I have to confess that my brain is no longer functioning in the same way. Ideas float in and out and I find that my recall and attention span is not what it once was. The evidence of this age related deficiency is ever present. For example, I have a regime of pills which need to be taken at timed intervals. I’m now not very good at remembering if I have taken a particular pill. I place the pill next to the glass of water in preparation. Between preparing to take the pill and actually taking it, my brain is occupied on a number of other things, like listening to something on the radio or conversation with Celia. When I look back at the glass I note the pill is not there. My brain fumbles between looking for the pill and wondering if I have already taken it. Indeed I search my mind trying to recall the exact moment I may have taken it, but that moment does not seem to have registered in the brain, so I remain puzzled. The pill is gone, it is not found, so I must have taken it, but how and when, only moments have passed? You see my dilemma.
I am sure I am not alone in this situation, but who knows? Equally, I am perplexed by current events ranging from the breakthrough in the Middle East, the Trump Regime’s growing dictatorship and repression in the United States, the French government’s difficulties in simply governing, the world view of the continuing killing by the Putin Regime in Ukraine and the absurd notion that Trump should receive a Novel Peace Prize.
The so called Trump 20 point plan (which is actually a rehash of plans put forward by other people before Mr Trump put his oar in the water) has been approved, presumably because of pressure put on Mr Netanyahu by the United States. One has to be realistic and accept the fact that pressure was applied not because of continued killings in Gaza, but because of Benjamin’s irresponsible bombing in Qatar potentially harming relations between that country and Mr Trump’s bank account. How can one accept a multi-million dollar gift of a jumbo jet and allow the donor’s territory to be violated? Clearly not on. I firmly believe that is the motivation here, so any talk or even speculation that Mr Trump deserves a Nobel peace prize is absurd. A Nobel Prize for chicanery and being the greatest narcissist on the planet is more like it. What stopped him from applying pressure on Israeli military action well before that event? Did the Qatar deal override whatever deal he had with Netanyahu? A proper examination of cause and effect in this instance would not come amiss.
So I take grave exception to all this adulation and praise for Mr Trump being the great peacemaker. I do not subscribe to the ‘give him his due’ attitude which seems to prevail, particularly in the light of the colossal failure in relation to resolving the situation in Ukraine. Boasts and braggadocio are not the basis of terms and conditions of agreement.
On top of all that, it is a distraction from what is actually happening in the United States itself. Freedoms of speech are being trampled. Any political opponent is being victimised and attacked either through clearly dishonest legal activity, misuse of the military and the national guard, and the formation of a Gestapo clone agency such as ICE. The complete dismantling of constitutional checks and balances is being allowed to happen by an ineffectual congress and supine supreme court. It is a tragedy for the entire world. With the United States falling into the sphere of the dictators and mobsters, there will be little left of any real power to keep democracies alive.
Indeed, a question was put to the United Kingdom’s current Foreign Secretary, Yvette Cooper, asking whether she thought Britain’s recognition of a Palestinian state had any real influence on the acceptance of the peace plan, or whether Britain had any influence at all in the proceedings. There was a significant pause before she could reply, and the answer amounted to not very much. That is the reality we face.
I have no idea if any of my suppositions have any validity whatsoever. Perhaps I am way out of line. My view of the world may be tainted, by what, I am not sure. Is there a trace of a bad or undesirable substance or quality affecting my brain? Could it be the medication? So I stare at my glass and missing pill and wonder whether it has any effect at all.
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