by Doug Casey, International Man:
Doug Casey: I hate to sound a pessimistic note, but you have to call them as you see them. News flash: There are storm clouds on the horizon. I’m tempted to say the presage “The Perfect Storm,” but the phrase has become hackneyed… and it understates the case. Instead, let me say I think it will be worse than even I think it could be.
The trend that’s brought us here has been building for the last hundred years. It’s been compounding upon itself, and the curve looks exponential. The only factor that gives me pause is that almost everyone now sees a tsunami coming. And reality usually confounds beliefs that “everyone” has. Perhaps The Greater Depression will just turn out to be fear porn. But that’s not how I’m betting.
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We’re looking at a potential financial and economic collapse. And, a social collapse, largely a result of wokeness, a putrid stew of socialism, entitlement, overt hatred, covert hostilities, and insane views on race and gender. These things will underwrite a huge political upset in this election year.
Of course, our most basic problem is an ongoing cultural collapse. The average American no longer believes in the idea of America. Forget about the American dream. Most, not just Wokesters, now see it as a delusion, a fraud, or even a nightmare.
Traditional cultural values are being purposefully washed away. Forces within are actively trying to destroy the things that made America.
Is 2024 going to be the year where it all comes to a head? There’s an excellent chance that it will. But I expect the rest of the decade won’t be any better.
International Man: As we enter the new year, the Middle East is on the cusp of the largest regional war in generations.
It is already having massive implications for the global economy as many shipping firms have stopped going through the Red Sea.
Where do you see this conflict headed in 2024, and what are the implications?
Doug Casey: 12% of the world’s shipping traffic goes through the Red Sea and Suez Canal. The Houthis, a Shiite sect that controls the part of Yemen at the entrance to the Red Sea, are in a position to block it off to punish Israel and its friends. The US just sank a few Houthi boats that were attacking a freighter. My question is: Why? The US has approximately zero traffic in the Red Sea. Houthi piracy is a problem for China, the Europeans, or the Egyptians—not a failing and bankrupt empire on the other side of the world.
There’s absolutely no practical solution to the Israel-Palestine problem. This isn’t the forum to go over all the arguments about who stole the benighted area from who. Besides, it goes much deeper than that. It’s a conflict between the Jews and the Mohammedans. The difference between them is much, much greater than that between the red people and the blue people in the US.
Consider the fact that there are almost 2 billion Muslims in the world, most of whom take their religion very seriously. There are about 7 million Jews in Israel, perhaps 6 million more in the US, and maybe another couple million scattered elsewhere. Those are not good odds. The Jews are now extremely paranoid because of “river to the sea” marches everywhere in the West, and the Muslims are extremely angry with what they see as a genocide of fellow Ummah members by a historical enemy.
Will the Israelis use nuclear weapons if they feel they’re about to be overrun? I have no doubt that Israel will do whatever they think they need to do.
Meanwhile, anybody can have a nuclear weapon today. The Israelis have had them since the ’60s. The North Koreans—one of the poorest and most backward countries in the world—have had them for over a decade. An upper middle-class US family can probably buy or create their own nuclear weapon. Although cyber or bioweapons are much cheaper and much more effective.
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