2024 appears to be off to a inauspicious start.
If these first couple of weeks are anything to go by, no one should be getting too comfortable. Between the ongoing wars, the looming spectre of ‘Trump, the Sequel’, and even predictions of another pandemic, the opening to 2024 seems to track like the early scenes of a disaster movie.
As the war in Ukraine rolls into yet another year and Israel’s onslaught against Gaza shows no signs of ending, we can be sure that war will be 2024’s mainstay headline.
And the ongoing permutations of just that equation alone are already manifesting. Between the US and UK bombing Houthi militias in Yemen, and the even more bizarre and unexpected sideshow of Iran and Pakistan exchanging cross-border hostilities, January has already shown us how many ways the Gaza crisis could spiral outward.
Pakistan and Iran already appear to have normalised relations again: making the whole incident all the more odd. And this odd incident was already forgotten by the time an Iran-linked group apparently attacked a US military target in Jordan, leading to calls in the US for war with Iran.
In short, the way things are now, it would not be surprising to see another front or another war entirely open up some time in the next twelve months.
A year could change a lot of things.
For example, will there even be a Gaza left by the end of 2024? Will there be any Palestinians living in it?
Or will the Israelis have sent them in to the Sinai? Or the Congo? And yes, that’s a real idea that’s been floated in Israeli discourse, with secret talks between Israel and the DRC.
Which further demonstrates how insane the world now is: things that previously used to be only implied between the lines are now being said openly.
Every maniacal voice has been given a loudspeaker and a platform: while every voice of reason or moderation seems to have been drowned out.
Which takes us neatly to this: this may well also be the year that Donald Trump, despite everything, returns to the White House. And what chaos and madness could that bring… whether he wins this election or doesn’t.
Because either outcome could again trigger upheaval.
‘Trump, the Revenge’ could be ugly. And that’s just in America. They failed to quite trigger their Qanon-inspired Civil War or martial law scenario four years ago: but there’s always the chance of second time lucky.
If Gaza could be a very different place by the year’s end, we should note that so could the United States.
And if the Indestructible One does become President a second time, what impact will that have on things like the Ukraine war and the Israeli war in Gaza? It’s hard to envision Trump, the devoted Zionist and Netanyahu chum, being good news for a reduction in destruction and suffering.
But the script seems very much to be setting up a second Trump presidency.
As if all of that isn’t inauspicious enough, the usual suspects are again talking about ‘Disease X’ and the ‘next pandemic’.
Strangely enough, although this Disease X was being talked about a lot around six months ago, it disappeared from the online discourse: until January 2024 kicked in and then the ominous scare stories came back to the fore.
‘Disease X’ isn’t even a real, existing disease yet: it’s a hypothetical pandemic. But the way some institutions and outlets are talking about it, you’d think this hypothetical next pandemic is already an absolute certainty.
They’re already telling us it will kill way more people than COVID apparently did.
So are we meant to be expecting another pandemic in 2024? Can we take it anymore? Could 2024 even handle the strain?
And all of this doom-saying – and I apologise for the pessimistic tone of this article – is based on just the first few weeks of the new year.
All I’m saying is… fuck.
Speaking of doomsaying, we’ve just been told the Doomsday Clock is at ninety seconds to midnight: the closest, apparently, that we’ve ever been to Doomsday.
It’s up to you how much stock you put in those kinds of pronouncements, but it seems a rather timely warning.
If we needed any more of a sign that the human saga might be nearing total implosion, then surely Ben Shapiro having the No.1 rap song in America is one of the signs of the apocalypse.
But yes, the alt-right/Zionist influencer/figurehead teamed up with some white rapper to signal to us that civilisation is at its lowest ebb and the end is indeed near. If you can bear it, here’s a link to the video.
Welcome to 2024, everybody. Here’s to surviving.
Thanks for that. Finally my daily visit bears fruit! These are certainly dark days. There was one interesting and encouraging thing about the Tom McDonald/Shapiro collab: it made no reference to Zionism or the Gaza massacre.-which renders it rather pointless but also relatively benign in my view..
I am confident that if Shapiro thought he could get away with doing that he would have. I thus surmise that their market research persuaded them that it would kill the song commercially if he did that.
https://genius.com/Tom-macdonald-facts-lyrics
Mustn’t go on but I am glad that you are back, I look forward to reading your work and am grateful for your return.
Thanks James. Yes, I was surprised at the Israel situation being unreferenced in the track. I guess he’s a savvy guy.