It's a cold war on a Twitter scale.
In this clash between East and West, the two protagonists are former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Elon Musk.
The first was Russian President and Prime Minister. He is now a loyal ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose war in Ukraine he has supported since February 24. He served as the President of Russia between 2008 and 2012. He was also Prime minister.
The other protagonist is Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla (TSLA) and SpaceX. It is the latter company which is developing Starlink, the satellite internet access service, which has become a kind of weapon for the Ukrainian forces at the front, because it allows secure and independent communications.
Dire Predictions
He is also a supporter of Ukraine, even though he proposed a controversial peace plan a few months ago, embracing most Russian demands.
In the background lies the stalemate of the war in Ukraine, several months after Russia’s invasion. It is the continuation of the conflict between Russians and Ukrainians, despite Kremlin’s hope for a quick war when Russia invaded Ukraine in February. Many months later, the situation is not what Putin had hoped for.
It is in this context, with a few days to go until the end of the year, that Medvedev engaged in the tradition of predictions for the new year. These are, unsurprisingly, disastrous for the West.
He is a real Cassandra, making ten dire predictions for Western democracies.
Civil war in the United States, break-up of the European Union, end of the euro, exponential rise in gas and oil prices, emergence of a Fourth Reich, war in Europe, collapse of American financial power: Medvedev predicts doom in every facet of the core identity of the Western democracies.
"Here’s our humble contribution. What can happen in 2023," Medvedev posted on December 26. "Oil price will rise to $150 a barrel, and gas price will top $5.000 per 1.000 cubic meters. The UK will rejoin the EU. The EU will collapse after the UK’s return; Euro will drop out of use as the former EU currency."
The former Russian president then predicts the emergence of a Fourth Reich in Europe.
"Poland and Hungary will occupy western regions of the formerly existing Ukraine. The Fourth Reich will be created, encompassing the territory of Germany and its satellites, i.e., Poland, the Baltic states, Czechia, Slovakia, the Kiev Republic, and other outcasts," Medveded said.
'Civil War'
He then turned to the United States and things are dark there too. As a result, Asia will rise.
"Civil war will break out in the US, California. And Texas becoming independent states as a result. Texas and Mexico will form an allied state," he tweeted. "All the largest stock markets and financial activity will leave the US and Europe and move to Asia."
And finally, he foresees the collapse of the institutions symbolizing the victory of capitalism.
"The Bretton Woods system of monetary management will collapse, leading to the IMF and World Bank crash. Euro and Dollar will stop circulating as the global reserve currencies," the Russian leader said.
On the other hand, he sees the dominance of digital currencies, the first of which is Bitcoin: "Digital fiat currencies will be actively used instead," Medvedev said.
Besides the west, there is also one prediction that concerns Musk.
"Elon Musk’ll win the presidential election in a number of states which, after the new Civil War’s end, will have been given to the GOP."
This prediction forgets, however, that Musk cannot run for president in the United States because he was not born on American soil.
While Medvedev's bleak predictions may come across as troll or bad taste jokes, they were no laughing matter to Musk who scathingly criticized them.
"Those are definitely the most absurd predictions I’ve ever heard, while also showing astonishing lack of awareness of the progress of artificial intelligence and sustainable energy," the billionaire responded to Medvedev.
The techno king, as he is known at Tesla, then made an appointment with Medvedev in a year to take stock of his predictions.
"Lol @RemindMe_OfThis in one year," he tweeted at the former Russian president.
The thread drew widespread comments on Twitter, with many users of the social network pointing out that Medvedev's dire predictions were more about what the west predictions look like in China and Russia.
"That thread to us looks like our takes on China / Russia / India look to them. Interesting thought experiment / mirror," commented Alt-right social media personality Mike Cernovich.
"This guy is literally wishing WW3 will happen," added another Twitter user.
"This is what Russian wet dream looks like, interesting," said one user.
