Laughing at myself this morning. One of my children landed a classic on me an hour ago. Message said government will introduce petrol rationing. Asked for the source and told the wife. Deluge of family WhatsApp’s and broad hints! Suddenly woke up. What a wally! Am I too trusting? Does old age and seeing the recurrence of patterns provide wisdom and insight or does severance from the daily grind to keep the money coming in mean you lose contact with reality?
I ask, having also seen this morning that President Trump intends to review America’s role and commitment to NATO. My reaction was as usual, slightly contrary to main stream. Why not from his point of view? After all the USA is protected by two very big oceans. Lots of tiny sovereign European states rubbing one another up the wrong way are not. Then there is the Ukraine conflict. I always wonder why it is assumed that Russia wants more land, when it is already the biggest country in the world? And why it is accepted that America has a fixation about its security that justifies two generations of economic war against Cuba, since the 1992 Cuba crisis, but Putin’s paranoia about NATO military expansion close to Moscow is in the eyes of the West brutal aggression? The bottom line seems to be : that might is right?
I like the idea of open borders from Calais to Bejing and a maglev, airspeed train all the way. Is this advanced naivety or advanced insight? Perhaps if Trump is starting America’s retreat into balanced thinking we in Europe can also start looking at the facts and listening to the other party’s point of view? Without having to always look over our American cousins shoulder too! After all, Russia does not have the resources, economic or military to invade continental Europe and China is still trying to find its 100+ year equilibrium after 200+ years of western colonial bullying.
Ian Campbell
1 April 2026
