Sunday

 Finally, today is Sunday. After a very trying week, finally I can take some time off.

Today in the world

It is Saturday and things are pretty much the same over in Europe. The exception is that various countries are announcing restrictions against Russia. Like Czechs forbid Russian airline flyovers, Polish soccer team will not play against Russia in World Cup soccer game, and I am sure there are many others.   

Interesting to watch the world's response and how carefully they all thread. They said this morning that up in space in the space station there are American and Russian astronauts working together in a joint operation. What now? Will the Americans evict the Russians or the other way around? They can't even spit on each other because the spit will float in the non-gravity environment.

It will be interesting to see in the future how each country will try to get back into the good graces of Russia. Because in time they all will, we can be sure of that. Russia has the gas, Russia has the oil, and all those countries are on the same continent. Som even next door. But this is politics, and this is what politicians do. Bend the way the wind blows. It is easy, because politicians have no backbone.

And this applies to all politicians. Americans and all other countries. No qualms about anything they do.

Deja vu

Watching to unfold the Ukrainian events is reading the same scenario as it unfolded in Hungary in November 1956. This is deja vu. They are using the same excuses for attacking as they used way back then. At that time they came in under the pretense of rescuing the beleaguered communist government. 

Veni, vidi, vici. They came, saw and conquered. And they stayed for about 40 years! I am not the wisest person in the world, but I have my own opinion about this fiasco. I pretty much guess what the outcome will be. But the bottom line is that because of the sanctions Russia will use the eye for an eye attitude and us the consumers will pay for the increased prices across the board. Because prices of everything will go up.

Today all countries are interconnected financially as well as economically and any problem in one location (war, financial, economical) will have effect at other locations, like here. The US is always boasting that we are self-sufficient energy wise, yet as soon as there is a problem somewhere else in the world our gasoline priced soar. Why?

We are very quick to help other countries when they are in trouble. But what about us here? 

Here is short story I remember reading in a paper. I vaguely recall that a long time ago a locality here in the US had some kind of a municipal problem where they needed financial assistance. The local government denied this request. So, the locality wrote to the Soviet government and asked for help. The Soviets immediately agreed. Once this story surfaced the local authorities immediately found the necessary capital just to avoid the embarrassing situation.

  

Ukraine

This morning there was nothing else on the news channels but Ukraine, which is understandable. I have two questions on this subject.

1.- Did all the Russian soldiers who entered Ukraine had face masks on?

2.- Did anybody at the border crossings checked if the Russians had their vaccinations? If not what other documentations they had. A machine gun is not an i.d.

It seems that the covid issue is now taking second place or did it entirely disappear? Politics, politics and politics.

This entire affair reminds me when in 1956 the Soviet army entered Hungary after the October 23 revolution. The Hungarians bravely fought the Russians but were obviously outnumbered. The international community supported the Hungarians but only in words. Nothing was done except useless demonstrations in large cities of the world.

The garbage Radio Free Europe kept broadcasting that "keep fighting, hold out, help is on the way, we are coming..." These false promises cost many, many lives. The international community had no desire to get involved with the mighty Soviet Union. And that was the sad truth,

Just like the international community has no desire now to confront the mighty Russia. Words are cheap. Promises don't cost anything. But when the sun comes up every country takes a stock of itself, its interests and decides what road to take in order to avoid a national or international calamity.

I read that the Hungarian Foreign Ministry requested the Russian ambassador to convey their objection to this war. I am sure that Putin is now shaking in his boots because Hungary dared to raise its voice. Putin does not care even when the US is complaining. Why should he care about other countries?

Trump said this could have never happened during his administration. Maybe so, but this is unfortunately not his administration.

Maybe Bidden should make Trump a special ambassador and send him to talk to good old Vladimir!

Peace

Last night (in EST) was the funeral service for my friend in Australia. Because of the 16 hours time difference their Wednesday morning was Tuesday night where we are. My wife and I were invited to watch it on line which we did.

It was a very respectful and somber service. There were a lot of people present and many more connected online. He was a well liked, loved person with many friends and wit a lovely family. I admit, my wife and I shed tears many times during the service. It is hard to accept that he is no longer here with us, but with the suffering he went through this might be better for him. No more pain, no more suffering. He is at peace now.

Now his family and friends have to come to acceptance with the situation. As I always said, life goes on and the sun will come up next day!

Rest in peace my good friend! 

Tuesday

Today, Tuesday I went to the dermatological surgeon's office to remove the stiches from the cut he made last week on my face. The removal went easy and according to him I'm done. No need to see him unless there are other Mohs procedure are necessary. Hopefully there will be none.

He made a cut on my face that needed 19 stitches to keep the sides together. Once it heals, I will really look like somebody who just came out of a barfight. That is fine. I am too old to worry about my looks and I will not require cosmetic surgery.

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I mentioned earlier that my very good friend who lived in Australia passed away. Today is his funeral and for the sake of his family and friends it will be visible online. I was invited to participate and since I am unable to be physically there, I will be there on a monitor. Sad event!

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There is nothing else in the news but Ukraine. Serious trouble is brewing there. I already expressed my opinion about Ukrainians and how they behaved with the Jewish population during WWII. So, I have no sympathy for them at all.

The Big Lie

2020 and 2021 were supposed to be bad for businesses. A lot of small businesses closed because they could not afford the restrictions caused by the pandemic. That is understandable. Many large businesses slowed down or stopped productions because of the same restrictions. These are also understandable. Hollywood was crying crocodile tears about how they were not able to produce anything because of the same reasons. They also met with understanding nods.

However, and this is the big however!

How comes that tv and the movie houses are full of new productions that were created in 2020 and 2021? Were they produced from home, from someone's kitchen? Or were they just lying to gain the people's sympathy, and went ahead and worked like nothing happened?

Now, I really don't know what and whom to believe.

Here is something else. I read this morning that Bill Gates gave an interview last Friday where he said that another virus is very likely. How does he know? Is he a medical professional? Maybe he knows because he is part of the planning group! Also, last week there was an international security conference in Munich, Germany where government officials were the participants. I guess the Ukrainian problem was the main topic. Why was Bill Gates there? Is he a government official? Maybe he is part of an invisible government.?