As 2025 draws to a close, the world finds itself not moving to a single beat but rather pulsing to five distinct rhythms—each continent living its own historical tempo, as described by China Daily. Accelerated time in the Global South, regressive time in the Global North, suspended time in Europe, a futuristic tempo in Asia, and a state of maximum alert in the Pacific have created a global mismatch, a mosaic of incompatible historical speeds. This fragmentation, evident in every major event of the year, has redefined international disorder and left the planet facing a pivotal question: how can such divergent clocks be synchronized for a common future?
Latin America, in particular, experienced a year of compressed history, as if decades were squeezed into mere months. Nowhere was this more visible than in the region’s political shifts and climate leadership. According to China Daily, the United States’ “Southern Spear” operation—the largest military mobilization in the hemisphere in decades—reopened old wounds of intervention and imperial violence. Venezuela, meanwhile, returned to the limelight as the center of a global dispute over oil, drawing in superpowers and regional actors alike.
Yet, amid the turmoil, Brazil emerged as a surprising diplomatic and climate leader. Hosting COP30 in Belém, Brazil attracted dozens of heads of state, multilateral organizations, and the international press to the Amazon, positioning itself at the forefront of global climate and environmental governance. Notably, Brazil also chaired both BRICS+ and the G20, projecting itself as a builder of consensus in an increasingly fragmented system. As Just Security observed, however, the results of COP30 were muted: “there was little progress on crucial questions such as countries’ specific individual commitments to emissions reduction.” Despite the fanfare, climate diplomacy struggled to translate ambition into concrete action.
In the United States, the clock appeared to move backward. The administration doubled down on unilateral militarization, ideological neo-McCarthyism, and institutional erosion. The military escalation in the Caribbean, according to China Daily, bypassed multilateral institutions and sidelined traditional allies. Government agencies, from the State Department to the Environmental Protection Agency, showed visible signs of deterioration. America’s retreat from global climate engagement was especially pronounced, with Just Security noting that “U.S. state and local governments may be seeking openings to engage even as the national government pulls back.” This withdrawal created a power vacuum in public health leadership as well, following controversial cuts to federal programs and the U.S. withdrawal from the World Health Organization. While regional alliances and other nations attempted to fill the gap, a Lancet study projected that these cuts could lead to 14 million additional deaths by 2030—a figure contested by some scholars but emblematic of the resource shortfall facing global health efforts.
Europe, for its part, lived in a kind of suspended time. The continent endured another year of economic stagnation, internal division, and difficulty articulating a common post-Brexit, post-energy-crisis, post-globalization project. European elections saw gains for far-right parties, but not enough to form a coherent bloc capable of addressing migration, climate, and industrial challenges. The European Union debated climate goals but struggled to implement them, calling for strategic autonomy while remaining dependent on the U.S. for security and China for supply chains. As China Daily put it, Europe “observes, reacts, but no longer sets the global pace.”
Asia, meanwhile, seemed to leap ahead. China consolidated its technological and climate leadership, deepening cooperation across Africa, South America, and Southeast Asia. India advanced in innovation, infrastructure, and diplomacy, while Southeast Asia became the world’s fastest-growing economic engine. The Republic of Korea and Japan strengthened their technological ecosystems amid regional tensions. The continent’s rhythm was shaped by innovation, digitalization, and new multilateral arrangements, with green technologies, 5G and 6G networks, and alternative currencies being defined and exported from Asia. Here, the 21st century was not just imagined—it was built, then shipped to the rest of the world.
In Oceania, the urgency of climate collapse was impossible to ignore. The Pacific became the front line, with entire islands swallowed by rising seas and thousands displaced in 2025. New Zealand and Australia pursued ambitious climate policies but faced geopolitical pressure in the Asia-Pacific. The region’s time was that of immediate response and unavoidable adaptation, a stark reminder of what is at stake if the world fails to act.
While these continental narratives unfolded, several under-the-radar milestones shaped the global landscape. As Just Security highlighted, the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Agreement (BBNJ), or High Seas Treaty, garnered enough ratifications in fall 2025 to enter into force in January 2026. This landmark agreement creates the first comprehensive legal framework for protecting biodiversity on the high seas—covering nearly half the earth’s surface—and stands as a rare bright spot for international treaty-making.
Elsewhere, the International Criminal Court (ICC) managed to continue its work despite internal challenges. The Court saw sanctions related to the Palestine situation and allegations against Prosecutor Karim Khan, yet also achieved significant progress: the arrest of former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, convictions related to Sudan and the Central African Republic, and the confirmation of charges in absentia in the Joseph Kony case. According to Just Security, “the Court is not invulnerable, but it is resilient.”
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) published an updated Commentary on the Fourth Geneva Convention, modernizing guidance on civilian protection in armed conflict—a particularly timely development given the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe in Sudan. Now three years into a brutal civil war, Sudan has experienced the largest displacement crisis in the world, with approximately 12 million people forcibly displaced and over 30 million in need of humanitarian aid. Civilians have faced direct violence, health system collapse, malnutrition, famine, and outbreaks of disease. Despite the enormity of the crisis, global attention has lagged woefully behind the scale of the tragedy.
Latin America, despite its climate leadership, also saw a political shift. As Just Security reported, the region experienced a rightward swing, with tough-on-crime and anti-immigration platforms gaining traction in countries like Chile and Argentina. Yet, the idea that the right is uniquely authoritarian has faded, with the region’s three clear-cut dictatorships—Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela—remaining on the left. Voters appeared more frustrated with the political establishment’s inability to address crime and inflation than swayed by traditional left-wing promises.
Amid all these developments, the year was also marked by the relentless advance of generative AI. New large-language models and AI video content raised profound questions about how society validates knowledge and trusts information. As Just Security noted, “the ubiquity of AI-generated content may threaten the (already tenuous) social agreement about reality,” with manipulated images and videos complicating everything from civilian protection to evidence collection in conflict zones. Policymakers now face the daunting task of regulating AI before the public fully grasps its risks and limitations.
So, as 2026 approaches, the world stands at a crossroads. The challenge is no longer just to align clocks, but to imagine a shared time—a time for cooperation, adaptation, and survival. Whether the answer lies in the innovation of Asia, the climate leadership of Brazil, or the resilience of humanitarian institutions, one thing is clear: the tempo of history has never been more out of sync, or more urgent to reconcile.
