…in Russia
This year, almost half of the world would have voted, or would be voting, to choose the leaders of their governments. America will be going to the polls, come November, with two old men – “Sleepy Joe” and the “Mango Mussolini” – staggering out of their respective red and blue corners. Venezuela will be going to the polls in July with Mad Maduro running against himself, since he’ll be rigging; and India will be going to the polls with “NaMo” Modi from April to June, to deal with their almost 1 billion voters!!
But the results of one big Presidential election have just come in, yet it seems that no one’s talking any notice – Russia!! There, Vladmir “Bear Wrestling” Putin has just been declared the winner by pulling in EIGHTY-EIGHT PERCENT of the votes cast!! And yes…not because one of his opponents, Navalny, died in prison it means there weren’t others!! They were able to capture almost 12% of the electorate!! Reminds us old heads of Burnham’s massive “wins” in our elections back in the day, doesn’t it??
Well, some did take notice!! President of the European Council, Charles Michel, cheered Putin’s big win even before the voting booths were opened. “Would like to congratulate Vladimir Putin on his landslide victory in the elections starting today,” he wrote on X. “No opposition. No freedom. No choice”!! Ukraine’s Zelenskyy dismissed the result as illegitimate. “Everyone in the world understands that this person (he who cannot be named?!!), like many others throughout history, has become sick with power and will stop at nothing to rule forever”. But then that could be sour grapes, no? Putin extended the elections into the five Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine – and won resoundingly!!
Most of the West followed Zelensky’s lead, but fellow BRICS heavyweights China and India sent their congrats – as did Mad Maduro, who’s a Putin acolyte!! Now, because of the constitutional change he introduced just before the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, after this six-year term, he can run again in 2030. So, by 2036, he’ll eclipse Joseph Stalin to become the longest serving Russian leader in 200 years!! Not bad for an ex-KGB officer, no??
Now what does this mean for us in old Mudland?? Well, it will certainly encourage Mad to ignore US pressure for him to hold free and fair elections. His allies in the bureaucracy have already followed his signal to exclude his most potent rival, Maria Machado, and so his rigging won’t have to be TOO blatant!! That Putin was able to thumb his nose at the international multilateral institutions – not to mention his European neighbours and the US – to invade Ukraine, will also encourage Mad Maduro in his quest to browbeat us to flex on our Essequibo!!
Putin and his Slavic inferiority complex will prove to be dangerous!!
…in wealth
It’s now quite trite to say that the rich are getting richer under the neo-liberal economic relations that’s taken over the world. Yesterday, your Eyewitness talked about the richest man in India – and Asia – Mukesh Ambani, blowing US$150 million on his son’s PRE-WEDDING bash!! Even communist China’s awash with billionaires – 969 billionaires living there in 2023, compared to ONLY 691 in the capitalist US!
Back in 2020, Forbes reported that the US had 614 billionaires with a combined wealth of US$2.947 trillion. Now, as of last week, there were 737 billionaires with US$5.529 trillion – an 87.6 percent increase!! Now, who has all this moola? Tesla’s Elon Musk had just under $25 billion in 2020, but this month of March 2024, he’s at $188.5 billion!! Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’s wealth increased from US$113 billion to US$192.8 billion – even though he had to shell out US$38 billion in his divorce settlement!!
Now when would we in ole Mudland – the fastest growing economy in the world – see our first US billionaire??
