In my broadcast essay for TVOntario’s The Agenda with Steve Paikin, I argue that despite our sometimes chequered history in the region, Western states have an obligation to enforce the Libyan no-fly zone, both to protect civilians and to ensure that the Arab Spring and the hopes for democracy in
Continue readingTag: war
Akaash Maharaj - Practical Idealism: TVO’s The Agenda: The Arab Spring – Akaash Maharaj Videocast
In my broadcast essay for TVOntario’s The Agenda with Steve Paikin, I argue that despite our sometimes chequered history in the region, Western states have an obligation to enforce the Libyan no-fly zone, both to protect civilians and to ensure that the Arab Spring and the hopes for democracy in
Continue readingWorld Headlines Review: Tunisia’s Deposed Ben Ali Family: Canadian Immigration’s political statement
Yesterday reports appeared in the Canadian press, TV and radio, about the arrival in Montreal of family members of the deposed Tunisian dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and his wife, Leila, nee Trabelsis. The expatriate Tunisian community in Montreal had already been watching the situation closely as unidentified Tunisian
Continue readingAfghanistan and the myth of ‘national insecurity’
“If pressure is ever going to develop to get U.S. troops out of Afghanistan, progressives will have to offer a new option that actually speaks to Americans.” – To myth or not to myth
Continue readingWorld Headlines Review: Switzerland: Swiss Franc -ly Under Attack
Separate reports this week in the Swiss newspaper Neue Zuericher Zeitung (NZZ) are highlighting the difficult choices Switzerland, and by extension other nations, are facing in the continued onslaught of effective currency devaluation by US and Eurozone officials. The Greenback and the Euro have fallen significantly against the Franc and
Continue readingWorld Headlines Review: Afghanistan: War, Power and Illusion
Canadian LAVs, Afghanistan, by isafmedia This week, Project Censored has released its annual list of top 25 censored news stories in a volume entitled Censored 2011: The Top Censored Stories of 2009-2010. An astounding article published by The Nation on November 11, 2009; How the US funds the Taliban, resurfaces
Continue readingWorld Headlines Review: Drones, Torture, Rendition: Democratic Values?
A Huffington Post column by Johann Hari summarizes certain revelations stemming from the leaked USG diplomatic cables by Wikileaks. The piece posits that Julian Assange’s efforts have made the world safer and are a boon to US National Security, that a better educated public with proof of government wrongdoings can
Continue readingWorld Headlines Review: Peas in a Water Pod: China, India and Bangladesh; Atlanta, Alabama and Florida
Two Economist articles of recent publication draw attention to the imminent threat that the availability of water, or the lack thereof, poses to social, political and economic stability. A Himalayan rivalry, Aug 21; and Chattahoochee blues, Sept 18; describe current and potential disputes on both domestic and international levels. In
Continue readingWorld Headlines Review: Wikileaks: Misanthropy and the Spectre of Scrutiny
Amid the bluster surrounding the public release of 278 of 251,287 secret and confidential USG diplomatic cables by Wikileaks as of Monday November 29th; more telling as to the behaviour and thinking of governments and vested interests is the current reaction in the world media and of public officials, than
Continue readingFive of Five: Sunday Night Marxism
Given all I’ve been reading about wiki-leaks, I can’t help but thinking we would have been no worse off with Rufus T. Firefly as our leader. We’ve always been at war with Sylvania.That and the unbelievably quiet revelation that former Canadian Ambassa…
Continue readingWorld Headlines Review: East eats West?
This week’s Economist magazine’s headlining articles and cover-page, ‘Buying up the world- The coming wave of Chinese takeovers’ highlight the process and nature of foreign takeovers by Chinese firms. The piece offers surprisingly little discussion or speculation as to China’s deeper motivations and timing in its recent takeover bids for
Continue readingAkaash Maharaj - Practical Idealism: TVO’s The Agenda: Truth, Casualties, and War – Akaash Maharaj Videocast
Videocast of my televised essay for TVOntario’s The Agenda with Steve Paikin, on Canada’s role in Afghanistan: Our ability to successfully conclude the mission and effect an honourable departure is being prejudiced by an ignominious political retreat from the truth: the truth about why we went to Afghanistan in the
Continue readingAkaash Maharaj - Practical Idealism: TVO’s The Agenda: Truth, Casualties, and War – Akaash Maharaj Videocast
Videocast of my televised essay for TVOntario’s The Agenda with Steve Paikin, on Canada’s role in Afghanistan: Our ability to successfully conclude the mission and effect an honourable departure is being prejudiced by an ignominious political retreat from the truth: the truth about why we went to Afghanistan in the
Continue readingWorld Headlines Review: Seoul G20: Perplexing Conclusion, Clear Result
The conclusion of the most recent G20 summit in Seoul last Friday, hailed as a success for political reasons by attending politicians, was punctuated with the following agreed upon statement: “Uneven growth and widening imbalances are fueling the temptation to diverge from global solutions into uncoordinated action… uncoordinated policy actions
Continue readingDear Afghanistan, we’re not going anywhere yet!
The Conservative Government has finally unveiled the plan for our troops in Afghanistan, and surprise, surprise… we aren’t going anywhere.
Canadian troops will no longer be used in active combat roles after 2011, rather the 950 troops will take on a…
Continue readingFive of Five: Shortest Post Ever
I don’t believe a single thing Stephen Harper says about Afghanistan.
Continue readingFive of Five: James Travers: Remembrance,Country
James Travers is such a great writer. Here he says exactly what needs to be said, at a politically incorrect time.There are many things my father and uncle wouldn’t recognize. They wouldn’t understand a country where patriotism is partisan, where…
Continue readingPop The Stack: Sometimes War is not a Metaphor
Public discourse these days can sometimes get pretty raw. Opposing sides accuse each other of being monsters, of wanting to destroy society, of declaring “war” on the poor, on hard-working Canadians, on the environment, on taxpayers, on bicycle riders … on polar bears. Meanwhile everyone is “fighting” for something; for democracy, for equal rights, for lower taxes, […]
Why Angelina’s Film is Likely to Cause Offense
Last week, celebrity gossip news made the mainstream with the announcement that the Bosnian government was revoking permission for Angelina Jolie’s new film project. Originally sold to the government as a “love story” about “a couple that meets on the eve of the war”, controversy has erupted with rumours that the film is actually about […]
Continue readingDTK: Cannon fodder
Quite an uproar over the “cannon fodder” video. It involves a fictional mother of a Canadian soldier lamenting that she might not have had children if she had known that they would be used as cannon fodder. Lots of anger over that, including one nonfictional mother of a slain soldier
Continue reading