The News of 2004, in short
I want you to try to recall everything important that happened in 2002. What comes to mind? Maybe Martha Stewart, some other nasty executives, a bit of Afghanistan and Iraq, perhaps? That's not much for an entire year. What has been on the US media this year? Iraq, Abu Ghraib, Scott Peterson, more Martha Stewart, a solid month of Florida Hurricane coverage (non-stop coverage, in fact), and the US election. That's leaving a lot out. What happened to the media fascination with that hiker who got trapped in some canyon and cut his arm off, or was that story in 2003? You probably have no idea whom I'm talking about, and I barely even remember him, but he covered the television for at least a week; I think he even went on David Letterman's show.
If you go through a history book, you realized that a ton of important things happened in each and every year. However, those events seem very different from what we watch on the news. They seem different because they are different; the media reports anything that will draw ratings, not what is actually important. Scott Peterson, Martha Stewart, Ken Lay, and the like will never be mentioned in a respectable history book, or at least not based on what they've done so far.
I want to tell you what happened in 2004 that will, or at least should, go into the history books. These events are important because they either change the world or mark a change in the world. Wikipedia, which I am repeatedly amazed by, probably has a better compilation here (I'll use Wikipedia a bit for my compilation).
Where to start? Though the 9/11 Commission got off the ground in late 2003, it wasn't kicking much until January 2004, when it decided to request an interview with Bush and asked for an extension that allowed it to write its well-known (and also well-selling) book.
Then, in March, NASA announced that it's Opportunity rover landed in a place once drenched in water. You probably only remember speculation that the rover was on top of a once water-filled area, but apparently NASA confirmed its speculations, though after the US media lost interest in Mars.
Then, the Madrid train bombings, on March the 11th.
Shortly after the Madrid bombings, Israel assassinated Ahmed Yassin. I have an analysis into the event here, and that analysis was written many months after Yassin was taken out.
On the 29th, NATO expanded, accepting 7 former eastern-block nations.
Finally, on the 31st of March, four American contractors are killed in Iraq. Their burned corpses were mutilated and hung above a Fallujah street.
On May 1st, the European Union admits 10 new nations.
On the 17th, Massachusetts legalizes same-sex marriage.
On the 29th, the National World War II Memorial, in Washington DC, was dedicated.
On the 30th, citizens of Hong Kong demonstrate on the 15th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. Throughout the rest of China, there are no demonstrations. Plain-clothes police officers patrolled the Square, while the number of uniformed officers at the square was not changed, in an effort to act as though the massacre never happened.
On June 11th, Ronald Reagan is buried. Additionally, the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft makes its closest approach to one of Saturn's moons, Phoebe.
On the 21st, SpaceShipOne makes its first spaceflight.
On the 28th, the Coalition transfres sovergniety of Iraq to an interim government.
July 4th held the groundbreaking of the Freedom Tower, at the site of Ground Zero, in New York City. The tower is planned to be the tallest building in the world, reaching a patriotic height of 1776 feet.
On Spetember 1st, Chechen rebels take control of a school in Beslan, Russia.
On October 5th, a fire erupts on the the Canadian submarine HMCS Chicoutimi, killing one crewmember (more information here). The diesel-powered (outdated) submarine was purchsed from Britain, which spent several years repairing the ship. The submarine was one of several ships purchased by Canada, after the urging of right-wing members of Parliament, and the entire deal was seen as an excellent bargain. The MPs who urged the purchase argued that Canada had little or no ability to defend itself, and Canada had been cutting military budgets for several years, and continued cutting the budget when most agreed that the military was substantially underfunded.
On the 9th, Afghanistan has it's first democratic elections. Hamid Karzai, the forcast winner, did not dissapoint his supporters. A slight incident involving ink, which was painted on the thumbs of those who voted to ensure that none could vote twice (Afghanistan doesn't have many resources or computers, of course), was exagerrated by the US media, but caused no substantial problems in Afghanistan. There were no known attacks during the election.
On the 20th, Indonesia has it's first direct presidential election. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was the victor.
On the 29th, the European Constitution was signed, after much debate, speculation, and wories about the inevitable divisions between the members of the EU.
November 2nd, George W. Bush is reelected. Though Bush won Florida by several percentage points, the election depended on Ohio. Ohio, which counted slowly, consistently leaned Bush (as it did in pre-election polling), but the first news station to call Ohio for Bush was Fox News, at the time where Bush was ahead by aproximately 3% and about 96% of the votes were counted. No other network had the balls to call Ohio or the election for Bush for 12 more hours, allowing Fox News to further improve it's election credibility that was built in the turmoil of 2000. John Kerry is said to have given a nice concession speech, though I admitedly didn't hear it; but John Edwards confirmed my belief that he is unwilling to do something for the country if he can do something for himself instead by attempting to pressure Kerry into waiting for a recount, not to mention a poor concession speech.
On November 16th, China invests $20 billion in Argentina. China wants to secure all the resources that it can, so that the nation's gigantic economic growth is not threatened. China also has deals with Sudan, which it has protected from UN action against the genocide in Darfur.
On the 21st, Viktor Yanukovych wins a rigged election in Ukraine. After much protesting and international involvement, Ukraine decides to hold another election on December 26th.
On December 26th, pro-western challenger Yushchenko is elected president of Ukraine. Additionally, an earthquake in the Indian Ocean creates Tsunamis which are believed to have killed more than 100,000 people. Many more deaths from disease are expected.
I have to admit that Wikipedia really amazed me with their work. They included all the things that I intended to include, and a lot more (they reminded me of most of this, I admit). They also have an excellent summary of the important events each day, I might add, and may become a reputable news source.
If you go through a history book, you realized that a ton of important things happened in each and every year. However, those events seem very different from what we watch on the news. They seem different because they are different; the media reports anything that will draw ratings, not what is actually important. Scott Peterson, Martha Stewart, Ken Lay, and the like will never be mentioned in a respectable history book, or at least not based on what they've done so far.
I want to tell you what happened in 2004 that will, or at least should, go into the history books. These events are important because they either change the world or mark a change in the world. Wikipedia, which I am repeatedly amazed by, probably has a better compilation here (I'll use Wikipedia a bit for my compilation).
Where to start? Though the 9/11 Commission got off the ground in late 2003, it wasn't kicking much until January 2004, when it decided to request an interview with Bush and asked for an extension that allowed it to write its well-known (and also well-selling) book.
Then, in March, NASA announced that it's Opportunity rover landed in a place once drenched in water. You probably only remember speculation that the rover was on top of a once water-filled area, but apparently NASA confirmed its speculations, though after the US media lost interest in Mars.
Then, the Madrid train bombings, on March the 11th.
Shortly after the Madrid bombings, Israel assassinated Ahmed Yassin. I have an analysis into the event here, and that analysis was written many months after Yassin was taken out.
On the 29th, NATO expanded, accepting 7 former eastern-block nations.
Finally, on the 31st of March, four American contractors are killed in Iraq. Their burned corpses were mutilated and hung above a Fallujah street.
On May 1st, the European Union admits 10 new nations.
On the 17th, Massachusetts legalizes same-sex marriage.
On the 29th, the National World War II Memorial, in Washington DC, was dedicated.
On the 30th, citizens of Hong Kong demonstrate on the 15th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. Throughout the rest of China, there are no demonstrations. Plain-clothes police officers patrolled the Square, while the number of uniformed officers at the square was not changed, in an effort to act as though the massacre never happened.
On June 11th, Ronald Reagan is buried. Additionally, the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft makes its closest approach to one of Saturn's moons, Phoebe.
On the 21st, SpaceShipOne makes its first spaceflight.
On the 28th, the Coalition transfres sovergniety of Iraq to an interim government.
July 4th held the groundbreaking of the Freedom Tower, at the site of Ground Zero, in New York City. The tower is planned to be the tallest building in the world, reaching a patriotic height of 1776 feet.
On Spetember 1st, Chechen rebels take control of a school in Beslan, Russia.
On October 5th, a fire erupts on the the Canadian submarine HMCS Chicoutimi, killing one crewmember (more information here). The diesel-powered (outdated) submarine was purchsed from Britain, which spent several years repairing the ship. The submarine was one of several ships purchased by Canada, after the urging of right-wing members of Parliament, and the entire deal was seen as an excellent bargain. The MPs who urged the purchase argued that Canada had little or no ability to defend itself, and Canada had been cutting military budgets for several years, and continued cutting the budget when most agreed that the military was substantially underfunded.
On the 9th, Afghanistan has it's first democratic elections. Hamid Karzai, the forcast winner, did not dissapoint his supporters. A slight incident involving ink, which was painted on the thumbs of those who voted to ensure that none could vote twice (Afghanistan doesn't have many resources or computers, of course), was exagerrated by the US media, but caused no substantial problems in Afghanistan. There were no known attacks during the election.
On the 20th, Indonesia has it's first direct presidential election. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was the victor.
On the 29th, the European Constitution was signed, after much debate, speculation, and wories about the inevitable divisions between the members of the EU.
November 2nd, George W. Bush is reelected. Though Bush won Florida by several percentage points, the election depended on Ohio. Ohio, which counted slowly, consistently leaned Bush (as it did in pre-election polling), but the first news station to call Ohio for Bush was Fox News, at the time where Bush was ahead by aproximately 3% and about 96% of the votes were counted. No other network had the balls to call Ohio or the election for Bush for 12 more hours, allowing Fox News to further improve it's election credibility that was built in the turmoil of 2000. John Kerry is said to have given a nice concession speech, though I admitedly didn't hear it; but John Edwards confirmed my belief that he is unwilling to do something for the country if he can do something for himself instead by attempting to pressure Kerry into waiting for a recount, not to mention a poor concession speech.
On November 16th, China invests $20 billion in Argentina. China wants to secure all the resources that it can, so that the nation's gigantic economic growth is not threatened. China also has deals with Sudan, which it has protected from UN action against the genocide in Darfur.
On the 21st, Viktor Yanukovych wins a rigged election in Ukraine. After much protesting and international involvement, Ukraine decides to hold another election on December 26th.
On December 26th, pro-western challenger Yushchenko is elected president of Ukraine. Additionally, an earthquake in the Indian Ocean creates Tsunamis which are believed to have killed more than 100,000 people. Many more deaths from disease are expected.
I have to admit that Wikipedia really amazed me with their work. They included all the things that I intended to include, and a lot more (they reminded me of most of this, I admit). They also have an excellent summary of the important events each day, I might add, and may become a reputable news source.
posted by Chris at
8:40 PM
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