43. NASRUDDIN DIGS A HOLE
Nasruddin’s neighbor saw him digging a deep hole in the yard. Nasruddin was barely visible but his neighbor could see shovelfuls of earth flying up out of the hole.
“Nasruddin!” he shouted. “What are you digging that hole for?”
Nasruddin clambered up out of the hole. “I need a place to bury all the rubbish left over from building the new barn.”
“And what are you going to do with this heap of earth from the hole you’re digging here now?”
Nasruddin paused and scratched his head. “I hadn’t thought about that. I suppose I’ll have to dig another hole!”
This Tale is from “Tiny Tales of Nasruddin” by Laura Gibbs. The book is licensed under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license. © 2019-2022 Laura Gibbs.
2024 is being billed as the greatest election year in history. More than 50 countries are going to the polls, that’s 7 out of its 10 most populous countries, with a combined population of 4.2 billion, that is more than half the world’s 8 billion population. Among these, for good or ill, one might add, the US election will be the most consequential, deciding life and death questions such as how much war the world will witness, how well its economy will do.
This is not because the US is a force for peace and development. On the contrary, it’s been weighing down on the prospects of peace and development for decades. Of course, the formal choices before the US public promise to change little, though a worsening on both fronts is entirely in the cards, no matter which of the two main contenders on the scene at present win the election. But will they even, will either of them win the election because there are so many uncertainties around this election? Will Biden run? Can Trump run? If not they, then who will represent this increasingly divided country? And if no one can, is civil war a possibility that has been canvassed in practically every major news outlet on the cards? And what will civil war in the US mean for the rest of the world? All these questions are part of the story of the 2024 elections. These are the circumstances in which they are being held. — Europe’s Loss Is America’s Gain by Michael Hudson (Posted February 28, 2024)