2020 has been a devastating year. We could all do with some good news.

Here are some of @CrisisGroup’s 10 reasons for hope in 2021.

1. Vaccines. Several vaccines developed in record time have already been approved against #COVID19.

Their roll-out gives good reasons to believe 2021 will see a dramatic turnaround of the pandemic.
2. Return to diplomacy. After 4 years of the Trump era’s erosion of multilateralism and tensions among the P5, the Biden administration could help restore U.S. engagement in multilateral conflict resolution efforts and at the Security Council

https://t.co/gKvY9NNabr
3. Climate. The U.S. is likely to rejoin the Paris Agreement and lead a renewed charge to fight climate change and its destructive consequences.

See @CrisisGroup’s research on the complex relationship between conflict and climate ☟
https://t.co/NIIoQztPK1
4. In Afghanistan, ongoing peace talks could lead to meaningful progress.

There are many obstacles on the road ahead, but the current negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban represent the country’s best shot at peace in a generation.

https://t.co/WVh6NfZE7W
5. The African Continental Free Trade Area.

Trading began in the new continent-wide single market on 1 January 2021 and offers important long term prospects for reducing conflict in Africa.
6. A decline in gang violence in El Salvador.

The murder rate has fallen spectacularly, giving citizens hope that 2021 heralds an end to the long-running cycle of violence. The lull is thought to be the result of secret talks between gang leaders and populist president Bukele.
7. Diplomacy U.S.-Iran.

2020 brought the U.S.-Iran tensions close to boiling point but with a new administration in Washington, the two countries are in a position to restore compliance with the nuclear deal and seek to de-escalate regional tensions.

https://t.co/b9Q5GWDV8t
8. A ceasefire in Libya.

An alignment of positive factors - a ceasefire, less belligerent regional actors, war fatigue - gives hope – albeit fragile – that the cycle of violence that began in 2011 might come to a close.
9. A major EU budget deal.

Despite the economic downturn brought by the pandemic, the EU closed 2 years of negotiations culminating in a 1.8 trillion budget confirming its commitments for global development, humanitarian relief, peacebuilding, and conflict prevention.
10. Our colleague Michael Kovrig, who is starting his third year in unjustified arbitrary detention in China, has received overwhelming support, including at the UN Security Council.

Our most pressing wish for 2021 is his release.

More from Government

This is a good piece on fissures within the GOP but I think it mischaracterizes the Trump presidency as “populist” & repeats a story about how conservatives & the GOP expelled the far-right in the mid-1960s that is actually far more complicated. /1

I don’t think the sharp opposition between “hard-edge populism” & “conservative orthodoxy” holds. Many of the Trump administration’s achievements were boilerplate conservatism. Its own website trumpets things like “massive deregulation,” tax cuts, etc. /2

https://t.co/N97v85Bb79


The claim that Buckley and “key GOP politicians banded together to marginalize anti-Communist extremism and conspiracy-mongering” of the JBS has been widely repeated lately but the history is more complicated. /3


This tweet by @ThePlumLineGS citing a paper by @sam_rosenfeld and @daschloz on the "porous" boundary between conservatives, the GOP and the far-right is relevant in this context.


This is a separate point but I find it interesting that Gaetz, like Roy Moore did In his failed Senate campaign, disses McConnell. What are their actual policy differences? MM supported taking health care away from millions, a tax cut for the rich, conservative judges, etc. /5

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Fake chats claiming to be from the Irish African community are being disseminated by the far right in order to suggest that violence is imminent from #BLM supporters. This is straight out of the QAnon and Proud Boys playbook. Spread the word. Protest safely. #georgenkencho


There is co-ordination across the far right in Ireland now to stir both left and right in the hopes of creating a race war. Think critically! Fascists see the tragic killing of #georgenkencho, the grief of his community and pending investigation as a flashpoint for action.


Across Telegram, Twitter and Facebook disinformation is being peddled on the back of these tragic events. From false photographs to the tactics ofwhite supremacy, the far right is clumsily trying to drive hate against minority groups and figureheads.


Declan Ganley’s Burkean group and the incel wing of National Party (Gearóid Murphy, Mick O’Keeffe & Co.) as well as all the usuals are concerted in their efforts to demonstrate their white supremacist cred. The quiet parts are today being said out loud.


The best thing you can do is challenge disinformation and report posts where engagement isn’t appropriate. Many of these are blatantly racist posts designed to drive recruitment to NP and other Nationalist groups. By all means protest but stay safe.