Yes, My World blog is my world and sometimes I share with you my thoughts. I take it upon myself to write them down. I do not invite hatefulness to me. This post is for thinkers.
If the Middle East is a subject that means only fuel price changes for you then so be it. The war would be nothing but a disaster for this reason. CNN and other news channels are experts on this. I merely mention CNN because it was on my phone this morning and the journalist of the channel knew all the ins and outs of everything to do with the failure of Trump and Netanyahu.
I am guessing the news media in the west help Iran and Iran puff their feathers out. Life is odd now that we do not support ourselves with jubilation and love but knock and kick ourselves. As a news channel the word is the word of the oracle.
There is nothing to allure one to the media.
Wouldn't it be good to have Ukraine as part of Russia again and no more war and just peaceful citizens all in work as Russian bus clippies and scientists and manufacturers and fur trappers and musicians and writers and vodka every night and Ukraine wheat fields without tank damage once more? If the young leaning left and green are keen for us to all live happily together then there is no reason why Ukraine should not revert back to being part of Russia. They all speak Russian, have Russian grandmas and heritage and Stalin is long gone. Even though the starvation will never be forgotten there is a lot to be said for being alive and not dead in a 21st century war in a country that is just about repairable before it is all lost under tanks and artillery. A country of green fields of 2004 restored and never the likes of Obama interfering. He was always very keen on the EU. He gave a speech for the Labour Party urging voters to vote Remain in the referendum in 2016 when Corbin refused to give it. Corbin wanted out. I think Obama was visiting Brussels at the time and Labour persuaded him to speak out to Britain while he was there.
I changed my mind about Ukraine you see. There is nothing much to be positive about under Zelenskyy. No talks and no Dondas discussion at the start of war. We have young Ukrainians who had children under 10 who came here to Britain and made home here and forget their country and their fathers. I have friend who took in refugee mother and child. She has no intention of going back, son goes to English school and father teaches in Kyiv and has never gone to war but child doesn't know him anymore and wife has taken a lover here. I don't think she ever intended to go back and she got refugee status welcome and then she took a job. The percentages of Ukrainians for and against war gives all sorts of scenarios and varies a lot. Some say over 60% want to have talks to end the war and give up some land to Russia. Some say much less than this. Some say 25% want to continue with war against Russia and not give in to anything. Mums just want the fighting to stop and have their boys back.
No need to just grab men off the street and send them to war with Russia but this is what Zelenskyy did, conscription and dead men and widows resulted. But then Putin is hated by all because he is hated in writing for being a Russian as Russians are in government very corrupt and a different leader would not change this. The World Cup went very well there in 2018. Will Russia compete in the World Cup in June? No. That is sad for a country to not be allowed to play when they have such a strong football history and hate continues when hate should not be in such a situation of sport and people. I don't get the punishment of a country dished out by sporting authorities like the Olympics and FIFA. It punishes the people. A bit like points deductions in the British leagues for bad financial management of a club. I think points deductions are wrong.
Nato madness of manoeurves antagonised Russia. The UN would be fair to all parties in their chambers which they are not and I saw them not being fair to Israel in a live UN televised debate and that further put me off the UN.
And the EU not to exist anymore would be good. It got way too big and nothing whatsoever to do with the Common Market. We could have just peaceful countries growing crops with fields of tobacco in France and peppers and strawberries and walnuts in the Dordogne and no brambles and weeds paid for in place of crops.
Let the EU and Brussels and Luxembourg go away. Let visas count again and praise be to Greece for letting in the tourists with gay abandon as they are today with sense and well-being first for their own people and swiftness of entry.
Let the only asylum seeker in sight be Nuryvev and a French aerodrome.
Welfare to a minimum and Doris Lessing days of the 1950s London where welfare was non-existent ( Her book I have told you about before is a must read. Walking in the Shade Vol. 2 when she arrived in London).
Why is nobody signing up for the Army? Because they might as well sign on. The Conservatives were going to introduce a short spell of national service but they were not elected so it never happened.
I slept with a blackout across my eyes last night. I don't have a mask but used a silky black scarf that I bought in Top Shop at Oxford Circus in 2007. I remember buying it on my way to college one morning. I used to like hanging around in London. Anyway, I got 8 and half hours sleep last night so that was a good start to the blackout test. I have been getting far too much light in my bedroom from light night skies and early morning light. The scarf didn't bother me lightly looped around my head and sleep came all night. I don't think I need to spend money on a mask, the scarf will do the job.
This post is ok and I give myself a good mark for writing it and letting some thoughts go out for a meal time chewing of the cud.
What would it be like to live in Russia? You might have a dachau, you would speak Russian and learn English at school in some schools. You could go hunting and fishing and skating and swimming and play football and learn ballet and singing and go to wonderful museums if you live in St Petersburg or Moscow. You could visit churches and wonderful monuments to the dead and wonderful statues to the working man. You would have hot summers and cold winters. The Black Sea is a wonderful place for a holiday with beautiful beaches and a sea to jump in, shallow for ages and waves to jump. My favourite ever sea. You could eat solid foods and drink wine and promenade early in the evening. Life in Russia is pretty good. I would like to visit St Petersburg again and spend more time in the Hermitage Museum.
I read and absorb your words Rachel. As a child I was fascinated with Russia. I used to try and do the Russian squat dance and laugh as I fell over. I would probably be called racist today for wanting to do that or accused of cultural appropriation. I keep a lot of thoughts to myself today (thought police are watching). It is very difficult to get an objective view of what is going on in Russia/Ukraine and all over the world. The news outlets seem subjective according to what view they want to promote. Good luck to the Arsenal today! x
ReplyDeleteI wasn't going to publish and then I thought why should I not. The haters have been about here over the weekend but what the hell, if people are so deadly obnoxious let them be. I delete. Surely people can think outside the box and chew things over. I was fascinated with Russia from the time my brother and I had a question in a quizbook where Vladivostok was the answer. My mother and I went to see the Cossack dancers at the Theatre Royal in Norwich in the early 60s and there was a demonstration outside trying to stop the performance. The demonstrators probably morphed into trolls in later life. Yep. xxx
DeleteI just think that it was a pity that Russian couldn't have TEMPTED them back into the fold somehow. There must have been appealing gifts or offers that would have made the Ukrainians feel friendlier towards them, then in time they could have become closer. Simply destroying all their buildings, and killing their citizens, won't endear them to Russia. The animosity just increases.
ReplyDeleteOn a simple level in the 2014 Revolution there was a bidding war between the EU and Russia and pressure put on Ukraine by the USA to go the EU way, naturally. Russia wanted the Russian trade agreement to prevail and offered billions to Ukraine, the EU wanted Ukraine to come closer to the EU with a different trade agreement. The long and the short of it is that Russia lost out even though they offered more money than the EU and this antagonised Putin and he immediately annexed Crimea. If there hadn't been so much interference from the EU and the US the situation in Ukraine now would never have happened.
DeleteWhen I think of Zelentskyy as in charge I think of Paul Eddington in Yes Minister and people here voting for him as our PM. This is basically the scenario in Ukraine where they voted for a comedian who played the PM in a sit com and now he runs a country at war.
All that hate, all that fighting. And what for?
ReplyDeleteIf you look at our planet from afar, it's ONE planet. No visible nations with borders between them (not counting China's Great Wall, which apprently can be seen from space). All man-made, and see where it's got us as a species - self-destroying our one and only base for life, with overpopulation at the root of almost all our problems if you break them down to basics.
These are similar thoughts to what I was having yesterday when I wrote the post Meike. I was imagining Russian tanks and artillery ruining this area (I live in a wheat growing area) and thinking rather than all the ruin and destruction just be as one with Russia.
DeleteI invested in some blackout curtains for my bedroom last year and what a difference they make. Mind you, I still have an early morning alarm call from the cats, who want me out of bed at 7, if you please, it is time to have breakfast and get on with the day!!
ReplyDeleteI was shocked at how the blackout changed my sleep with immediate effect. I continued with it last night and again slept well. I have been putting it off for too long. Such a simple remedy but I remember when we were children my mother blacked out the bedrooms for sleep.
DeleteI agree with Meike's comments. Greed and power seem to dominate rather than any thoughts of humanity and community. How did the World never learn. It's just one war after another with millions killed and countries destroyed.
ReplyDeleteSorry, but I can't think about it for too long without spiralling into a depression.
And there always seems to be interference from somewhere else who think they know best. I can remember the 2014 Ukraine Revolution shouting at the tv set "keep away from the EU" because all I wanted was out and regarded the EU as bad, greedy masters.
DeleteI wonder what life would be like now, if we had not fought germany, 85 years ago. Our young men would still be alive ....maybe.
ReplyDeletewalk in beauty
Kathy
And where would be without Russia who helped the Allies win WW2, without whom we would not have won. Largely forgotten and not even invited to the 80 years WW2 2019 D Day celebrations. Putin snubbed at peril and very shortsighted of the organisers. Such small-mindedness.
DeleteThe flowers that bloom in the spring, tra la. Cud chewed, swallowed, spit up, and chewed again here. A never-ending dream. The dear, dead days beyond recall. How they beckon to us all. But even though as present possibilities they are laughable, still there are some that would jump at the chance in a minute. I don't know what I'm saying here, but I suspect that you do.
ReplyDeleteI am not sure that I get your drift correctly however as we are generally on the same wavelength I will take it as a yes, I do. Thank you for the comment Bob.
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