You are currently browsing the articles from Jay Currie written on
Paul Wells points to the membership list of ThinkTwiceCanada... Be afraid, be very afraid…these are the very people who know best. these are the nannies. And they will be waggling their finger at anyone who does not mind their warnings.
Written by jay on January 19th, 2006 with 3 comments.
Read more articles on Canadian Politics and Uncategorized.
Breathlessly Sean Holman at the Public Eye Online reports,
Conservative MP Diane Ablonczy and her longtime supporter Gerrie van Ieperen appear to have been involved with an initiative to counter the media’s perceived left-wing bias via the blogosphere, according to a collection of emails leaked to Public Eye.
the public eye
This will come as huge news to folks like Bob Tarentino. Here’s the bullet Sean, there are lots of us who have been blogging about leftish media bias without the assitance of CPC MPs. but, hey, if they want to come to the party late we’re delighted to see them.
The trouble is that the dedicated CPC bloggers miss the real essence of blogging which is that it is anarchtic. Bloggers do not toe the party line at all well which is why so many of the Blogging Tories are so utterly unreadable. (As are the Prog bloggers and the LibLogs.)
Party line does not make it in blogging any more than it makes for interesting MSM journalism.
The funny thing is that politicians see blogs as an extention of MSM and therefore subject to the same level of co-option. Which is to say that generally politicians entirely miss the point. The only politician who seems to get it is Monte Solberg. Who, I note, has been embraced by the Canadian blogosphere simply because he brings a sense of humour to his blog and obviously writes it himself.
Update: the Zerb is on the job
Written by jay on January 19th, 2006 with 3 comments.
Read more articles on blogging.
Diplomats and statesmen since the Treaty of Westphalia had grown accustomed to seeing nothing smaller than nation-states. This conceptual blindness prevented foreign ministries, academics or the United Nations — the very name a testament to the limits of its sensibility — from understanding that sub-national units under the banner of a world religion could arise to challenge the established international order. It was simply impossible, and yet it was. In retrospect all the signs were there. Though globalized business, unprecendented mobility, worldwide communications long weakened the prerogative of nations, they were still regarded as supreme.
belmont club
Out in the real world, some distance away from Canadian politics, Iran is going about the business of acquring a nuclear device. Or is it Iran?
A more accurate description would be that there are factions in iran who are in control of elements of the state and are willing to use them to acqire nuclear weapons….for whom? For themselves? Or for assorted terrorists? Or for Iran?
It is very difficult to see a significant difference between the functioning of Iran and the functioning of pre-invasion Afghanistan. Essentially, both nations were rules by religious wackos for who death was a blessed release and the notion of a nation state was subordinate to the idea of a religious community in opposition to the rest of the infidel world.
England went through much the same sort of thing during the Cromwellian Commonwealth. the good news is that that Commonwealth did not have nuclear weapons. Zealotry armed with plutonium is a rather different issue.
At this point the only question is whether or not the West will sit on its hands as the ayatollahs become nuclear capable. Naill Ferguson writes interestingly about the origins of the Great War of 2007 in the Telegraph. What will prevent that war is a continuation of the Bush doctorine of pre-emption. (Tyee readers may want to skip this bit as it may give them the vapors - you too Kevin.)
Mark Steyn, writing in the Telegraph suggests,
Why not tap into their excess energy right now? As the foreign terrorists have demonstrated in Iraq, you don’t need a lot of local support to give the impression (at least to Tariq Ali and John Pilger) of a popular insurgency. Would it not be feasible to turn the tables and upgrade Iran’s somewhat lethargic dissidents into something a little livelier? A Teheran preoccupied by internal suppression will find it harder to pull off its pretensions to regional superpower status.
the telegraph
. This represents the low end. The high end is to take seriously the sheer number of people who are threatened by a nuclear capable Iran and get on with the purely military job of taking out the regime.
The ayatolahs and their pawns are little loved by a growing middle class and a full scale invasion would not be unwelcomed by a significant section of the Iranian population. The question is whether or not the West has the gumption to actually bell this particular cat.
For the moment it does not. Or, to be more accurate, the Europeans cannot imagine war. But war is about the only thing which will stop the Iranian march to nuclear power status. And given that the Iranian leadership has been pretty specific as to where Missile #1 will be aimed, it is certainly time to begin to think seriously about striking preemptively.
Diplomacy is now worse than a joke - it’s an incentive. And if there is to be war I hope that Harper and the CPC have the courage to ensure that Canada is involved on the side of our allies.
Here’s Wretchard’s solution,
So what’s important is speed of action that leads to an internal revolution and regime change to minimize the impact on the poorer countries. We’ll need a multi-pronged effort, rubbling the nuke factories and related infrastructure, freezing international commerce and bank accounts, while maintaining an armed embargo of all large (truck, ship and pipeline) traffic in and out of Iran (that will damage the oligarchy’s pocketbook, power and prestige).
the belmont club
This is entirely doable. And it needs to be done. Nearly immediately. The only thing I would add is that an international force should take and hold the Iranian oil ports. Embargo is one thing, actually holding the taps is another and rather more powerful thing.
Written by jay on January 19th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on CPC and International.
Standing on guard for thee…federal public servants take it on the road.
Estimated Number of Room Nights / International Travel
(April 2003 to March 2004)
CANCUN, MEXICO 800
HAVANA, CUBA 556
PARIS DE GAULLE, FRANCE 14,716 (Adrianne no doubt needed some sherpas)
Nice work if you can get it.
Conservative Life has the details on the hotels our hardworking public servants had to stay in.
I can’t imagine what in the world Canadian public servants could find to do in the City of Light given that is the capital of what is essentially a third level diplomatic and military power and a second rate economy. By comparison, the public service spent only 10,000 nights in Washington which, when you think of it is mildly more important in the Canadian scheme of things than France. (And, admittedly, within a day’s comute from Ottawa.)
But, more to the point: we live in an age of instant communication. The internet and all that. Why in God’s name do these folks have to fly around the world in the first place?
Written by jay on January 19th, 2006 with 1 comment.
Read more articles on Canadian Politics and Uncategorized.
Canadian Auto Workers president Buzz Hargrove used a campaign stop in nearby Strathroy to call Conservative Leader Stephen Harper a separatist whose Alberta-born political principles place him outside mainstream Canadian values.
He seemed to agree with questioners that Quebecers vote for the Bloc Quebecois over the Conservatives.
the star
Last election it was CPC supporters bearing gifts to the Liberals, this election, lamers like Hargrove, in full panic and utterly detached from Canadain reality, are returning the favour.
He’s probably pissed that the Dumpling is going to be in no position to deliver that Seante seat.
Update: I had missed the last graf of Paul Wells:
“The CAW head seemed to suggest that Quebecers should even vote for the Bloc Québécois if it meant keeping out the Conservatives. ‘I would urge them to stop Stephen Harper in any way they can,’ he said.”
Paul Martin stood appreciatively beside the union boss while he said this. It matters who you choose to lead the country, and what his values are.
inkless wells
Written by jay on January 19th, 2006 with 1 comment.
Read more articles on CPC and Canadian Politics and Liberals and media.
Stay current with Jay Currie on these personalized pages: