1. We will see the emergence of a clearer form of Chinese nationalism in the next year driven from new younger leadership that will replace focus on party and the historic manner loyalty has (quietly) played out with external patriotism - a strong China model that will show itself in their foreign policy.
2. The western world will continue to shuffle and hobble towards economic recovery from recession, I sadly anticipate. In 10 years we will all recognize 2013 as another year spent in recession. But while it's going on, we'll talk about the slow recovery instead of admitting it's actually still a recession.
3. There will be yet another large natural disaster that seems to clearly indicate a shift in weather patterns to anyone with their eyes open - another mega hurricane, or severe drought or perhaps significant flooding in places it shouldn't happen. There will be yet more widespread debate about connections to root cause, and still more be widespread denial that our human activities are having an impact on these macro-planetary systems.
4. RIM will be bought at a value many raise an eyebrow at, due to their patent library. My money is still on another industry player - Microsoft, Samsung or Nokia. It's possible an outside investor could try to take advantage of a low valuation after the market failure of the Blackberry 10 platform. Cue the sad music.
5. We will see a royal baby girl born the UK. A true little princess. This will result in increased succession debates that will bore the rest of us to tears.
6. There will be consolidation in the airline industry in North America as old names disappear, and in the auto industry too as emerging brands are snapped up for their developing country (BRIC) market shares. The auto industry will start to understand that demand can't continue to grow from the poorer nations of the world, and they are actually in a marketshare race in an industry where scale does matter.
7. Cultural phenomenon such as PSY's Gangham Style will soar to global awareness heights like rockets, amazing us all with the attention they garner. It will be a while still before this is accepted as a natural outcome of living in an uber-connected world. We're surprised as we don't yet comprehend the extent of the change the information age is having on our experiences, and that awareness won't happen in 2013.
8. Greece's economy will finally stumble and fail and it will force Germany to declare whether they will actually parentally support the EU or not. They will. But they won't be happy about it. The European debate will shift from "if" to "how long".
9. The sad evolution in outcomes of the Arab Spring will be more clear - power corrupts people. The new governments in countries like Egypt and Libya will topple as the will of the people will find no worthy champions. Today's freedom fighter is tomorrow's despot. Ongoing civil unrest will be the new order of the day as these citizens will experience continued frustration that will drive them to the streets.
10. The Occupy movement will reappear. People will seem surprised by this. But they shouldn't be. It's a bi-product of economic inequality, a symptom of unease and a request that we all acknowledge some basic unfairness that exists in our society. The challenge they face (which even they may not see) will be to garner enough support to build momentum towards change. I don't think they'll overcome that in 2013.
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