The end of the world is nigh.

Believers in the Mayan calender seem convinced that the world will end on 21 December. Many theories abound - a large meteor, like the one that wiped out the dinosaurs, will hit the earth, a rogue planet called Nibiru will collide with us or there will be a nuclear war wiping out all life. Cataclysmic events have occurred in the past and may well happen again but there are more earthly reasons for widespread devastation. People are voting in a referendum on a new constitution in Egypt. The first round took place yesterday and the second round is next Saturday, 22 December. If the Muslim Brotherhood loses to the opposition or if it stuffs ballot boxes to win by a large margin civil war could break out in Egypt. Basher al-Assad sees that his defeat is imminent and the Alawis move north into Lebanon and the hills of Latakia province in Syria. Sunni fighters chase him into Lebanon and into a confrontation with the Hezbollah. Heavy weapons looted from the Syrian army move into Jordan to support the Muslim Brotherhood in that country. War breaks out in Jordan drawing in Palestinians from the West Bank. Al Qaeda fighters and arms support the Sunni minority in Iraq in a showdown with the Shia government. Iran supplies arms and fighters to the Shias while the Gulf countries support the Sunnis. The south of Iraq, which is Shia territory, shares a long border with Saudi Arabia and Shia fighters move into the country in an attempt to capture Medina and then Mecca precipitating all out war between Shias and Sunnnis. Seeing a golden opportunity Israel decides to bomb nuclear centrifuges in Iran enraging Hamas which attacks Israel with support from the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. US and the Security Council are helpless, not knowing who is fighting whom. Meanwhile oil jumps to $200 a barrel or even higher and Europe collapses. People are unable to afford heating in the middle of winter as fuel and electricity become rapidly unaffordable. Food prices sky rocket. Greece, Spain, Ireland and Italy crash out of the Euro and even France is close to collapse. China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan come to a standstill. Air flights and shipping stop. Japan is forced to restart its nuclear power plants to keep going but it is not enough to continue its factories. As food becomes scarce vast numbers of people from north Africa try to move into Europe prompting European countries to bomb all shipping vessels in the Mediterranean enraging Turkey which decides to send its fighters to bomb European air fields. Starving people kill off all animals to survive and as all animals are wiped out people start eating each other. Billions die. What happens to us in India? God alone knows. However, if these events do not take place then our economy could really take off as the US becomes self sufficient in oil leading to falling oil prices by 2015. The end could be nigh, or maybe not.