Bob Meade: What will 2019 bring?

During the Christmas season, we often greet people with a “Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year”. This year has been no different. However, as I pondered what to write in this column, I put on my old manager’s hat and tried to think about those things that might jeopardize our desire for happiness in the coming year. I thought about the unrest here at home, in the greatest nation in the world. I wondered about the political conflicts that have been plaguing our country and whether our politicians will continue to act like spoiled children or if they will somehow see the light and work towards solutions that will benefit we, the people.

And I wondered too, about the unrest in the rest of the world and how it will affect others who also seek a Happy New Year. The more I looked into it, the bleaker the picture became. Some examples:

• In many countries in Africa, people must struggle on daily basis just to survive. They struggle not only to find the necessities of life — food-clothing-shelter — they struggle for their own survival as terrorism and wars and political unrest are part of their daily life. In Ethiopia, there is an ongoing battle over their border with their neighbor Eritrea and they have had a continuing battle with Islamist terrorist organizations since the 1990s. The country of Burundi has struggled with over 15 years of political conflict and Zimbabwe continues to have a conflicting two-headed government and serious war-like conflict within its country. In Chad, fighting between the government and rebel groups caused over 180,000 people to lose their homes. The country has also had an influx of 280,000 refugees in camps and all this turmoil has brought instability to over 700,000 Chad citizens. In Nigeria, the terrorist group Boko Haram has become increasingly violent and over 40,000 Muslim and Christian citizens have been killed. Since Muammar Khadofi was assassinated in Libya, the country has been completely unstable and is dominated by gangs ... NATO has been working to try to bring calm to the territory but, so far, has not been successful. In Sudan, that country’s conflict with Darfur has resulted in over 30,000 killed and 3 million people displaced and, in Somalia, there has been an ongoing civil war between the government and Islamist rebels affiliated with Al Qaeda. These are but a few of the countries in Africa with serious and ongoing conflicts.

• While the countries listed above struggle daily for their survival, they are not alone in their struggles, as only two of them — Sudan and Somalia — are ranked in the top 10 most dangerous countries in the world. The others are Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Pakistan, Yemen, Columbia, Honduras, and North Korea. Just think for a moment about the conditions in the African countries that were listed above ... and only two of them were bad enough to be ranked in the top 10 of the most dangerous countries in the world. How bad must these other eight countries be? Think too, that Columbia and Honduras are relatively close neighbors.

Following is a listing of what are considered to be the 10 most terrorized countries in the world: Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, Yemen, Somalia, Nigeria, Thailand, Russia, and the Philippines.

While we can be thankful that our country is not on any of these lists, we should be aware of how relentless is the spread of terrorism around the world ... it is killing people; it is starving people; it is making people homeless; it is destroying communities and countries; it is destroying civilizations.

Please take a moment for this bit of history on how Communism spread ... when Chiang Kai-shek was the ruler of China, he initially fought off the Communists and they retreated. Then Russian communists provided resources and funding to their Chinese Communist counterparts and they again began their fight against Chiang Kai-shek. The Communists fought at night, dressed in black pajamas, attacking police and military while they slept, and then folded back into the community ... it was called “guerrilla warfare.” Gradually, with time and patience on their side, the Communists pushed Chiang Kai-Shek’s and his army off of mainland China to Taiwan.

Today’s terrorists may employ different tactics, but their strategy of time-patience-and unrelenting commitment is similar to the Chinese “long march” that conquered China for the Communists. Our country is but one of the 187 countries in the world that the terrorists are committed to conquering. Not today. Probably not tomorrow or the next day. But we’re on their list ... we’re the cherry on top of the sundae. Time is on the side of the terrorists. The longer it takes for all countries to unite and aggressively fight to eliminate terrorism, the stronger the terrorists and their armies will grow ... We can’t let that happen.

We need our politicians to be forward thinking and to stand up to the challenges that we and the world are facing. Our Congress has been derelict in its duty for far too many years. The last declarations of war issued by the Congress were for World War II. None was issued for Korea. None was issued for Vietnam. None was issued for any of the minor conflicts. Congress has found it easier to have a President to blame than for them to be held accountable. There needs to be recognition of the war that surrounds us and the world, and we need a Congress to stand up and be counted ... to do the right thing before it gets bigger.

Happy New Year.