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In Prague, It Begins

Mass demonstration in Czech capital against energy crisis is the first of many we will see throughout Europe
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The winter of discontent that could bring down governments began today with a massive demonstration in the Czech capital:

Tens of thousands of Czechs protested in Prague against the government to demand more state help with rising energy bills, the largest manifestation of public discontent over the worst cost-of-living crisis in three decades.

About 70,000 people filled Wenceslas Square in the center of the Czech capital on Saturday, according to police estimates, with some carrying signs denouncing the country’s membership of the European Union and the NATO military alliance.

Czech inflation, driven mainly by surging housing costs and spiking energy prices, is currently the highest since 1993 and the central bank forecasts it to peak at around 20% in the coming months. 

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The Czech PM dismissed it all as a conclave of Russian sympathizers and dupes. Are the Russians exploiting this? Of course they are! But the fact remains that life has become very hard economically in Czechia.

This is not going to be the last such demonstration we see over the coming months. Wait till it turns cold.

Meanwhile, in the UK, 60 percent of British factories may fail, crushed by exorbitant energy prices. If six in ten British factories fail, Britain is going to be crippled, and probably will have a depression.

Putin is an SOB, for sure. But you can't heat your home or run your country's factories with anger at Putin, however red-hot it burns.

UPDATE: Now, in Bucharest. Here's an article (in Romanian) sent to me by one of my friends in Romania. He said that the author, former Prime Minister Victor Ponta, is not considered to be a credible character, but the sentiment he expresses here is widely shared in that country. I ran the article through Google Translate. His basic sentiment is that the people of Europe in general and Romania in particular are going to be among the big losers of this war, because the economy will tank. An excerpt:

However, there are big differences between the European countries that are suffering -- some in the West are so rich that they have the "audacity" to suffer for 10 years without really feeling it; others from the East are making a big fuss, they find tricky but effective solutions to save their economy and population; and others, like Romania, give everything, they don't ask for anything and they don't get anything in return and they don't bother to explain to people what is happening to them, why and what future awaits them!

My Romanian contact says that the people in his country are now beginning to stir with fear and resentment against their elites. Michael Yon calls this a "Global 1848".

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