2041: Islamist fundamentalism seems to decline due to leading movements civilizing, decreasing to unimportant sects or becoming corrupted by organized crime and fragmenting into cartels. Also the Middle Eastern world seems to be tired of religious zeal and war. A secular movement is rising but still rather unsuccessful.
Indonesia defeats several little uprisings on Sumatra. Several communities there gain semi-autonomy.
The introduction of little supercavitation fighter submarines changes marine warfare forever.
2042: The Sea levels have risen about 1m now since 2010, endangering the Persian Gulf region, the Netherlands, South Vietnam, Bangladesh, the Nile Delta, several Pacific Islands and other regions. Most of the time there are damming projects but some areas, mainly the Bangladeshi coast, sink under the waves. The mediterranean states start a joint project for a dam at Gibraltar to regulate sea levels better.
The Central European states initiate the next step in the development of the European Union and form a combined state out of the Benelux states, Germany, France and Spain: “Inner Europa”. The Basque Country and Bretagne are not included but join the EU as autonomous regions.
Iran, Iraq and Kuwait declare the Special Economic Zone of Greater Basra. Basra has now a similar status as Hong Kong had in the last century for parts of it being “leased” by the two other countries.
Cameroon annexes the “Niger Delta Defense Zone” after a faked vote.
2043: Katanga is admitted into the Eastern African Federation.
The Eastern African Federation votes to become a single state with the same name after the example of the inner EU.
Border conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia erupts but comes to a standstill soon as Europe and Russia negotiate an armistice.
2044: Papuan Civil War. Western Papua gains independence with the help of possibly US-assisted mercenary forces but the oil wells remain in the hand of the Indonesian army. The islands of Ceram and Ambon fall into the hands of strong paramilitary forces armed with state-of-the-art technology consisting mainly of Maori veterans. Instead of playing on South Moluccan nationalist feelings though, they declare the Seram Free State which increasingly gets renown as a modern pirate republic.
UN forces are deployed in Papua and Seram.
Olympics in Cape Town.
2045: Indonesian deserters and Papuan rebel groups found Kamaina Republic. The UN agrees to a request to station peacekeepers.
Ukraine severs its ties with Russia in favor of a membership trial with the European Union.
Digital money (credit cards, chips, credsticks) has excelled cash in the developed countries.
The Riyadh Street Festival marks the continuing rise of the Arabic counter-culture when youth from the whole Middle East dance together to secular rock songs and radical-feminist electronic music. The festival is stopped by the authorities after three days; hundreds of teenagers are arrested. Riots break out across Saudi Arabia in response.
2046: The upcoming, widely successful Turanist Movement calls for a Union of Turkish Central Asian States and founds several popular political parties in them.
Italy's referendum to join “Inner Europa” fails.
2047: The rest of the Democratic Republic of the Congo is shaken by civil war, food riots and famine and threatens to destabilize the whole Central African region.
The Central African Defense Pact occupies Congo but moves out again after heavy guerrilla fighting.
Simultaneous translators for spoken language are becoming common as do other wearable computing systems.
The second great Kanto-quake hits Tokyo, collapsing whole quarters and causing millions of victims.
2048: Chile joins the South American Solidarity Pact.
The Iraqi Civil War breaks out as fundamentalist mullahs agitate the rural population against the “decadence of the south” and Sunnite and Shiite tensions flare up again.
The East African Federation develops an own missile defense screen.
Belarus follows the Ukrainian example, applies fo EU membership and slips into civil war.
Panama joins the South American Solidarity Pact to the outrage of the US government. It is now called American Solidarity Pact.
Iran occupies southern Iraq and the Iraqi part of the Basra Economic Zone to combat anarchist terrorist groups acting across the Iranian borders from there. It later annexes the territory. A new Persian Gulf War starts. This war becomes a similar staging point for the Arabian and Middle Eastern youth as the Vietnam War was for the US one years before. The social movements are virulent throughout the Muslim countries.
Olympics in Madrid. A Catalan separatist terror group bombs the European Administration during the Olympics. There are several other terror warnings but no further attacks happen and the Olympics are continued by schedule.
OPEC announces that the last oil reserves will have run out in 2060.
2049: Jordanian radical anarchists and workers unions take over the capital of Amman for several days and take the royal family hostage until the insurgency is defeated and military forces Egyptian Special Forces liberate the King.
Mongolia becomes nearly income-tax free, luring tax refugees and other investment.
Greece's left-wing government gives up full membership of the European Union, accusing it of “destroying civil freedoms in favor of corporate aristocracy” but remains in the trading zone. Bulgaria and Cyprus act similar.
Saudi Arabia becomes a constitutional monarchy after a political crisis to prevent anarchist insurgency.
The Touareg State is created peacefully out of Algeria, Niger and Mali territory but remains heavily dependent on this states.
Neonaxalites topple the Indian government and take control with chaos following in their wake. While the civil war goes on, the government moves to Mumbai as new capital but it has already downgraded from a democratic elected parliament to a militaristic Hindu-nationalist junta.
The first automated malls with wireless payment are opening in developed countries. Many of these malls are only managed by a few people who control a pool of sorting and transport drones.
2050: The worlds population reaches 8,9 billion.
The end of social inequality of women in Saudi Arabia comes with the decision on the Gender Equality Act.
The Belorussian Civil War ends, which leads to a split in the country. The eastern part falls to Russia.
Most stationed US troops leave Syria.
With the Balkan Iniative Serbia, Bosnia, Albania and Montenegro join the EU trading zone as a well for low paid work force.
Indonesia calls on China's People's Liberation Army to help combat the “pirate problem”.
The Fourth Persian Gulf War ends with a victorious Iran and a seriously unstable Iraq, with stationed UN peacekeeping forces, that fractures before the end of the year into a liberal south, a religious orthodox north, and a demilitarized zone in joint control of Kurdistan and Iran which borders on the Tigris river. Baghdad is divided into three parts.
The trend in computation technology leads away from the personal computer to people owning just Internet terminals and saving their data in corporate server farms.