I’ve written extensively and in depth, for decades, in two published books and over a thousand published articles, with tens of thousands of references, on the rapidly shifting state of the world, the causes and major factors and historical unfolding of these changes, what it all means and entails, and
Continue readingTag: Mexico
Views from the Beltline: Et tu, AMLO?
I have often despaired at the way in which seemingly progressive leaders in Latin and South America show great initial promise and then drift into an autocracy not unlike their conservative counterparts. I was pondering this the other day when reading about Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, known commonly as
Continue readingThings Are Good: Mexico Targets American Gun Manufactures
The drug cartels in Mexico are backed by American guns and profits from selling drugs to Americans. The Mexican government can’t do anything about the demand side within America, but they can do something about the arms trade. The Mexican government is strategically taking American gun makers and sellers to
Continue readingThings Are Good: Digital Violence Exposes NSO’s Tools Targetting Activists
NSO made the news again due to their tools being used to spy on Bahraini and Hungarian activists, which obviously isn’t good. NSO is a cyber security organization that focuses on offensive rather than defence; they sell hacking tools and exploits to target individuals. Anyone with enough money can buy
Continue readingThings Are Good: Master Resilience Improves Gender Equality in Mexico City
Water scarcity is a real problem in Mexico City, and due to existing gender inequality women bare the brunt of the costs of a lack of water. This manifests itself in everything from laundry to buying potable water, both are time consuming endeavours in places with water scarcity. Mexico City
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Moving To Mexico
Let`s deal with the biggest prejudice or stereotype right away. Most people in the US and Canada will say, “Why would anyone want to move to Mexico?! Isn’t it dangerous?” Well, to put it frankly, most people in the US and Canada are idiots. Why do I say that? Because
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Latin America, Te Amo – and – The Expat Exodus Continues
Being at home – et, bien etre I reflect now, again, as I have for 30 years, since my first trip to Mexico and Latin America, that I feel far more at home in Latin America than in (the dark side of) North America (north of the Texas-Mexico border), including
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Kindred Spirits: Tuscany, Navarre, and Captain Picard
I was curious about Navarre, after watching Star Trek TNG “Family”, and seeing that Captain Picard is from (outside) a small village in Navarre. What a fascinating place, rich in landscape and cultural history, with a long tradition of independence as well as diversity. Navarre has been independent for longer
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Mexico Bumps Canada as America’s Largest Trading Partner
Despite all of Donald Trump’s bluster about Mexico and its people, America’s southern neighbour has become its largest trading partner. U.S. census data released last week showed that Mexico’s trade with the United States rose to $97.4 billion for the first two months of the year — enabling it to
Continue readingCuriosityCat: How to nail the NAFTA sunset clause sticking point
Mexico is showing realism with its latest move towards recognizing that the American administration wanted a different trade agreement, based on fair trade (and not just free trade), and that puts an end to the flight to the bottom of the wage scale. Mexico is prepared to commit to conditions
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Independence Day: An excellent moment for Canadians to recommit ourselves to being different from the United States
Today is the Fourth of July, Independence Day in the Great Republic immediately to our south. Normally, as befits our national character, we Canadians celebrate this occasion with restrained fondness for our American cousins, coming as it does just three days after la fête du Canada. On the 242nd observance
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Mr. Anderson of Cypress Hills-Grasslands
I once sat across a chair circle from this guy because he’s the MP for the area I grew up in. It doesn’t surprise me he’d defend and believe Trump over taking an opportunity to condemn the caging of children. Wow @DavidAndersonSK is such an embarrassment of an MP. #SafeThirdCountry
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Right Now, It’s a Spectator Sport. Before Long It Could Become a Blood Sport.
Trump has people in Canada, Mexico, Japan and Europe a bit worried about how we’ll fare in a trade war with the United States. We’re told we could be heading toward a recession, a drop in GDP of perhaps 2 per cent. Trump’s abuse of America’s traditional allies is small
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 readingThe Disaffected Lib: WTF? Winter Storm Warnings in Texas, Mexico. California on Fire. High Arctic Melting.
Think of it this way. You may not feel it but you are firmly in the grip of climate change. There’s nothing you can do to make it go away. It has a firm grip and it is going to tighten. It may not have gotten around to you yet
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: "There Was No Rain"
Climate change refugees are on the march and they’re coming not just from Africa or the Middle East or some low-lying atoll in the South Pacific, they’re migrating poleward in the Americas too. Todd Miller went to southern Mexico to interview climate migrants. Where are they from? Where are they
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Is Tesla a Death Sentence for Conventional Power Utilities?
Elon Musk wagered he could build s 129 megawatt battery in Queensland within 100 days or it was free. Tesla built and installed the battery with plenty of time to spare and, with it, just might have served a death warrant on fossil energy electricity. Alternative clean energy, solar and
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: How’s the kitchen coming Chrystia?
Though not sure if the analogy of NAFTA negotiations being like renovating a kitchen comes from Canada’s foreign minister, by now she would disown the quote anyway. After meetings in Washington and in Mexico City, it is obvious that the discussions of North America’s trade agreements are going nowhere. By
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
Continue readingScripturient: Dinner at the Bent Taco
We had dinner at the Bent Taco on Pine Street last night. Collingwood’s nuevo-Mexican restaurant is not exactly Mexican but influenced by it, and in a good way. Food was excellent. If you haven’t been there, you should go. Very popular place and I wondered why it took so long for us to get there. … Continue reading “Dinner at the Bent Taco”
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