Following up on the 7 January Trends Journal Special Report detailing the U.S. assassination of Iran’s General Qassim Soleimani, the next day, Iran responded by firing over a dozen missiles at Iraqi military bases housing American troops. There were no deaths, nor any major casualties. It was reported that Iran provided advanced notice of the attack, so all troops could...
HONG KONG: BEIJING GETTING TOUGHER
The Hong Kong protests, now in their seventh month, show no signs of abating. And with the November local election bringing in 87 percent of candidates who are anti-Beijing and pro-democracy, the Chinese government is taking measures to reign in the movement. Last weekend, the Chinese government’s top representative in Hong Kong was replaced with an official who is considered...
FRANCE: MACRON FEELING THE HEAT
The longest strike in France since 1986 is now over a month long and shows no signs of losing strength. On New Year’s Eve, French President Emmanuel Macron made a plea for compromise to unions in their negotiations with the government over proposed changes in the country’s pension system. The response to the speech by trade union leader Philippe Martinez...
INDIA: HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS TAKE TO THE STREETS
Hundreds of thousands continue to protest throughout India against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s new citizenship law. The act specifically makes religion a basis of citizenship, which is considered by the protesters a direct violation of India’s secular constitution. The bill specifically excludes Muslims, of which there are over 200 million living in India, from rights of citizenship. Since India passed...
MAKING BUILDING BLOCKS FROM JUNK PLASTIC
The Center for Regenerative Design and Collaboration, a Costa Rica venture, has figured out a way to grind up junk plastic and mix it with concrete to make bricks, cinder blocks, and similar building materials. The waste plastic doesn’t have to be sorted by type. The conglomeration is mixed with minerals to create a plastic-limestone concoction that’s then ground into...
ELECTRIC POWER TO THE PEOPLE
In October, New Hampshire became the latest state to pass a law allowing counties and towns to generate and distribute electricity, following in the steps of Washington, Vermont, and California, among others. This growing “community power” movement pools several motivations. For some, grid power from a centralized utility is too expensive, with rates that increase too often and by too...
MICROPARTICLES FIGHT MALNUTRITION
From vitamin B12 in your cereal to iodine in table salt, adding nutrients to food is an old idea. But it doesn’t always work. Long storage, changes in humidity and temperature, and other variables can slash the additives’ potency. That’s a special problem when transporting food to places where famine has taken hold, often in hot, dry, and hard-to-reach locales....
VENEZUELA: GUAIDÓ BLOCKED, GUAIDÓ BACK
On 5 January, Juan Guaidó, the opposition leader who proclaimed himself the rightful President of Venezuela last January, despite an internationally observed electoral victory by President Nicolas Maduro, was denied entrance to parliament by government security forces. A video was released of Guaidó climbing a fence outside the parliament building and being restrained by security forces. In a chaotic scene...
LETTER TO SUBSCRIBERS FROM GERALD CELENTE
Dear Subscriber, In my 40 years of trend forecasting, I have never been more concerned about today’s current events forming future trends. This Trends Journal Special Report details the U.S./Iranian crisis, which I have been writing and warning about for several years. Should the current trend lines continue, I forecast we are on the path to WWIII. I am not a gloom-and-doomer...