The Trends Research Institute was correct in 2013 and 2014. We stated the West, and especially the US, had targeted Russia with propaganda campaigns long before the crisis with Ukraine. We cautioned then that the US was stoking a war that couldn’t be won. Today, we intensify and expand that caution. With media, political and public anti-Russia sentiment at a generational high point, and with Trump surrounded by generals he trusts to make independent decisions about military policy and action, a dangerous trend is maturing and intensifying. While the Western Hemisphere never fully shook its Cold War perception of Russia as evil and America’s permanent, untrustworthy arch enemy, the current “Hate Russia” hysteria is especially potent. Our forecast of 2014 is even more relevant today: “The facts are in front of you; the world is on the path to war. The propaganda machines are doing their jobs. Hate has filled the air. If the trends are not reversed, the next smoking gun may, indeed, be a mushroom cloud. “It was as clear as day. You could see it coming.”
