Shift or Get Off the Pot
Do we Persevere or Pivot in 2022?
Good Morning 2022,
I have lived through 55 New Year events and fear I am becoming jaded. We ended 2021 with a whimper, which I suppose is good news for the country at large, Problem is, we have 365 more days to eff it up.
Russia is tooling around its Western borders, which has the United States and NATO concerned for its nascent new partner, Ukraine. Putin is doing what Putin does. He is the consummate puppet master. The best Western powers can do is offer words of support for Ukraine and threats of sanctions against Russia. The “good” news is The United States and Russia will be conducting low-level, face-to-face negotiations in Geneva, Switzerland later this month. Sounds like our diplomatic corps is running low on Swiss Chocolate and those damn useful Swiss Army Knives.
Not to be outdone, China took advantage of ringing in the New Year by reiterating that it considers Taiwan a part of its territory, and has vowed to seize it one day, and (gasp) by force if necessary. In his 2022 New Year address, President Xi Jinping declared that "the complete reunification of our motherland is an aspiration shared by people" in both China and Taiwan. Hey Putin, it appears Xi Jinping has a stronger word game than you do…just saying.
2021 was a shit year for journalists too. According to the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), a total of 45 journalists were killed worldwide in 2021. In typical journalistic fashion, the IFJ stated it was “one of the lowest death tolls” it had recorded in recent years. Hmmm, I suppose we can gloss over the first 45 killed and spin it as a win, but we’ll be damned if we allow the 46th to pass without worldwide condemnation. Great job folks…I can get on with my life now.
Because I want to keep this relatively short, I will lump together remaining topics on my mind such as unrest across the African continent, simmering tensions over the Arctic region, Iran nuclear ambitions, Iraqi plans to build eight nuclear reactors to tackle a crippling power shortage (until we find it convenient to stop them from producing nuclear weapons), the interminable Afghanistan affair, and last but certainly not least, the United States’ continued effort to take “necessary, appropriate, and deliberate action designed to limit the risk of escalation in Syria, while sending a clear and unambiguous deterrent message,” What a crock of shit.
In closing, I continue to be snarky and thoughtful with assistance from Bertrand Russell and Leo Tolstoy:
Bertrand Russell, “War does not determine who is right, only who is left.”
Leo Tolstoy, “The two most powerful warriors are patience and time.”
Our elected leaders would do well by its citizenry to heed these words as we venture forth into the new year. As I said in my first post, hope is a shit strategy so I will stock up on beer and chips and be sure to keep a lawn chair nearby so I can quickly pop the top on a cold one, munch on some carb-laden salty goodness, and watch the world burn in relative comfort.
-Cheers,
Spike