Section: Canadian Dimension (Canada)
How About a Memorial to the Victims of Harperism?
This image shows the machine works of Richard Hartmann in Chemnitz. Hartmann was one of the most successful entrepreneurs and largest employers in the Kingdom of Saxony. “Only a fool would deny that millions have been the tragic victims of communism, but that number pales, surely, in comparison with the victims of capitalism.” — Roy MacGregor,...
Looking Backward, Looking Forward: 2014 – 2015
Image by Jpatokal Introduction The balance sheet for 2014 and the prospects for 2015 provide us with a complex panorama of negative and positive outcomes. In most cases the advances, are not earth-shattering but open possibilities for further progress. The negative developments, however, have greater and more threatening systemic outcomes. We...
America stumbles through another year
Photo by Christiaan Triebert The Palestinians are seeking a vote in the United Nations’ Security Council on a resolution favoring their statehood, unquestionably a reasonable proposal in the minds of most of the world’s people. Of course, the United States, a permanent member of the Security Council, would automatically veto such a...
2015: A Pivotal Year for Economic and Financial Crises and Wars?
Image from United States Library of Congress “The dangerous patriot: The one who drifts into chauvinism and exhibits blind enthusiasm for military actions. He is a defender of militarism and its ideals of war and glory. Chauvinism is a proud and bellicose form of patriotism, …which identifies numerous enemies who can only be dealt with through...
Justice Belied: The Unbalanced Scales of International Criminal Justice
Justice Belied: The Unbalanced Scales of International Criminal Justice Edited by Sebastien Chartrand and John Philpot Baraka Books, 2014 This enlightening book on international criminal justice is a collection of papers by 15 authors, many involved in the defence of individuals tried by international courts. While the papers differ in tone and...
The Great War: A Crime Against Humanity
Victory Bonds Shorten The War—Help To Catch Huns /Library and Archives Canada, e010754280 /Bibliothèque et Archives Canada, e010754280 As we are reminded nearly every day, 2014 is the 100th anniversary of the beginning of World War I. The orgy of propaganda glorifying that war coincides with Harper’s strategy of making our country more...
The New Canadian Militarism
From the Conversion of Highway 401 entering Toronto into the “Highway of Heroes” as a macabre celebration of Canadian soldiers killed in combat, to the renaming of the Canadian armed forces to echo past imperialist campaigns, to the wrapping of Hockey night in Canada in nationalist celebration of the military, the themes of militarism now...
Frack the EU! Washington’s Frozen War Against Russia
Photo by Pete Souza For over a year, the United States has played out a scenario designed to (1) reassert U.S. control over Europe by blocking E.U. trade with Russia, (2) bankrupt Russia, and (3) get rid of Vladimir Putin and replace him with an American puppet, like the late drunk, Boris Yeltsin. The past few days have made crystal clear the...
A comment on Ukraine
Photo by Yevgen Nasadyuk James Petras distinguishes himself by rejecting the wrong-headed theories on the political left that the driving force of events in Ukraine is a ‘Russian aggression’ or a struggle by ‘two imperialisms’ for control of the country. He calls it as it is–we’re seeing a continuation of NATO’s historic...
All-Out War in Ukraine
Photo by Pete Souza Introduction There are clear signs that a major war is about to break out in Ukraine: A war actively promoted by the NATO regimes and supported by their allies and clients in Asia (Japan) and the Middle East (Saudi Arabia). The war over Ukraine will essentially run along the lines of a full-scale military offensive against the...
