Evacuation from Aleppo Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

The Year That Ended an Epoch?

The year 2016 is coming to an end with Middle East tensions rising and populists making gains in Europe and the US. After a turbulent year, with little positive news in international politics, 2017 is shaping up to be a year full of challenges and uncertainty.

MADRID – As 2016 comes to an end, the outlook for 2017 is shrouded in uncertainty. Tensions in the Middle East are rising, and populist movements have appeared in Europe and the United States.

In the Middle East, the tragic conflict in Syria continues, despite several fruitless attempts at rapprochement, which were marred by the fundamental disagreement about Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s future role in any peace process or political transition. Meanwhile, over the past week, Syrian government troops, backed by Russia and Iran, have retaken almost all of Aleppo – once Syria’s largest city, now utterly devastated by the war.

The world’s priority for the coming year must be to achieve peace in Syria, which will require close regional and international cooperation. On December 27, Iran, Russia, and Turkey will hold a tripartite meeting in Moscow to discuss a political solution for the Syria conflict. That meeting, if it takes place, is likely to be overshadowed by the fallout from the assassination of Russia’s ambassador to Turkey. But it is nothing if not surprising that these parties, and not the US and the European Union, would be negotiating such an agreement.

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