Tyrant Turnover and year-end review

As the end of 2011 rapidly approaches, I can't say it's been a dull year geopolitically. Barring some (by no means impossible) last-minute additions, the following will serve as a list of things that got my attention for any length of time. In no particular order:

• the Arab Spring. It won't quite be "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss", but I can't say that things are likely to improve as much as was hoped in the first blush of protests. Syria is still a running sore and Egypt and the rest which have forced a change (however incremental) are looking pretty iffy.
• Related, Libya. Gaddafi is no loss to the world, but it's worth noting that he kept the Islamists down and was trying pretty hard (post Iraqi Freedom) to make nice with the west. Indications of Al Quada in the militias should give some pause for thought amidst the rejoicing about Gaddafi's summary execution and illusions of instant functional democracy.
• Israeli oil and gas. This isn't getting a lot of press but is a potential game-changer in the Middle East. Erdrogan in Turkey rattling his Muslim credentials at Israel and the loss of Mubarak (and associated stability) in Egypt weakens two of the underpinnings of Israeli security. Obama and the current American foreign policy regime weakens the biggest one, but not terminally. This gives Israel some breathing room to work with Cyprus to develop their off-shore as well as on-shore oil shale deposits. Turkey is making hostile moves toward the former, so a skirmish is not out of the question.
• The Tsunami in Japan and associated nuclear mess at Fukushima. The loss of life and property was massive, a huge glot of debris is working its' way across the Pacific even as I write this. The repercussions for the already struggling nuclear power industry have been serious, with Germany pledging to get rid of it. Of course they don't say with what it'll be replaced, but it's easy to say things like this to look like you're doing things.
• "Occupy" *.* I'll be interested to see in the spring if this makes any sort of a comeback, but it was formless to begin with and rapidly degenerated. City governments were caught off guard the first time, but once the the camps started to get out out of hand they were rolled up across the continent in pretty quick order. You want change, form political parties with a clear agenda. Otherwise it's perilously close to insurrection and/or anarchy.
• Keystone pipeline. The PM isn't bluffing when he says we'll sell our oil to China if the US doesn't want it, but there's no infrastructure either way so watch and shoot.
• Euro crisis. It strains credulity that the default of Greece can shake the foundations of world (Western) economy, but after the last few years said economy is obviously all a particularly persistent illusion (apologies to the late A. Einstein). the UK might finally cast off the EU out of all of this, but deals are still being done and regulatory empires built, so nothing is really settled.
• Lastly (for now) the changing of the guard in North Korea. Much like Syria right now, I don't imagine that the latest Kim will be calling the shots in the DPRK against whatever vested interests are already there, but North Korea is "too big to fail". The Chinese don't want the humanitarian disaster on their doorstep and the ROK has lost interest in absorbing their northern cousins, so the big question is: Bang or Whimper?

There was a whole lot more, but most of those were big news this year, and more to the point things that I've commented on here. I'm going to be very busy after New Years so this can be considered a "greatest hits" before things go into maintenance mode. I thank all the non-spambots for dropping by (assuming there are some real people) and you never know when I'll be back.