Most observers of Canada-U.S. politics and the two countries’ unexpectedly fraught trade relationship would agree former prime minister Stephen Harper’s no-longer-secret visit to the White House on Tuesday is unlikely to do much good and has the potential to do harm. What Mr. Harper, now just another private citizen in
Continue readingTag: Geopolitics
Alberta Politics: Artificial unintelligence: Tiny computers in tiny hands are the real threat to civilization as we know it
It’s not big computer brains empowered by artificial intelligence that are going to destroy civilization as we know it. It’s little tiny computers, even if they’re pretty dumb, that are small enough to put in the tiny hands of unsupervised children, hopped-up frat boys and shallow narcissists like the 45th
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Who loves ya, baby? Canada’s conservatives urgently need to reassess their dalliance with Donald Trump
A photograph of last weekend’s G7 conclave in Quebec showing several national leaders apparently trying to persuade U.S. President Donald Trump to act like a grownup was doing the rounds on social media in the aftermath of the post-summit trainwreck. With the G7 gathering in La Malbaie already nearly universally
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 readingAlberta Politics: Mission accomplished in Syria? Don’t bet more than you can afford to lose on that claim!
Mission Accomplished? Donald Trump’s crowing Tweets prove the wisdom of Karl Marx’s dictum: History repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as farce. This fact is a significant blessing, nonetheless, at least insofar as Friday night’s tactically and legally dubious missile raid by U.S. military forces on Syria is concerned. How
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Was the Russian Embassy’s press secretary expelled from Canada for telling the embarrassing truth? Sure sounds that way!
PHOTOS: Kirill Kalinin, former First Secretary and Press Secretary of the Russian Embassy in Canada. Below: Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, and the Russian Embassy in Ottawa. Was Kirill Kalinin some kind of intelligence operative, as the Trudeau Government and the Globe and Mail now want us to think, or
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Trudeau in India, Part II: Canadian governments, and not just Liberals, have a history of playing footsie with bad actors
PHOTOS: A screenshot of what looks like a video of the controversial snapshot of Jaspal Atwal and Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, grabbed from Twitter. The ownership of the photo is attributed variously, usually to the last place someone saw it. What does seem clear is that Mr. Atwal was almost as
Continue readingAlberta Politics: He’s no bot, but Russia’s social media and press guy in Canada manages to stir up controversy just the same
PHOTOS: Kirill Kalinin, Press Secretary of the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Ottawa, in a reception room of the Soviet-era structure on Charlotte Street. Below: An image shot last week of the exterior of the Embassy, built in 1956 after the original building on the site burned down; the
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Whose side should Canada take if two NATO states start shooting at each other? Don’t laugh … it could happen
PHOTOS: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. If he looks ticked off, it’s probably because he is. (Photo: Kremlin.ru via Wikimedia Commons.) Hey! Don’t blame me if the only good royalty-free pictures of President Erdoğan come from Russia! Below: U.S. President and Commander in Chief Donald J. Trump (Photo: Gage Skidmore,
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Thanks to Donald Trump, the post-war American imperium that’s run like a Swiss watch is coming unsprung!
PHOTOS: U.S. President Donald Trump’s inaugural parade makes its way through Washington, D.C., on Jan. 20, 2017, just before the stuff hit the fan and everything went to hell in a handbasket. (Photo: United States Navy.) Below: President Trump, former president Barack Obama, the late Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau,
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Impact of growing opioid crisis on life expectancy in the United States is more evidence that neoliberal austerity kills
PHOTOS: This scene is in Paris. It could be anywhere in our “globalized,” that is, neoliberalized world. (Photo: Eric Poulhier, Wikimedia Commons.) Below: Rundown but dignified Havana, high-profile U.S. economist Paul Krugman (Photo: Flickr, Commonwealth Club) and political economist Alan Nasser (Photo: Evergreen State College). Will Mexico eventually decide it
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Conrad Black is right: The media is full of baloney about the president!
PHOTOS: Presidents Donald J. Trump of the United States and Vladimir V. Putin of Russia at the 2017 G-20 summit in Hamburg, Germany (Photo: Kremlin.ru, Wikimedia Commons). Below, the great former Canadian, Lord Black of Crossharbour. It is hard not to concur with the words of the prominent formerly Canadian
Continue readingAlberta Politics: One year has passed since Donald Trump’s election and, here we all are, still in Crazytown!
PHOTOS: Donald J. Trump. (Photo: Gage Skidmore, Wikimedia Commons.) He’s President of the United States, you know! Below: Hillary Clinton (Wikimedia Commons), who won the vote but lost the 2016 U.S. presidential election, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who promised to fix Canada’s electoral system, and didn’t. Today is
Continue readingAlberta Politics: This is not just what terrorism looks like; it’s what a failed state looks like
PHOTOS: Is Old Glory, as the American flag was once known, now the banner of a failed state? Below: Donald Trump, president of the United States, divider, deceiver and denier in chief, incompetent and seemingly powerless to change anything (Photo: Flickr, Gage Skidmore.) “AT LEAST 58 DEAD AND 500 HURT
Continue readingAlberta Politics: From the Twitter account of the former Deputy Leader of Free Alberta: Angela Merkel’s the leader of the free world
PHOTOS: The leader of the free world, listening to Neil Young on sound cancelling headphones. Click here for the soundtrack to this post. The confused looking elderly man with a comb-over to her left is thinking: “Who is that person?” Probably not in those exact words, though. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons.)
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Never mind apologies, it’s time for Canada’s Tories just to admit Jack Layton was right about talking to the Taliban
PHOTOS: Jack Layton in Edmonton in 2011. Below: Forgettable Harper Government foreign minister Lawrence Cannon (Photo: Abigail Veronneau, Wikimedia Commons) and Peter MacKay, who took some of the cheap shots at Mr. Layton in 2006 (Photo: Department of National Defence, via the Wikimedia Commons). Never mind the apologies. That ship
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Madmen in the White House … this time it’s a thing, not just a ‘strategy’
PHOTOS: U.S. President Richard Nixon pointing the way to the exit for Donald Trump’s benefit. Below: Mr. Nixon about to board the helicopter that would take him away from Washington for the last time in an official capacity; a recent photo of President Trump; the sinister Dr. Henry Kissinger, then
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Russia seeks international arrest warrant for former Ukraine PM, reported to now hold Canadian citizenship
PHOTOS: Arseniy Yatsenyuk, former prime minister of Ukraine, with then Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper in July 2015. (Screen capture of CBC news broadcast.) Below: Alberta Conservative Leader Jason Kenney, federal Conservative leadership candidate Chris Alexander (Wikimedia Commons) and Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland, all of whom figure in this
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Chrystia Freeland should not be punished for her grandfather’s sins, but for misleading Canadians about them
PHOTOS: Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland during her visit to Edmonton in the midst of the 2015 federal election. Below: Former Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Who would ever have imagined major Canadian media companies would conclude collaborating with the Nazis when they were on
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Canada had better plan for an unprecedented refugee crisis as U.S. lurches toward ‘ethnic cleansing’
PHOTOS: Austrian police and Syrian refugees crowd a train platform in Vienna on Sept. 4, 2015 (photo by Josh Zakary). Below: U.S. President Donald Trump (photo by Gage Skidmore) and a Syrian refugee camp in Turkey in 2016 (European Parliament photos). Canadians should be deeply concerned about stated plans by
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