River Talk 3: Elizabeth The Long Reigning Queen

Disclosure: Millennium River is an independent website that uses hyperlinks. Some of these hyperlinks are affiliate links. When you click and purchase a product(s) through these links, I may earn a commission on qualifying sales. This is done at no extra expense to you. You may also support this website directly via PayPal. Unless it is clearly stated, the content is not sponsored.

What Should I Say About The Queen?

Before starting River Talk #3, I was not even sure if I were seriously going to choose Queen Elizabeth II as the main topic for this River Talk. I did. Now I have to think about what I should say about the Queen. Should I praise the Queen? Should I talk smack about the Queen? None of the above? A blend of both? Should be interesting to see where the course of the River will flow for Talk #3. So why the Queen again? I had a list of other topics in mind, but a week ago I had a discussion with relatives about what other ideas I could toss into the mix. Queen Elizabeth II and Platinum Jubilee were suggested to me. I dismissed it at first because I personally do not find the Queen to be that interesting of a topic. First smack point right there. Days later, I thought some more about it. I grew increasingly curious about what exactly Platinum Jubilee is. Is it a medal? A party? A song written specifically for the Queen? Not only did I become curious, I happen to already have a United Kingdom category in my River, since I have written topics pertained to them. There are only 2 write-ups in that category, so this is a good opportunity to throw a 3rd one into it.

What Is Platinum Jubilee?

Till this moment, I never knew what the word “Jubilee” meant. Upon reading the dictionary definition for it I have learned that a jubilee is the celebration of any of certain anniversaries, such as the twenty-fifth (silver jubilee ), fiftieth (golden jubilee ), or sixtieth or seventy-fifth (diamond jubilee ). I was not too off about it being a party and medal then. I do not know if they gave her a literal platinum medal during the celebration or not. However,  Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medals are a thing. The Province Of Alberta is awarding these medals to 7,000 Albertans throughout 2022 in recognition of significant contributions to the province. Alberta further mentions that it is a one-time program that will conclude on February 05, 2023, at the end of the Platinum Jubilee year. It seems that this has to do with Sunday, given that 2022 Jubilee was on the 6th of February.

Now Alberta made me curious about other provinces: are they doing this too? Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia have announced plans for Platinum Jubilee medals. New Brunswick and Manitoba are considering it, while Ontario, British Columbia and Québec have opted out. Québec opting out does not surprise me, but Ontario and British Columbia seems odd. Ontario is Canada’s most populous province by far, and is home to the nation’s capital. British Columbia’s name is clearly inspired from the United Kingdom’s alternate name Britain. Perhaps it is not in their interest because platinum medals of the Queen are uninteresting to these peoples. Who knows for sure.

Those feeling left out can treat themselves to a 2022 Silver Year Of The Tiger or Gold Maple Leaf Coin. What I would like to talk about next is her 70-year reign.

70 Years

70 years. Wow! 70 years of commitment to service is an extremely long time to commit something. I have always wondered why, though? Why would someone want to commit the rest of their life to such a huge role? I have tried searching “Why Is The Queen So Committed?” but have yielded a variety of media posts. I did find one thing though: Her Twitter. Yes, the Queen Tweets. Seeing as though this is 2022, it is both comical and amusing how everyone and everything has social media. Even animals have social media accounts. Can you imagine if ancient Kings and Queens had Twitter? Queen Hatshepsut? King Solomon? Julius Caesar? That could be a topic entirely on its own. What did I find on the Royal Family’s Twitter? “I declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service” But why? From The Royal United Kingdom website it says that the Queen sees public and voluntary service as one of the most important elements of her work. She has links – as Royal Patron or President – with over 600 charities, military associations, professional bodies and public service organisations. These vary from well-established international charities to smaller bodies working in a specialist area or on a local basis only.

We can safely assume that she loves to serve and has a life-and-soul dedication to being involved in the community. It also helps having longevity in your genes and having access to the best care possible. Elizabeth II has been on the throne since February 06, 1952, making her the second longest monarch in the world. Who still has her beat? French King Louis XIV. He served as monarch for more than 72 years after taking the throne at age four and dying in 1715. I had to double-check the 4-year-old part. I know ancient Judah had Kings that reigned from the tender age of 7, but 4? Certainly would not happen in modern times. With Elizabeth II being 96 years old, there is a chance that she could beat him, and become not just the longest reigning monarch in Britain, but the longest reigning monarch ever! For some reason, I have a strong, unknown feeling that history will not see such a long-reigning monarch again. So this naturally leads to the next point: The future of the Monarch.

The Future Of The Monarch

Queen Elizabeth’s appearances throughout many places in the United Kingdom and the world over her lifetime has brought much admiration to her. However, her days are numbered. In 2022, she could not even attend certain events due to health issues that flared up. One that has been revealed was episodic mobility issues. Not surprising given how old her skeleton is. Who will take her place next? Prince Charles? Prince William? Some people — or should I correctly say, a lot of people think the monarchy should be abolished altogether. If you ask me, I am indifferent to whether they want to abolish it or not. If they do decide to keep it going, which they almost certainly will, I believe that Prince Charles should pass the torch to Prince William. Charles is 73. William is 39-turning-40 real soon at the time of this writing. With William being far younger, he can reign for far longer continuously, while modernising the monarchy.

The Royals have been buffeted by allegations of racism and bullying, a sex scandal involving Prince Andrew, demands that they apologize for Britain’s historic role in the enslavement of millions of Africans, the departure of the Sussexes, and bribery involving a charity with Prince Charles and how a Saudi demanded British citizenship if the Saudi gave him much money. The Royals are aware that they have a lot of work to do. Both Charles and William have already been taking on a lot of changes, and plan to make some changes for the better. How good they will perform has yet to be seen. I do hope that whoever is in charge will make the changes that need to be made.

Remove The Queen From Us

At this time, there are now 6 Caribbean countries that intend to remove the Monarch as their sovereign. If this sounds familiar, it is because Barbados has removed the Queen as its head of state to become the Caribbean’s newest republic back in November 2021. Why? Why is there such a strong urge to pluck the Queen out of the Caribbean? These countries want the ability to elect their own head of state, independent of an external body, to oversee domestic and foreign affairs. They want to formally and symbolically unlink themselves from the former empire that enslaved, brutalized, and profited off their ancestors. The massive protests that took place in the United States over Anti-Black racism back in 2020 have further fueled the desire to do so. Some have called this the “The Awakening Of Black Consciousness”.

What do I think of this? While I personally have no hard feelings towards the Queen, I can totally understand why countries whose populations are predominantly Black, Indigenous or South Asian would want to rid themselves of an institution who they feel is not benefitting them. So what about Canada? Should Canada abolish the Monarchy? A survey from Angus Reid Institute says that most Canadians have a positive view of Queen Elizabeth II, but believe that we should separate after she dies. Those that believe in the Monarchy strongly believe it has allowed Canada to be the stable, functional country it is, and that removing it will be a lengthy, complicated process. Lengthy and complicated? True. I personally do not think it will be as complicated as some people make it look, but it will absolutely be no 1-year-job-and-done sort of thing.

Final Words

We can agree that the Monarchy is not perfect. The United Kingdom undeniably has a long record of atrocities. At the same time, the royal family existing now is aware of this and has worked hard on a variety of issues. Whether or not Canada decides to get rid of the Monarchy, I am fine with either move. I would prefer for Canada to focus on inflation and stagnancy at this time. As for the Monarchy’s existence in Britain, if Britain insists on keeping it, keep it. As long as they continue to improve and work towards fixing social issues, and maintaining a good relationship with people, the institution will last as long as it can.

River Talk 2: Elon Musk

Disclosure: Millennium River is an independent website that uses hyperlinks. Some of these hyperlinks are affiliate links. When you click and purchase a product(s) through these links, I may earn a commission on qualifying sales. This is done at no extra expense to you. You may also support this website via PayPal. Unless it is clearly stated, the content is not sponsored.

Too Many Elon Posts On The Internet

“You too, Millennium River?”, “Finally! I have been waiting for your opinion on this interesting individual!”, “Too many people talk about Elon Musk!”, or “I do not know you or care about you, but I clicked on your link out of sheer curiosity” is what you said in mind or perhaps even out loud when you saw that Elon Musk was going to be the topic for River Talk #2. If you are familiar with my River, it should not come as a surprise that the day would come where I would have a write-up solely dedicated to discussing Tesla’s Elon Musk. After all, I have done a lot of write-ups on electric vehicles. But, the grand question you have is what drove me to choosing Mister Musk? Do we not already have too many write-ups on the Internet discussing what some would say an over-discussed topic? To answer the first question, the truth is that I have toyed with the idea for quite a while a now. However, 2 things in 2022 surged my attention: Twitter and remote work. To answer the second question: yes and no. True, there are thousands — millions if we are to include all media formats be it articles, videos, and social captions talking about Elon Musk. So yes, you could say that Mister Musk is over-discussed, but at the same time there is a very legitimate reason for it: his character. The things he says, he does, or plans to do. Love him or hate him, you cannot deny that he is an extremely interesting man. Be it interesting in a good way, bad way, or perhaps a blend of both?

Points Of Discussion

• Work From Home
• 44 Billion Deal With Twitter
• Moving To Texas
• Full Self-driving
• Mars
• Tesla Getting Dethroned

Work From Home

Just because someone is a genius in some areas it does not mean he is a genius in others. It made numerous headlines when a Tesla memo revealed the following: 

“Anyone who wishes to do remote work must be in the office for a minimum (and I mean *minimum*) of 40 hours per week or depart Tesla.” – Elon

Terrible. Absolutely terrible! How could somebody so blatantly ignore the immense benefits remote work does for the world? Over the pandemic, we have learned that remote work offers numerous health, environmental, and financial advantages. In fact, I have even written an entire article about this back in 2019. In 2022 the cost of living has been shooting up, but wages are not increasing to match up. Housing, food, fuel, and all. I have said it numerous times, and I shall say it yet again: all jobs that are capable of being done remotely, should remain 100% remote. There are certainly some positions that cannot be remote such as assembly workers, truck drivers, surgeons, and so forth. For all other roles that can, let them stay that way. Employers must realize that being a control freak over their employees will not last long. Some employees quit and move on. The Great Resignation anyone? With fuel prices surging, allowing remote-capable employees to remain totally remote, saves them fuel, transportation time, health, and other benefits. This allows them perform their role even stronger, hence the increased productivity. To make matters worse, Elon made sure to emphasize the minimum 40 hours per week part.

Why? Because he often exceeds 40 hours and expects employees to do the same. Not healthy! This is terrible and leads to exhaustion and poor health. Considering that this is the same man that glorified the stereotype of Asian workers working round the clock, I cannot say I am too surprised, but revolted. I am far from the only one. Germany’s biggest union hit back at Mister Musk’s return-to-the-office order saying, “An employer cannot dictate the rules just as he likes”. Meaning that the boss cannot just make unreasonable demands on the whim and expect everyone to obey without first discussing them with the people at the company.

44 Billion Deal With Twitter

When I first heard the news about Twitter agreeing to be bought up by Elon Musk for 44 billion, it annoyed me. Twitter should remain independent. Not sellout to anyone for a grand deal. Too many companies selling out to others is bad, because it creates less competition. Even in areas where it does not, the company being bought will no longer be the same it was. What else annoyed me about it is the 44 billion part. For Canadians such as myself, that is $55,267,300,000.00 or 52.2 billion Canadian in shortened form. See, had it been 3 billion, maybe 5 billion absolute tops, it would not have been too bad, but 44 billion? Does he not see how many people are struggling? With that type of money he could completely eradicate poverty in not just the United States, but all of North America. Some people will say that it is his money, and that is certainly true. However, if you are public figure who openly flaunts an outrageous purchase, you are bound to receive both valid and invalid commentary over what you are doing. In this case, I am far from alone. Numerous other outlets and private individuals also suggested that the 44 billion should be used to help people.

So this begs a question: why does he want to control Twitter? To allow complete Freedom Of Speech, and eradicate the bots that plague Twitter. Freedom Of Speech is a whole other topic on its own, but I will say this: No, I do not believe in absolute freedom of speech. In fact, I think it is high time that we even stop calling it that. In regards to the bots, I actually totally agree with Elon on this. Bots are a huge problem on social media. The fact that he is giving the bot problem such public attention is very good. Now if only YouTube, Instagram and other social media platforms would take an aggressive stance against bots. On YouTube in particular, there is a present problem going on with bots abusing the comments section. Particularly famous channels where bots are spamming fake giveaways through WhatsApp or Telegram. Bots definitely need to be eradicated. Well, it may not be possible to totally eradicate them, but at least significantly reduce their numbers to the point that real users vastly outnumber them. 

Moving To Texas

When I first heard the news about Elon moving the Tesla headquarters for Texas, I was did not think he was actually going to do that — until he actually did. Why? On the surface, it did not seem to make any sense. Firstly, Tesla is notable for selling cars directly to consumers, instead of dealerships. Texas does not allow that, so Tesla has to use loopholes to get around that. Secondly, California has a far larger and stronger electric car culture, and this is proven in statistics of electric car sales and infrastructure. But to be fair, Tesla is not the only company that moves headquarters. Far from it. A lot of companies do this all the time for various reasons. Texas in particularly attractive for businesses because it does not have income or corporate tax. Not only that, but to my surprise, I recently learned that Texas has enough solar, wind, and water to completely replace coal, albeit with one present major caveat: its electrical grid needs to update transmissions lines. Definitely a fixable thing. Despite being stereotyped as a gasoline-guzzling, diesel-drinking, country music singing, barbeque-gobbling, horse-riding, football-throwing state, it has the potential to flip the switch and become a powerhouse in renewable electrical generation. Perfect for charging electric cars.

Despite all these advantages, there is a word that he really did this more so to protect his wealth than save money on Tesla. There is no doubt that California is an extremely expensive state to both live in and do business. But, Alphabet is still there. Apple is still there. eBay is still there. Lucid Motors, a rival start-up with less money wants to remain there. Even notorious Faraday Future has headquarters there. Nevertheless, I must say that Giga Austin is an impressive factory. California or Texas ultimately boils down to personal preference and finances.

Full Self-Driving

Allow me to begin this part of the Talk with 2 quotes:

“Elon’s tweet does not match engineering reality” -Andrew?

“Tesla is unlikely to achieve Level 5 (L5) autonomy, in which its cars can drive themselves anywhere, under any conditions, without any human supervision, by the end of 2021, Tesla representatives told the DMV” – Tesla Engineers

You know what I have to personally say about Full Self-Driving, as in Absolutely-No-Human-Ever-Needed? Full-blown science fiction. Until the day comes where cars have organic brains and eyes with the capability to make conscious reactions, vision, and judgement, there will be no such thing as Absolute Autonomous Driving. I will go as far to say that we should stop calling it self-driving and rename it to Assisted Driving. Advanced Assisted Driving is both completely realistic and honest. Cars are machines. They will never be able to have eyes that see, and brains that judge and react. An Advanced Assisted Driving Car with sober, law-abiding occupants is the way to go forward with.

Mars

Elon has been open about his intention on sending humans to Mars. As recently as 2022, he has even gone as far to speak to the media about his desire to have 1,000,000 colonists to Mars by 2050. I have done a full-blown blog post titled Do I Believe There Is Life On Other Planets? If you have never read it, let me tell you right off the bat why there is no life on the other planets and why there will never be: too cold, too hot, no solid surface, unbreathable, and dangerous levels of cosmic radiation. These descriptors do not fit all planets, but that is general summary for planets aside from Earth. For Mars in particular, the average surface temperature is -60 °C. Notice how I said average? During a Martian winter, temperatures drop to -125 °C near its North and South Poles. Summertime? 20 °C during the daytime, then a romantic -60 °C to -70 °C at nighttime. Feeling cold yet? Mars’ atmosphere is 95% carbon dioxide having only 0.13% oxygen. For comparison, Earth has 21% oxygen. Therefore, you absolutely cannot breathe on Mars. Too cold. Too poisonous. The only major thing Mars has going for it is that it has a completely solid surface which makes it at least possible for equipment to land there. This solid surface is also what has allowed us to send Rovers there to capture photographs of Martian landscape.

Send Rovers. Not humans. The hundreds billions that he would spend attempting to colonize Mars would be far better spent on improving Earth. Eradicate poverty. Clean drinking water with sanitary sewers and water treatment. Education and schools. Refurbish cities in dire need of repair. Securer borders. The list is vast. There is always something to be done on Earth. If we do not improve habitable Earth first, there is no way in the mighty galaxy that we are going to have a good time on dead-cold Mars. I suggest Elon make a fantasy movie about humans colonizing Mars instead. Science Fiction and reality should be treated separately. 

Tesla Getting Dethroned

Before I proceed with this part of the River Talk, allow me to make this clear: I do not want Tesla to become defunct. I want the company to remain successfully in existence alongside other companies. Competition is important. That said, there is growing belief that Tesla will be dethroned from #1 in electric sales. When exactly? I have not seen anybody make concrete predictions, but if you ask I would say sometime within the 2020s decade. Before 2030 would be a safe prediction. Why? The competition is catching up fast. Not just regular fast, but aggressively fast. The reason Tesla has been so powerful for so long is because it was the only company to offer not just an electrified car, but a car that was loaded with technological advancements and long range. The Nissan Leaf has been around for a longtime, but why did it not cause mass excitement? Because it was an ugly, front-wheel drive econobox. Tesla changed that. They showed the world that electric cars are hot, fun, practical, charge fast, and better than your gasoline car. You can even summon them with your smartphone. Finally, coming the 2020s, the competition has swung into fullgear with it. They are getting so serious, that a number of brands have pledged to become all-electric companies before the end of the decade.

On top of this, they have poured billions into factories and development. The result? Rivian R1T, Ford Mustang Mach-E, Porsche Taycan, Polestar 2 Long Range, and thousands more to come across the world. I should also mention that the Lucid Air sedan has a variant with 837 kilometres of range. And it is even more luxurious and refined than Tesla. We are only talking 2022 here, and we are already seeing all of this happening. By the time we hit 2025-26 there will be electric Maseratis, Alfa Romeos, Rams, Silverados, Sierras, and even an electric Ferrari. Not to mention cheap long-range electric vehicles which would be the biggest threat to Tesla’s sales.

Rivals and competition are one thing. Elon’s erratic behaviour is another that has hurt the company on not one, but multiple occasions. Remember when he smoked cannabis? Said that he would take Tesla private? Tweeted about a Hertz a deal? Downplayed Covid-19? I am not trying to bring things up for the sake of intentionally shaming him, but he continues with his antics to this very day. The most recent example is the ongoing Twitter deal. Twitter Shareholders are now angry at him for sowing confusion and being fickle.

Final Words

I do not hate Elon Musk. I wish him no evil. He has done wonders in the automotive industry for getting all the major onboard with electrification, including super stubborn ones like Toyota and Stellantis. Even exotics like Lamborghini, Ferrari, Bentley and Rolls-Royce are brining all-electric models this decade. Elon has worked mad hard to get where he is today. Aside from being widely known as the founder of Tesla and SpaceX, he is also responsible for the creation of The Boring Company, and was even one of the co-founders for PayPal. Relating to the present Russo-Ukrainian War, a Ukrainian soldier said that Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites “changed the war in Ukraine’s favour” because they were helping troops stay online amid Russian strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure. That is a wonderful thing he is doing for to keep Ukrainians connected. If Mister Musk would calm down, be more focused, and realistic about things Tesla can enjoy a more stable future. No Martian getaways, uploading your brain to a hard drive, sentient cars, or hasty moves. 

River Talk 1: Russian-Ukrainian War

Disclosure: Millennium River is an independent website that uses hyperlinks. Some of these hyperlinks are affiliate links. When you click and purchase a product(s) through these links, I may earn a commission on qualifying sales. This is done at no extra expense to you. You may also support this website via PayPal. Unless it is clearly stated, the content is not sponsored.

River Talk Series

Welcome to the Millennium River Talk series! While I already do various write-ups in the form of articles, blog posts, and creative pieces, the River Talk series are a special category of blog posts. How so? Unlike the other usual blog posts that I post on this website, these types of blog posts have my personal opinion and commentaries far more heavily integrated integrated into them. As such, for those that may have known Millennium River for leaning more towards the professional spectrum, you may dislike the idea of this. To those people I say do not worry. River Talks will still have the signature Millennium River brand language style and all. The only difference is that they are even more opinionated and chat-like, hence the term “River Talk”. The first write-up for the River Talk is indeed a very dark one, but is also one that I have been really wanting to do.

Slavic Slaughter

It is what it is: Slavic Slaughter. Why does Russian need so much land? They are already almost twice as large as the second largest country on the planet: Canada. And for its sheer size, they cannot even properly populate they land they currently have, yet try to acquire more. To put it into perspective, Bangladesh has an area of 147,570 square kilometres, yet with a staggering 164 million people! Russia on the other hand has an area 17,125,191 square kilometres, but with only 144 million people. If you do the math, Russia is 116 times bigger than Bangladesh, who at the same has 20 million more people than it. Truly mind-blowing. But what is even more mind-blowing in a very sad way is the slaughter for more land and resources. Yes, I know there is far more to it, and that is exactly what I am about to discuss further below: Why is Russia slaughtering Ukraine in the first place? Is it really for just more land? Is NATO really a threat? Did Joseph Biden get on Vladimir Putin’s nerves?

What I Had Previously Known

When I became aware of the situation, the gist of it was Ukraine is “ours” and NATO cannot be on Russian boundaries. So before writing any further into this talk I decided to watch a detailed 30-minute video on the full scoop of the situation.

Notes I Gathered

• Ukraine “belongs” to Russia
• NATO is a threat
• Ukraine’s tariffs for sending oil through them to Europe are too high
• Stopping Ukraine from becoming a major player in the petroleum industry
• When Ukraine became too pro-EU and Pro-West, they ousted their pro-Russian Government which was deeply upsetting and offensive to Russia.

Direct Demands:
1. Ukraine never join NATO
2. Bring NATO troops from Eastern Europe all the way back to the pre-1997 boundaries, ending them at Germany
3. Freeze the NATO alliance as is and add no more new members

Jealous Control Freak

Putin is behaving like a man who cannot get over his break-up with his former wife. From the day they split, he never stopped thinking about it. He kept a dangerous, jealous, controlling eye on her. Watching her success. Watching her assets. Watching her wave the flag of independence loud and proud. Watching her get increasingly comfortable with a group of people who do not share his values. Out of sheer spite and jealousy, he proceeds to robbing a portion of value from her house. Her friends react in disgust. Later, as the desire to bring her under full control surges, he sends a crew of his men to capture her! She is caught, and illegally living under his possession. Nevertheless, she is fighting furiously for complete freedom, while calling on her friends to help.

Ukraine Belongs To Russia

Ukraine, alongside all other former Soviet countries legally and officially voted independent from Russia. This is a solid fact. They do not want to be connected to the Russian empire. Not even Belarus wants to be connected Russia, despite being one of their closest friends. Ukraine has its own language, ethnicity, and culture which it is firmly proud of. Yes, it is an undeniable fact that the Slavic countries do share a common origin and were once under the same lands. We can say the same thing for other languages and peoples. Do we see other countries at this time trying to annex the smaller brother tribes into the greater brother? No. Ukraine does not belong to Russia.

NATO Is A Threat

100% fabricated. NATO even has a fact-checked page debunking all of Russia’s blatantly absurd claims. One of the most regurgitated claim is that NATO is encircling and trying to contain Russia.

“NATO is a defensive alliance, whose purpose is to protect our member states. Our exercises and military deployments are not directed against Russia – or any other country. This myth also ignores geography. Only 6% of Russia’s land borders touch NATO countries. Russia has land borders with 14 countries. Only five of them are NATO members. Outside NATO territory, the Alliance only has a military presence in Kosovo and Iraq. The KFOR peacekeeping mission is carried out with a United Nations Security Council mandate. NATO’s non-combat mission in Iraq contributes to the fight against terrorism and is carried out at the request of the Iraqi government, with full respect for Iraq’s sovereignty. In contrast, Russia has military bases and soldiers in three countries – Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine – without the consent of their governments. Russia also has amassed over 100,000 troops on Ukraine’s border and is threatening to invade Ukraine.” — NATO

The last line has not been updated, as we all know that Russia is presently invading Ukraine. They have been doing so since February 2022 up to now, June 2022. Another thing that has not been mentioned is that Russia’s aggressive behaviour has actually caused NATO to expand even further. Finland and Sweden have been neutral countries. Even in the height of the Cold War they remained neutral. The invasion of Ukraine drove them into a drastic change of mind, and caused them to apply for NATO membership. I do not blame them. Russia does not share modern 2022 values with the rest of Europe. If I were the leader of a tiny country right next to an angry giant, I would not hesitant at the chance to join a massive military alliance.

Russia Must Remain Europe’s Biggest Oil Producer

Russia is an absolute oil titan. While I knew that Russia was one of those places that produced a lot of oil, it was not until now, June 2022, that I learned that Russia is 3rd largest oil producer on the planet. Only Saudia Arabia and the United States produce more oil. Considering how “small” Saudi Arabia is in comparison to gigantic Russia, I find it more mind-blowing how so much oil produced from land drastically smaller than Russia and the United States. Back to the point of oil, Ukraine apparently has a lot of oil, too. Not only oil, but they also compete with Russia for crops. So much so, that some even nickname it the breadbasket of Europe. Though it goes beyond just Europe. Africa also happens to be a major client of Ukrainian wheat, so we could say that it is more so the breadbasket of the Old World, alongside Russia.

Russia apparently sees this as not just some rivalry, but a grave threat to their domination. Russia wants the major oil and wheat profits to itself. But why? What is wrong with a little competition? After all, healthy competition makes rivals stronger and better. Simply put, Russia is behaving like a big, successful star, afraid of the up-and-coming star, because the rising star is no longer as close to them as before. Ukrainian independence? They hated them for that. Before Russia built pipelines in several other regions, they had to pipe the oil through Ukraine to get it to other part of Europe. The tariffs were high, and they hated that. When Ukraine started becoming increasingly pro-EU and Pro-West, particularly during Euromaidan in 2014, they ousted their pro-Russian Government, Viktor Yanukovych, which was deeply upsetting and offensive to Russia. Russia then took this opportunity to illegally annex Crimea, giving them access major ports in the Black Sea and lots of natural resources. On top of this, the Western companies that had been involved in the oil business left, leaving Ukraine unable to take back Crimea when Russia stole it.

Fast forward to now, we can clearly see that Zelenskyy was right about the West and Europe not doing enough to punish Russia for this illegal annexation. Had Ukraine’s friends given them the support and attention they are receiving now, Russia would not have been able to walk away with Crimea back in 2014. The lack of tough action gave Russia the time to plan, build up, and carry out massive military aggressions years later.

Bloodthirsty Race To #1

The route of Putin’s tactics is money. The whole NATO blame game is nothing more than Putin afraid of the West getting in the way of trying to restore Russia’s position as the #1 Empire of gas and oil. You see, the former Soviet Union had a lot of assets under its roof. It had vast amounts of oil, gas, wood, weapons, and money. Rather than trying to adapt with the times, Putin is resorting to an ancient mindset of conquering and exploiting, which is ironically making the Russian economy even worse. So much so, that some economists even went as far as saying that Putin could be setting Russia behind 30 years of economic development. Ouch! This bloodthirsty race to try and regain the #1 position as a global superpower is clearly not working in their favour. What may have worked centuries ago, will not work in the 21st century.

Putin has made a Pariah of himself. Europe, the largest consumer of Russia’s precious oil and gas, does not even want to buy oil and gas from them anymore. Well, most of it, that is. Serbia in May 2022 openly declared that they bought a good gas deal from Russia. Lithuania on the other hand, has already cut off all imports of Russian gas, while others are planning to get off of it as fast as they feasibly can. Not to mention the slew of the sanctions that have been placed on both Russia and Belarus. This race to the top is ironically pushing Russia to the bottom of the barrel. By the time the Russo-Ukrainian War is over, not only will the Russian economy be in a disastrous state, their recovery is going to be rough. So rough that is leads to another extremely interesting topic: Outcomes.

Outcomes

There are a lot of potential outcomes for the Russo-Ukrainian war. In a Russia-favoured scenario there are 3 options that come to mind:

1. Russia successfully manages to subdue Eastern Ukraine, thus leading to them capturing the rest of a financially and resource-drained Ukraine who can no longer continue fighting.
2. Russia may decide to completely forgo any plans of capturing Western Ukraine, and successfully walk away with Donbass and the already stolen Crimea.
3. Russia could go absolutely berserk with the violence and deployment, capture Ukraine entirely, and proceed to retaking non-NATO former Soviet countries to get as close as possible to restoring the former Russian empire. 

With the amount of sanctions in place, and the fact that there are vastly more countries on Ukraine’s side, it is very unlikely to see #1 and #3 happening. It is a fact that NATO does not want to get directly involved out of fear of mass destruction. Nevertheless, the alliance is closely monitoring the situation. Therefore, I believe the worse that can happen to Ukraine is that they end up losing the East, and are unable to retake Crimea. Any extreme act of violence that gets too close to Poland or another NATO country is bound to trigger NATO’s direct involvement. NATO itself has even stated that certain acts like the use of chemical weapons will prompt their direct response.

In a Ukrainian-favoured, or I should say mostly internationally favoured scenario, there are 3 major options that come to mind:

1. Russia loses and is forced to remove Putin from power and have a complete transformation of government
2. Russia not only loses the Government, but is also forced to disarm
3. The loss could end up being so severe, that it not only results in the full return of Ukraine’s territories, but also results in the dissolution of Russia.

If Russia loses, it is 99% safe to say that scenario #1 is going to happen. I initially never thought about the possibility of the Russian Federation itself breaking up further into separate countries, till I came across a post somewhere. Upon looking into it, it turns out that the hypothetical Dissolution Of Russia is not a new topic. In fact, there is a full-blown Wikipedia page on it, Quora discussions on it, and Reddit discussions on it as well. I personally do not think that will happen for now. At the same time, I would not be greatly surprised if it does. History has proven time after time that “great empires” always end up getting dissolved when the primary holder can no longer bare the burden of all that land and responsibility. British Empire? Roman Empire? Ottoman Empire? Mongol Empire? Where are they now? Gone and broken up. Depending on how bad the Russian economy gets, and what type of transformation the government undergoes, #3 could happen within the 2020s decade, perhaps closer towards the end of the decade.

Other World Wars Going On

Syria, Palestine, Yemen, Afghanistan, and East Africa? While much of the World is deeply focused on the Russo-Ukrainian War, I have seen questions in regards to why is Ukraine getting so much more attention and funding than other wars that are just as bad, if not, worse, and have been going on long before the Russo-Ukrainian war. Here is where things are going to get touchy and offensive to some, but I have to say it: it is because those countries are not considered important enough in the eyes of the West. Yes, the United States, Canada, and parts of Europe have indeed accepted a fair bit of refugees from these countries. Yes, some relief and aid has been sent to them. The question remains though, why are efforts not determined enough to fix these countries? It is combination of a lot things.

Many people feel that some places, particularly Afghanistan, Syria, and Somalia for example, are unfixable Danger Zones that are not worth the continual effort. People also point out that it is because these are non-White countries, thus leading to increased scrutiny and distrust against these peoples. Islamic countries tend to be stereotyped as being incompatible with Western values, and have a high terrorist rate. African countries on the other hand, Islamic or not, also tend to get looked down as inferior, diseased, dirty nations for being dark-skinned. Again, these reasoning all go back to them being too different from the West.

Going back to value point, a lot of countries that tend to be ignored, or helped limitedly, do not add financial gain to the West because they are too poor. See, with Ukraine and Russia being the  crop baskets and oil pockets of the old world, it is easy to see why the West would pay so much attention to making sure the global flow of goods are not interrupted. Think about it: Taiwan Versus Laos. Should China decide to attack the latter, how is the West going to respond? They would scold China, yes. They would also allow Laotian refugees to flee for safety. They would send some aid. Help more or less would end there. Now if China were to invade Taiwan, which is something that the West is openly concerned about right now, Biden already went as far to say that he would forcibly defend it. Not just him, but many other Nations too. Why? Because Taiwan is a major semiconductor and electronics.

Clearly, it is combination of how profitable a country is in global trade or how Westernized they are that determines how much support they will get in hard times. While I can understand why it is important for major global centres to not get disrupted, could it be possible that some countries often ignored could end up being major players in the future? Certainly. Which ones? That is something I do not have an answer to. The powerhouses today, were not always powerhouses. They too, had their chaotic, impoverished pasts. Each and every countries’ solution to its problems are complex and different. This does not mean that they should forever go ignored. Those that can be fixed easier than others, should be given a bit more of a chance.

Final Word

Truly, I do hope that the Russian-Ukrainian War ends utmost soon. Slaughtering people for the sake of money, oil, and power is deeply revolting. Russia is losing more of what they are fighting for, than what they are trying to gain. May Ukraine be fully liberated, including Crimea and Donbass. May the world learn from these events to prevent future ones similar to it from happening. Hopefully it if ends soon enough, the World can start looking into fixing other conflicts before they turn into major ones that end up impacting all countries. Early prevention is key.