Wednesday, May 8, 2024 – The corona (covid) virus arrived unexpectedly out of left field and held the world in its grip for well over a year. Government and business were caught by surprise – and woefully unprepared. Crisis management had to be improvised on the spot as developments succeeded one another. Remarkably, no scripts had been prepared to deal with a pandemic, although such an eventuality is a recurring feature in history and dystopian disaster movies. Then again, governments generally don’t look at Hollywood for policy cues.

Now, some four years after the viral outbreak, it’s back to business as usual. Mundane concerns rule the proverbial roost with a major shooting war as an added dimension. The pandemic may be over and done with, crises still reverberate around the world: climate change, artificial intelligence, asset inflation, social unrest, and – as mentioned – wars in Ukraine and Isreal, rumours of war in Taiwan, and allround geopolitical instability.

The world may have arrived at an inflection point leading to a paradigm shift in the distribution of geopolitical power, the uses and application of technology, and systems of governance. Existential threats such as climate change also inspire fear. The polarisation of politics and public discourse in Europe and North America has reached alarming levels. Shouting has replaced conversation and rational debate. Verifiable truth is losing out to the opinionated layperson who demand his or her say – and demands it to be valued equally to the considered opinion of experts.

The post-pandemic world has failed to converge. The global village is being sliced into antagonistic blocs not unlike the scenario depicted in Orwell’s 1984. Entire populations are on the move. Huddled masses are being kept at bay with ever more aggressive policies. Borders are being strengthened and conditions for entry tightened as politicians cater to resurgent nationalism presented in various guises.

Alas, the Brave New World, successor to the reportage series in this book, proved a failure. The series, only about thirty essays long, was regrettably contaminated by the publisher of CFI with advertorials, trivial topics, and other irrelevant copy. Those thirty or so articles will complement a companion volume to be released in June 2024 and themed around the issues that plague the present. This second tome will also trace a viable path forward for a world in crisis. The emphasis of the work will shift to Europe as the continent – still much at the centre of the world – struggles to find unity in its resolve to find security – and prosperity – outside Pax Americana.

The legacy of the defunct magazine is being kept alive at CFI Press. Here, readers may find a rich sampling of the many hundreds essays and articles Wim Romeijn contributed over a ten-year period. New and updated additions to his oeuvre are published weekly. With his inimitable style, wit, and intellectual depth, Mr Romeijn observes the wider world and its changing mores employing a lens that separates fact from fiction.