Global warming, Vladimir Putin, Independence, Donald
Here we are at the and of another week and I simply do not know where the days went this week, It seems only yesterday I was sitting here writing a World this week from Mennies blog.
Bit colder this week here in Scotland but still nothing like the Winters we used to have . I remember when I was younger here in Dundee we would skate on the Swannie ponds for six weeks. I honestly cant remember that last time I saw them iced over, Global warming? Probably, man made possibly not, but in all probability certainly not helped by mankind. People speak about the “last ice age” which was approximately 12,000 years ago, but that was when this area was last covered in ice and it steadily retreated to where it is still steadily retreating near both polls. now this has happened in the main way before any industrialization and not only that but it has happened many times in the past. We have had successive warming and cooling cycles for hundreds of Millions of years . Most of them before mankind was on the planet. The common denominator is the Sun. It would be good to see if these , and indeed the present warming spell has anything to do with solar activity. Oops is that Gretta at the door.
Ok so on to something else and lets speak about Vladimir Putin. Now old Vlad is now probably the most popular leader that Russia has ever had, but as you read the nonsense in Western papers you would be forgiven for thinking that he was as popular as Rasputin the mad Monk. He is popular because he stands no nonsense from the west He has had a very successful relationship with Assad of Syria and has indeed saved that country from the ravages of the US and ancillary hanger-on’s such as the UK . He is probably the only leader whose army is there by invitation unlike the US and the UK who are there as invaders.
Putin’s term of office officially ends in 2024 but the crafty old Fox seems to be working on a plan to extend that., Would that be a bad thing ? No , I feel safer with him in charge of the largest country in the World as apposed to Trump who is in charge of the largest ego on the world, and I would certainly be in favor of closer trading arrangements with Russia in an independent Scotland. Think of it, two of the countries with largest oil reserves on the planet together in a trading pact., What better way to keep American greasy fingers off our natural assets when independent.
Is Russia a democracy? Well at least they do not have 900 unelected clowns in the house of lords.
Ok so I see I am already way up there in the popularity stakes with poor wee Gretta teaming up with Extinction Rebellion and the CIA to barricade me in and stop be having a pint in Mennies tonight . So who will I upset next? Lets see, hmm, how about the few remaining fans of the royal family who still think that they are God’s anointed, They must do because why on earth, if they are not, would people get a kick out of bowing and scraping to these unelected parasites., If by some chance they are Gods anointed , then I am afraid God has a very poor sense of humor. in choosing one of the most dysfunctional families on Earth to rule us Here we have Harry and Megan. Megan of mixed race and Harry of mixed parentage . Both decent people on the surface but both not quite conforming to the typical royal and both getting an absolutely rough ride from the English press., Why? for the crime of wishing to live their own life’s. That is unfortunately the UK we live in and the UK that most Scots now wish to leave just like Harry and Megan. Best of luck to them.
So, to independence. There has been a hell of a lot of disquiet in the ranks of the grass roots organizations and activists at the performance of Nicola Sturgeon with regard to what should be her prime function and that is the attainment of independence, Now in the weeks before Christmas when a General election campaign was in progress ., Nicola made great play on the fact that independence was to be in the forefront of any campaign., This culminated in a hastily arranged rally in George Square in Glasgow where Nicola appeared for the very first time at any rally to do with independence, She had marched at the head of other rallies but these were either gay Rallies of save the UK rallies.
So at this one she got the faithful all fired up by “almost” promising a referendum on Scottish independence during 2020. Problem was that as soon as the GE campaign started properly, the word independence was expunged from both the campaign literature and the campaign itself, just as it had been in all previous elections since the 2014 referendum and as we all know the campaign was fought on stopping Brexit. There was the letter to Johnson ” asking” for a section 30 and there was the reply which basically said get lost, All very predictable.
Now there are several other ways that independence can be attained and there is also several legal avenues that can be gone down to try to reverse this refusal to grant a section 30. Problem is that all this takes time and there is now only eleven and a half months left in 2020.
Personally , I do not think that Nicola Sturgeon has the commitment or the ability to get a referendum campaign going. I think she has painted herself and the independence movement into a corner, I think lot of this obfuscation has a connection to the trial of Alex Salmond scheduled for March, I also think Nicola Sturgeon wont last much longer than this trial.
To strengthen my reservations we had Angus Roberson making an announcement on twitter today, urging people to campaign,- wait for it, not for a referendum this year, but for the Scottish elections in 2021. Roberson is seen as being close to Nicola Sturgeon as is his wife Jennifer Dempsey who I have a feeling we will be hearing more of in the coming months, March in particular.
So disappointment ,yes but as blogged many times in the last 4 years, not unexpected. There has to be a change in the leadership of the SNP or a new party.
Ok, so enough if the doom and gloom and I havent even mentioned daft Donald but we will leave him for another day and let him enjoy his impeachment.
I raise my glass to you, wherever you may be on this fragile planet of ours . Have a great weekend folks.
Slainte
Bob Costello 