From time to time, I revisit my old columns to make sure that I am not repeating myself and to find something fresh to write about. This time, I discovered that two past columns, written years ago, could happily be lifted and they would still be relevant. Obviously, the more things change, the more they remain the same, as a wise man once remarked.The columns I am referring to were on the mayhem that was created when Russia and then America decided to abandon Afghanistan and run back after having destroyed a country that had defeated them. They left the devastated country in the hands of the very Taliban they had vowed to exterminate and what was worse, they left behind a huge cache of weapons that fell into the very hands they did not want to inherit them. Few will forget the pathetic sight of desperate Afghans trying to board the planes that were going to ferry the goras back to safety, some even tossing little babies for soldiers to take with them.Now tell me, how different from the above is what the same goras have done to the Middle East? Far from getting rid of the mullahs and Hezbollah, they are now desperately seeking some kind of face-saving deal with the Iranians, who hold all the Trump cards (forgive the bad pun). What is worse, they have plunged the entire world (including their own UN allies) into an economic crisis that shows no sign of easing. The ‘Muddle East’ and the locked Strait of Hormuz are going to be their nemesis in almost the same way that Afghanistan was/is.European nations are helplessly battling the double whammy of the unprecedented heatwave and their failing economies by blaming what they have always done: it’s all because of illegal immigrants.The UK has seen six PMs in the past decade and all they can do is watch their once prosperous country slide into a deeper mess than ever imagined. Their economy, their once-famous National Health Service (NHS) and their young have devolved into total anarchy. Their young people, pampered by the Welfare State, are not interested in higher education or hard work. The family and the Church — that kept people sane and civil — are no longer the institutions they once were and their idyllic countryside has more immigrants from East Europe and Asia than they can handle. I am convinced that their prosperous post-war society was built and sustained by the loot that all the ex-imperial powers had brought back from their erstwhile colonies. Now that they have run out of that resource, there is nothing left. Brexit was the last nail in their coffin that permanently estranged them from the rest of Europe.The high-minded lectures that are given to us by France, Belgium, Portugal, Spain and England about the abuse of human rights in Africa and Asia sound so hollow now when their own countries are attacking those of another colour or nationality. If India was blamed for being casteist, can we now ask whether they were not divided by class and feudalism? And if we look deep enough, what the British did to destroy religious harmony in the subcontinent by partitioning it into areas of Muslim, Hindu and Buddhist faiths is in no small measure responsible for the harvest of hatred we have to now reap.Let us come now to the dreadful heatwave sweeping over this once temperate zone. For years, climate guardians had been warning the developed nations about their profligate overuse of the earth’s resources. Their response was to point to the developing world and place unfair restrictions on the use of coal as it was polluting the world. Today, we all know who is suffering the most as the hot winds from the Sahara, coupled with the El Nino hovering over the Pacific, are singeing their own lands. This is no time to say, ‘We told you so,’ but all careless actions have punishing consequences. To read and see on our TV screens people in countries such as Switzerland now frantically buying air-conditioners to cool their homes, is a bizarre sight. There have actually been days when New Delhi has had lower day temperatures than London, Barcelona or Basel! What is worse, the poor dears don’t know how to deal with such heat.Their homes are designed to keep heat in and have low ceilings, double-glazed windows and no provision for cross-ventilation. The power consumption has reached levels that can no longer be supplied so schools and offices have to be shut down. The tar on the roads is melting, railway tracks are coming apart… literally a meltdown.Finally, a word on the ongoing FIFA World Cup mania. Look at all the teams and what do you see? Barring Messi and one or two others, most of the brilliant players are from Africa or the Caribbean. Even that unheard-of little Cape Verde (I’m not sure where it is on the world’s map) has humbled mighty opponents. England managed to just about defeat Congo, while Scotland quietly bowed out of the tournament.Reflect on these gutsy coloured players —many of them probably did not even have proper gear or the kind of high-protein diet that the pampered European teams get. A lesson there? I think so. Will it be learnt? I don’t think so.— The writer is a social commentator