While many say they will be glad to be rid of 2020, a new year does not mean America's problems have gone away.(Reuters: Carlo Allegri)
Emily Olson, ABC NEws Online: Americans have long been talking like things would get better in 2021, but things still look bleak
At some point, 2020 stopped being merely a measurement of time and became a euphemism for suffering.
"I can't wait for 2020 to be over," Americans said, again and again and again, because it was easier than listing out the compounding crises or addressing the specific causes at their core.
In repeating the phrase, we postponed catharsis, subconsciously pinning our hopes for feeling better to the arrival of 2021.
Yet when Americans wake up on New Year's Day, time will have passed, but without bringing solace for their suffering. The crises the country is facing will remain.
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Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- January 1, 2021
China gives free jabs, takes a shot at West’s drugs -- Frank Chen, Asia Times
Persian Gulf Buildup By US, Israel Worries Region: ‘A Perfect Storm?’ -- Riad Kahwaji, Breaking Defense
Saudi Arabia braces for Joe Biden -- Laura Kelly, The Hill
What Ukraine Can Expect from Joe Biden -- Dou Klain, National Interest
Joe Biden’s Russia conundrum: Will the incoming US president work to relax tensions or double down on hostile approach to Moscow? -- Gabriel Gavin, RT
10 Key Details in UK-EU Trade Deal -- Anna Isaac, Politico EU
Brexit will be made official as the UK leaves the European Union single market and customs union on January 1. But what happens next? -- Lucia Stein and Jack Hawke, ABC News Online
Britons start facing their new Brexit world -- Clyde Hughes, UPI
What will Cuba’s new single currency mean for the island? -- Kaelyn Forde, Al Jazeera
Foreign Policy Stories That Packed a Punch in 2020 -- Keith Johnson, Foreign Policy
