I’m glad I didn’t bother with Dry January, or Veganuary for that matter. Within a few hours, the news kept coming from Australia that the already out-of-control bush fires were spreading rapidly. Today we learn that around one billion animals have perished as a direct result. Human beings have died too and many more human beings have lost their homes. 1200 miles away, the people of New Zealand age seen the smoke blot out their sun too. I had to reach for the red wine within seconds.
Then, there was Donald Trump. Carelessly undoing the vital work Barack Obama had done in keeping the peace with Iran and controlling their development of nuclear weapons, and surrounded by sycophants and halfwits, who are much the same thing in Trump’s government, he took the option to take out the Iranian general and all round maniac Qasem Soleimani. No one in their right mind had a good word for Soleimani but the timing of his death couldn’t be much worse. The world is on fire, literally and figuratively.
I don’t know which of these world events I am most worried about. At least I understand a bit about climate change, in the sense that I believe the science. I’d be a fool not to, since the evidence is overwhelming and there is no debate that it’s happening and why. With Trump’s actions in Baghdad, it’s more nuanced.
My guess is that this is connected with his re-election campaign. These are not the actions of a Clinton, an Obama or a Carter. Militarily it seems unjustified. The consequences could be devastating.
I worry about our likely involvement in the next stage. After all, as we leave Europe, one of the things we have been promised is a ‘terrific trade deal’ with America. We know that our previous prime minister, the pitifully weak Theresa May, grovelled to Trump. Who doubts that her successor, the lying Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson, will go to the same lengths, or even further?
“Hey Boris. If you want a tremendous trade deal, you better send some troops, ships and planes as we deal with Iran. Otherwise, you’re on your own.” And within the blinking of an eye, we’re fighting a middle east war again. For all the failure of the Iraq conflict, there was at least a purpose to what happened, to remove a genocidal maniac, Saddam Hussain, who was a threat to the world. What’s the purpose here? To remove the Mullahs? No. Trump wants his war and he’s busy engineering it as we speak.
I’ll need more than a drink and an actual beef burger by the end of the month. I might even have to buy a pub and kill a cow. Australia will still be burning, Trump may well have launched a nuclear attack on Tehran and just to add to the sense of unity around the world, we’ll be leaving Europe.
What a choice. Death by fire, death by nuclear weapons? Death by Australian Shiraz seems the likely option at this stage. Dry January can just go and do one.
