- There is a lot of excitement for a post-vaccine horizon – not too fast though, as we are not yet in a post-baloney era
- 2021 isn’t just another new year but also heralds a new decade – sadly we enter it with an obsolete & old vocabulary
- NLP (neuro-linguistic programming) is at the centre of how we humans are wired – garbage in only results in garbage out
- The world needs healing, not only from the pandemic but also from the hidden malign socio economic/geopolitical strains
- An Intl. T&T (track + trace) is needed for hypocrisy & double standards – while we are busy to find a vaccine for indifference
- The wounds of colonization & socio-racial disparities remain unhealed to this day – the root-causes of BLM/other movements
- Reparations on earth outstanding, the tech barons E. Musk & J. Bezos are busy drafting a constitution for colonizing Mars *
- Yet our current flawed model of capitalism is like an old diesel engine with a great deal of emissions of “humbug”
- Case in point the sheer incompetence in crises management by many governments around the world
- For earthly masses Net Zero remains a reference to their welfare & socio-economic status (Yemen, Lebanon Et al)
- The global debt has reached 365% of global GDP – up by 1% per day in 2020 – default weather forecast: Thunder & Storm
- Unless we acknowledge these realities, the elitist & the establishment will continue to lead us to a new dicey decade
Staying Sober, Sound & Sensible
- Talking of language/NLP worth quoting Wilbur Ross the outgoing octogenarian U.S Commerce Secretary:
“China’s corrupt & bullying behaviour both inside and outside its borders harms US national security interests, undermines sovereignty of our allies & partners, and violates the human rights & dignity of ethnic and religious minority groups”.
- U.S Politicians use English alphabet, yet their lingo is centred on what I have coined as Myogressive (Myopic + Aggressive)
- “The Allies” signed on Nov 16th The RCEP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Plan) forming world’s largest trading bloc**
- And E.U is just about to sign China E.U Comprehensive Agreement on Investment – these 2 deals sum up most of Eurasia
- At the heart of many of the arguments around the divide between East (China) & West (U.S & U.K) is “Our Way of Life”
- Jacob Rees-Mogg (soon to be Lord of Bench Horizontal) recently had a heated exchange about “record success” in U.K
- Claiming that the number of children in Absolute Poverty in U.K has been reduced by 100,000 in the past decade
- Yet the real question is why in 21st century in the U.K there are children who live in Absolute Poverty to begin with?
- 15m of Brits (21%) live in poverty – hence Lord of Bench Horizontal & chums need another 15 decades to eradicate poverty
- Winston Churchill’s quote on Battle of Britain Day: “Never so much was owed by so many to so few” can be paraphrased as:
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- Never so much was owed by so few to so many
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- There is relief that Brexit is over yet the work has just begun – the question is how to accelerate prosperity in next decade?
- “Level Up” requires accelerating economic prosperity in a challenging tri-polar geopolitical terrain (China + US + EU)
- U.S ring fenced Phase I with China, E.U will do this week – U.K must climb “The Great Wall” of mistrust w/out H.K ladder
- Meanwhile U.S declared Vietnam & Switzerland as currency manipulators – while weaponization of US$ remains hush-hush
- This is akin to Al Capone flagging a few kids on the block for having paintball guns in their backpacks
- Josep Borrell recently said that “virtuous soft power was no longer enough in today’s world”
- 2 decades later, USD 2.5tn down the drain and not a single day without major casualties and loss of life in Afghanistan
- Reporters, Gov. Officials, children, women & ordinary citizens perish on a daily basis – hard power has failed hard it seems
- Climate Change and the whole shebang of Net Zero is a mirage, why? Here are some sobering points to consider:
- Onshoring mfg.: who will pick up CO2 emissions’ tab for relocating factories & re-routing supply chains from China?
- Ongoing conflicts: wars and conflicts remain absent from the balance sheet of CO2 emissions https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhOHv2FWE7I
- Onfettered all things “electric”: who counts the full CO2 footprint of the conversion to EVs & Teslas of the world?
- Next Pandemic will most likely be a Cyber Pandemic one that can not be easily Tracked & Traced to any particular state
- World Powers should be convening in Goodwill on this matter to avoid ending up in The Wild West of Cyber Attacks
- There are no Good (U.S)/Bad (Russia) Cyber Attacks – as much as Torture is outright wrong so should be Cyber Attacks
- Otherwise we will enter a new decade with uncertainties that will make past crises look like a walk in the park
- We grew up playing Super Mario, Pac Man and Donkey Kong and this is the world we are handing over to the Next Gen
- Gen Y & Z play Cyberpunk 700*** competing to hack and kill in the game – wonder the world they will leave behind?
We live in era of VUCAD: Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, Ambiguity and for Sure Denial. Deep State, Deep Fake, Deep Learning abound and yet we have forgotten about our Deep Spiritual Roots. We are all intertwined together, by cutting, chopping, depriving one part of the root of humanity at home or abroad we will have a hard time flourishing.
As Nietzsche says: “Sometimes people don’t want to hear the truth because they don’t want their illusions destroyed.”
I took the photo for this blog 2 years ago. In many ways it symbolizes that as humanity our roots are intertwined regardless of race, religion, continent or economic model. It would be naïve to think that we could grow alone and at expense of others or mother earth for that matter. We are all in this together.
Wishing you all a Happy New Year, and a decade of health, harmony, humanity, healing and hope.
Ali Borhani is the Managing Director of 3Sixty Strategic Advisors Ltd. It is the readers’ responsibility to verify their own facts. The views and opinions expressed in this article/commentary are those of the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any other individual, agency, organization, employer or company.
* https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/elon-musk-mars-spacex-nasa-b1777746.html