We Spend More Than Enough on Our Military
Once again the Americans are leaning on us to spend more on our military. The new U.S. national security adviser, Robert O’Brien, insists it is an “urgent priority” that American…
United States
The 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…
Evangelicals and Their Populist Prophets
Christian evangelicals are having good innings in the political sphere these days. First, their man Donald Trump becomes president of the U.S.; then another of their populist heroes, Jair Bolsonaro,…
Alberta—the Old South in the Cold North
Reading the book All God’s Children, I encountered a section about the relationship of the American South to the Union just prior to the Civil War. As I read on,…
Trump and Israel—So Much for Separation of Church and State
The Trump administration has taken yet another step in its radical support of Israel. Having recognized Jerusalem as the Israeli capital, recognized Israeli sovereignty in the Golan Heights, cut off…
America’s enforcer in the Middle East
Stephen Gowans is an independent Canadian political analyst. His writings, which appear on his What’s Left blog have been reproduced widely in online and print media in many languages and…
Perfidious America
Early in 2018, U.S. President Donald J. Trump withdrew the United States from the Iran nuclear deal, a deal largely negotiated by and signed off on by his own country.…
Scapegoating the oil industry
I always admired that great philosopher Pogo. I still remember the picture of he and a friend looking out over their polluted swamp as he uttered those immortal words, “We…
The US/Canadian attack on Cuba and Venezuela
Winnipeg, Oct. 3, 2019 – Arnold August, speaking at the University of Manitoba about US and Canadian foreign policy regarding Cuba and Venezuela. Photo: Paul S. Graham There is no…
Bye-den
The Democracts mostly don’t mind having a President going out of his mind after being boiled frogs thanks to Trump and Bush. Check out Biden’s rambling answer in a debate.…
Build a Wall? Canada’s Response to Trump
Donald Trump’s main export to Canada has been a sense of national smugness, that his outrages and absurdities could never find purchase here. But it would be an act of…
Evil Men Destroying Our World Have Names
“What is happening here is a crime” – Brazillian fascist President accusing environmentalists of what he’s done. “I am not looking for who is responsible.” https://t.co/SoBmT90cDf — John Klein (@JohnKleinRegina)…
Toronto Star: Build a Wall? Canada’s Response to Trump
It would be an act of monumental self-deception for Canadians to believe that our country is an island set above the rage bubbling across the world.
Waeza Shamsia Afzal, U.S. Evangelicals, and the corruption of dogma
Reading about the courageous young Canadian woman Waeza Shamsia Afzal carried my thoughts to American evangelical Christians and their worship of Donald Trump. The connection is religion. Ms. Afzal is…
Trump is no Substitute for Unions
The major reason Donald Trump was elected to the job he is manifestly unfit for was his appeal to electors in the Rust Belt states. These states had seen a…
Britain has bullied Iran for centuries
Britain’s imperial designs on Iran go back at least to the Great Game with Russia over control of trade routes through central Asia in the 19th century. Indeed, Iran’s southern…
Metric for Americans
American exceptionalism often means things like calling football soccer while the rest of the world calls it football . Yes, us northern neighbours do the same thing but it’s still…
How much crap should Iran be expected to take from the U.S.?
Iran under the Ayatollahs is hardly a model nation. Domestically, it is repressive and, due largely to sanctions imposed by the United States, impoverished. Its foreign policy is aggressive. It…
The Democrats Reinvigorate Their Party and American Democracy
While there is much to despair about American democracy these days, there are also rays of hope, at least in the Democratic Party. If I had been an American during…
Putin Fails Liberal Democracy 101
Vladimir Putin is perhaps first among the anti-democratic strongmen that have emerged to soil the world. At the recent G20 summit he couldn’t resist taking a shot at liberal democracy,…