2011 - What a Year!

I probably should have posted this a week ago... but I think we can all agree that 2011 was one hell of a year for news consumers like us, of any stripe, anywhere?  I spent a large part of it away from Multiply, and watching current affairs much less altogether... took my eye off the ball, and I won't make that mistake again! 

If this reads like I'm over-excited, well... I guess I am.  World news, current affairs, geopolitics, whatever you want to call it, is my hobby, I guess... and there's so much going on it's difficult to know where to start.

Osama bin Laden, Libya and the Arab Spring were key stories, so too were the Occupy movement, financial crisis and of course the Fukushima disaster. Below, are gathered ten videos to jog your memory, and this is testament to just how much of note happened in 2011... we will all be able to think of others that might, or should, have been included.

It depends on the lens through which you view the world.  If you're in Latin America, Hugo Chavez' 'Bolivarian' revolution might well be the most significant event of the last year, for you.  Or in Germany or Italy, the Euro economic crisis.  Or in Pakistan, the capture of CIA's Raymond Davis, or NATO attacks on military bases there, not to mention the aftermath of the floods.  Australia and New Zealand had their share of natural disasters and freak weather.  Certain parts of Africa are rarely out of the news.  In Russia, profound social change is afoot.  And it seems to be all eyes on next year's election race, in the States, once more. 

For those in computing, Dennis Ritchie's passing might be more worthy of the publicity than that of Apple founder Steve Jobs (inset), and on a global scale, Kim Jong Il surely surpasses either.  That could yet prove to be a 'game changer'.  

What were the high - and low - lights, for you?  And perhaps more importantly, any predictions for 2012?  China are planning to send a man to the moon, nuclear sabres are rattling, currencies on verge of collapsing; some say we have just 12 months left before it's Game Over...  interesting times indeed.