If I was to paint myself as a person with special prophetic powers, then I could do no worse than to survey the news, look closely at what the pundits are saying and then jump in with some eerie prognostication. The chances are that I would be right some of the time, right enough to champion my clairvoyant capacity.

I read today that a 'new' Nostradamus had foreseen WW3 this year. Never mind that the 'old' Nostradamus was likely way out most to the time. Given the obscurity and any-shoe-might-fit application of his quatrains, some success might also be expected from that quarter, some of the time.

So the 'new' Nostradamus would not need to look far to find some support for his claims. There is a war in the Ukraine that could get out of hand. This depends on a whole range of variables and possibilities. If a Ukrainian counter-offence (much mooted but yet to materialize) is very successful and the Russian army looks like it might be defeated, the Kremlin might decide to use a tactical nuclear weapon  out of desperation. I don't know where that might lead.

The Korean Peninsula, the South China Sea and the situation over Taiwan are also potential 'flashpoints', where poor or complacent decision-making might prove to be a fuse for a wider conflagration. Its not hard to see how multiple scenarios might play out, but they remain unlikely.

That's my prediction. Disaster is possible but unlikely. One caveat, however. As a Christian, I am certainly aware that both Old and New Testaments have prophetic books. They are also open to interpretation (and there are many) though, when the time comes, there will no doubt about the Final Act.