Generations of Communism is not the best training for democracy. So perhaps we shouldn’t have expected that when the Soviet Union collapsed under its own dead weight, the countries that emerged would quickly become functioning democracies. Actually some have done very well, others not so much. Russia and Belarus, riddled
Continue readingTag: Hungary
Views from the Beltline: Harper reveals new conservative colours
Stephen Harper has recently been promoting closer ties between Canadian conservatives and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government. Harper is chair of the International Democrat Union, a global alliance of right-wing political parties that includes Canada’s Conservatives as well as Orban’s Fidesz Party. The Republicans in the US have also
Continue readingThings Are Good: Digital Violence Exposes NSO’s Tools Targetting Activists
NSO made the news again due to their tools being used to spy on Bahraini and Hungarian activists, which obviously isn’t good. NSO is a cyber security organization that focuses on offensive rather than defence; they sell hacking tools and exploits to target individuals. Anyone with enough money can buy
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: The Baby Boosters
According to the Worldometer (the world population clock), at 12:22 p.m. today the planet’s population of Homo sapiens was 7,769,974,138 with a net gain (births over deaths) of 114,862 so far this morning. You might think this was more than enough of us, given that we are multiplying on the
Continue readingDemocracy or Putinism?
Vladimir Putin has been quoted as saying that the collapse of the Soviet Union was the “greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century.” Whether or not his words have been interpreted correctly is a matter of dispute; nonetheless, his compatriots apparently agree with the sentiment. According to a recent survey by
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Taking Democracy for Granted. We’re Probably On This Road Too.
Andrew Sullivan has a thought-provoking essay in New York Magazine about how we’re killing off liberal democracy and not just in Poland or Hungary or the United States either. This elite condescension toward challenges to their power stems, philosopher John Gray recently argued, from a fundamental and demonstrably false assumption that
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Embarrassing honorary degree stories: ‘Did no one warn them?’
You have to ask why universities bother handing out honorary degrees like bonbons when you think about all the trouble it can cause them. Consider the embarrassing 2012 case of the Israeli university that came up with a scheme to give an honorary degree to an unsavoury right-wing foreign politician
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: Centre For Israel And Jewish Affairs Censors Holocaust Survivers
Bernie Farber’s new column for the CJN is now on-line. Its about the crummy manner in which the Canadian government has treated the Pusemas, a family of Hungarian refugees which includes a six year old girl named Lulu. What I’m particularly interested in is this bit: Lets be clear: CIJA
Continue readingAlberta Diary: On the centenary of Gavrilo Princip’s fateful shot in Sarajevo, let’s learn the right lessons from history
Gavrilo Princip under arrest. Below: Princip and the Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Today is the centenary of the day Gavrilo Princip took his little Belgian pistol to Sarajevo and blew the heir presumptive to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian empire into history. As is well known, not long after young Princip
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: Rally For Lulu
More information can be found here.
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Hungary ’56, Czechoslovakia ’68, Ukraine ’14?
Ukraine’s pro-Russian president, Viktor Yanukovych, has been sent packing. The parliament has turned on him and proclaimed him constitutionally unable to carry out his duties. It is being reported that jailed opposition leader and former president, Yulia Tymoshenko, has been sprung from prison and reunited with the anti-government faction. Yanukovych
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: Bernie Farber Has Advice
Now that Jason Kenney has left his position as Minister for Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, Bernie makes some suggestions to his successor, Chris Alexander: Refugees – Remove Hungary and Mexico from the Designated Safe Country list. This can be done immediately and without legislative reform. These designations impact vulnerable communities
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: In Hungary, Racist Harper Government Billboards Targeting Roma Ethnic People
Hindus have termed Canadian government billboards in Hungary targeting Roma (Gypsy) asylum-seekers as highly inappropriate and blatant racism. by The Canadian Progressive reporters on Jan. 30, 2013 Hindus have termed Canadian government billboards in Hungary targeting Roma (Gypsy) asylum-seekers as highly inappropriate and blatant racism. Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in
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