The Eurasia Group, a risk consultancy, warns that 2018 could be a very bad one in terms of global politics, international relations, and shifts in world power.

The Eurasia Group, a risk consultancy, warns that 2018 could be a very bad one in terms of global politics, international relations, and shifts in world power.
"Yes, markets are soaring and the economy isn't bad, but citizens are divided. Governments aren't doing much governing. And the global order is unraveling," the group writes in a report released Tuesday.
"If we had to pick one year for a big unexpected crisis—the geopolitical equivalent of the 2008 financial meltdown—it feels like 2018," it further explains.
Among the destabilizing factors cited is President Trump's "America First" agenda "and "the policies that flow from it." 
Eurasia notes they "have eroded the US-led order and its guardrails, while no other country or set of countries stands ready or interested in rebuilding it...significantly increasing global risk. We now see more clearly a world without leadership." 
China filling that leadership void is the first of 10 specific risks Eurasia sees facing the world in 2018. 
Should that come to pass, China would have more sway in establishing worldwide standards on often contentious matters including investment and trade.
The second noted risk is miscalculations in navigating the rapidly changing world order leading to significant conflicts and even confrontations.
CNBC reports that other matters of deep concern include technology and the "fight over economic power" it could bring, failed relations between the U.S. and Iran, and "falling trust in democratic institutions."