Russia is struggling to control a stubbornly high inflation. The Russian Central Bank blames the shortage of manpower, which in their view is producing ‘wage-push-inflation’, so they want unemployment to go up by stopping economic growth. But there are other ways to control inflation that would be more beneficial to common people in Russia.

After a period of relative calm, mainstream media have lately, once again, been flooded with articles predicting the immediate collapse of Russia’s economy. The sanctions, together with the financial burden of the war in Ukraine, should finally be working, so Russia is now under severe strain, and we will in 2025 see the collapse. Is there any truth in this?

Despite his rhetoric, the new Trump presidency means more continuity than break with the Biden Administration. However, there are a few issues, where there may be a break with the past. One of these is the stop for immigration and deportation of ‘unauthorised’ immigrants. This will affect both the countries where the immigrants come from and the US itself.

The EU is worried that Donald Trump returning to the White House will mean peace in Ukraine, as Trump has claimed that he can achieve peace on his first day in office. That is unlikely to happen. The reason is that Trump will have to show that he has made a bargain which favours the US, but Russia is unlikely to deliver that. So the war is more likely to continue in 2025, and may even escalate before it ends. Unfortunately. I sincerely hope I am wrong.

It may look weird to question whether Israel has a future, when it is just now successfully quashing its enemies Hamas and Hizbollah with US support. They are winning, so of course they have a future, right? Firstly, are they really winning? And secondly, Israel is a settler-colonialist project which has turned into an apartheid state. Their strategy is to drive out the Palestinians from Greater Israel, and they are counting on the world looking the other way while they do it. Will it? Will we?

As it is often stated, all wars must eventually end, and that is also valid for the Ukraine war. War fatigue is now clearly observable in Ukraine and among some of Ukraine’s Western backers, despite repeated insistence on continuing ‘as long as it takes’. There has up to now been a tacit agreement within NATO not to discuss the option of a negotiated peace openly, so the mantra is still that Putin is the new Hitler and anything but a Russian defeat is unacceptable. But rumours are that discussions are now ongoing in the corridors.