Ever since Putin started massing troops along Ukraine’s eastern border, I’ve been wondering exactly what Russia’s objectives really were. Put aside the propaganda from Russia about Ukraine posing some kind of threat, and one is left wondering exactly what Putin’s goals are in invading Ukraine. Russia’s claim is that Ukraine
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Dead Wild Roses: Spheres of Influence – Ukraine vs Russia
Going to war over spheres of influence. The 21st century is going to be just as rough as the 20th century. “Russia says, for instance, that it is threatened by Nato expanding eastwards and potentially including Ukraine as a member. The response of the Nato powers is to say that
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Is the UCP suggesting it’s time to show Russia a thing or two by halting the TMX pipeline expansion?
Will members of all Canadian political parties soon demand that we halt the TMX pipeline expansion project? I ask because, with the current great power tension in Ukraine likely to reach some kind of a climax soon, we are already hearing fierce calls in Canada for severe and even warlike
Continue readingAlberta Politics: There are better ways for Alberta’s only New Democrat to spend her time than calling for more Canadian troops on Russia’s doorstep
Last week, Heather McPherson, New Democrat Member of Parliament for Edmonton Strathcona, was sounding as belligerent as any Alberta Conservative on the topic of what she termed “Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.” In a lead-up to a question in the House of Commons, a clip of which Ms. McPherson distributed on
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: How Does a Lawyer Justify Participating in a Legal Fraud?
I understand that in a system that abides by due process all those accused of a crime are entitled to legal counsel, regardless of how depraved they may be. I have no problem there. But I also understand that lawyers are obligated to respect the justice system. And here I
Continue readingThe Quality and the Rabble in American Government
The health of democracy, indeed government generally, often rests more with the quality of a country’s civil servants than with the quality of its politicians and their associates. Rarely have we seen as graphic a contrast between the two as we are seeing at the Trump impeachment hearings. On the
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: The DWR Geopolitical Interlude – Conflict in the Ukraine
The lives of the common people seem to always come last when it comes to geopolitical considerations.
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 readingThe Disaffected Lib: That Could Touch a Nerve
There was a quiet and barely noticed event at last year’s Republican convention when Donald Trump was officially chosen as the party’s presidential candidate. It involved one plank of the official Republican platform that called for America to provide “lethal defensive weapons” to Ukrainian forces fighting off Russian intrusions. Of
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Cue the balalaikas! Tory MLA hears the Red Army tramping across the Steppes of Central Alberta
PHOTOS: Calgary-Fish Creek MLA Richard Gotfried, at right, and an unidentified friend. (Photo grabbed from Mr. Gotfried’s Facebook page.) Below: Mr. Gotfried with Progressive Conservative Party Leader Jason Kenney and PC Vermilion-Lloydminster MLA Richard Starke. Social democracy in Alberta? Pretty much the same as the Russian Revolution! Really! I’m not
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
Continue readingAlberta Politics: If Donald Trump won’t knuckle under, could he face an American ‘Colour Revolution’?
PHOTOS: One of many anti-Trump rallies in the United States in the past few days (from Facebook). Below: U.S. President Elect Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir V. Putin, U.S. Senator John McCain and Julius Caesar. It would be an irony if the troubles the United States has visited on much
Continue readingWe Pivot: Stop Giving Trump Chances To Be Civil
He won’t. We already gave him two. His whole campaign: many of us wrote him off as a lark. I imagined only 30-35 million people would vote for such a clown. Until I realized that we can’t underestimate clowns. But … [Read more]
Continue readingThings Are Good: Former Nuclear Disaster Site Could Become Solar Plant
One of the worst energy disaster in human history was the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster. It has left a giant chunk of land around Pripyat uninhabitable to humans (although the rest of nature has been thriving because humans aren’t there), now the Ukrainian government wants to reuse the land for a new source of electricity. […]
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Continue readingAlberta Politics: News Satire: U.S. will not tolerate foreigners acting like Americans, officials say
ILLUSTRATIONS: A map showing some of the countries in which the United States has interfered in the political process (grabbed from Geology.com). Below: U.S. CIA Director John O. Brennan, Democratic Party candidate Hillary Clinton and Republican candid…
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: Major Cheerleading For Obama By Our Star Struck and Obedient MP’s
There has been much hype about the Obama visit and his great speech to our parliament. Wild clapping and chanting ‘Four More Years’ from our MP’s and others and not one utterance of concern over Read more…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Ottawa won’t say if former Ukrainian prime minister is now a Canadian citizen, as Russian media report
PHOTOS: Former Ukrainian prime minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk and former Canadian PM Stephen Harper in their July 13, 2015, news conference announcing a Canada-Ukraine free trade agreement. (Screen shot of CBC broadcast.) Below: Former Conservative immigra…
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