“There ought to be clowns – Well, maybe next year” are the haunting words at the end of the Stephen Sondheim song that is a lament using a circus metaphor. We were reminded of the song as we were reading and hearing about the American president’s travels this week. Is
Continue readingTag: World Politics
Babel-on-the-Bay: “Penny for the Guy, Gov?”
By this November five, Guy Fawkes Day, one really wonders at what the value of the Brit Pound might be on world markets? It used to be a Brit tradition and as much as the Brits love their traditions, a penny does not buy much fireworks any more. With the
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Empty handed in Hanoi.
That came as a shock. We had no idea that the sawed-off little runt of a dictator from North Korea was smarter than American president Donald Trump. He left Trump standing alone in Hanoi at Air Force One with his trousers (figuratively) open. While we would never recommend Donald Trump
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The Pathetic Pretenders.
Gilets jaunes (yellow vests) protestors are a particularly French phenomenon, as French law requires all automobiles be equipped one of those fluorescent vests in case of emergency. It made for a rather colourful, beehive-like mob scenes across France, when the emergency was determined to be the increase in taxes on
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Trump and Trudeau fail Venezuela.
Venezuela’s oil-based economy continues to collapse. The Americans are helping it collapse. And what the Canadian interest is, defies imagination. The corrupt and destructive Nicolás Maduro regime in the country, after the incompetence of the Hugo Chavez era, has created economic chaos. The world watches as China and the Russians
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Forget the Queen, save the Magna Carta.
If the Brexit-related events in the next few months get ugly, the Brits have a plan in place to keep the Queen and her immediate family from harms way. We can only hope that these plans are somewhat better than prime minister Theresa May’s ongoing revisions to Brexit. And frankly
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Potholes on the Yellow Brick Road.
While the Scarecrow, Tin Woodman and the Cowardly Lion are still planning their trip with Dorothy to the Emerald City and the October election in Canada, it is best to check for potholes. Peering into one of these potholes the other day, I saw Canada’s former ambassador to China sitting
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: John McCallum is no diplomat.
Canada’s ambassador to China never was a diplomat. He is a politician. Maybe he has always been too much of a neoliberal to my taste but he finally did what Justin Trudeau could not. He told the truth about the situation of chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou of Huawei. And
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Brits’ Brexit Bonkers.
Oh, the Brits did it up right proper yesterday. That parliament of woolly thinking, stepped out the palace window looking for the executioner with his axe. “Come, chop off our heads,” they said, “We’re not using them anyway.” Since the United Kingdom narrowly voted for Brexit in June of 2016,
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Don’t send a boy…
Maybe if they draw pictures for us, we might understand why prime minister Justin Trudeau would ask U.S. president Donald Trump to help with Canada’s current problems in China. Talk about the old adage of never sending a boy to do a man’s job! Why would you ask someone who
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The world’s worst walls.
There are walls to keep people in. There are walls to keep people out. They all ultimately fail. Walls to keep people in are just a challenge to human ingenuity. Walls to keep people out can be subject to siege. The truth is walls do not show strength, they show
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Would a gold piano sound tinny?
Most commentators write a recap about the preceding year on New Year’s Eve but I only thought back a week to an ‘oops.’ I realized that this Canadian missed the Monarch’s message to the Commonwealth. It is with fond memories I note that mother used to always insist that her
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Rules of entitlement.
The recent troubles in Paris have brought to mind a week I spent in Paris on business back in the 1970s. My business ‘host’ and tour guide for the week was part Vietnamese and he provided an unusual but perceptive insight into the Parisian sense of entitlement. Working for an
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Pompeo’s Rebellion.
It makes you wish you were there to see the look of astonishment on the European’s faces as American secretary of state Mike Pompeo explained his version of Donald Trump’s ‘Brave New World.’ It happened last week in Brussels. It might have contradicted the agreement Mr. Trump made with China’s
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The woe of women in politics.
Last weekend there was a trifecta in political opinions in the Toronto Star that were equally wrong. The paper must be desperate for more knowledgeable opinions other than their usual scribes. To my surprise, I was appalled at the opinion expressed by new democrat Robin V. Sears, concerned at the
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: American capitalism betrays us.
Since 1908, when Sam McLauglin started building auto bodies in Oshawa for William Durant’s Buicks, Canada has been part of what became General Motors. Through good times and bad times, in World Wars and in boom times Canadians have supported GM. Today, we stand betrayed. The relationship was always a
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Underlining the ignorance of Trump.
U.S. President Donald Trump is but an immature child playing at being the leader of the most powerful nation on earth. The point was so perfectly positioned the other day for all to understand by French President Emmanuel Macron. Vive la France! It is when as a tourist you stand
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: In the grip of the political vortex.
Friends, foes and the pubic ask: “What the fuck is going on?” The answer is that nobody really knows. Did you see the polls before the American mid-term elections? You got a lot of words but no answers. The pollsters knew that they had no answers. For years this politico
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Exploring electoral ennui in America.
The one overriding perception of the 2016 American presidential election was that people were angry. Their disgust with Democrat and Republican party politics was visceral. A wise host and hostess tried to avoid discussions of politics among their guests. There was the common feeling that politics in America was not
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: It should not all be about Trump.
The other day newspapers in North America and around the world joined in a paean for a free press. It needs to be said that where it failed was that so much of that valuable space was given so freely to U.S. president Donald Trump and that ilk. It was
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