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From the excellent Robert Shrimsley at the FT:-
The most important thing to understand about the invasion of Ukraine is that it proves my point. Yes, yes, it may be pulling Europe to the brink of outright war, causing the deaths of innocent civilians and plunging the global economy into turmoil but the essential issue is that Putin has shown I was right. Right about what, you may ask. About everything. Whatever my personal and political prejudices, they have been triumphantly (ahem, better make that tragically) vindicated.
While Ukrainians have risked their lives on the streets, battalions of keyboard warriors are shelling social media with explanations of how this validates their other opinions. One conservative think-tanker has taken to collating multiple examples of this but, sadly, this virtual conflict has now morphed into a pincer movement with incursions into the real-world dinner tables of pontificating society.
While many others are wrong, all of my own instincts have naturally been borne out by events. This allows me the opportunity to bestow some of my wisdom upon you. I may also soon launch a separate Substack newsletter, at iwasrightallalong.substack.com.
Anyway, lest you were worried that your own inadequate views leave you wandering naked into the cocktail party, here are just a few to be going along with:
1 This is entirely down to the needless Nato expansion east. I wrote years ago that this would only antagonise Russia, which everyone knows is terrified of invasion from Estonia, Moldova and Slovakia. This is what happens when you poke the bear.
2 As I have also been saying for years, the west has got flabby and complacent. Pass the Cambozola, would you? Trump was right; Europe has been freeriding on defence spending. Putin has correctly judged that the west lacks the willpower to defend itself. Everyone knows you never show weakness to the bear.
3 This all just proves the need to move faster towards our net-zero goals. The west must double down on green energy and nuclear. As I wrote on my blog seven years ago, what do you expect when you fail to build up your own secure energy supply and become overly reliant on Russia’s gas? You don’t buy fossil fuels from a bear.
4 We have to ditch this woke wind-power nonsense and rebuild our own fossil-fuel economy. If we had just fracked the hell out of our country, Putin would not be able to use the west to fund his war and we would not be facing sky-high energy costs that have sent my Deliveroo bills rocketing. Only when he sees us scrapping our renewables levy and putting a coal fire back in every household will he back down. Bears do not install solar panels.
5 Brexit. It’s obviously Brexit. Why do you think Russia and its useful idiots backed Brexit? To split the west, obviously. And having sown division, he invades. And you know what else, Britain is nowhere in this — except for the places where it is somewhere but which, frankly, don’t really fit my thesis. Bears love Brexit (apart from Paddington, of course).
6 This shows why Britain is better off out of the EU so we can be nimble and stay close to the US. EU nations have shown themselves to be supine, weak and divided. Germany has sold itself to Russia (note to editors: may need to tweak this a fraction in the light of weekend developments, which we can welcome but say have come far too late). Bears respect free and independent nations, apart from Ukraine, obviously.
7 Britain is in no position to lecture the rest of Europe, having turned London into the global capital for dirty Russian money. That’s why the UK is dragging its feet on economic measures, apart from the ones where it hasn’t. And you know why? Because the Tory party is in hock to Russian donors who all run Matt Hancock’s pub and were given contracts to buy protective equipment they never delivered. Bears own Boris.
8 Our pandering to woke causes and trans campaigners has shown that we are now a morally decadent society. Basically, all those people cancelling J K Rowling, running diversity courses and saying things I don’t agree with gave the green light to this invasion. Bears don’t publish their pronouns.
9 Our cowardly Covid-19 response shows we can no longer stomach adversity. While Putin was bravely meeting people at opposite ends of the longest table in history in order to avoid their germs, we were cravenly getting vaccinated and trying to limit the number of deaths. They didn’t wear face masks at Stalingrad.
10 Oh, and by the way, the energy shock proves our woke, green government needs to end its opposition to wood-burning stoves. I know there’s this issue with air pollution and exposure to particulates but they do look so lovely and they give that nice rustic feel that you don’t always find in Clapham. Plus they cut our dependence on domestic gas. Bears are frightened of fire. Stick another log on would you, darling?
Ray (at 5&7) that's you that is.