Wednesday, 2 January 2013

What will this new year bring us?


What will this new year bring us?
More turmoil for Syria and its neighbors
More worries about Iran's nuclear program
Egypt to deal with new power, economic troubles
Libya threatens to spawn more unrest in North Africa
A bumpy troop transition for Afghanistan
Where will North Korea turn its focus?
China-Japan island dispute to simmer
Economic uncertainty in U.S., growth in China
Europe's economic outlook a little better
Expect to see more evidence of climate change
More cyber warfare
Who will be soccer's next 'perfect machine'?
Will Gangnam give it up to something sillier?

Those are 13 stories of 2013 forecasted by CNN.
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/12/29/world/world-2013-outlook/index.html?hpt=hp_c2

What do you think: are any of those more or less possible?
Do you have any new year resolutions?
Do you think 2013 will be better than 2012?
What will it bring?

Happy New Year to all of you!

11 comments:

  1. New year as always is a time that people try to predict the future. I do not want to do the same. I am tired of doing so. By definition you cannot be sure of your predictions.
    Do you think 2013 will be better than 2012?
    It is not the question if it will be better it is a question of what we will do to make it better. Only a positive actions performed by ourselves can result in 2013 being better then 2012.
    What will it bring?
    Again. Predictions. I can try to think of things I am going to do in near future. Those can be enumerated and do have some possibility of happening embedded.
    An idea: Why not to share? Every individual would state about the real plan of one activities for 2013. From that information correlated a true picture for the future might emerge :)

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    1. The thing is, we have a nasty habit of never fulfilling our new year's resolutions, so I don't think you'll get a true picture out of them :)
      Many professions are all about predicting the future, a sit and wait and see what happens approach is simply not possible today.
      That said, it's hard to tell what this year will bring. The topics from CNN point to: turmoil, worries, troubles and unrest in developing countries and uncertainty in developed countries. I guess that's always going to be the case. I think the world economy is still going to be an important topic with countries getting a better outlook for the future after the readjustment that has happened in the past years. Hopefully there won't be any new wars or major conflicts but that can never be ruled out. All in all I believe this will be a good year.

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    2. I totally agree with Waldek on that. I don't see the purpose of making predictions for the next year and I try not to worry myself with them. No one can know what the future holds. As for new year resolutions, at least it's something that I can set myself and do my best to fulfill it. I've started setting new year's resolutions two years ago, just a couple of goals that I want to achieve that given year and I have to say I find it quite a nice personal development exercise - it always gives you some kind of frame and road signs along the way :)

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  2. Your points on what we should do suggest lofty goals and we should strive to achieve them.

    You recognize that isolationism poses risks. Let's think about that.


    As is wont when societies look inward, a fertile ground develops for fascism. Economies suffer. Totalitarianism erupts.

    Let us not forget the past and let us not ignore the lessons to be learned.

    The playing field for the game of life is the entire planet. Secularism is dangerous for societies and mankind's secularism (ignoring the human relationship to Earth) threatens mankind's existence.

    We must set goals. We must also have a plan of action, emphasissing action over inaction.

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  3. What do you think: are any of those more or less possible?

    As I am not to much interested in economics and politics so I would rather refer to the few last topics:
    - climate changes - actually I am not a big fun of such stories, and usually put them on the same shelf as global warming
    - Barcelona with prevail ! (totally objective point of view :) )
    - Gangnam .. saw it for the first time, I cannot find proper words to describe the level of this but maybe it is another sign of Chinese domination ? :)

    Do you have any new year resolutions?
    Nope, I think I have reached a stage in my life that the new year means one day free of work.

    Do you think 2013 will be better than 2012?
    Depends from whether we will be better and maybe some luck.

    What will it bring?
    See point about Barceolna :)

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  4. About resolutions – I’m lucky man – I noticed that 2012’s resolutions are still actual so I didn’t have to think about anything new ;-). I have one new: if I go on somebody’s wedding I will learn Gangnam style – it may be critical skill for good fun.
    I think that 2013 will be better than 2012 because ... I’m an optimistic person. If you look at my prediction about European economy you will see why I – European member - think in this way.
    2013 will bring us a lot of good things – some of us will finish works on Ph.D., some of us will start …
    All the best for everyone in New Year.

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  5. 1. What do you think: are any of those more or less possible?
    I think that everything is possible. I do not think that the world will end in 2013... In my opinion is highly probable the economy destabilization Western Europe, increase taxes in our country and increasing social stratification.

    2. Do you have any new year resolutions?
    Yes. Leave this beautiful country, buy a house in the Alps and simply do nothing :)

    3. Do you think 2013 will be better than 2012?
    For me? If I win in the Lottery... (see section 2);) For Poland think it can be a critical year.

    4. What will it bring?
    I think that 2013 will bring in 2014, the rest we should ask soothsayer "Macieja" or soothsayer "Władka"...

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  6. 1) What do you think: are any of those more or less possible?
    We all live in the shadow of an upcoming "economic crisis" and wars. I would say that China, Russia, USA, Brazil and Germany will be big players in the 2013 political landscape. I am concerned about the possibility of cyber warfare, I think that this is the main threat of the upcoming years.

    2) Do you have any new year resolutions?
    Yes. To smile more.

    3) Do you think 2013 will be better than 2012?
    It should be. I read somewhere that 2012 had terrible karma, and my experiences show that was true.

    4) What will it bring?
    I hope that it will bring fairly good crops to the farmers.

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  8. What do you think: are any of those more or less possible?

    Someone said that everything is possible, and I agree with him. I'm not a fortune-teller and I don’t know what will happen. Just let’s hope that this year will be much better than previous years without any tragedy or the stock market crashes, although this sounds less likely. Fortunately for me I don’t have any resolutions for 2013 

    Do you think 2013 will be better than 2012?

    Hard to say, certainly will be different I hope that it will be much better than 2012 for me 
    and for all of us.

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  9. This things are not depends on me so I don't want to guess we will see waht new year will come:)
    Do you think 2013 will be better than 2012?
    I hope so but we will see in my opinion it depends from use how will look that year
    What will it bring?
    We will see for now I don't know ask me on the end of that year:)

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