Written a week ago but left uposted, events have overcome some of the statements made in this piece, but I’ll hit the publish-button now, for what it’s worth.
Who would be a world leader, seriously.
For all his bravado, I imagine The Manu is barricading his doors in the Élysée right now. In an increasingly polarised world, the knives are out for centrists like the President of France after fundamentalists from BOTH sides of politics recently ousted his prime minister.
If the political situation in France is any barometer then the forecast is for stormy weather. On a stage increasingly populated by demagogues and tyrants, how long before some zealot of the New Right takes a cold hard look at Manu through a 8-80×56?
On that note, it’s important to observe that it’s not just those in the political middle caught in the crosshairs.
President Yoon Suk Yeol rose to office in 2022 on a K-trumpist platform of revanchist promises to sooky young men who felt emasculated by laws that curbed their enjoyment of the South Korean national sport of sexually molesting women.
Unfortunately for the pussygrabbers, Yoon’s promise was not to be (or was it 4B….), because he lost control of the National Assembly to the democrats and became politically impotent. Last week, he declared martial law while his wife raided the treasury to stuff bundles of escape-money into her new Dior handbag.
That’s right, wave goodbye.
Even those at the absolute extremes of political leadership are struggling, with despotic ‘president’ Bashaar al-Asaad beset by Syrian freedom fighters. With no spare MiG-31 Firefox to strafe the miscreants, Basher’s wife ‘jasmine lady’ Asma is busy lining her haute couture with diamonds in case they have to flee Damascus in the dead of night.
Even Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany is prepping for the end of days. With a no-confidence motion imminent, he has signalled an early election after the collapse of his ruling coalition made his government unviable.
If and when The Scholzomat topples, the most stable government in the world follows. This mostly benefits right-wing populists surfing the wave of fascism sweeping Europe, but a wobbly Germany means the biggest loser will be Ukraine.
Russia won’t need Comrade Donald’s help if German support folds.
Speaking of empire, the once-proud United Kingdom has seen four Prime Ministers in as many years, but historical accuracy demands we acknowldge that the rot really began in 1979 with that odious hag Margaret Thatcher and her Tory successors.
Conservative monetarism, financial deregulation, austerity and Brexit ruined Britain — and New Labour’s failure to sell ‘we politics’ over ‘me politics’ didn’t help. Let’s not even mention migration.
Now just a boringly repetitive psychodrama, this is what failure looks like in the UK, and we haven’t even seen the farrago of PM Farage yet!
But if the rogue’s gallery of British leadership is insufficiently motley, consider what they’re doing in the colonies. Australia has ousted seven PMs in eleven years and looks set to throw another raw prawn on the barbie early next year.
Voldemort’s older brother, Peter ‘Spud’ Dutton looks likely to become the next Prime Minister of Australia, as I predicted on May 23 2022.
The bovine stupidity of the average Australian is maddening, as we lurch from one dropkick to the next, wailing and gnashing our teeth when they inevitably fail to meet our lofty standards.
Solicited a seat-upgrade on a domestic flight?! Off with his head!
Always a nation of happy hypocrites, (a) we personally also love upgrades, and (b) we elected the fool.
But what can really expect in a democracy? Unrepresentative swill foist upon us by flawed voting systems in rigged two-party races designed to deliver more of the same.
Which may explain why Americans voted for Trump again — an old rich white man — because why whould you want another intelligent young black female president? I mean geez, enough already! Yawn, right?
Even the apparent exceptions aren’t.
Consider that, if not for Putin’s timely intervention, Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy would be sitting on 13% approval rating by now, head on the chopping block, as it will be in twelve months when he formally cedes the western flank of Ukraine back to mother Russia.
What makes us angry is that we want ‘somebody like us’ to lead, and when they fail it’s like a family member knifing you in the gut. We thought they’d look after us, but they just look after themselves.
Betrayed by our own, we grow suspicious.
Suspicious, we lose faith.
Faithless, we become the barbarians at the gate.
I think Mephistopheles said it best: ‘Why, this is hell, nor am I out of it.’
We don’t have to wait for World War III, because it’s already begun. After the fracturing of historically stable governments, the second biggest hint is the unaffordability crisis. Money is falling out of circulation because it is concentrating in the assets and accounts of the wealthy, who are battening down the hatches.
Want proof?
Warren Buffett, the oracle of Omaha, has sold $133 billion worth of equities from Berkshire Hathaway’s portfolio so far in 2024. He is in full retreat, madly reducing his exposure. But why would the perenniual optimist be doing that, unless he sees something on the horizon he doesn’t like?
The problem with loosing the bulls is that they eventually destroy all the china. Once that happens, shopping becomes unbearable. But before the market shut for good, make sure you grab some beans to feed your family through the long winter ahead.