My wish for 2016: Oil to be sold in $1 shops
Oil prices are going down. I feel like getting up and dancing with joy!
Indeed, input costs are decreasing, farmers and the industrialists feel like they can breathe better, etc. But the cause of my joy is different.
When oil got cheaper, the Russian ruble fell the other day to a 2015 low.
We have a saying, “Allah can’t slap you in the face!” Hey Vladimir, my man, how’s it going?
But something more extraordinary happened. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said Saudi Arabia could go bankrupt in five years if the oil price continues to fall at this rate.
Imagine this scenario becoming real.
This could be the best thing that could happen for Saudi Arabia. The Saudis might learn to succeed by working for instance. As a saving, qualified work force and educated population will be needed, that senseless extravagance, that unnerving lack of manners and laziness will end.
People will learn to earn money through labor and information. Education and working rights will by a necessity given to women. They will become visible in society, social life and on the streets. Oil is a liquid that has brought no good to the world. It is black and dark like its color.
If it loses its value, the conflicts for the sake of energy sources might slow down and the Middle East might even experience some calm.
At the moment my most bright and thrilling dream for the future of the world is for oil barrels to be sold in $1 shops.
Find me that builder
An 11-floor building in a residence in Maltepe on Istanbul’s Anatolian side was slated for destruction as if was found to be in decay.
Some 120 kilograms of dynamite was used to demolish the building. It did not go down.
Five blocks on the lower end were destroyed, but the upper floors were standing.
I am not sure what earthquake magnitude 120 kg of dynamite corresponds to.
I will not talk on New Year’s Eve about who benefits from urban transformation (which was begun to fortify weak buildings against earthquakes), how the buildings are chosen or how the companies are chosen to construct the new buildings.
Because despite a high fever, I feel joyous.
It’s just that… can you find me the person who built that building? I would like to buy a house from him.
What did Russia send us?
We are angry. We are resentful.
Like a person whose lover left, we are waiting for something sweet, a sign, a message from Russia. In the end something came from Russia. What was it? A message? The foreign minister? Additional natural gas as a New Year’s Eve present?
Matryoshka dolls? Vodka?
No! It was snow from Siberia.
The snow that came from across the street, is it a signal to thaw the ice?
It might as well be, if you ask my opinion. This is at least a consolation. We share a common climate. No, no I am not crying. I got some snow in my eyes.