PHOTOS: Possibly the Globe and Mail’s best headline of the decade. Below: NDP Premier Rachel Notley, Wildrose Finance Critic Derek Fildebrandt, the sailboat known as French Kiss, shown just to prove I didn’t make that part up, the full Globe headline, shown for the same reason. Is Alberta ready for
Continue readingTag: Russia
Alberta Politics: Lawyers, guns and money: Russia’s intervention in Syria offers a useful teaching moment for Canadians
PHOTOS: A Russian Su-34 bomber releases a bomb near the provisional ISIS capital of Raqqa in Syria. (Russian Ministry of Defence photo.) Below: Russian President Vladimir Putin, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Russia’s military intervention in the Syrian civil war has offered a unique teaching
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Russian boots on Syrian ground create new reality for Canadian leaders, whether they discuss it or not
PHOTOS: Russian President Vladimir Putin – creating new realities for Canadian leaders to talk about … or not. Below: The three Canadian debating amigos, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau, Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper and NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair. As the three principal contenders for the job of running the country
Continue readingAlberta Politics: What’s next? F-35 boondoggle to land on the deck of a Canadian Mistral carrier?
PHOTOS: The F-35, possibly the worst military aircraft ever made, dollar for dollar or pound for pound, photographed to make it look less like a brick. A hovering version of the same plane. A not-quite-finished Mistral-class helicopter carrier. SANTA FE, N.M. I suppose a hotel in the desert, just down
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: A Seismic Jolt That Most Won’t Even Notice
Just consider it the 21st century version of the “Great Game,” the superpower struggle to wrest control of South Asia. While it used to be a contest between Russia and Britain, today the players are Washington and Beijing. The latest round goes to China and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Will Canadian troops in Ukraine have to train radical Islamist volunteers said to be tied to ISIS?
PHOTOS: Defence Minister Jason Kenney explains who Canadian troops will train in Ukraine last fall. Below: Prime Minister Stephen Harper in Ukraine in 2010. Photos are from the CBC and the Prime Minister’s Office’s Flickr account. It’s been evident for several months now Ukraine has a problem with neo-Nazis, in
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: China or Russia? Who is Boogyman Number One for the US
The concluding paragraphs from Michael Klare’s Essay on the Coming Cold War 2.0. “For those of us residing outside Washington, this choice may appear to have few immediate consequences. The defense budget will rise in either case; troops will, as now, be shuttled desperately around the hot spots of
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Meanwhile, In Our Vast, Undefended North…
The latest issue of Foreign Policy magazine is devoted to espionage, spying, and the magazine reports that today’s Ground Zero of spying is the Arctic. For the countries that border the Arctic Ocean— Russia, the United States, Canada, Norway, and Denmark (through its territory of Greenland)—an accessible ocean means new opportunities. And
Continue readingIran is standing down—will the U.S. and Russia?
Iran has recently agreed, after intense negotiations, to take steps to ensure it cannot produce a nuclear weapon. It claimed it had no intention of doing so anyway, but has now bowed to bullying by the nuclear powers for assurances in black and white. Iran is in effect guaranteeing that
Continue readingChrétien, Putin and Harper—opportunity lost?
Former prime minister Jean Chrétien’s recent chat with Vladimir Putin in Moscow presents an opportunity to our government. Since Mr. Harper has, unlike all the other G7 leaders, refused to talk to the Russian leader, a debriefing of Mr. Chrétien would offer him a possibility of learning what motivates Putin’s
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Putin Signs Military Pact with Argentina
Well this is bound to piss off David Cameron. Badboy Vlad Putin has inked a military pact with Argentine president Christina Fernandez backing her country against Britain over the Falkland Islands (Malvinas) dispute. “The new agreement on military collaboration and data protection will enable the considerable increase of practical cooperation
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Jason Kenney’s Hugely Embarrassing Russian Problem
As we all know Jason Kenney is a raging Cold War warrior, who is always going after the Russians, with his big mouth as his weapon.To satisfy his inner religious fanatic, and pander to the ethnic vote.And when he's not lying compulsively, he's always bragging about Canada's expanding power… Great
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Where Have All the Forests Gone?
The biggest source of lost forests is in Russia and Canada. It’s not forest lost to deforestation, logging or clearing land for agriculture, but boreal forest consumed by wildfires. A climate change feedback? Probably. Some 43,000 square kilometres of northern boreal forest were ravaged in Russia, due mainly to fires,
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: The Generals are Talking – That’s Rarely a Good Thing.
The top brass is getting restive and they’re looking for a bit of mass mayhem. This might be news to you but Russia has an Academy of Geopolitical Problems. The president of the academy, Konstantin Sivkov, wears a uniform with the insignia of a three star general. Comrade Sivkov thinks
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Whacking Iran – Maybe Sooner Than You Might Think – The Warmonger Digest, vol. 2
It’s reported that the Saudis have given Israel a green light to overfly Saudi Arabia should Netanyahu decide to launch an attack on Iran. Jerusalem and Riyadh do not have diplomatic ties, but unconfirmed reports have swirled for years of coordination between them against the common enemy of Iran, a
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: Maroc–We Just Moved Several Meters Closer to the Edge of a Cosmic Abyss
Don Maroc We just moved several meters closer to the edge of a cosmic abyss and no one is calling for a time out. Last year the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China) quietly established the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) as a counterweight to the US/UK controlled International Monetary
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Jason Kenney Shows His True Colours
And they’re the colours of a serial liar. Methinks he’s over his head as minister of defence but maybe he’s just practising for the job he really wants. We’ve been told by Kenney and his aide of Russian fighters buzzing a Canadian frigate in the Black Sea. Worse yet, according
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: Why Is the West Spoiling for a Fight with Russia?
At a time where the commercial media, or much of it, serves to whip up hysteria over challenges from ISIS, the so called aggressive actions of Putin and other US/Nato driven issues we can be grateful for the internet, bloggers and social media. Murray Dobbin’s articles would get short shrift
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: China Tells U.S. to Back Off over Ukraine
The message was delivered by China’s ambassador to Belgium, Qu Xing, but it pretty obviously came straight from Beijing – back off Obama. Ambassador Qu went on to blame the conflict between Russia and Ukraine on ‘games’ played by the West, especially the United States. He said the “nature and
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