Good Bye 2025: the Year of Big Disruptions and Solemn Deliverance !

          Welcoming the new Year 2026, going to start in a few hours,  we  look  upwards to God  Almighty,  give the World a better, peaceful, amiable  and relieving  Year  2026 !

But before the New Year 2026  unpacks its goody-goodies, spreads out the unpredictable gifts  on the Table in the coming days,  we seek  to review  how did we faced the  Big Disruptions in the World  Order in 2025; with half a dozen wars,  half-cooked ceasefires,  deceptive  terror attacks and  bombastic  attempts  for dominance, did we have any positives the past twelve months ?

Donald Trump-II: The year 2025  started with  a Big Bang arrival of  US President  Donald Trump,  trumpeting his  pre-election resolves to stop ongoing wars;  Russia-Ukraine front  burning for last 3 years, Israel-Palestine  unending  clashes for existence lingering for over 70 years, Iran-Turkey-Syria  conflicts  and  Chinese  attempts  to  dominate the World thru’   encroachments in South-East Asian waters and land borders, in addition to  Pakistan’s  continuous  Jihadi  attempts to disrupt Indian  society  (comprising of  Secular Hindus-Muslims-Sikhs-Buddhists-Christians)  living  peacefully for  the last 7 decades.

President Trump’s  resolves to bring peace without  military intervention, using Tariff  stick  for bringing   global leaders to negotiating table,  were surely benign  attempts  and  could  have been a  grand success,  but were flawed  as these had strings attached:  Noble Peace Prize recommendations and  using  US power to dictate on mutual trade preferences and  suitable  terms.  No sovereign  country would like to  forego its  right to choose  a deal partner and terms (not even a bettered Ukraine  or Israel or Syria).

The year 2025  saw  Prez  Trump wielding his  Tariff Canons across the Globe,  slapping  penal rates from 25% to  150% to  500%  on India-China-Philippines-Japan-Thailand and et all in an attempt  to implement his policies and hoping to   bring out  desired results, but could hardly succeed. The American  administration used all sort of Tariff pressures (including undiplomatic verbose) over India to stop buying Russian Crude and Gas, enforcing 50% plus 25% penal tariffs  without any quick retract by India, citing the country’s huge energy import bill and its implicit right to buy cheaper fuel from whatever source available. Neither US nor any other oil supplier offered any cheaper deal to India  compared to Russian prices.

On Russia-Ukraine war,  Trump  administration discovered to its dismay, scores of  bottlenecks in  getting peace deal signed,  as Russia won’t allow Ukraine to join NATO; whereas NATO leaders watching  Putin pound Zelensky spectacle,  from their rooftops, lest providing a real firepower  or sending  foot-soldiers help defend Ukrainian borders. Former President Joe Biden had shooed off  a honeybee trap for incoming Trump administration, either  to have bruised faces or try put it down.

Modi-Trump Meeting fiasco: One of the earliest High-blitz  meetings, in the US President’s 2nd term  on Feb. 13, 2025 (a day before Valentine’s Day) turned out to be a diplomatic failure from either side and nullified the amicable bonhomie of Howdy-Modi Show of 2019 between the two World Leaders. This followed a year of India-US relations nosediving to 1971 level  during India-Pak-America diplomatic lowdown that led to the birth of Bangladesh. The Trade Deal  between the two great democracies of the world, was put to back-burner, even leading to Pahalgam  Attack by Pak trained  terrorists followed by     Operation Sindoor  by India.

Though the Year under review  had  plethora of  problems; economic  disruptions,  social,  political and travel chaos, the  scene was dominated by  three  World leaders, namely;  Indian PM Narendra  Modi, Russian President  Vladimir Putin in addition to Prez  Trump of United States. Though Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu  continued to  dominate West Asian  War theatre,  European leaders  like  French Prez Emmanuel Macron, British PM Keir  Starmer  and  Chinese Prez  Xi Jinping  took the back stage.

PM Modi’s Year of Deliverance:  Needless to say, despite all global issues, wars, economic disruptions, Indian economy emerged safely from the hot-waters and kept on performing in the top gear. The credit must go to a monolithic leadership team of Modi-Shah-Rajnath-Sitharaman-Jaishankar, as it continued to deliver on all fronts after winning a 3rd term for Modi led NDA govt. in May-June 2024 Lok Sabha elections. After presenting a Consumer-Tax Payer friendly budget on Feb. 01, 2025, and allowing tax-free income of Rs. 12 lakhs, the FM Sitharaman  set the tone for a stable buyer base supporting domestic manufacturing. Despite US Tariff tantrums, Indian economy kept on the  growth path, registering 8.2% GDP growth in Q2/Yr ’25-26 and projecting above 7% Annual growth in the current fiscal.

Then Indian Armed Forces severely punished Pakistan prompted LeT terrorists killing 27 tourists,  through Operation Sindoor, inflicting a strategic 23-minute pre-dawn  strike back on May 07, 2025, destroying the terrorist bases in 9 Pak locations. Since the Election Commission of India has to  conduct state elections almost every year, the mid-year  uproar by Opposition Parties on SIR,  kept the Govt. on its toes, yet the public trust on the Modi led NDA team on Deliverance, kept India safe from international  strife and pressures.

On diplomatic front, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar managed  to tread a tight-rope walk,  in India’s relations with aplomb, keeping pragmatic diplomacy alive; be it on  Russia-Ukraine  or Russia-Europe or Israel-Palestine or Iran-Gulf affairs or China-Japan-South East Asian conflicts. PM Modi defined it as a diplomacy of being with the Peace, not keeping aloof.  Signing MFN trade deals with major world economies, helped mitigate the impact of US Tariff tantrums. Pre-Diwali  GST revision, worked wonders in providing stability to economy, support to  manufacturing sector and kept the consumer happy with low tax purchasing opportunity (govt. foregoing its share of GST revenue).                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              In between the news of  country’s young space-scientist Shubhanshu Shukla becoming the first Indian to reach the International Space Station, walking in space; sportsmen’s steller performances in World fora, Indian women cricketers’  victory at ICC Women’s World Cup 2025, and several other performances kept the Nation’s morale high in 2025.

Will Yr 2026 mitigate the wounds of 2025 ? As move forward into the New Year in a few hours, with high hopes of Peace, social Amity, Progress and  Prosperity in 2026, the fulfilment of these hopes hinges on End to Conflicts, Terrorism, political will of the World Leadership to nip their personal or regional desires and think of the Humanity, and its Future !                                                        —-Editor                          __________________________________                    

 * pics from NewsOnRadar.com archives and Google.com