant financial sponsors of Islamic extremist activities in the world.”
In 1998, while in Afghanistan with the “International Islamic Front for Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders,” which acts as an umbrella, bin Laden issued a religious order saying it is the religious duty of Muslims to kill Americans anywhere possible.
With all fingers then pointing at the Al-Qaeda leader, who had welcomed the attacks by those he described as “true messengers of Allah,” the North Atlantic treaty Organization (NATO) joined forces with the US to attack Osama bin Laden at his hideout in Afghanistan in 2001. Throughout the decade, bin Laden has remained evasive as the allied forces continue to take casualties from Taliban fighters who form part of his terrorist arm, the Al-Qaeda.
Invasion of Iraq
While the US and its allied forces were battling the Taliban/Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, US President George Bush, whose father George Bush, Sr., had in 1991 invaded Iraq, followed his father’s footsteps and led American forces into Iraq in 2003 for apparent unfinished business against its leader, Saddam Hussein, under the pretext that the latter had acquired weapons of mass destruction (WMD).
As the Iraqi war continued, Bush’s popularity both at home and abroad started to wane, though Americans again decided to keep him at the White House for a second term. His main supporter in the Iraq War, British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, too was at the receiving end of mounting criticism.
The capture of Saddam in 2006 and his subsequent execution did not help bring peace, but instead only increased US casualties.
His record at home and in other parts of the world may not have been welcoming, but President Bush was considered a friend of Africa, which he visited and made financial contributions towards the continent’s AIDS and Malaria programs. Liberia was one of the few beneficiaries.
By the middle of the first decade of the millennium, the enthusiasm that greeted its ushering in continued to turn into stories of disasters.
Natural Disasters
Among the major natural disasters were hurricane Katrina in New Orleans (USA), that left thousands dead in its wake. A bigger tragedy was to follow later in December 2004 when countries along the Indian Ocean were engulfed in a catastrophic tsunami that killed almost 250,000 people. In Africa, the Kenyan city of Mombasa was hit, though not as hard as the Island of Indonesia.
In the Middle East, the man who stood for the total liberation of Palestinians, Yasser Arafat died, without realizing his dream of a Palestinian state.
A New Pope
At the Vatican, Pope John Paul II, who was recorded as the most travelled Papal and who strongly opposed and condemned Bush’s invasion of Iraq, passed away and was succeeded by German Priest, Benedict XVI.
But amidst all of these calamities and disasters, all was not lost as hope continued to beckon for a better tomorrow.
China Enters Africa
In the wake of the chaos, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) was making headway economically, especially in Africa south of the Sahara. And as the first decade in the New Millennium comes to a close, it is becoming clear that China will be the biggest trade partner to African states.
Charles Taylor
The decade had its toll on Africa - all mostly for the worst reasons. In Liberia, Charles Taylor was desperately battling with rebel forces led by Sekou Damante Conneh. And by 2003, the international community, including United States through President Bush, asked Taylor to relinquish power and go into exile in Nigeria. He is now in The Netherlands being prosecuted for war crimes.
Coup in Guinea
Towards the end of the decade, the West African state of Guinea went back under military rule following the death of long serving President, Lansana Conte. The army itself is now divided after its leader narrowly escaped death from one of his right hand men, and he is currently at a Moroccan hospital being treated for a head wounds.
Liberia Makes History
Politically, Africa took the lead as the biggest scorer, when Liberia, the continent’s oldest independent nation, elected Ellen Johnson Sirleaf as Africa’s first democratically elected female president. The election was described as the most free and fair in all of Liberia’s political history.
America Makes History
Then came what is arguably the most historic event of the decade – the election by Americans of Barack Hussein Obama as the first African-American president, fulfilling for many the famous “I Have A Dream” speech of the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Obama was also the first African-American to serve as president of the Harvard Law Review at the institutions school of law. So it came as no surprise when Obama included Africa and the historic state of Ghana on his first major world tour, taking his family along.
A few weeks before the end of the decade, Obama, with less than a year in office, would score another surprising victory as he was declared winner of the coveted and most respected of awards, the Nobel Peace Prize, in Oslo, Norway.
On Christmas Eve, the US Senate also approved a healthcare bill that will benefit over 40 million low income earners. Obama is still fighting to bring recovery to his country’s economy through a stimulus program following the global economic collapse.
Both Presidents Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Barack Obama will for a long time be remembered and respected as two “minority” individuals who have changed the political histories of their respective countries and continents, during a period that was shrouded in wars and natural calamities and disasters.
If the early years of the decade were disastrous, the last years reignited our hopes and aspirations for a more rewarding second decade of the new millennium.
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Updated: January 3, 2010 - 12:04pm
Billions of the world’s population went into an unprecedented frenzy of celebrations 10 years ago on January 1, 2000, to welcome the new millennium, hoping that unlike the last millennium, especially the last century, which was replete with wars and other man-made calamities, the world would be at peace with its inhabitants.
The entry of the new millennium itself was engulfed by the fearsome suspicion that computers would crash and plunge the world into economic and commercial crisis. But that did not dampen the resolve of the world to celebrate.
Enter President Bush
On January 1, 2010, the world will again reflect on what the first decade of the new millennium has brought to the world. On the eve of the new millennium, the Americans elected Texas former Governor, George W. Bush, to succeed William Jefferson Clinton, who had served two terms at the White House.
The controversy that accompanied the electoral process would mar both of Bush’s two terms at the White House. It started with an injunction filed by the Democratic Party to the Supreme Court in Florida, in which they cited electoral malpractices. The Supreme Court declared Bush President, and from then on, the world was to witness one of toughest decades in recent times.
9/11
The first major disaster of the New Millennium hit the world’s greatest power, the United States, on September 11, 2001, when Islamic fundamentalists loyal to America’s sworn enemy, Osama bin Laden, attacked the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers in New York City, the Pentagon and Pennsylvania.
That attack, which came to be known as “9/11”, since it happened on the eleventh day of the ninth month (September), received the highest condemnation in recent memory.
Then Palestinian President, Yasser Arafat, said, “I send my condolences, and the condolences of the Palestinian people to American President Bush and his government and to the American people for this terrible act.”
Arafat was speaking to reporters in Gaza.
“We completely condemn this serious operation. . . We were completely shocked . . . It’s unbelievable, unbelievable, unbelievable,” said a visibly upset Arafat.
The late Pope John Paul II was among the world’s religious leaders who lined up to condemn the ‘horrific’ attack.
Osama bin Laden
Prior to the September 11, 2001 attack on America, Osama bin Laden was called America’s most wanted terrorist suspect. The U.S. State Department said Osama bin Laden is “one of the most significant financial sponsors of Islamic extremist activities in the world.”
In 1998, while in Afghanistan with the “International Islamic Front for Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders,” which acts as an umbrella, bin Laden issued a religious order saying it is the religious duty of Muslims to kill Americans anywhere possible.
With all fingers then pointing at the Al-Qaeda leader, who had welcomed the attacks by those he described as “true messengers of Allah,” the North Atlantic treaty Organization (NATO) joined forces with the US to attack Osama bin Laden at his hideout in Afghanistan in 2001. Throughout the decade, bin Laden has remained evasive as the allied forces continue to take casualties from Taliban fighters who form part of his terrorist arm, the Al-Qaeda.
Invasion of Iraq
While the US and its allied forces were battling the Taliban/Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, US President George Bush, whose father George Bush, Sr., had in 1991 invaded Iraq, followed his father’s footsteps and led American forces into Iraq in 2003 for apparent unfinished business against its leader, Saddam Hussein, under the pretext that the latter had acquired weapons of mass destruction (WMD).
As the Iraqi war continued, Bush’s popularity both at home and abroad started to wane, though Americans again decided to keep him at the White House for a second term. His main supporter in the Iraq War, British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, too was at the receiving end of mounting criticism.
The capture of Saddam in 2006 and his subsequent execution did not help bring peace, but instead only increased US casualties.
His record at home and in other parts of the world may not have been welcoming, but President Bush was considered a friend of Africa, which he visited and made financial contributions towards the continent’s AIDS and Malaria programs. Liberia was one of the few beneficiaries.
By the middle of the first decade of the millennium, the enthusiasm that greeted its ushering in continued to turn into stories of disasters.
Natural Disasters
Among the major natural disasters were hurricane Katrina in New Orleans (USA), that left thousands dead in its wake. A bigger tragedy was to follow later in December 2004 when countries along the Indian Ocean were engulfed in a catastrophic tsunami that killed almost 250,000 people. In Africa, the Kenyan city of Mombasa was hit, though not as hard as the Island of Indonesia.
In the Middle East, the man who stood for the total liberation of Palestinians, Yasser Arafat died, without realizing his dream of a Palestinian state.
A New Pope
At the Vatican, Pope John Paul II, who was recorded as the most travelled Papal and who strongly opposed and condemned Bush’s invasion of Iraq, passed away and was succeeded by German Priest, Benedict XVI.
But amidst all of these calamities and disasters, all was not lost as hope continued to beckon for a better tomorrow.
China Enters Africa
In the wake of the chaos, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) was making headway economically, especially in Africa south of the Sahara. And as the first decade in the New Millennium comes to a close, it is becoming clear that China will be the biggest trade partner to African states.
Charles Taylor
The decade had its toll on Africa - all mostly for the worst reasons. In Liberia, Charles Taylor was desperately battling with rebel forces led by Sekou Damante Conneh. And by 2003, the international community, including United States through President Bush, asked Taylor to relinquish power and go into exile in Nigeria. He is now in The Netherlands being prosecuted for war crimes.
Coup in Guinea
Towards the end of the decade, the West African state of Guinea went back under military rule following the death of long serving President, Lansana Conte. The army itself is now divided after its leader narrowly escaped death from one of his right hand men, and he is currently at a Moroccan hospital being treated for a head wounds.
Liberia Makes History
Politically, Africa took the lead as the biggest scorer, when Liberia, the continent’s oldest independent nation, elected Ellen Johnson Sirleaf as Africa’s first democratically elected female president. The election was described as the most free and fair in all of Liberia’s political history.
America Makes History
Then came what is arguably the most historic event of the decade – the election by Americans of Barack Hussein Obama as the first African-American president, fulfilling for many the famous “I Have A Dream” speech of the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Obama was also the first African-American to serve as president of the Harvard Law Review at the institutions school of law. So it came as no surprise when Obama included Africa and the historic state of Ghana on his first major world tour, taking his family along.
A few weeks before the end of the decade, Obama, with less than a year in office, would score another surprising victory as he was declared winner of the coveted and most respected of awards, the Nobel Peace Prize, in Oslo, Norway.
On Christmas Eve, the US Senate also approved a healthcare bill that will benefit over 40 million low income earners. Obama is still fighting to bring recovery to his country’s economy through a stimulus program following the global economic collapse.
Both Presidents Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Barack Obama will for a long time be remembered and respected as two “minority” individuals who have changed the political histories of their respective countries and continents, during a period that was shrouded in wars and natural calamities and disasters.
If the early years of the decade were disastrous, the last years reignited our hopes and aspirations for a more rewarding second decade of the new millennium.