As I write this year-end post, I can't help but reflect on the events of yesteryears especially the infamous attack on Pearl Habour which resulted in the loss of 3000 lives of American servicemen. The aftermath of this attack was the Japanese invasion of a whole swathe of Asia and Southeast Asia where they inflicted unnecessary pain and destruction on the people. But  more than 70 years have passed but mankind don't seem to learn the lesson of war. There's violence in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Syria, and lesser street skirmishes across capitals in Europe and China. As 2011 comes slowly to a close, it is one year where we are better off leaving it behind than to have to cope with it. There was the mass destruction from natural disasters and from the damage to the Fukushima nuclear plant arising from a tsunami that was triggered by a massive earthquake, floods in Thailand. 2011 is a year of disaster, if I may say so. Even the media met with disaster with the phone-hacking scandal in Britain that saw the closure of the News of the World.

Some consolation is the baby steps taken by Myanmar military juanta to introduce limited freedom to its people, and the delicate thawing of relations among the people in Thailand who were divided due to political bickering. In Moscow, Putin's party was given a drubbing and won narrowly and a demonstration erupted in the streets of Moscow by anti-Putin protestors alleging vote rigging.

The event that dominated the headlines of major newspapers was the Euro zone economic turmoil, and not forgetting US debt crisis that almost saw the closure of the government in Washington. What more can we expect in these last two weeks to the New Year but to pray that all will turn out well and enough is enough of all the fighting and the disaster.