The only event beginning in the nineties and destined to wind out in ~2012 is the current stock market bubble that they're desperately trying to re-inflate. Seems to be working a little, but that psychological 8000 barrier is just such a bitch.
The one great event of history that coincides with circa 2012 is the end of the American Empire, and perhaps the end of all Empires in the old sense of the word. This is a legit paradigm shift, in my book.
The Rev