Section: Canadian Dimension (Canada)
Smoke over the skies of North America is another climate change warning
Photo by Jonathan Hayward For nearly two weeks, beginning August 1, the skies over Vancouver were filled with the smoke of forest fires burning in central and northern British Columbia. The smoke from those fires and others farther afield has waxed and waned over much of North America since July. Three days ago, Vancouver and coastal BC and...
Rolling Stone’s latest cover article on Trudeau is barefaced propaganda
By now, you’ve probably heard about the saccharine 6,660-word hagiography on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that was just published in Rolling Stone. Immediately following the article’s publication on July 26, many of Canada’s leading pundits and journalists exploded with territorial incredulity, pedantically noting that...
Sunday’s French Election
Photo by Lorie Shaull The good news this May was that French voters rejected far-right Marine Le Pen by a two-to-one margin in the second round of the Presidential election. “At least the French are not schmucks as the Americans!” were the first words that passed the sweet lips of my Provençal partner Elyane when the radio announced Le...
Trudeau runs risk keeping flawed politician as foreign affairs minister
The irrational has begun to dominate our politics as if the American virus has stealthily moved north to infect our national narratives. It reflects itself in various ways but it seems that wars – old wars, current wars and future wars – have gripped the minds of our political elite and their courtiers in the media. Most problematic is Chrystia...
The Beneficiaries of Conflict With Russia
Photo by SSgt Ian Houlding GBR Army On January 30 NBC News reported that “On a snowy Polish plain dominated by Russian forces for decades, American tanks and troops sent a message to Moscow and demonstrated the firepower of the NATO alliance. Amid concerns that President Donald Trump’s commitment to NATO is wavering, the tanks fired salvos...
Interview: Andrew Bacevich on American militarism
Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Robert J. Fluegel The November election of Donald Trump raised serious questions about the direction of US foreign policy. Would the president seek better diplomatic relations with Russia? Would he step up, or deescalate, conflict in the Middle East? How would he handle NATO, the military alliance...
Hawks & Doves: mixed signals on military engagement
Image by Nicolas Raymond All three mainstream political parties see Canada’s security as heavily dependent on a stable and prosperous world order, guided by rules applying equally to all and that respect Canadian sovereignty and territorial integrity. That in turn predisposes Canada to help shape that kind of world. As usual, the devil is...
An Interview with Noam Chomsky on Trump and the US Election
Photo by Mike Maguire This interview took place at the University of Arizona, before a public audience, on February 2, 2017. I thank Marvin Waterstone for arranging the event, and Professor Chomsky, who approved this transcript for publication. The interview is presented in full, with only very slight editing for style. This interview originally...
Blood in the Water: the Trump Revolution Ends in a Whimper
Photo by Gage Skidmore The Flynn fiasco is not about national security advisor Michael Flynn’s conversations with the Russian ambassador. It’s much deeper than that. It’s about Russia. It’s about Putin. It’s about the explosive rise of China and the world’s biggest free trade zone that will eventually stretch...
Trump Decapitates the Russia Peace Initiative
Photo by Erin A. Kirk-Cuomo Trump folds under totalizing corporate media and war-state pressures today. The resignation of National Security Adviser Michael Flynn decapitates his presidency’s peace initiative with Russia after years of campaigning for it. General Flynn is not another Trump slob. He is the most advanced military intelligence...
