The following is an article by me originally published in the December 2010 print edition of Linchpin. It has also been published online at Linchpin.ca and at Z-Net.Neoliberalism and Work in the Homeby Scott Neigh”If your Mom didn’t take care of you [w…
Continue readingMonth: November 2010
hold my hand, performance by Montreal artist Jessica McCorrmack
ottawa craigslist ; personals ; missed connections
hold my hand (City Hall Art Gallery)
Date: 2010-11-30, 11:59AM EST
Reply To This Post
December, Saturday 4 & Sunday 5
I invite you to meet me in a public space and hold my hand.
We will sit in City Hall Art Gallery and hold hands for 10 minutes (all details negotiated based on our mutual needs).
Jess
Locatio…
Continue readingCrazy Bitches R Us: John Reilly: Shut down the native industry and spend the money on natives
Former judge, John Reilly wrote a book: Writing Bad Medicine: A Judge’s Struggle for Justice in a First Nations Community and he say’s if he had the power he would “Shut down the native industry and spend the money on natives” It’s posted over at the National Post. The NP
Continue readingCrazy Bitches R Us: John Reilly: Shut down the native industry and spend the money on natives
Former judge, John Reilly wrote a book: Writing Bad Medicine: A Judge’s Struggle for Justice in a First Nations Community and he say’s if he had the power he would “Shut down the native industry and spend the money on natives” It’s posted over at the National Post. The NP
Continue readingCrazy Bitches R Us: John Reilly: Shut down the native industry and spend the money on natives
Former judge, John Reilly wrote a book: Writing Bad Medicine: A Judge’s Struggle for Justice in a First Nations Community and he say’s if he had the power he would “Shut down the native industry and spend the money on natives”
It’s posted ov…
Continue readingWorld Headlines Review: Wikileaks: Misanthropy and the Spectre of Scrutiny
Amid the bluster surrounding the public release of 278 of 251,287 secret and confidential USG diplomatic cables by Wikileaks as of Monday November 29th; more telling as to the behaviour and thinking of governments and vested interests is the current reaction in the world media and of public officials, than
Continue readingTaylorOwen.com: Oped in Macleans on Wikileaks
I have an opinion piece in Macleans on Wikileaks. In short, I think we need to think carefully about whether we really want Wikileaks to make our national security decisions for us, and what the implications are when they do. Why Wikileaks will lead to more secrecy, not less Wikileaks has struck again. This week’s […]
Continue readingDymaxion World: China’s changing frontier?
(Holy hell, new content on the blog! What’s it been, like a decade?)
Two data points from the last week or so. First, this long article in Tehelka about China’s military moves along India’s northern frontiers (basically, on either side of Nepal and Bhutan.) The Chinese have massively strengthened their forces along the border, presumably (the article argues) to force a change in the status of the line of control — changing de facto borders with India in to de jure ones. Also, the article argues that China might try to actually take new territory to secure Tibet once and for all.
Secondly, the news today that China may be singalling to the US and other regional allies that it’s about had it with this North Korean bullshit. From the Guardian:
“Citing private conversations during previous sessions of the six-party talks , Chun claimed [the two high-level officials] believed Korea should be unified under ROK [South Korea] control,” Stephens reported.
“The two officials, Chun said, were ready to ‘face the new reality’ that the DPRK [North Korea] now had little value to China as a buffer state – a view that, since North Korea’s first nuclear test in 2006, had reportedly gained traction among senior PRC [People’s Republic of China] leaders. Chun argued that in the event of a North Korean collapse, China would clearly ‘not welcome’ any US military presence north of the DMZ [demilitarised zone]. Again citing his conversations with [the officials], Chun said the PRC would be comfortable with a reunified Korea controlled by Seoul and anchored to the US in a ‘benign alliance’ – as long as Korea was not hostile towards China.
Now, this is all effectively third-hand information: what a South Korean envoy told a US diplomat he’d heard from two Chinese envoys. Still, it’s plausible and actually makes sense: at this point, China would probably profit substantially from even a semi-open relationship with a united Korea, as opposed to the status quo.
But what interests me is the strategic shift both pieces seem to indicate. North Korea is really the last major source of headaches for that part of China’s world, and really the only one in the near future where “Americans in a shooting war” is at all a likely possibility. A united Korea would eliminate an ongoing political headache, a security headache, and open up an economic opportunity for the Chinese. This is all part of modestly successful history of China calming down relations with Japan and even Taiwan–there’s not a lot left to fight over in the North Pacific.
Meanwhile, if the Tehelka article is to be believed, Beijing is basically preparing for a future of outright competition, if not hostility, with India. It’s a relatively straightforward strategic shift from China worrying about it’s eastern borders and conflict with the US and its allies, to worrying about India.
Of course, the idea of a major power war between the two countries is terrifying so this isn’t just academic interest. The idea that China and India are going to replay the Franco-German relationship of the early half of the 20th century feels a bit more plausible every year…
Continue readingDymaxion World: China’s changing frontier?
(Holy hell, new content on the blog! What’s it been, like a decade?) Two data points from the last week or so. First, this long article in Tehelka about China’s military moves along India’s northern frontiers (basically, on either side of Nepal and Bhutan.) The Chinese have massively strengthened their
Continue readingDymaxion World: China’s changing frontier?
(Holy hell, new content on the blog! What’s it been, like a decade?) Two data points from the last week or so. First, this long article in Tehelka about China’s military moves along India’s northern frontiers (basically, on either side of Nepal and Bhutan.) The Chinese have massively strengthened their
Continue readingThe Progressive Right: Open Letter to Canoe.ca
To Whom it May Concern,
The problem I have is, while perusing your website, I was reading an article about a high school hostage situation, and the largest graphic on the page is that of an adult female, modeling t-shirts with jokes regarding therapy,…
Continue readingFive of Five: The Future
Canada’s new Governor General David Johnston aims a C7 assault rifle at the perception that the Monarchy is archaic and ridiculous. For the next while it will be all about guns, soldiers, hockey and cheap donuts. I Miss the Haitian lady.Photo via Glob…
Continue readingAlberta Health Services Works – Part II
Last week, I commented on how Alberta Health Services works in how it has served its function for government. Today, I argue that Alberta Health Services actually works in so far as how it serves its function for patients. However I will be clear, the Capital Health Authority also worked
Continue readingKing of the Shiners: Nietzsche and The Great Recession
Great post by Brad DeLong:Think of that when you consider this: The U.S. unemployment rate is stubbornly high, yet aid from a federal government that can borrow at unbelievably good terms could allow states to maintain their levels of public employment…
Continue readingPop The Stack: Faretheewell to the Prime Minister of Newfoundland
So Danny Williams the premier of Newfoundland and Labrodour for the past ten years is stepping down because he feels he’s been there long enough and its time to move on…imagine that. He should give BC premier Gordon Campbell a call to advise him on how to exit politics gracefully. Anyways, after hearing this news […]
Continue readingWake Up: Arbitrary Rule is All Around Us
We live in a dangerous, disordered time. The flashing signs are there to warn us that, both at home and abroad, those who are at the helm of the socio-political order do not preside over outcomes that make even a modicum of sense. Arbitrariness is th…
Continue readingFive of Five: Sunday Night Marxism
Given all I’ve been reading about wiki-leaks, I can’t help but thinking we would have been no worse off with Rufus T. Firefly as our leader. We’ve always been at war with Sylvania.That and the unbelievably quiet revelation that former Canadian Ambassa…
Continue readingFive of Five: Holy Biased Poll
I realize website polls are primarily for entertainment and shouldn’t be taken seriously, especially not on a hyper-conservative radio site.But this poll really stuck out as having a totally meaningless, poorly worded and biased set of choices.There is…
Continue readingSaskatchewan exports death
Jim Harding documented the uranium trail to the deathfields of Iraq in his book, Canada’s Deadly Secret . The Dominion now reports on increased birth defects and cancers in the children of Iraq: “Cancer, Infant Mortality and Birth Sex-Rat…
Continue reading