George Ochenski writes in Counterpunch on the US Trade War: “Those who have lived in Montana will well remember the hot controversy over the miles and miles of sidelined rail cars that appeared during the Great Recession a decade ago. They were stored by the thousands along unused rural tracks.
Continue readingTag: China
Dead Wild Roses: Hong Kong – The Struggle for Democracy
The CBC’s reporting on Hong Kong: “The anti-government protests present one of the biggest challenges facing Chinese President Xi Jinping since he came to power in 2012. And with the ruling Communist Party preparing to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic on Oct 1, the
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Another week in the Annals of Diplomacy: in stormy times, half a loaf is better than none
From the sublime to the ridiculous, it would appear, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government will do anything to keep Donald Trump sweet. Consider the dissimilar cases of Meng Wanzhou and Stephanie Clifford. The first we won’t allow to leave Canada, the second we won’t allow to visit. Both, obviously, because
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Wall Was/Is Wrong About Coal In China
“China will increase their coal use by 19% over 5 years.” “Vietnam, India and many others Asian nations are ramping up coal to give more of their people electricity. The U.S. is now signalling a return to coal.” -Brad Wall 17 November 2016 · 132,442 views “Canada only accounts for
Continue readingThe Spirit of Democracy Shines in Hong Kong
The condition of democracy is much in debate these days as fascist-tinged populism manifests itself from the United States to South America to Eastern Europe. It is, therefor, encouraging to see people in some places at least rising up against arbitrary rule in the name of democracy. In Hong Kong,
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Did the Chinese learn their trade antics from the U.S.?
The China/U.S. trade war heats up. The rest of us get dragged along willy-nilly. Nonetheless, there is a lot of sympathy for the American case. The Chinese have hardly walked their talk about being free traders. Ont the contrary, they have engaged in a number of nefarious trade practices. They
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: China’s Long Game – Waiting for Trump to Bring Down the United States
China’s economic prowess is just part of its rivalry with the United States. This is a standard part of an ascending power taking its rightful place alongside a once-dominant power. According to research analyst, Laban Yu, Trump’s trade war won’t stop China’s long game. “China can only conclude that the
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Meanwhile, back on the Alberta farm, when in doubt, blame Ottawa
CALGARY – Meanwhile, back on the farm, a new template for government of Alberta news releases is a-birthin’. Henceforth and forevermore, presumably, all news releases issued by Alberta’s New Government ™ – a phrase that hasn’t appeared yet, but likely soon will, I reckon – will have to include the
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Has anyone thought about the impact regime change in Venezuela will have on Alberta’s oilpatch? It won’t be pretty!
In the stampede by Canadian politicians of all ideological stripes to support Venezuela’s self-declared “interim president,” has anyone given even a nanosecond’s thought to the impact the handover of the troubled South American petrostate’s government to Juan Guaido would have on Alberta’s oilpatch? It won’t be pretty. The federal government’s
Continue readingMontreal Simon: The Absurd Trial of John McCallum
It was like the trial scene in Alice of Wonderland. With Andrew Scheer as the Red Queen, poor old John McCallum in the prisoner's box, and the Con media as his eager executioners.For they couldn't make enough of this story. They blew it up like a balloon. They made it sound like
Continue readingLife...A Small Spark Between Two Eternities: Role reversal: China cites human rights in spat with Canada
When China’s government recently protested the arrest in Vancouver of Huawei Technologies executive Meng Wanzhou, it used something rarely heard from Beijing — the language of individual human rights. “The detention without giving any reason violates a person’s human rights,” Says the country with no Human Rights whatsoever…FULL STORY
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Crashed: How a Decade of Financial Crises Changed the World
Book Review Adam Tooze. Crashed: How a Decade of Financial Crises Changed the World. Viking. New York. 2018 The global economic crisis is now more than a decade old, and is far from definitively behind us. Indeed, many fear, with good reason, that the recent, uneven and lethargic global recovery
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: New column day
Here, on how the Saskatchewan Party’s self-induced aversion to responsible climate policy may producing serious political and economic consequences. For further reading…– D.C. Fraser reported on the NDP’s Regina Northeast by-election win. And Jennifer Quesnel reported on Moe’s response to a meeting with his federal counterparts which signals a refusal
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: China and the 2008 Recession – A Different Economic Strategy.
It would seem that a different set of choices were made during the 2008 recession in China than here in the West. I’m having trouble seeing the problem with the economic strategy the Chinese pursued. Of course, it was because the centralized power of China’s government put the needs of
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Mariana Mazzucato discusses the dangers of confusing market prices with intrinsic values: Value has gone from being a category at the core of economic theory, tied to the dynamics of production (the division of labour, changing costs of production), to a subjective
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: You May Not Like These Odds
The odds aren’t good. Three times out of four, the result is war. Such is the nature of superpower politics. Over the centuries superpowers have come and gone. There have been 16 instances where a dominant power was muscled out by an ascending power. 12 of those ended in war.
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Enron’s Patsy. How Kinder Morgan Played Trudeau and Canada for Suckers.
Steve Kean knows how to play hardball from his days as senior vice president of government affairs with the long defunct Enron corporation. Now, on behalf of the son of Enron, Kinder Morgan, Kean is using those skills to roll Justin Trudeau, Bill Morneau and the people of Canada. The
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Geopolitical Sunday: Don’t hold your breath waiting for the state of war to officially end on the Korean Peninsula
If the Korean War formally ends any time soon, North Korean Leader Kim Jong-il should be nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. Why not? Just because he presides over a very large military and leads a country that’s not very nice to it’s own citizens when they step a centimetre
Continue readingThings Are Good: China’s Efforts to Fight Pollution are Working
Back in 2014 China decided it was sick of producing so much pollution and decided to do something about it. China started to close coal plants, spent $120 billion cleaning air in cities and launched similar initiatives throughout the country. The results have been longer life spans for people in
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: I’ve Got an Idea to Rescue Justin From His Slump
Unfair or not, Justin Trudeau has taken a hit in the public’s mind over his pretty clumsy trip to India. With JT et famille sporting an elaborate wardrobe of Bollywood’s best fashions, the Indian press took the piss out of him pretty relentlessly. The local scribblers piled on. Now Trudeau’s
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