It’s nearly September. The trees are turning red, students are returning to school after a months-long holiday, and the sweltering heat cools down (a little).
As history looks back to the summer of 2024, the term “brat summer” will be of some prominence. If you have been living under a rock for the past three months, right after Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race, Kamala Harris’s campaign and her momentum were boosted by a tweet from singer Charlie XCX that simply wrote: “Kamala IS brat.”
However, in my view, these lyrics better suit the news from this summer.
Killing me slow, out the window
I'm always waiting for you to be waiting below
Devils roll the dice, angels roll their eyes
What doesn't kill me makes me want you moreAnd it's new, the shape of your body
It's blue, the feeling I've got
And it's ooh, whoa, oh
It's a cruel summer
It's cool, that's what I tell 'em
No rules in breakable heaven
But ooh, whoa oh
It's a cruel summer
With you
If you haven’t noticed it yet, these are the lyrics to Cruel Summer by Taylor Swift. Looking back at all the events that have happened from June to August, it felt like the world was in wild card mode all the time.
With so many events, where to start? Maybe we can begin with the launch of the Boeing Starliner on June 5 after multiple delays, which only led to more trouble in outer space as astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams had to extend their trip to the ISS from eight days to eight months. A major embarrassment for Boeing and NASA while the public was speculating for the entire summer whether they were stuck in space.
But they might be lucky to be stranded in the comfort of the ISS when back on Earth, we are on a “highway to climate hell.” Heatwaves, storms, and threats of breaking the 1.5-degree Celcius goal dominated the environmental headlines. Mpox made its underserved return after the WHO declared it a global health emergency due to its spread in Central Africa. Scientists were interested in Mars after speculation of vast underwater reservoirs of water.
It was a crazy season for elections: Narendra Modi won his election but with less power than expected for his BJP party; Claudia Sheinbaum was elected as Mexico’s first female president; Keir Starmer entered 10 Downing Street in a bruising loss for the Tories; the aftermath of Venezuela’s disputed election included mass protests against the autocratic leader Nicolás Maduro; Iran elected the moderate Masoud Pezeshkian as president after President Ebrahim Raisi was killed in a helicopter accident; the European Parliamentary elections saw a swing to the right while France held a snap election that made the National Front and Marine Le Pen giddy until the results from the second round of voting came out.
And then there is the United States, which saw its roller coaster of a presidential election go through all the highs and lows. After the disastrous CNN debate by Joe Biden in late June, the party was in an angsty meltdown over whether the president should drop out. When Biden finally made the right choice, Kamala Harris swooped in and gave the entire party a well-deserved energy boost, made even better with the selection of Tim Walz. After months of agonizing over how bad the DNC would be if Biden is the nominee, the convention was a huge party filled with excitement and celebration, featuring Lil John in the Georgia roll call and crowds of Democrats chanting USA. Meanwhile on the Republican side, after the CNN debate, Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt by a lone gunman with mixed political ideologies, got his presidential immunity claim partially justified by the Supreme Court, and picked JD Vance as his VP. Then things went downhill from there, from the numerous scandals and couch jokes plaguing the VP candidate, Jack Smith’s new indictment regarding the election subversion case, and the entire thing about the GOP being weird. In other US political news, RFK Jr dropped out from running as a third-party candidate, Project 2025 got hacked by furries, and both Hunter Biden and Senator Bob Menedez were convicted by the judicial system.
Conflicts also had a tumultuous summer. In the Russo-Ukrainian war, Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un had a carpool joyride, Biden accidentally referred to Ukrainian President Voloydymr Zelensky as the Russian dictator during NATO’s 75th anniversary, there were massive drone attacks by both sides, Russia released 16 detainees like Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich in a major prisoner swap, and there is the not small feat of Ukraine’s incursion to Russia that has already taken some land from the Kursk region. Concerning the Gaza war, on top of more than 40,000 Palestinian deaths in the Gaza Strip due to Israel’s war effort, there were repeated escalations and heavy weapon exchanges between Israel and Hezbollah, multiple ceasefire disappointments, assassinations that killed top Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and Hezbollah’s top military commander, a huge military operation in the occupied West Bank weeks after the ICJ announced Israel’s presence in Palestinian territory is unlawful, several hostages were rescued by the IDF, and there is alarming news of a Polio outbreak in Gaza as humanitarian workers have paused or even stopped operations due to Israel’s war effort.
But there were a lot of miscellaneous headlines that were swooped under the radar: Bangladesh has a Nobel Prize-winning leader in charge after massive protests toppled its long-serving prime minister Sheikh Hasina (Who just won an election earlier this year); Kenya observed mass protests due to the cost of living; Japan’s PM Fumio Kishida announced he is stepping down in September; Japan’s stock market crash caused a week-long panic in the markets; there was a megaquake warning that spooked many tourists from going to Japan; Thailand’s Constitutional Court dissolved the progressive Move Forward Party, days before dismissing then-PM Srettha Thavisin and leading to his daughter becoming Thailand’s nepo baby leader; mass protests and a doctor strike happened in India due to the rape and murder of a medic, putting sexual violence again in the spotlight; the Taliban continued to act as the misogynistic jerks they are by banning women from speaking in public; the UK had seen far-right riots partly triggered by misinformation; Liz Truss left the stage after a lettuce prank; social media site X was on the edge of suspension in Brazil as its owner Elon Musk faced criticism from the EU, UK, and online users for spreading far-right content; Telegram’s CEO was arrested and is now under formal investigation; a faulty software update from CrowdStrike resulted in a worldwide internet meltdown; Kendrick Lamar’s viral single Not Like Us upped its ante through video form; playing badminton has become a code for teen sex in Hong Kong; the Wall Street Joural fired the current HKJA chairperson while 2 Hong Kong journalists from the defunct media outlet Stand News were found guilty of sedition; the Paris Summer Olympics included Turkish and South Korean sharpshooters getting online fame, an Australian breakdancer stunning audiences in all the bad ways, transphobic hate over two biologically female boxers, and the Seine’s water quality kept being in the spotlight.
Yeah, these are the major events and headlines that happened throughout the past three months. Not a lot, right?
If the summer of 2024 is of any insight, get ready for a chaotic autumn and winter coming ahead as the year begins to gradually wrap up!