The year changed with fireworks, resolutions and the usual promise that humanity had learned something.
It had not.
Wars do not reset at midnight. Borders do not become less exposed because a calendar app changed colour. Old grievances remain available for political use, and authoritarian states do not wake up on 1 January with a sudden respect for neighbouring sovereignty.
This is not an argument for despair. It is an argument against seasonal innocence. Peace requires maintenance. Alliances require logistics. Democratic confidence requires a public willing to distinguish compromise from surrender and caution from denial.
Happy New Year. Check the locks.
Pressure changes shape. The work remains.
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