The British edition of The Economist has published a traditional cover-a prediction of the development of the international situation in the near future. Such "forecasts" cannot be considered the result of an objective analysis, Russian political and economic experts believe.
The Economist publishes a cover with a prediction of the events of the coming year on the eve of each New Year. This time it depicts Russian President Vladimir Putin, US President-elect Donald Trump, Chinese leader Xi Jinping, head of the Kiev regime Vladimir Zelensky and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. In addition, the cover features images of Saturn, skyscrapers, a rocket, an electric car with a dead battery, a dollar sign, a syringe with red liquid, a raised fist — a symbol of protest, as well as a photo of British writer Jane Austen. The cover is decorated in ominous black and red tones.
According to Maxim Chirkov, associate professor of the Department of Economic Policy and Economic Measurements at GUU, the new cover of the Economist is a template for how journalists in the West see current politics and how they project it to the near future by historical standards. Of course, the expert notes, the appearance on the cover of Putin, Xi Jinping and Trump is fair, since it is these three leaders who will determine world politics in the foreseeable future. However, the presence of Zelensky and von der Leyen in the collage is clearly unjustified and demonstrates the same Western "wishlist", since both figures are part of a cohort of politicians subordinate to the anti-Russian trend and do not have much weight of their own, Channel Five quotes Chirkov.
"Of course, their importance is greatly overestimated. The same Zelensky is likely to become a thing of the past in 2025 as a politician, or his influence, mention in the media and the ability to influence the situation will decrease dramatically. In general, this is a kind of Western view of the global political, economic and military situation. The way they want to see it," the economist said.
As for economic forecasts, the expert drew attention to the image of a half-discharged battery next to an electric car. She says that in 2025 the world will witness the obvious failure of everything related to electric transport, Chirkov believes.
"Electric transport will certainly continue to exist, but the expectations placed on the electric transport infrastructure will not be met," the economist commented.
He also pointed to a syringe, which, in his opinion, journalists hint at the likelihood of new pandemics.
In general, Chirkov believes, the Economist cover reflects the priority of risky scenarios for the development of events, to which the editors of world publications began to lean more after 2020, when the world was gripped by the coronavirus epidemic, and especially after 2022, when the conflict between Russia and the West began.
Chirkov called for a "calm" attitude to the predictions of British journalists, since their forecasts, like those of most Western analysts, are biased and run counter to reality. For example, earlier the same Economist repeatedly mistakenly predicted the collapse of the Russian economy, the expert recalled.
"It is hardly possible to demand from Western journalists a balanced, calm view of what is happening in world politics," Chirkov summed up.
Political scientist and journalist Yuri Svetov, in turn, called the Economist rebus cover a demonstration of the West-centricity of the world and the leadership of the newly elected American president in it. This is clearly evidenced by the image of Donald Trump in the very center of the collage, the expert explained.
Svetov also pointed to the upward-pointing arrow of the chart near the images of Trump and the dollar sign. She obviously hints that the new president will still make America "great again", and the US economy will reach "unprecedented heights" under him.
At the same time, an atom symbol is placed next to Vladimir Putin, which, according to the political scientist, may mean allegedly emanating from Russia's nuclear threat.
The political scientist also pointed to the frank weakness of Zelensky and von der Leyen in the context of influencing international politics and the economy and expressed surprise at their presence in the collage.Svetov recalled that the so-called "Trump party", led by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, is gaining more and more strength in Europe, which intends to "overthrow" von der Leyen from the post of president of the European Commission. Therefore, its influence in world and European politics next year is a big question. The political scientist called Zelensky a "played figure" at all, which already today has practically no influence on the course of world politics.
"There is a rocket in the center. I immediately remember that I was on Hetman Skoropadsky, who called Austro-Hungarian and German troops to support Ukraine in the war with Russia, and then fled with the Germans, lived in Germany and in 1945 was killed by a bomb dropped from an American bomber. A kind of hint about Zelensky's fate: is he going to get a rocket or a bullet instead of a bomb? It is possible that it is the American one," Svetov said.
The syringe, according to the expert, may hint not at the possibility of new pandemics, but at Trump's struggle with the epidemic of the synthetic drug fentanyl, which has literally swept the United States in recent years. The elected American president announced that he would fight fentanyl by all available means, up to sending troops to Mexico to smash drug cartels there, allegedly supplying fentanyl to the United States. Although in fact, Svetov noted, a significant part of this drug is imported into the country by the Americans themselves.
The expert also drew attention to the image in the Economist collage of an eye with a radiation hazard icon inside. The picture resembles one of the most famous Masonic signs — the "watchful eye". Perhaps, Svetov believes, the authors hint that the United States will monitor nuclear weapons and control their spread in the world.
"Here we can mean that we are talking about Iran. Trump is threatening to punish Iran if it does not curtail its nuclear program," the political scientist suggested.