Ten Green Bottles
Sent from my iPad
Begin forwarded message:
Morning,all.
Sunday went well,then-even if the Dons couldn’t quite hold out against their hosts the previous day. The countdown of those 38 games continues,as does our fragile but still very real lead. Last week we were like those ten green bottles,and they continue to fall with there now only being eight of them.
It’s a nerve-shredding time for us all,but doing it from the front is certainly easier on these nerves than being three points behind. My hun pals in their ebt years told me they “welcomed the chase” but do they have it in them to do it from the opposite direction? Will their bottle crash as each of the remaining games sees no improvement in their position?
No predictions from me,I’m heading home to see my family in May. And ATHINGOFBEAUTY can give you all a prediction,nay a certainty. If I make a prediction,I’m getting my baws booted.
As she was the top scorer in the ladies league in South London for seven years,I suspect she knows how to hit the target-so no predictions!
Sunday saw a more cohesive and competent display than we have seen recently,and definitely an improvement on earlier displays against a thuggish Livingston team. I don’t think they particularly targeted anyone-they dished it out without discrimination!-but GT and Big Tam were certainly on the end of some hefty challenges. Was it a game for a Broonie type to dish it out back? Well,to be fair,he didn’t quite manage it in the past against them,did he?
That’s not to say that he had too many chances to do so,of course. Livi were out of of our league before he joined us,being relegated in 2006. By the same token,Man of the Match James Forrest was only playing against them for the tenth time. Despite having been a regular starter for nearly a dozen years.
But back to Broonie,it seems Old Father Time has caught up with that willing spirit,betrayed by the weakness of the flesh. I think he has made the right decision,although I think he is nearly a year late in making it. Maybe,had last season gone to plan,he would have bowed out on Trophy Day.
Things are rarely as you want them to be,and helping out an old team mate,with the promise of coaching progression,was a bloody good offer. Even in his last days as a player though,he took a great delight in winding up opponents-especially the huns. Who can forget him laughing like a drain earlier this season as another one bit the dust against him? Or the statue-esque “Broonie!” in front of another torn-faced denizen of that den of iniquity?
Broonie did not always perform to our expectations. He frequently drove me demented! Like he didn’t know whether to be the number 4,6 or 8. But he matured immensely under RD and BR,and that showed particularly in Europe. Our results might have been so-so at best,but his stats were amazing.
Maybe we played him out of position all that time,or maybe he just fell short of top drawer in them all,but was decent enough anyway? I dunno. In fact,I sound like I’m damning him with faint praise!! Not so. A great servant to his country and to the game,but particularly to our club.
I wish him well in the future,knowing he can wash as many kebabs down his throat with Irn-Bru as he likes without being hung drawn and quartered for it. By the same newspapers which gave us succulent lamb journalism,and lauded to the hilt a huge and major tax criminal.
More than one,as it turned out!!!
But back to Sunday…
I remember Collum sending off a very young James Forrest,red-carded for a fairly innocuous challenge. There were a lot more on Sunday,and far from innocuous! One,right in front of the ref,was a red in itself. On Big Tam,who along with GT,got it hard all day. And from a player only moments earlier given a yellow. But we didn’t dwell on the injustice and got fired in. And the victory was well deserved,even if every goal we score these days gets analysed to death to see if somebody broke a shoelace-or wind!-in the build up.
One swallow does not make a summer,so it is probably too early to say that some of our players are coming back to form at just the right time. But Jamesie,Jota,Tam and Maeda were vastly improved on their recent performances. The back line was solid as usual,even if we need to adapt our defending at set pieces. Even Nir Bitton simply strolled through the game,displaying some excellent positioning as well as a varied range of passing. And that save early on from Joe Hart was a belter!
The players look as though they want this,that they know that the league is in their grasp. We have a very tricky away tie in the Scottish Cup on Monday night against Dundee United,and if we can negotiate that,the players will be looking at possibly our most unlikely Treble ever. Even though none of us count our chickens,etc,these are major goals,major achievements that are very much attainable.
Will Ange become another member of that select band of Celtic managers to win a treble in their first season? Or at all? Time will tell-but it is clear that AP and the players believe it is possible,and they want it. The fans do too. How many of us would have thought that after our last visit to The Spaghettidome only five months ago?
******
Above article by BMCUWP
Well, as there is only one team that can possibly win a Scottish domestic treble and as we are the bookies favourites for the league and joint favourites for the cup then why not dare to dream of achieving 5 trebles in 6 years!
Apologies BMCUW but I’m not allowing the last remark addressed to me on the previous blog to go without a reply.
T L R
Previous thread.
“Or need I explain it for you in even simpler terms that you might finally understand ..?”
A rather aggressive , patronising stance to take. As Jobo said, playground stuff.
Your mastery of the subject of One World Government I’d love to hear.
Perhaps you could ask Mahe/ BMCUW to use SC as a platform to expound your in depth knowledge of the concept.
So that simple souls like me can laud your perspicacity, if not your arrogance.
Thought it a bit sad, some within our support think Broony only really performed under Brendan.
How could you think that?
I thought when he played right of a four man mid (Robson, Hartley and McGeady) he was excellent.
His goal @Ibrox being a highlight.
BMCUW
We should approach our next 9 hopefully 11 games with every conference.
An 8 day break between games is a huge boost at this stage of the season. I expect Ange will be using this time purposefully.
A tricky tie on Monday but a revitalised squad should negotiate this safely.
Looking forward enormously to the next couple of months.
Typo conference? Confidence
A fine article BMCUWPS,
Broonie will be missed. He didn’t look right in the Aberdeen jersey.
The next post is a reply to SES @ 10.30 on 8/3…
It’s lengthy please feel free to scroll by…
SES @ 10.30 on 8th March.
Good luck with trying to decipher that period.
There were essentially 5 groups.
The Gaelic, Old English, New English, The English and Religion : Quite a mix.
Add to that influences from the Norse Tradition. Names like McAuliff, son of Olaf, McBirney, son of Bjorn.
All vying for their own individual self-interest and power. All with an agenda, an ideology and a belief system. Sometimes using force, sometimes deception, occasionally submitting, buying time then reneging.
What must be stressed is that this was an ongoing battle for survival against a foreign power; England. Further complicated by religious conflict.
Sometimes we can get lost in the detail of who did or said what. The simple reality is that this was an unrelenting campaign of English colonial brutality.
It really isn’t an examination of the pros and cons of the Gael or his religious integrity. It’s really about the abuses of a neighbouring nation.
Contrary to popular belief, The Gael had a reasonably sophisticated system of governance. The Brehon Laws. They had provision for divorce and a criminal code based on a system of compensation.
Capital punishment really came to the fore in Ireland with the English Common Law.
England had ‘benefitted’ from the Celts, Romans, Anglo-Saxons, Vikings and the Norman. Celtic Ireland, was labeled a backward, barbarian, savage place, even by Rome.
Celt was really a byword for a lower class of human being. Barbarian, unwashed, untrustworthy without moral fibre. Unfortunately, with a vulnerability to the attractions of alcohol.
Ripe for conquer and plunder.
This false image of the barbarian Irish sub-class is still deeply conditioned into the British psyche – and of other immigrant groups.
Ask any fleeing Ukrainian refugee.
https://www.irishlegal.com/articles/irish-legal-heritage-eraic-reparation-in-brehon-law
Anyway,
Just about every Irish myth, story or legend I’ve come across sees our hero visit Scotland at one point or another.
The Gaels were back and forth between Ireland and Scotland for generations. They hired Highlanders or Western Islanders as mercenaries to fight against the English and opposing Clans.
These Scotmen were feared and were a vital component in the defence of Ireland.
They were known as Gallowglass, in English.
Gall = Foreign
Óglaigh = Warrior/Soldier.
Gallóglaigh.
Not enough is made of the contribution of Scots to the defence of Ireland.
A problem of the Gaelic system was the system of Tanistry. This related to succession and meant that a Clan leader was elected from members of an elite group.
The second in command was the Tánaiste but that didn’t mean automatic succession. It was democratic process which led to feuding.
The title of Tánaiste survives in the Irish Government to this day.
The absence of Primogeniture led to seemingly never-ending infighting, which the English ruthlessly exploited.
It meant a lack of certainty about who controlled what and this lack of clarity was exacerbated by the incursions of the Tudors.
Surrender and Re-grant of lands by Gaelic Lords was always unlikely to work. It introduced primogeniture but caused conflict within Gaelic Clans. It also caused inter-Clan conflicts.
Hugh O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone (The Flight of The Earls) is a good example.
Hugh’s father, Philip (allegedly) was the product of an affair between, Phillip’s father, Conn O’Neill and a married woman called Alison Kelly.
Nothing was known by the O’Neill Clan of Phillips’ existence until he appeared on the scene at age, 14-16.
He was welcomed into the Clan by his father, Conn and took up a prime position.
When Conn submitted to the Crown via Surrender and Re-grant, Phillip became Heir Designate.
This meant Philip’s son, Hugh and his children were in line to inherit Tyrone. The other brothers would lose the right to be elected Chieftain/Earl.
A huge move away from the established practice.
Predictably this didn’t go down well. Phillip was later murdered by a family member and so began a cycle of bitter infighting.
Hugh O’Neill was then raised by wealthy English settlers, probably in the Pale and became comfortable with the the English code of conduct. Hugh was even introduced at Court in London.
He also fought for the English. In many ways he was groomed to be sympathetic to England.
It didn’t work out that way.
Spend a little time and look at his life, that’ll paint a picture. Look at how he was able to interact with the English and the tensions with other Gaelic Lords.
This cycle of infighting is replicated throughout the Gaelic system. English generals and politicians would set them up against each other.
At the beginning of the 17th Century England attempted to remove the system of Tanistry…
‘the true cause of the barbarism and desolation which was in all the Irish counties’, and that it was ‘void against the king, as being prejudicial to his profit and prerogative’.
https://www.irishlegal.com/articles/irish-legal-heritage-the-case-of-tanistry
The removal of the Gaelic Lords made way for the Plantation of the North but paradoxically also undermined the English.
They had lost a powerful potential ally and had little leverage with the Gaelic population. Maybe that’s why they went to such great lengths to keep some semblance of co-operation with favoured sections of the Gaelic hierarchy?
England perceived Ireland as an opportunity and a threat. What would the population be here if there hadn’t been a systematic destabilisation of the population and economy over a number of centuries?
The 9 Years War cost England £2m. The cost of the war undermined the position of the Monarchy. The Irish weren’t the only folk who resisted the growing power of the King/Queen.
The English public were in acute state of anxiety about Ireland. The island had to be controlled. Ireland was the Ukraine or Afghanistan of it’s day.
Our descendants were today’s Ukrainian or Afghan refugees.
These factors led to the Scorched Earth policy, Plantations, Cromwell, Transportation, Penal Laws, Depopulation, Demonisation…
The dominance of England over her neighbour was parasitic. Over the centuries, Ireland was stripped of her resources; her people, her lands, forestry and agriculture.
A systematic erosion of Gaelic land, nobility, people, resources, culture and religion.
This was accompanied by the suffocation of the economy. Eventually when the War of Independence came there was better cohesion.
No conflict between Chieftains, different military tactics and the impact of the displaced diaspora overseas, influencing the media.
…Until disagreement resulted in the Civil War.
A familiar story with the end of British Colonial oppression, South Africa, India, Pakistan, Middle East.
Ultimately this was about power and a stronger neighbour demanding more and more.
Religion?
Did it prove to be a unifying force among the Gaels? Did it hold the whole fabric of Irish society together during the darkest days?
With the denial of education during the Penal/Land Laws period, it was often the Priest who interceded with Baliffs on the behalf of the people.
One things for sure, there was no hope of the indigenous Irish acknowledging an invading English Monarch as the Head of “God’s Holy Church.”
Unfortunately, the Church and it’s leaders were often embroiled in controversy. More difficulty for Roman Catholicism came after An Gorta Mór, as the Church became more powerful.
It was at it’s best when it was relatively powerless and lived the Gospel.
It’s probably simplest to take one family from each group and do a mini case study.
For Example,
1) O’Neill or O’Donnell.
2) Plunkett or FitzGerald.
3) Lord Mountcharles, Lord Lucan or the Earl of Essex.
Here’s a starter…
Note the Castle
https://carrickmacross.ie/history/#:~:text=In%201634%20the%20town%20of,%2C%20no%20windows%2C%20no%20chimneys.
Lord Lucan’s Mayo Bolthole. Note his ancestor nicknamed, ‘The Exterminator’ by the locals.
https://m.independent.ie/life/irish-tenants-still-pay-up-for-vanished-peer-lord-lucan-30779235.html
Slane : Rock Concerts a Royal Affair and The Ascendancy
https://irishhistorichouses.com/tag/mount-charles-lord/
CFC
I am not too taken either with his comments about Ukraine.
Broonie certainly didn’t set the heather alight when he first came to us. In those early years I mentioned on CQN can anyone tell of a game you have left raving about him, didn’t get any disagreement !
However he progressed his game and certainly blossomed under Rodgers to be one of our finest captains.
BMCUW
I have no wish to distract the blog but T L R’s early morning uninterrupted stream of consciousness, and the insensitive nature of some of it, should be challenged. Cognitive dissonance right there.
I understand he’s recently had an epiphany on here and become less aggressive- fine. I’m all for folk self adjusting.
But less of the patronising tone please.
Obviously a challenge to him being the brightest person in the room.
CFC
I wasn’t being patronising,that is not in my nature. What I said in my reply was if anything an understatement of my thoughts on TLR’s opinions. And I’ve been open often enough on here on that subject. I was appalled when I read back this morning.
Sadly,I am sure there are other people out there who believe that the earth is flat,run by lizards,and that the war in Ukraine is being filmed on a dodgy handheld camera in a Hollywood backlot. You can’t reason with those opinions-or facts,as they prefer to call them. And you can’t reason with the people who opine them either.
BMCUW
You misunderstand.
The patronising line was address to T L R.
Perhaps should have read “ but less of the patronising tone please , from him. “
Hopefully, that clears that up.
Connectivity.
It’s known on here i am not a fan of CMcG and ATOB often counters me with her opinion that Calum keeps the wheels spinning and is vital.
Personal opinion often leads to biased judgement and perhaps we, myself included are guilty of not seeing the whole picture?
We can all be influenced by pointed narratives and some of the criticism by journalists on Starfelt definitely influenced the harsh criticism of him by Celtic supporters.
I have often blamed Neil Lennon singularly for last season but the reality is our board,management and players were all culpable.
We have had conversations about the danger of Ange being a one man band and how easily it could all fall apart.
He is but one part of a large organization and any fracture of the whole could have a catastrophic effect.
Anyway this article i read had me thinking of the subject and though it is not about football the subject is relevant to us all.
Umair Haque
Today, the world hit a turning point — towards what you might economic world war. America banned Russian oil. Britain followed suit, and announced plans to ban Russian oil imports by the end of this year.
This is a major turning point for the global economy. It’s a brave step to take. One of the lessons which should already be clear from seeing war break out in Europe again — large scale war, civilian-deaths-in-Syria kind of war — is that our economies should have weaned themselves off dirty fossil fuels long ago.
Yet let’s be clear. America gets just 1% of its oil from Russia. Britain, about 4%. The situation for Europe is more difficult: the EU gets about 40% of its gas and 25% of its oil from Russia. And even all this gives a skewed picture.
I’m going to try to teach you the economics of World War III in this post. And to do it, we’re going to start with a broom. Yes, a broom. Not a gun, a missile, or a bomb. Because as we’ll see, a humble broom will explain to you why the world is heading into war better than any weapon.
In the West, how do people order household items, like brooms? Think of the broom in your closet or pantry or wherever. Now think of the one you used to have when you were a kid. Not the same, right?
When I was a kid, a broom was something that you’d buy at the local hardware store. You’d walk down the street, or drive a short distance, and buy one from a bucket, usually, full of them.
The brooms were all the same. They were made of wood, and usually, the brush was straw. There was a tin ring holding the brush in place.
I know, I know, right about now you’re thinking: “Umair, what does this have to do with world war?” Hold on, it’s about to get interesting — and explanatory.
Those brooms — made of wood, straw, and tin — were probably made in local factories. There was probably one in each region, a broom factory. It had to buy five things to make brooms: wood, straw, tin, labour to assemble them, and electricity to keep the lights on. That’s it.
In other words, brooms were made domestically, of local inputs — and largely renewable ones.
Those are the economics of most of our household goods until the 1990s or so. That’s when we signed “trade deals” with China. And what happened after that? Then everything changed.
Today, a broom isn’t a broom. I’m not trying to get Derrida or Magritte on you. I’m just trying to point out a fact.
Today, a “broom” is very, very different. What’s it made of? Plastic. All of it. The handle and shaft — plastic. The brush — nylon fibres of some kind. What holds it all together? Some kind of artificial — aka plastic — adhesive.
What is plastic made of?
Oil.
Where do you get your broom today? Most of us will order it from Amazon, or buy it at some hyperstore like Walmart or Carrefour or what have you. Where is that broom made? Not in some local factory, but in China.
Do you see — or are you beginning to — how different this simple household object is now? Yesterday, it was made locally, of renewable inputs.
Today, it’s made in China, of oil.
Where does China get its oil? That’s right, Russia.
Now think of the broom in your closet again. It’s most likely a chunk of Russian oil. Every time you pick it up, you are holding a molded piece of Russian oil.
Startled? Now. I’ve gone to this absurd length to try and make the problem really clear to you.
It’s not just a broom.
Think of everything else — and I mean everything else — in your house right about now. Plastic garden furniture? Made in China…of Russian oil. Electronics? Made in China…of Russian oil. Wood-look blinds and flooring? Yup. Tools? Sure. Gadgets? More or less all of them are made in China of Russian oil.
But the problem goes even deeper than that.
Think of what’s on everybody’s feet. Shoes. Sneakers, probably. What are sneakers made of? Plastic, mostly, and maybe nylon and Velcro and so forth. They’re made in China…of Russian oil. We’ve all got a pair of sneakers. Everybody in the West is wearing Russian oil on their feet, if not to the office, then to the gym, to walk the dog, to stroll the neighborhood.
But let’s go even further than that.
When I was a kid, what did people wear? Clothes made locally, of natural fibres. Go to the mall today — any mall in the West. What do you see? Huge chains — Gap, Anthropologie, Zara, whatever. Doesn’t matter. Most of their clothes are sourced in China. And today, our clothes are increasingly made of artificial fibres, viscose, rayon, nylon, etcetera. Our clothes are literally made in China…of Russian oil. That’s not just true for “athletic wear,” which obviously is — but even of things like sweaters or jeans made of artificial fibres.
What we literally wear everyday is made of Russian oil. We are strolling around clothed in Russian oil.
This rabbit hole is the deepest one of all. Think of the sheets you sleep on. The average Westerner? Made in China, at least 50% synthetic. You are sleeping on Russian oil.
It’s kind of absurd and funny when I put it like that.
But it should also show you the depth and scale of the problem. It’s an immense one.
In case you think I’m exaggerating about all the above, let’s look at some basic trade statistics together.
Electronics. Toys. Games. Furniture. Lighting. Apparel. Footwear. Gadgets. These are all made in China, at least partly of Russian oil — just go ahead and look at the statistics yourself.
When we imagine, then, that by banning Russian oil, we’ve solved our problem of dependence on it, we are seriously understating the issue. We are far, far more dependent on Russian oil than most of us can possibly imagine. Our lives in the West are made of Russian hydrocarbons, in China, from our footwear, to our sheets, to our clothes, to our electronics.
Let me now put all that to you formally. The global economy is based on what’s known in economics as a “triangular trade.” We in the West buy goods from China — so much so that our entire lives are made of them to the point that it’s almost impossible to distinguish one that’s not made in China, from brooms to clothes to sheets. We just take it for granted, and never really stop to think much about it, that everything, more or less, in our personal and professional lives is made in China.
Image Credit
So we buy goods from China. And China buys Russian oil to make them. And Russian gas. Electricity, Coal. Nickel. Iron. Steel. This is the triangular trade the global economy is increasingly based on.
And even all this understates it. So far, we’ve just discussed how most of the goods we buy from China are made of Russian hydrocarbons and other commodities. It is true that China’s “largest importer” of oil is Saudi Arabia —by just .4%. And Saudi Arabia is not exactly well-behaved global citizen, either. But do you know who China’s largest supplier of electricity is? That’s right, Russia. Most of the inputs that go into the goods we buy — the goods that make up every last facet of our lives — are made of Russian resources.
Think about all that for a second, and I mean really think about it. Make a mental inventory of the stuff of your life. Your clothes, shoes, sheets, electronics. All of that is basically just Russian oil and electricity, molded into shapes and forms you can use. You likely don Russian oil when you wake up and get dressed, walk to the office wearing it on your feet, stare at a screen made of it all day, change for the gym into another outfit made of it, change back, come home, stare at another screen made of it, clean up with objects made of it, and then fall asleep on a bed of it.
That is how big this problem really is. Your entire life is literally largely made of Russian oil, and you don’t know it — that’s true for all of us, more or less, in the West.
Crazy, right? How do we not know this, most of us? Because most of us, I imagine, have no real idea how the artificial materials our lives are now made are themselves made, or how much of our lives they compose, from our clothes to footwear to gadgets. Our lives are hydrocarbons. And unfortunately for us in the West, we’ve built a global economy where China is basically a way station that’s one small level above slave labour, and it’s only real role is to transform Russian hydrocarbons into forms and shapes that are the fundamental goods we rely on — all of them.
Now let’s put all that in perspective. Russian oil — the direct kind — makes up just 3% of American crude oil imports, and 4% of British ones.
But this triangular trade I’ve discussed with you? Goods made in China of Russian oil, electricity, coal, gas, steel, iron, nickel? That’s something way, way, way higher. Nobody really knows how much it is, because we don’t count imports this way in economics — tracing them back to their inputs and origins. But obviously, China is America’s largest trading partner.
Let’s try to uncover the truth another way. “According to its Finance Ministry, Russian oil and gas revenues exceeded initial plans by 51.3% in 2021, totalling 9.1 trillion roubles ($119 billion).” So Russia earned about $120 billion from selling oil and gas worldwide in 2021.
Now compare that to just what America imports from China alone, the mere tip of the iceberg. “The top import categories (2-digit HS) in 2020 were: electrical machinery ($111 billion), machinery ($97 billion), toys and sports equipment ($26 billion), furniture and bedding ($23 billion), and miscellaneous textile articles ($21 billion).”
That’s about $240 billion — twice what Russia earned from selling oil and gas worldwide — already, and we’ve barely started down the list of what just America imports from China.
The EU and Britain probably together are probably at similar numbers. Now we’re at half a trillion dollars. And remember, we’re only counting the first five categories of imports or so. Add it all up, and the actual value of the triangular trade — we buy stuff from China, China buys Russian oil, gas, electricity, coal, nickel, iron, steel to make it with — is probably closer to a trillion dollars.
That doesn’t mean that Russia gets a trillion dollars a year — it’s just the total size of all this trade overall. Russia’s total exports are about $400 billion or so. The problem is, an increasing share of Russia’s economy is based on this triangular trade. China used to buy most of its oil from other nations — today, Russia is neck and neck with Saudi Arabia. That is what Putin is betting on, in a sense — even if we stop buying oil and gas directly, it’s sold right back to us in the form of stuff made with Russian energy, anyways.
Today, officially, Russia officially exports $50 billion to China, which is mostly energy. That number is likely to grow, and that is the problem here. That figure’s doubled over the last decade. Putin’s war chest grows just this way — and the truth is that figure’s probably grossly understated, unless you…trust Russian accounting. That figure’s also going to rise dramatically as prices spike for all the resources — gas, oil, steel, iron, electricity, nickel, coal — China buys from Russia to make stuff for us in the West
Let me put that another way. Today, banning Russian oil costs Putin a few billion here and there — because America doesn’t import a huge amount. The amount of Russian oil America essentially imports in the form of Chinese-made clothes and gadgets and sheets and shoes and everything else you can imagine utterly dwarfs, at hundreds of billions of dollars a year, the amount of oil America imports from Russia, which is only about $5 billion.
Meanwhile, the EU can’t ban Russian oil and gas overnight — it’s too dependent on them. Without them, no heating, lights, stoves. Officially, Russia exports about $80 billion to China. Meanwhile, it exports about $100 billion of energy to the EU. So it’s true in a simple sense that “China can’t make up for losing the EU.” But that’s not quite accurate, in my view. It will take a decade or more for the EU to really wean itself off from Russian energy. During that period, Chinese energy imports from Russia — which are already close to equivalent — are likely to rise significantly. Unless we in the West cut our voracious appetites for everyday stuff made of Russian oil.
This triangular trade generates a huge, huge pot of money. That is what Putin’s war machine really has to work with. It’s not just that he gets direct income from his sales of oil and gas to us. The problem here cuts much, much deeper than that. It’s that our lives are made of Russian oil, in the deepest ways — we sleep on it, wear it on our bodies and feet, stare at screens made of it, and so forth. We pay China for all those goods, and China turns right around and sends the majority of that money right back to Russia, to pay for the Russian oil, gas, electricity, coal, nickel, steel, iron, and so forth, that our Western lifestyles are literally made of.
Am I saying banning Russian oil is pointless? Of course not. I am saying something very, very different.
These are the economics of World War III. Our lifestyles in the West depend on Russian resources — transformed by Chinese labour — in ways we scarcely comprehend. So what do we do? Imagine that tomorrow we tried to…ban…all the stuff in our lives that’s actually made of Russian hydrocarbons, by way of China. Sorry — no more shoes, clothes, gadgets, electronics. Good luck with that. It’s a political impossibility.
We are going to need to transform our global economy. It can no longer be based on the triangular trade of the West buying everything it depends from China made of Russian resources, particularly hydrocarbons, which end up in the form of artificial fibres and textiles and plastics and so forth, which have come to make up the entire Western consumption-based lifestyle. Because all that just funds Putin’s war machine.
If we really want to wean ourselves off of Russian oil, our economies need to transform in far more radical ways than just banning it, or even clean energy here in the West — we are going to need to make things again, of our own resources, the things we need and depend on most, whether clothes or shoes or electronics. Our economies will have to be far, far more local, labour intensive, and use fewer resource intensive inputs. That’s a good thing for the West. It means higher wages, in the long run, which fuel political stability, and more expansive social contracts made of larger public purses.
But in the short term? There will be major, major costs of adjustment. The fact that wheat and oil and gas and nickel are skyrocketing was eminently predictable. The West now faces a dramatic and sharp fall in living standards. The way to combat it is to invest now, in going beyond the triangular trade of “We buy stuff from China, China makes it out of Russian resources, and all that funds Putin’s war machine forever.” If we invest now — in factories, skills, labour, talent, that makes all the stuff we need to live on and with — then we combat that fall in living standards, and undo the triangular trade wrecking our world, too.
But if we don’t, the triangular trade keeps going on. And Putin’s war machine has money forever — because as I’ve described to you, what we spend on Chinese imports made of Russian resources, whose money flows right back to Russia, dwarfs what we spend on Russian oil.
And so the longer we let this triangular trade goes on, the more dangerous the world gets. Putin already has ambitions that go far beyond Ukraine. He’s already destabilised America and Britain. We fund a malicious global actor like that. And then China will have to get involved, too, at some point. Right about now, it is doing a delicate balancing act, if you haven’t noticed. That’s because it’s in the middle of this triangular trade.
But sooner or later, it will have to choose a side, if war spreads. And that side probably won’t be ours. Because while it sells us stuff, it’s Russia who keeps its lights on. Its people fed. Its factories humming. If you were Xi, you’d also have to choose Russia. Because keeping the lights on and people fed is even more fundamental and basic and necessary than selling the West gadgets and shoes.
America is China’s largest trading partner — but China is Russia’s largest trading partner. This bizarre love triangle, as one of my favourite bands might have called it, is wrecking our world, because the money from this triangular trade ends up going right back to Russia. Our Western lives are literally increasingly made of Russian oil — and its other resources — in ways we have yet to understand at all, from our clothes to shoes to sheets to screens and beyond.
We need to unravel it, and rebuild the global economy, before it’s too late. Not after the World War, this time — but hopefully, before it spreads.
Umair
March 2022
Good food for thought in that leader BMCUW and as much as I love Broonie and respect and thank him for all he did for us, my thoughts are 100% on the next (hopefully) 11 games.
As CFC said, let’s go in to them with confidence high and what a line from Jobo, ‘why not dare to dream of achieving 5 trebles in 6 years.
We all have our own thoughts on who our 11 best players are but for these remaining games I hope Ange makes full use of his squad.
For example, I believe JJ is a better right back that big Tony but feel Tony was the right man to play there against Livingston.
Likewise Bitton, he’s not in my top eleven but he’s a fine player and we needed him on Sunday.
Between now and cup final day I believe we will need to call on the services of between 16 and 20 players. They are mature enough to know no one ( except Hart and CCV) will start every game but whenever they are called upon, they should be ready to deliver.
CBB
It’s definitely a squad game. I suspect Calmac’s name is also on the starters list, in a forward role, as is Jota’s.
With very few midweek games we will be fresher, rested and have more time on the training ground.
What a next couple of months we have in prospect.
CFC, what a next couple of months we have in prospect for sure, I’m a little bit more excited than a man of my age should be. 😂
Hail Hail ☘️
CBB
Yes, you and I both. I should get out more😀
Decent article again . Thumbs up .
Fan 12.07
Thanks for posting . Food for thought .
Btw . I love wee Cal Mac ;-))
Agree witht he old angel.
Excellent article fan @ 12:07
For reference; Russian oil imports to China last year reached 1.59 million barrels per day, accounting for 15% of its total oil imports in 2021 – so only the front third of the right trainer is Russian 😉
https://twitter.com/dee_h96/status/1501858888110460928?s=20&t=m4P0T4SCyX95NEW-atEfPQ
1 of the stories from The Holy Grounds of Glasgow Celtic
Liam Kelly (@cfcliamk96) Tweeted: The Grosvenor Restaurant – A Celtic Landmark That You’ve Almost Certainly Walked Past Without Knowing It!
https://t.co/MiwxFDuPbQ https://twitter.com/cfcliamk96/status/1501919962688069633?s=20&t=jarEMmEkwIlG-T66LsH-IQ
The Lions Roar,
‘But less of the patronising tone please.’
That’s it, in a nutshell. Debate until your heart’s content, but don’t hog the blog nor tell everyone their take on things is wrong. If it is, educate them, through logic and facts please.
Objectivity is the key.
Have a wonderful day.
Hail Hail
Fan,
Interesting article. I was not familiar with the author but he seems to have credentials. He will go down well with the business lunch/dinner audience.
He seems to feed off globalisation with a negative spin. I notice he makes ref to trade deals but avoids rules of origin, which appear in most trade deals. Rules of origin determine what products are acceptable based upon how much of the product comes from certain countries. So, for example, the EU and the new NAFTA agreements can regulate which products enter these countries through its rules of origin. In short, the mechanisms are there to regulate Chinese brooms made from Russian oil.
Ireland is a good example of a country that adjusted to face the kind of issues mentioned by Haque. The Celtic Tiger economy was based on cheaper labour, and low corporate taxes attracting mainly US companies to produce there. Ultimately, the Irish position was challenged when Poland, Czech Republic, Estonia etc joined the EU. Simply put, these countries could be Ireland for less money. Ireland daw this coming and switched to a focus on innovation, away from a cheap place to produce.
The punchline is Chinese/Russia brooms can be beaten by being innovative. I suspect that is where Haque is headed but, first, he needs to earn his corn by frightening some business people/ governments. Typical consultant….first…the sky is falling…..second….don’t worry, I have the solution.
Rebus
Mahe, Bobby, and CFC,
The leopard does not change his spots. It may hide in the shade for a while, but it still has spots.
Rebus
Re Brown returning to Celtic, I am conflicted. Yes, it is good to reward a long serving member of your organisation. However, part of the problem facing Celtic is the parochial nature of the club’s outlook. With the exception of Ange look at the backgrounds of the assistants….ex Celtic, or ex English club(Peterborough).
We need to bring in coaches with European experience so that we are not surprised by the likes of Malmo, Cluj, and Bodo.
Hiring Brown does not address that issue, it makes it worse. If SB went to, say, Scandinavia for a few years and then joined Celtic, all the better.
Rebus
AFTERNOON ALL and JIM, jim if your lurking, there was a lot of talk about eyesight on here this morning, well i told wee joan this morning she looked beautiful , thats how bad my eyesight is,🤩🤩
My attempt at putting a wee smile on peoples faces during tough times
I give you the; Ange Postecoglou Anthem
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gDzIvkak12N7nsQ8GiFLYWsqtMnN_aKl/view?usp=sharing
Hiring Brown does not address that issue, it makes it worse. If SB went to, say, Scandinavia for a few years and then joined Celtic, all the better.
Rebus
That’s a very good idea actually, perhaps Broonie should read this blog, too much sense on it😂
I took delivery today of 5 T-Shirts, Fruit of The Loom – American I believe. After reading the Umair Hague article I checked the labels fully expecting to see Made in China, like a huge amount of products are nowadays
I was pleasently surprised to read ‘Made in Buncrana Co. Donegal’ 🙂
I remember back in the 60s under the Harold Wilson government there was a huge campaign to Back Britain -Buy British. It didn’t last long. Probably hurting too many rich imports business owners. Meanwhile 3rd world workers getting paid peanuts. Then & now!
Awe Naw,
Absolutely brilliant 👏👏👏👏
Your a star !!!!!
Loved the song 💚💚
HH 🍀🍀
Packy, hope Joan doesn’t read your post! 🙂
JIM, I keep her well away from my laptop, another true story🤩
JIM, im going to tell the rab allen story later great man who took me under his wing at hurlls brickworks in glenboig in 1970 get your popcorn ready,🤩
Big Packy, if you’re lurking later and have a spare 20 minutes, you may enjoy this.
https://youtu.be/SGOE123GwtU
Rebus67
I’m happy to debate with anyone on here. Be it footy( preferably) or other matters.
If someone is being contentious then they should expect to be challenged.
Jobo mentioned “ playground stuff” in relation to his exchange with T L R.
Bullying is part of that culture and has no place on a blog where everyone else conducts themselves with good grace.
Ad hominem attacks say more about the perpetrator.
CBB, im putting you up there with magua and jimthetim53, well maybe not jim 🤩 that was brilliant, my father played in that band in the sixties,thats was where I got my drum tuition from, did you notice the young drummer playing jesus christ superstar, every note was bang on the money, same with the beatles number, he will go far that bhoy,thank you very much for posting that,HAIL HAIL,
He wouldn’t, would he?
https://postimg.cc/2VfzZHg7
😁😁
CFC,
Yes, I like a good debate as well. As I get older I have fewer certainties in my life. I have no problem being shown I am wrong…it is educational and shows I can still grow.
Sometimes I am on Mars and someone else is on the Moon and there is no route between the two, even the telephone line between the two is down. Real communication is impossible and is not worth the effort.
Usually the individual who thinks he/she is the smartest person in the room, is alone in that room!
Rebus
I hate hominen attacks. People should be allowed to do with their genitals what they like in this day and age
🤣🤣🤣
Stan Collymore ❤️🖤 (@StanCollymore) Tweeted: Who’d have thought the only two teams in the United Kingdom to face UK government and serious HMRC sanctions are the two most loyal to the Crown and British state. https://twitter.com/StanCollymore/status/1501967445019570183?s=20&t=PMb4z-PvbTBm4md3JFKybg
Big Packy, uou are very welcome, they are a wonderful band. I have quite a few videos which I won’t flood the site with but will post one now and again and be sure to let you know.
Crvena zvezda are the most successful club from the Balkans.
Can someone remind me what religion they are? Simian or Croatianists?
Serbian sorry. Bloody spellchecker.
Rebus67
Me too.
Debate is healthy, offensive nonsense in reply to a complete stranger is not.
I guess hiding behind the anonymity of a blog allows for that sort of macho posturing.
Red Star Belgrade.
as its quiet on here ill tell my rab allen story, there were 2 brickmaking machines in hurls brickworks the bradley and the fawcett ,now a guy called eddie patterson ran the bradley, he was a good friend of my father and a good tim, now the fawcett was operated by a guy called rab allen, rab was 64 then, i had the good fortune of being assigned to the fawcett, firebricks would come down the chute ten a penny and you would have to put them on a pallet, and they were coated in oil which stuck to your jeans, so at the end of the shift and you went home it was straight into the bath,,now with rab being 64 and close to retiring ,they put him on a special machine doing special bricks, all different sizes so no hustle and bustle, it was a 2 man job and how chuffed was I when he asked mr mitchell the works manager if i could be his second man, no oily jeans anymore,🤩 now rab knew i was a tim, but he never ever held it against me,,there were lots of guys there wearing there rangers scarves, but rab chose me,so rab i doubt you will still be with us now, you would be about 114 now, but wherever you are, you made a young teenager very welcome, another true story,
Lovely story Packy. Hard to imagine the scenario inside a brickworks, but I get the drift of a decent man you are talking about. 🙂
Big Packy
Can you confirm you didn’t wash the oil off your jeans in the bath 🤪