I wrote a few weeks ago that I expected to wake up one day and find the world had changed. Today was that day.
Putin has done just what he wanted to and invaded Ukraine. If he wants to absorb it back into Russia and continue on his quest to rebuild the USSR, he isn’t going to be stopped.
Sanctions, important though they are, will have minimal impact because Putin has China’s support. China has refused to condemn Putin or impose sanctions. Putin will just trade with the Chinese instead of Europe and the US. Europe will refuse Russia’s oil and gas, but China will just take it all instead.
NATO won’t send in troops because then a wider war is almost inevitable.
The ramping up of NATO defences is significant because they reflect the bigger concern that Putin isn’t done yet. Ukraine is surrounded by other ex-eastern bloc countries that are full NATO members. If Putin targets any of those then NATO’s military response is guaranteed.
And if we go to war in a more global sense, it won’t be fought with guns and tanks, it will be fought with nukes. Putin has pretty much alluded to their use already by stating that any interference will be met with brutal force the like of which has not been seen before. That’s scary stuff.
While we should be worrying about climate management, carbon reduction, biodiversity and generally saving the planet, we now have to contend with the spectre of war and destroying more of it instead. It's so damn stupid.
From a personal perspective, I have found myself worrying that doomsday is getting closer. And that has made me think that I might need to review my priorities.
For pretty much my whole life I have been sensible, practical and largely risk averse; I have spent years investing for the future and as a result not travelled as much as I wanted to and never had the cars/motorbikes for example that I really desired. I am still on my first marriage, the kids have been supported, the debts have been manageable, I have a pension etcetera, etcetera.
Blimey, I am old and boring. That was never the plan.
But it is now conceivable (even more so than it was in the early eighties) that everything that has been built around the family could go up in a mushroom cloud. That makes me think that I need to do more living for the moment, be more spontaneous, be irresponsible and have a lot more fun. While I still can.
I’ll talk to Mrs Baldwin later and ask her if she’ll let me…
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Putin has done just what he wanted to and invaded Ukraine. If he wants to absorb it back into Russia and continue on his quest to rebuild the USSR, he isn’t going to be stopped.
Sanctions, important though they are, will have minimal impact because Putin has China’s support. China has refused to condemn Putin or impose sanctions. Putin will just trade with the Chinese instead of Europe and the US. Europe will refuse Russia’s oil and gas, but China will just take it all instead.
NATO won’t send in troops because then a wider war is almost inevitable.
The ramping up of NATO defences is significant because they reflect the bigger concern that Putin isn’t done yet. Ukraine is surrounded by other ex-eastern bloc countries that are full NATO members. If Putin targets any of those then NATO’s military response is guaranteed.
And if we go to war in a more global sense, it won’t be fought with guns and tanks, it will be fought with nukes. Putin has pretty much alluded to their use already by stating that any interference will be met with brutal force the like of which has not been seen before. That’s scary stuff.
While we should be worrying about climate management, carbon reduction, biodiversity and generally saving the planet, we now have to contend with the spectre of war and destroying more of it instead. It's so damn stupid.
From a personal perspective, I have found myself worrying that doomsday is getting closer. And that has made me think that I might need to review my priorities.
For pretty much my whole life I have been sensible, practical and largely risk averse; I have spent years investing for the future and as a result not travelled as much as I wanted to and never had the cars/motorbikes for example that I really desired. I am still on my first marriage, the kids have been supported, the debts have been manageable, I have a pension etcetera, etcetera.
Blimey, I am old and boring. That was never the plan.
But it is now conceivable (even more so than it was in the early eighties) that everything that has been built around the family could go up in a mushroom cloud. That makes me think that I need to do more living for the moment, be more spontaneous, be irresponsible and have a lot more fun. While I still can.
I’ll talk to Mrs Baldwin later and ask her if she’ll let me…
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