A Spike Milligan quip

Posted on April 2, 2025 by odeboyz

“What would you rather have: a boring truth, or an exciting lie?”

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War Studies: Crimea, 2014: Might is right

Posted on April 2, 2025 by odeboyz

“Might makes right” has been described as the credo of totalitarian regimes.1 The doctrine was first developed by the Ancient Greeks, “justice is nothing else than the interest of the stronger”….”2

The Russian invasion of Crimea was an audacious example of ‘might is right’. Democratic politicians were paralysed into collusion as they didn’t understand the logic of annexation. They deluded themselves into believing war was history. The lessons of the ferocious 1990s Balkan wars were forgotten.3 Presumably they thought that was an aberration, which could be safely ignored.

Putin paid attention and his invasion of the Crimea was predicated on western flabbiness. It was a triumph for Realpolitik.4

On 27 February [2014], Russian armed forces without insignias seized the building of the Supreme Council of Crimea and the building of the Council of Ministers in Simferopol. Crimea belonged to Russia again.5

The annexation took two days. Britain’s William Hague said

‘This action is a potentially grave threat to the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine. We condemn any act of aggression against Ukraine’. (my emphasis)

Hague’s ‘potentially grave’ remark is supine. It mirrors Hitler’s contempt for Chamberlain who he described as a ‘worm’ in 1938,

He [Hitler] told me [Chamberlain] privately….. that after this Sudeten German question is settled, that is the end of Germany’s territorial claims in Europe. 6

Hague’s ‘potentially grave’ remark was Britain’s response to the invasion of a European country. Hague didn’t advise against British participation in the Olympic Games in Sochi even as the invasion was taking place in Crimea. Presumably he didn’t want to inconvenience athletes who’d trained hard. Britain, Europe and the USA imposed sanctions, which are notoriously ineffective. Putin had called the West’s bluff.

Although this wasn’t 1930s appeasement, it was close. Putin concluded the West would think that the Russo-Ukraine conflict was a, “….quarrel in a far away country between people of whom we know nothing.7 A few months later Putin’s campaign to annex eastern Ukraine began leading with inexorable military and political logic to the 2022 invasion.8

Notes

1 Might makes right – Wikipedia

2 loc.cit.

3 Balkans war: a brief guide – BBC News

4 Realpolitik – Wikipedia

5 Russia’s 2014 invasion of Crimea – a short history | Sky HISTORY TV Channel

6 Neville Chamberlain – Wikiquote

7  loc .cit

8 Russian invasion of Ukraine – Wikipedia

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Working at the White House

Posted on March 26, 2025 by odeboyz

“If I’m going to be trivial, inconsequential, and deceitful…I might as well be in government.”

Joseph Heller Closing Time (1994) p159

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Book Review: Lucy Hughes-Hallett ~ The Scapegoat: The brilliant brief life of the duke of Buckingham (2024

Posted on March 26, 2025 by odeboyz

Lucy is a brilliant biographer. She uses her vivid writing skills to paint a picture of people and period. Her chapters range from a single page to full-scale analysis.

The book includes stunning colour plates of some the 17th century’s greatest art.

The duke of Buckingham (1592-1628) is amazing. He had superb ‘soft’ skills, which promoted his entry into King James’s inner-circle of courtiers. But he was unique as a courtier. James was homosexual. To be his ‘favourite’ you too had to be gay. Regardless of whether you were or not.

Every courtier wanted to be the king’s favourite but having a ‘love affair’ as a job! It didn’t matter whether Buckingham was sincere. For James all that mattered was that he believed it to be the real thing. Lucy’s suggests Buckingham was indeed the lover of James.

Buckingham was much more than the plaything of a queer king. And the book is brilliant in telling the story.

A long (628 pages) read but worthwhile.

Try this

“Buckingham’s own clothes for the trip were extravagantly beautiful. The suit in which he planned his entrance into Paris was of ‘rich white satin’ and white velvet, ‘set all over, both suit and cloak, with diamonds’. With it he would wear in his hat a ‘feather made with great diamonds’. His sword-belt, hatband and spurs would also be diamond-studded. The list-maker estimated the value of the outfit at £80,0001….enough to fund a four-month war.”

p400

Note

1 Inflation calculator | Bank of England £80,000 in todays’ money is a scarcely credible £166,160,000

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In your dreams

Posted on March 22, 2025 by odeboyz
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Meal Time Prayers

Posted on March 19, 2025 by odeboyz

Jenny: Do you pray before you eat?

Eleni: No. My mum’s Greek and she knows how to cook.

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Trump, Musk and Tesla

Posted on March 19, 2025 by odeboyz

“Tesla has lost more than one-third of its market value since mid-December as Musk deepens his association with Trump.”1

Reputational damage is lethal. Gerald Ratner called his jewellery ‘crap’2 and within two years had lost his chain of companies. Tesla is identified with Musk personally. Tesla’s leadership in the mass electric vehicle (EV) revolution made Musk a multi-billionaire. EVs became, for a time, synonymous with Tesla.3

Keeping a sense of perspective as a multi-billionaire is challenging. Musk failed. He  funded Trump’s 2024 election campaign with $277m and pivoted into politics. Multiple appearances at campaign events plus, Trump’s infatuation with extreme wealth, has given Musk unparalleled unelected power.

Musk believes he has unique managerial skills. He bought Twitter for $44bn by selling Tesla stock. He sacked 80% of the staff using his ‘infallible’ managerial ‘skills’.4 He rehired many of them days later because they held critical roles.5 Musk has reduced ‘X’’s (Twitter) valuation by 71%.6

Ever since the infamous Nazi salute (see Addendum) Musk made at Trump’s inauguration, Tesla has become toxic. Its stock market valuation has plummeted.7 Trump made a lame effort to ‘rescue’ Tesla with a ‘choreographed‘ purchase  at the White House. (see Addendum) Subsequently it seems Trump’s endorsement was, as it were, bought with a linked payment.8

Trump is dazzled by Musk’s wealth and assumes he’s a genius. He nurtured Tesla when it was struggling but can he replicate that success?

“…successful management is often not portable, because an ability to overcome constraints in one business doesn’t guarantee an ability to do so in others.”9

Evidence suggests Musk doesn’t have transferable management skills. Musk’s other companies were established with Tesla being used as a cash-cow. ‘X’, Space X, Starlink and the Boring Company are interesting but don’t have Tesla’s stellar qualities. His X-style mass sackings of Federal government employees is chaotic.

The Trump administration has halted the sackings of hundreds of US federal employees who worked on America’s nuclear weapons programmes.10

Trump worships wealth and therefore Musk. This has clouded his judgment. Worshipping wealth and losing a sense of reality isn’t new. Adam Smith identified the problem in 1759,

“Ambitious pursuers of wealth are driven by the desire to deserve and to enjoy recognition for their excellence, but their judgment of what is truly excellent is corrupted by the standards of a wealth-worshipping society.”11

Musk is worth about $370bn and Trump worships him because he’s 100 times richer than he is.

Addendum: Two photos

Notes

1 Trump talks up Tesla in White House show of support for Musk

2 Gerald Ratner: Honesty Isn’t Always the Best Policy | Odeboyz’s Blog

3 In Britain his happened with ‘Hoover’ where all electric floor cleaning devices were known as ‘Hoovers’.

4 Elon Musk tells BBC he’s cut about 80% of staff since taking over Twitter | CNN Business His bizarre attitude towards business can be seen with this quote from the same source, “Musk also cracked jokes during the interview, saying that he was “no longer the CEO of Twitter” and had been replaced by his pet dog, a Shiba Inu named Floki.” This is reminiscent of Nero appointing his horse as counsellor. Incitatus – Wikipedia

5 Twitter trying to rehire workers Musk fired days ago, sources say | Fortune

6 X, aka Twitter, now worth 71 percent less than what Elon Musk paid for it | Mashable

7 Elon Musk, world’s richest person, loses $120 billion! Why Tesla CEO’s net worth is taking a hit – The Times of India

8 Hours after Donald Trump announced that he was planning to purchase a Tesla, reports emerged that Elon Musk was considering a $100 million donation to a super PAC associated with the president. Source Hours after Trump promises to buy a Tesla, reports of Elon Musk’s plans to donate $100M to MAGA super PACs emerge The optics are appalling with Trump coerced into becoming a salesman for Musk.

9 Stumbling and Mumbling: Constraints

10 Trump administration tries to bring back sacked nuclear weapons workers

11 ADAM SMITH AND THE WEALTH-WORSHIPPING SPECTATOR | Journal of the History of Economic Thought | Cambridge Core

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The modern NHS

Posted on March 15, 2025 by odeboyz
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Four Yorkshiremen

Posted on March 12, 2025 by odeboyz

This YouTube video is extremely witty. Needless to relate I could join in with my memories of a 1940s childhood. But I won’t. I won’t because it would spoil your image of the ‘Good Old Days’.

Enjoy

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Book Review: Alastair Puddick ~ 46% better than Dave (2019)

Posted on March 12, 2025 by odeboyz

In economics ‘Hedonic Treadmill’ explains that people believe who  believe  in recipes for happiness are doomed to failure. They’re on a ‘treadmill’ with entirely illusionary possibilities for happiness. Continuous pleasure-seeking feeds dissatisfaction. At its most extreme it is corrosive creating permanent  dissatisfaction. This helps to explain addictive behaviour where hope turbocharges short bursts of bliss followed by despair.

I didn’t buy this book for insights into economics. I bought it because of its quirky title, which is shallow but true.

Dave Brookman, the protagonist, has a lovely suburban life. Loving wife, two children and a satisfying job in advertising. Everything is great until new neighbours arrive. His new neighbour is also called Dave Brookman with a wife, two children, works in advertising and the same age. A mirror image.

But

The new Dave Brookman has a bigger car, a larger garden and he owns  his advertising company. The old Dave Brookman implodes with rage. He compares every aspect of his life deciding he’s a failure. The new Dave is 46% better than he is. This is the plot.

Utterly mad, preposterous, implausible and compelling.

Give it try.

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