Editorial: 2025: The normalisation of the unacceptable
We can only hope that in 2026, political extremism will start exhausting itself as people tire of fear-driven rhetoric
If we felt 2025 was a turbulent year, then we better brace ourselves for 2026. In the last year or so, political convenience, short-term profit and moral cowardice have taken precedence over long-term thinking, responsibility and basic decency. And in 2026, we could start witnessing the hangover of this terrible tectonic shift.
The past year will likely be remembered for the way the international moral compass spun wildly.
Populist politicians and tech giants have embraced to chisel a world where being right was dismissed as naïve, wrong was excused as necessary and where values have been sold to the highest bidder or quietly abandoned when they became inconvenient.
Aided and abetted by technology, we chose to move backwards, convincing ourselves there was no alternative.
Donald Trump is probably the most disruptive leader of our lifetime – and not in a good way. Whatever happens in the United States remains particularly consequential in Europe, Malta included. We can only hope that the US midterms in November will clip Trump’s wings and stop the American slide towards authoritarianism.
The European Union remains, despite its flaws, the most hopeful political project of our lifetime. But in 2025, it has also shown worrying hesitation when confronted by leaders who openly disregard the rule of law.
If Europe cannot defend its own values with confidence, it cannot expect citizens to believe in them.
Geopolitical tensions show little sign of abating. We can only hope that Russia’s brutal war against Ukraine ends without its neighbour being coerced into surrendering territory.
We also hope that we have seen the back of Israel’s criminal siege of Gaza. It is deeply troubling to know that figures such as Vladimir Putin and Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu are likely to continue to dodge accountability for their war crimes.
If Europe cannot defend its own values with confidence, it cannot expect citizens to believe in them
Trump’s decision to halt USAID has delivered a cruel blow to some of the world’s most vulnerable people as well as to the organisations striving to support them. When wealthy nations abandon the poor, the consequences will not disappear but will resurface, sooner or later, on their own doorstep.
Amid the chaos, the global model for funding aid and development clearly needs rethinking, lest we spark a pandemic of our own making in 2026.
Artificial intelligence has brought undeniable benefits; it has facilitated work and information on many levels but its uncontrolled spread is also making it harder to tell truth from fabrication.
Deep fake videos are no longer a curiosity but a political weapon and a tool to fool and scam, making misinformation more persuasive. In a small country like Malta, where social media is a drug, this erosion matters deeply.
The steady attack on independent media has reached boiling point. Around the world, journalists are being killed, undermined or silenced, often by leaders who were elected democratically and then set about dismantling democratic checks from within.
In 2025, decades-long plans to fight climate change were diluted or worse, discarded, as they are seen as harming profits. Rising temperatures, pressure on resources and environmental degradation are not distant threats; they are already here – 2025 is expected to be one of the hottest on record.
Yet, pessimism is not the only option. Innovation can still drive growth if it is guided by ethics. We can only hope that in 2026, political extremism will start exhausting itself as people tire of fear-driven rhetoric.
We hope the EU finds its voice again and leaders of big European states look beyond their domestic playground.
The real test of 2026 will not be what happens to us but what we choose to do about it. Difficult times do not absolve us of responsibility. The price of disengagement has never been higher.