My 'go-to' when I turn on my TV, are News channels. And these days I'm increasingly watching Al Jazeera. What a great channel. Very professional, providing what I believe are balanced insights on not just Middle East issues, but also global. If you've not tuned in to Al Jazeera, do give it a try. Not too many ads either (take note CNN). And not excessively distracted by celebrity trivia (note BBC).
But what I wanted to talk about was not the messenger, it's the terrifying range of messages they're all reporting on.
These are the increasing 'news' headwinds I'm being battered with - in no particular order:
Israel and Palestine: Israel are becoming increasingly brutal to a people with little if any hope for their future. The world won't continue to turn a US-led blind eye to Israel's genocidal policies, especially when we observe loathsome Israeli settlers cruelly stealing land that is not theirs in the West Bank, no matter what their holy books might be telling them. Who is going to stop Israel, protect Israelis, rebuild Gaza, give Palestinians a home, and encourage everyone in the region to play nice in the face of all the following... and more?
Russia: Putin and his thugs won't withdraw from Ukraine. Under ANY circumstances. The longer their 'struggle' continues, the more Russians die (and many other nationalities), the more justified Putin and co. feel in killing the people they believe are at fault - Ukraine and NATO... which means Russia won't stop at Eastern Ukraine. They want to force back their enemy - NATO - from their borders and reduce what they believe are proximate threats from Poland, Moldova, Georgia and the Baltic States.
Climate Change: Predictions of global Armageddon are becoming apparent. This year saw record temperatures destroying much of the world's vegetation. Farmers the world over are reeling from it. And what is the Leader of the Free World doing about it? "It's a hoax"... "Drill baby, drill". History will damn the moron for ignoring the dystopian future he's hastening to happen. All for a few more bucks today.
Iran: Well done Moron. You've reduced the flow of oil and gas to rest of the world by at least 20%, and increased the price of gas at US pumps by 70%. You've cut off trade for every Gulf State - OK they can afford it for a while. Stopped the flow of food and fertilisers into Africa... where conflicts and climate change are already having a negative impact on the welfare of fast growing populations. And blown up your own stockpile of things that go bang. You've also given Israel license to destroy Lebanon and everywhere else where unfriendlies might possibly live. Iran and the Houthis are now incentivised to hold that part of the world to ransom while poor people throughout the region, especially in Iran itself, suffer. All to stop Iran getting 'the bomb' which we were probably achieving through other means. Well done too on creating a popular uprising in Iran. Good idea, wrong way of achieving it.
AI: What are humans for? What will our roles be in the future when AI and robots can and will do everything - faster, better, cheaper and more reliably than the unreliable bags of meat we train and use today? We can't all be plumbers and electricians.
Migration: Despair leads to people packing what bags they have (if any) and setting out for a better future they can increasingly see on their phones and TVs. Unfortunately, most of the people who are poor, look different from the rich incumbents whose ancestors successfully made the journey and got rid of local competition at some point in the past. So trying to reach a place where people aren't killing each other and stealing each other's food to feed starving babies, looks like a plan worth risking, but in reality is fraught with dangers, even if against the odds they get there. Who pays for their basic needs? Where do you put them? What are their prospects in competition with the natives' own children... especially in the face of long term AI and robotic alternatives.
The Rise of Populism: Around 80 years ago, Europe demonstrated what happens when nations elect extreme right leaders. Democracy is abandoned, and fear stalks the streets. Anyone deemed to be 'an enemy of the state' is removed. Eventually enemies of the state are defined as neighbours who might one day invade - or perhaps who historically did, and therefore they've stolen some territory your leaders want back. Around the world, populations are becoming fearful that their ways of life and their future prosperities are under threat. When that happens, populist leaders offer the identification of who is behind those threats, and decisive solutions to remove them. Goodbye free speech, Diversity Equity and Inclusion. Goodbye humanity and fairness, hello 'we're right, you're wrong' politics.
Nuclear Proliferation: Iran is not our only threat. Who hovers over big red buttons in Russia and North Korea? Leaders who can compromise, or leaders who want to present strength at all costs. But it's not just the tyrants. Who holds the power to destroy the planet in India, Israel and Pakistan, let alone the USA, China, the UK and France. Is Mutually Assured Destruction still our only defence? What about space? We know that the USA has ambitions up there, if not already active. Certainly China won't be ignoring it. No longer will aggressive neighbours be the problem. From space, anyone will be within fast striking distance of everyone else. Any war game scenarios that might have played out in the past factoring in the time they have to plan a response to effect MAD, has gone out of the window. Nations with weapons in space might believe their first strike option won't result in a return strike. - thereby making this option more likely than it was.
Pandemics: With denser populations travelling more frequently, future pandemics like Covid, or worse, are increasingly likely. Indeed Ebola is lurking in the wings as I type. The one piece of good news we can celebrate is that our detection skills and provision of vaccines and antidotes is vastly better than it was before Covid. But we can't sit back and say 'sorted'. We need to keep investing in research and counter-measures to minimise the risks. So what does the Moron do? He closes the US department responsible for that to save a few bucks. Genius.
Debt: Government (all governments) borrowing is unsustainable. The bubble WILL burst. The only question is when, not if. And leading that threat is the USA who are increasing their debt by $trillions (!) every year. And their Moron is celebrating an 'economic success'. His thinking is that he only has two more years before he can retire and blame his successor for the eventual and inevitable reckoning. So in the meantime, lets make more and more short-term profit by borrowing from the dangerous and uncertain future I've listed above.
Sod it. Gromble over. Let's settle in for a box set and a glass of good wine. Then all the above might just go away.
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