Cold War and space confrontation: what awaits the world in 2022

The cover of The Economist magazine’s last issue of the year is considered to be a kind of forecast for the next year. On the cover, these predictions are encoded in a kind of collage-rebuses, which experts try to solve every time.

Segodnya also talked with experts and are ready to tell you what they saw on the cover and what to expect for the world and Ukraine next year.

There will be a “trade war” between China and the US / Фото: The Economist

China-US trade war

According to economist and political scientist Alexei Kushch, this year the cover is not so difficult to decipher and the main problems are clear enough.

The round shape of the collage means Earth, and from different sides you can see US President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

“China is already ahead of America in trade potential, and in the near future it may overtake in the field of weapons and military technologies, so this is a challenge for the United States,” the expert says.

Alexey Kushch notes that becoming richer than the United States is a kind of “chinese dream”.

This opinion is supported by and President of the Ukrainian Analytical Center Oleksandr Okhrimenko .

“The trade war between China and the United States continues, who wins and who loses is hard to say. This is a trillion dollar conflict, not even billions, and no one will give in,” the analyst said.

The pandemic continues

Member of the Economic Discussion Club Oleg Pendzin believes that the other main message on the cover is a hint of a continuation of the pandemic, which will slow down economic development in the future.

The impact of the pandemic on economic processes will be very destructive and the number of new strains will grow.

Large microscopes, chaotic images of viruses, syringes and vials tell us that the pandemic will not recede.

“The first sign of next year is the continuation of all quarantine restrictions and new lockdowns. By and large, it does not matter if there is an economic confrontation between the Americans and the Chinese, what will happen to energy, because the pandemic is on a different plane,” says Pendzin.

But Alexey Kushch in the image of the syringe sees not only a hint of vaccination or the continuation of the pandemic, but also what will come a new age of biological threatswho will now become lifelong companions of humanity

According to the economist, this means the transformation of geopolitics into biopolitics. Modern microscopes in the image speak to the economist about the transition to a new technological order.

What does “windmills” have to do with it?

It is hard not to notice in this red and gray collage large wind turbines that generate electricity using the power of the wind.

This is nothing else but the so-called “green transition”, says Aleksey Kushch That is, the rejection of traditional energy sources in favor of renewable energy sources.

Alternative energy is the future, Alexander Okhrimenko is sure, and sooner or later it will replace conventional energy sources like gas or oil.

“Next year there will be a lot of discussions on this matter, some will insist on increasing oil production, while others on the transition to alternative energy sources,” says Okhrimenko.

And of course – it reflects gas prices in Europe, which will continue to grow, or at least remain very high, said Oleg Pendzin, a member of the Economic Discussion Club.

Curves dynamics

As a background on the collage are visible broken dynamics of growth and decline. Economist Alexei Kushch noted that they are both on the side with the Chinese leader and next to Biden.

“We see that the curves are different. Near the United States there is a so-called sideways trend, that is, a slowdown, without serious jumps, but next to China, on the contrary, that is, one can expect some serious financial turmoil,” the expert says.

Arctic and space

Alexey Kushch notes that behind the left windmill you can see the outlines of the Arctic, which indicates that the confrontation between the largest states of the world will unfold in the context of arctic resources:

• natural;
• transport;
• logistic;
• economic;
• shopping.

In the center we see a certain cosmic symbolism, which, according to the analyst, indicates that space will become the arena of struggle between states, including the arena of military confrontation

Earlier, Segodnya created for you some forecasts for 2022, for example, what will happen next year with the dollar exchange rate and what risks await the global and Ukrainian economies.