On this write up, I could write about any number of things... science and technology, as well as the plain old internet could fill up many many paragraphs. Pop culture, too, has certainly had its twists and turns. But to keep things simple, I am keeping to a simple, United States oriented view of world politics. Even within such a narrow field, the past decade or so has been pretty incredible.

In, say, July of 1990, right after the already epoch making fall of communism, if you could explain to someone that in the next 10 or 11 years, that

  • Iraq would invade the nation of Kuwait.
  • Leading to George Bush deploying massive troops to Saudia Arabia, along with a world wide coalation of troops. Patriotic furor would hit a high point in the United States,as the American people whipped themselves into a froth of hated for Saddam Hussein.
  • Iraq would soundly be defeated in a gigantic air war.
  • Despite George Bush's 90 percent approval rating, he would lose the 1992 election to the governor of Arkansas, partly due to the effect of an eccentric billionaire from Texas entering the race.
  • Bill Clinton's presidency would be challenged by a right wing resurgence in 1994, fueled by a radio show host.
  • But, that those challenges to the contrary, he would remain stable and in charge, until a sex scandal involving oral sex with a 21 year old intern would lead to his impeachment.
  • That his vice president would lose the presidential race to George Bush's son, also named George Bush, partly due to the interference of Ralph Nader
  • And that George W Bush would actually lose the popular vote to Al Gore, and that his election would come down to a Supreme Court ruling on whether or not to count slightly damaged ballots in Florida, and that the margin of victory would be less then a thousand votes.
  • And that, despite all of this, George W Bush would have a relativly calm presidency until terrorists crashed airliners into the World Trade Center, destroying them, and the Pentagon.
  • And all of this will probably lead to another war somewhere

Personally, I may have believed that some of these things were likely, but I was 11 years old at the time.

That all of these events could have occured makes me very curious about the next decade or so. I hope we will all be around to witness it.

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