It has not been a promising start to the New Year. The last week’s sensational assassination of Iran’s second most powerful leader and head of the country’s elite Al-Quds Force, Qassem Sulaimani, has sparked fresh tensions in the Middle East. That the attack was ordered by the US president Donald Trump has outraged people and protests have been held as far as Kashmir against the US’s action which many say amounts to waging a war against a foreign country. As the two countries trade allegations and counter allegations, and fears of war loom large, experts are warning that the security situation in the region will deteriorate further in coming weeks and months. Britain has already started diverting its fuel supply through the Strait of Hormuz to avoid ‘fishing in troubled waters’ of Iran. The threat of impending confrontation between Tehran and Washington will no doubt impact the oil-driven economy of the world. In fact, the repercussions are already being felt in Asian countries where gold, petrol and diesel prices have risen for the third consecutive day on Monday, January 7. After setting the Middle East on fire, America is preparing for its most crucial election this year. According to reports, Trump’s approval ratings in the US have improved following the assassination of Sulaimani. Will it help him get reelected? In that case, what will happen to the impeachment process that has been set into motion against him? And how will the world shape up in case of Trump 2.0? One can only shudder at the thought of what the most powerful president in the world will be up to if he returns to power? Meanwhile, in our part of the world, the situation is not in any way better. Uncertainty continues to prevail despite return of ‘normalcy’. The absence of any political activity has only deepened the sense of siege. The siege is not limited to Kashmir only. It has spread across the country, including the national capital. The government’s new plans to deport people who can’t prove their existence in official records of the country where millions of impoverished and dispossessed people sleep under open skies, unable to eat their full, night after night, year after year, are being opposed tooth and nail. After all, how is it fair to expect a man, who can’t satiate the pangs of hunger, to preserve his name in official records? But the government is not backing down. The situation has only gotten worse with the Sunday’s violence at JNU. 2020 is just seven-days old but the two episodes – Sulaimani assassination and assault on JNU students – are grim indicators of where we are heading.