Happy New Year! Welcome to Annus Horribilis Maximus!

We're not talking about your visit to the proctologist here. I'm thinking 2026 is shaping up to be a watershed year. There is no happiness in the new year for a great slice of humanity. For a lot of them, this is no big deal, because when have they ever had a happy new year? I'm talking about the 3rd world/global south crowd who perpetually get the short end of the stick when it comes to sharing the fruits of modernity etc. But many of us, accustomed to being on the winning side always, are in for a rude shock. This is a good news - bad news story. The bad news, in a nutshell, is 500 years of Anglo-European domination is winding down. The American Empire is visibly wobbling, economically, militarily, and politically. That's also the good news. What has happened in Ukraine is that the entire USA-NATO brand has been exposed as a paper tiger. Great! We no longer have to knock ourselves out to hit those Trump-imposed 5% NATO spending targets! Free at last! Free at last! The good news is the death of NATO frees up a shitload of money to address the many crises Canada faces. On top of that loss of all military cred in Ukraine, the coming year promises the implosion of the AI bubble. For all practical purposes China has already won the AI race. There you have it. Maximum Horribilis for the Empire and its dependencies, like Israel and NATO; happy days for the rest of the world. Happy New Year!