Hamas more legitimate than Harper’s Conservatives
Discussions on the Palestine issue are usually framed as Hamas vs. Israel. This suggests Hamas is merely an organization when in fact it is the democratically-elected government of Palestine, having…
Bill Longstaff
I’ll answer your question, Mr. Cameron
British Prime Minister David Cameron, like our PM a cheerleader for Israel, posed a rhetorical question this week: how would those criticizing Israel’s actions expect their own government to react…
Who loves the US of A?
The answer to the above question, according to a Pew Research survey of 44 countries, is mostly everybody. Well, outside of the Middle East anyway. Not surprisingly, most Middle Eastern…
Tobacco companies—the biggest, baddest drug dealers pursue our kids
If we conjure up an image of drug cartel bosses, we might imagine swarthy men with gold chains hanging around their necks and voluptuous babes hanging off each arm. This…
Why Canadians must resort to the courts for democracy
Federal Conservatives have been complaining lately about the courts being used, in the words of MP Dan Albas, “to do an end-run around our democratic process.” My immediate reaction to…
Hamas is not a terrorist organization
It seems that the media and politicians can hardly mention Hamas, much in the news these days, without referring to it as a terrorist organization. And indeed a number of…
Settlers killed in Palestine—echoes of another colonialism
The killing of three Jewish teenagers from a West Bank settlement in Palestine brought to mind another colonialism—that of North America. As the Europeans swarmed across the Americas, the Native…
Bucking horses and other immoral entertainments
It’s Stampede time in Calgary and that means it’s time for another debate about exploiting other animals to amuse ourselves. The focus, of course, is rodeo—bucking broncs, calf roping, steer…
Blair makes nice with Sisi—following in Margaret’s steps?
Former British PM Margaret Thatcher’s fondness for Chilean military dictator Augusto Pinochet was infamous. Pinochet was a mass torturer and murderer, but the iron lady was quite fond of him…
Omar Khadr’s trial lacked legal basis
After the way Omar Khadr has been persecuted by both the American government and ours, I wouldn’t have thought any more outrageous news of this sordid affair could emerge. But…
Corporations suing countries—how crazy is that?
Lone Pine Resources sues Canada because Quebec has imposed a moratorium on fracking. Philip Morris sues the Australian government over its tobacco plain packaging legislation. Swedish energy company Vattenfall sues…
Republicans losing the Cuban vote
Lack of support from minority voters has long been an Achilles heel for the Republican Party. This holds true for Hispanics. In the last presidential election, Obama gained a record…
Iran has a huge PR problem
To say that that Americans and Israelis don’t like Iran would hardly be news. But to say that just about every other country in the world doesn’t like Iran either…
Bravo to Elon Musk, patent-buster
Inventor/entrepreneur/engineer/investor Elon Musk recently announced he was giving away all the patents on Tesla Motor’s electric car technology, allowing anyone, competitors included, to use them. Musk, CEO and product architect…
Can capitalists save capitalism?
Prominent Harvard economist Lawrence Katz illustrates the American economy with an amusing analogy. He depicts it as an apartment block in which the penthouses have increased in size, the middle…
Alberta politicos hedge on flood mitigation
After the great flood in Calgary last year, municipal and provincial governments agreed something had to be done to prevent another such catastrophe. There were, however, no shortage of sceptics.…
Kathleen Wynne—lucky with her enemies
Some people are lucky with their friends; some are lucky with their enemies. Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne is clearly one of the latter. Faced with two opponents that seemed determined…
Marshall Islanders take on the nuclear powers
This is a David and Goliath story like no other. The Republic of the Marshall Islands, a country with a population of only 68,000 souls, is taking the nuclear powers…
Mark Carney on capitalism eating its children
Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England, formerly Governor of the Bank of Canada, isn’t exactly your average leftie. Indeed, bank governors tend to turn up on the opposite…
Legislating morality—the new prostitution law
Ah, yet another step backward into a failed past. I refer, of course, to our favourite government’s new Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act, a piece of legislation that…