This too shall pass

It is said an Eastern monarch once charged his wise men to invent him a sentence, to be ever in view, and which should be true and appropriate in all times and situations. They presented him the words: "And this, too, shall pass away." How much it expresses! How chastening in the hour of pride! How consoling in the depths of affliction!

Stand down, stand easy! Dear West, you now need to keep a low profile. Britain does not rule the waves. The Empire is over. The American Empire is slowly imploding from within. We in the West have had our two centuries. Call it 1800 to 2000. Don't be greedy! A war of attrition with Putin is not an option. We have to change our culture! We need to find a way to regain our self respect as a people, one based on co-operation and not on competition.  Greece could be our guiding light.  A group of left wing organisations coming together to create a large block and now negotiating with Europe/The West. Putin is a strategist, he is a chess player.   Obama is on a hiding to nothing with the Jewish Cabal and the Republican Party pulling the strings. Why do I care? Well I'm out of work. We all know, unless we are incredibly stupid that we are on the cusp of something major in world affairs. A major shift that will involve ISIL and Russia or a combination of both. The attacks in Paris and Copenhagen have hit at the heart of Europe. What we saw as free speech, 'they' saw as a hate crime. British Values needs to be re defined because British values for the Upper Middle Class and the Prime Minister are very different to those at the bottom. We will not be united and 'they' know that, the eponymous terrorist who are only standing up for their values. A critical mass of people are now alienated and have nothing left to lose, it just so happens that they live in the Middle East. If 'they' stop the beheading and the 'barbarism' would America and Europe consider negotiating with the Islamic Caliphate or are they intent on a scorched earth policy. That didn't work too well in Vietnam if I remember rightly. I think we in the West have to stop thinking that we are right all the time. A little bit of humility and diplomacy would not go amiss instead of the saber rattling. Talking of rattling, Putin has got us rattled and he knows it. The Islamic State has got us rattled and they know it. The Ebola Virus has got us rattled and it knows it. The people who don't know that we are rattled are us ourselves. We just keep on keeping on! Instead of having a referendum on pulling out of Europe, instead of having a General Election, we need to consult with each other on our fears, our goals and our motivations and if those are out of step with everybody else then we have to modify them for the common good instead of this blind acquisitiveness. I don't think we can keep on keeping on unless you take everyone with you and that is what is meant to happen in a democracy but democracy for those in the West minster bubble is a General Election. That isn't democracy in my book! Voting in the best of a bad bunch. There is too much at stake at the moment to vote incompetents in. Here endeth the lesson.