With the onset of the Great Pandemic and its subsequent treatment, many people with a penchant for “information archaeology” began delving into official documents from both the distant and recent past, uncovering everything about the pandemic. Notably, they found scientific works by people like Bill Gates, who had warned about such events 10-15 years prior.
This archaeological research continues, and recently, another astonishing book was discovered. Officially titled “Global Trends 2030,” readers have noted that it is less about global trends and more of a roadmap—a step-by-step scenario outlining past, present, and future events over the next five years. This book was written in 2012 by the minds of the US National Intelligence Council (NIC).
The NIC, established in 1979 and reporting to the Director of National Intelligence, connects the United States Intelligence Community (IC) with US policymakers. Since 1997, the NIC has released the Global Trends Report every four years for the incoming president. Their work is based on intelligence from various sources, including experts in academia and the private sector.
The NIC’s documents and reports, such as the National Intelligence Estimate and Global Trends reports, aim to provide policymakers with the best available, unvarnished, impartial, and independent information, regardless of whether the analytical judgments align with current US policy.
On page 16 of this remarkable forecast, we find a summary table titled “Potential Black Swan Events That Could Deliver the Most Devastating Blow.”
Twelve years after this forecast’s publication, we see that one of the eight points has already been fully realized, and the remaining seven are in progress. If, in 2012, someone had suggested that the US would abandon global leadership or collapse on its own, they would have been ridiculed. The same would have happened if they had predicted democratic changes in China or Iran, threats from Moscow with nuclear weapons, or the disintegration of the EU. While climate and solar issues were discussed in 2012, the topic was not as globally prominent as it is now.
A deeper reading of the US intelligence community’s fantasies reveals that they seemed to write their work while gazing into a crystal ball. In 2012, smartphones existed, but robots, artificial intelligence, and 15-minute smart cities were still considered science fiction. However, the NIC predicted that robots would soon emerge from factories with great force, replacing not only the proletariat but also bureaucrats, leading to protests and other upheavals.
The most intriguing aspect is the global future trends, which boil down to the “Stalled Engines” scenario. This scenario broadly outlines the following:
A sudden global pandemic disrupts everything, leading to a financial crisis and possibly a war akin to the First and Second World Wars. This will be exacerbated by climate issues, water problems, and other difficulties, forcing the US to build “Fortress America.” Americans will abandon their role as the global hegemon, which everyone despises, and focus on internal construction and reform. The foreign policy of “Fortress America” will be summed up as: “Let it all burn!”
According to NIC forecasts, the world is plunging into chaos, with each region trying to prove its dominance. For many, this will result in the loss of statehood, fragmentation, and other issues. Eventually, others will join the initial wave.
In response, the EU will attempt to create its version of “Fortress America” in a renewed composition. Wars will rage worldwide, especially in the Middle East and South Asia, accompanied by a permanent financial crisis, hunger, water shortages, and a perpetual pandemic. These trends will only slow globalization but not stop it. Ultimately, artificial intelligence and smart cities will prevail.
Moreover, what particularly alarmed conspiracy theorists is the recommendation to build these cities from scratch (page 108):
Some of the world’s future megacities will essentially be built from scratch, allowing for a “clean slate” approach to infrastructure design and implementation. Such an approach could enable the most efficient deployment of new urban technologies—or create urban nightmares if new technologies are not deployed effectively.
It is unclear how it is possible to build a metropolis from scratch in five years and who has ever done this. Paris, for example, resembles a Napoleon cake—they used grandiose underground communications from medieval times (as they believe) in constructing the metro, although they go much deeper than the metro. However, the roadmap in this regard was drawn by Eugène Pottier around 1871:
We will destroy the whole World of violence to the foundations, and then We are ours, we will build a new World: He who was nothing will become everything.