The Weekly Wrap for Saturday, 29 December 2018

Talking Points Nationalism, cooperation and identity in the 21st century. PHOTO: Andy Rain / EPA Britain grappled with the finality of Brexit and opted to wait till 2019 Judges and job pressure thinned out Trump's inner circle A team featuring young immigrants lifted France to World Cup glory Successive Ebola outbreaks tore through Central Africa China widened its controversial social-credit rating scheme A trade war slowed major economies on both sides of the Pacific Assad's regime reclaimed vast swathes of Syria from rebels The Catholic Church underwent a painful reckoning with abusive priests The #MeToo movement attacked sexual assault head-on A trade war slowed major economies on both sides of the Pacific Venezuela's economic misery sparked a South American crisis Three threads from 2018 Hurricane Michael charges into the Gulf of Mexico. PHOTO: The Independent The year has almost passed us by. Rather than a twee list of highlights and lowlights, we'll recap three seams that - in our opinion - defined this year and will inform the next one: the climate, the corporations and the treaties.   The last generation 2018 was a year of mammoth hurricanes and typhoons. The category ratings and 'Super-' prefixes cannot fully communicate the seriousness of these worsening cyclonic systems as the mega-storms draw on burgeoning energy from warming oceans. Images taken from satellites are the only way to comprehend these weather systems that dwarf countries, turning on a deadly gyre. Hurricanes Florence and Michael inundated and flattened America's coastline. And the roiling Atlantic hurricane season was matched in intensity by the Pacific typhoon season. Jebi, Mangkhut and Yutu also wrote grim tallies into the record books.  If 2018 revealed anything it is the interconnectedness of our problems. Intense monsoons are exacerbating population transfers around the riverine deltas of Bangladesh and India. Hurricanes are wiping out productive farmland in parts of the continental United States. Drought has become a player in war-zones, from Yemen to Sudan. California's land-use policies have come crashing up against tinder-dry forests. Unpredictable climatic conditions have even impacted other natural disasters: Japanese emergency workers responding to the Osaka earthquake were hampered by unseasonal, baking heat. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released its annual report, with a dire and unequivocal message. We've just over a decade left to rapidly decarbonise the world’s major economies and begin planning for a drastically changed climate. And yet, in developed countries like America and Australia, lawmakers are paralysed by climate scepticism and an indelible self-serving attachment to fossil fuels. At the current rate, the Earth will likely experience 3°C of warming by the end of the century rather than the targeted 1.5°C. The blurred lines of corporate and state power. PHOTO: AFP Titans, rogues and pawns For the first time in history an American company was valued at more than one trillion dollars. The taste-making technology manufacturer Apple crossed that vaunted line first in August, though it was soon joined (briefly) by Amazon. Such valuations defy the imagination, and indeed one of the major storylines in recent months has been the subsequent and severe reversal in fortune for US stock markets. Overpriced FAANG stocks swelled the Nasdaq to an ungainly size in the first half of the year, while in the second half those gains were wiped out by wild swings. Each of the major indices has ended the year almost where it started and one expects the recent volatility to extend well into 2019.  Valuations aside, the technology, data and communications industries confirmed their vital strategic roles in our connected world. It was around these hubs - and the untold billions made in them - that the very precepts of globalisation and capitalism were challenged this year. The free trade of microchips has disappeared as both Washington and Beijing race to secure a technological advantage. The Chinese telecommunications manufacturers Huawei and ZTE are corporata non grata in the West. The very future of the internet - not consumer-facing extremities, but the infrastructure itself - is up for grabs. On the consumer side, both Facebook and Google earned the ire of regulators (mostly European) for data-privacy violations and anti-competitive behaviour. The monetisation of user data has revolutionised the world and created a plethora of moral and legal quandaries. Half of the ten largest corporations on Earth rely extensively on the collection and utilisation of user data. Which is why, despite regulatory constraints and muted consumer backlash, the misuse by advertisers, social media sites and third parties is likely to continue. A historic moment in Korea. PHOTO: EPA Hands shaken 2018 certainly had its problems but it wasn't ALL bad. In prior years a united Korea had seemed not just a pipe dream, but an insult to both belligerents. Now, North and South Korea are ambling towards peace, led by their respective leaders, the dynastic autocrat Kim Jong-un and the quietly spoken Moon Jae-in. While we tend to eschew reading history through the lens of 'the great man', it's abundantly clear that the relationship between these two carries the weight of incredible possibilities. But the interests of America and China have loomed large over the peace talks; there will be few paths to a sustainable peace without concessions on all sides.  Smaller in scale, a notable treaty was signed by the leaders of Ethiopia and Eritrea. A new, young Ethiopian President came to power in Ethiopia and wasted no time in implementing long-overdue reforms. Chief amongst them was normalising relations with his northern neighbours; with whom acrimony had lingered ever since a bloody border conflict two decades ago. The thaw in relations has created a chance for Addis Ababa to send its produce to its natural ports on the Red Sea. Many are hoping that regional stability may also help turn the tide next door in Somalia - a country split down the middle between a weak, rapacious government and an industrious pseudo-state of Islamist militias.  In the same region, a hard-fought peace agreement was signed by the two towering figures of South Sudan (and its interminable civil war). Five years of low-intensity communal violence had left hundreds of thousands dead and it must be noted that this was not the first attempt at peace. But the very act of dragging President Salva Kiir and politician-turned-rebel Riek Machar (and their titanic egos) into the same room was worthy of applause. In a country strewn with rival militias and cursed oil fields, the journey to lasting peace will be a difficult one.  The Honour Roll Luka Modrić and Ada Hegerberg. PHOTO: Benoit Tessier / Reuters Those exalted few In football this year the men's Ballon d'Or was awarded to the Croatian captain and Real Madrid midfielder Luka Modrić. His ascension from war refugee to a World Cup final is one of the great sporting stories of 2018. The women's prize went to Norwegian and Olympique Lyonnais striker Ada Hegerberg. This year’s gruelling Dakar Rally took place across Argentina and Bolivia. These intrepid drivers won the two major events: Carlos Sainz and Lucas Cruz (cars), Matthias Walkner (motorbikes). The world's most prestigious literature prize, the Man Booker, was awarded to the Northern Irish novelist Anna Burns. Her work, Milkman, is notable for its experimental style and structure.  In Sweden and Norway a new crop of Nobel Prize recipients was acknowledged. Physiology was won by James P. Allison and Tasuku Honjo for their work in immunotherapy. A trio of laser specialists, Gérard Mourou, Arthur Ashkin and Donna Strickland, shared the Physics Prize. Another trio shared the Chemistry Prize for their breakthroughs in gaming evolution- Frances Arnold, George Smith and Greg Winter. In Economic Sciences the Nobel laureate was William Nordhaus for his revolutionary new work on climate change and growth models.  The Nobel Peace Prize was given to a former ISIS captive and a Congolese gynaecologist. Nadia Murad is a Yazidi woman and human rights activist who has broadened the conversation on the use of sexual violence in war. She was joined by Denis Mukwege, whose medical clinics in DRC conflict zones have helped treat the victims of sexual violence.  The first ever Welshman won the Tour de France. Geraint Thomas took the yellow jersey in the 11th stage and did not relinquish it.  And Britain's premier contemporary art award, the Turner Prize, was won by an unlikely candidate - Charlotte Prodger. She broke open a new medium by shooting an entire film (Bridgit) on her iPhone. In Memoriam The deaths that shaped 2018. PHOTO: AP Those left behind Former United Nations Secretary General, Nobel Peace Prize recipient and tireless human rights advocate Kofi Annan (80). Italian film giant Bernardo Bertolucci (77). The beloved American chef, author and TV personality Anthony Bourdain (61). The 41st President of the United States George Herbert Walker Bush (94) and his wife, the dynasty's matriarch Barbara Bush (92). Billy Graham (99), the most popular televangelist of the 20th century. Britain's unique theoretical physicist, cosmologist and science author Stephen Hawking (76).  The Saudi journalist and dissident Jamal Khashoggi (59). Prolific comic writer Stan Lee (95). Author and Nobel Laureate V.S. Naipaul (85). Kate Spade (55), designer of the iconic 'Sam Bag'. India's three-term Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee (93). Wang Jian (56) cofounder of the scandal-ridden Chinese conglomerate HNA Group. 'The Right Stuff' and'The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test' author Tom Wolfe (88). Holiday Reading Quote of the year “We must dare to be number one in the world; dare to forge ahead; dare to try...” - Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, shows the world why the 21st century will be known as the 'Chinese century'   Headline of the year 'Destruction gets more likes': Indonesia's tsunami selfie-seekers - The Guardian Featured holiday reads from inkl publishers: Bloomberg uncovers the secrets of labour hire Businessweek's tale of two towns Bloomberg tries an impossible burger Foreign Policy pays with Russian money Financial Times revolts on Wall Street Washington Post visits the troops Businessweek explores world domination The Independent faces down autocrats Financial Times presses Boko Haram Washington Post remembers Freddie Gray Tom Wharton @trwinwriting P.S: From the entire inkl team we'd like to say a heartfelt thanks to you, our members. 2019 is shaping up to be a banner year as we continue to expand our stable of publishers and diversify our editorial offerings. As always, happy reading. And, don't forget to follow inkl on Twitter and Facebook.