A shortage of turkeys, a possible shortage of gas and electric, rising mortgage rates and a higher cost of fuel. They call it a ‘Cost of Living Crisis’. Some blame it on governments others cite the war in Ukraine, which threatens to prolong suffering for both Russians and Ukrainians with a knock on effect for most of the World. Meanwhile the most powerful man in Russia appears to be morphing into Joseph Stalin and the most powerful man in the West appears to be in cognitive decline and morphing into…. You know I forget where I was now where was I?
While some have indicated that Putin may be suffering from health issues such as Parkinson’s Disease, Aspergers or cancer or even just far too many hard landings on a crash mat there are some who maintain that Joe Biden is suffering in areas of cognition or for the laymen, losing the plot. Never mind that these two darlings have their briefcase equipped with the red button, no not to buzz a crap act, although that would be something to see on TV. Intelligence experts have a term for the speculation over the health of these two very powerful men. ‘RUMINT’, which in short is Rumoured Intelligence.
But what if the rumours are true and the world is on the verge of instability politically, socially, economically the like of which we have never seen. Tide and time wait for no man and the onset of one’s mortality quickens and is highlighted more so if one is in the public eye. Cameras have scanned both men and psychologists and health experts will have been studying the footage carefully as some of us would have been doing during the period following the passing of Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
One can safely offer the opinion that that episode in our history has compressed and forced the subject of life and death into a worldwide spotlight like never before. A mini series of dour, morbid and mournful content played out on our television screens for more than a week with some fully immersed in the hypnotic and emotionally charged wave sweeping over the nation with others counting the days until life could resume once more.
The public interest in events surrounding the ill health, subsequent death and funeral of Her Late Majesty The Queen was extremely powerful to witness and even more powerful for those who imagine what could be done with such a command over men women and children of all ages and from all backgrounds. Never again in history might we witness such a sharpness of focus of a nation and its people. For the living, the King and those who must continue and try in some way to live up to a life of unquestionable service, they must be worried at best. They will surely be keen to get among the people to keep that wave of emotion, that energy from the light of an incredible life, which even when extinguished managed to subdue and overpower anything else that may have been going on in the world. If nothing else, the death of a loved one spurs one on to commit to living life.
How will the world react when the same fate befalls Putin and Biden. The optimists, those who may have lived through the Cuban Missile Crisis and witnessed the Glasnost era, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the establishment of the G7 and the relative peace between the most powerful countries in the world will be hoping that handshakes will occur and agreements are signed to re-establish the equilibrium and maintain the Status Quo, whatever that may look like. The hope as we turn the page onto a new chapter in the history of man may be ever so basic and instinctive and primitive. We do not want to risk losing those basic elements of our lives . The very things that primeval man as hunter gatherer strived so hard to secure. Heat, shelter and a turkey. Forgive the soliloquy but in these uncertain times one must have someone one can talk to. If not myself then who or whom?
Pics.
World Economic ForumCopyright by World Economic ForumPhoto by Remy Steinegger, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Yashwanth278, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
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