Fwd : From Over the Pond
Cornelius Hamelberg
Cornelius Hamelberg
That was wicked.
There’s this complementary article Boris Johnson & the UK Decline also mostly malicious and untrue but which nonetheless makes for painful reading.
I wonder how at this later date with the advantage of some hindsight e.g.Barrister Kennedy Emetulu who previously expressed certain misgivings about Brexit would react to the scorn being heaped on Britain by Umair Haque , and the unflattering role that Brexit is being assigned in the re-imaging of Britain. And how does Nigel Farage react to the effects of today's Brexit under Johnson, and Johnson's mishandling of Britain’s Brexit protocols with Ireland ?
In this era of conspiracy theory - try The Great CERN Witchcraft “Psyop” for size - about CERN and if you have your loot stashed in the US or you are merely an honest broker who has been saving and investing for his retirement, then this could be “a deeply troubling development”
As if he ( Boris Johnson) was not in enough trouble at home, to create a diversion he decided to straddle the world stage as a statesman, as the new Sir Winston Churchill, so many photo ops of him shaking hands with Zelensky, and so many occasions of him boasting out loud about how he had been supplying weapons to Ukraine long before Russia’s 24th February invasion
Last night I dreamed - a sort of conspiracy theory dream, that British Intelligence and allied security agencies engineered the Pincher scandal and could have subsequently engineered a series of other scandals with predictable outcomes up to the point of “enough is enough” to neatly get rid of Boris Johnson, because he was probably putting the realm in unnecessary danger and in the long run, could prove to be a stubborn obstacle to peace. Putin has said that if nuclear war breaks out - God forbid - the UK would be the first to get annihilated - just a few bombs would cause some tsunami-like tidal waves to completely cover and thereby sink all of what was formerly the British Isles.
Secondly, Putin said recently that ” the war in Ukraine has still not yet seriously started yet “ ( it looks like so far they have only been getting rid of stockpiles of their old Soviet era weapons. They have also previously boasted - years ago - that if they really mean business they could easily take Sweden - by the rear within 48 hours - and for those of us who are a little suspicious, supercilious or merely ”superstitious”, Anton Johansson’s visions of WW3 give no comfort.
What Ukraine, Germany, and the rest of the EU needs now more than ever, is not more lethal weapons but PEACE , preceded by a lengthy ceasefire, certainly before - under the duress of climate change, a truly nuclear winter sets in and Putin turns off his gas supplies so that the Germans will have no other alternative than to freeze to the bone. Surely, Zelensky does not wish that to happen to Germany?
In his stridency, Johnson of the UK - no clown is he - cosying up to former comedian Zelensky of Ukraine, has been busy almost displacing Old Joe Biden as the new leader or the new deputy leader and deputy sheriff of the so called free world, living up to the old perception according to which Britain is the brain and Uncle Sam the muscle. Now it’s Johnson & Zelensky together, frequent firm hanshakesand hugs in Kyiv, and together with the EU-NATO choir chanting the old negro spiritual “ We shall overcome”, a role that’s probably OK for Johnson who imagines himself as the New Churchill and the UK’s Donald Trump ( similar hairstyle)
What the world needs now is not another defiant Boris Johnson who albeit is certainly not a clown
History records that as a little boy, Boris Johnson's ambition was to be “ King of the World''- from Little Lord Fauntleroy to King Boris. At least you have to give it to him that his intention was not to be “ Lord of the Universe” or Rabbil-Alamin
Not that ambition shouldn’t be made of sterner stuff : From Eton to Cambridge and from there to the Kingdom of No 10 Downing Street and King of party gate. Luckily, he survived even that. Speaking about ambition, the Brits loved raising an eyebrow about Dada Idi Amin’s official hyperbolic title which ran, "His Excellency, President for Life, Field Marshal Al Hadji Doctor Idi Amin Dada, VC, DSO, MC, CBE, Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Seas and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in Particular".
As a nation, the Brits much prefer the potencies of the understatement. The Brits of Rhodesia’s white minority government under Ian Smith later on derisively referred to their Lord , Comrade Robert Mugabe, in feigned affection as “ King Bob”
The temptation to kick the man that’s down and out will be resisted. It’s not British. Even in Professor Bernard Porter’s blog Porter's Pensées which I have faithfully followed since its inception in December 2013 and to give you an idea of what I mean, I typed “ Boris “ in the search engine of that blog. Like me, you’ll also probably notice that since the demise of his Boris, there has been a suspension of hostilities, or perhaps it’s merely a lull in hostilities and the hostilities will be resumed with the full force of even greater hostility should Mister Johnson, the villain of the piece, as much as insist or seem to be prevailing over his party with his wish to extend his stay at number 10 Downing Street should be extended until October when inevitably with not a minute to spare the final curtain will come down and without ceremony.
Porter’s Pensées have also been providing living commentaries on the twists and turns, the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune as I followed the up and downs leading to the final Brexit and Brexit’s aftermath/s; it’s all here as living history with a palpable sense of humour and deep seated expectations in our the age of anxiety as recorded in Porter’s Pensées : Brexit
In the coming weeks , months, years the postmortems about Boris Johnson’s termination / resignation from “ the best job in the world” will continue, fast and furious. When that day comes and right up till then what kind of obituary will finally be written in The Times and The Telegraph will remain to be seen, as to how he will be judged in books written about British History and others about his final resting place in European history.