In 1953, Iran’s democratic government led by Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddeq was toppled by a military coup backed by the CIA and the British Secret Intelligence Service. Mosaddeq had nationalized the British-controlled Iranian oil industry, and the Americans and the Brits weren’t having any of that. The coup transformed Iran’s
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Accidental Deliberations: Wednesday Afternoon Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Kelly MacNamara writes about the slowing of Antarctic ocean circulation as a calamitous consequence of climate change which is happening far sooner than predicted. And Alex Cooke reports on the state of emergency in Nova Scotia reflecting the immediate impact of extreme weather
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: About Russia and security
Russia has throughout its history been the victim of brutal invasions. From the east across the steppe came the hordes of Genghis Khan in the 13th century, and from the west the armies of Napoleon and Hitler in the 19th and 20th centuries. One can easily appreciate its concern about
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Another failure on the nuclear front
Other than the various environmental swords that hang over our heads the greatest threat to the future of human society is nuclear war. In recognition of this overarching threat, global society adopted the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons in 1970. The Treaty has been signed by 191 nations,
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Ukraine—a hard power lesson for Iran … and others
In December, 1991, as the Soviet Union crumbled into dust, Ukrainians voted overwhelmingly for independence. Thus was created something of a nuclear problem. The new country was the world’s third largest nuclear power. Approximately 1,700 warheads remained on Ukrainian territory, a third of the Soviet arsenal. The Ukrainians didn’t have
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Kim struts his stuff
Nuclear technology does more than make powerful weapons. It also makes for powerful politics. It allows Kim Jong-un, ruler of a sordid little dictatorship, possibly the most backward nation on Earth, to meet with the president of the United States, the most powerful man in the world, as an equal.
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: A hundred seconds to midnight
Seventy-five years ago yesterday, at 8:15 in the morning, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima. The fireball charred every human being within two kilometre of the blast. Seventy-one thousand people died instantly. Ultimately, another 70,000 would follow them. Three days later, a second bomb
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: 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 supports groups that Canada has labelled terrorist, such as Hezbollah and Hamas, aids President Bashar al-Assad in Syria’s civil war,
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: There’s a Reason They Called it MAD.
They were all the rage in my day. Tactical nuclear weapons, mini-nukes, or “those little bags of instant sunshine.” Somewhere around here I’ve got a then-“secret” field manual laying out how these weapons were to be used in the event of a massive Soviet invasion of western Europe. All eyes
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Artificial unintelligence: Tiny computers in tiny hands are the real threat to civilization as we know it
It’s not big computer brains empowered by artificial intelligence that are going to destroy civilization as we know it. It’s little tiny computers, even if they’re pretty dumb, that are small enough to put in the tiny hands of unsupervised children, hopped-up frat boys and shallow narcissists like the 45th
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: The Nuclear Posture Review and You.
I’m reassured with the knowledge that a small legion of smart people are actively planning the demise of civilization and the majority of human life here on Earth. I’m thinking that these people need to be called the Fermi Corps because they are actively trying to prove Fermi’s Paradox and
Continue readingMontreal Simon: The Day Putin Told Trump The Bromance Is Over
It was never as torrid an affair as many people imagined. The two political thugs were forced to admire each other from afar.Thank goodness.But it was an affair. Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin slathered praise all over each other.While I, like so many others I'm sure, just hoped that the
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: A Blast From the Past. Remember the "Peace Dividend"?
The world but especially the Western alliance breathed a huge sigh of relief at the collapse of the former Soviet Union in late 1991. Over the following years, nation after nation dialed back their military preparedness, declaring what was then called a peace dividend. Defence budgets fell from about 4%
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Possible Paths to Solutions on the Korean Peninsula – By Rajan Menon
Menon’s arguments are quite rational, but with the current American Republican Administration having rational arguments doesn’t count for much. “Here’s a prerequisite for avoiding war in Korea: stop believing in the North’s denuclearization, attractive and desirable as it might be (if achieved through diplomacy). It doesn’t follow, however, that
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Evening Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Gerald Caplan writes about the existential threats to humanity which are being either escalated or ignored: We are rapidly approaching the same kind of escalation that led the world to the Cuban missile crisis of 1962, with humankind on the very brink of
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Is Donald Trump Losing His Marbles Again?
It's really good to know that the U.S. nuclear commander says he would resist an illegal order from Donald Trump.The US armed forces could refuse an order from the President to launch a nuclear strike if is deemed illegal, the country's top defence officer has said. Air Force General John Hyten, commander of
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Alex Himelfarb writes about the need to expand our idea of what’s possible through collective action: Is Trump the product of over forty years of attacks on the very idea of government, of decades in which government seemed to back away from our
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Tom Parkin writes that the economic boost provided by an expanded child benefit offers another indication of how action to fight poverty ultimately helps everybody. And Dylan Matthews discusses how much more could be done through a well-designed basic income – while
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Christopher Hoy reminds us that as much as people are already outraged by inequality, we tend to underestimate its severity. And Faiza Shaheen writes about the dangers of unchecked inequality which erodes social bonds. – Meanwhile, Andrea Hopkins discusses how Canadians are
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Donald Trump’s Itchy Twitter Fingers and the Inauguration Debacle
The scariest thing about Donald Trump's government by Twitter is the way his mind wanders, from the important to the trivial. Or from one button to another.One moment he's pressuring Obama to veto an anti-settlement resolution at the United Nations.The next moment he's humiliating Newt Gingrich. And then out of the blue he
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