This was the year that Vladimir Putin proved he was the best chess player in the world and Donald Trump proved he could write the angriest tweets.
This was the year when the United States moved its embassy to Jerusalem after a 30-year wait, a big Trump bear hug after eight years of cold-shoulder Obama.
This was the year of lost boys in a Thai cave, of a sudden opening in North Korea, of Venezuela’s unraveling. This was the year when the United States finally got serious about Iran, flinging to the wind the “plan of action” that amounted to nothing more than a pile of words.
This was the year that Bashar al-Assad won the war in Syria, defying the odds, defying history, defying anything decent in the world. This was the year that Iran and Russia helped him win that war.
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