It seems that the media and politicians can hardly mention Hamas, much in the news these days, without referring to it as a terrorist organization. And indeed a number of governments, including our own, have officially labelled it as such. But we might keep in mind that our government at
Continue readingAuthor: Bill Longstaff
Settlers killed in Palestine—echoes of another colonialism
The killing of three Jewish teenagers from a West Bank settlement in Palestine brought to mind another colonialism—that of North America. As the Europeans swarmed across the Americas, the Native people found themselves overwhelmed. Sometimes they fought to keep the intruders out, but inevitably they found themselves outmatched by superior
Continue readingBucking horses and other immoral entertainments
It’s Stampede time in Calgary and that means it’s time for another debate about exploiting other animals to amuse ourselves. The focus, of course, is rodeo—bucking broncs, calf roping, steer wrestling, chuckwagon racing and other entertainments featuring man and beast. Every year, animal welfare advocates criticize some or all of
Continue readingBlair makes nice with Sisi—following in Margaret’s steps?
Former British PM Margaret Thatcher’s fondness for Chilean military dictator Augusto Pinochet was infamous. Pinochet was a mass torturer and murderer, but the iron lady was quite fond of him despite his peccadilloes. He was a favourite partner for tea. Now it seems former PM Tony Blair also has a
Continue readingOmar Khadr’s trial lacked legal basis
After the way Omar Khadr has been persecuted by both the American government and ours, I wouldn’t have thought any more outrageous news of this sordid affair could emerge. But it has. After a hard-fought freedom of information case by the New York Times and the American Civil Liberties Union,
Continue readingCorporations suing countries—how crazy is that?
Lone Pine Resources sues Canada because Quebec has imposed a moratorium on fracking. Philip Morris sues the Australian government over its tobacco plain packaging legislation. Swedish energy company Vattenfall sues Germany because of that country’s decision to phase out nuclear energy. Fracking is a method of exploiting oil and gas
Continue readingRepublicans losing the Cuban vote
Lack of support from minority voters has long been an Achilles heel for the Republican Party. This holds true for Hispanics. In the last presidential election, Obama gained a record 75 per cent of the Latino vote. About the only consolation for the Republicans has been the support of Cuban-Americans
Continue readingIran has a huge PR problem
To say that that Americans and Israelis don’t like Iran would hardly be news. But to say that just about every other country in the world doesn’t like Iran either is be worthy of attention. A recent survey by Pew Research of 40 countries around the globe found that in
Continue readingBravo to Elon Musk, patent-buster
Inventor/entrepreneur/engineer/investor Elon Musk recently announced he was giving away all the patents on Tesla Motor’s electric car technology, allowing anyone, competitors included, to use them. Musk, CEO and product architect for the company (for which he receives a salary of a dollar a year), made the announcement last week, commenting,
Continue readingCan capitalists save capitalism?
Prominent Harvard economist Lawrence Katz illustrates the American economy with an amusing analogy. He depicts it as an apartment block in which the penthouses have increased in size, the middle apartments are increasingly squeezed and the basement is flooded. But what gets people down the most, he says, is that
Continue readingAlberta politicos hedge on flood mitigation
After the great flood in Calgary last year, municipal and provincial governments agreed something had to be done to prevent another such catastrophe. There were, however, no shortage of sceptics. There would be bold promises initially, they said, but the commitments would wane with time, people would start to forget,
Continue readingKathleen Wynne—lucky with her enemies
Some people are lucky with their friends; some are lucky with their enemies. Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne is clearly one of the latter. Faced with two opponents that seemed determined to alienate voters, she swept to victory in Thursday’s election. With only a decade-old government replete with scandals to beat,
Continue readingMarshall Islanders take on the nuclear powers
This is a David and Goliath story like no other. The Republic of the Marshall Islands, a country with a population of only 68,000 souls, is taking the nuclear powers to court. Earlier this year, the Islanders filed against the nine nuclear-armed states at the International Court of Justice “for
Continue readingMark Carney on capitalism eating its children
Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England, formerly Governor of the Bank of Canada, isn’t exactly your average leftie. Indeed, bank governors tend to turn up on the opposite end of the political spectrum. Nonetheless, Mr. Carney, at a speech last week to the Conference for Inclusive Capitalism, sounded
Continue readingLegislating morality—the new prostitution law
Ah, yet another step backward into a failed past. I refer, of course, to our favourite government’s new Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act, a piece of legislation that criminalizes the purchase of sexual services. To begin with, the bill isn’t even logical. It criminalizes buying sex but not
Continue readingFatah and Hamas reconcile … finally
Family quarrels can be nasty affairs, and the seven-year tiff between Fatah and Hamas has been no exception. In the 2006 Palestinian parliamentary elections, Hamas won a decisive majority in the parliament, much to the chagrin of the then ruling PLO-affiliated Fatah party. Encouraged by Israel, the U.S., and western
Continue readingOn the good news front—Experimental Lakes Area is open for business
Of all the victims of the federal government’s suppression of science, the Experimental Lakes Area (ELA) was perhaps the most important. The ELA, comprised of 58 freshwater lakes along with accommodation and laboratories, is a unique Canadian scientific research facility, the only site in the world where whole lake-experimentation is
Continue readingWhy only politics when we think of democracy?
Conversations about democracy tend to revolve overwhelmingly about politics and government. These topics are rightly at the centre of democratic dialogue as they are the overarching institutions of our society. But if we are to have a thoroughly democratic society, we cannot limit ourselves to democratic government. We need to
Continue readingCould Alberta go green?
With 50 per cent more greenhouse gas emissions than Ontario, Alberta is Canada’s pollution province. And that makes us think of the tar sands. But it’s more than bitumen. Alberta’s electrical power generation, heavily dependent on coal, produces almost as much greenhouse gas as the tar sands. The province gets
Continue readingToday is the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers
Fifty-eight years ago, one of Canada’s most honourable contributions to the international community was born. The first armed UN peacekeeping mission, an emergency force formed to deal with the Suez crisis, was created, largely due to the efforts of then Canadian Minister of External Affairs Lester B. Pearson. Pearson was
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