The Great Game—did Putin outplay the West in Crimea?
In the 19th century, the British and Russian empires’ strategic rivalry for supremacy in Central Asia was referred to as the Great Game. The game has never really ended as…
Bill Longstaff
UK PM claims Britain is a Christian country—it ain’t
British Prime Minister David Cameron has put the cat among the pigeons claiming, perhaps unduly influenced by the Easter season, that Britain is a Christian country. In fact, he suggested…
Common sense in Kitimat
Good news over the weekend. The citizens of Kitimat B.C. had their say on the Northern Gateway pipeline, and they said NO. In a referendum on Saturday, they voted 1,793…
The United States—democracy or oligarchy?
Last year, Iran held an election to choose its president. Many in the West mocked the election because the candidates were vetted by the Guardian Council (a group appointed largely…
$36-million for a cup? Some people are just too rich
It’s called the chicken cup because it’s got chickens painted on it. The world’s highest priced birds, in fact. The cup fetched $36.1-million, including commission, at Sotheby’s spring auction in…
Quebec—another majority that isn’t
A lot of euphoria last night from Liberal supporters and those many Canadians (including not a few Quebecers) who don’t want to hear about separation for another generation at least.…
Canada strikes out as a progressive nation
There was a time—long, long ago—when Canada had a reputation in the world as a progressive nation. Well … not so long ago actually. Only eight years in fact. It…
Support the tax gap motion
That governments are robbed of billions of dollars by the rich and by corporations exploiting tax havens is a well-known national and international scandal. It is now standard practice for…
The "mother of all accountants" flays election bill
Sheila Fraser was once one of Stephen Harper’s favourite people. When she, in her capacity of auditor-general, exposed the Chretien government’s sponsorship scandal, sewing the seeds that would bring down…
More to Adam Smith and The Wealth of Nations than meets the neoliberal eye
When we think of Adam Smith, the great Scottish philosopher and economist, and his seminal book The Wealth of Nations, we are inclined to think of free markets, individual self-interest,…
Alberta, oil, and indoctrinating children
“Give us a child till he’s seven and we’ll have him for life”—a maxim some claim comes from St. Ignatius Loyola himself, founder of the Jesuits. Somewhat hackneyed but nonetheless…
Federal hiring and the warrior ethos
The federal government has, it seems, something of a Jekyll and Hyde attitude towards military veterans. On the one hand, its budget-cutting has resulted in the closing of Veterans Affairs…
Saudi arms sales—the triumph of economics over morality
If nothing else, it illustrates how, in the world of international relations, economics trumps morality. I refer to General Dynamics Land Systems Canada landing a deal to sell light-armoured vehicles…
The global economy—a case of bad engineering
For a number of years I toiled in the oil industry as an engineer, and not infrequently lessons I learned from my engineering experience return to inform me in other…
U.S. conservatives going all progressive?
If Justice Minister Peter MacKay announcing that the Conservatives may soften marijuana laws came as a surprise, the change of heart among some conservatives in the U.S. is nothing less…
Ukraine and American arrogance
The New York Times ran an intriguing headline earlier this week. It read “Debate Over Who, in U.S., is to Blame for Ukraine.” Apparently American politicians are debating which among…
Will Homo sapiens evolve itself into extinction?
The notion that eventually we will create an artificial intelligence superior to our own has been around for quite a while. Now someone has boldly, perhaps foolishly, predicted a deadline.…
Andrew Leslie’s troubling views on defence policy
Andrew Leslie, former Canadian forces commander in Afghanistan, now adviser to Liberal Party chief Justin Trudeau, has been busy recently defending his $72,000 moving expense, particularly from attack by the…
The brutal costs of the World Cup
As the scandal over Vladimir Putin’s $50-billion Olympics begins to fade, equally sordid scandals about the World Cup come to the fore. Brazil, which has won more World Cups than…