GLOBAL attention was focused on the opening steps of 2009 as it began its 12-month stint.

Already pummeled by an Israeli land assault against the recalcitrant Hamas along the Gaza strip, 2009 further wobbled as the first typhoon of the year, Auring, careened across the Pacific.

This immediately put the nation’s resistance to suffering and pain to the test as Auring generated flashfloods in Cagayan de Oro and rendered thousands of families homeless.

Weather forecasts say that the cold front would continue to harass Filipinos through February.

Rockets, land grab

Meanwhile, as Israel pounds Gaza to vent its anger on the terrorists’ rockets that kept “raining” on its southern sector, world leaders expressed an intense outcry against the rise in civilian casualties.

In the United States, however, the outgoing Bush leadership remains adamant against the Hamas.

Here in Asia, a kind of “land grab” is reportedly taking place “as resource-hungry nations” are snapping up huge tracts of agricultural land in poor Asian nations which, so the activists say, will worsen poverty and malnutrition.

The culprits, it appears, are China and South Korea, “which are both short on arable land, and Middle Eastern nations, flush with petrodollars.”

They are starting the trend “to sign up rights to swathes of territory.”

The motivation is the prevailing trend in global circumstances, such as the high prices of oil and commodities, the biofuels boom, and the sweeping economic downturn that “are spurring import-reliant countries to take action to protect their sources of food.”

Spain-based agricultural rights group pointed out that truly, “today’s food and financial crises have, in tandem, triggered a new global land grab.”

Other developments

Also, 2009’s faltering first few steps ushered in a grenade blast in General Santos City almost simultaneous with the breaking events in Israel, a fire in a night spot in Thailand where dozens of people died, and the American president-elect unveiling his “economic stimulus plan” when assumes office soon.

Overall, there is still hope that before 2009 finishes its “tour of duty,” it would grow stronger as it moves further along, over the coming 12 months, to the next year.

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(January 7, 2009 issue)
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