Major international and domestic current affairs and politics since 2009

Obama takes office (January 20)

On January 20, 2009, Barack Obama, the first black president in American history, officially took office. His appointment was the first dazzling ray of sunshine in 2009, which was shrouded in the gloom of the economic crisis. The president who came to power under the slogan of "change" has ambitiously launched a US$787 billion rescue plan, implemented a huge health care reform plan, moved the main overseas battlefield from Iraq to Afghanistan, and improved relations with Asian countries, Russia and Middle East countries. Relations... These have greatly improved the overseas image of the United States, and even earned him the recognition of this year's Nobel Peace Prize. However, ambitions are ambitions. The lingering economic crisis and the difficult medical reform have caused his domestic reputation to decline repeatedly, and his relations with Middle Eastern countries and Russia do not seem to have made much progress. With less than a year in office, Obama still has to face many tests.

Influenza A (H1N1) is raging around the world (starting on April 13)

Starting on April 13, a flu that most people have never heard of began to spread in Mexico. Mexico City once became a sparsely populated "dead city". This disease, originally called "swine flu", quickly spread throughout North America, South America, Europe, and Asia. Later, its name was corrected to "Influenza A H1N1" - influenza A. As the weather turned colder, nearly 8,000 people died from it worldwide by November, and the virus even mutated. The World Health Organization predicts that it may infect 80% of the world's population. Influenza A, the most popular word in the world in 2009, reminds the world of the importance of health all the time; its spread around the world has also caused unprecedented coordination of disease prevention and control mechanisms in various countries.

EU integration takes shape (November 3)

On November 3, the Czech Republic ratified the "Lisbon Treaty", and EU integration finally cleared the final obstacle. After eight long years of waiting and bickering, the European Union was able to usher in a new era. On December 1, the "Lisbon Treaty" officially entered into force. The treaty reformed the EU's decision-making process, reduced the number of decision-making areas where the veto power was used, and increased the efficiency of EU decision-making. Before it came into effect, the EU also elected a "president" and a "foreign minister" to try to make the EU speak with one voice. Some commentators said that through "both internal and external repairs", the EU hopes to accelerate the integration process and exert greater influence on the international stage. In the face of this era of changing global forces, Europeans have chosen to stand together.

The Copenhagen Climate Summit was held (December 7)

On December 7, the 15th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the 5th Conference of the Kyoto Protocol The Conference of the Parties kicked off in Copenhagen. 192 countries, 110 heads of state agreed to attend, and 15,000 people participated, which shows that all countries attach great importance to the conference. The current global greenhouse gas emissions are about 47 billion tons of carbon dioxide equivalent. If no action is taken, this number will reach more than 55 billion tons by 2020. In order to ensure that there is a 50% probability that the global temperature rise will not exceed 2°C, global carbon emissions in 2020 cannot exceed 44 billion tons; and even based on the emission reduction plans of countries around the world in the past few months, carbon emissions in 2020 About 46 billion tons. Therefore, what this conference can do to save the planet will undoubtedly be at the center of global attention as the first decade of the 21st century draws to a close.

The turn of the century in Japan’s political situation (September 16)

On September 16, the Liberal Democratic Party, which has been in charge of Japanese politics for half a century, finally bid farewell to the center of Japan’s political stage. The new Prime Minister Yu Hatoyama The Democratic Party led by Norio came to power. Like Obama's coming to power, Hatoyama's taking office is also the result of the Japanese people's dissatisfaction with the status quo such as economic weakness and hereditary politics for many years. Sure enough, as soon as the new prime minister came to power, he abandoned Japan's most famous policy of "leaving Asia and joining Europe", shouted the slogan of attaching importance to Asia, and put forward the proposal of a unified East Asia. This shocked Japan's number one ally, the United States, into a cold sweat. The attitude of the new Japanese government on the relocation of the US military's Futenma Airport made the United States even more unhappy. The loyal little brother of many years wants to rebel? Of course the United States would not agree.

Completely non-Latin URLs will appear (October 30)

On October 30, the global Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) approved the international Internet Domain names can be registered using non-Latin alphabet scripts such as Chinese, Arabic, and Korean. It is reported that the new domain names will be available for use early next year, with Chinese and Arabic domain names having the greatest demand. At present, more than half of the 1.6 billion Internet users in the world are not native English speakers. Letting them get rid of the constraints of URLs limited to Latin letters will greatly contribute to the popularization and utilization of the Internet around the world, which is of great significance. This is a small step for ICANN, but a giant step for half of humanity using non-Latin scripts.

North Korea withdrew from the Six-Party Talks (April 14)

2009 was a year of constant disputes on the Korean Peninsula. On April 5, North Korea announced that it had successfully launched the "Kwangmyongsong-2" satellite into space orbit using a rocket, which immediately caused waves. The West, Japan and South Korea have always claimed that North Korea's move was to test long-range missile technology, while North Korea insisted that it was a peaceful use of space.

The United Nations Security Council expressed "condemnation" of North Korea's launch on April 13. Finally, on April 14, North Korea announced its withdrawal from the six-party talks on the North Korean nuclear issue and conducted another nuclear test on May 25. The situation on the peninsula has since reached a deadlock again. Since then, although Clinton's visit to North Korea and the death of Kim Dae-jung opened the door to dialogue between North Korea and South Korea, North Korea still demands separate dialogue with the United States as a condition for returning to the Six-Party Talks.

U.S.-Russian Star Collision (February 11)

On February 11, two communications satellites belonging to the United States and Russia collided over Siberia. This is the first "star collision" event in human history. We suddenly discovered that the previously vast space had become “crowded”. The repercussions of a collision between the two satellites could be felt for decades, and experts have even foreseen that such a thing could happen. Now, people are thinking more about how to prevent "star collisions" from happening in the increasingly crowded space. After all, the cost is really high. Fortunately, these two satellites are not too important. After the "scare", the US space policy may be affected, and the European Space Agency has planned to create a network to monitor space debris and asteroids.

Russian-Ukrainian “vindictiveness” (January 1)

On the first day of the new year, due to the unresolved disputes between Russia and Ukraine on issues such as natural gas supply prices in 2009, transit fees and previous debt repayments, If an agreement is reached, Gazprom cuts off natural gas supplies to Ukraine. On the 7th, Russia completely stopped supplying gas to the EU via Ukraine because Ukraine secretly intercepted natural gas destined for Europe. The Russia-Ukraine natural gas dispute has made people in 18 European countries tremble in the coldest winter they have not seen in many years. Although the problem was later resolved, and it seems that the two countries will not continue their "vindictiveness" in the second winter, Europe has since begun to reflect on whether its energy dependence on Russia is too heavy, and seriously consider new energy sources.

9 Former South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun committed suicide

Former South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun fell to his death from Owl Rock, Bongha Village, Gimhae City, Gyeongsangnam Province on May 23. In early April, Roh Moo-hyun admitted that his wife Kwon Yang-sook accepted US$1 million from others in 2007. On April 30, he went to the Supreme Prosecutor's Office as a suspect, becoming the third former South Korean president to be investigated by prosecutors after Roh Tae-woo and Chun Doo-hwan.

Roh Moo-hyun was born on September 1, 1946, in a peasant family in Gimhae City, Gyeongsangnam-do, South Korea. In November 1997, he was appointed Vice President of the Political National Assembly. On December 19, 2002, the 56-year-old "common politician" Roh Moo-hyun was elected as the 16th President of South Korea. He resigned on February 25, 2008. His ancestral home is Dongyang City, Zhejiang Province, China, and his ancestors are descendants of Lu Zhi in the late Eastern Han Dynasty.

According to South Korea’s Chosun Ilbo, the Gyeongnam Police Department conducted an on-site examination on Roh Moo-hyun’s death in the mountains behind Bongha Village on June 2 and confirmed that Roh Moo-hyun committed suicide.

The celebration of the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China will be the most exciting event in the Year of the Ox in China. President Hu Jintao will review the three armed forces, attracting world attention. Chinese people all over the country and overseas will also celebrate this great festival enthusiastically in various ways.