A world in flames

A year of turmoil, 2023 will live long in the memory [View in browser]( [Bloomberg]( Welcome to Balance of Power, bringing you the latest in global politics. If you haven’t yet, sign up [here](. The hottest year on record, wars with no end in sight, multiple mass shootings, deepening polarization: 2023 won’t be easy to forget. The explosion of violence between Israel and the Palestinians — ignited by the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas and fueled by Israel’s retaliation in Gaza — [was the latest catastrophe]( for a world already weary of the bloody stalemate that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has become. The shocks of climate change continue to spread, with flooding killing thousands in Libya, drought entering a third year in the Horn of Africa and deadly wildfires ravaging Hawaii. A rare mass shooting in Prague yesterday left the Czech people stunned, but such incidents remain all-too common in North America. Politically, Europe is seeing the rise of the kind of right-wing populism that’s flourishing in the US, with migration and environmentalism among the flashpoints. There was some better news as the US and China saw their rivalry swing from confrontation to pledges of more cooperation on military communications and the opioid crisis. And the COP28 climate summit ended with a deal committing the world to [transition away from fossil fuels]( for the first time. There was diplomatic momentum in the Middle East, with something of a rapprochement between Iran and Saudi Arabia, and the Gulf States edging closer to a relationship with Israel — until its pummeling of Gaza. That conflict has been so traumatizing that it sparked huge protests and unleashed a wave of antisemitism and Islamophobia. With the atmosphere increasingly febrile, concerned eyes are turning to next year’s US election. Donald Trump, seeking to retake the White House from Joe Biden, is stoking anti-immigrant sentiment that aggravates tensions. Europe is meanwhile shifting further to the insular right. Taiwan’s January election may reignite US-China enmity. Whatever else 2024 brings, the odds are it involves even greater turmoil. — [Karl Maier]( Buildings destroyed by an Israeli airstrike near the Kuwaiti hospital in Rafah, southern Gaza, on Wednesday. Photographer: Ahmad Salem/Bloomberg Global Must Reads The Czech Republic is in mourning after a student [went on a shooting rampage]( at the Charles University in central Prague yesterday, leaving 15 dead. Gun crime is rare in the central European country, and Prime Minister Petr Fiala expressed the nation’s shock at the worst shooting in its history, in which the assailant also died. Charles University students are evacuated by police in Prague. Photographer: Gabriel Kuchta/Getty Images US Central Intelligence Agency Director William Burns has been shuttling across the Middle East to help secure the release of hostages taken by Hamas during its Oct. 7 attack on Israel. An Arabic speaker, Burns has quickly gained a reputation among Arab governments [as the key US interlocutor]( in the current crisis, sources say. Wives, mothers and girlfriends of Russian soldiers have begun protests calling on the Kremlin to [bring their men back]( from the war in Ukraine more than a year after 300,000 draftees were summoned to fight. While the number involved now is relatively small, the movement risks embarrassing the Kremlin as President Vladimir Putin prepares for elections in March. Trump now enjoys some of the highest ratings among Black voters of any candidate from the Republican Party, according to some national and swing state polls. That’s because discontent with Biden, especially on economic issues, [has eroded the president’s support]( in a group that is likely to be key to his bid to win reelection in November.  Politics in Thailand this year have been eventful, with a general election ending nearly [a decade of military-backed rule]( and former premier Thaksin Shinawatra setting foot in the Southeast Asian country for the first time in 15 years. The fate of a mega cash handout program will be a key test for the new government of Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, while his grand promise of uprooting junta-era legacies is yet to materialize. The US signaled it may support a resolution at the United Nations Security Council that would increase aid flowing to Gaza [after drawn out negotiations]( had threatened to defeat the measure. The UK economy unexpectedly shrank in the third quarter, raising the prospect that Britain is in recession [heading into a probable election]( year, with the governing Conservatives far behind in the polls. Angola announced it’s leaving OPEC after 16 years of membership amid [a dispute over oil production quotas](, while the cartel tries to buoy global prices. [Sign up for the Washington Edition newsletter]( for news from the US capital and watch Balance of Power at 5pm ET weekdays on Bloomberg Television. Chart of the Day China is undergoing an [extraordinary electric-vehicle boom](. Since the beginning of 2017, it has chalked up more than 18 million EV sales, nearly half the world’s total and over four times more than the US, according to BloombergNEF data. By 2026, the research group projects that over 50% of all new passenger vehicle sales in China will be electric, compared with a little over a quarter in the US. And Finally Many decommissioned US embassies built in the early years of the Cold War to showcase American values and combat communism [face uncertain futures](, Mark Byrnes reports. Created in support of soft diplomacy during a time where spies, not terrorists, were keeping US officials on edge, these impressive complexes are now out of step with the post-9/11 security landscape. John Kenneth Galbraith, ambassador to India, shows off the US embassy in New Delhi to First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy in March 1962. Source: John F. Kennedy Presidential Library Pop quiz (no cheating!) The highest court in which state ruled that Trump is ineligible to serve as US president because of his actions inciting the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol? Send your answers to balancepower@bloomberg.net. (Balance of Power will take a break starting Monday and return on Jan. 8.) 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