) that the stadiums for the Rugby World Cup in 2035 are ready. Personally I think that if it fits a soccer team, it will fit a Rugby team, but what do I know. You merely have to get an eraser to wipe away the old lines and place a few new ones (and replace the goals). So as we are given “The Sports Minister of Saudi Arabia, Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al-Faisal, has confirmed the nation’s intent to host the tournament in 10 years.” I do not oppose, I actually have no feelings at all on the matter as it just isn’t ice hockey. But the setting of Saudi Arabia hosting the Rugby World Cup is pretty much OK with me. The fact that the United Arab Emirates and Qatar are signing up for the hosting as well only sets me against Qatar. It is basically limited to the small detail that “Qatar has been a key financial supporter of the Palestinian militant organization Hamas, transferring more than $1.8 billion to Hamas over the years.” And that is a big no-no for me.
So as we are getting the quote “Saudi Arabia will host the 2034 Football World Cup, but could double down with a bid for the Rugby World Cup the following year in a never-before-seen sporting double. Following an appearance at last weekend’s Formula 1 Jeddah Grand Prix, the minister was asked about the prospect of hosting the event of a sport that Saudi Arabia seldom plays.” The idea that a venue earns its keep by not hosting one but two world events has its appeal. For me the appeal is that these venues mostly serve one purpose and that is catering to the event and then? That is the setting I wonder about and there is a second setting. You see, with all the 2030 events running the setting for Saudi Arabia presents itself to the world for more than one setting has appeal. I actually wonder if a case can be made to host Sailing races at NEOM: Sindalah. As I see it, 2030-2040 might be the decade of Saudi Arabia. There is no doubt that we will see news from Saudi hater with their human right settings (which they negate a lot when it comes to Russia, Syria, Yemen and a few other places). Saudi Arabia has a proud heritage and it is a Muslim Nation. That doesn’t mean that it should be held to ‘different’ standards.
So when we are given “Of the three, the United Arab Emirates is by far the most competitive team, sitting inside the world’s top 50 in 49th place” and the stage of “with a decade until the potential spectacle and a likely large financial fund for the sport in Saudi Arabia, it’s impossible to rule out a rise over the next few years if their bid were to be successful” in this I have the setting that the Olympics have only be held in Greece twice, with the political setting that Emperor Theodosius I banned the games in 393 AD in order to promote Christianity (I personally think that that Pope Siricius couldn’t run if his life depended on it). Oh, and when did anyone actually run the Marathon to Marathon? Or basically when exactly did anyone laurel Pheidippides for running his heart out (quite literally)? All basic questions, aside from how many marathons have been held in Kenya. This might introduce rugby to Saudi Arabia and a few other muslim nations as well and that should never be ignored. In that light the UAE is as worthy a choice as anything else. But the case has been made by Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al-Faisal to host it in Saudi Arabia.
So, as we see the quote by the sports minister “I think our main intention is to develop sports within the kingdom” we need to see the power of that intent. And with the quote “And then today we have roughly 97 federations. We’re not going to host everything with 97 federations, but why do we have 97 federations? It’s because we want to promote sports” we see the larger issue. We also need to acknowledge that some sports are near alien for the Arabic Nations. To be honest I never expected to see the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) and yet at present we see Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Oman and Bahrain part of it. All places where water doesn’t tend to get solid (a prerequisite for the game). So as such I am a little curious if Saudi Arabia will be successful in that endeavor. And to show you what could happen
So what does it take for Saudi Arabia to show the world the existence of the image below, worn by Saudi expats, fans and Rugby tourists all over the planet?
These are the moments that matter to a lot of people, when a nation grows into the ranks of a sport, people tend to take notice. Not these captains of industry with their $899 lunches (sorry Mr. Jesse), but the ordinary people cheering for their team (for example the Kraken) eating their simple sandwiches and burgers cheering their teams along, because that is their happy place and whilst Polo has its share of fans, the larger slice of the world cheers for Cricket, Rugby, Ice Hockey, Soccer and Football ands as such I applaud the idea to see Saudi Arabia add another game to their stage and for all the young ‘entrepreneurial’ spirits, have fun. I wonder where it will be held as well as the participating nations. Wouldn’t it be great for Saudi Arabia that the announcement will draw people out, ready to try the sport and succeeding? How wild will the cheers be for a Saudi team to get to these games?
So as previews go, here is another one. It might be a problem if they play South Africa, but they will just have to create an alternative jersey.
Have a great day and for the real Hockey players out there. It is called a biscuit, you can’t eat it.
It all started with a BBC article a few hour ago. I sat on the ideas that came forth as the story was a mere 21 minutes old and as there is so much hatred towards President Trump, I decided to wait to see what else we were getting. The story (at https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c20x5xn1g92o) gives us ‘Trump says US will ‘pass’ on Ukraine peace talks if no progress soon’ where we get “Donald Trump has said the US will “take a pass” on brokering further Russia-Ukraine talks if Moscow or Kyiv “make it very difficult” to reach a peace deal. The US president told reporters in the Oval Office on Friday that he was not expecting a truce to happen in “a specific number of days” but he wanted it done “quickly”.” This is quite the turnaround. You see, about a month ago (source: Reuters) we got ‘Trump threatens Russia with sanctions until Ukraine peace reached’, in that time Russia never got any tariffs, not even pro forma and the penguins at McDonald island got plenty. Then three weeks ago (source: ABC News) we got ‘Trump says he’s ‘pissed off’ with Putin, threatens bombing of Iran’ and now we have a situation. You see, the bully talks a lot, but either he has someone doing the work for him, or that person tends to back down, unless he has a superior battle position and America seemingly doesn’t have that, even though Russia is getting slapped silly by the 20th strongest army onboard the planer (yes, it’s the Ukraine).
This reminds me of a joke, A Masochist walks up to a sadist and say ‘Beat me!’ The sadist in response wrings his hands, smirks and says ‘No!’. Funny as hell and if you get the premise, you get to see who the sadist and who the masochist is in this joke.
As we are given “Trump’s direct diplomacy with Putin and sharp criticism of Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky have raised concern among Nato allies, who argue that support for Kyiv must be maintained.” And in addition to that, the Commonwealth clearly stands with the Ukraine in their time of need and America is nowhere to be found. As I personally see it, it is the consequence of being broke. The lack of funds (or the massive amount of debt) is setting the degrees of freedom to nothing. They can merely hope to sing out the setting until the next president comes into office. A setting we all saw coming (even though the media seems to ignore this and merely keeps on shouting tax the rich) and the interested parties who are supposed to keep the people informed are merely shouting that Haley Joel Osment was intoxicated instead of working on the news, the media is pretty much on the discarded bundle of wannabe news.
The bully always want quick results because it ingratiates his position. The long fight is not for him and that is the setting we need to accept. The Ukraine was attacked, it was invaded and that is seemingly the ignored setting, American politicians are merely duplicating the Russian position that they are in defense of and that is brutally wrong. Canada, the United Kingdom, NATO, Australia all see this. So why doesn’t America? In addition, we are presented with evidence that Chinese soldiers are now part of the Russian Armed Forces. This was given to us by the Guardian with the headline ‘Ukraine war briefing: Captive Chinese soldiers appear before the press in Kyiv’ and with the byline “Republicans increase pressure on Trump after 35 killed in Sumy, with US president calling for ‘death and destruction to stop’. What we know on day 1,147”
Screenshot
So as we wonder what is left of the ‘commie’ hating Republican Party, we need to address the elephant in the room. How could things have become that bad. I warned of the dangers of this debt over a decade ago in at least a dozen stories. It is currently set to “The national debt ($36.21 trillion)” it comes from the source that is called “An official website of the U.S. government” (read: Fiscal data) and the biggest holders of that debt are Japan and China. Did you think the tariff hands against China was a good deal? If they take the hit and push all that debt on the exchange tables, the debt could become a massive setting for America to pay back these IOU’s (also known as bonds) and that will implode Wall Street entirely (as I personally see it), but for Americans it will not be good. As one source told me (and others) “China could theoretically weaponise the US Treasury holdings – by dumping it – meaning that it would sell off treasury holdings for less than they are worth. By doing so, China would then, because of the amount it owns, devalue the US dollar” so what happens when the dollar gets devaluated to this degree? As I see it, it would topple the Yen and the Euro in that same instance as they have trillions of debts as well and the banks who own these IOU’s will go down with the good ship lollypop (aka America).
None of this is the fault of the Ukraine, but the larger setting is that America is quickly losing the little degrees of freedom they seemingly had and there is only so much that the global setting will accommodate too. Consider that Palantir Technologies Inc. is now a mere (+1.15%), a month ago it was 124.62 against today 93.78 and that was ‘the’ hot ticket, so how many hot tickets are lost and how many firms are considering moving away? Consider that Palantir is still a hot item in the Commonwealth, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. They could seek a setting elsewhere. So as these tariffs bite and some of them will relocate to other places America is now getting the short end of the stick and that is merely one firm, this who cannot relocate will end up losing what they had built over years all because one president thought that tariffs were the way? Reuters gave us a mere 9 hours ago “White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett on Friday said President Donald Trump and his team were continuing to study if they could fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, a sign that such a move, a matter of great consequence for the central bank’s independence and for global markets, is still an option.” Yet ABC news gave us yesterday “Donald Trump has hit out at the chair of the US Federal Reserve for not lowering interest rates, stating Jerome Powell’s “termination cannot come fast enough”.” Now, I am not an economist (I’ve said it often enough) and in what universe are the crashing of markets, stocks and bonds reason to lower interest rates? Especially as 36 trillion is in the hands of others? Now, I am no fan of Jerome Powell, but he does know a bit about economics (both micro and macro) and he knows a lot more than I do and I guess he knows (a lot) more then President Trump does. So is the solution by this president to fire anyone who disagrees? Is that the act of a democracy? And in the larger setting (which I obvious evaded with intent) is the setting the Ukraine gives us and what the stage means for Russia versus NATO, because that is where this is heading. I personally prefer the setting of NATO and the Commonwealth versus Russia. In that setting China wants to get a Chinese wall between themselves and Russia as fast as possible. And the likely implications for Taiwan are big and numerous. But that is another stage. With Russia in disarray to the degree that it currently is, Russia must take careful steps because Ursula von der Leyen is no President Trump, she might be overlooked at times, but she is ready for whatever President Putin puts on the table and as I see it, she is getting ready for a possible forced war, as are the larger EU nations. And this will set a new premise as the Commonwealth and the EU possibly unite for this. At that point no one is willing to deal with America and the Americans and with India they might not have to and as such it will become a powerhouse for retail and commerce for China Europe and the Commonwealth, when America is discarded from consideration the American tariff war becomes a larger setting one that they are no longer part of. And there is a setting for this too and as the Ukraine gains 17.1 million km² possibly split with China, where the Ukraine will now have Sevastopol on their Southern border and Zapolyarny in the north, the end of Russia is at that point a near certainty, a nation that started around 862, it becomes the first largest modern nation to end itself around 2030, a mere 1168 years old, which means that they didn’t beat the record of the Roman Empire which lasted 1480 years.
At that point the end of America seems to become self evident and that lasted a mere 260 years at most. Now that still puts them ahead of Canada, but that place will continue a long time after that because it is part of a Commonwealth and that will continue strong and even stronger as American greed goes under, it is a sinkable context. Still the larger setting for the Ukraine will remain and it will take NATO and the Commonwealth to keep it going, no matter what America does (which isn’t much at present). The larger setting here is the Republican Party, if someone told me 2 years ago that they would be fueling the larger Russian setting, I would have called them barking mad, but the is where we are heading and I personally believe that it is the Debt that America has as the larger premise here. Weird that a Credit Card reading minus 36 trillion would do that. OK, I believe that no Credit Card should ever be allowed to have this much debt, but that was never my call.
What is the larger resetting is what this will push for. You see 340 million desperate citizens will be the larger setting for any bordering nation to be fearful of and that is where Canada might end itself. Is this all ‘wishful thinking’? That is a fair question and I am tempted to say “Yes”, but the numbers are on my side, so I feel uneasy to answer this. I might have made a mistake, there might be some hidden wisdom in President Trumps path, but I fail to see it and the media isn’t reporting on this. If we account for the pauses and knee jerk reactions by President Trump there is little likelihood in any kind of wisdom and I did mention that the media is at present no longer a reliable source. Some are, but the bulk is chasing digital dollars. And with one source telling us ‘Unusual sell-off in the dollar raises specter of investors losing trust in the U.S. under Trump’ gives me the setting that I might actually be correct and the Wall Street Journal gave us a week ago ‘Will the Last Investor to Leave America Please Turn Out the Lights’ that sets the premise that Adobe, Google and Apple might seek other waters, waters outside of America. This is not a given, but these three will chose safety and security before they consider America a safe haven and that could topple the dollar entirely.
I cannot say who would like that idea, but Russia and China might like that, Russia because the American Defense placement would be disastrous if it is added to the Commonwealth or NATO. China because for them it would mean that their believes in their Chinese Communist Party would have been the right path. There is nothing as satisfying as a defeated enemy that needs to realise that they were banking on the wrong ‘ideals’ and as I see it for America the time that signifies 2030-2075 would introduce a century of hell, worse than the great depression and I reckon a lot more lethal as well.
So regarding that joke about the United Nations.
“A worldwide survey was conducted by the UN. The only question asked was: “Would you please give your honest opinion about solutions to the food shortage in the rest of the world?” The survey was a huge failure. In Africa they didn’t know what “food” meant. In Eastern Europe they didn’t know what “honest” meant. In Western Europe they didn’t know what “shortage” meant. In China they didn’t know what “opinion” meant. In the Middle East they didn’t know what “solution” meant. In South America they didn’t know what “please” meant. And in the USA they didn’t know what “the rest of the world” meant.”
I get to have the last laugh here. As I had to do a presentation at the UN and I got a nice reward if it lasted over 30 minutes. I started the presentation at 13:35, I started with “So, where are you all from?” And they started, I showed them my five slides and I ended the presentation at 17:55. So, Sergey Brin, where is my ‘nice reward’? 😛
All warfare is founded on deception, as such, what deception is America currently entertaining? Have a great day and a happy Easter bunny to all of you.
Yes, nice and confusing. But that is the meaning of this exercise. You see, I don’t agree on the point of view the law makes in this case. They have altered their point of view on the law in motion. In a setting that ran for over a decade. I don’t think they are to blame, there is no real guilt here (apparently), but the setting stands. In this I call to attention the BBC article (at https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3674nl7g74o) stating ‘Google has illegal advertising monopoly, judge rules’ I do not agree and for this I call to attention two ‘pieces’ of evidence. The first is the actor Ryan Reynolds, a person I have called more than once the craziest marketeer on the planet. The second piece of evidence is a firm named CAASIE.co, an advertisement services firm apparently in Brisbane (I thought they were in New York). These two stand out, in a pool of millions. Set in a presence of “The US alone spent almost $481 billion on marketing in 2022, with digital marketing seeing significant growth. Australia’s marketing industry is also substantial, valued at over $20 billion.” With the added “While a precise count isn’t available, the scale of the industry suggests a large number of professionals are involved in marketing roles worldwide. The demand for marketing expertise is strong, and the industry is continuously evolving, particularly with the rise of digital marketing”. Don’t get me wrong, there are good marketing teams. The bigger brands have decent teams and at times places like Coca Cola and Heineken stand out. Yet in that setting of millions of people these two stand out. Why? Perhaps marketing is seen by some as the path you take when you can’t do anything else? Perhaps these men (women too) can talk their way into the panties of the youthful ladies and they thought, perhaps I can make money out of this venturous situation. And they went into marketing, mainly because ‘sex sells’. The truth couldn’t be farther (or is that further) removed from the truth.
And there the problem starts. You see, Google isn’t monopolising things, they merely had the proper handle on things. The marketing bulk doesn’t know what it its doing and as ‘they’ see it Google is in the way. In the early days Google (read: Larry Page and Sergei Brin) figured out a few things. As Microsoft was talking dirty to the CFO’s in the land (in the late 80’s and beyond) these two youthful young sprouts figured out that the work was done by the m inions of these CFO’s, so as they catered to the bulk of the worker ants, Microsoft was wasting its time on expensive dinners and drink parties and they got all the CFO’s and CTO’s of the Fortune 500. But these people needed their worker ants and Google had created a search system that catered to THEIR needs. So whilst these youthful young sprouts were at Stanford University, their buddies all went for the knickers of the ladies. They created a page rank system, because they saw ahead that the web was going to be a mess, millions of voices create cacophony and they cut through the mess.
So ahead we go 20 years (take or leave a year) and Google figured out that their system is gold. So they venture forward and they create Google Ads (formerly Google Adwords) and that was in 2000. Again they hit gold, although it was a natural continuation from page rank and again Microsoft wants ink on the game, but wannabe’s and spin creators can merely make shallow creation and it is seen in their product. At present known as Microsoft Advertising, holds a market share of around 3-4% of the global search engine market. This is bad news for the marketing wannabe’s as they bought the shite that Microsoft is seemingly selling. Even I saw the bing hijacking of people seeking and as Microsoft is all playing innocent, they did (as I personally see it) enable the system to be abused. It matter not, Google created a firm product and now the marketing bitches (both male and female) decided to cry fowl (intended typo) So that I the setting.
Marketing today is people who talk a lot present a lot, but as I see it, they do not know what they are doing. Merely hoping that their revenue cup runneth over and it is based on decade old settings (which is what schools rely on). At UTS (University of Technology Sydney) we had one lecture on page rank and that opened my eyes (unlikely as much as it hit Sergei and Larry), but the setting was clear. Google created the largest setting by thinking of what to do, not to wine and dine the people with money and they followed Microsoft as they didn’t realise what they were up against. The internet of things is a massive beast with plenty of horns and these are the horns of plenty.
So now we get to the ‘court case’ that the BBC gives us. So as we are given “The US Department of Justice, along with 17 US states, sued Google, arguing the tech giant was illegally dominating the technology which determines which adverts should be placed online and where” and as I personally see it, they are catering to millions of people who do not know what they are doing and they think it is unfair that these people should miss out on a business they are unlikely to understand. You see, I name these two at the start as they have figured out a few things. Ryan Reynolds created billions from understanding the world and its business (Mint Mobile, Aviation Gin, and Wrexham AFC. He also co-founded Maximum Effort, a marketing agency and production company) he figured out a few things and that sprout is a mere 48 springs old. He saw the options and turned several products in a multi billion dollar empire by engaging with an audience and telling a story in a way they remembered. The other (the wannabe’s) can scoop up a mere $100,000 dollars at a time as I see it. Let’s not forget that this man started as an extra on the X-Files, now he surpassed the main cast of that series (including the director) in several ways.
Second we get CAASIE.co, they come with “buy outdoor ads globally – from your browser”, with the byline “Self-service. No contracts. No commitments” and consider this quote “In 2007, São Paulo, Brazil instituted a billboard ban because there were no viable regulations of the billboard industry.” For decades these billboards were out there and in 2020 (a mere 5 years ago) they decided to change the premise. So as we get “They are an advertising company specializing in Digital Out of Home (dOOH) advertising, programmatic advertising, and digital signage. Their headquarters are in Brisbane, Australia”, a setting that was clear for decades but no one considered what there was and these people did, so as they gain favor and altitude by being innovative the wannabe marketeers can (for all I care) go duck themselves.
These two examples are a clear sign that the crying marketeers need to grow up, or as the Americans say “Go big or go home” and that is noticeable on the future of marketing as I see it. Now they are all about AI and creating hypes, but that doesn’t pay for the yacht (or for diner as I see it).
So as I see “US district judge Leonie Brinkema said in the ruling Google had “willfully engaged in a series of anticompetitive acts” which enabled it to “acquire and maintain monopoly power” in the market.” Is wrong by at least half a continent (a mile seems so shallow), so as I see it, when did the law start catering to village idiots? The fact that there are thousands of voices doesn’t make this clever. Reynolds and CAASIE were clever, they were very clever and that is a setting that CAASIE can enjoy, you see when they get access to the stage where the Google Ads people use CAASIE as the global interface to get global visibility, CAASIE will grow a lot more and what will the marketeers do to get their slices of pie? Cry a little more? Since when did we cater to the stupid to give value to this world?
The is the setting I see and as I see it the larger folly of US district judge Leonie Brinkema, so their goes her “willfully engaged”, Google walked a path for decades and that thought paid off and as I see it, Google was not catering to CAASIE, CAASIE found its own niche of global needed marketing. These two settings (Reynolds and CAASIE) show that there was space and these are raking in the billions (CAASIE not yet) but they can get a lot more by expanding into the UAE and Saudi Arabia, optionally Bangladesh and Indonesia as well. A setting that will iterate in new areas and that was something that a player like Microsoft never understood. My evidence in that statement is the fact that they lost marketshare 6 times over.
So the viewpoints of Google, Ryan Reynolds and CAASIE are not points of view, they are intentional strides in the Internet of Things and their views of how to make money. A lesson a lot of marketeers never learned in the first place. Although they got their collection of panties n their trophy cabinet, something I never ever had, but I decided to remain innovatively engaged. So as I had the ball several times from DARPA, Ubisoft and Microsoft (optionally Amazon and Apple as well) I can relax to see these departments of Justice (globally) fumble their balls and as things go from bad to worse I can giggle (not Google) from the sidelines. How the stage is the play of things, something Shakespeare figured out in 1623.
Have a great day whilst you ponder the wisdoms I left here with two hidden snags, the clever people out there can work out what I left for others to find. Have a great one.
That is what I saw when I took notice of the news in the Guardian called ‘US’s $2.36tn tourism business fears ‘Trump slump’ over tariff turmoil’ (at https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/15/trump-tariffs-tourism-business) we might look at “Warnings emerge even as effect of economic and political turbulence on the foreign visitors to the US is hard to define” I disagree, you see, slices from UK (69 million), Australia (26 million), New Zealand (5 million) are now avoiding America mainly because of the Canada (51st state) issue. We took offense and even as I yearn to see the Epic Universe, I have decided that if I do get to pick a vacation, I will choose Warner Brothers Abu Dhabi over Orlando. I know that Warner Brothers will still see my money, but in this case 70% will go to Miral, a United Arab Emirates operator. In that same trend many will seek out Euro Disney, Parks in Tokyo and a few other places. And this is not for a mere year, this is for the duration of the Trump administration. Some insults are just a little too much to bear. Oh, and the Canadians with their 40 million people are also avoiding America. I didn’t think that it amounted to 5%-10% of $2.36tn but that could be because America insulted a little more than just the Commonwealth setting. Perhaps others see the weak American setting, perhaps the stage of the Ukraine is equally as upsetting as the Commonwealth setting. America has been kicking the wrong legs, just as interest payments of a 36 trillion dollar debt is due, America loses a lot more income. As such there is nothing that is hard to define, it is the cost of doing business and that part is becoming increasingly hard.
So this fear is mislabeled, the proper labelling is seen as the price of insulting people, the price of neglecting people and as we see Europe taking additional steps like the fear of espionage on their people by Americans, we need to see that this will take years to undo, especially as Orlando just launched the biggest park in human history, 110 acres (45 ha) in the park itself and the overall size is 750 acres (300 ha), which comes at a cost of $7.7 billion to build, which is stated to be one of the largest and most expensive theme parks in history. Now consider what it takes to get this going, the hotels, the retail stores staff and such costing a bundle in its own right. So as we see the $2.36tn and the 10% lessened revenue and a slice is on that part. Epic Universe will do ok, because it will have millions of Americans wanting to see this place, and the use of influencers was well played, they all showed a place that nearly everyone wants to see. As such the lessened revenue will be felt all over America. Because those wanting to see Epic Universe will take their share from the other places. And that is merely one place. A mere fortnight ago we were told “Several nations issued travel warnings about potential safety risks in America, including Japan, Australia and Canada” others will take notice and that is the larger setting for America for now. So what will Comcast Corp. do? Put it all in a bad bank mortgage and loan and write it off? That would be the economic player will do, as such America will lose a hell of a lot of taxation these several years. Another part of the equation shown in a simple setting. What will happen? That is not for me to tell. But that is the setting that the Guardian is seemingly overlooking.
So as we are given “Warnings that international tourism to the US could be hit by Donald Trump’s effort to re-engineer economic and political relations with the rest of the world are slowly emerging.” With an added “The Las Vegas Visitors and Convention Authority said last week it was projecting a 5% decline in room tax revenue for its upcoming budget – a decline that may reflect Trump’s trade disputes with Canada and Mexico. Those countries account for 2.6 million visitors to sin city, or half of international travel trade.” As such these two countries account for half the international trade? It seems that America created its own downfall, as I personally see it. And as we see the trend evolve, we need to understand that next year that trend will continue and as Europe, the Commonwealth and others will seek other paths to joy like Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Paris (EuroDisney), London, Beijing, Tokyo and other places, the losses for America will add and add.
They wanted to overwhelm the tourist industry and due to political pressures, they merely shown the other places that they might be more desirable. As such, the problem wasn’t hard to define, the Americans merely needed to look into themselves and the problem will exasperate. Consider these places and how they rely on international students to get cheap labour, as the BBC reported last week “Marco Rubio says US revoked at least 300 foreign students’ visas”, and that will have a trickle effect on those still seeking international student visas, they are more likely to seek education from other, non-US places. And the top 50 of universities has plenty of offers on the table for its pending international students. This might seem little, but plenty of business rely on the next batch of international students. So as you are sitting in a theme park hoping for a quick coffee, think again, they might be down a number of staff members because this is a short term impact, the term of summer and that is about to hit all the places that rely on the new batch of international students and with them gone their hiring approach needs to change fast.
All these elements can be foreseen, but are these places taking notice? America is going through huge changes at present and that place is not ready to face the serious impact of the political pressures they tried to set to other nations. These nations are now retaliating in other ways and Canada seeking other location, other drinks and other choices was a mere first step. With Europe joining their homegrown defense spending, America will lose more and more. All this I put in my blog over the last 3-5 years. Even without President Trump the signs were clear, now they are merely escalating revenue losses and that is impacting America in a few ways. Tourism is merely the latter step, but this is the more visible one. It trickles down to nearly every level of the population, still, that might prove fruitful for people who had been unable to find a job. Still the report of a loss of $118B – $236B is not nothing, add to that lessened defense spending and the people not coming now, will hit tourism the clearest, but this loss will go into nearly very level of the American industry and that impacts small businesses a lot more than foreseen.
This is merely my view on the matter, but I have been writing on these dangers for some time. Have a great day.
That is the question that is haunting me. I see ideas in several media and they make sense, they really do. Yet I am still haunted with the ideas in my head, realising very well that I could be wrong. So is it about right and wrong? No, in the first instance it has become about the unreliability of the press. There are too many signals out there. Then the ‘influencers’ came. With their need for digital gratification, digital reinforcement and the other settings, the conspiracy theorists. As some see me as one of those, I offer the idea that I am merely looking for evidence and that requires a reliable press, one that too often no longer exists. Whilst we look at the signals, we often ignore the spreader of the news and the channels they are moved to.
There are noises that some republicans are deserting President Trump and stop the tariffs on Canada. It is a first setting, but is it enough?
I believe the damage was already done, and whilst you think that this is a joke, consider the other one.
So, is the joke a mere meme? Is the meme real? Well, the data can be checked and as such why exempt Russia and not Canada? Fentanyl? The data show that Canada is hardly a bump on the scales. Then we get the classification of Fentanyl. According to the United States Sentencing Commission 86.4% were United States citizens. So what gives? According to their statistics
Southern District of California (229);
District of Arizona (177);
Western District of Texas (128);
Southern District of New York (94);
District of Massachusetts (90);
Eastern District of Missouri (90).
As such, the direct route from Canada into the US, we get from Vancouver into Seattle and the state of Washington doesn’t get to that list, which is what I would expect. It can be reached by bridge, the Interstate Bridge to be exact and it takes 130,000 vehicles daily. So as I see it, the numbers do not match the crime and the accusations.
So what is this really about? In my version is is a distraction on how bad the finances of the United States really are. With 36 trillion in debt, the interest is about 1 trillion a year. We don’t get to much on that do we? So why slap the tariffs on the Commonwealth? The only think that kinda makes sense is that America is on the verge of defaulting its loans and it needs to prevent this, but that idea (the one I am having) is flawed. So is President Trump merely doing a distraction? The reason for this setting is that the press should have been all over this, but they are (by my reckoning) too busy for the grabbing of digital dollars. If the other nations economically collapse America stands a chance, but I agree the evidence to this is flimsy at best. But the other versions are even less likely, still they do have merit. And in all this, Russia gets no tariff? Not even pro forma? It makes no sense to me, but then I was never an economic.
On March 10th the US markets get to write off 4 trillion dollars, so when was that a good thing? As I personally (and possibly wrong) see it, when the markets lose value, the debt of America goes down as well (shake statement), or at least America gets to make deals, because when holding the debt is all that remains, the larger powerbrokers want to hold on to what they can. It gives America time to find a solution (not that there is one). As I personally see it, the real money is in Saudi Arabia and the UAE for staters, but they are the largest jewels in any crown and whilst America gets rid of any competitors through tariffs, their options open up. In the end America gets to compete with the Commonwealth, the EU and China. Three in stead of 30, it makes tactical sense. And the first issue is that all wars are set in deception following that premise the acts of President Trump make perfect sense. But is my vision on what happens right? That is what I wonder about, because I recognise that I might be wrong and the press is less help than usual.
That is merely my view on the matter and as such I stand behind PM Mark Carney and Canada, because Canada is a Commonwealth brother as are the other Commonwealth nations. So feel free to deny my vision, it is OK to oppose this or ignore this. But see what the evidence shows you and take it from there. That is all I can tell you, make up your own mind.
Have a great day, it’s almost Saturday for me (in about 40 minutes).
That is what we all think at times. There are two stages that stop us for getting one, or to get the credit limit upgraded. The first is work. It is hard to tap into that ‘virtual’ resource when you are out of work. The second stage is that if you have a job and it pays, the future of the company you work for makes upgrading limits a genuine problem. Even if the bank approves it, you yourself at times wonder if you should make that jump. Rightfully so as you soon realise that you are merely working to pay the interest bills.
So where is this going? Well America is in that situation right now. It failed to ‘bolster’ its size by claiming Canada and it is now in a bullying stage then there is Greenland, which is funny because no one wanted Greenland for the longest of times and now it get ‘courted’ by America. Of course the courtship (like any courtship) is usually based on lies and on presentations in a different direction. Like most men, the first notion of a courtship is to push his dick onto her vagina no matter the cost to her. This reminds me of a joke Jack Whitehall stated: “We all look at the village idiot in some way, here in the UK we put him on the street, In America you love village idiots. They end up in the White House” and that is basically the setting they face. His bully tactics are coming up short and for the most part the skeptics are watching what is coming next. I considered the options and as I have been keeping an eye on the American economy, I see the play they essentially need to play. You see, America has run out of Credit Card Space and they need to upgrade their credit card. So first they talk trash on Canada and try to make it their 51st State. But now that it is failing they need alternatives.
But the cause is worse than the need, they now face massive changes as Canada, part of the Commonwealth is seeking alternatives with Commonwealth nations. Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom seem to be on board to support each other and that is what America never counted on. Then there is the EU and some of these nations (two at present) are dumping their F35 aspirations and they are looking elsewhere for their planes. It might not be large customers, but it is a beginning and that gives rise to alternatives.
Getting back on point. We see news by several channels, ABC for one gives us “Mr Trump iterated that the island was important for US national security. The US president has not clarified how or when he aims to annex it, but he has not ruled out using military or economic power.” As I personally see it, the real reason is “Greenland has rich untapped mineral resources and oil and gas, but development has been slow” that same setting exists for Canada and the US desperately needs to upgrade its Credit Card and that is one way to set it to a reality. As I see it, as a Courtesan truly worthy of the name village idiot he sets the trash talk to stellar to make these two ladies drop their briefs and that isn’t happening. Moreover (I for one) and plenty of others feel very protective of Canada. Greenland less so, but that is a Danish/EU setting. The method employed is just too icky. And now as American debts are surpassing thirty six trillion dollars with no handle on spending, the credit card needs to be upgraded before America has to default on things. As such Canada needs protection from the Commonwealth nations or it gets dragged into that hole named America. And that debt is shown as $36,000,000,000,000 and two elements will hammer America. The first is that the debt is now higher that its GDP, this might not seem like it is a big thing, but these are trillions and there is no stop spending in effect. Also the larger issue is interest. You see, then we look at that we see that Australia has a 3.28% debt setting. I cannot say exactly what America’s is but it should be over 2%, this means that 720 billion dollars interest will be due every year (a little over simplified) and seeing that the American tax office collected $4.9 trillion in FY 2024, we see that 14.693% of the taxation is lost on interest payments and it is getting worse. So a nation that is spending in all the wrong places gets to live of 85% of its budget and last year (2024) it was dealing with a deficit of $1.8 trillion (or 1800 billion dollars). So what happens when you have to do this on 85% of your budget?
This is why America needs to upgrade its credit card and it is falling short. Especially as nations rally against the baboonic trash-talking bully tactics of the president of the United States. As well as national interest, particularly Canada and Denmark.
There is but one larger solution in play. When America defaults before it resorts to military options, the game is over for America. It would become a third world nation over night. If not than we have a non-preferred option and that is to run into the arms of People’s Republic of China. There is the chance that the world will react to a larger degree all American items, which is bad news for Apple and Microsoft, but that is the stage that is evolving.
I have the stage (personally fueled) that America collapsing is not the worst thing, but all those enjoying retirement plans that they saved up for their whole life, they can rejoin the workforce until they die. I reckon the ultra rich will lose a chunk of their value and they will evade to Bermuda, Monaco or the UAE to life out their lives. The rest will learn that the vote of 2024 was the worst day in their life but that is what we face. The rest of the nations have no reason to celebrate. When the dollar goes, so do the Yen and the Euro. As I see it, President Xi was ready for this by playing the waiting game. He will gain the economic options of 27 EU nations and up to 56 Commonwealth states. On the upside, Canada might get an infusion of cash as they build several airbases on their southern border (a presumption of me). The irony is funny, to pretend to serve national interests, president Trump caused the creation of Chinese airbases on their northern borders.
As Wall Street fixes on what is likely to happen, they need to set the shores of financial options and as I personally see it, those shores remain under attack for the better part of a decade and the is bad news for Wall Street as the economy doesn’t have that much time anymore. Im actually not sure how America survives 2026 at present.
Well, have a nice day and consider where you are and where you are likely to be soon enough.
Yup, it happened to me, Hugh Grant send me a letter (a modern message in Email).
You know, the man who was made famous through the movie “Four startups and a Bankruptcy”. And behold, this morning there was a letter in my mailbox, stating:
Dear Lawrence,
For over ten years in opposition the Labour Party promised to implement the Leveson reforms. These reforms would raise standards in the media and protect the public from intrusions into grief, blatant falsehoods, and other abuses.
Sir Keir Starmer, meanwhile, talked a big game about ending corruption in politics and putting the public first. Yet since his election as Prime Minister, Sir Keir has done nothing to keep his party’s promises and end the scandal of press abuse.
In his failure to act, he is protecting the status quo and putting newspaper owners ahead of the public.
We need to remind him: his Government is accountable to the British public, not newspaper owners. And his Party’s promises – to ordinary people affected by press abuse, and the wider public – must be kept.
You will get to enter your UK Postcode and as I as a test enter a post code of Birmingham (as a test) The system replies with
Dear Shabana Mahmood,
Despite reaching over 70% of the public every month national newspapers are unregulated – allowing them to spread lies, disinformation, and to commit intrusions with impunity.
Every issue facing the country – from human trafficking to climate change to domestic violence – is affected by the ability of newspapers and their websites to cover them inaccurately and unethically.
The Government’s inaction on press regulation is holding Britain back from meeting these challenges – as well as leaving newspapers able to cause extraordinary damage to individuals’ lives through harassment and intrusion into grief.
You merely have to add your Name, Address and Email address details and the letter is ready. Easy, peasy, Chicken easy.
It will be a rough reminder for the Labour Party and his fellow minions to do something about the outstanding promise to set the Leveson papers in action. The media has become too much of a clear and present danger to the people, and many people in the UK have had enough. So this is a rather large remembrance page with the automation for the people to add their details and do something about it.
It gave me pause to think of hat the UK media is facing. It is already facing irrelevancy and a loss of readers on a global scale. No matter what our faith is, papers like New Arab, Arab News, Khaleej Times and several other newspapers are making string insides into the world population. And that is not all that is happening. In support we see that Dubai Media (the first recipient of my film script “How to assassinate a Politician”) is making rather larger visibility moves. Mostly in Bangladesh , Egypt and Indonesia, but it is a start). In this Al Saudiya (part of the SBA) is doing the same, but I am unaware how large their foot print is becoming. Mostly due to my lack of Arabic I cannot see the complete setting of the Saudi Broadcasting Authority. A Saudi TV group meant for 33 million is reaching out to a population of over half a billion (the Dubai Media group (UAE) as well). They are diminishing the channels that were until recently the targets of Reuters, AP News and the BBC. The people are through with these false prophets and are now giving these two a chance. After the track of the late eighties and 90’s that CNN had, they are given a green light by the people in many ways a similar setting.
Western people have had enough of the lies and innuendo that Western media gives us. As such the term sports-washing, meaning “Sportswashing is the use of sport to redirect public attention away from unethical conduct. The intended effect is to improve the reputation of the offending entity, by using the immense popularity of sport to ‘wash’ away poor publicity.” A term as I see it invented by the western media and nearly always used to describe Saudi involvement. But as I see it, the Western media should be using the same term (although not always involving sports) to strengthen their innuendo for digital dollars. They do, but to hide the actions of involved people like Sony (TPP policy 2016) and a few others. It was the first clear setting where I saw media ‘protecting’ big tech. I wrote (rather clumsily) about that in ‘Lessening the consumer?’ On April 27th 2016 (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2016/04/27/lessening-the-consumer/) after that I saw the actions by Microsoft and others and the media was holding the hands over the heads of Big Tech (speculatively to score advertisement money) and that was how I started to keep my eyes of the media until now and see how the media today has less value than the average porn magazine, they might reflect on ‘Sex Sells’ but the value of their contribution has lost its value and then some. As media largely goes into the same direction, not giving us news, but referring to out as entertainment and as I see it, the ABC News Channel is the only news channel giving Australia actual news, the rest is flaccid entertainment. This is the same all over the western world hiding behind the term “A news and current affairs show”, where the emphasis is set to ‘current affairs show’ and the ‘insiders’ referring to that being the same. The world is waking up to the setting of being lulled asleep by the media and the Leveson papers was the first stage to getting the people awake. That was the first step for the media to wake up and that so far The Leveson Inquiry was a judicial public inquiry into the culture, practices, and ethics of the British press following the News International phone hacking scandal, chaired by Lord Justice Leveson, who was appointed in July 2011. A series of public hearings were held throughout 2011 and 2012. The result were 4 documents giving us over 2000 pages of wake up medicine for the media regulations. So far it hasn’t happened, for reference the Lord Of the Rings is a novel a mere 1077 pages, so there is that too, one is fiction , the other is a rude awakening of what the media is up to. The News of the world owned by Rupert Murdoch shut down in 2011 when the News of the World, owned by News Corporation, had been regularly hacking the phones of celebrities, royalty, and public citizens. Murdoch faced police and government investigations into bribery and corruption by the British government and FBI investigations in the US. He got out when he was no longer able to hide the actions of some. But not all is lost, the Arabian versions of the news are now shown all over the world mainly the three I mentioned in the beginning. And now we see the growth of Saudi and UAE media and they now have solid systems that can reach the whole western world too. Now we might not get all the shows the 1st gives us, but that is merely one step away from coming. The fires in California have settles the people in optionally leaving California and the UAE and Saudi stations could give them a new beginning, many to Canada, but with the promise of decent incomes Saudi Arabia and the UAE could collect on the cream of American Script writers. I saw this option opening up and (even though magnificently unsuccessful) , I decided to attempt to sell my first script in the UAE (Dubai media). There is an inkling of faith that it was merely my lack of skills, and it was my first script, but I have three more on route. As such other (a lot more successful than me) could open the road to more scripts and that is what Hollywood fears, the drain of knowledge. They thought they were on top of the world with their setting, yet as Covid hit, followed by the strikes and the California fires, the Hollywood setting is to some degree now an empty shell and that leaves Canada, the UK, Saudi Arabia and the UAE open to wildly grown in all directions. The Guardian gives us “The entertainment industry is estimated to create $43bn in wages every year for the Californian economy and recent events have not only forced a pause in the short term but also raised concerns over long-term recovery.” These incomes have been impacted from 2020 onwards. We were given “Many blockbusters originally scheduled to be released by mid-March 2020 were postponed or canceled around the world, with film productions also being halted.” Then we got the strikes in 2023 which stopped it all again and the fires on January 7th 2025, the impact has roasted the core of Hollywood with burning down what was left. Consider the setting that the people in Hollywood were given $43 billion annually and that their incomes have been impeded with a near 80% lacking of a total of over $200 billion. The quality of life is setting the massive options for the other nations and as the Hollywood moguls are happy to pay the others as little as possible, they and up having no recourse for themselves.
And now we get yet again the Leveson inquiry hitting the UK shores. The mess is now near complete and the media will have to surrender market shares to the Arabian nations and see where they end up being, because the events in Saudi Arabia (2030) and the UAE will likely have all the Arabian journalists and very little other ones, especially with vloggers all over the place and YouTube (and TikTok) having the new fields all to themselves and their creators. That is what I see happening al up to late 2027 and that is long before Hollywood becomes a shadow of itself.
That is the reality of exploitation at some point the people give up and seek richer grounds, Hollywood is now becoming largely without cohesion to itself, so where do you go then? You all have a productive day.
The ‘old’ saying is “Where are idiots grouped”, the answer is “Usually between Canada and Mexico”, I don’t completely agree as politicians are for the most to some degree a global problem. But you get the gist of the matter. It gets to be funnier as we look at the numbers on Fentanyl smuggling where 86.4% of the convictions are US citizens. Take that and the anger from Canadian people (regarding the 51st state) and we have ourselves a clambake. And that is getting more traction now. The setting has gone viral as many places (I am reluctant to hide behind the operative word ‘all’) have removed America booze from the shopping racks (example: LCBO). For others (Australia) it could be seen as good news as Bundaberg Rum might grace the stalls of these shops, UK already had their gin setting, but that could grow a lot more now that brands like American Gin are removed (sorry Mr. Reynolds) as well, and the removal of several Vodka brands will be good news for Sweden. The branding marks will currently see a shift in consumer ‘appreciation’ as over $20,000,000,000 is removed from America’s branding. I reckon that soon others will see places like Coca Cola will soon also have an impact. Then there is tourism, that ship still under investigation might also see impacts. I think that the numbers for the tourist operators (like Disney, Warner Brothers and Universal) might see a bad summer coming. I don’t think that they have a large dip as they were seemingly over capacitated, but there will be an impact. As such the estimated impact from Canada on Fentanyl is getting a weird impact. According to some, the In the first 10 months of 2024, the Canadian border service reported seizing 10.8lb (4.9kg) of fentanyl entering from the US, while US Border Patrol intercepted 32.1lb (14.6kg) of fentanyl coming from Canada. And if the NPR is to be believed that joke has a nasty sting as in 2024, only about 43 pounds of fentanyl was seized at America’s northern border. That compares with roughly 21,100 pounds seized at the southern border. So the difference of this implies that the 43 pounds of substance caught on the Canadian side amounts to a mere 0.002 of the actual problem and that is now costing America an additional $20B plus change and commission. So how does that go over with Wall Street? So in a short moment, Alcohol, Tourism and retail is impacted in America. If we can believe Doug Ford (Premier of Ontario) has given the headline ‘Ontario premier Doug Ford cancels $100-million Starlink contract’, it becomes a comedy should Huawei fill that gap. So how is that Trump ego going at present? As Canadian tourists generated $20.5 billion in spending and supported 140,000 American jobs last year. They could see an optional 40% drop at present, I personally believe that this could be as much as 60% in an area where spend was 20% down from pre-Covid settings. And others are taking notice Especially the UK, Australia and New Zealand. They might not amount to much, but they do have an impact. I for one had dreamt (I have silly dreams) of seeing Universal Orlando once, but at present I will chose Abu Dhabi over USA. Warner Brothers would still see my money, but where in America my contribution would be close to 100%, In Abu Dhabi they merely fetch 30% of my money and the rest is all for Miral Experiences L.L.C. As such I become an asset feed to Julien Kauffmann. And consider I am merely one person, now consider that 40% of the commonwealth sees this the same way? How much damage did President Trump do to his own economy? If he was the King of Australia I would advice the board of Governors in Australia to muzzle him. This typically refers to the Reserve Bank Board, which oversees the monetary policy of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) and is made up of the Governor (currently Michele Bullock), Deputy Governor, and other appointed members. So, what did Wall Street duo to reign in this level of idiocy? (Just to coin a phrase).
So, as we realize that over the course of Rome’s long history, taxation was frequently a source of outrage and grief. Indeed there is a basic lesson to be learned from Roman history, namely that people did not like paying taxes they found unjust. And this setting comes from 357AD. As such it is over 1700 years old. Even Julius Caesar, according to the historian Ammianus Marcellinus “declared that he would rather lose his life than allow it to be done. For he knew that the incurable wounds of such arrangements, or rather derangements had often driven provinces to extreme poverty.” So President Trump (and his advisors) had examples coming from history and now the stone is set and Beijing announced retaliatory tariffs of 10-15%, starting 10 February, on various US imports, including coal, crude oil and large cars. (Source: BBC) and that has larger repercussions. Huawei is sensing blood in the water and at present they are ‘arming’ their devices with Linux (I reckon for Europe and other places). People might not ‘go’ for HarmonyOS at present but they now have a foot in the door and with a linux setting they could get into the Commonwealth to a larger degree (Canada included) as America now has to prove that there is an actual danger (which they never did). And only yesterday ‘Huawei Unveils Latest Suite of Intelligent Campus Solutions to Accelerate Intelligent Campus 2.0 Development’ that is the business opening to more. By providing high-quality 10 Gbps network experiences, it accelerates the digital transformation of enterprises across various sectors. No American solution got this close before (only on leaflets as far as I could tell). So whilst Huawei was stated to look out for what was coming, they opened the door to a juicy steak for all the greed hungry entrepreneurs sailing the global waters and they will get their grain. With ‘Intelligent Stadium Solution: Redefining Sports Venues’ they stand to win the hearts over in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, including people in Glasgow (2026), 2027 Cricket World Cup (South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Namibia), French Alps (2030), 2031 Cricket World Cup (India and Bangladesh) and Brisbane (2032). So when you add that up, how much of the world stage will Huawei capture? And China will be there to laugh out loud, especially as America NEVER showed any evidence and that has been voiced by Germany more than once.
So how stupid was starting a trade war founded on tariffs and based on a ludicrous setting whilst Canada was a mere 0.002 of the actual problem? Oh, for desert we get the quote we were fed less than 10 minutes ago (source: USA Today) ‘Canadian province leader threatens to cut off energy to 3 US states, imposes 25% surcharge’ and I suggest that the MAGA fans in Michigan, Minnesota, and New York find a good hiding spot, because when that energy block comes through a lot of people will curse the day President Trump was reelected for some time. And then there is the energy coming at +25%, so how much energy does New York need?
Have a great day and happy trails to Bundaberg Rum as they now have an open door to an optional 40 million additional consumers.
Yes, that is the setting. It is not a desert, it is the final course in a meal that has been brewing since 7 October 2023, like a slow boiled Slow Simmer Beef Stew, but one with a distance, it took 16 months for this stew to come to fruition and now, the final course is up to serving. An Arabian plan that was according to the BBC (at https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjd32xyjg4eo) where we get to see ‘Arab leaders approve $53bn alternative to Trump’s Gaza plan’, a plan agreed upon by some. We are given “Egypt’s President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi also called for a parallel plan alongside the physical reconstruction to move towards what is known as the two state solution – a Palestinian state alongside Israel. This is widely seen by Arab states, and many others, as the only lasting solution to this perpetual conflict, but it is firmly ruled out by Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his allies.” I have reservations. In this my one issue is the setting that we are given as “Some Arab states are known to be calling for the complete dismantling of Hamas; others believe those decisions should be left up to the Palestinians. Hamas is said to have accepted it will not play a role in running Gaza but has made it clear that disarming is a red line.” I reckon it will take a few months until Iran will ‘bolster’ the response given by Hamas as some existential joke in serious form and that is when the parties accept that the given “Wealthy Gulf states appear willing to foot some of the colossal bill. But no one is ready to invest unless they are absolutely convinced buildings won’t come crashing down in another war.” This is the larger difficulty and truth of the matter. We are given “It glosses over the issue of what role, if any, Hamas, will play. There is a vague reference to the “obstacle” of militant groups and said this issue would be resolved if the causes of the conflict with Israel were removed.” Their is never going to be a ‘peace’ setting with Israel. That is the larger problem. And the others (the Arab states) see that this is the larger setting that will require setting. We are given that “Egypt had produced a detailed blueprint, with a 91-page glossy document including images of leafy neighbourhoods and grand public buildings, to counter a US scheme labelled as a “Middle East Riviera” which shocked the Arab world and beyond.” But that merely looks nice. Gaza could have looked that way decades ago, if not the issue of Hamas was given and that will never seize. It will take a little whilst until Hamas is regrouped and when Iran comes with the likely ‘accusation that Hamas has become a flaccid loser to Israel’ and Hamas suddenly gets a new incentive of weapons and missiles the whole thing starts again. I personally believe that neither this plan and the ruffled plan of President Trump would ever have worked. Iran does anything to ‘remain’ islamic relevant (which is a version where Iran and not Saudi Arabia and the UAE are at the head of the Islamic table, that is the primary concern for Iran and they will play the three terrorist teams (Hamas, Hezbollah and Houthi forces) to progress ‘their’ view on what should be. So this 91 paged plan seems nice for Palestine, but they are the tools of Iran, all Palestinians are. That is the over-sounding problem.
We might want to digress with ‘it could work’ and what do the Palestinians want, but this game has been played close to a near century setting, going all the way back to 1936. A setting that is 89 years old. And if we get to the nitty gritty part of this. The British wanted a solution for the decades of murder and lynching they were facing by jewish mobs getting back at collaborators and traitors all over Europe and Germany. That was the largest fear England and Western Europe faced in the time of 1944-1960. I personally believe that this was the push for the State of Israel. I am not debating that it was the right thing to do and Jews had that part of the middle east (actually more than that) and now we see the latest view and it is all upbeat and we are eager to accept it because it is an Arab plan, making realising this more likely than any other plan (including any plan that President Trump hands the world) and now the game changes for the next aggressive action of Hamas will place the Islamic world against them, it will not matter for Iran as I personally see it, because any plan that decreases the hold they want over the Middle East will be directly rejected and soon terrorists from Houthi and Hezbollah will scream foul and ‘come to the aid’ of Hamas. That will exclude another bash in Gaza and at that point Israel will have had enough and will indiscriminately attack Gaza no longer worrying about killing the ‘innocents’. They will kill as I personally see it anything in Gaza ending to a larger extent Palestine life in Gaza and they will become the new Nazi’s (my darkest view on the matter).
As I see it this plan has merit providing Hamas is destroyed, not merely no weapons, but no Hamas is close to the only setting that is close to acceptable in this.
So whilst we accept that we are given ““The Egypt plan is now an Arab plan,” announced the secretary general of the Arab League Ahmed Aboul Gheit at the end of this hours-long gathering.” There is a reflective part in this. What did Iran have to say in the matter? They are the tinderbox for Gaza and Hamas. So whilst we might readily accept “This new plan proposes that Gaza would be run, temporarily, by a “Gaza management committee under the umbrella of the Palestinian government” comprised of qualified technocrats” it is my worry that this comes across as a death sentence to these ‘qualified technocrats’. They are either Hamas, or Hamas minded and if not Hamas will ‘accidentally’ set a new setting of Palestinian traitors (as they are likely to be named). There is one additional setting. There is a larger chance of success when a coalition of Saudi and UAE forces are placed in Gaza (temporary) to oversee safety and security until Palestinian forces are ready to take over. I don’t think it will work, but it has the benefit that Hamas would have to directly attack these forces and that might stop them. It depends on how powerful the Iranian hold over Hamas is. I actually do not know that part of the equation.
The plan is bold, the plan is better than anything there is and the plan leaves enough of Palestinians considering if Hamas was ever a solution, that last one is important for Hamas to be seen as redundant. Will it work? Like many others I hope it will but I remember 1982 Rafah (I was there), so I have concerns.
I do not know all the inn’s and out’s of sports, I freely admit that. I live in Australia and like Canada we enjoy an over interested sport community (read: a sport mindset population).
So when I saw news item named ‘Saudi Arabia to host Islamic Games again’, I went ‘The who now?’ And this isn’t a new thing. As I read “Two decades after hosting the inaugural edition in Mecca, the nation is once again at the heart of regional sport. In November, Riyadh will welcome the world’s top athletes for the sixth edition of the Islamic Solidarity Games, event aiming to strengthen brotherhood among Muslim-majority nations.” So this isn’t a new thing. It has been going on for two decades. And we are about to face the 6th edition of these games. So how come I was utterly unaware of the existence of these games? I don’t need to be muslim to enjoy games I cannot participate in (for the most, with one or two exceptions I am not able to participate on any level in sports). So I was taken aback.
Let’s recap for the sports ignorant people who might never have heard of these events as well and I am looking at the media with utter disdain at present for not illuminating these games. The first were held in Mecca. The Islamic Solidarity Games and these games involve elite athletes of the OIC competing in a variety of sports, as such we get to see the creme de la creme in sports compete. The first were as said in Mecca (2005), the 2010 in Tehran were cancelled, in 2013 it was Indonesia to host these games, which were done in Palembang, then it was up to Baku to host them in 2017, in 2021 Turkey hosted them in Konya and now, in August 2025 they will be held in Riyadh. So what exposure did these games get? I would have loved to have seen them in Indonesia. That place doesn’t get to much exposure other then touristy occasions.
So what sports are shown? Well, at present 28 sports have been shown and the bulk of these sports were shown as:
Athletics (since 2005), Basketball (since 2005), Diving (since 2005), Equestrian (2005–2013), Football (since 2005), Gymnastics (since 2017), Judo (since 2017), Karate (since 2005), Swimming (since 2005), Water polo (since 2005), Weightlifting (since 2005), Wrestling (since 2017)
These are the sports we are ‘familiar’ with in a Olympic setting. Right Nike? (I am talking to the goddess, not the brand next to me now). A little less known are the sports below, or at least I don’t remember seeing them in an Olympic setting. Nike is shaking her head in disbelieve and rolling her eyes. They are:
The list is important as they are ‘enjoyed’ watching by the bulk of the world, as such I cannot believe that I had never heard of these games.
Media bashing You might think that I am making light of the situation and perhaps that is true, but can anyone explain how any person remains devoid of this knowledge when we have countries like Canada, Australia, United Kingdom, New Zealand and America where sports seems to be on the mind of men optionally a lot more than sex? The old story (according to women) is that men look for their golf balls more than a g-spot? (no idea what they mean with that).
It might sound weird, but there is a decent Islamic population in at least 4 of them, so why don’t these Islamic Solidarity Sports Federation and Islamic Solidarity Games enjoy a lot more exposure? As second issue I would raise that there is another hurdle optionally failed. The fact that in these 20 years Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates wasn’t a host. There might be many valid reasons, but with all the exposure that Abu Dhabi enjoys, these games could be flooded in the limelight as I personally see it. So will they host these games in 2030?
At present I am learning a whole new chapter in sports. And the next chapter will shock you. When I enter “Islamic Solidarity Games Riyadh” in Google Search I do not get ONE news agency on page one. Worse still, one mention from the BBC on page 4 which was given in 2010. The western world is sunning these games to THAT degree. The western world was eager to paint Saudi Arabia black at every occasion they could find regarding the 2034 FIFA World Cup. So where are they now?
I think the western media needs to take a hard look at themselves when it comes to sport reporting. We have seen a lot of media engaged in ‘Whitewashing sports’ when it comes to Saudi Arabia, so who will take the front space when it comes to showing the thousands of athletes and the struggles they face with these games? There is something to scold western papers on the fact that they are seemingly shunning thousands of athletes.
The more I see exposed by the biassed western media, the more l appreciate having a cat.
Have a great day, I am 165 minutes away from breakfast (we all have our little day to day priorities).
Lawrence van Rijn - Law Lord to be 