2021: USA, Israel and the EU forces strike at the Three Powers Alliance before they can be taken under the russian missile defense screen. They dismantle the nuclear capabilities of all three countries and occupy them at a high price of lives. The war is ended with a nuclear strike by a US submarine on Homs (center of Syrian resistance) leading to absolute capitulation of Syria which answers another strike by Syrian artillery at Haifa. For a short period the combined troops of the pact had pushed deep into Israel and Palestine and occupied it for a half month after being driven out after the end of the war. Their war crimes in both regions resemble a pogrom. Turkey had capitulated earlier and the Iranian regime was brought down by a coup of internal insurgents in the army. Palestine had left the pact with the beginning of the war being seen as traitorous by the rest of the alliance. Lebanon dind`t take part due to a US sponsored uprising which lead to the end of the Hezbollah regime and just functioned as transit land for troops of both sides. The guerilla war afterwards is several times harsher than in Iraq confronting the Allied forces with human waves of suicide bombers. Also, several nuclear bombs are reported missing. Pakistan, Jordan, Oman and Afghanistan, in fear of becoming targets of nuclear terrorism, end their alliance with the USA.
2022: China-supported liberal post-maoists take over the government in Nepal. There is a polarized reappearance of Indian sponsored royalism.
Libya returns to a more-or-less stable socialist - democracy after Gaddaffis death leaves power in the hand of the General People's Congress. It opens itself fully to Europe after a short period of troubles and becomes one of it`s allies.
In a UN conference on fusion energy it is deemed unlikely that fusion power will become an energy alternative any time soon.
2023: The continued energy crisis and a growing financial crisis of the world market plunge the world into food shortage. Food riots occur everywhere in the “third world” and the social systems of the “first” begin to disappear fast. Central Africa, Russia and Southeast Asia suffer extreme famine. Other markets suffer as well, the asian growth of the last to decades comes to a halt for the time to be. Especially China, already crippled by giant enviromental problems is hit by recession and the regime treis to compensate with outward agression.
China invades and annexes Taiwan. The US, occupied elsewhere, does nothing. Taiwan is accepted in the name of world peace.
The first fully operatable cybernetic prosthetics using artificial muscles are handed out to veterans of the 2021 middle eastern war. They get increasingly common and can be easily modified to grant more-than-human strength and agility.
2024: The regime of Myanmar ends it`s alliance with China banning it access to the indian ocean over an official diplmat attacked by human rights demonstrators in the Hongkong area. Political advisors call this self chosen isolation of the country madness.
Olympics in Los Angeles.
Worldwide defenders of Data privacy ring alarm bells. Surveillance, Data mining and Internet censorship have become extremely common. In some Countries of the EU, Canada and the USA personalised advertising is forbidden.
A neonaxalite rebellion breaks out across india, joined by a newly arisen strong Tamil independence movement and insurgency in Assam.
Every product which is imported or produces in the EU must contain a little RFID-chip now which saves the products history of transport and storage.
2025: The US green party merges with the democrats, a trend that is observed in other countries too.
Myanmar and Sri Lanka ally with India in the attempt to form a bloc opposed to chinese influence in the region.
2026: A new Palestinian civil war occurs. The gaza strip is once again occupied by Israel for a short time to defeat Hamas forces. This time, though, this step is supported by the majority of the population. The near east-conflict seems to come aproximately to an end as the relations of Israel and Palestine normalise after the 2021 war.
A corean team clones the first human.
European corporations begin to invest in regenerative energy like upwind plants in the maghreb.
2027: Russia is shaken by clashes with a new Paneurasian Nationalist movement combining neofascist and socialist elements. Severe discrimination and killings of several hundred immigrants occur. The regime pacifies the Nationalists with amnesties and several privileges for their leaders leading to protest notes from across the world.
The UN security council is structured anew. Seats go to USA, EU, China, Russia, Brazil and India. The might of the chamber is decreased in favor of UN democratization. The budget of the UN is also decreased by sveral contributing states as an answer to this policy leading to protest by General secretary Mohammad Bashir.
Bioplastics are on the rise.
2028: Mariela Castro, head of Cuba since 2018, reforms the government to, what she calls, “Communism of the future”. Cuba is now a basis democratic, council communism state. The US, Venezuela and Brazil accuse Castro that her anarchist tendenices will weaken the whole region. Indeed, like minded movements have grown in all of the americas.
Egyptian police takes down a islamist cell in Cairo and conficates a armed nuclear bomb. The worlds worst fears seem to be coming true. Egypt insisting on keeping hte wepaon leads to another diplomatic crisis.
Textile displays become common. Still the readability is not as good as with paper, but there are already newspaper feeds to wireless connected screen foils and laptops that can be put in a trousers pocket.
Olympics in Dodoma, Tanzania.
2029: US forces occupy Nicaragua after it attempted to follow the Cuban way and install a new government almost peacefully, using information-warfare, non-lethal weapons like microwave emitters and hundreds of drones. This war is called the “Sci Fi”-war later on and marks an attempt of the US government to show it has military capacity even while it occupies half of the middle east to compnesate for the loss of Taiwan. Also, talks about an independent Kurdistan are coming to an end. The US army also fields the first in-field test team of assault exoskeletons in this war. They cause a great media response but are not produced yet due to needing to much maintenance.
T-Shirts spotting moviecips get common but are forbidden in some places due to the riks of causing epileptical attacks.
India accuses China of funding the Assam rebels and dealing them neurotechnology. The rebel groups favored weapons are stray dogs put under neurosurgery to control by remote and then loaded with explosives as animal suicide bombers.
Translation of written text in all common languages can be nearly flawlessly managed by specialized software now.
2030: The worlds population reaches 8.3 billion.
Kurdistan is created from parts of Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria to reward the Kurdish alliance with the west for 30 years. As long term consequence of this Iraqs relations to the US cool down. Syria is still under occupation while Turkey is left alone after the US have returned stability with help of rather secular nationalistic movements like the Grey Wolves. Iran had gotten rid of the islamist history quite soon and is now a mutual ally of the US. They view the loss of kurdish territory as necessary evil.
NASA and ESA start there second moon mission delayed because of the middle eastern war. The mission is a success and awakens a new desire to conquer the stars worldwide.