2022 Another Tumultuous Year

Author Simon Tisdall:

"On the brink of a new year, the world faces a daunting array of challenges:

the resurgent Covid-19 pandemic, the climate emergency, the struggle between democracy and authoritarianism, humanitarian crises, mass migration, and trans-national terrorism. 

There is the risk of new inter-state conflicts, exacerbated by the breakdown of the rules-based international order, and the spread of lethal autonomous weapons.

All in all, for most people on Earth – and a handful in space – 2022 will be another year of living dangerously.

The world in 2022: another year of living dangerously

The climate, pandemic and tensions between states means the year ahead is likely to be as tumultuous as the last 12 months

Simon Tisdall

the Guardian 

(Image credit: Storm on planet Earth. It’s unrealistic to expect any swift improvement in the global climate heating outlook in the coming year. Photograph: Nasa/Getty Images/iStockphoto)

OUTLINE OF KEY AREAS - Please take the time to read more details using this link to source:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/29/the-world-in-2022-another-year-of-living-dangerously

Middle East

Asia Pacific

Europe

Latin America

North America

Africa

Antarctica, the Arctic … and beyond

. . .It will be a busy year in space in terms of exploration and military competition. NASA is preparing 18 separate missions in 2022 as it gears up to resume manned flight to the moon. A new space station – Gateway – is planned. Russia, South Korea, India and Japan will launch lunar spacecraft. The European Space Agency plans to send a mission to Mars. China is said to be hoping to have a fully functional orbiting space station by the end of the year. Meanwhile space tourism organised by Russia and private companies such as Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic and Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin is taking off."

More sinisterly, a nuclear arms race in space will also accelerate. The US, Russia and China are all experimenting with new weapons, such as orbiting hypersonic glide vehicles capable of launching nuclear missiles from anywhere in the heavens. Russia caused anger in late 2021 with its reckless test of an anti-satellite missile. Others will follow suit, potentially threatening global communications. Not to be outdone, Nasa is planning to knock a giant asteroid off course in September by orchestrating a head-on collision, using a spacecraft launched on a rocket built by Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

The US calls this “planetary defence” – but the technology plainly has offensive applications. Some will deem this progress, others a giant backward step for mankind."