#1 - Worldwide shortage of rare earth metals

#2 - Food supply disruptions hit western nations

#3 - Deadly superbug mutation goes wild

#4 - New evidence links vaccines and neurological disorders

#5 - U.S. power grid suffers catastrophic failure

#6 - Satellite breakdown

#7 - GM crop contamination leads to crisis

#8 - Honeybee population collapse spreads to other species

#9 - Weather patterns become increasingly radicalized

#10 - Nuclear power sees global resurgence

#11 - Nuclear weapons unleashed in the Middle East

#12 - New exotic superfood from South America emerges in western markets

#13 - A high-tech, portable vitamin D sensor device is invented

#14 - U.S. debt gets downgraded while world investors slash purchases of U.S. debt instruments

#15 - U.S. nearly comes to military conflict with China over natural resources

#16 - Huge new scandal implicates major pharmaceutical company in scientific fraud

#17 - China unleashes armies of corporate espionage hackers onto western nations

#18 - Medical imaging scandal unfolds as older patients begin to show serious health damage from radiation via mammograms, CT scans and more

#19 - Another 9/11 false flag incident

#20 - The world won't end on December 21, 2012

#21 - EPA pressured to regulate pharmaceuticals in the water supply

#22 - Nursing home drugging scandal exposed

#23 - The psychiatric industry will declare more normal behaviors to be "disorders"

#24 - Vaccine industry goes crazy with new vaccines for all sorts of "diseases"

#25 - War on health freedom ramps up, targeting raw milk, homeopathy, herbs and supplements

#26 - The world becomes a far more dangerous place for honest citizens

#27 - New attempts are made to destroy internet freedom

#28 - China's boom will bust, sending ripples through global economy

#29 - Central and South America will drop the U.S. dollar as a currency

#30 - Local currencies emerge following the collapse of the dollar

#31 - TSA suspends full body scanners after celeb photo scandal

#32 - Cell phone brain tumors start to appear in younger users

#33 - Medical industry claims to find cause of autism

#34 - Terrorist strike on the U.S. water supply

#35 - Sperm count drops, infertility rates rise

#36 - "Stealth personal recorders" go mainstream

Don't believe these predictions? Read John Perkins

Now for the good news

(NaturalNews) Ask around and you'll hear this over and over again: People are concerned about what might be coming. They're concerned about a global financial collapse, an ecological crisis and potential disruptions in the food supply. The radical weather patterns now being witnessed across the world are further indication that something's wrong with the world we thought we knew.But what's really going to happen between now and 2012? Is there any way to take an educated guess about which challenges are most likely to appear?That's what I've done here in this collection of thirty-five predictions for 2010 - 2012. Although I can't actually see the future in some sort of crystal ball, I do have a successful track record of predicting many large-scale events years before they happen. As published here on NaturalNews, my predictions for 2009 clocked in at 79% accuracy ( https://www.naturalnews.com/027964_prediction... ). I'm on the record calling the 2007 housing crash a fullbefore it took place ( https://www.naturalnews.com/News_000612_housi... ), and those who have been following these writings for several years know that I openly warned people about the dot-com crash two years before it happened as well.So here's what I see coming in 2010 - 2012. This is based on "educated guesses" about where current trends may lead us. This is not some sort of psychic prediction exercise; it's based entirely on observation and forward thinking.Note: The "verdict" summaries were posted as updates on December 31, 2011. Many of these predictions have already come true. Yet more will come true in 2012, which is the original scope of these predictions. I will update this article at the end of 2012 with the final results.By the way, if these predictions seem too pessimistic, be sure to read the bottom of this article which talks about the upside of what will happenthese next few years. Ultimately, there is good news ahead...The world depends on Rare Earth Metals (REMs) to manufacture everything from electric motors to solar panels and computer parts. Expect a global shortage to hit hard over the next three years. ( https://www.naturalnews.com/028028_rare_earth... Verdict: TRUE. Rare earth shortages have been widely reported in the press, and China threatened to cut off rare earth supplies over diplomatic disputes.There will be one or more serious disruptions in the food supply that will wake up Americans to the possibility that their food may not be as secure or plentiful as they had imagined. While this could take the form of a crop disease that spreads across corn or wheat farms, it's more likely to involve radical weather patterns that destroy crops and limit food supply.Verdict: TRUE. Some nations like Norway have suffered food disruptions, leading to butter prices as high as $500 a pack ( https://www.naturalnews.com/034428_buttery_No... ). In the USA, record floods, droughts and heat caused heavy hits to the food supply, raising prices of staple grains and other foods ( https://www.naturalnews.com/032994_food_suppl... ).A deadly superbug will escape the hospital and get into the "wild" -- meaning it starts to infect everyday people, perhaps being transmitted through gyms or schools. A review of what led to the escape will point to abuse of antibiotics and failure of hospital staff to wash their hands.Verdict: NOT YET.New evidence will emerge linking vaccines to neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's disease. This evidence may point to the chemical adjuvants used in vaccines which cause an inflammatory response in the body. The vaccine industry, of course, will deny any such link, but evidence will mount that points to the link.Verdict: TRUE. Finnish scientists published new research in 2011 that confirmed the link ( https://www.naturalnews.com/033816_swine_flu_... ). The Finnish government even said it would pay for the "lifetime medical care" of children who were harmed by vaccines. (Yahoo News used to carry that story, but has since censored it.) The U.S. government has already been ordered to pay millions of dollars to a child conclusively damaged by vaccines ( http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/fede... ).At some point over the next three years, the U.S. power grid will suffer a catastrophic regional failure that puts tens of millions of people in the dark. The power grid is a fragile system just waiting to be brought down by cascading failures. It will be repaired relatively quickly (perhaps in 72 hours), but its failure will leave many people on edge and cause a rush of business at preparedness retailers.Verdict: NOT YET happened.There will be a huge failure in one or more key communications satellites, causing widespread disruptions in telecomm services, including those serving emergency and law enforcement organizations. Likely causes: Space debris, solar flares or deliberate targeting by land-to-space rockets. (China may even begin to shoot down U.S. satellites if a military confrontation breaks out, see below...)Verdict: China has tested a satellite-destroying weapon ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-satellite_... ) and remains poised to use it. Meanwhile, NASA warned about solar flares in 2010 ( http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science... ), and NaturalNews published a story based on NASA warnings: https://www.naturalnews.com/033564_solar_flar... Somewhere in North America, the contamination of crops with genetically modified DNA or seeds will flare into a crop crisis (and perhaps even crop failures). Tensions between affected farmers and seed corporations like Monsanto will escalate, and new public attention will be drawn to the problem of GM crops. (As a side note, new evidence will also emerge linking GM foods to internal organ damage in laboratory animals...)Verdict: TRUE. GMO farmers are already facing an infestation ofcaused by GMOs ( https://www.naturalnews.com/031473_GMOs_patho... ), and the failure of GM corn is now front-page news: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-01/mon... The Colony Collapse Disorder now striking honeybee populations will not only get worse in honeybees; it will also spread to other species including amphibians. Bird watchers will record an alarming decline in bird populations throughout North America, and scientists will note a disturbing trend in the loss of species diversity in many areas.Verdict: TRUE. Now bats are being decimated by infectious disease. They are primary pollinators for the food supply: https://www.naturalnews.com/032565_pesticides... Expect to see more flood, more earthquakes, more droughts, more heat waves and more cold spells as the world's weather patterns show increasing destabilization. Droughts will come to areas that typically see plenty of water, and too much water will appear in areas that are normally more arid. Many humans will be displaced and property damage will rise into the tens of billions of dollars. (Note, I wrote this prediction in early January, well before the recent snow storms hammered the East Coast. But there will still be many more radical weather events...)Verdict: TRUE. 2011 was a year of truly radical weather, storms and natural disasters. It was called "the most extreme weather year for the USA": http://www.onearth.org/article/top-10-states... The need for cheap, non-fossil power will drive more countries to embrace nuclear power as the "clean" energy source of the near future. Expect to see more nuclear power plants approved for construction. (Actually completing the construction can take a decade or more, however.)On Feb. 16, 2010, just days after this prediction was published, the Obama administration launched an $8 billion new initiative to build more nuclear power plants ( http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N16... ).Verdict: CLOBBERED by Fukushima! The meltdown of Fukushima clobbered this prediction. Now, the world is trying to ditch nuclear power as quickly as possible.I only give this a 25% chance before the end of 2012, but it seems possible that low-yield tactical nuclear weapons could be used in a conflict in the Middle East, most likely involving Israel targeting Iran. One dangerous possibility is that conventional "bunker buster" bombs could be used to bomb Iranian nuclear processing facilities, releasing a cloud of radioactive dust that blankets the region, causing countless civilian casualties. In terms of nuclear threats, another important possibility that I predict could unfold is the theft of nuclear weapons from Pakistan by more radical forces who then use their stolen nuke weapons to threaten and destabilize the entire region.Verdict: NOT YET true, but we now stand on the verge of nuclear war with Iran, and a conflict looks very likely before the end of 2012.There will be at least one new superfood from South America that breaks into western markets in much the same way that Acai did a few years back. It will be an herb or fruit that virtually no one in North America has heard of yet, but which has been known in the Amazon (or surrounding areas) for thousands of years. NaturalNews may, in fact, be involved in announcing this...Verdict: NOT YET true. Perhaps in 2012?The timeline may be a little short on this prediction -- I actually have more confidence of this appearing by 2016. The prediction is that a portable vitamin D sensor device will be invented. It will allow people to have their blood levels of vitamin D tested within two minutes, with either a tiny blood draw (such as with diabetic blood glucose testers) or, even better, a laser or infra-red detection technology that's non-invasive. The widespread use of such devices could revolutionize health by pinpointing people who are deficient in vitamin D. A deficiency, as you probably know, causes cancer, diabetes, obesity, heart disease, depression, osteoporosis and many other diseases. There is a good chance that the invention of such a device could be blocked by the FDA as a way to prevent this lifesaving technology from going into widespread use in the USA. Why would the FDA block this? Because if people corrected their vitamin D levels,and the cancer industry would all but implode.Verdict: FALSE. Perhaps this was wishful thinking... but I still hope for this invention in 2012 (or beyond).The U.S. loses credibility in the financial world. This leads to rampant price inflation combined with currency deflation of the U.S. dollar. The U.S. government, with its debt climbing ever higher, will find itself virtually unable to sell more debt. It will then resort to printing more money to pay its own debt, which is roughly the same as using cash advances on your credit card to pay your minimum monthly debt payment on that same card. The end result will be the complete financial bankruptcy of the U.S. government well before 2025.Verdict: TRUE. S&P downgraded U.S. debt in 2011, much to the surprise of nearly everyone (but not NaturalNews!)This may take a few more years beyond 2012, but by 2016, I predict a 50% chance that the U.S. will very nearly engage in military conflict with China over natural resources. The most likely candidate? Oil, of course, but natural gas or rare earth metals could also be part of this conflict. China will emerge victorious in the negotiations because it will secretly threaten to sell off U.S. debt and crash the U.S. debt ratings (see above) unless the U.S. gives in to its demands over natural resources.Verdict: NOT YET. This now looks less likely, as the military focus is on Iran, but an Iran conflict could spill over into involving China and Russia (hopefully not).This is a no-brainer, actually. It's only a matter of time before Big Pharma gets caught yet again committing a felony, bribing researchers, faking clinical trial data or burying studies that it doesn't want the public to see. Expect to see another Vioxx-scale scandal unearthed, possibly from a Big Pharma whistleblower.Verdict: TRUE. Among many other serious crimes leveled against Big Pharma in 2010 and 2011, CDC researcher Poul Thorsen was indicted by a federal grand jury for allegedly laundering vaccine grant money and using it to buy luxury homes and vehicles: https://www.naturalnews.com/032216_Thorsen_fr... This is already underway, actually, but it will accelerate in the next three years as China uses this new method of electronic warfare to steal corporate secrets and disrupt western society. Particularly vulnerable are DNS root servers. If they are brought down, the entire internet will effectively grind to a halt.Verdict: TRUE, if you believe the U.S. government, which now states that China has an army of hackers attacking things like U.S. satellites: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-10-27/... Cancer caused by medical imaging technology is one of the "dirty little secrets" of western medicine. Expect to see more research linking medical imaging to health problems. The medical imaging industry, as usual, will try anything to suppress the evidence (this includes the mammography industry, which is already engaged in medical violence against women via medically unjustified mammography).Verdict: TRUE, but this came out largely via the TSA's naked body scanners (although other key research was also released about the harmful effects of CT scans and medical imaging devices). The TSA's scanners may cause DNA mutations, it turns out: https://www.naturalnews.com/027913_full-body_... Desperate to convince the people to accept more police state oppression, certain dark forces within the U.S. government will stage another large-scale false flag "terror" attack most likely involving a dirty bomb or biological weapon. Following the attack, government authorities will issue new calls for surveillance and movement tracking of the entire population. RFID implants will play a significant role as well cell phone tracking. Propaganda television ads will show implants are being harmless and put in place to "protect your family against terrorism." But the real purpose will be to establish a database of the movements and locations of U.S. citizens that can be data mined to discover patterns of meetings among two or more people. If you meet with the "wrong" people, you will then be added to a list of those to be watched. Those who refuse to be tagged or tracked will be denied air travel and other forms of free travel.Verdict: NOT YET, but we still expect this to happen in 2012.The world won't come to an end on December 21, 2012, but certain elements of current human civilization may certainly be coming to a close around that time. The global money system, in particular, is headed for a total collapse. Many elements of the environment are at a breaking point (such as the chemical pollution of the oceans). The chemical burden on the citizens of the world is reaching a critical mass they may culminate in a population collapse. I don't put any special significance on the date of December 21, but I do believe many things are headed toward collapse (and rebirth) over the next several years.Verdict: Guess we'll have to wait to find out, huh?After ignoring the problem for decades, the EPA will finally be pressured into taking on the regulation of pharmaceuticals in the water supply. Big Pharma will fight this relentlessly, of course, because it makes more money by distributing more drugs that end up in the water supply. So don't expect any real action to limit Big Pharma's drug trade. Mostly, we'll just get talk (but no action) from the EPA.Verdict: Nothing official has happened on this yet.A major scandal involving the criminal drugging of nursing home residents will unfold in the western world. It will be discovered that staff are intentionally drugging residents into a mental stupor in order to make them "easier to handle." Several deaths among nursing home patients will occur, with one of them being mysterious enough to set off the investigation.Verdict: TRUE. Just as we predicted: https://www.naturalnews.com/033770_nursing_ho... Between now and 2012, the psych industry will "discover" yet more disorders that will be promoted as vehicles for selling more dangerous mind-altering drugs to children. These new disorder will actually be normal behaviors that are "undesirable" by parents or teachers. For example, temper tantrums may be classified as a disorder requiring pharmaceutical treatment. "Talking back disorder" will be given some scientific-sounding name (to make it seem legitimate, of course) and will be treated with drugs that harm brain function. There's no end to the disease mongering of Big Pharma. Expect to see more disorders targeting younger children, expectant mothers and senior citizens. This is all part of Big Pharma's effort to expand its customer base.Scary possibility: Adults who refuse to follow government orders for RFID tracking or other Big Brother plans may be labeled with a new disorder called "Adult Authority Defiance Disorder" (AADD) and be arrested and medicated against their will to "treat" their brain malfunction. The only way to avoid being labeled AADD is to go along with whatever you're told by the government.Verdict: TRUE. The industry has been pushing new psych disorders aggressively over the last two years.The vaccine industry has been itching for new diseases to promote over the last few years. Big Pharma has realized that vaccines are the future of big profits because their sale doesn't require anyone to actually be sick. This is a way of, and this has been a long-term goal of Big Pharma for at least two decades. Between now and 2012 , expect to see more vaccines marketed for various concocted infectious diseases (much like H1N1) as well as vaccines targeting behavior! For example, you might see vaccines pushed that claim to stop smoking, or alcoholism, or even over-eating. A "diet vaccine" would be the ultimate goal of Big Pharma: Take a shot and lose weight without even trying!Verdict: COMING SOON. Now there's new talk of vaccines being used to treat behavioral disorders. The full roll-out of this hasn't happened yet, but it's in the works.The war against raw milk will result in farmers being treated like drug dealers by overzealous (and misguided) health "authorities" who engage in armed "raw milk raids." Homeopathy, anti-cancer therapies, herbs and supplements will all continue to be viciously attacked by the FDA and FTC, and these attacks will escalate as the FDA enters a new era of police state tyranny against the American People who are only seeking healing.Verdict: TRUE. The Rawesome Foods raid highlighted this, but the feds also targeted numerous Amish farmers and other raw milk producers in 2010 and 2011.As economic, environmental and infrastructure failures occur, they will displace more people from their jobs and homes, leading to a sharp increase in crime nearly everywhere around the world. We already saw this after Hurricane Katrina, where hundreds of thousands of jobless refugees caused a huge crime wave through neighboring cities like Houston, TX. Expect to see significant increases in crime in all major world cities.The worse the economy becomes, the fewer police officers can be afforded by municipalities. This translates into increases in street crime: Muggings, robberies, hold-ups, etc. We're already seeing this happen: Here's a news story from a 73-year-old man who robbed three Tampa banks to pay his mortgage: http://www2.tbo.com/content/2010/feb/11/1120... Notably, he was only robbing the banks for $600 each because that's all he needed to pay the mortgage. Don't you find it interesting that it's illegal for people to rob banks,(Bailout money...)Verdict: TRUE. Random violent crime is up sharply, and thugs are now playing a game called "Knockout King" http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2078... There will be a significant new attempt by one or more governments to destroy freedom on the internet. This will take the form of "hate speech" laws, identity laws (so no one can post anything on the 'net anonymously), or the outlawing of internet text on certain topics (such as making it illegal to post information on natural remedies). This will be put in place by desperate governments who realize they are losing their propaganda wars thanks to the freedoms of the internet.You can also expect to see more cooperation between Google (and YouTube) and the NSA, FBI or CIA. Governments will maintain secret information taps into all the major search engines, email service providers and content websites. Google, Facebook, Yahoo, YouTube and many other sites will function as back-door surveillance platforms for the U.S. government.Verdict: TRUE. Just search for articles on SOPA, the new government internet censorship agenda.China is driving a super-heated economy to the brink of a bust. Everything looks great during the boom, but this boom will come to an end before January, 2013.China is a mass consumer of natural resources and construction materials like concrete and steel. When its economic bubble bursts, it will send shockwaves through the economies of all the major first-world countries who supply many of the materials and technologies that are currently underlying China's fast-paced growth. Most importantly, China's economic bust will cause a sharp drop in the country's ability to purchase more U.S. debt. China's central banks may even decide to startU.S. debt notes. This act could set off a chain reaction of global sales that would tear open a huge hole in the metaphorical Titanic of America's counterfeit economic prosperity.Verdict: NOT YET. Still bound to happen in 2012 or soon thereafter.Ecuador currently uses the U.S. dollar as its primary currency. The dollar is also openly accepted in countries like Panama. But within the next three years, the U.S. dollar will lose its dominance in South America. I predict that Ecuador will be well on its way towards ditching the dollar and embracing either its own new currency or adopting a new South American currency by January, 2013.All the South American elected officials already realize that the endless creation of new money by the Federal Reserve is causing a devaluation of the U.S. dollar -- effectively resulting in a transfer of wealth from those nations that use the dollar to the USA. This is seen on the street as an inflationary event that raises street prices of common goods (like food and fuel) in developing countries, making presidents increasingly unpopular among their citizens. The only way to defend against this erosion of wealth is to drop the U.S. dollar as a currency and switch to your own national or regional currency.Verdict: NOT YET, but also expected soon as the Fed continues to devalue the U.S. dollar by printing new currency. Once the EU fails and the Fed bails out European banks, the U.S. economy will be the next domino to fall, and this will cause a ripple effect throughout South America.Speaking of currency, although the collapse of the U.S. dollar may take several years beyond 2012, once it happens, you can expect to see a flood of local currencies hitting the streets in towns and cities across the USA. States like California or Texas, for example, may quickly set up their own "state reserve banks" that replace the Federal Reserve. They will then issue state notes ("Texas Bucks") that serve as currency, replacing the dollar.There will then be exchange rates between the currencies of various states -- I'll give you 1.25 California Bucks for 1 Texas Buck... etc. Fortunes will be made and lost as currency traders bet on the fluctuations between state currency valuations.Verdict: NOT YET. I'm moving this predicted out to the 2012 - 2015 timelines now. It may take a while for this to unfold.The TSA swears that your "naked" body picture is deleted in mere seconds after it's taken. But I predict that a famous U.S. celebrity will have their body scanner picture taken, saved and swapped all over the internet. The public outcry will cause the TSA to temporarily suspend body scanning operations, but after the protests fade away, they'll reinstate the procedure. "Sheeple" air travelers will go right along with it, believing that a little more security is worth sacrificing any amount of freedom.Verdict: FALSE. Didn't happen (yet), but there's still 2012 to go...By 2012, numerous brain tumors will be documented in people in their 20's who were heavy users of cell phones through their childhood and teen years. It takes time for these tumors to develop, of course, which is why they haven't shown up in large numbers yet. Today's 30+ adults never used cell phones as children, but the current generation of adults in their 20's grew up with their heads being subjected to these intense electromagnetic radiation fields on a regular basis.Verdict: MAYBE. New evidence has emerged linking cell phones to brain tumors, but it's not clear whether it will cause a huge number of them (yet): https://www.naturalnews.com/029036_cell_phone... In order to deflect blame from vaccines, the medical industry will falsify whatever research is necessary to blame autism on something else: Probably a combination of genetics and exposure to certain chemicals. This new "research" will be published in a "prestigious" medical journal (which caters to the interests of Big Pharma, of course).Verdict: TRUE. In 2011, they claimed to find a "gene" that caused autism, thereby deflecting blame from vaccines: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/jun/0... Of course, it's all a fabrication. The real cause of autism is, not merely genetic. And it's the chemicals in vaccines that set it off.Verdict: Not yet happened.The next five years will see infertility rates continue to rise as sperm counts drop and DNA mutations (caused by pharmaceuticals and other chemicals) keep rising. This is the beginning of the, as I call it: The genetic degradation of the mainstream human population.Verdict: TRUE. Widely reported in the news.I predict that over the next 3-5 years, tiny "personal recorders" that can record 24 hours of audio and video while being covertly worn by people will go mainstream. This will have huge implications for police work (expect to see police caught in the abuse of innocent citizens), business meetings (expect to see video clips from private corporation meetings ending up on the 'net thanks to whistleblowers), government and many other areas.A key court case will eventually emerge that challenges the legality of the personal recordings, and in the end, they will be allowed as evidence. New laws passed by Congress in the year 2015 will limit the use of personal recorders in public schools, government buildings and other "sensitive" areas. These devices, by the way, will likely take the form of finger rings (for audio recorders), necklaces, bracelets or eyeglasses. Some specialty technology recorders may even be placed inside false eyes.The year 2010 and beyond will be the "counter surveillance era" where citizens are watching the authorities. YouTube will play a huge role in this, but sooner or later it will begin censoring and blocking videos that threaten the credibility of the government.Verdict: NOT YET, but many stealth personal recording devices are in the works and will likely appear in 2012 or soon thereafter.For those who have never really seen the way the world works, some of these predictions may seem outlandish. If you want to know the way the U.S. government really operates, read books by John Perkins:... and more atJohn's writing will forever alter your view of the way the geopolitical machinery of our civilization really works. If you think Haiti is being helped for "humanitarian" reasons, for example, think again: It's all part of a well-practiced process for exploiting natural disasters to economically ensnare poor or developing nations.I actually share John Perkins' positive vision for personal and global transformation. It's interesting, since I've never met John in person, but living in Ecuador I've shared experiences with the Shuar Indians that Perkins writes about in his many books.Perkins and I both believe that following a period of economic and geopolitical upheaval, there is an opportunity for the surviving People of our planet to "dream new dreams" that set us on a new course. We can create a future built on sustainability, respect for nature and honesty towards our neighbors. This possibility is within our reach if we only have the courage to set our sights on a brighter, more positive future.This article isn't the place to detail what's involved in that, but know that despite all the predictions I've listed here,I believe the world will go through a very difficult time in the next decade (or more), but We the People will emerge stronger, more resourceful, more humbled and with a sense of renewed freedom in creating whatever future we desire.I will continue to bring you news and information as we face the coming challenges and emerge from it on the other side. Join me here on NaturalNews.com for news and updates on all the issues that matter to us in creating a brighter, more sustainable world for our collective future.The future is nothing to be feared. The rise and fall of nations is a normal, natural cycle that's been observed throughout world history. The end of one empire marks the beginning of new opportunity, and the important thing is to be present and active when it comes time to set course for our improved collective future.