OUT OF THE FRYING PAN: 2020 Trends and Predictions from 21WIRE
2020 BY 21WIRE
Looking forward into the New Year, here are but a few breaking trends to look out for, as well as some salient predictions for the coming year.
In last year’s Trends and Predictions for 2019, we identified some prominent watershed moments in politics, international relations and technology, but as is continually the case these days – the pace of change keeps speeding up, offering even more twists and turns than seen in previous years. Looking back, 2019 was truly a Shake & Bake year, where everything was up for grabs and where we successfully predicted both Robert Mueller’s failure and the Democrat’s Impeachment of Donald Trump, along with a few other near-miss predictions.
For this coming year, we’ll see some entirely new realities come into focus, as 2020 takes us out of the frying pan.
So here it is – the good, the bad, and the ugly for 2020…
Impeachment Dies on the Vine – Before Christmas, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi basically kicked the can into the New Year – afraid to send the Democrat’s Articles of Impeachment to the US Senate, as is standard procedure. One has to assume this is because she knew that the Democrat’s case was so incredibly weak that it would die as soon as it hit the Senate review panel. As it turns out, this has been one the worst own-goals in US political history, but those who have actually been following these developments with a sober eye are not at all surprised by what they are seeing. Of course, this will only help Trump in his re-election campaign.
2020 Election Circus, Trump Redux – All indications are that Trump will be the presumptive favorite to win re-election in 2020. The reasons are as follows: the Democratic field was bloated from the start, with some 25 candidates vying for a spot on the podium. This has left many swing voters confused and uninspired for the most part, although there are significant pockets of excitement for runners like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, and somehow, for Joe Biden.
But the question is: will any of these Democrat candidates do better than Hillary did in 2016? Right now the answer appears to be no, while Trump’s support base seems to be steadily growing. Add to this the recent bounce in the polls received by Trump as a result of the Democrat’s disastrous Impeachment effort, and Trump seems to be the frontrunner ahead of the Democratic Primaries in 2020. Regardless, this will still be a close election and the Democrats are still likely to carry the popular vote nationally, while Trump will take the electoral college again by solidifying some additional gains in heartland and rust belt states, as well as in key swing states like Virginia. If indeed Trump wins re-election, expect accusations of “Russian interference” and also expect angry Antifa mobs to set some American cities on fire, literally. Half of America still hasn’t learned its lessons from 2016.
Democratic Civil War – One of the tragic consequences of four years of scapegoating Russia for Hillary’s 2016 electoral train wreck, is that there has been virtually no work on policy and creating a unified platform for the Democratic Party. Add to this the bloated and discombobulated Democratic field, and the reality of more progressive young bloods coming in, like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, fighting for key ranking positions and challenging political dinosaurs like Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer – and you have a real power struggle for the “soul of the party”. Every week, we see young leftists accusing old centerist Democrats of being in the pocket of Wall Street, and not 
being ‘pure’ enough or progressive enough for impatient millennials who want change now. Of course, they may be right, but that still won’t bring the party any closer to victory in 2020. This is not unlike the Tea Party split experienced by Republicans after their disastrous 2008 election. As a result, wide fractures are already occurring in the American political left, and within the party itself. Under the surface, you already have bad blood between the Bernie Sanders base and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) for intentionally railroading Bernie’s Presidential run in 2016 in favor the eventual loser Clinton. All of this tension will culminate at the Democratic Convention in July, where it is likely that there will be no clear majority winner going in – which means a second vote may go to the convention floor, which will likely trigger the dreaded Super Delegates – the very same party apparatchiks and establishment loyalists who screwed Sanders in 2016. And here they are again, doing the exact same thing in 2020. This may result in the DNC offering up a nominee which did not earn a mandate during the primary process – which is sure to ignite a bona fide civil war within the party. Underneath all this though, is the fact that there’s very little left on the Left, due to the fact that, like Britain’s Labour Party under Blair, Democrats have been pulled so far to the political right thanks to arch neoliberalists Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. From a policy point of view, centrist Democrats are almost indistinguishable from mainline Republicans. No wonder more voters are feeling uninspired. This in-fighting and apathy may result in lower voter turnouts for Democrats, as they face having their own Mitt Romney moment in 2020.
being ‘pure’ enough or progressive enough for impatient millennials who want change now. Of course, they may be right, but that still won’t bring the party any closer to victory in 2020. This is not unlike the Tea Party split experienced by Republicans after their disastrous 2008 election. As a result, wide fractures are already occurring in the American political left, and within the party itself. Under the surface, you already have bad blood between the Bernie Sanders base and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) for intentionally railroading Bernie’s Presidential run in 2016 in favor the eventual loser Clinton. All of this tension will culminate at the Democratic Convention in July, where it is likely that there will be no clear majority winner going in – which means a second vote may go to the convention floor, which will likely trigger the dreaded Super Delegates – the very same party apparatchiks and establishment loyalists who screwed Sanders in 2016. And here they are again, doing the exact same thing in 2020. This may result in the DNC offering up a nominee which did not earn a mandate during the primary process – which is sure to ignite a bona fide civil war within the party. Underneath all this though, is the fact that there’s very little left on the Left, due to the fact that, like Britain’s Labour Party under Blair, Democrats have been pulled so far to the political right thanks to arch neoliberalists Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. From a policy point of view, centrist Democrats are almost indistinguishable from mainline Republicans. No wonder more voters are feeling uninspired. This in-fighting and apathy may result in lower voter turnouts for Democrats, as they face having their own Mitt Romney moment in 2020.
Politics is the New Hollywood – This concept was coined by SUNDAY WIRE host Patrick Henningsen back in 2017, and continues to sums up the truly perilous trajectory of pop culture in the West. Of course, Donald Trump, a former reality TV star, embodies the trend of “Politics is the New Hollywood,” and really made this a reality by hogging the width and breadth of mass media coverage, mostly by just tweeting. This in turn requires the media to respond and react to his every move and machination, no matter how frivolous or vapid it might be. The attention he’s getting is as much from his detractors as it is from his support ‘base’. Nonetheless, this sort of obsessive attention is normally reserved for celebrities, and royals. Other Democrat politicians will also get this publicity bounce in 2020. In the Ukraine, new President Volodymyr Zelenski was a TV actor who played a ‘regular guy who became president. Life imitates art? No, this is completely predictable, as social media feeds are now dominated with A-Z list political celebrities. And that’s all we time-poor folks really have time to follow closely these days. Sadly, this means that there are simply no eye balls left to gawk at Hollywood’s glitterati. Because of social media’s 24/7 political news cycle, ‘A-listers’ can no longer compete for hearts and minds with round-the-clock characters Trump, Bernie and Creepy Joe. No one cares who Tom Cruise is dating, or what beach Kim Kardashian is topless on anymore – unless there’s a political angle. Otherwise, celebrities will continue to sink into the detritus of the collective pop consciousness. So get used to it. Politics is the New Hollywood. In 2020, it’s definitely a thing.
Mass De-platforming and Censorship – 2019 was a banner year for the nameless, faceless, Silicon Valley censorship committees, a self-appointed Star Chamber, busy programming their algorithms to exclude any speech online which these corporations believe falls outside of their narrow acceptable band of public discourse. All of this was initially launched in late 2016 under the guise of “fighting fake news”, which then morphed into “countering disinformation”, which now 
encompasses ever vague missions like “countering Russian influence” and cleansing the virtual world of “extremist content”. In reality, all of this has been undertaken for partisan reasons; Silicon Valley firms are overwhelmingly Democrat and liberal in their political orientation. This orgy of corporate censorship is also being underwritten by new government censorship directives, led by the UK and EU, all predicated on the excuse of fighting ‘hate speech,’ and guarding vulnerable and helpless users from ‘disinformation’ not emanating from “reputable and trusted sources,” namely mainstream media and government itself, because why would they ever lie or spin anything, right? Expect these Kafkaesque cultural committees to step-up their efforts in 2020, in the hopes that they can affect the outcome of the US Presidential election somehow, in favor of the Democratic candidate. But beyond this, these same platforms have been aggressive erasing accounts and content which opposes war and the national security state. Despite repeated denials by executives, their dark agenda is becoming more obvious by the day.
encompasses ever vague missions like “countering Russian influence” and cleansing the virtual world of “extremist content”. In reality, all of this has been undertaken for partisan reasons; Silicon Valley firms are overwhelmingly Democrat and liberal in their political orientation. This orgy of corporate censorship is also being underwritten by new government censorship directives, led by the UK and EU, all predicated on the excuse of fighting ‘hate speech,’ and guarding vulnerable and helpless users from ‘disinformation’ not emanating from “reputable and trusted sources,” namely mainstream media and government itself, because why would they ever lie or spin anything, right? Expect these Kafkaesque cultural committees to step-up their efforts in 2020, in the hopes that they can affect the outcome of the US Presidential election somehow, in favor of the Democratic candidate. But beyond this, these same platforms have been aggressive erasing accounts and content which opposes war and the national security state. Despite repeated denials by executives, their dark agenda is becoming more obvious by the day.
Global Uprisings on the Rise – 2019 saw a record number of simultaneous mass protests happening all over the globe, and still going. France’s Yellow Vests aka Gilet Jaunes, led the way, followed by mass movements across South America, Middle East and Asia. All over the world, crowds are forming in their millions, with protesters occupying squares, blocking highways, and taking over parliament buildings, while demanding an end to neoliberal austerity policies, scarce jobs and spiraling inflation. Expect these uprisings to grow and multiply, as people begin to challenge the 20th century orthodoxy of the hereditary oligarchy, and US dollar-led debt-based financial market rigging. This will pose serious challenges to US client states worldwide, already struggling to hold together their economies and political mandates while over-spending on US military products – while the ranks of their poor and unemployed grow by the day. Ultimately, what’s at stake is any respect for government and authority. It’s that fundamental.
The Vindication of Julian Assange – More than any other story in 2019, the apprehension and unlawful incarceration of award-winning journalist and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, left a black mark on the supposed ‘leaders of free world,’ namely the United States and Britain. But 2020 will most certainly be the year when Assange is vindicated – at least in the court of public opinion. In the waning months of 2019, the tide of public opinion continued to shift in Julian’s favor. With each passing week, more high-profile individuals, mainstream journalists and civil liberties advocates are coming out to defend Assange and demand his release. The only group which has been reticent to speak for him has been politicians, with the exception of a few, like Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, a 2020 Democratic Presidential hopeful. But the real concern is whether he will survive the brutal treatment being dished out by the British state, now in breach of its own laws and precedents, all in order to hand over to what many agree is an authoritarian US government bent on revenge for the international embarrassment caused by WikiLeaks important exposures. Until then, his life will continue to hang in the balance. #FreeAssange
China Dubbed Axis of Evil – Move over Kim and Putin, there’s a new boogeyman in the making. The US is fast losing its ability to manufacture enemies and existential threats it needs to justify its now $1 Trillion annual military budget, but there’s an answer to their problems: China. They are the new red menace, and will gradually take the place of Russia as the new geopolitical threat to the American Dream. More and more, we see US media pundits waxing on about the evils of “communist China”, and how the Chinese are ‘infiltrating’ the US higher education system and “undermining our democracy.” The recent demonization of the Chinese authorities in Hong Kong, and the lionization of US-backed violent street thugs being marketed by Washington think tanks as “peaceful democratic reformers” – should raise alarm bells to anyone concerned about an expansion of the New Cold War into the Pacific front. The US would also like to disrupt China’s planned economic revolution, the Belt & Road project, and plan using the “Uyghur” Muslim ethnic minority issue as a ‘human rights’ flash point and pretext for isolating China’s internationally. This latest phase of American fetish and chauvinism may last for years. But economically speaking, China still holds all the cards, and the gold (literally). Let’s just hope this confrontation doesn’t lead to a serious shooting war, but it will certainly be used as fuel for the global arms race.
Iraq is Back – Just as the New Year rang in, Trump got the bright idea to bomb an Iraqi military base, killing a number of Iraqi People’s Mobilization Unit (PMU) soldiers – the same soldiers who had fought on the ground, died and defeated ISIS in 2017. Supposedly, this US airstrike was in response to a rocket barrage the previous Friday which killed a U.S. defense contractor in a military compound near Kirkuk, in northern Iraq. As usual, before the US could investigate what actually happened, it acted on ‘highly likely intelligence,’ most probably from Israel, which assured Trump that Iran did it. So the US justified their attack by claiming the Iraqi personnel killed were really “Iranian militia,” a false talking point which has become accepted as fact across the US political and media landscape. In response, PMU fighters and their supporters stormed the US embassy in Baghdadlocated inside the infamous US controlled Green Zone – a threat not faced by the US since they effectively took over the country in 2003. Because of Washington’s insistence to frame every incident in the region as “the work of the Iranian regime,” it’s clear drive to war is being spurred on by US allies Israel and Saudi Arabia – both of whom would view Iran as an existential threat to their own regional political hegemony. Besides, the main goal here is to keep Iraq divided and fragmented so that it can never get back on its feet economically and politically, and can never be close allies with its neighbors Syria and Iran. For Washington and Tel Aviv, the road to Tehran has always been through Baghdad, only, it won’t work for Washington this time. Iraqis are quickly realizing that it is the US, and not Iran, who has ruined their country, with only generations of pain and suffering to look forward to. Unfortunately, their country looks once again to become the pitch for another ugly geopolitical grudge match between the West and Iran.
Liberation of Idlib and Reclamation in Syria – After nine long years and many hundreds of thousands dead, and millions of refugees and internally displaced persons, the Syrian War appears to be heading for a final climax in 2020. The last remaining western and Gulf-backed terrorist stronghold is Syria’s northern province of Idlib. Late 2019 saw the Syrian Army make great strides with their Russian allies, retaking key town and districts from western and Turkish-backed al-
Qaeda militants, as well as in-fighting between terrorist factions. All of this means we will likely see the end of al-Qaeda’s de facto Second Islamic State in Idlib, and with that, the death of the West’s popular myth the “democratic revolution” (which never was) in Syria. When this happens, all eyes will then shift over the northern east section of the country where the US is illegally occupying Syria’s oil fields and smuggling the oil out of the country to fund its clandestine operations. Right before the New Year, Syrian Army officers were seen on video confronting US soldiers at a desert crossing, telling them “you are occupiers” and you will “leave our country.” Harbinger of things to come.
Qaeda militants, as well as in-fighting between terrorist factions. All of this means we will likely see the end of al-Qaeda’s de facto Second Islamic State in Idlib, and with that, the death of the West’s popular myth the “democratic revolution” (which never was) in Syria. When this happens, all eyes will then shift over the northern east section of the country where the US is illegally occupying Syria’s oil fields and smuggling the oil out of the country to fund its clandestine operations. Right before the New Year, Syrian Army officers were seen on video confronting US soldiers at a desert crossing, telling them “you are occupiers” and you will “leave our country.” Harbinger of things to come.
Libya’s protracted Civil War – Libya is back in the center stage geopolitically, as multiple world powers throw their hat into the ring to try to gain control of the failed state created by NATO’s errand operation in 2011 to depose then President Gaddafi. Before the New Year, Turkey’s President Erdogan began ferrying jihadi Free Syrian Army brigades across the Mediterranean to help the UN-backed Government of Accord in Tripoli in the country’s new civil war. On the other side are the US, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and even Russia, all backing long-time US asset Khalifa Haftar, whose fighters are trying to capture Libya’s capital city of Tripoli – a real mess in the making. If Syria is anything to go by, the presence of so many foreign stakeholders, along with jihadi fighters being shipped in as cannon fodder – means there’s a high likelihood that the instability the country is now facing will drag on for many years to come. This round is only beginning, which means lots of foreign press junkets for war-friendly media outlets like CNN, but bad news for the people of Libya.
Global Arms Race – With the US opting out of the INF treaty with Russia, while still hyping the phantom Russian threat in order to advance NATO further eastward, and with US threatening China in every possible way, while actively egging-on Saudi Arabia to keep the defense contractor cash cow going in Yemen – the scene is set for a fresh bounce in the global arms race, led by the US, and with Russia and China trailing behind (in terms of spending maybe, but not necessarily in terms of quality and effectiveness). Add this To Trump’s recent announcement in 2019 of his new ‘Space Force’, and you have all the ingredients for record-level blank cheque spending on weapons and war tech. It’s the 1980’s on steroids. Advances in artificial intelligence will also add to this price tag, as the West begins “future-proofing” all of its main product lines in defense and global surveillance. If it sounds scary, it’s because it is.
BREXIT (Without the Exit) – UK is scheduled to leave the EU on January 31, 202o. There are still some potential hurdles in the way however, the first of which is Brussels. Will the EU allow Britain to exit? Belgian MEP Guy Verhofstadt has claimed that Britain still needs “consent” from the EU in order to complete the final stage of Brexit. However, many Brexit critics believe that even if the UK leaves, it will still be opting into most of the EU conventions and regulations, and even the new “EU Army” aka EU Defense Union. So will it be a ‘hard Brexit’ aka a ‘no deal Brexit,’ as Nigel Farage and others have been advocating for, or will it simply be BRINO(Brexit Without the Exit)? With Boris Johnson’s increasingly shaky trade deal with the EU still experiencing problems, it looks very much like the latter. This means that what Britain will actually get in the end will be exactly what former PM David Cameron proposed in his white paper entitled, The Best of Both Worlds, released on the very same day the Brexit referendum was announced in February of 2016. After nearly four years, and practically a civil war, Britain ends up back at square one, in effect. 
Boris and the Economy Plummet – After Boris Johnson and the Tories recover from the hangover of their historic landslide elections win, reality will hit them soon enough. Now that the Brexit distraction is all but wrapped up, Conservatives will have to confront the reality of tens of millions of UK citizens who are still struggling to make ends meet and who have little hope for a prosperous future, seeing that the Tories are still as committed an ever to their unpopular austerity policies. Add to this, the fact that there’s been little to no growth in business investment in the UK, the economy risks dipping back into recession amid the post-Brexit financial uncertainties to come. That penny is now dropping, and UK plebs will not accept the old Brexit Punch ‘n Judy show for much longer. At that point, public approval for Boris and the Tories will hit record lows, and with the Tories responding to any public dissent or manifestations – with an ever heavy hand of the authoritarian state. A recipe for discontent.
EU Economic Crisis – One thing many experts can agree on is that Brussels has been running an economic Ponzi scheme for years now. Ten years after the 2008 global financial meltdown, it seems that the bankers are still up to their old tricks, increasing the odds that the next ‘black swan’ economic crisis event will happen in the Euro zone. As Politico remarked, “The price to pay for those bailouts, reform packages, rescue funds, and European Central Bank bond-buying schemes has been political fragmentation, at first. But by now, this is morphing into outright polarization. And this is happening in both “core” and “periphery countries” as we saw in elections in France, Germany, Austria and Italy.” Political fragmentation will not help economic disparity between the rich North and poor South of Europe. Add to this the reality of Brexit and the EU losing a significant chuck of its GDP from the UK, and you have a trend line forming which only needs a trigger to set off a financial inferno. Of course, if the EU economy does hit the wall, then it might give Boris Johnson and the Tories a slight reprieve, making them look like genius savants, as they take advantage of cheap wares on the continent, and sell to America via a new Trump trade deal. The trigger could be Italy, or it could be reckless ECB bond purchasing schemes designed to hide the systemic damage caused by 10 years of steady quantitative easing which has left European personal savings next to nil. If the global economy is going to scream again, it’s going to start in Europe in 2020.
‘Antisemitism’ Hysteria Backlash – One of the unfortunate aspects of the UK’s 2019 General Election was the coordinated political assassination of Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, falsely accusing him of being an ‘antisemite’ and his party of being ‘antisemitic’ (meaning racist against Jewish people), with an attack coalition comprised of the mainstream press, the Tony Blair wing of the Labour Party, the Tory Party and of course, the international Israeli lobby. Now that the UK election is over, the British left and Labour voters will be looking for someone to blame, and will rightly revisit the question of why there was such a coordinated national campaign of lies waged against their party leader. Through this defamation campaign, the Establishment was able to force Labour to redefine the term antisemitism to encompass any normal criticism of the policies of the state of Israel and its horrific treatment of the native Arab Palestinian population in the Middle East. The smear campaign worked, and helped Labour lose the election. By killing the career of a life-long anti-racist campaigner like Corbyn, falsely accusing him of being a racist, it showed that anything is possible in political warfare. This political take-down was later used against Bernie Sanders in the US, although with less success because Bernie himself is Jewish, but that still has not deterred the attacks from the Right. The main goal is to try and delegitimize both Corbyn and Sanders by making them unelectable, due to their support for Palestinian human rights and BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) against Israel. By doing this, it also means their progressive policies and re-nationalising public transport, utilities, securing free public healthcare, and providing debt forgiveness – will never see the light of day. US academic Norman Finkelstein (himself Jewish) believes that the fake ‘antisemitism’ campaign could eventually result in a very real antisemitic backlash against the Jewish lobby for their role in destroying the electoral chances of Jeremy Corbyn. If that happens, then things will get very uncomfortable indeed.
Israel’s fall from grace – The sinking reputation of extremist Zionist leader Benjamin Netanyahu, along with the popularity of BDS, and the aforementioned backlash against the contrived ‘antisemitism’ smear campaign waged against Corbyn and Sanders – will only fuel support from the internationalist left-wing who oppose an Israeli apartheid regime actively engaged in an ethnic cleansing campaign to drive Arabs out of Arab lands. Another problem for the current regime in Tel Aviv is that if the nine year-long Syrian War comes to a close, then the global community will once again focus on Israel’s crimes against humanity in Gaza and the West Bank, and its acts of military aggression against neighbors Syria, Lebanon and Iraq. Add to this, Netanyahu’s upcoming corruption trial, and the International Criminal Court’s new investigation into Israeli war crimes and crimes against humanity – and things are not looking good for this embattled 75 year-old micro-colonial settler-state creation of the Britain and the US. 2020 will be the year that the Hasbara propaganda machine which has been propping-up Israel’s international reputation to ‘just above tolerable’ will begin to collapse. And again, especially as the Syrian conflict begins to resolve itself and the world’s media lens naturally turns back in the direction of the world’s largest open prison, Gaza, and Israel’s own institutionally racist and violent apartheid state being used to oppress the native Palestinians. Most sensible people will agree that a sincere solution to this issue is long overdue.
Nationalism vs The Global Citizen – Undoubtedly, 2018 and 2019 saw the strong re-emergence of nationalism in parts of the world – nationalism being the geopolitical and ideological antithesis of globalism and multilateralism which has dominated the latter part of the post-WWII, US-led liberal world order. Certainly Brexit featured heavily in this trend. So despite the promises of globalism and projects like the European Union, the elemental pull of the post-Westphalian nation state appears to have survived, still in tact. However, this comes at a time when tens of millions of millennials, and GenX and GenZ neophytes are feeling ever-more connected due to social media, real-time translation apps, and shared digital cultural experiences (mostly dominated by Anglo-American content) through platforms like Netflix, whereby many young people consider themselves and identify as “global citizens” first, and by their nationality second. Along with their global citizenry, also comes advocacy for no borders, and deference to global government concepts. While this view may be driven by a new idealism which may be naive and leaning heavily on utopian visions, it is nonetheless very real in the minds of those who identify as global citizens. This demographic is increasingly influential and will be one of the key economic forces in the new digitally-driven Fourth Industrial Revolution. Ultimately, this clashes with the rise of nationalism – itself a result of globalist policies of the last half century. In 2020 will these two world views begin to collide with ever-more veracity, creating a new political schism? Expect increased polarization along this new 21st century sectarian divide.
The New Occupy Movement – It’s been nine years since the Occupy Movement swept across North America and Europe. We are starting to hear rumblings that it may be returning with a vengeance. One of the catalysts for this renewed push into public spaces has been the 2019 ‘Climate Strike’ youth movement led by Greta, the mercurial Swede, but this might only be a celebrity-driven cause de celebre, held together by middle class students residing in North America and Western Europe. Meanwhile, the adult’s climate camp is now being driven by the ever-more radical Extinction Rebellion (XR), a global environmental movement with a stated aim of using nonviolent civil disobedience to compel governments to ‘de-carbonize’ their economies in order to save humanity from certain extinction – a radical idea underpinned by man-made global warming theory. This Eco-Axis will no doubt form the vanguard of any Occupy 2.0. Moreover, the reaction to Brexit and the Tory’s landslide victory in December’s UK General Election will have caused many on the political left to feel as if they ‘have no say’ in the current democracy set-up in the West. This similar effect happened after the 2016 US Election, where millennials could not simply accept that their party or candidate lost and prepare for the next election, but rather “demand our voices be heard” now, rather than in four or five years time. This party is a result of the instant gratification culture we’ve seen rising in the West, as well a hangover from the Obama “hope and change” political ecstasy trip. Either way, it’s clear that millennials and GenXers now require some sort of immediate feedback mechanism which delivers them real-time results – because for them, representative democracy is no longer adequate to fulfill their needs and desires as social stakeholders. One solution being promoted is the idea of “People’s Assemblies” and the direct democracy method of Sortition. But like all political enterprises, this too risks being co-opted, gamed, and taken over by big money interests, most likely from Wall Street-funded, and billionaire-run foundations and third sector NGOs. In the end, these movements end up becoming ‘pressure release valves’ for the Establishment, and have very limited scope for affecting the ‘change’ which activists so desperately wanted in the first place.
Eco-Terrorism – As the narrative surrounding climate change becomes even more radicalized and activists adopt the theory that humanity is somehow in the process of a “sixth mass extinction” – all because of man-made carbon emissions, it stands to reason that faithful adherents of this “end times” narrative (not unlike the end times eschatological narratives of 
the major religions) will adopt more radical methods to pressure the halls of power and force political concessions – to ‘save the climate’. As with animal rights extremism methods, Eco-terrorism has historical form, and with more radical narratives like those promoted by organizations like Extinction Rebellion – this has led many of its young followers to believe “we have no future.” What would previously be regarded as acts of civil disobedience may no longer suffice in the current nihilistic atmosphere. If there was ever a ripe momentfor the specter of Eco-Terrorism to rear its ugly head, then it may be in 2020.
the major religions) will adopt more radical methods to pressure the halls of power and force political concessions – to ‘save the climate’. As with animal rights extremism methods, Eco-terrorism has historical form, and with more radical narratives like those promoted by organizations like Extinction Rebellion – this has led many of its young followers to believe “we have no future.” What would previously be regarded as acts of civil disobedience may no longer suffice in the current nihilistic atmosphere. If there was ever a ripe momentfor the specter of Eco-Terrorism to rear its ugly head, then it may be in 2020.
The Fall of Climatism – As the narratives become more militant and the hype surrounding Swedish teenager and ‘climate strike’ leader Greta Thunberg loses steam, a growing global community of climate skeptics will likely receive more airtime, many more beginning to question the perceived certainly of man-made global warming theory aka ‘climate change’. In recent years, many climate demonstrations, have taken on an increasingly weird cult-like atmosphere (image, left), which may resonate 
with some urbanistas and hipsters, but could also be damaging its broad-based appeal. The reality is no matter how extreme the predictions of doom, or the excoriations by Greta, the global economy will never de-carbonize by 2025, or 2030, or even 2050, for the simple reasons that renewables can never provide the base load required to power the world’s growing cities and overall energy needs. The math just doesn’t add up. There is also a significant backlash now to the proposed Green New Dealwhich will require trillions in taxpayer funds and money robbed from pension funds in order to finance as yet undiscovered “green tech” solutions, which many believe is really just a new ‘green dotcom bubble.’ Combine this with indications that the earth is now heading into a solar minimum phase which will see more record cold weather across the northern hemisphere – and you have all the ingredients for serious challenges to Climatism as the dominant eco-ideology of this epoch. This transition will not happen over night, but it’s inevitable, as the backlash against a strictly imposed environment narrative, where dissent or questions are strictly forbidden – is simply unsustainable politically and as some experts now believe – it is also fundamentally undemocratic. This will no doubt be the source of more heated battles (no pun intended) across society in 2020.
with some urbanistas and hipsters, but could also be damaging its broad-based appeal. The reality is no matter how extreme the predictions of doom, or the excoriations by Greta, the global economy will never de-carbonize by 2025, or 2030, or even 2050, for the simple reasons that renewables can never provide the base load required to power the world’s growing cities and overall energy needs. The math just doesn’t add up. There is also a significant backlash now to the proposed Green New Dealwhich will require trillions in taxpayer funds and money robbed from pension funds in order to finance as yet undiscovered “green tech” solutions, which many believe is really just a new ‘green dotcom bubble.’ Combine this with indications that the earth is now heading into a solar minimum phase which will see more record cold weather across the northern hemisphere – and you have all the ingredients for serious challenges to Climatism as the dominant eco-ideology of this epoch. This transition will not happen over night, but it’s inevitable, as the backlash against a strictly imposed environment narrative, where dissent or questions are strictly forbidden – is simply unsustainable politically and as some experts now believe – it is also fundamentally undemocratic. This will no doubt be the source of more heated battles (no pun intended) across society in 2020.
5G Implementation Begins – Interestingly, none of the XR and Eco-activists appear to care about the impending 5G roll-out. This completely untested and unregulated cellular technology is being aggressively pushed now by governments and corporations in the West, despite legitimate concerns for public health, as well as environment and ecological concernstoo. Clearly, 5G is seen as the gateway to realizing the technocrats dream of the Internet of Things, and also a total end-to-end mass surveillance state. It’s already known that China’s new police state is using 5G as its digital backbone. Despite all of this, the media blackout on this issue remains, and so it is likely that the process of full implementation will begin in 2020. What could possibly go wrong?
There it is. 2020, out of the frying pan. But will it be into the fire?
HOW ACCURATE WERE WE? TAKE A LOOKING BACK AT PREVIOUS YEARS…
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