Hidden beyond the headlines, articles just below the radar

AS 2017 comes to a close, the major events of the year will dominate the year-end retrospectives: President Donald Trump’s tumultuous first year in office, European elections from the Netherlands to France to Germany, the dramatic rise of the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the body blows dealt to Isis in Iraq and Syria, the on-again, off-again trade tensions with

China, the shadow of Russia in US politics, the UK’s tortuous Brexit negotiations and the North Korea nuclear challenge, among others.

However, the events that make headlines are not always the most consequential stories. Often, hidden beyond the headlines of the day, the tectonic plates are shifting imperceptibly, quietly – these deserve close attention.

Here are my top four ICYMI (in case you missed it) stories of 2017 that were just below the radar but will have significant consequences for the world.

1. China’s artificial intelligence strategy

We’ve all heard of the extraordinary promise – and peril – of artificial intelligence (AI). The business world is being transformed by AI and, in the military sphere, industrial-scale robotic killing capacity awaits us. In our personal lives, from virtual assistants to driverless cars, AI is changing how we live, consume and connect.

The Swiss economist and founder of the World Economic Forum, Klaus Schwab, puts AI at the heart of what he calls the coming Fourth Industrial Revolution, a transformation that he argues “will be unlike anything humankind has experienced before”. Elon Musk warns that AI advances could lead to World War III, and Vladimir

Putin has declared that the winner of the AI race will be “ruler of the world”.

Enter China. They quietly declared an AI strategy through to the year 2030 that aims for nothing short of global dominance of the industry. “The rapid development of artificial intelligence will profoundly change human social life and the world,” the report titled “Notice of the State Council Issuing the New Generation of Artificial Intelligence Development Plan,” begins.

Eric Schmidt, former executive chairperson of Google’s parent company, says the US desperately needs an AI strategy, too. So far, no takers in the Trump administration. Watch this space.

2. Post-American trade deals Within days of sitting in the

Oval Office, Trump declared the multilateral Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal, encompassing some 40% of the global economy, dead on arrival, leaving long-time allies like Japan, Singapore and Australia in the lurch.

As US trade negotiators were chipping away at the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta), Trump turned up at global conferences in Europe and Asia declaring “America first” and the days of getting “taken advantage of ” by others were over.

The US, the leader and founder of the rules-based, post-World War II liberal trade order, seemingly wants out.

Trump’s views sparked handwringing across the globe, but the hand-wringing changed to handshaking as countries from Europe to Asia, Latin America to Africa are going on with trade deals of their own, inaugurating what might be a series of post-American trade deals.

Mexico and the EU are close to launching a new trade deal. Japan and the EU are also working on a major deal. Several TPP members frustrated by Washington are signing on to a China-led trade deal, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, that will account for nearly half the world’s population and a quarter of the global economy.

As for the TPP that Trump declared dead, Tokyo is leading an effort to revive it – without the US.

3. The news of Europe’s death was greatly exaggerated

Brexit and the rise of populist nationalism dominated the headlines out of Europe this year. Three elections – the Netherlands, France and Germany – were framed as pivotal turning points for the future of Europe.

In all three, the far-right parties gained but could not achieve majorities and attention turned back to Europe’s other tragic drama: the UK’s Brexit negotiations, a remarkable own goal in slow motion.

But something else happened: Economic growth returned to Europe. The euro-zone countries are on pace for the fastest growth in a decade with 2.4% growth on the year, according to the European Central Bank. The broader EU is also growing respectably, a far cry from the days of zero or negative growth in the wake of the 2008 global financial meltdown and the 2010 European debt crisis.

Countries on the verge of implosion a few years ago, such as Greece or debt-saddled Portugal, have made recoveries ranging from cautious to robust. Today, the continent’s leaders may feel a bit like Mark Twain when he read his own obituary in the newspaper and replied: “The news of my demise has been greatly exaggerated.”

4. The enduring popularity of Narendra Modi

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi should have had a rough year. In early 2017, he had to deal with the fallout of a currency demonetisation programme that wreaked havoc on the economy.

Then he eliminated a series of taxes that inhibited India from becoming a truly common market of 1.3 billion people.

While full of long-range potential, the tax reform roll-out had glitches and is still hurting small businesses, the backbone of the economy.

Despite these stumbles, Modi’s popularity remains sky-high, and Indians are among the most optimistic about their future in the world, according to polling from Pew Research Centre.

For his uncanny ability to remain popular while enacting ambitious reforms that could unleash India’s true economic potential, Modi should win the emerging world’s person of the year.

Molavi is co-director of the emerge85 Lab and a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Institute of the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in Washington.