Nord Stream Sabotage – Cui Bono?

Everybody seems to agree that the massive leaks in the two Nord Stream pipelines from Russia to Germany are the result of sabotage. Huge amounts of natural gas – essentially methane – are bubbling up through the sea. But a couple of big questions present themselves.

The first is: “Who did it?”  President Yelenski of Ukraine suggests it was Russia, and for sure, Russia has been doing quite a bit of bad stuff recently. And no store should be set by Russian denials of anything. But why on earth would Russia sabotage the pipelines that it owns, and which it can and has used to blackmail the West in relation to the war in Ukraine? Russia knows full well that with winter coming in Europe, there are powerful political voices in Europe saying, “We need the Russian gas. Let’s force Ukraine to cease its counter-attacks on the Russians, and to do a deal whereby Russia gets to keep the eastern territories of Ukraine has its own, so that the gas can be restored”.

So probably not Russia.

Ukraine? It would seem to be in Ukraine’s interest to take

14 Seats Back

There have been some citizens of the United States of America who have complained their president Biden was allocated a seat back in the 14^th row at the funeral of the late Queen.

There are a number of things to say to them about this:

• First, expect that this is the likely consequence of your having waged a revolutionary war against the Crown, especially if you have not since had the decency to join the Commonwealth;
• And anyway, it was bad form, when you are losing your revolutionary war against the Crown, to have enlisted the assistance of the French monarchy;
• This is even more so given that you are discourteous enough to have attempted three times (each time, happily, without success) to invade Canada, which remains a nation proud to share its sovereign with its Commonwealth partners;
• We are pleased, of course, that your president turned up the funeral. But it would have been nice if he had dressed properly, in a morning suit rather than a mere lounge suit. Even the husband of the British Prime Minister put on a morning suit. Could Biden not be bothered?

Maybe the United States should give some thought, late in the day as it is, to whether it might even now apply to join the Commonwealth, and swear allegiance to King as its constitutional monarch?

That way, when CIII pops his clogs, its president at that time (whoever that might be) might get a better seat at the funeral?

The Red King

This is probably the wrong flag to fly here in Myponga Beach on this rainy Friday afternoon following the death of the Queen. And I do not have a proper vertical flagpole to fly anything at half-mast. Still, it is a small gesture of respect for a great Queen.

I have long tut-tuted at that those who have referred to her as “Queen Elizabeth”. She was not Queen Elizabeth. She was the Queen. But now, of course, it is different. The Queen is Camilla, and quite rightly so. For the moment, they refer to her as “Queen Consort” which is also perfectly correct as the title of the wife of a reigning king.[1] Soon enough, Camilla will be referred to quite simply as “the Queen”.