Future historians will dub the current era as the age of uncertainty.
In normal times there’s always a sizeable degree of predictability about life, but currently there’s none.
For example, are we now living, as a top American military figure said a year back, no longer in the post 2nd World War period, but instead in the pre-3rd World War age?
This is one positive about Trump, namely his aversion to wars. Hopefully his appeasement mentality will see an end to the evil Putin’s territorial ambitions via a face-saving concession of some eastern Ukrainian territory to Russia. There’s a legitimate case for that mind you, as some of those statelets are basically Russian and would prefer such realignment.
That’s also true of lovely Crimea, a reality ignored by Western commentators.
In less than two months Trump takes control of the world’s major economic power-house.
He will need an attention-taking diversion such as resolving the Ukrainian situation, to dodge acting on his ludicrous spur-of-the-moment outburst of imposing 30% import taxes on Mexico, Canada and China. This would inflict enormous economic harm on America and for that reason it won’t happen.
Trump has the intellectual capacity of a 12 year old.
Those closest to him insist he’s never read a book, something I have no difficulty believing.
That said, his plans to attack what he colourfully but accurately refers to as the deep state, although enormously disruptive, are still highly desirable.
The western world recent decades, massive growth of bureaucracies, a consequence of democracies’ politicians wooing voters with ill-considered expenditure promise, a classic case of spending other people’s money, needs to be arrested. If Trump can achieve that then it will mark his Presidency as historically significant.
It’s certainly not an easy task and will bring in its wake much disruption, notably unemployment. But it’s certainly desirable and needs to be addressed.
One thing’s for sure. We’re living in a revolutionary age of great uncertainty, frightening for some folk while exciting for others.