Tia; OK, where do we start?
Russ; Russia?
Tia; All right then, Borris Yeltsin and his wild mood swings, his alcoholism, his hospital trip, where do we start? OK, let's start by answering questions because I could give a dissertation that would last a long time.
R; Well, as I was telling Mark, the fact that Russia is going through these changes now coincide with the changes that would have taken place had the government not run into a problem with Paula Jones.
Tia; Well, Paula Jones is just the tip of the iceberg. Let's call it the Star investigations. Your assumption is correct though, if neither of those incidents or investigations had ever happened, then yes you would be right now in case scenario B, C if you remember is one stage above C. That is correct. The Paula Jones incident and coinciding investigations are a blessing in disguise. If you look around internationally, you will see that a lot of the predictions that I made are in actual fact very accurate. The fact that I said that the problems would be external, and that was about three years ago. That all of it would start overseas about a year before things would be due to start happening in your country. About a year ago is when the markets and banks started to have their problems internationally so we are in case scenario B, A. What is happening in Russia should be happening in your country.
R; If both countries where going through this at the same time then we would be in a similar circumstances as Russia then?
Tia; Correct. Now Russia and her problems. Russia is going through some very severe economic times. If you'll remember, I stated about three months ago that Borris Yeltsin is in for a very rough time. The fact that they have elections coming up and they're talking the year 2000, I don't see that he can hold things together that long. Now in the past he has survived two coup attempts, I don't see that he would survive a third because his key allies that were on his side during both of them are people that he fired. His followers are in disarray because he fired half of them.
R; Is the army being paid.
Tia; That is very important. The army is being paid, but very sporadically. The civil servants are being paid but again, very sporadically. I believe some of them are working up to three months without pay. He's actually done something very clever or at least his advisors have. He's blaming other people for the problems and the people actually believe him because of the wording. What he is saying is that "I am trying to reorganise this country, I've given you this, I've given you that, but these people that worked for me that I fired are basically hindering improvements that I'm trying to implement that will benefit you. Unfortunately such statements do work and people believe. He has taken ideas done before in Russia and using them again to keep himself in power. Ok, let us take a look at Africa and this visit. Where on Earth is the one hundred and sixty six million dollars promised by the president to Africa coming from?
R; Is he lending it to them or giving it to them.
Tia; Giving it to them in aid packages because he wants them more democratic.
R; Well it's not like he should worry about them becoming communist?
Tia; I don't know what he playing at. It's my opinion that he is trying to take attention away from these quote, unquote, scandals.
R; Well how will this affect the next election?
Tia; Let's look at that. Let's go back in time about nineteen hundred years. I recall Omal talking about how around the end of the Roman Empire they used to auction off the seat of the emperor. Unfortunately and sadly to say, that is what is happening to the presidency. It not being auctioned off by money, but in your newspapers by popularity. Who is more popular and who is ideal for the position. Sometimes I have noticed from studying your planet that the most popular person is not always the smartest. The next person that wins the election, regardless of whether they are Democrat, Republican, Independent or whatever, is going to be elected purely on popularity.
R; Well I do have one observation to make.
Tia; OK.
R; Right now the gas prices are the lowest they've been in years, the markets are on the rise and it seems as though everything is rebounding. Is this something we can attribute to the fact that the government is effectively hamstrung over the scandals and investigations going on?
Tia; Pretty much so, yes.
R; Well I say let's keep it up, let's get a few more scandals going on here…(laughs)
Tia; No, you don't want a few more. What you have is enough because of the old adage the straw that broke the camels back. You see, that fact that I didn't factor in the moral factor of Clinton's presidency and I took in what I know of your race and all the relevant information I have I could have probably projected what is going on now.
R; So basically he screwed up in just the right way to make this an effective presidency.
Tia; Quite so and that's probably the first time in your countries history. I honestly can't fathom out how someone could mess up that bad and come out smelling like roses. And no matter who the next president is, they won't look half as good because they will want to take a hand in running the government like they are supposed to and will be blamed for any declines in the economy which are bound to happen. Anyway, I have to put the next speaker on so take care and I'll see you in a few.