The new year is going to start with a Wednesday, then a Thursday, then a Friday, which some on social media joked means 2025 is kicking off with a ‘WTF.’
An Instagram post by a popular meme account called ‘todayyearsold’ showed a screenshot of January 2025 on a calendar and circled the first three days of the year.
‘Should we be worried that 2025 begins with a ‘WTF,’ the account wrote in a post that got more than 355,000 likes and over 1,200 comments.
Many people pointed out that 2020 also started with a ‘WTF’ – an acronym for ‘what the f**k’ – and suggested this is a bad omen.
‘Urmmmm the last time we started the year wtf it was 2020,’ one person wrote.
Others said this is 2025 reacting to the various woes seen last year.
‘It’s saying “wtf was that” referring to 2024 lol,’ one wrote.
‘Maybe that’s 2025’s response to 2024,’ another wrote.
Some clearly weren’t as superstitious about particular dates.
‘Every damn week ends in WTF,’ someone pointed out.
This post joking that 2025 will start with ‘WTF’ sparked a variety of reactions from social media users
Even though this is clearly a light-hearted joke, there are plenty of indications that 2025 may be a tumultuous year.
Perhaps most alarming is the recent escalations in the Russia-Ukraine war.
The conflict has been brewing since 2014 when Russia annexed Crimea and exploded into all-out war in February 2022 when Russian President Vladimir Putin decided to invade Ukraine.
In recent weeks, US President Joe Biden gave Ukraine the green light to blast targets inside Russia with US-supplied long-range missiles. The United Kingdom’s Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, has given Ukraine the same permission with British missiles.
In response, Putin and his government have threatened nuclear war, racking many with acute fears of World War III breaking out.
Close Putin ally Dmitry Medvedev, the Deputy Chairman of Russia’s Security Council, said NATO and the US are now at ‘full war’ with Russia after the West crossed ‘all red lines.’
Another hotbed is in the Middle East, where dozens of armed conflicts threaten to plunge the world into a wider war.
Israel has been at war with Hamas since October 7, 2023, when the terrorist group and other Palestinian contingencies launched a surprise attack on the Jewish country.
A Ukrainian serviceman fires a rifle during a training exercise held at an undisclosed location in the Donetsk region
Mourners attend a Ukrainian soldier’s burial on November 30, 2024 in Kyiv, Ukraine
More than 1,200 people were killed, most of them innocent men, women and children. Hamas also took 254 hostages that day. About half of the 101 foreign and Israeli hostages still in Gaza are thought to be alive.
In Gaza, more than 44,000 people have been killed and more than 104,000 wounded in the nearly 14-month war, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
Despite Israel and Hezbollah managing to agree to a ceasefire, there is no such deal on the table between Israel and Hamas.
When he takes office in January, President-elect Donald Trump is expected to be staunch ally of Israel and its prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Slightly northeast of Israel is Syria, which continues to be one of the most dangerous countries in the world.
Syria has been embroiled in a civil war since March 2012, after the country’s leader Bashar al-Assad viciously cracked down on pro-democracy protests in his country during the Arab Spring.
The war has been between the Syrian government and various rebel groups, some of which are backed by the United States.
More than 507,000 people have died in the over 13-year-long war. Of that number, 164,000 of them were civilians.
The war’s outcome is more uncertain than ever now that rebels have captured Aleppo, Syria’s second largest city.
Pictured: Destroyed buildings in the central Gaza Strip following Israeli airstrikes
An anti-government fighter stand near a Syrian regime tank abandoned along a road in the eastern part of Aleppo province on December 1, 2024. Syrian rebels took over Aleppo and drove out government troops
Economic uncertainty is brewing around the world thanks to President-elect Donald Trump’s wide-ranging tariff plans
There also fears that massive changes are coming to the world economy thanks to advances in technology and new policies.
As artificial intelligence become more powerful by the day, experts increasingly believe it will upend the entire labor market and make many jobs completely obsolete.
Sam Altman, the man behind ChatGPT, has been blunt in his predictions that AI will radically alter the labor market, and eliminate some kinds of jobs.
‘A lot of people working on AI pretend that it’s only going to be good; it’s only going to be a supplement; no one is ever going to be replaced,’ he said last July.
‘Jobs are definitely going to go away, full stop,’ the OpenAI CEO added.
In the more immediate term, Trump’s tariff plans – which are increasing in scope – has many around the world worrying that they will trigger a worldwide trade war and raise prices for ordinary consumers.
New analysis suggests if Trump follows through on all of his proposed tariffs, they will cost the average American $3,200 per year as foreign importers seek to hike prices to compensate.
More than $1.3 trillion-worth of goods were imported in to America from the three countries last year, according to US Census Bureau data.
That means goods ranging from cars, gas, smartphones and appliances to pharmaceuticals and apparel could go up in price, experts have warned.
Only time will tell what the world’s fortune will be in 2025. And in just 31 days, there may be a clearer answer.
