Around the Corner: 2019 Trends and Predictions from 21st Century Wire

21st Century Wire
NEW YEARS DAY SPECIAL

Looking forward into the New Year, here are but a few breaking trends to look for, as well as some salient predictions for the coming year.

In last year’s Trends and Predictions for 2018, we identified some prominent breaking trends 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 in previous years. Looking back, 2017 was certainly The Big Shuffle, and 2018 was Shake & Bake. During this coming year, we’ll see some entirely new realities come into focus, as 2019 opens our vantage just enough to see what’s Around the Corner. As usual, some of it’s very encouraging, while other bits are not.

So here’s the good, the bad, and the ugly for 2019…

‘Impeachment, Impeachment, Impeachment!’ – Starting from January, this will be the only word you will hear on US mainstream media. Yes, there will be gridlock in Congress for the next two years – that’s almost a given. Besides this, get ready for the “Daily Impeachment” talking point across all media. Forget the fact the opposition have nothing to actually impeach him on – they will still go for it anyway, and for two reasons. Already, the Democrats have warned they will be launching dozens of Congressional investigations into Trump’s past, present and maybe his future too, looking at his tax returns, Bankruptcy, antitrust, intellectual property, and anything else they can think of. Firstly, this will provide the dark cloud the Democrats will use to gain a media advantage through the 2020 Election cycle. Secondly, this ‘cloud of doubt’ might also help to encourage Republican candidates to enter the race to challenge the incumbent, like Mitt Romney, Niki Haley, or Marco Rubio. This will be used to weaken Trump and divide the Republican electorate. In addition to this, an 18 month-long ‘festival of  impeachment’ will effectively become a continuation of the Mueller circus, which seems to be the case judging Democrat Nancy Pelosi’s wild projections like ‘Mueller doesn’t have to indict Trump for Congress to impeach him.’ The possibilities are literally endless, so expect everything and the kitchen sink. But also expect public ‘scandal fatigue’ to set in as result of this repetitive Democrat strategy – which may work against them, and actually increase Trump’s support base.

Mueller’s Failure – President Trump’s enemies have spent the past 18 months waiting for that illusive smoking gun – hoping that special counsel Robert Mueller’s final report on supposed ‘Russian Interference and Trump-Russia Collusion in the 2016 US Election’ will bring home the bacon for the #Resistance. More likely, it will be devoid of anything of substance. The reality is that if they had any real evidence, they would’ve presented it by now. So get ready for that Van Jones moment, the big fat, juicy… nothing burger.

No. 45 Survives – Already, he has taken every conceivable punch and vector of attack  – and no doubt he’s poised to take many more. For Trump, fielding incoming bogies has become a sport. He will run in 2020, and failing some catastrophic 2008 market crash – he will likely have a strong campaign. If America has learned one thing over the past three years, it’s that Trump can work the media better than any politician in US history – and he’ll keep doing it – and not only in the media, but on social media too.

Big Bad Bubbles – Currently the world’s financial markets are facing more artificially inflated bubbles than any time in history – we have a new and growing housing bubble, a massive corporate debt bubble, a student loan bubble, a car loan bubble, and more fundamentally: the global dollar-denominated sovereignty debt bubble. That last one can be popped as soon as the US Federal Reserve Bank raises interest rates beyond what is affordable to countries who have been buying cheap money at 0% for the last decade during the period of Quantitative Easing (QE). The Masters of Universe (bankers) in New York City are now beginning to pivot to a position of Quantitative Tightening (QT) – whereby the US will be calling in all of those debts, a tamult which will surely trigger a global dollar liquidity crisis. This could send markets into chaos, and when that happens, anything is possible – and not all good. The next major crisis will also open to the door to a serious re-evaluation of the current global financial system where the US dollar is considered the world’s reserve currency. Other currencies like the euro and yuan will then be thrust into consideration for major commodity transactions like oil and gas, and alternative options like cryptocurrencies, a la Bitcoin, will also increase in influence in what will likely be a more decentralized international monetary playing field. This will also mean volatility and instability, so hold on to your hat (and your wallet).

2020 Election Cycle – It seems like only yesterday that Donald Trump stormed the gates of Pennsylvania Ave. If the 2018 Midterms were anything to go by, expect a non-stop, break-neck circus, particularly on the Democrat side of the ticket. Expect the Democrats to do exactly what the Republicans did in 2016 which is to load the field up with as many candidates as possible in order, including a few Hollywood celebrities – in order to generate interest, excitement and ultimately to dominate media coverage by creating an overwhelming political spectacle from which one champion will emerge at the party convention in the summer of 2020. But a leopard never changes its spots, and one thing the Democrat Party never does is leave anything to chance – which means that one champion will have been pre-selected by the Party and the liberal media.  It will be easy to tell who that person is by the fall of 2019.

Michelle Obama 2020 – When she announces, she will be regarded as the presumptive nominee by both the party and the media. her  lack of experience, in charge of school lunches and planning the many White House vacations which became the symbol of the Obama administration. This is one of the downsides of Trump winning in 2016, if that the bar was lowered again with regards to experience being an actually requirement to hold the top office in the land. The marketing pitch on CNN and MSNBC is as predictable as it is banal: “buy one, get one free,” or “two for the price of one”, and that free parcel will be Barack Obama. Nothing will make the Democrat base drool more than the prospect of the Dear Leader returning to the Oval Office on the wing of his other half. For the magpies at MSNBC and CNN, this would be the ultimate, putting a tingling sensation right up the leg of Chris Matthews. However, be warned that if this transpires, it will certainly unleash a war of Identity Politics in America and beyond – a gladiatorial duel pitting a left-wing black woman (Obama) against a right-wing white man (Trump). If past protests are anything to go by , as well as the corporate media’s direct role in stoking anti-Trump unrest in America in late 2016 and 2017, then a Trump vs. Obama political contest will definitely result in politicized street violence in America. At that point, all bets are off.

Second Referendum – 2018 was year of massive toxicity injected into the Brexit debate in Britain. For those who have been paying attention closely and aren’t wired into MSM propaganda talking points, as far back as 2016, the end game was always clear: whether Britain was staying or leaving the EU, it was going to opt-in to the policy and conventions it likes, and opt-out of those it did not care for. The referendum itself was nothing more than a formality, but one which the political classes could use to consolidate their own power bases and keep society at each other’s throats while they continue to rob the wealth of the nation. This exact plan was outlined in David Cameron’s white paper, The Best of Both Worlds, but amazingly the entire mainstream media ignored it, opting instead to play the matador in a two year-long three-ring circus which is about the end rather badly. Moreover, Theresa May and the Tory star chamber have always known that the entire issue would be held-up by the Irish border issue in the end, and again, the media dutifully played along with the gag. All signs are pointing to Brexit being overturned by a Second Referendum – a move which deep state publications like The Guardian have been pushing relentlessly for the last year. If this happens in the summer of 2019, then expect at the very minimum a soft civil war in the UK – pitting Middle England against the Metropolitans of London and Edinburgh. To put it more crudely; the red meat-eating, football loving and beer swilling Brexitiers against the congenial radical faux leftist Blairite ‘centerist’ globalist Remainers. Sounds like fun doesn’t it? It will be for the mainstream media and Westminster elites, both of who are desperate for another crisis which they can spend every waking minute talking about or pretending to ‘fix.’ Moreover, it will divide the country along partisan and ethnic lines, and with any luck – usher in poor facsimile of Oswald Mosley in somewhat cheaper modern avatar form of Tommy Robinson who will make a play to takeover the UKIP party and drive to the far fringes of the establishment’s dying Left-Right paradigm.

More Yellow Vests – It’s a simple equation: the cost of living is rising faster than middle and working class incomes. Add to this, a rapidly expanding underclass who simply cannot work for lack of decently paid jobs with some prospects. In other words, the promise of the post-WWII dream of upward mobility is gone, and it’s not coming back. Europe is expected to continue experiencing zero growth well into the next decade – and the Masters of the Universe (bankers) do not have an answer for this sordid state of affairs. This means you can expect more Gilet Jaunes aka Yellow Vests, popping up across Europe and beyond. 2019 will see the Yellow Vest movement go even deeper – to the real core of the issue, which is how government is designed and functions. This means they will begin to challenge the EU also – which will lead to serious calls for “Frexit”. If anyone can up-end the status quo and the sham of our “constituency democracy” – it will be the Yellow Vests who finally do it.

European Civil Unrest – Another unintended consequence of the Yellow Vests was the timing of their protests and the foolhardy move by Emmanuel Macron and other European leaders to go ahead with signing on the Marrakesh Pact, a supranational agreement which guarantees EU members will let in millions of African immigrants, with EU members agreeing to a ‘safe and orderly immigration wave.” You could not have blown a bigger dog whistle to mobilize the nationalist and ethno-nationalist blocs right across Europe. More to the point, this give the Right-wing additional common cause with the Yellow Vests – which spells trouble for governments who are already losing public trust and confidence. The danger here is that government agent provocateurs embedded in Right-wing groups may now have a ready-made pretext to start race riots and other untoward violence on the streets of Europe – to which the state will react predictably by ratcheting-up the police state and other means of control, including biometric ID cards or chips. The backlash to this is already underway. The state will also use this to further curtail free speech and assembly, which will cause even more blow-back, leading to a vicious cycle which national states will likely be the winner, not the EU Super State. Wait and see…

Death of the Left-Right Paradigm – If 2018 demonstrated anything, it’s that western society is entering a post-political epoch, which means that the old post-WWII orientation of the traditional Left-Right political paradigm is now on life support. This shift has been happening gradually for years now, but recent upheavals like the Yellow Vests, Brexit and the Marrakesh Pact on ‘managed immigration’ – will accelerate the process. One of the predictable reactions to this process of evolution will be increased calls by certain canny (and Machiavellian) members of the establishment for “national unity” and a “centerist option“. But be forewarned: the Neocons and radical pragmatists will quickly rush to occupy this new political real estate which will be marketed to the masses as a panacea to polarized politics in ‘the new center’ – this includes the likes of deep state operatives and war criminals like Tony Blair, David Cameron, Joe Biden and Mitt Romney. But what the elites are truly afraid of is something completely new: increased self government by citizens and a more direct form of democracy – which appears to be emerging already via the Yellow Vests in France. If this trend continues, that will bring with it a genuine ‘Welcome to the future’ moment for 21st century society.

Brussels Breaks with Washington on Russian Sanctions – One of the unintended consequences of Trump’s rambunctious trade wars, threatening sanctions against European countries buying natural gas from neighboring Russia, or berating fellow NATO member states with protection racket threats – is that some of the European states are now thinking seriously about reclaiming what is left of their dignity and sovereignty. This means that you will soon here serious talk from EU states about tapering off sanctions against Russia, and more importantly, in Germany you may now hear real calls to finally eject the US military occupation of the county which has been in place since WWII. The latter has the potential to really up-end the US-led post-WWII global order and extended deterrence doctrine which so many in the US have taken for granted as a permanent fixture of unipolar dominance. But attitudes and priorities are changing, which means nothing can last forever.

US Out of Iraq? – In late 2018, Trump dropped the ultimate bombshell when he announced the US would be ‘pulling out’ of Syria and also bringing half its troops home from Afghanistan. In the wake of such a major draw-down, US military pundits seemed almost relieved when President Trump did his surprise Christmas visit to Iraq. But this also brought the long-term US military presence back into focus for Iraqi MPs – who are suddenly wanting answers to questions of US violations of Iraqi sovereignty – leading calls for the US to leave their country. This may not happen over night, but it’s now a political bone of contention. The danger here is that the US deep state apparatus, namely the CIA and the Pentagon, will be looking to create a pretext whereby the emergence of some “terror threat” in Iraq can be used to justify the ongoing US military occupation of parts of Iraq along the Syrian border and a sizable portion of the capital, Baghdad. Look for this to transpire in early 2019. In reality, what we are really witnessing here is a fundamental shift in US grand strategy – although very few people in the US media and foreign policy establishment are brave enough to admit it.

Netanyahu Must Go – The latter part of 2018 saw Bibi Netanyahu’s hard-line Likud Coalition collapse – leaving the prospect of a change in Israeli leadership a real possibility for the first time in nearly 20 years. As it stands, Israel will call an early general election on April 9, 2019. Will Bibi finally exit from the main stage, and if so, will he be replaced by another ultra-Zionist, or a more moderate or progressive leader? Whichever way it goes, the result may influence the trajectory of Palestine’s destiny going forward. In the meantime, expect a desperate Netanyahu to try and drum-up various existential threats to the security of State of Israel in order to reinforce his hard-line support base which has been flagging ever since the IDF’s recent debacle in Gaza. Expect talk of ‘destroying Hezbollah tunnels‘ on the Lebanese border in Operation Northern Shield, or more provocations, fabricated threats and war games with neighboring Syria.

Libya and Gaddafi the Younger – Last year, we predicted that the son of the late Muammar Gaddafi, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, would return as a person of political influence in Libya. Indeed this has happened. In 2019, he will make a challenge for the leadership of the country, and unlike many of his US-backed rivals and favored bureaucrats – he does have a very loyal support base among the Libyan population. Not only that, but Saif will likely have the backing of the Middle East’s new king-makers in Moscow. Needless to say, Washington and Tel Aviv, as well as the GCC, are not very happy to see a popular Arab nationalists coming to the fore, and so expect the Western clandestine machine to spin into action and snare him in some controversy, or worse (yes, the unthinkable).

5G – 2019 is the year when advanced countries begin rolling out the new 5G cellular network, supposedly designed to “make life easier for people” (as if that’s actually necessary), but in reality will provide governments and their tech monopoly partners with the total surveillance grid framework they been graving for since as far back as Huxley and Orwell. Think Google Maps on steroids, with heat signatures, and also charging you for every mile you drive (and with any luck, for walking too). What’s potentially worse though, is that this new technology utilizes dangerous military-grade frequency bands, and it is completely untested on humans, animals, plants and insect life. In other words: the health risks are very real, which really means we are all corporate guinea pigs in what is the biggest commercial experiment in human history – and elites simply do not care if it all goes sideways, so long as they can cash in on their IPOs and buy their islands in the Caribbean. The roll-out is the epitome of corporate recklessness and government are all in on the operation.

Cannabis Goes Mainstream – 2018 was a huge year in terms of legalization of cannabis in the US and in other parts of the world. While initially this has been progressing along the ‘medical marijuana’ track, the momentum is now heading into the recreational drug use sector as well, and even more crucially – in the industrial hemp sector too. Also, 2019 will see more millionaires and billionaires made through the legal trade of cannabis and also industrial hemp. This has the potential to start a mini-agricultural revolution in the US and across the world.

A.I. (Artificial Intelligence) – 2018 was a huge year for A.I., especially in areas like deep learning and intelligent algorithms. While this has been constantly hyped in the media, expect that hype to die-down somewhat as A.I. becomes an accepted reality of our day-to-day infrastructure – just “the internet” itself became an almost invisible given. In 2019, the A.I. revolution will not be so much about machines doing our manual labor for us, but rather machines doing more of our thinking and decision-making. This will include planning and strategizing, and sifting through hundreds of purchasing choices in order to tell us exactly what we really want or need. This is already happening in the background now, only it will become more formalized and accepted as a human adjunct in 2019. This will include more use of bot chats’ and most certainly a huge surge in human-like Sex Bots – an industry which will turnover tens of billions in 2019, including ‘sex bot brothels‘ opening up in every major city in Europe, and possibly in Asia too. A more fundamental question should be: what does all this mean for the evolution human brain? We see it getting smaller.

RMA – In military terms, this acronym stands for ‘Revolution in Military Affairs’. 2019 will see an RMA, but not necessarily one which benefits offensive US global hegemonic stance. Rather, this RMA favors those countries interested in authentic defense and deterrence against threats from the US. One of the centerpieces of this RMA will be new Russian and Chinese technology ranging from land and ship-based hypersonic missiles and rail-gun and projectile weaponry, as well as A.I. driven autonomous drones and aircraft. This defensive technology has the potential to neutralize an opponent who has relatively superior air and naval power. One potential risk or downside to this line of tech is that it has the potential to nullify the doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction which has been a mainstay between geopolitical rivals the US and Russia (formerly Soviet Union) due to one party’s ability to knock out first strike or second strike of their adversary. Much of this war-gaming is theoretical of course, as no sane party would want to test actions and outcomes between two nuclear states (sane being the operative word). Regardless, the introduction of new technology will usher in an RMA, which means military powers will have to adjust their strategies and policies accordingly, or face irrelevancy.

New Moon Shot – Will so few conquests left to undertake, and with so many spaces on the geopolitical monopoly board already spoken for, competing world powers are looking to some daylight. This means the Moon will be back on the global aspirational agenda again in 2019. China has already positioned itself far ahead of the competition on this one. But the one which is really going to rattle Washington’s cage is if the Russians follow through with their threat to “fact check” NASA’s moon landing claims by mounting their own exploratory mission to the Moon. The big loser in all of this of course, will be the Flat Earthers.

HOW ACCURATE WERE WE? TAKE A LOOKING BACK AT PREVIOUS YEARS…

SHAKE & BAKE: 2018 Trends and Predictions from 21WIRE

THE BIG SHUFFLE: 2017 Trends and Predictions from 21WIRE

LOOKING AHEAD: 2016 Predictions and Trends from 21WIRE

GAME CHANGERS: 2015 Predictions and Trends from 21WIRE

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21st Century Wire is an alternative news agency designed to enlighten, inform and educate readers about world events which are not always covered in the mainstream media.