One down – 11 to go

January 2011 will be behind us in one day; it seems like time is passing at breakneck speed, seems just like yesterday that the world was celebrating (and some were dreading) the arrival of the New Millennium along with the mass hysteria of Y2K. Since then we have had 911, Afghanistan, Iraq, SARS, Avian flu, and Swine Flu outbreaks, the 2004 Tsunami and many massive earthquakes, Biblical proportion floods, the biggest Economic crisis the world has ever seen and more unrest in the Arab world than ever before in history. So this century and this millennium seem to be following a catastrophic course from climate, social and economic perspectives. However all that has transpired in the past ten years seems to have been compressed and released with great force in the 31 days of January 2011. It has been the most active beginning to any year that I can remember. With one month out of the year behind us and 11 months left to go, what else does 2011 have in store for this world? If January is any indication, there is much in store and little if any of it will be worth cheering.

From extreme cold in the Northern hemisphere to extreme flooding in the southern, this January has been the most active and catastrophic January for as long as I can remember. Although there was no one single event that caused a massive loss of life like the Haiti earthquake in Jan. 2010, the long term effects of Jan. 2011 weather disasters will probably prove to be much more catastrophic than that terrible event from last year.

Here’s a tally of extreme weather events in Jan. 2011

FLOODING

·         Australia

·         Brazil

·         Sri Lanka

·         Indonesia

·         Philippines

·         Saudi Arabia (who’d have thought there could be floods in Saudi Arabia)

INCREDIBLE VIDEO: Cars swept away by floods in Jeddah (in Saudi Arabia)

EXTREME COLD

·         UK

·         Northern Europe

·         USA

·         Russia

·         Mongolia

·         China

·         India

·         Vietnam & Cambodia / South Asia is not a place that is normally equated with extremely cold winters but this winter has been unusually cold and prolonged causing great hardship. Thousands of farmers have lost their cattle and other animals in Vietnam which will have a devastating effect on the country’s economy

Winter storm in Georgia / this amount of snow may be expected in New England or in the Dakotas but very rarely in the southern State of Georgia in the US. 

SOCIAL TURMOIL RELATED TO FOOD PROBLEMS

·         Tunisia

·         Algeria

·         Egypt

·         Yemen

·         Jordan

·         Syria

·         India

·         Bangladesh

·         Pakistan

·         Indonesia

The thing of concern is that the social unrest, very severe in case of Tunisia and Egypt are not related to FOOD SHORTAGES but rather due to FOOD PRICE INFLATION. Later this year I believe we will begin to see much more social unrest, particularly in India that will be a result of actual FOOD SHORTAGES. 

FOOD RIOTS IN ALGERIA – sign of things to come in many other nations?

·         Matthew 24:7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.