In the days since Hamas’s violent rampage through southern Israel, one word that keeps popping up is “unprovoked.” A Biden administration official condemned “the unprovoked attacks by Hamas terrorists against Israeli civilians,” while Mike Pence urged every American to “condemn the unprovoked and massive attack on Israel by terrorists in
Continue readingTag: Global Politics
Song of the Watermelon: Globe and Mail Letter
The Letters section in today’s Globe and Mail is filled with readers’ thoughts on climate change. One such reader is me. Please see the fifth letter from the top for my response to the “What about China?” excuse for Canadian climate inaction.
Continue readingSong of the Watermelon: Globe and Mail Letter
The Letters section in today’s Globe and Mail is filled with readers’ thoughts on climate change. One such reader is me. Please see the fifth letter from the top for my response to the “What about China?” excuse for Canadian climate inaction.
Continue readingMind Bending Politics: Exclusive: Monia Mazigh Responds To Omar Khadr Settlement
(Monia Mazigh Human Rights Advocate and Author Best Known For Her Advocacy of Her Husband Maher Arar Responds to Omar Khadr Settlement) Mind Bending Politics sat down with Monia Mazigh this week to discuss the Omar Khadr settlement and her thoughts on the future of human rights in Canada. Before
Continue readingThe Wandering Joe: Does this look infected to you (redux)?
I wrote this article on LinkedIN, and although I started it last March (and subsequently forgot about it), it has taken on a new meaning in recent months. It’s largely about how diversity is important in running a business, but it is no less true of governments… Everything from someone’s
Continue readingThe Wandering Joe: Does this look infected to you (redux)?
I wrote this article on LinkedIN, and although I started it last March (and subsequently forgot about it), it has taken on a new meaning in recent months. It’s largely about how diversity is important in running a business, but it is no less true of governments… Everything from someone’s
Continue readingSong of the Watermelon: An Open Letter to Justin Trudeau on Donald Trump’s Muslim Ban
Dear Prime Minister Trudeau, In the wake of Sunday’s horrendous terrorist attack on Quebec’s Muslim community, I am writing to ask that you forcefully condemn not just the shooting itself, but the rising tide of Islamophobia that appears to have prompted it. On January 27, US President Donald Trump signed
Continue readingThe Wandering Joe: Oil Oil Everywhere, and not a Barrel to Burn
There has been a lot of hand-wringing over the recent crash in crude oil prices. Ironically, both environmentalists who want people to stop buying oil and many of the producers who need people to buy more are both challenged by the current price point. To be honest, I couldn’t give
Continue readingThe Wandering Joe: Oil Oil Everywhere, and not a Barrel to Burn
There has been a lot of hand-wringing over the recent crash in crude oil prices. Ironically, both environmentalists who want people to stop buying oil and many of the producers who need people to buy more are both challenged by the current price point. To be honest, I couldn’t give
Continue readingMind Bending Politics: Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement Explained Perfectly
The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is a trade agreement mostly negotiated in secret by quite a few governments bordering the pacific ocean. Canada has been a part of these negotiations and is committed to ratifying the treaty. Both US presidential candidates are now on the record against this treaty, while current US president Barack Obama has […]
Mind Bending Politics: China Defends Its Woody Which Could Kick Off WW3
It takes 3 continents at war to declare another global war, and with recent developments over the past week it looks as though we may be heading in that direction. Europe is fighting a proxy war in Ukraine against Russia, NATO is fighting in the middle east, and now China is flexing its military might in the Asia Pacific Region installing surface-to-air missile systems in and around a disputed island in the South China Sea called Woody Island.
The Wandering Joe: Crimea and Misdemeanours
Bad puns aside, the recent intrigue in Crimea has been responsible for more nonsensical political blustering than any single international incident in the past decade. It has been a curious exercise to sit back and watch everyone work themselves up and deliver half-baked analyses based on laughably outdated assumptions. Please
Continue readingThe Wandering Joe: Crimea and Misdemeanours
Bad puns aside, the recent intrigue in Crimea has been responsible for more nonsensical political blustering than any single international incident in the past decade. It has been a curious exercise to sit back and watch everyone work themselves up and deliver half-baked analyses based on laughably outdated assumptions. Please
Continue readingSong of the Watermelon: A Q&A on Syria and the “Responsibility to Protect”
What is “Responsibility to Protect”? “Responsibility to Protect,” or R2P, is a doctrine that grew out of a 2001 report by the Canadian-established International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty (ICISS). Unanimously endorsed as a general principle by the UN General Assembly four years later, R2P carries a hefty moral
Continue reading350 or bust: New Report Connects Dots Between Political Inaction & Growing Cost Of Climate Change
This is a reposting from The Earth Story’s Facebook page: “The cost of living is going up and the chance of living is going down. “ –Flip Wilson A new publication issued by the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in the journal “Nature” has reported that the chances
Continue readingSong of the Watermelon: Two-State Twilight
For many years, I have felt that, to paraphrase Mark Twain, reports of the death of the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict were an exaggeration. Yes, Israel has been unyielding in its expansion of settlements in the West Bank in clear violation of international law, effectively dividing the already-slight
Continue reading350 or bust: The Emerging Arctic World Order
Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, President of Iceland speaks at the Arctic Imperative Summit, 2012 in Girdwood, Alaska. Well worth the 30 minute listen – this is one politician that speaks the truth to power. Wake up, folks! Thanks to Doug Grandt, climate warrior extraordinaire, for sharing this link.
Continue readingSong of the Watermelon: A Formula for Nuclear Disarmament
Mushroom clouds over Hiroshima (left) and Nagasaki (right) If you look at world history, ever since men began waging war, you will see that there’s a permanent race between sword and shield. The sword always wins. The more improvements that are made to the shield, the more improvements are made
Continue readingSong of the Watermelon: On Growth and Its Limits
George Monbiot offers a fascinating insight in the wake of last week’s United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) in Rio de Janeiro. While rightly deriding the declaration adopted by world leaders for containing little more than meaningless fluff, he notes an evolution in diplomatic language regarding the environment over
Continue readingSong of the Watermelon: Nuclear Weapons, Iran, and War
With an all-too-familiar rhythm, the drums of war are sounding. The target? An authoritarian Middle Eastern regime set on acquiring exceptionally destructive weapons. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. This time around the country is Iran, and the weapons allegedly being developed are nuclear. The Israeli government (although
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