The sands are shifting

BY TIM AKANO

‘’Life is a desert of shifting sand dunes. Unpredictable. Erratic. Harmony changes into dissonance, the immediate outlives the profound, esoteric becomes clichéd. When talking about uncertainty we should lean heavily on facts, just as the court of law does when interrogating witnesses. Facts form a sort of bedrock on which we can build the shifting sands of uncertainty’’.

Stop!
Look under your feet
Can you feel the shifting sands?
It seems as if to reach paradise man must pass through the inferno bypass. Hmmm…

Unusual times require unusual style, permit me therefore to conclude this article before we start, and more so since we are reasonably certain of the consequences of what is unrevealing before us.

The world is about to really get ugly and more complicated from 2021-2030. Being a transition decade, the Universe, like a snake, is going through the process of ecdysis. That is the shedding of an old layer of a snake’s skin in one continuous process. That transition which began in 2020 will crystalize in 2030 with the emergence of a New World Order. However, as the snake never returns to the same spot where ecdysis occurred, the Universe we knew pre-COVID-19 era is gone forever. The uprooting of the Universe from its comfort zone has begun, therefore you should prepare for a 180- degree shift. Consequently, resolve to stand erect. Resolve to become ‘’new’’ as everything and everyone around you will equally be struggling to be ‘’born again’’. A new Universe requires a new you as a necessary and sufficient condition for a safe navigation during the transition hours. Resolve to be fearless. Sharpen your intuitive skill and go where it leads you. Resolve not to be marginalised or intimidated. Play big. And resolve to think perpendicularly. Deliberately choose life, though accidents do happen during ecdysis transition hours, nonetheless, be cool, since you are completely incapable of stopping the Universe from transiting. Guard your heart with 101% diligence because mind matters more than matter (Atoms) in the new milieu. To avoid a rude shock in 2021, develop a ten-year plan but don’t forget to live in the NOW. If the rain stops earlier, you gain everything and lose nothing. Every time the world shifts, (1818, 1918, 1945 etc.) only the resilient survive and the most adaptable to change thrive.

The new child is already coming out from the Universe’s womb with an unusual worldwide cry of pain. Probably because it’s a breech birth, i.e. the new baby will be born bottom first instead of head first (cephalic birth) where the baby is positioned head down. We have zero idea what type of baby it will be. Suffice to say that we have seen its two tiny legs in 2020 in the image of Covid-19, wildfire, flood, typhoon, locust plague of Biblical proportions, and massive major civil unrest in multiple cities simultaneously and hunger pandemics. We can only pray and hope that the full child will not resemble its legs! The baby’s chin, chest, hands and head are still abnormally tucked inside the Universe’s pelvis. A new Universe has arisen. Resistance won’t work. Denial is dangerous. Ignoring it is futile. Rather, welcome it. Embrace it. And just flow. Widen your radius but don’t create additional turbulence. Please!

Introduction:

Ok, where do I start? Can I begin by asking a philosophical, spiritual and a somewhat rhetorical question? Does this Universe have an expiry date? Put differently: is the world going to end someday or is it gradually winding down already judging by the unfolding events of the last 12 months? Are we dealing with an organised chaos, I mean very intentional, man-made crises or everything is a coincidence? What is science telling us? What are sociologists saying? How do the religious leaders interpret it? More importantly, what is your mind telling you? I ask this because everywhere in everything with everyone, the sands are shifting at such an astonishing speed, the type not seen in recent history. This is generating an unprecedented Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) with troubling social connections and scary consequences, therefore, making planning for the unexpected imperative, urgent and critical but at the same time somewhat useless, superfluous and contradictory. Planning for what? Situation you can’t control? But getting an umbrella, raincoats and rain boots will not be a bad idea nonetheless, just like the Biblical five wise virgins did.

See what Covid-19 pandemic and a controversial presidential election are doing to America. See what a typhoon is doing to the Philippines. See the havoc done to agriculture and the food supply chain by titanic swarms of desert locusts otherwise called Schistocerca Gregaria. This is the worst infestation in 70 years in countries like Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Saudi Arabia, Iran, India, Oman, Pakistan, East Asia, and Tanzania. According to the United Nations’ Food and Agricultural Organisation, FAO, ‘’the locusts pose a clear and immediate danger to the livelihood of 10% of the world’s population.” In East Africa alone according to the World Bank, the sum of $8.5billion was estimated as the damage caused by locusts as at August 2020. In one word: famine is coming.

To further compound the situation, the world’s forests have been on wild fire in 2020. From Brazil to America, Australia to Congo Basin and Indonesia, tens of thousands of hectares of forest have been destroyed leading to the biggest deforestation pandemic in recent history. The Arctic Circle is not exempted as Arctic fires emitted 50 megatons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere in June, and 79 megatons in July. By August the cloud of soot staining the Arctic sky was bigger than Europe, according to the United Nations Press Release dated 23rd September 2020. Similarly, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) on 24th July 2020 raised the alarm that ‘’the Arctic is heating more than twice as fast as the global average, impacting local population and ecosystems and with global repercussions coupled with the rapidly decreasing sea ice along the Russian polar coast. This should not be happening!’’ Juxtapose all of the above with the on-going dog-eat-dog- intense power tussle between China and America, and you will arrive at the same conclusion: the sands are shifting.

Interestingly, scientists, religious people and Social and Geopolitics Futurists are all on the same page that things that shouldn’t have happened are happening globally. While scientists call it ‘’Climate Crisis’’, people of Faith call it ‘’signs of End -Time’’. I call it: Shifting Sands, the Universe in once-in-a-century transition hours.

Why everywhere? Why simultaneously? Why is nowhere exempted? Geopolitically, economically, technologically, socially, morally, educationally – the changes are nerve-racking.

As we all sit down in front of a giant screen in the Universe’s cinema auditorium watching our society unravel right in front of our eyes, a massive shift in our mind-set and world view is happening. This is concurrently making us to be asking, “is the Universe coming to an end soon”?

By any reckoning this may end up as the Decade of Secessionist Movements (DSM). Nigeria, Cameroon, UK, even the United States are more fragile than they appear. Nigeria can’t escape restructuring into four or six manageable semi-independent regions to avert a complete collapse. Cameroon will likely split into two nations between the French and English speaking regions, possibly after the ‘’indomitable Lion of Cameroon’’, Paul Biya, who has been President for almost 40 years departs to the Great Beyond. Scotland’s independence from Britain is coming soon. The 2014 Scotland referendum that showed 55% ‘’stay’’ and 45% ‘’exit’’ from Britain will be reversed when the next referendum happens since 62% Scots opposed Britain’s exit from Europe , which is now a reality.

Notwithstanding the provision of the US constitution that stipulates 2/3 of the Congress and 38 States legislatures to ratify a secessionist agenda, voices of secession will increase in States like Texas, California and Florida this decade. The sharp decline in Spain’s economy may strengthen Catalonia’s demand for full independence and its success is highly likely. Spain’s heavy reliance on the service sector, especially Tourism, has made it the most vulnerable country in Europe and is projected to decline by as much as 12.8% in 2020 (IMF). Venice’s venture to secede from Italy, now that Italy is bleeding profusely economically, will increase in tempo. Quebec may gain independence from Canada, as Transnistria pushes for independence from Moldova.

More likely, China will overpower Hong Kong and Taiwan to achieve the ultimate goal of ONE CHINA, ONE POLICY this decade, because America, Japan and Europe are currently heavily distracted putting off multiple domestic fires. China will also very likely overpower Japan and retrieve the disputed group of uninhabited but strategic islands known as Senkaku in Japan, Tiaoyutai in Taiwan and Diaoyu islands in Peoples Republic of China, now that Japan is economically castrated (5.3% decline in 2020, IMF). China will accomplish all of the above ambitions not through negotiation or constitutional means but through bullying or gunboat diplomacy. You can see: Geopolitically- the sands are shifting.

Economically, the sands are frighteningly shifting too. Listen to our Chief Priest, the IMF Chief Economist himself, Gita Gopinath, ‘’the ascent out of the calamity is likely to be long and uneven and highly uncertain. Output in advanced economics as well as emerging markets with the exception of CHINA is projected to remain below 2019 levels in 2021 as the global growth is expected to slow to 3.5% for the next 5 years” (emphasis mine). Consequently, the number of people that will suffer from extreme poverty will be in excess of 100 million i.e. population living under $1.9 per day. This will lead to worsening inequality, and severe setbacks in improvement of living standards. The IMF projects the US economy to shrink by 4.7% in 2020, and 8.3% negative growth for the 19 countries using the Euro, while India and the UK will decline by 10.3% and 9.8% respectively.

Technologically, the sands are shifting. Have you ever asked yourself where several of the inventions which are now going from the fringe to mainstream are leading the world to? Crypto currency, National Digital currencies, Blockchain technologies, Global Digital Identity Card (GDID) for all, universal vaccination for all as canvassed, COVID PASSPORTS or what Bill Gates calls “Digital Certificate”? Why global digital identity card for all when we already have an international travelling passport and national biometrics identification numbers? The Globalists responds, ’’Global ID is key for accessing education, healthcare, voting, banking, housing and public places’’. As if we are not accessing those opportunities currently. Does that signify the death of democracy since we the people have zero say in deciding if we want to be chipped or vaccinated? The Globalists seem to have won this battle, even though I doubt if they can win the war, that is, our mind. We are all-in. All of us! Think you have a voice or a vote or a choice? Think again.

No doubt, COVID-19 is not a stand-alone event, rather it is part of a chain of events that will usher in a New World Order because as far back as 2017, the CEO of a company working with the International Agencies like UN and WHO had said that, ‘’so the organisation that I run, ID2020 is leading an alliance of a large private sector companies, small start-ups, UN agencies, NGOs, governments, and by 2030, our goal is to enable access to digital identity for every person on the planet. (Source: Venturebet.com, 21st June 2017). Pandemic or ‘’Plandemic’’, pick your choice. The world, I believe, is moving as it should, relentlessly towards a predetermined end! Man’s transition from Homo Sapiens to Homo Deus seems to have slowly but gradually begun.

Akano is a techno-prenuer and geopolitics and technology futurist. He can be reached via [email protected]