Before any of that happens, however, there may not even be an EU from which to Brexit. Other votes in Europe have the potential to derail the entire EU project, making our own convulsions over leaving seem irrelevant. On Sunday Italians go to the polls in their own referendum. 

In theory their vote has nothing to do with the EU: it’s over a series of constitutional reforms. But such is the state of politics and voter unrest in the EU and such is the setup of Italian politics that a No vote may have a direct impact on that country’s membership and so hasten the demise of the EU itself. 

Italy has long been a byword for political chaos: since the end of the Second World War it has had 63 governments. We have had 15. The changes proposed by Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi would cut the senate from 315 to 100 and limit its power, as well as abolishing elections to the senate, with members drawn from local government. 

Italians are angry: angry about endemic corruption, about a political class that seems interested only in itself, about the tens of thousands of migrants that pour in by the day and about unemployment of 11.4 per cent. No wonder there is a revolt. The Five Star Movement was founded seven years ago as a product of that anger: a populist revolt against Italian politics. 

Mr Renzi is likely to lose the referendum amid widespread public anger at the political establishment and economic turmoil in Italy. Jaisal Pastakia, investment manager at Heartwood Investment Management, said: “In all probability the Italian electorate is likely to reject Prime Minister Renzi’s proposals for constitutional reform. 

“Essentially, Renzi wants to reduce the power of the Senate - the upper chamber of parliament, allowing for smoother implementation of legislation and potentially a more stable political system. However, the referendum has turned into a vote on Renzi himself, whose popularity has taken a sharp dip since his election in September 2014.” 

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has vowed to resign if he loses the referendum - something that would spark huge political uncertainty. If there is a snap election, the anti-establishment Five Star Movement could rise to power and call a referendum over Italy’s membership of the eurozone. Italy leaving the euro would signal the break up of the EU’s single currency, leading to further disintegration of the European Bloc. 

The referendum result could hit Italy’s banks which remain vulnerable after huge amounts of bad loans led to bank shares falling dramatically.  Mr Pastakia said: “Italian banks’ ability and willingness to support investment remains a key headwind to economic growth, given high levels of non-performing loans (NPL).” 

Anybody who believes Hillary Rodham Clinton has been sent to the political graveyard by a Manhattan real estate developer has forgotten the cruel surprises of recent history (Remember the Greek referendum? Brexit anyone?). Democratic due process has devolved into something like ‘The Hunger Games’ for the rich - a sensational televised spectacle to entertain the elite every four years, while keeping the people believing they can effect real change.

Although it may seem implausible to some, Donald J Trump may be denied the presidency due to a democratic system that has been corrupted to the bone by excessive wealth, power and collusion at the highest levels. The Electoral College is scheduled to meet on December 19 to perform what, under normal circumstances, would be a mere formality of voting for either Clinton or Trump, according to the will of their constituents.

Needless to say, however, we are not dealing with “normal circumstances.” This is a battle the Democrats have no intention of losing, no matter what the Electoral College results tell us. The 2016 presidential campaign represents an epic power struggle that will determine the trajectory of US domestic and foreign policy like no other contest in recent history. No surprise, then, that neo-liberal lobbying groups have been exerting immense pressure on these electors to ignore the will of the people and “vote their conscience.”

Such dramatic setbacks, which are becoming the rule rather than the exception, lend credence to Mark Twain’s famous observation that “If voting made any difference they wouldn't let us do it.” In other words, the elite will always get what they want, regardless how the votes goes. Clinton seizing the White House through the backdoor would not be the strangest thing to happen in old Washington. Just ask George W Bush how he got elected president in 2000 by the Supreme Court, not We the People.

In Monday’s edition of the conservative daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, co-editor Berthold Kohler called in a piece headlined “The utterly unimaginable” for the new foreign minister to “subject German foreign policy to an overhaul, particularly with regard to its security policy aspects.” A “simple ‘same as before’ along the well-worn path” could not be permitted.

The new “path” advocated by Kohler consists of “higher spending on defence,” the “revival of compulsory military service,” and something which was for “German minds completely inconceivable, the question of our own nuclear deterrent.”

Kohler’s demand reveals what has been intensively discussed and prepared behind the backs of the population. Just a few days earlier, Christian Democratic Union (CDU) security policy expert Roderich Kiesewetter called in an interview with Reuters for the construction of a European nuclear deterrent, focusing above all on the expansion of the French and British nuclear programmes.

The FAZ is now going one step further. According to Kohler, the “French and British arsenals [are] too weak in their current condition.” Like Der Spiegel prior to the US election, he raised the demand for Germany’s own nuclear weapons and justified this by citing the alleged “withdrawal of America from the world,” which would continue under a future President Trump and further encourage China and Russia “to expand their areas of domination and spheres of influence.”

Last week, the European Parliament adopted a resolution that includes setting up an EU Operational Headquarters, establishing a "political leadership" for EU military operations, and raising the military budgets of all member states to at least 2% of their GDP. EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security, Federica Mogherini, continues to promote the idea of an "EU superpower."

Leading politicians and commentators are beginning to pick up the idea, previously launched by a number of experts, of the EU developing its own nuclear military forces on the basis of French and British nuclear weapons. However, for this, the French and British arsenals would be insufficient, according to a suggestive article published in one of Germany's leading opinion-forming dailies.

Germany's air force is preparing to adapt some of its Tornado warplanes to carry more up-to-date US atom bombs in light of plans by Washington to modernize its nuclear arsenal in Germany, media reported on Saturday. The German newsmagazine "Spiegel" reported that US President Barack Obama had approved the last phase of development for the atom-bomb model B61-12, which is to go into full-scale production from 2020.

Washington then intended to station some of the modernized weapons at the Büchel air base in Germany's western Eifel region, according to the report. Experts estimate that 10 to 20 nuclear warheads from the Cold War period are currently stored in Büchel, with German Tornado warplanes standing by to carry them if it is deemed necessary. The area is under strict protection, with some US soldiers also stationed there.

Populations across the bloc demanded that the power hungry Brussels boss scales back his meddling in individual countries’ affairs as they handed a stunning rebuke to the out of touch euro elite. Even in Germany, the ideological cradle of the whole EU project, voters are now sick to the back teeth of creeping federalisation and are increasingly demanding that their futures be decided in Berlin, and not in Brussels.

The shock results come at a time when the EU is facing an unprecedented popularity crisis, rebellious electorates across the continent increasingly turning their backs on snooty europhiles in favour of anti-establishment parties. Brussels is facing a fight for its very survival with far-right chief Marine Le Pen on the march in France and the anti-EU Five Star Movement, which wants an end to the euro currency, flying high in the polls in Italy.

Panicked eurocrats have been scrambling to head off the populist uprising on their doorstep, and tonight voters unequivocally issued their demands if any faith is to be restored in the flailing European project. In eight of twelve member states surveyed by respected pollsters YouGov people expressed a strong desire to see more powers repatriated from unelected Brussels bureaucrats to national Governments that represent their interests.

Unsurprisingly the urge to restore sovereignty was strongest in Britain, which has just voted to quit the EU, but eurocrats will be alarmed by the fact that eurosceptic sentiment is almost as widespread in a host of other countries. More than four in ten voters in Holland, Denmark, Finland, Sweden and France want to see an active rolling back of the EU’s controversial policy of ‘ever closer union’, demonstrating a stunning lack of faith in the unelected euro elite.

And even in Germany, the Brussels project’s staunchest and most vociferous backer, 38 per cent want Angela Merkel to ask for more powers back from eurocrats - the same figure as in neighbouring Poland.  YouGov observed: “The era of an increasingly powerful European Union may be over, with the desire for EU powers to be returned to member states the most popular point of view in eight EU nations. In no country was the belief that the current balance of powers is about right the most popular answer.” 

But despite the populist revolution unfurling before its eyes Brussels is sticking steadfast to its superstate dream, recently unveiling plans to complete a banking union across the eurozone and controversial proposals to set up an EU army to rival NATO.

He said: “Brexit is going to be a sideshow to the problems of Europe that are becoming more and more evident. The euro as it stands at the moment is just a very inappropriate mechanism — I give the euro between one and five years of life.”

The UK’s recent Brexit vote, along with Donald Trump's election as US President, has signalled a sea-change in global politics and populist movements around the world have gathered pace. Italy’s referendum vote at the weekend, as well as France’s presidential election next year, could also see upsets at the ballot box, giving currency traders cause for concern and initiating a run on the euro.

Last week, the euro dropped to $1.0518, it’s lowest point since March 2015 and Mr Mellon expects the currency to fall further, reaching parity to the dollar “sometime over the next year”. Italy’s dire economic situation - with high unemployment and a crumbling financial sector - has caused Mr Mellon to sell Italian government bonds.

This would mean the elimination of Nasa’s world-renowned research into temperature, ice, clouds and other climate phenomena. Nasa’s network of satellites provide a wealth of information on climate change, with the Earth science division’s budget set to grow to $2 billion next year. By comparison, space exploration has been scaled back somewhat, with a proposed budget of $2.8 billion in 2017.

Bob Walker, a senior Trump campaign adviser, said there was no need for Nasa to do what he has previously described as “politically correct environmental monitoring”. “We see Nasa in an exploration role, in deep space research,” Walker told the Guardian. “Earth-centric science is better placed at other agencies where it is their prime mission".