Russia v Ukraine: Invasion Imminent?

As I write this blog (Monday 17th January 2022) Russia is on the verge of invading Ukraine and possibly causing a wider conflict throughout Europe. White House Press Secretary, Jen Psaki, said last week, "The Kremlin was laying the groundwork for an attack through a social media disinformation campaign framing Kiev as the aggressor." And just three days ago many of Ukraine's Internet government websites were cyber hacked. I asked myself why. Was this a test that would coincide with an invasion where an even bigger cyberattack would take place thus impeding government and military IT systems? I mean the whole thing stinks of Russian hegemony? Of course, it is . . .

This potential time-bomb has been filling worldwide media for several weeks now and one has to wonder if this is Vladimir Putin's way of sticking the fingers up NATO. Because he has been banging on about how Ukraine could be the next NATO member. Well, this is utterly absurd, the mentality of a man who, for me, is a narcissistic and deranged dictator. Does the little man in the Kremlin not understand the very reason for the very existence of NATO? Does he not know that its main raison d'être is to prevent Russia from invading and creating possibly World War III in Europe?

Last week, there were Russian-US-NATO meetings but, alas, they ended with no agreements in sight. Which has left Ukraine facing the prospect of a war that would result in potentially thousands of deaths on both sides and a complete break-down in Russian-NATO-European relations. I understand this could lead to serious economic and political sanctions against Russia that could lead to a possible collapse of the Russian economy and then some! Russians, in general, have got absolutely no interest in Vladimir Putin's Tsarist ambitions. The ordinary Russians, millions who are jobless, and vast swathes that are living in dire financial circumstances, cannot stand their leader. Not many people know that. And at the turn of this year, it is said, Putin was worth . . . wait for it . . . $70 billion! Let's put that into perspective. The average Russian's weekly wage is . . . wait for it . . . $86.00. I could go into the behind-the-scenes oligarch aggregation but shall leave that for a future blog.

Of course, when it comes to the Russian economy, as is probably well known, it depends solely on energy sales, especially gas. Russia has no other means of generating income. Well, maybe vodka sales! Without energy-related revenue, Russia would be as poor as any central African nation. If Joe Biden goes ahead with further sanctions, assuming there is a Russian invasion of Ukraine, there will be severe economic consequences. I do believe the Americans will place specific sanctions on Putin himself. But then, we do not know exactly what these shall be but I would imagine Mr. Putin will not like it and might do something stupid - cut off all gas supplies to Europe? 

Weighing it all up, and if I were to come face to face with Putin tomorrow, I would tell him something he must already know, he does not have to fear NATO! But the next few days are going to be possibly a mammoth threat to the world order, especially in Europe, if an invasion takes place!

I’ll finish this blog with the news I saw on Yahoo just five minutes ago. Russia and Belarus are to carry out military drills next month!!  

Prince Andrew, the Billionaire Paedophile Epstein and the Groomer Ms Maxwell

Well, it looks like Prince Andrew's possible rape claims against him will now collapse. This is based on Virginia Giuffre's $500,000 deal she struck in 2009 with the abhorrent sex-trafficker, Jeffrey Epstein. So the immediate result is that his possible legal association with Virginia Giuffre is over - for the now. I don't know why but there does seem to be a hidden truth behind what I would call The Mama and the Papas - Maxwell, Epstein and Andrew. In fact, it reminds me of that old Mamas and the Papas song, I Saw Her Again (1966). Well Prince, sir, according to Ms. Giuffre, you saw her not only once but three times.

The other day I watched Prince Andrew's infamous and yet sputtering 'tell-all' BBC TV interview with Emily Maitlis. Once again I take my hat off to Ms. Maitlis for leaving no stone unturned in her stalwart attempts of finding out the truth about the prince's ties and associations not only with Virginia Giuffre but also with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. But here's the point that, for me, seemed to spotlight Andrew's dishonesty and downright fabrication of events of the past. On the 10th March 2001, Ms. Giuffre has stated that she had sex with the prince at Maxwell's townhouse in London. When she posed the question I looked into his eyes as he paused for thought. No, no, no, I was with my daughter at a Pizza Express restaurant that evening. So, then, he doesn't recall spending the evening, dancing and drinking in the Tramp nightclub, and then the return to Maxwell's place to have sex. Ms. Maitlis asked him the question three times and he said he knew nothing about it. But he does know about going to a Pizza Express - vividly! Oh, come on Andy, we're all human just like you. I mean, what in life does a man or a woman remember most, having a wild night out followed by sex or eating a pizza?

Being one who has studied Buddhist psychology over the years, I think I can state in all honesty, I can usually pinpoint when somebody is blatantly lying. I mean he even declares that he doesn't remember that unforgettable photo taken at Maxwell's house in London where he stands smiling into the camera with his arm around who was then Virginia Roberts, with Epstein's girlfriend in the semi-background.

What is not brought into the limelight is the billionaire and paedophile, Epstein, allegedly telling the then teenage Virginia Roberts, “to give the Prince whatever he demanded.” She was told to then report back to him with details of the sexual contact. I do ask myself if this young girl actually enjoyed her flirt with Randy Andy. After all, she does smile rather happily in the photo. And yet Andy says he does not remember the photo being taken!! Another lie. Christ Almighty Me! Look, Andy knew Epstein for 30 years all the way up to the latter's arrest and death in jail back in 2019. And in that BBC interview, he categorically stated that he knew absolutely nothing about Epstein's dark paedophile secrets? Liar!

I think the future of our Prince Andrew is looking bleak and I cannot see a way out of his complete acquittal in the coming months. I mean if somebody said to me, "Ian, we believe you had sex with a hooker you picked up in a Soho nightclub 20 years ago. Is it true?" I would reply absolutely not. And if I was further asked to appear in court to face my accuser - the prostitute - of course, I would because it never happened in the first place. Andrew throughout last year said he would never appear in court which makes me think he's guilty but still lies about ever meeting Ms. Giuffre.

And one last thing. Possibly 20 years from now Hollywood will make a film about all these shenanigans: The Prince and the Showgirl Part II?

The Story of Rebirth - a Memoir

 I was born in a castle, yes a castle, Airthrey Castle to be exact. This wonderful building was designed by the Scottish architect, Robert Adam, and constructed in 1791. It is located just outside of the small town of Bridge of Allan, Stirlingshire, Central Scotland. The castle was used as a maternity hospital during and after World War II before becoming part of Stirling University in 1965.

So here I was born and was brought up in the tiny village of Larbert about eight miles south of what is now the university. I cannot remember the exact year but it was when I was about six years old, I went with my mum, dad and brother in my dad’s car, to the area called The Trossachs. I recall it was a warm Sunday morning when we set off for what is some of the most beautiful and stunning landscapes in the whole of the country. It is also the location of the famous Loch Lomond.

Anyway, we were approaching the area where dad was steering the car around winding roads bordered on both sides with small mountains and ancient woods. I had never witnessed such beautiful sweeping countrysides before. The landscape got even more rugged as dad decided to pull into a lay-by for a five-minute rest. So I stepped out of the car and my senses were overwhelmed by the scent of flowers, of the conifer forest, the fresh, cool scent of Loch Lomond just 100 metres away, the earthy smell of the soil and of course the pine trees.

I couldn’t put my finger on it, after all I was a little boy, but somehow from somewhere I thought this wasn’t the first time. In fact, my eyes closed for about two minutes and then the sounds of the tweets of the little blackbirds, blue tits and the hovering hunter, the kestrel. My mum came over to me and tapped me on the shoulder. “Ian, what’s up?”

I came out of my reverie, my mind being somewhere else, in another era in time . . . where had I been?

So fast forward to the early 70s where I was getting interested in India, Hinduism, Buddhism, and everything else in between. I started reading about Indian history and the British Raj and the Indian subcontinent. And of course, I got ‘addicted’ to Indian curries. Why? There followed my first marriage and the birth of my son in the 80s. I was already a Buddhist by now and my book, Buddhism in Britain, had been published. And so I moved on.

My first marriage came to an end and by the year 2001, I was already married to my second wife. She was aware of my interest in India and related topics and then one day she said, “Ian, why don’t you go to India?” I thought about it for a minute and said, yes, I am going to India. So it was in September 2003 that I found myself on a flight to India where I would spend a couple of days in New Delhi before setting off to Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh on the foothills of the Himalayas. There I would hopefully meet with the Dalai Lama and make friends with some of the many Tibetans who’d made this part of India their home.

Well, after two sultry and, I hate to say it, smelly days in New Delhi, I was off to the Indira Gandhi International Airport to catch a flight to Pathankot Airport up in the Punjab. This flight took approximately one hour and forty-five minutes and I must confess it was a very bumpy ride! But we all had a safe flight and landing, and after a long wait to get through the arrivals terminal, I eventually got into a battered-up old taxi. The driver didn’t know much English but nevertheless, I was on my way to my destination: Dharamsala.

One of my overarching memories was how the long and twisting road was so narrow and passing vehicles and swerving to miss on-coming vehicles was, putting it bluntly, very scary. But it was the scenery. How to describe this magnificent northern area of India. Well, I was just awestruck by the scenery, the snowcapped mountains (actually the Himalayan foothills), the abundant forests, the alpine meadows and the small lake.

And then . . . something, something away down in the depths of my being came to the fore. I immediately asked the driver to stop. He turned to me and replied, “Okay just two minutes.” I continued to stare in awe at what I was witnessing and then we pulled over onto a small clifftop lay-by . . .

I got out of the car and stepped over to the edge. There was a slight silent breeze that seemed to grip my consciousness and suddenly I was taken back all those years to that moment near Loch Lomond in the Trossachs. I now know why I had that strange vision as a little boy; I now knew that, yes, I had been here before, had been on the foothills of the Himalayas . . . rebirth, or reincarnation, had suddenly become a definite reality. And this explained why, over many years going back to the 70s, I had this infatuation with India, its culture, religions, the Indian subcontinent.

The driver came over to me and tapped me on the shoulder. “Sir, are you okay?”

I turned to him with a beaming smile, “Yes, oh yes, very much so!”