When you’re just a blade of grass in the world order in which we find ourselves – extant or evolving – you gotta watch out for those elephants, cavorting or fighting!! So, as we try to stave off possible attacks from within by the “kith and kin” armed forces, let’s spare a thought – or two – about what the elephants are up to!! Over in Europe – the home of civilization, of all places! – the US is duking it out with its old adversary, USSR’s Russian rump, via a proxy named Ukraine.
That war’s now in its second year, and notwithstanding the usual wartime braggadocio – don’t forget truth’s the first casualty of war!! – has now ground to a standoff. There’s gonna be no “winners” coming out of Bakhmut!! The Russians under Putin have thrown everything they got at the Ukrainians – who’re receiving 40% of all the war materiel of the ENTIRE Western alliance, not just the USA! But they’ve been forced to remind all and sundry that they’ve got nuclear weapons as a last resort!! That was a sign of frustration – if there ever was one!!
Now, your Eyewitness is pretty sure the Ukrainians are gonna be launching their long-anticipated “spring offensive” soon. And let’s not get too snarky about the Ukrainians being led by a former stand-up comic. Nazi Germany was led by a former sign-painter with a funny mustache, who did a helluva lot of damage before he was through!! And in any case, the fella’s got the entire NATO brain trust advising him – as well as training all those new recruits for the next phase. So, in case, dear reader, you were wondering when your bread and roti prices would be coming down from unrestricted wheat shipments out of Ukraine, don’t hold your breath.
But while we’re worrying about elephants, your Eyewitness hopes the Yanks haven’t forgotten about the big Dragon cavorting out in the East!! The Chinks have exploited the opening made by the Yanks against the Ruskies to emerge as the latter’s “Senior Partner” – by offering them more than moral support!! Even Mao, who’d chafed against the Ruskies’ paternalism back in the day, couldn’t achieve that!! But time moves on, doesn’t it?? And it’s now pretty clear that the line in the sand the Chinks drew over Taiwan is soon gonna be used as the screen for a “reunification”!!
When that occurs, China’s gonna be in control of 90% of the advanced semiconductors Taiwan presently supplies to the world!! Combined with its effective control of the rare-earth metals from Africa and South America, your Eyewitness sez the US got its work cut out for in to tame the Chinese Dragon.
But the fat lady hasn’t sung yet, has she??
…on the Guyanese prize
But we still gotta look at the gaping crater the Opposition’s creating for all of us here in dear mudland – including their own supporters!! It doesn’t appear they’ve taken into consideration how all those billions of barrels of oil – and sweet, light crude at that!! – have changed our circumstances. The days of softball are over: we’re now playing hardball with the big boys!! At a most mundane level, our demographics are gonna change, so that while we duke it out among ourselves, outsiders gonna literally slip into the saddle!!
And that’s not even the biggest threat!! In the financialised world we’re being integrated into, the entire edifice we hope to build – by either side – can be toppled with a finger on a keyboard. Think the CLICO meltdown that shook TT and the Caribbean – including us – was seismic?? You ain’t seen anything yet!! Our primitive banking system – and even more primitive capital markets – actually saved us!!
It’s gonna be the fire this time!!
…on the Venezuelans
The World Court just ruled against the Venezs on the preliminary point that Britain gotta be a party to the matter in front of them.
Now they can’t back out of the final ruling – which is also gonna be for us!!
