The Ketchup
In this life there are some people who are not satisfied with their lot and strive to go beyond the natural – step forward Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin. He is a person, it is alleged, whose word is questionable. In his sales attire he approached his neighbours and convinced them that the natural gas reserves of his land were available to them at a price lower than they were paying.
Nations surrounding his realm were blinkered by his offer, cancelling other methods of receiving their energy supply, signing the dotted line to allow him to lay mile upon mile of pipeline across their territories to service their need, in order to keep industries working and homes warm. But the gas that was supplied was more honest than the words of the supplier.
However, very slowly, the price of the product started to increase, but nations did nothing, and then they arrived at the point whereby he was supplying forty eight percent of their total requirement. The Russian leader then had another idea; it was time, to implement it and go to the next stage, to invade an adjoining independent nation, and who knows, perhaps he had a desire to then go further and cross other borders.
The Army gathered onto the borders of the adjoining land. To help with the running cost, or was it just greed, the value of the gas in the pipelines were increased tenfold, crippling economies as the war machine was unleashed across the border. The thinking was, that in just a short time, those he had made enemies of would succumb.
His tanks, lining up in their conveys, were being shot to pieces one by one as if in a coconut shy. His soldiers were brought to a stop in their advance. It is alleged that they resorted to killing and mutilating the innocent as if playthings for the depraved, destroying their properties for the hell of it, using armaments against innocent civilians that were designed for soldierly use against an army.
Finally it is seen that the soldiers and their equipment are not up to the task. Sanctions applied by the West and others are starting to bite and the friendly nations who were happy to buy into the pipeline product turn and look elsewhere for their energy needs.
How does a leader who raised war causing mass genocide now save face?
This is a man who has always lived in fear of his life and to that end he lives securely, including a home in a nuclear bunker where he has, at his fingertips, the means to bring the world’s cities to their knees.
So, with the world fearful of his next move what will he do? Hopefully it will not be about performing even more damage, destroying lives and ruining a large part of the planet.
Spoilt:
Harry, in my view, is the spoiled brat of the Royal Family who takes delight in rubbishing his upbringing, ignoring his grandfather’s memorial as if he is of a different model – perhaps he is? Just a thought!
The Slap:
As slaps go it was a bit of a lame duck, or was it the spinoff that he wanted.
One journalist who has reported on his work revealed that it could be something else. With the help of a person who is an expert in reading body language, they demonstrated that the slap landed on the shoulder not the face, demonstrating it by showing a video which briefly appeared on Facebook before it quickly vanished. The scribe then went on to write about why it was all set up.
The wording goes something like this – the guy who did the hitting, his lady suffers from a terrible disease that affects the hair and the recipient of the slap had made a nasty observation about it. One of the sponsors of The Oscars is the drug firm Pfizer who, can it by coincidence, has produced a drug to cure the illness that the lady has? They are, at the same time, introducing it to the market. The following acres of print that we saw after the event must have been good for them – publicity, free of charge from the world’s media.
It reminds me of when the Ford Motor Company first produced the Granada Motor Car, which immediately prompted the television production company of the same name to take High Court proceedings for a beach of the copyright of their name, resulting at the time in many headlines in press and news reports. So, Ford had nice free advertising for its new vehicle. Am I being too cynical in thinking the Court Case was for that reason?
The Ketchup:
As inflation is rearing its ugly head again, it is difficult to keep up to date with prices. It is becoming increasingly reported, including in this column, that the loss of cash in a cashless society will mean no real data on the cost of what you are buying. Paying with real money one knows instantly. The waving of your phone over a device, which subtracts a sum to send off to a bank account, is easy to do, and as more and more stores are refusing to accept payment in any other way, it will not be too long before that is the norm.
Just recently we fell for it while shopping in a Tesco’s. Without thinking about the price, as it was not labelled, we took a bottle of HP Sauce off the shelf and put it in the basket, easy. It was not until we were outside and checking the receipt, did we discover we had paid €5.35 for the bottle – more than twice the previous amount. Rip off – maybe – but of course stores do have to cover their cost.
Take care.. www.facebook.com/percy chattey
