Events, Verisoph

25 May 2020 George Floyd protests reignite the militarization debate 0 cit. The killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis officer set off nationwide protests met in many cities by police in riot gear and armored vehicles, along with National Guard deployments and, in some places, active-duty troops on standby. The heavy response revived the arguments Ferguson had sparked about whether militarized policing calmed unrest or inflamed it. The protests fed a broader push for police reform and renewed calls to shut down the equipment pipeline. politics / society ●●●

2020 The Covid billionaires at KEMSA 0 cit. During the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority awarded emergency contracts worth billions of shillings for masks and protective equipment to politically connected and newly formed companies, often at inflated prices. The press dubbed the beneficiaries 'Covid billionaires'. The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission flagged about 7.8 billion shillings in irregular spending, and KEMSA's top managers were removed. economy / politics / society ●●

5 January 2020 Al-Shabaab attacks the US base at Manda Bay 0 cit. In January 2020 al-Shabaab fighters breach Camp Simba at Manda Bay in Kenya, an airfield used by US forces. The attack kills one US soldier and two American contractors and destroys several aircraft. It exposes the vulnerability of the light US footprint in East Africa. politics / war ●●

January 2020 The WEF publishes its Davos Manifesto on stakeholder capitalism 0 cit. For its 50th annual meeting, the World Economic Forum issued an updated Davos Manifesto built around "stakeholder capitalism", the idea that companies should serve customers, workers, and society, not only shareholders. Klaus Schwab has promoted the concept for decades. Backers call it responsible business; critics call it a way for large corporations to expand their role in public policy. economy / politics ●●

3 June 2020 The WEF launches the Great Reset initiative 0 cit. Klaus Schwab and Britain's Prince Charles launched the Great Reset, a WEF initiative calling for the COVID-19 recovery to be used to build greener, more equal economies. Schwab and Thierry Malleret set out the argument in a book published weeks later. The WEF describes it as a voluntary discussion platform with no power to enact anything. Some critics and commentators read it instead as a plan for centralized global control; that interpretation is theirs, and the initiative itself was openly published, not secret. economy / politics ●●●

5 January 2020 US counterterrorism presence at Manda Bay contested 3 cit. An al-Shabaab assault on Camp Simba at Manda Bay in Lamu County kills three Americans and destroys aircraft, exposing the scale of the US military and counterterrorism presence hosted in Kenya. The base supports surveillance and operations against militants in Somalia. Supporters frame the cooperation as shared defence against a real threat, while critics say hosting foreign forces draws Kenya deeper into external military agendas. politics / war ●●

September 2020 The FinCEN Files reveal flagged transactions 0 cit. In September 2020 journalists published the FinCEN Files, based on secret US reports that banks had filed on suspicious transactions worth some 2 trillion dollars. The documents showed banks moving money they had themselves flagged as possibly dirty, often for years. They exposed weaknesses in the systems meant to stop money laundering. economy / politics ●●

c. 2020 Earmarked money lets donors steer WHO priorities 0 cit. Because most WHO funding is tied to specific programs, the donors who give it shape which diseases and projects get attention. This is a documented feature of the budget, not a hidden one. Critics go further and argue the WHO is effectively captured or controlled by its biggest funders, whether the United States, Gates philanthropy, or others; the organization's defenders answer that policy is still set by the full membership at the World Health Assembly, where each country has an equal vote. diplomacy / economy / politics ●●●

30 January 2020 WHO declares a COVID-19 emergency and praises China 0 cit. The WHO declares the novel coronavirus outbreak a public health emergency of international concern. In late January, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and senior officials publicly praised China's transparency and response after meeting its leadership. Critics later argued this early praise was misplaced given questions about China's early data and cooperation. diplomacy / politics / science ●●●

11 March 2020 WHO declares COVID-19 a pandemic 0 cit. The WHO characterizes COVID-19 as a pandemic, weeks after the virus had already spread across continents. Critics said the label came late and that the organization's earlier messaging, including on travel and on human-to-human transmission, had lagged events. The declaration triggered emergency measures worldwide. politics / science / society ●●●

14 April 2020 Trump halts US funding to the WHO 0 cit. President Donald Trump announces a halt to United States funding of the WHO pending a review, accusing the organization of mismanaging the pandemic and being too deferential to China. As the largest single contributor, the United States put a significant share of the WHO's budget in question. The WHO and many governments objected to cutting funds mid-pandemic. diplomacy / economy / politics ●●●

6 July 2020 The United States files formal notice of withdrawal 0 cit. The Trump administration formally notifies the United Nations of its intent to withdraw the United States from the WHO, setting the exit for one year later as required. It marked the first time a major power moved to leave the organization. The decision drew sharp criticism from public health officials and many US lawmakers. diplomacy / economy / politics ●●●

2020 WHO publishes a safeguards list of countries not to recruit from 0 cit. WHO issued the Health Workforce Support and Safeguards List, naming countries facing the most severe shortages where active international recruitment should not happen. The 2020 list held 47 countries, most of them in sub-Saharan Africa. Employers and governments treat it as the red list for ethical recruitment. diplomacy / politics / society ●●●

c. 2020 The debate over Israel and Palestine as settler colonialism contested 0 cit. Some scholars, including Patrick Wolfe, Lorenzo Veracini, and the historian Rashid Khalidi, argue that Zionist settlement and the state of Israel should be read as a settler-colonial project. Other scholars reject the frame, describing it instead as a national conflict or pointing to a long Jewish presence and return to the land. This is a live and disputed argument among academics, presented here as their claim and counterclaim, not as a settled fact. diplomacy / politics / society ●●

2020 Genetics Undercuts Political Tribalism's Founding Claim debunked 2 cit. Kenyan politics has long been organised around tribe as if each community were a fixed, separate stock with its own claims and grievances. The genetic record removes the biological foundation from that idea, showing shared and overlapping ancestry across every group. This does not erase real cultural and linguistic identities or the history of how colonial rule hardened them. It does strip away the false premise of ancient pure blood that hardline tribal politics leans on. politics / science / society ●●●

10 December 2020 Sexual violence survivors win partial High Court recognition 2 cit. In December 2020, Kenya's High Court held that the state failed to conduct independent and effective investigations and prosecutions for some sexual and gender-based violence crimes during the 2007-08 post-election violence. Four successful petitioners were awarded KSh 4 million each. The judgment was partial, but it preserved a crucial afterlife of PEV: survivors kept seeking recognition and redress long after the political settlement and ICC cases faded. politics / society ●●●

27 March 2020 COVID-era fiscal rescue pushes demand management to emergency scale 1 cit. The CARES Act, enacted on 27 March 2020, authorized emergency fiscal support on a scale far beyond ordinary recession policy. CBO estimated roughly 1.7 trillion dollars in added deficits over 2020-2030, reflecting direct payments, unemployment support, business rescue, health spending and Fed-backed credit facilities. economy / politics / society ●●●●●

March 2020 COVID pushes Uhuru into curfews and emergency restrictions 2 cit. Kenya confirmed its first COVID-19 case in March 2020, and Uhuru Kenyattas government responded with emergency health rules, curfews, restrictions on movement, school closures and limits on gatherings. Supporters cite early containment and coordination; critics point to economic hardship, policing abuses and the fragility of the health system. The pandemic interrupted the Big Four agenda and concentrated executive power around emergency management. politics / science / society ●●●●

2020 Land reform leaves the electoral loaded gun in place 2 cit. By the time scholars assessed Kenya's post-2010 land-law reforms, the hard critique was that the reforms had focused more on administration, institutions and bureaucratic power than on unequal access to land. That helps explain why post-election violence remains politically reusable: land grievance is acknowledged enough to mobilize voters and militias, but rarely resolved enough to remove it as a weapon. economy / politics / society ●●●●●

15 September 2021 AUKUS 0 cit. Trilateral security partnership among Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, centered on providing Australia with nuclear-powered submarines. Its announcement canceled a French submarine deal and angered Paris. diplomacy / politics / technology / war ●●●

1 February 2021 Myanmar Civil War 0 cit. no story The military's 2021 coup against the elected government triggers nationwide armed resistance allied with ethnic insurgencies. Large parts of the country slip from junta control as the war continues. politics / war ●●●

15 August 2021 Fall of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan 0 cit. On 15 August 2021 the Taliban entered Kabul as the government collapsed and the president fled. The fall ended the Western-backed Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. politics / war ●●●●

18 July 2021 The Pegasus Project exposes NSO spyware 0 cit. A consortium of news organizations reported that the Israeli firm NSO Group's Pegasus spyware had been used to target journalists, activists, and officials worldwide. The investigation drew on a leaked list of potential surveillance targets. politics / technology ●●●●

3 October 2021 The Pandora Papers are published 0 cit. The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists published a leak of nearly 12 million files exposing offshore finances of current and former world leaders and public officials. It was among the largest such collaborations to date. economy / politics ●●●●

23 August 2021 The largest SDR allocation 0 cit. The IMF issued a record 650 billion dollars in Special Drawing Rights to help countries cope with the pandemic. Critics noted most went to rich nations by quota, prompting calls to channel unused reserves to poorer ones. economy / politics ●●

2021 China bans most for-profit tutoring 0 cit. China's double reduction policy barred for-profit tutoring in core subjects to ease the cost and pressure of the education arms race. It wiped out a huge private industry almost overnight. economy / politics ●●●

1 February 2021 Myanmar cuts the internet after a military coup 0 cit. Following the February 2021 coup, Myanmar's military imposed repeated internet shutdowns and social media blocks. The measures aimed to stop coverage and coordination of protests. politics / war ●●●

13 January 2021 Uganda blocks the internet during an election 0 cit. Uganda shut down the internet around its January 2021 presidential election, days after blocking social media. The country had earlier imposed a tax on social media use. politics / technology ●●

8 January 2021 Twitter and Facebook ban Donald Trump 0 cit. After the January 6 Capitol riot, Twitter permanently suspended President Trump and Facebook banned him indefinitely. Removing a sitting head of state sharpened the debate over who controls online speech. politics / technology ●●●●

9 January 2021 Apple and Google remove Parler from app stores 0 cit. Days after the Capitol riot, Apple and Google pulled the social app Parler from their stores and Amazon cut its hosting. The app went offline, showing how infrastructure providers can also remove a platform. politics / technology ●●●

18 July 2021 The Pegasus Project exposes spyware abuse 0 cit. A journalist consortium reported in 2021 that NSO Group's Pegasus spyware had been used to target phones of journalists, activists, and officials. The findings showed how governments could silently monitor critics. politics / technology ●●●●

c. March 2021 Thiel bankrolls JD Vance's Senate campaign 0 cit. Peter Thiel, a longtime mentor and former employer of J.D. Vance, gave 10 million dollars in 2021 and ultimately 15 million dollars total to Protect Ohio Values, a super PAC supporting Vance's 2022 Ohio Senate campaign. It was reported as the largest sum any single donor had given to back one Senate candidate, and it helped fund most of Vance's campaign advertising. economy / politics ●●

23 July 2021 The Tokyo Olympics are held without spectators during the pandemic 0 cit. Postponed a year by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Tokyo Games proceed in mostly empty stadiums under strict health protocols, at an estimated cost of over 13 billion dollars. The Games proceeded despite public opposition polls in Japan, illustrating the pressure the IOC and host governments face to preserve broadcast and sponsorship revenue even amid public health risk. economy / politics ●●

6 December 2021 Diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics 0 cit. The United States announces a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Games, sending no government officials while still allowing American athletes to compete, citing human rights concerns in Xinjiang. Britain, Australia, and Canada joined the boycott, a modern documented instance of states using selective Olympic non-attendance as a diplomatic signal short of a full athlete boycott. diplomacy / politics ●●

September 2021 The World Bank's 'Doing Business' scandal illustrates institutional capture pressures 0 cit. An independent investigation finds that World Bank leadership pressured staff to alter a country's business-climate rankings under pressure linked to a major donor government, prompting the bank to discontinue the report. While not a national parliament, the episode is cited by political scientists as a documented example of how institutions meant to be neutral arbiters can be pressured by powerful stakeholders, a dynamic closely related to regulatory capture. economy / politics ●

15 June 2021 Daniel Morgan Independent Panel reports institutional corruption 0 cit. The Daniel Morgan Independent Panel publishes its report, concluding the Metropolitan Police exhibited a "form of institutional corruption" in concealing failings across five investigations into Morgan's murder. The panel recommends a confidential register of officers' Masonic membership, but states explicitly that it found no evidence Masonic channels were corruptly used either in the murder itself or in subverting the police investigations. politics ●●●

28 May 2021 Germany and Namibia sign joint declaration recognizing the genocide 0 cit. After more than five years of negotiation, Germany's government formally recognizes the killings of the Herero and Nama as genocide and pledges 1.1 billion euros over 30 years for infrastructure, land reform, and development projects in affected communities, in what it calls a gesture of recognition of the suffering caused. Germany explicitly rejects the term "reparations" and legal liability, using the language of development aid instead, and the money is to be channeled through the Namibian government rather than paid directly to Herero and Nama descendants. diplomacy / politics ●●●

c. June 2021 Herero and Nama leaders reject exclusion from the agreement 0 cit. Ovaherero and Nama traditional authorities, along with descendant organizations, publicly reject the joint declaration, arguing they were excluded from negotiations that concerned their own ancestors and that routing funds through the Namibian state, rather than directly to affected communities, repeats the exclusion of 1904. Namibia's parliament debates but does not ratify the agreement in the years that follow, and legal challenges continue. politics / society ●●

16 July 2021 California Creates Reparations Fund for Sterilization Survivors 0 cit. Governor Gavin Newsom signed a state budget that included a $7.5 million fund to compensate living survivors of forced sterilization, covering both victims of California's early twentieth-century eugenics program and the women illegally sterilized in state prisons in the 2000s. California became one of the last states with a major sterilization program to establish direct compensation for survivors. politics / society ●●●

6 January 2021 National Guard deployed to the US Capitol after January 6 0 cit. After a mob breached the US Capitol during the certification of the 2020 election, National Guard troops were mobilized to secure the building, following a delayed activation that later Pentagon and congressional inquiries attributed to unclear authorization and coordination failures. In the following weeks, roughly 25,000 National Guard troops from all 50 states were deployed to Washington to secure the January 20, 2021 presidential inauguration, an unprecedented peacetime security mobilization. Thousands of Guard troops remained on duty around the Capitol for months afterward. politics ●●●

May 2021 Unmarked graves and the papal apology in Canada 0 cit. Ground-penetrating radar detected what were reported as hundreds of possible unmarked graves at former residential school sites, beginning at Kamloops. The findings drew global attention, and in 2022 Pope Francis traveled to Canada and apologized for the role of Church members in the abuse and destruction of Indigenous cultures. politics / religion / society ●●●

24 April 2021 Recognition and continued Turkish denial 0 cit. Over decades, more than thirty countries and most genocide scholars formally recognize the killings of 1915 to 1917 as genocide, with the United States doing so in 2021. The Republic of Turkey, successor to the Ottoman Empire, continues to reject the term and disputes the death toll and intent. Historians treat the genocide as documented fact and Turkey's position as state denial, not a competing account of the record. diplomacy / politics ●●

c. 2021 Taiwan revives civil defence against invasion fears 0 cit. Facing pressure from China, private and public efforts in Taiwan pushed to prepare ordinary citizens for a possible invasion, including the civilian-run Kuma Academy which teaches basic defence and emergency skills. The government later extended conscription and reorganised mobilisation of reservists and civil defence. The moves echo the old home-guard idea, that a population must be ready to help defend its own island. politics / war ●●

2021 BATUK and the Question of Immunity 3 cit. On paper the UK-Kenya Defence Cooperation Agreement gives Kenya jurisdiction over crimes British soldiers commit against Kenyans off duty, but in practice BATUK personnel have invoked diplomatic immunity to avoid Kenyan investigations and parliamentary summons. Kenya's Parliament voted in 2021 to strip that immunity and Britain rejected the change, so it never took effect. No British soldier has ever been prosecuted in a Kenyan court, including over the unresolved killing of Agnes Wanjiru, which Kenyan lawmakers and victims' families call de facto immunity. Residents around Nanyuki also note that the unit's vehicles carry their own distinctive plates, a small visible mark of a force that operates partly outside ordinary Kenyan rules. diplomacy / politics ●●

October 2021 Sunday Times revelations reopen the Wanjiru case unproven 0 cit. A Sunday Times investigation reported that fellow soldiers had named a suspect in Agnes Wanjiru's killing and that the army had failed to act on the claims. The revelations prompted the UK to say it would cooperate with Kenyan authorities and renewed calls for justice. No one has been convicted, and the accusations against any individual remain unproven in court. politics / society ●●

2021 UK-Kenya Defence Cooperation Agreement formalises BATUK 0 cit. Kenya ratified a renewed Defence Cooperation Agreement with the United Kingdom, updating an earlier 2015 accord that gives BATUK its legal footing. The treaty sets out the terms for British troops to train in Kenya, including questions of jurisdiction over service members. It confirmed in law a British military presence that had continued unbroken since independence. diplomacy / politics ●●

c. 2021 Roughly 750 US bases in about 80 countries 0 cit. Anthropologist David Vine counts around 750 US military bases spread across roughly 80 countries and territories, by far the largest network of foreign bases any nation has ever maintained. For comparison, all other countries combined operate only a few dozen bases abroad. Vine argues in Base Nation and later work that this footprint reflects a standing posture of global military dominance, not just temporary wartime need. politics / war ●●●

2021 Isiolo residents take NRT to court 0 cit. A group of Isiolo County residents files a constitutional petition in Kenya's Environment and Land Court challenging the Northern Rangelands Trust. They argue the conservancies were set up on community land without proper consent and are tied to rights abuses. NRT contests the case and defends how its conservancies were formed. politics / society ●●

c. 2021 Conservationists defend the rangers as anti-poaching, not a private army 0 cit. NRT, conservancy managers, and donors reject the charge that their forces are private armies policing pastoralists. They say the rangers are trained, locally recruited, and needed to stop poaching and armed cattle raiding in a heavily armed region. They point to falling poaching and to community members employed as rangers. This defense is set against the critics' view, with both stated plainly. environment / politics ●

November 2021 The Oakland Institute publishes Stealth Game 3 cit. The US-based Oakland Institute publishes a report titled Stealth Game: 'Community' Conservancies Devastate Land and Lives in Northern Kenya. It argues that the NRT model amounts to a land grab, weakens community land rights, militarizes the rangelands, and is tied to abuses. The report is one side of a sharp dispute, and its central claims are contested by NRT. politics / society ●●●

November 2021 NRT and donors reject the land-grab charge 3 cit. NRT, conservationists, and Western funders reject the Oakland Institute report and defend the conservancy model. They say the community conservancies are locally governed, boost incomes and security, and have driven the recovery of rhinos and elephants. Both this rebuttal and the report's charges are documented, and the dispute between them remains unresolved. environment / politics ●●

December 2021 The WHO opens pandemic treaty negotiations 0 cit. In a special session after COVID-19, the World Health Assembly set up an intergovernmental negotiating body to draft a pandemic agreement. The aim was to fix the gaps and inequities exposed by the pandemic, covering data sharing, vaccine access, and preparedness. The talks ran for more than three years and drew debate over how much authority any such agreement would hold over national health policy. politics / society ●●

c. 2021 NED's budget grows into the hundreds of millions 0 cit. NED started with an $18 million appropriation in its first year. By the early 2020s its annual congressional funding had grown to more than $300 million. The budget makes it a central instrument of US soft power, paid for almost entirely by taxpayers. economy / politics ●●

2 April 2021 IMF approves a $2.34 billion arrangement for Kenya contested 0 cit. The IMF Executive Board approves a 38-month programme for Kenya worth about US$2.34 billion under the Extended Fund Facility and Extended Credit Facility. The financing is tied to conditions including fiscal consolidation, higher taxes, reform of loss-making state enterprises, and steps to reduce debt vulnerabilities, reviewed at regular checkpoints. Defenders call the reforms necessary to restore stability, while dependency scholars and critics argue the conditionality dictates budget and tax policy from Washington. economy / politics ●●●

27 July 2021 Kenya and the UK sign a new Defence Cooperation Agreement 0 cit. Kenya and the United Kingdom sign a Defence Cooperation Agreement replacing a 2015 pact, governing the British Army Training Unit Kenya near Nanyuki, where thousands of UK troops train each year. Kenya's National Assembly ratifies it in April 2023 after disputes, including over the unresolved 2012 killing of Agnes Wanjiru near the base. Defenders cite training, jobs, and security cooperation, while sovereignty critics point to legal immunities for foreign soldiers and a continued colonial-era military footprint. politics / war ●●●

October 2021 The Pandora Papers reach the powerful 2 cit. In October 2021 the Pandora Papers, nearly 12 million records, linked more than 330 politicians and public officials to secret offshore holdings. The leak drew attention to havens inside the United States, including trusts in South Dakota. It confirmed that the offshore system reached the top of governments around the world. economy / politics ●●●

May 2021 The Independent Panel finds failures on all sides 0 cit. The Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response, co-chaired by Helen Clark and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, reports that the COVID-19 catastrophe could have been prevented. It faults the WHO for not declaring an emergency sooner and for a lost month of global inaction, while also blaming national governments and the wider alert system. Its verdict spreads responsibility across the WHO and its member states alike. diplomacy / politics / science ●●●

20 January 2021 Biden reverses the US withdrawal 0 cit. On his first day in office, President Joe Biden halts the withdrawal and keeps the United States in the WHO. The move restored American funding and its seat in the organization's governance. It reversed his predecessor's exit before it could take effect. diplomacy / economy / politics ●●●

December 2021 Governments open talks on a pandemic agreement 0 cit. A special session of the World Health Assembly sets up an Intergovernmental Negotiating Body to draft a new treaty on preventing and responding to pandemics. The aim is to fix the gaps in cooperation, data sharing, and access to vaccines that the COVID-19 response exposed. The negotiations run for years and are conducted by the member states themselves, not by the WHO secretariat. diplomacy / politics / science ●●●

August 2021 Afghanistan's score jumps after the Taliban return 0 cit. The Taliban retook Kabul in August 2021 as foreign forces withdrew and the Western-backed government collapsed. The index recorded one of its largest single-year worsenings for Afghanistan in the edition that followed. The change was a clear case of a country's score moving with a real political event. politics / war ●●●

2021 Britain signs government deals to recruit from red-list countries 0 cit. The UK and Kenya signed a bilateral agreement in 2021 to bring Kenyan nurses into the NHS, and the UK signed a similar memorandum with Nepal in 2022. Both countries were on WHO's safeguards list, and government-to-government deals are the route the UK's own code allows for recruiting from such places. The deals bar recruitment fees and are framed as targeting surplus, unemployed staff. diplomacy / politics / society ●●●

2021 Critics call the conservancy model a land grab contested 0 cit. Reports by the Oakland Institute and campaigns by Survival International argued that the Northern Rangelands Trust amounted to a land grab and a form of green colonialism. They said pastoralists lost control of their land to a donor-funded body with armed rangers, and pointed to killings and displacement tied to its operations. This reading, attributed to affected communities and these named critics, is contested rather than settled fact. environment / politics / society ●●●

13 May 2021 Courts stop the BBI constitutional project 1 cit. In May 2021 the High Court struck down the Building Bridges Initiative constitutional amendment process, holding that the president had no authority to initiate a popular initiative to amend the Constitution and that the BBI steering committee process was unlawful. Later appellate decisions kept the project from reaching a referendum. For Uhuru, BBI was the institutional form of the handshake; for opponents, it was a presidential attempt to redesign power from above. politics ●●●●●

c. 2021 Women remain mostly outside formal land title 1 cit. Kenyan law formally protects equality in land rights, but women remain underrepresented in registered ownership and control. The problem is not only law on paper. It is inheritance practice, household power, clan pressure, registration habits, marriage breakdown, widowhood and access to money. Title can protect women, but it can also erase them when the wrong name enters the register. economy / politics / society ●●●●

24 February 2022 Russia launches full-scale invasion of Ukraine 0 cit. Russian forces invade Ukraine from the north, east, and south in the largest attack on a European state since 1945. The moment shatters the post-Cold War security order, revives NATO, and turns energy and food into geopolitical weapons. politics / war ●●●●

24 February 2022 Full-Scale Russian Invasion of Ukraine 0 cit. Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, striking cities across the country and attempting to seize the capital. Russia called it a special military operation, while Ukraine and most of the world condemned it as an unprovoked war of aggression. politics / war ●●●●●

16 November 2022 Artemis I flies around the Moon 0 cit. NASA launched the uncrewed Artemis I mission, sending its new Orion capsule around the Moon on the giant Space Launch System rocket. It was the first step in the plan to return astronauts to the lunar surface. exploration / politics / technology ●●●●

c. November 2022 China completes the Tiangong space station 0 cit. China finished assembling its Tiangong space station with the docking of its final module. The outpost gave China a permanent crewed presence in orbit and sharpened its rivalry with the United States. exploration / politics / technology ●●●

4 March 2022 Russia blocks Western platforms after invading Ukraine 0 cit. After the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Russia blocked Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter and passed a law criminalizing so-called fake news about the military. The measures sharply tightened control over online information. politics / war ●●●●

2 December 2022 The Twitter Files are released contested 0 cit. After Elon Musk bought Twitter, journalists were given internal records that became the Twitter Files. They documented moderation decisions and contacts between the company and government agencies, a record that supporters and critics read very differently. politics / technology ●●●

16 November 2022 The EU passes the Digital Services Act 0 cit. The Digital Services Act entered into force in 2022 and set rules for how large platforms handle illegal content, transparency, and risk. Supporters called it landmark oversight, while critics warned it could pressure lawful speech. politics / technology ●●●●

December 2022 The Twitter Files and the government-platform question contested 0 cit. Internal Twitter documents released after Elon Musk's purchase show contacts between the company and government agencies over content decisions. The files are documented; how far they show unlawful government pressure versus routine requests is contested and litigated. politics / technology ●●●

27 October 2022 Musk completes acquisition of Twitter 0 cit. Elon Musk completed his 44 billion dollar purchase of Twitter, financed through his own equity, debt, and outside co-investors, and later renamed the platform X. The acquisition gave Musk direct control over a major public communication platform and became a focal point for his growing role in American politics. politics / technology ●●●

20 November 2022 The Qatar World Cup opens under sportswashing scrutiny 0 cit. Qatar hosts the first World Cup held in the Middle East and in the northern winter, staging a large-scale opening ceremony while facing sustained criticism over migrant labor conditions and LGBT rights. Human rights organizations documented the case as a clear example of a state using a global sporting event to improve its international image, a practice widely termed sportswashing. diplomacy / politics ●●●

c. December 2022 Metropolitan Police announces Freemasonry declaration policy 0 cit. Following a public consultation, the Metropolitan Police announces that officers and staff will be asked to confidentially declare membership of Freemasonry and similar associations, as part of efforts to strengthen public trust after the Daniel Morgan panel's findings and the murder of Sarah Everard by a serving officer. politics ●●

c. 2022 Convictions in the Willie Kimani murder case 0 cit. A Kenyan court convicted a group of police officers, including the Administration Police constable whose alleged assault on Josphat Mwenda triggered the abductions, of the murders of Willie Kimani, Mwenda, and Joseph Muiruri. The case was widely cited by rights groups as one of the rare instances in which police officers were successfully prosecuted for an extrajudicial killing in Kenya. politics ●●

11 May 2022 Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative report released 0 cit. The U.S. Department of the Interior, under Secretary Deb Haaland, released the first volume of its Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative investigative report, identifying 408 federal boarding schools that operated across 37 states or territories between 1819 and 1969 and documenting at least 500 recorded child deaths at the schools, with the department stating the true number is likely far higher as investigation continues. The report recommended further investigation of burial sites and expanded federal support for boarding school survivors and descendants. politics / society ●●●

22 June 2022 Zondo Commission hands final part of its report to Ramaphosa 0 cit. The Zondo Commission delivered the final part of its multi-volume report to President Ramaphosa, completing a series of submissions made between January and June 2022. The report found that state capture had caused massive financial losses to South Africa, implicated former President Jacob Zuma in facilitating undue influence by the Gupta family over government appointments and contracts, and recommended further criminal investigation of numerous former officials and business figures; Zuma and others named in the report disputed its findings. economy / politics ●●●

20 October 2022 IICSA final report published 0 cit. The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse published its final report, finding that institutions across British society, including the Church of England, the Catholic Church, schools, the armed forces and local authorities, had repeatedly failed to protect children and had prioritised their own reputations over victims. It made 20 recommendations, including a mandatory duty to report abuse and a national compensation scheme. Implementation of its recommendations by government has been slow and partial. politics / society ●●●

24 June 2022 Dobbs ruling overturns Roe v. Wade 0 cit. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Dobbs v. Jackson that there is no constitutional right to abortion, overturning Roe v. Wade after nearly 50 years. The decision let states ban abortion and reopened one of the most divisive debates in American life. politics / society ●●●

20 February 2022 Suisse Secrets exposes Credit Suisse accounts 0 cit. A whistleblower leaked data on thousands of Credit Suisse accounts to a German newspaper, which shared it with a journalist consortium. The reporting linked accounts to people accused of corruption, crime, and human rights abuses. Credit Suisse rejected the findings and said many of the accounts were old or already closed. economy / politics ●●●

February 2022 Ukraine's Territorial Defence Forces mobilise against invasion 0 cit. A 2022 law made Territorial Defence a full branch of the armed forces, and after Russia's full-scale invasion in February tens of thousands of civilians joined local units to defend their towns. Ordinary people took up arms to guard streets, checkpoints and supply lines while the regular army fought at the front. It became the clearest modern example of a home guard raised at speed in a real war of national survival. politics / war ●●●

25 May 2022 Biden restores limits on military equipment transfers 0 cit. On the second anniversary of George Floyd's death, President Joe Biden signed an executive order that again restricted the transfer of certain military equipment to police and tied access to training and accountability standards. The order revived much of what Obama had ordered and Trump had reversed, leaving the policy to swing with each administration. The back-and-forth underscored that the underlying programs, and the debate over them, remained unresolved. politics / society ●●

26 February 2022 Russia's reserves frozen after the invasion of Ukraine 0 cit. After Russia invades Ukraine, the United States and its allies freeze roughly 300 billion dollars of Russian central bank reserves held abroad and cut major Russian banks from SWIFT. Freezing another state's reserves was a striking use of financial power. It also pushed many governments to ask whether holding dollars was as safe as they had assumed. economy / politics / war ●●●

c. 2022 The dollar's reserve share slips but stays dominant 0 cit. IMF data show the dollar's share of disclosed global reserves drifting down from around 72 percent in 2000 to under 60 percent, spread across a wider set of currencies. Economists disagree sharply on what this means. Some read it as the slow start of dollar decline, while others, including Barry Eichengreen, argue the dollar's depth and safety keep it dominant with no ready replacement. economy / politics ●●

15 August 2022 Mali expels French forces after its coups 0 cit. After two coups the Malian junta turns to Russian mercenaries and demands that French troops leave. France completes the withdrawal of Barkhane from Mali, handing over its last base at Gao. The rupture ends nearly a decade of French military operations in the country. politics / war ●●●

c. 2022 The fortress conservation and green colonialism debate 3 cit. Northern Kenya's conservancies sit inside a wider argument over fortress conservation, the practice of protecting wildlife by fencing off and policing local people, and over green colonialism, in which Western money and foreign owners shape African land use. Critics place the conservancy model in this frame, alongside cases like the eviction of Maasai in Tanzania. Supporters answer that community conservancies are different because local people govern and benefit from them. environment / politics ●●

June 2022 Parliament raises the debt ceiling to 10 trillion shillings 0 cit. In 2022 Parliament raised Kenya's public debt ceiling to 10 trillion shillings as borrowing kept climbing, with debt near 68 percent of GDP. Debt servicing came to consume a large share of government revenue, roughly a third and rising toward half by 2024. Whether this burden stems mainly from external loans and IMF-linked terms or from domestic corruption and waste is read both ways, and each reading is attributed to its proponents. economy / politics ●●●

2022 The United States tops the secrecy ranking 0 cit. In its 2022 Financial Secrecy Index the Tax Justice Network ranked the United States as the world's biggest supplier of financial secrecy, ahead of Switzerland. It pointed to anonymous companies in Delaware, Nevada and Wyoming, hard-to-trace trusts in South Dakota, and the American refusal to join the global system for sharing account data. The ranking is the Network's; the American laws and the refusal to share data are on the record. economy / politics ●●

2022 Russian oligarch wealth is exposed by sanctions 0 cit. After the privatisations of the 1990s, a large part of Russia's elite wealth was moved into offshore havens and Western property. Gabriel Zucman and colleagues estimated that around half of Russian household wealth sits offshore. When Western states imposed sanctions after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, they froze yachts, mansions and accounts held through shell companies in places like Cyprus and the British Virgin Islands. economy / politics ●●

June 2022 The 2022 Loliondo evictions clear land for a game reserve 0 cit. In June 2022 Tanzanian authorities moved to demarcate about 1,500 square kilometres of Maasai land at Loliondo as a protected game reserve, near areas used for elite hunting tourism. Security forces clashed with residents, people were injured, and families were pushed off grazing land. Rights groups condemned the operation while the government defended it as conservation. environment / politics ●●●

23 June 2022 African Court orders reparations for the Ogiek 3 cit. In a follow-up judgment the African Court ordered Kenya to pay compensation, return Ogiek ancestral land and formally recognise their community. It set out concrete steps for restitution rather than leaving the earlier ruling as a symbol. Implementation on the ground remained slow and contested, and further evictions were reported even after the order. diplomacy / politics / society ●●

6 April 2022 Court convicts Blaise Compaore over Sankara's killing 0 cit. A military court in Burkina Faso convicted Compaore in absentia and sentenced him to life for his part in Sankara's assassination. The 2021 to 2022 trial gathered testimony that had been suppressed for decades. It confirmed the coup as a planned killing rather than an accident of the moment. Compaore, in exile in Ivory Coast, rejected the court's authority. politics / society ●●

21 April 2022 Mwai Kibaki dies and is buried in Othaya 1 cit. Mwai Kibaki died in Nairobi on 21 April 2022 at age 90. He lay in state in Parliament, received a state funeral at Nyayo National Stadium on 29 April, and was buried on 30 April at his home in Othaya, Nyeri County. The burial returned the national figure to the Othaya base where his political life began and ended. politics / society ●●●●●

March 2022 Uhuru endorses Raila and turns the succession against Ruto 2 cit. In 2022 Uhuru Kenyatta publicly backed Raila Odinga and the Azimio la Umoja coalition instead of his deputy William Ruto. The move completed the post-handshake realignment: Raila became the presidents chosen successor, while Ruto campaigned as a hustler candidate against dynasties and the deep state. The succession fight turned Uhuru from outgoing president into the main symbol of the establishment Ruto wanted to defeat. politics ●●●●●

5 September 2022 Supreme Court upholds Rutos win over Azimio 1 cit. After the August 2022 election, William Ruto was declared president-elect and Raila Odinga and Martha Karua challenged the result. On 5 September 2022 the Supreme Court unanimously upheld Rutos victory. The judgment ended Uhuru Kenyattas succession project: the deputy he had sidelined became the next president, while the handshake coalition lost the state. politics ●●●●●

13 September 2022 Uhuru hands the presidency to William Ruto 2 cit. On 13 September 2022 Uhuru Kenyatta handed power to William Ruto at Kasarani after a bitter succession battle. The ceremony preserved constitutional transfer even though Uhuru had campaigned against Ruto. It closed the Jubilee decade and opened a new period in which Uhuru became both retired president and active party figure. politics ●●●●●

22 July 2022 EAC appoints Uhuru to facilitate the Nairobi Process for eastern DRC 1 cit. After leaving office, Uhuru Kenyatta was appointed by East African Community heads of state as facilitator of the EAC-led Nairobi Process for peace and security in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. The role moved him into regional diplomacy, including dialogue with the DRC government, armed groups, regional states and international partners. His post-presidency therefore continued through conflict mediation rather than full withdrawal. diplomacy / politics / war ●●●●

19 June 2023 High Seas Treaty 0 cit. Agreement under the Law of the Sea convention on conserving marine biodiversity in waters beyond national jurisdiction, enabling high seas marine protected areas. It was adopted after nearly two decades of negotiation. diplomacy / environment / politics ●●●

7 October 2023 Gaza War 0 cit. no story Hamas attacks Israel on October 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking hostages, and Israel responds with a devastating campaign in Gaza. Tens of thousands of Palestinians die and the war ripples across the region. politics / war ●●●●