On Monday, Obama and Romney will debate foreign policy. Recent surveys indicate that Americans, on at least two important issues, are feeling increasingly hard-nosed which probably means advantage Romney. Regarding Iran’s nuclear program, early in the year more Americans felt it was more important to take a firm stand (50
Continue readingAuthor: Bill Longstaff
U.S. and Russia vie for Iraq arms business
Much has changed in Iraq since the Americans invaded in 2003. Saddam Hussein is gone, replaced by Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki who appears to want to replace Saddam’s one-party Sunni-dominated state with a one-party Shia-dominated state. And Russia has been replaced by the United States as the chief arms
Continue readingKenny’s power play should be opposed
Immigration Minister Jason Kenney is proposing legislation which will give the minister the power to deny visitors entry to Canada even if they don’t have a serious criminal record. Now limited to denying entry only for criminal or national security reasons, the new power would allow the immigration minister to
Continue readingA paean to the Elbow River
Last Friday I attended a ceremony that involved giving thanks that fit nicely with the Thanksgiving weekend. It was, in fact, an offering ceremony, conducted by a Blackfoot elder and his assistant. In 2008, our community association petitioned The City of Calgary to name a picturesque little park in our
Continue readingMalala Yousafzai—heroine
This week the Taliban committed yet another atrocity in the name of religion when they shot 14-year old Malala Yousafzai in the head and neck while she sat with her classmates on a school bus. Still in critical condition this morning, she has been flown to the country’s top military
Continue readingThe U.S. squeezes the Palestinians
The Palestinian Authority has announced that before the end of the year (but after the U.S. presidential election) it will press for a vote by the General Assembly for upgraded status at the UN. On cue, the United States has gone into bullying mode, warning European nations that if they
Continue readingThe enemy of my enemy is not a terrorist
It’s a truism: The other guy’s terrorist is my freedom fighter. A recent example of this arbitrary logic in action is the removal of the militant Iranian group the Mujahadeen-e-Khalq or MEK from the U.S. list of terrorist organizations. The MEK was originally involved in the Iranian revolution that overthrew
Continue readingWeaselling out of the Convention on Cluster Munitions
Cluster bombs are one of the nastier instruments of war. Each bomb can contain hundreds of bomblets, many of which fail to explode on impact and lie unexploded for years until disturbed. Because of their wide coverage, they pose risks to civilians both during attacks and afterwards. Sometimes they are
Continue readingWhat would Martin Luther say?
I was surprised to discover recently that governments in Europe collect taxes for churches and other religions. In Germany, for example, taxpayers pay between 8 and 9 per cent of their income tax to the religious community to which they belong. Religions may choose to collect the tax themselves, in
Continue readingHarper’s subversion of co-ops
One of the Harper government’s assaults on progress that I missed at the time, perhaps because the mass media made little of it, was its undermining of co-ops, one of my favourite institutions. Last April it terminated the federal Co-operative Development Initiative and cut funding for the Rural and Co-operatives
Continue readingRomney really does represent Republicans
Mitt Romney’s dismissal of almost half of the American people as parasites even offended some members of his own party. Nonetheless, the now famous 47 per cent video not only revealed the real Romney, it revealed the real Republican. In response to a recent survey, only 40 per cent of
Continue readingI’m happy Canadians are happy
According to the Centre for the Study of Living Standards, Canadians are a happy bunch. A report by the Centre claims that over 90 per cent of us say we are satisfied or very satisfied with our lives. It says further that according to a Gallup World Poll, we are
Continue readingThe drug war—cui bono?
The drug war is a most curious war indeed. It is a war which creates its own enemy. If there was no war, i.e. if drugs were legal, the massive profits in drug-dealing would fade away as would the drug dealers and the crime they bring with them. So inasmuch
Continue readingWhy the Wall Street gang aren’t in jail
Many Canadians (and many more Americans) ask the eminently reasonable question, Why aren’t the bankers who precipitated the financial collapse of 2008 in jail? The damage they inflicted on the U.S. alone was immense: a loss of $11-trillion of personal wealth and 5.5 million jobs, and the foreclosure of over
Continue readingWhat ails Canada?
I pilfered the heading of this post from a recent editorial in the Guardian: “Maple leaf ragged: what ails Canada?” The article suggests that our country’s “hardline stances” on a number of issues has triggered “an undercurrent of anxiety” in our public discourse. A long list of examples is provided:
Continue readingHarper plays Mulcair … at our expense
If Stephen Harper is anything, he is a shrewd politician—always strategizing. He illustrated this yesterday starting off the new session of Parliament by accusing the NDP of supporting a carbon tax. Thomas Mulcair fell into the trap by immediately denying the NDP was considering any such thing. This accomplishes two
Continue readingThe U.S.—India’s favourite major power
With the unwitting collaboration of an idiot “film-maker” in Los Angeles, irresponsible imams in the Middle East and Islamic extremists leading to the besieging of American embassies, the United States does not appear to be winning the hearts and minds of Islam these days. Not that it was doing much
Continue readingSocial justice in the OECD
Unfortunately, when nations are compared, the yardstick of comparison is usually GDP, a crude measure of a people’s well-being even by economic standards. I am, therefore, always seeking rankings by more meaningful measures. My attention was recently caught by a publication entitled Social Justice in the OECD—How Do the Member
Continue readingWater—a matter of security
When we think about security in the global sense we tend to focus on terrorism although, according to Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird, Iran is now the most significant threat to security in the world. Of course it isn’t, and terrorism is actually a trivial threat on the world stage.
Continue readingThe folly of shunning Iran
“Keep your friends close and your enemies closer,” said the oft-quoted ancient military strategist Sun-tzu. Our government, as militarist as it is, has decided to ignore this advice and cut all ties with its enemy of the day. Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird announced last week that we are suspending
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