A friend of mine sent me this, and it is spot-on and self-explanatory. Recommend this Post
Continue readingTag: World Politics
Babel-on-the-Bay: Politicizing the Pandemic.
There is nothing political about the Coronavirus and the pandemic. Each country, in its own manner, has had to deal with the spread of the virus, the sickness and the deaths. Yet it was the politicians, the democratically elected and the dictators, the leaders who showed their stuff. The comparisons
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Do we really understand China?
They are known to most Canadians as ‘the Two Michaels.’ They have been in prison in China since before the pandemic. Michael Kovrig, a former diplomat, and Michael Spavor, a businessman, were arrested in China just days after the RCMP arrested Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of Huawei, in Vancouver
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Does Singh know why O’Toole’s nice to him?
It might have been the annual event celebrating Saint Valentine, but Jagmeet Singh of the new democrats should be suspicious of all the cards he received from conservative MPs. The rationale for all this lovey-dovey, kuchi-koo business from the conservatives could only be that they need Jagmeet and his NDP
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: We are coming back.
Yes, we are starting to get the urge to write. It has been a longer hiatus than intended. Today we are just doing a test with one of our favourite commentaries from 2016. I expect the discouragement in writing political commentaries is the short life of many of the comments.
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: UK Teeters at the Precipice.
It seems like a long time since the United Kingdom has had any real leadership. This Brexit business is a dog’s breakfast. Every subsequent leadership aspirant has made a bigger mess of it. Now we are down to the wire with that pathetic guy who looks like he chops at
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Pondering the politics of the potty.
There are issues that people will step up to and there are issues that cause them to smirk and back away. I was reading a very intelligent story the other day about the politics of the toilet and the need for our politicians to grow backbones. To quote a current
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Blame stupidity and short-sightedness.
We used to have some control in Canada about who bought and sold our industry. If you are smart enough to realize that you might be desperate for a vaccine to cure a new coronavirus some day. You would have kept Connaught Laboratories in Toronto working on vaccines and other
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Searching for the real Canada.
There is a Canada out there somewhere that we want to build on. It is a Canada led by those who can really lead. It is a Canada created willingly by our collective inspiration. It is a Canada built on equality and freedoms. It is a country that inspires. It
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: How about a modern royalty?
It must be the damn pandemic. The wife and I have these occasional short arguments. They come from frustration with the restrictions and need for more interaction with others. But what does come out of these brief squabbles are ideas. Today’s was the idea that she is a closet monarchist
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: It will never be the same America.
Mother was born in Milwaukee, grew up in Chicago and then married a Canadian. It made Chicago a special place, as children, where we visited fun relatives. Two of my brothers now live in the United States. I have always felt at home in both countries. But no longer. We
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: That horse has left the barn.
It was a presumptuous letter to the prime minister from some of our Canadian enlightened the other day about the Meng Wanzhou extradition case. There was a time when I admired some but not all of those signatories. They were people who added much to Canada’s reputation in law and
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Scorched earth for Beijing.
There is a very simple answer for the problem of Beijing coming down so hard on Hong Kong. It means that the leaders in Beijing are breaking their bond. Their promises are hollow. Leaders who betray their own are not honourable people. The answer is to deny them the very
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Have a happy insurrection.
From Hong Kong to Washington, from Los Angeles to Minneapolis, it is a time of insurrection. It boils over with the night and it rests and renews in the day. It is us versus them. It is authority versus anarchy. It is young versus old. It is rich versus poor.
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: What is the new normal?
People are talking about a new normal—whenever this damn pandemic has run its course. No, we are not talking about the normal when we still shy from contact with people in fear of covid-19. We are talking about a time when we will look back on a history we do
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The killing ground at the LTCs.
The cull continues. Just what is the purpose of our long-term care (LTC) facilities? The figures are shocking. We sent in the army. All the army got was covid-19. Britain’s Economist asked around, checking covid-19 deaths in LTC facilities in European countries. The people at the Economist were shocked to
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: An autopsy or a resuscitation?
An interesting question was raised in the Toronto Star the other day. There was an opinion piece by Bob Hepburn proposing a national commission on the reconstruction of the Canadian economy. This suggestion was based on some thinking by Greg Sorbara, a former Ontario treasurer, and Michael Mendelson, former Ontario
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: It’s all about politics.
There was a suggestion in the news the other day that few of us are interested in politics at this time. The assumption was that the coronavirus has chased politics out of the driver’s seat of the daily news. In my humble opinion, that is just so much twaddle. The
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: What Jinping, Putin, Trump have in common.
Why are we surprised if American president Trump wants to be named president for life? The man hardly wants less than his counterparts, Xi Jinping, president for life of China, Vladimir Putin, president for life of Russia. They are men of enormous egos. They live in make-believe worlds, where all
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The populism of the coronavirus.
We live in an age of populist political solutions but we never expected to have to deal with a populist pandemic. The problem is that a populism pandemic is blind. It strikes the rich and powerful one per cent as easily as the person in poverty. It can kill the
Continue reading