Greater Than the Sum of Our Parts – Feminism Inter/Nationalism & Palestine. Nada Elia. Pluto Press, 2023. London. Interestingly this work by Nada Elia – Greater Than the Sum of Our Parts – takes off from what the last book I read on Palestine discussed as images of Palestine and the imagination arriving with that. The first image used here[Read More…]
“The 1619 Project – A New Origins Story”. Hannah-Jones, Nikole et al, Ed. One World, (Random House), New York, 2021. The American narrative – and other stories Most of the world in which there is a decent educational system knows the foundational myths of the United States. Essentially a bunch of oppressed settlers could no longer tolerate the weight of[Read More…]
Imagining Palestine – Cultures of Exile and National Identity. Tahrir Hamdi. I. B. Taurus, (Bloomsbury Publishing Plc), London, 2023. [1] In her recent work, “Imagining Palestine”, Tahrir Hamdi has made an intriguing, thought provoking, and challenging discussion on the idea and reality of Palestine. Imagining Palestine is the ongoing process of remembering and living the ongoing tragedies of the nakba[Read More…]
Glory to God in the Lowest – Journeys to An Unholy Land. Donald E. Wagner. Olive Branch Press (Interlink Publishing group, Inc.). Northampton, Massachusetts. 2022. In “Glory to God in the Lowest” Donald Wagner set out three themes for his memoirs: his transition from political apathy and social conservatism to activism in the civil rights and anti-war movements; a theological[Read More…]
The Arc of a Covenant – The United States, Israel, and the Fate of the Jewish People. Walter Russell Mead. Alfred A Knopf, New York, 2022. In today’s world a clear understanding of the relationship between the U.S. and Israel is important – this is not the work to clear it up. Walter Mead’s hypothesis is that Israel does not[Read More…]
The Hundred Year War on Palestine – A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917-2017. Rashid Khalidi. Metropolitan Books, Henry Holt and Company, New York, 2020. With the writing of The Hundred Year War on Palestine – A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917-2017, Rashid Khalidi has created an interesting well written overview of the Zionist colonial-settler enterprise in[Read More…]
Advocating for Palestine in Canada – Histories, Movements, Actions. Ed.: Emily Wills, Jeremy Wildeman, Michael Beuckert, Nadia Abu-Zahra. Fernwood Publishing, Halifax/Winnipeg, 2022. Different groups advocate for Palestine from a variety of perspectives while developing several common themes. Advocating for Palestine contains nine presentations looking at Palestine from the viewpoint of students, Jewish activism, indigenous issues, being Palestinian-Arab in Canada, and[Read More…]
For a short while, at least as announced by the mainstream media, Canada found itself described as a “peacemaker” among the countries of the world. This was an image promoted abroad and valued domestically as Canadian troops, war materials, and military equipment worked around the world to maintain peace. This necessity for peace, when reviewed critically, came from the reality[Read More…]
Light in Gaza – Writings Born of Fire. Ed. Jehad Abusalim, Jennifer Bing,, Michael Merryman Lotze. Haymarket Books, Chicago, IL, 2022. The actual history of Gaza can be readily researched – the dates, the actions, the numbers. What is not readily available is information beyond the Israeli narrative of Gaza being populated by terrorists. This current book, a collection of[Read More…]
Michael Lynk is the UN Special Rapporteur for the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territory occupied after the 1967 nakba. He is Associate Professor of Law at Western University in London, Ontario, where he teaches labour law, constitutional law and human rights law. [1] His report, “Israel’s 55-year occupation of Palestinian Territory is apartheid – UN human rights[Read More…]
“I liked history better when it was in the past.” There are several implications of this kind of statement. For people living in benign territories, ones that are not subject to corporate or military subjugation, history is the past, the written record of what has happened while life continues on its usual path. For others history is what is occurring[Read More…]
Non-sovereign nation Start at the top: Canada is not free and does not control its own sovereignty as a fully independent country. Much of this is by choice as an offspring of the British Empire. Canada’s foreign policy is very much in line with U.S. foreign policy, or more broadly it is fully in line with the Anglo-American Five Eyes[Read More…]
Public Intellectual – The Life of a Citizen Pilgrim. Richard Falk. Clarity Press, Atlanta, GA. 2021. Writing an autobiography after experiencing the greater part of a century as a public intellectual has resulted in Richard Falk’s superbly written story covering many of the major events of the Twentieth and nascent Twenty-first Centuries. Public Intellectual is densely written with ideas and[Read More…]
Giants – The Global Power Elite. Peter Phillips. Seven Stories Press, New York, 2018. Abby Martin’s interview with Peter Phillips was the instigator for reading Peter Phillips’ now slightly outdated but highly valuable work, “Giants – The Global Power Elite.” The interview is valuable unto itself and like all Abby Martin’s work is concise and pointed; it is a good[Read More…]
A recent seminar from the group “Visualizing Palestine” served to present four graphic representations of environmental problems within Israel/Palestine [https://visualizingpalestine.org/visuals/between-rising-tide-and-apartheid?v=large] The graphics are self-explanatory and need no review here – they are after all graphic, and speak well for themselves. The discussion talked around the graphics, what they emphasized and how they are necessary for a clear understanding of environmental[Read More…]
The American Trap – My Battle to Expose America’s Secret Economic War Against the Rest of the World. Frédéric Pierucci (with Mathieu Aron). HOdder & Stoughton, London, 2020. It becomes more clear with more and more readings that the “American trap” is the U.S. dollar, and that for some it is no secret. Frédéric Pierucci’s well written personal story tells[Read More…]
The U.S.’ Summit for Democracy has come and gone without too much fuss. It was a strange little show with the leader of the so called ‘free world’ – being those “democratic” countries that for whatever reason support U.S. dictates – attempting through rhetoric and probably a few winks and nods to maintain its establishment as the group’s leader. From[Read More…]
Consider living under a set of laws decreed by a racist theocratic dictator calling for ethnic cleansing, slavery, and cultural genocide if not outright genocide. It would probably not be the humanitarian thing to do while alternatively promoting freedom, democracy, and the ‘rule of law’. Unfortunately at its base, this is where the people of the Anglo empire – Canada,[Read More…]
International Brigade Against Apartheid. Ed. Ronnie Kasrils. (With Muff Andersson and Oscar Marleyn). Jacana Media, Auckland Park, South Africa. 2021. When reviewing a book already given high testament by the likes of Richard Falk, Ilan Pappé, Omar Barghouti, and John Pilger, among many others, the easy recommendation is simply read this book: it is an important addition to the history[Read More…]
“There is nothing so whole as a broken heart.” Last week (2021-11-04), Independent Jewish Voices (IJV – Canada) presented a webinar (“From IDF to IJV”) telling the story of three Jewish members who were former Israeli Defence Force (IDF) participants, but over the years and through similar yet varying experiences, ended up working with IJV Canada. The host for the[Read More…]
Canada was born of empire and still thrives within that milieu. It is the progeny of French and British imperial quests in the ‘New’ World and is accompanied by its siblings within the Five Eyes, the most influential being the United States. Canada’s creation out of mostly British imperial interests carried all the factors of imperialism internally as it developed[Read More…]
Canada’s recent election proved mostly that Canadians are more or less set within their provincial agendas. The ruling Liberals gained three seats, the Conservatives stayed the same, the Bloc Québecois gained two, the Greens lost one, and the NDP gained one. (There were five independents before the vote). In sum, nothing changed, a lot of money was wasted – or[Read More…]
Twenty years and more ago climate talk concerned long term global warming effects not really occurring until mid-twenty-first century at earliest with most problems occurring toward the end of the century. I remember thinking I would not see the changes as the forecasts were well beyond my lifespan. There were signs of change, obviously, or it would not be an[Read More…]
A word can have strong meanings associated with it, and depending on its use, can be interpreted from different perspectives. Recently I heard a citation from Michael Ignatieff, Canada’s contribution to faux liberal thought, in which he used the word “obdurate”. Intrigued – yes, I more or less knew what it meant, stubborn or hard, but for some reason I[Read More…]
Except for Palestine – The Limits of Progressive Politics. Marc Lamont Hill and Mitchell Plitnick. The New Press, New York. 2021. “Except for Palestine” is a remarkable little book. Within it, the authors Hill and Plitnick present the larger picture that the self proclaimed progressive “universal” values of the United States are argued for in many troubled spots of the[Read More…]
In the Shadows of the American Century – The Rise and Decline of US Global Power. ALfred W. McCoy. Haymarket Books, Chicago. 2017 Reading “In the Shadows of the American Century” is a bit of an up and down ride. The best part of the book for personal interest concerning the author is the Introduction. The author, Alfred McCoy, discusses[Read More…]
Lawrence in Arabia – War, Deceit, Imperial Folly and the Making of the Modern Middle East. Scott Anderson. Anchor Books, Random House LLC, New York, 2013. Every very seldom often a book comes along that greatly exceeds expectations. Lawrence in Arabia is one of those books. Scott Anderson’s writing is highly entertaining and highly informative at the same time. It[Read More…]
After the Apocalypse – America’s Role in a World Transformed. Andrew Bacevich. Metropolitan Books, Henry Holt and Company. New York. 2021. The contemporary apocalypse as seen by Andrew Bacevich in his latest book, “After the Apocalypse”, consists of four different horsemen: first mentioned are the severe climate effects of global warming; Trump “toxic and divisive” presidency is mentioned next; followed[Read More…]
After the most recent Gaza war I was asked to make a presentation to a local service club concerning events in Israel and the Middle East. The presentation started with an introduction of the current global situation, a broad brush covering the U.S. empire, its petrodollar, and the new multipolar geopolitical world. From there, it covered the history that made[Read More…]
Economic history is not a truly scintillating read. However, to understand how our society is arranged economically as it is today, “Goliath” provides an interesting background into the people, policies, and the political rhetoric (propaganda) that shaped the power struggle between monopoly power and democracy. Without forcefully stating it, that is the theme of the book: monopoly power as it[Read More…]
War: How Conflict Shaped Us. Margaret MacMillan. Random House, New York. 2020. I almost did not finish reading “War: How Conflict Shaped Us”. It is not worth reading, but I worked through it anyway. Which is unfortunate as Margaret MacMillan can be an excellent writer of history. The two volumes of hers that I have read – “Paris 1919” and[Read More…]
On June 13, 2021, Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau put out a statement welcoming the new Israeli government and outlining Canada’s support for all things Israeli. The full statement is available on the government website [https://pm.gc.ca/en/news/statements/2021/06/13/statement-prime-minister-formation-new-government-israel] and contains many simplistic platitudes that conceal too many ugly realities. Without deconstructing all of it there are some salient points that do stand[Read More…]
The current situation of Israeli house demolitions in Sheikh Jarrah is highlighting the ongoing ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from their indigenous lands in order to protect the demographic dominance of the Israeli Jewish population. The system well under way and being strengthened each year is that of apartheid. Historical moments In pre World War I Europe, the various empires were[Read More…]
The Crash of Flight 3804 – A Lost Spy, A Daughter’s Quest, and the Deadly Politics of the Great Game for Oil. Charlotte Dennett. Chelsea Green Publishing. London/White River Junction, VT. 2020. Titles can be deceptive – “The Crash of Flight 3804” meant nothing for all my readings of history and geopolitics. It was not about the crash that killed[Read More…]
Engaging the World: The making of Hamas’s foreign policy. Daud Abdullah. Afro-Middle East Centre (AMEC), 2020. Hamas has been a strongly maligned actor within the western mainstream media. The concise and well written “Engaging the World” by Daud Abdullah presents a clear picture of Hamas’ attempts to act as an international state actor while at the same time continuing its[Read More…]
I have just watched Michael Moore’s latest Rumble podcast [1] in which he asks the question “What is it about us?” while referencing the Columbine massacre and relating it to the current set of U.S. mass murders. The subtext to the title “What is so different about Americans?” asks “Are we homicidal by nature?” While there are no truly easy[Read More…]
The Lion and the Eagle – The Interaction of the British and American Empires 1783-1972. Kathleen Burk. Bloomsbury, London/New York, 2018. The 200 year historical span of Kathleen Burk’s “The Lion and the Eagle” shows the changes in the interactions between the newly formed United States and its imperial drive and the ongoing imperial drive of the British. In general,[Read More…]
Decolonizing Palestine – Hamas Between the Anticolonial and the Postcolonial. Somdeep Sen. Cornell University Press, New York. 2020. A book that has a very narrowly defined title often fails to look at the larger context, either regional or global. In “Decolonizing Palestine – Hamas Between the Anticolonial and the Postcolonial” Somdeep Sen succeeds surprisingly well in placing the struggles of[Read More…]
Most recent works on the United States accept that it is an empire, perhaps not in the traditional landholding sense, but in the extent of its power and control of others. In “American Empire – Global History,” A. G. Hopkins accepts the idea of empire with several qualifications and with a precise focus on certain aspects of that empire. His[Read More…]
The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance has actively supported and succeeded with implementing its definition of anti-semitism in various countries, regions, and cities around the world. The definition itself is open enough that it can be and has been used to block all criticism of Israeli actions against the people of Palestine. “Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may[Read More…]
Hatemonger – Stephen Miller, Donald Trump and the White Nationalist Agenda. Jean Guerrero. William Morrow/HarperCollins, New York, 2020. While browsing the History/Politics section of a local bookstore the number of works devoted to the many aspects of Donald Trump was quite amazing, but considering his impact on current events domestically and globally probably not truly surprising. Unable to decide which[Read More…]
Black Wave – Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the Forty-Year Rivalry That Unravelled Culture, Religion, and Collective Memory in the Middle East. Kim Ghattas. Henry Holt & Company, NewYork, 2020. Among the many books analyzing the Middle East, Kim Ghattas’ Black Wave is outstanding – that not necessarily being a good thing. It is very good as it presents what the[Read More…]
Train of thought To start with, here are some recent quotations that weigh heavily on the negative aspects of the US$ and its role as the global reserve currency, also known as the petrodollar. One of the current global issues is refugees, in Europe and elsewhere: These waves of migration – and the anti-immigrant backlash that has done so much[Read More…]
Seeking Truth in a Country of Lies – Critical and Lyrical Essays. Edward Curtin. Clarity Press, Atlanta, Georgia. 2020. In the introduction to “Seeking Truth in a Country of Lies – Critical and Lyrical Essays” Edward Curtin writes, “…We live in the era of massive fraud where the transnational wealthy elites, led by the American war and propaganda machine, continue[Read More…]
In an op ed titled “Losing Both Elections” Gwynne Dyer sees Trump’s presence in the White House as exposing the U.S.’ racism leading to its being “extinguished”, a “necessary evolution of American history.” That is a very positive summation, but it comes about through some very strange presentation of information. Dyer is a Canadian historian/journalist with degrees in military history[Read More…]
Understanding the War Industry. Christian Sorensen. Clarity Press, Atlanta, Georgia. 2020. For reader’s wondering about the state of the U.S. economy this work by Christian Sorensen provides a small encyclopedic compendium of information relating the war industry to the overall U.S. economy and U.S. foreign and domestic policies in many spheres. He states his main ideas clearly and plainly and[Read More…]
How the West Stole Democracy From the Arabs. Elizabeth F. Thomson. Atlantic Monthly Press, NewYork, 2020. Having just read The War That Ended Peace [https://www.palestinechronicle.com/the-war-that-ended-peace-book-review/] the title How the West Stole Democracy From the Arabs appeared as an intriguing and fortuitous follow up. Its subtitle describes its more narrow focus: The Syrian-Arab Congress of 1920 and the Destruction of[Read More…]
On a recent hiking trip I took along Margaret MacMillan’s pre World War I history, “The War That Ended Peace – The Road to 1914” (Penguin Canada, 2013). It is a well written history that I have read before – and may have formally reviewed although that is not of consequence now. It is a book I highly recommend as[Read More…]
With only one round of voting, Canada lost its bid to secure a Security Council (UNSC) seat at the UN today . (Wednesday, June 17, 2020). The result is what many domestic critics had hoped for, but in both foreign policy and domestic affairs it changes little – obviously, Canada remains off the UNSC and will continue with its usual[Read More…]
As global affairs intensify, I often find myself in that category of those discouraged and disillusioned, fully cynical, wondering if anything I can do is worthwhile in the long run. A global pandemic, an economic collapse preceding the pandemic and severely worsened by it (and different reactions to it); an infrastructure continually pumping more and more carbon and other chemicals[Read More…]
I cannot say “I told you so” because I did not. But I can say “They told us so” because they did. “They” being the alternate media that provided news and views that the mainstream media (MSM) would not touch because it harmed their veneer of the world that all was running smoothly. Certainly there were signs in the MSM[Read More…]
(Gaza Fights for Freedom. Abby Martin, Empire Files). A story that is not presented in mainstream media is that of the suffering and punishment of the people of Gaza at the whim of the Israeli military in the open-air prison that is their home. In “Gaza Fights For Freedom” Abby Martin of The Empire Files has created a documentary that[Read More…]
House of Mirrors – Justin Trudeau’s Foreign Policy. Yves Engler. RED Publishing, Saskatoon/BlackRose Books, Montreal. 2020. Some book covers are better than others, and that of Yves Engler’s House of Mirrors is beautifully expressive of the contents of his latest work. It shows a very friendly faced and happy smiling Justin Trudeau in an iconic pose that says it all:[Read More…]
Circle in the Darkness – Memoir of a World Watcher. Diana Johnstone. Clarity Press, Atlanta Georgia. 2020. Diana Johnstone has done a masterful job of writing her autobiography, Circle in the Darkness, that provides many details of her life, her early influences, and the various stages of her career throughout the second half of the Twentieth Century and the first[Read More…]
There is a lot of obfuscation and sloganeering about the Canada wide protests in support of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation of British Columbia and their resistance to corporate and governmental greed in pushing a natural gas pipeline through their traditional territory. Last night (Monday, February 17, 2020) a CBC reporter cited – and probably paraphrased closely – Prime Minister Justin[Read More…]
The Age of Illusions – How America Squandered Its Cold War Victory. Andrew J. Bacevich. Metropolitan Books/Henry Holt and Company, NewYork, 2020. Another in his series of remarkable books, Andrew J.Bacevich has written an interesting, coherent, and timely work, The Age of Illusion. In a clear fashion it describes how Donald J. Trump is not the cause of current U.S.[Read More…]
These Chains Will be Broken – Palestinian Stories of Struggle and Defiance in Israeli Prisons. Ramzy Baroud. Clarity Press, Atlanta, Georgia, 2020. On first opening Ramzy Baroud’s new book, These Chains Will be Unbroken, there is a series of references from five distinguished activists praising, in different ways, the short anecdotes from those who have been or are imprisoned within[Read More…]
During an assembly to remember those killed in the Iranian Air Flight 752 Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that he wanted “answers” and was looking for “justice and accountability.” My empathy stands with the families, friends and loved ones of those who died in this tragic mistake. When I really think about the accident it sickens me, then makes[Read More…]
How to Hide an Empire – A History of the Greater United States. Daniel Immerwahr. Farrer, Straus and Giroux, New York, 2019. The Greater United States of the title is not just the contiguous states of the mainland plus insets for Alaska and Hawaii, but includes many of the smaller – and not small – territories and possessions held by[Read More…]
Perhaps I read too many alternative articles on too many internet sites, but with all the counter-perspective information (counter to the MSM), my information addled brain is waiting for one of several events (or a combination thereof). Essentially there are three ideas, all related, as to where the future of humanity lies. All the scenarios are negative from lesser to[Read More…]
Ed. Palestinian Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign (Stop the Wall). November 09, 2019. A collection of essays concerning the boundaries being established by walls, Build Resistance not Walls centers its arguments on the walls of Palestine: the so called security fence that runs some 700 km through Palestinian lands of the West Bank, and the Gaza wall of various constructions that[Read More…]
Speaking for Israel – A Speechwriter Battle’s Anti-Israeli Opinions at the United Nations. Aviva Klompas. Skyhorse Publishing, New York, 2019. I expected much more from a book speaking for Israel, something to truly engage the mind and require some concerted thought. Unfortunately I was disappointed and found myself reading one person’s personal journal about endless speechwriting written and using only[Read More…]
It has been interesting over the past few days watching the different reactions to the black face photos of a younger Justin Trudeau. Of course the local Conservative opposition is going to paint it in as bad a light as possible while Canadian Liberal supporters hope that the open admission of its racial prejudice implications and an apology for such[Read More…]
I only listened to a small part of the Greta Thunberg U.S. congressional hearings this morning but was rather stupefied by the general ignorance and hubris of several of the U.S. commentators. Two main ideas stood out for the short period during which I listened to several U.S. government speakers and the commonality behind the two ideas – other than[Read More…]
Obama’s Unending Wars – Fronting the Foreign Policy of the Permanent Warfare State. Jeremy Kuzmarov. Clarity Press, Atlanta, GA, USA, 2019. Obama is a shining light in comparison to his two bookends, George Bush and Donald Trump. His manner is calm and focussed as he presents his ideas with well mannered rhetorical flourishes, speaking in terms of hope, peace, change,[Read More…]
I thought I knew what it meant, but I looked up the definition of insanity anyway: mentally deranged, not of sound mind; irrational [Concise Oxford Dictionary]. That is a rather broad spectrum and on more reflection includes not only Trump and his minions, but everyone else of us at least one time or another – including myself. Irrational How often[Read More…]
(Dying to Forget – Oil, Power, Palestine, & the Foundations of U.S. policy in the Middle East. Irene L. Gendzier. Columbia University Press, New York, 2017.) Many books discuss the transition of U.S. interest in Palestine/Israel mostly through the lens of Truman’s Christian Zionism, either as a part of the political history involving Truman or a more generalized history of[Read More…]
In spite of the “writ” not having been “dropped” Canada is already in full election mode. Of course politicians are always electioneering as their main purpose once in power is to stay in power in order to reap its rewards and benefits. Otherwise, instead of politicians running the country we could simply let the bureaucrats do their uncelebrated mundane work[Read More…]
The Management of Savagery – How America’s National Security State Fueled the Rise of al-Qaeda, ISIS, and Donald Trump. Max Blumenthal. Verso, London/New York, 2019. Even though the ending is known, Max Blumenthal’s book The Management of Savagery draws the reader through an intriguing tale of media management, political management, financial management all with the goal of achieving the management[Read More…]
I had not intended to watch this program, a CBC special documentary hosted/narrated by Peter Mansbridge, the CBC’s retired chief correspondent and national news anchor. However, as it came on during prime pre-dinner time viewing I thought that I should watch it in order to find out some of the current political spin within Canada’s establishment. It was rather underwhelming[Read More…]
Preventing Palestine – A Political History From Camp David to Oslo. Seth Anziska. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 2018. In all my recent readings of history and current events, Preventing Palestine stands out as being one of the best written – if not the best – and one of the most essential for understanding the overall historical process of Israeli[Read More…]
On April 12 Canada’s PM Justin Trudeau released a statement congratulating Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu on his fifth electoral victory. Two statements stood out for their misleading role in creating a contrived narrative. The first statement concerns democracy, “During the conversation, the two leaders spoke of the underlying democratic values shared by both countries. “ Indeed, there is a common democratic[Read More…]
No, really, they are already here…. Once again Canada’s Foreign Minister, Chrystia Freeland, jumps on the anti-Russia bandwagon, mimicking the rhetoric stemming from Hillary Clinton’s failed presidential run and the fabrications of the DNC, the FBI, CIA, Christopher Steele, and a whole menagerie of other elements. It is not surprising given her historical background relationship with Ukraine and her support[Read More…]
The End of the Myth – From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America. Greg Grandin. Metropolitan Books, Henry Holt & Co., New York, 2019. Much of current political news swirls around President Trump and his persistent and somewhat pathological prevarications about the Mexico-U.S. border and the need to build a border wall. While Greg Grandin’s[Read More…]
Shadow Wars – The Secret Struggle for the Middle East by Christopher Davidson. Oneworld Publishing, U.K., 2016. Written in response to the ‘Arab Spring’ initiated in Tunisia in 2011, Shadow Wars – The Secret Struggle for the Middle East, is a powerful indictment of the western neoliberal economic/political order. Christopher Davidson has gathered a huge amount of information from many[Read More…]
On a global scale, the current events within Canada’s Justin Trudeau cabinet are not much more than the proverbial tempest in a teapot. While receiving saturation coverage on Canada’s CBC and some national newspapers, it is not totally noteworthy with global significance, other than some slipping and tarnishing of Trudeau’s halo with foreign media. Having said that the problem’s within[Read More…]
The Plot to Attack Iran – How the CIA and the Deep State Have Conspired to Vilify Iran. Dan Kovalik. Skyhorse Publishing, New York, 2018. Western mainstream media (MSM) typically present Iran as a degenerate and impoverished society under the sway of Islamic terrorist fundamentalists. Alternate media and seriously investigated works present a much different picture. Dan Kovalik’s The Plot[Read More…]
Palestine – A Four Thousand Year History. Nur Masalha. Zec Books, London, 2018. The Israeli narrative of a nation/state returning to its homeland after a fifteen hundred year exile requires ongoing deft work by the David Ben-Gurion initiated Governmental Names Committee (Va’adat Hashemot Hamimshaltit, 1949). The Hebraization of Palestine is described in Nur Masalha’s “Palestine – A Four Thousand Year[Read More…]
Canada’s CBC talk show, Power and Politics, hosted by Vassy Kapelos, demonstrated today (Friday, February 01, 2019) the usage of the big lie technique for disseminating news about Venezuela. At the same time some of it could be simple ignorance, stating an supposed ‘fact’ when that simply is not the case. The Power and Politics panel are mostly frequent pundits[Read More…]
Well, that didn’t last long. Yesterday Canada’s ambassador to China, John McCallum, presented three arguments concerning Meng Wanzhou, one of the leading executives for Huawei, who was arrested in December in Vancouver airport, at the request of U.S. authorities. Today he recanted, saying he created confusion, misspoke, that his comments are not accurate – yet at the same time he[Read More…]
Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou was arrested at Vancouver International airport in December by Canadian authorities at the request of the U.S. government. Canada at first maintained a position of not wanting to make the case “political” and to continue with the extradition process as Canada works with the “rule of law.” Unfortunately for Canada it is an obvious political[Read More…]
The Russians are Coming, Again – The First Cold War as Tragedy, the Second as Farce. Jeremy Kuzmarov and John Marciano. Monthly Review Press, New York, 2018. The mainstream media continues to harvest all the disinformation it can concerning the relationship between Trump and Putin and the character of Putin himself, not to mention the overall generalizations about the state[Read More…]
The Jungle Grows Back: America and Our Imperiled World. Robert Kagan. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2018. It is always an interesting ride to read a Robert Kagan book as it is a journey into wonderland where things aren’t really what they seem. His most recent work, The Jungle Grows Back: America and Our Imperiled World, is a mish mash[Read More…]
War on Peace – The End of Diplomacy and the Decline of American Power. Ronan Farrow. W. W. Norton & Co., Inc., New York, 2018. Members of the political corps of the U.S. writing about U.S. foreign policy have a particular insider viewpoint that can provide some good insights into how their diplomacy works along with the personal peculiarities of[Read More…]
Once again Canada clearly signals its vassal status in relations with the U.S. The recent arrest and detention of Meng Wanzhou, Huawei Technologies’ chief financial officer, demonstrates fully Canadian compliance with U.S. desires. Canadian authorities, notably Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland and PM Justin Trudeau provide two defenses for Canada’s actions: the first is the tried and not so true[Read More…]
Whether you consider yourself already well educated on the U.S. empire or are looking for a starting place, “How the US Creates “Sh*thole” Countries” is a strong read. Cynthia McKinney has gathered together a series of essays examining features of the empire as well as a list of some the more seriously affected victims. The histories have been covered elsewhere,[Read More…]
Bibi – The Turbulent Life and Times of Benjamin Netanyahu. Anshell Pfeffer. Signal/McClelland & Stewart (Penguin Random House), Toronto, 2018. This morning I read online the current problems Benjamin Netanyahu is having within the Knesset and within his own political party, “Now, Netanyahu’s once stable coalition is hanging by a thread, with the support of only 61 members in the[Read More…]
Twilight of the American Century. Andrew J. Bacevich. University of Notre Dame Press, Notre Dame, Indiana, 2018. The histories of empires and the histories of war are generally written by the winner to put themselves in a positive light. It has been difficult for the U.S. empire to maintain their facade of goodness for their endeavours after World War II,[Read More…]
Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who declared “sunny ways” were back after the last election, continues to waffle on what is to be done about the Khashoggi killing in Turkey by the Saudi Arabians. The problem is being “investigated” and more consultation is to be held. The real problem as presented by CBC news tonight (Monday, November 12, 2018) is[Read More…]
Canada recently has been doubling down on two areas of global concern, highlighting its ongoing governmental rhetorical double standards. Humanitarian standards I had noted previously the twitter spat between Canada and Saudi Arabia. After the Saudis were insulted/enraged by Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland’s tweet concerning the sister of a Saudi journalist, the Saudis kicked out the Canadian ambassador. Since then[Read More…]
The Biggest Prison on Earth – A History of the Occupied Territories. Ilan Pappe. Oneworld Publications, London, 2018. The history of the ethnic cleansing of Palestine is continued with Ilan Pappe’s recent work, The Biggest Prison on Earth. For those who have read Pappe’s earlier histories, it is clear the original Zionists recognized the existence of the Palestinian population and[Read More…]
Left, Right – Marching to the Beat of Imperial Canada. Yves Engler. Black Rose Books, Montreal. 2019. This short work is another in a wonderful series by Canadian author Yves Engler that examines much of the foreign policy actions and policies of Canadian politics. In Left, Right, Engler examines the positions of many of the institutions and organizations of the[Read More…]
I frequently write about global politics following an interest in US foreign policy as it tends to strive towards global hegemony by one means or another. Included in that are commentaries on Canada, my home country, and how we run double standards at home and abroad as willing followers of those same policies. This commentary is a departure from that.[Read More…]
Two international items in the news this week highlight, by its absence, an underlying feature of reporting events in ‘troubled’ areas of the world. That absence is simply the historical background of each event. Canada in Mali Canada is maintaining its superficial idealism of peacekeeping as it commits 250 military personnel to Mali, relying on “faith” (rather than respect), operating[Read More…]
Canada’s parliament has unanimously rejected the Trump agenda on trade and the Trump reaction on his departure from the G7 meeting recently held in Charlevoix, Quebec. The motion contained six items: recognition of strong trade ties between the U.S. and Canada. that the government stand with the workers of Canada, particularly in aluminum and steel and potentially with autoworkers. “strongly[Read More…]
The police are wonderful when they control traffic, or rescue a cat from a tree, when they talk to school kids about catching criminals and locking them up, when they talk to teens about the dangers of drunk driving and the new legalities around marijuana. Crowd control – who benefits? But give them a G7 summit to watch over and[Read More…]
Not a month goes by without Canada demonstrating in many ways that it is a strong supporter of the neoliberal imperial agenda of the – take your choice – one percenters, military-industrial-financial complex, the deep state. Since the last report, many things have lined up with U.S. desires for global hegemony Russia First off was another politically oriented attack against[Read More…]
My knee jerk reaction to Trump’s action tonight: …and Canada is guilty with this war crime…kind of hard to tell you to fuck off home as you are already there. However the Canadian government’s sycophantic support of US imperial foreign policy makes the government culpable in creating a situation that endangers all of the world. The same lies used to[Read More…]
I have lived my whole life under the notifications of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and their Doomsday Clock. It is currently set a two minutes to midnight after many years of variance, some as far away as seventeen minutes. After reading Daniel Ellsberg’s The Doomsday Machine, it would probably be more appropriate to move it forward to ten[Read More…]
The Doomsday Machine – Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner. Daniel Ellsberg. Bloomsbury, NY et al. 2017. …ten seconds to midnight. After reading Daniel Ellsberg’s history of his impact on the global nuclear war posture of the U.S., The Doomsday Machine, I would think that the the Doomsday Clock as maintained by the members of the Bulletin of the Atomic[Read More…]
The news was released tonight (Friday, February 09) at about 18:30h that the jury in the trial of a Canadian farmer near Battleford, Saskatchewan found him not guilty for the murder of a young native, Colten Boushie. Boushie was killed August 09, 2016. The episode highlights, for those who care to examine the case, the underlying powerful racial prejudice that[Read More…]
The Balfour Declaration – Empire, the Mandate and Resistance in Palestine. Bernard Regan. Verso, London/NY, 2017. With the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, a number of books have been published covering the topic in different ways.Bernard Regan’s The Balfour Declaration adds to this library, tending to be within an academic political presentation. In his acknowledgements Regan writes that his[Read More…]
It is always sadly amusing to listen to the CBC to discuss foreign propaganda – usually Russian – while assuming that all they report is simply accurate news that has neither been censored or vetted by anyone, but is simply the gospel. RT “lies” This response stems from a short clip I caught of CBC’s Wendy Mesley (”The Weekly” January[Read More…]
After Trump announced his decision on Jerusalem being the capital of Israel to be signaled by moving the U.S. embassy there, the condemnation came swift and strong, as well as the praise coming swift and strong from those supporting the decision – in the latter case mainly the Christian evangelicals and the Israelis. The comments were generally clear, without equivocation.[Read More…]
Canada unfortunately is not just a follower of the U.S. but a strong forward carrier of the British Imperial system as well. Strong racial biases, pro-Zionism, acceptance of colonial settler practices are and were well advanced in Canada without U.S. assistance. Within the current globalized world, Canada still pretends to be a ‘peacekeeper’, a thin disguise for the maintenance of[Read More…]
The Canada-Israel Nexus. Eric Walberg. Clarity Press, Atlanta, Georgia. 2017. For a complex and critical examination of the relationship between Canada, Israel, Judaism, and Zionism, Eric Walberg’s new work The Canada-Israel Nexus provides a challenging perspective. It is challenging in several ways. Primarily, the most important ideas are the critical lines of thought towards the impact of Zionism within Canada.[Read More…]
“We continue to stand with Ukraine against the illegal illegitimate incursion of Russia into Ukrainian territorial sovereignty and their attempts to destabilize Ukraine economically and many other ways,” Trudeau said. CBC, September 22, 2017. Donbas The Canadian government operates under as many double standards as that of the U.S. and its other NATO allies. Russia did not invade Donbas,[Read More…]
Trump’s speech at the UN this morning is one of the best speeches I have heard aimed at an ignorant uninformed audience, essentially his Make America Great Again (MAGA) followers, and his political state handlers. Staying on script from the teleprompters, it was obvious that while many of these ideas were his, most of the writing, indeed probably all of[Read More…]
North Korea A few days ago I heard a short clip from former Federal Cabinet Minister Peter Mackay discussing the issue of missile defense. It was his reaction to the unproven statements that North Korea has ICBMs that can deliver nuclear warheads to North America. While this may be within their reach, and while the rhetoric is extremely hostile, there[Read More…]
The Six Day War – The Breaking of the Middle East. Guy Laron. Yale University Press, New Haven/London, 2017. Between a short Introduction that attempts to construct the underlying social science rationale for the outbreak of the Six Day War and a short epilogue that simply highlights the major trend of the Six Day War lies what appears to be[Read More…]
Yesterday, July 1st, 2017, was Canada’s sesquicentennial, its one hundred fiftieth birthday. A youngster in comparison to many, not an elder statesman to any. The Canadian maple leaf flag hung on our porch rail, not for pride in our government, but for the realization that by pure chance we live in a remarkable region of the world geographically with a[Read More…]
This afternoon (Thursday, May 18, 2017) CBC’s Power and Politics host Hannah Thibedeau hosted ex-Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk (“ex” as in being forced out of the current Poroshenko government). Apparently Yats has been traipsing around western political circles looking for support for his neoNazi anti-Russian stance in the Ukraine. Support for this would obviously be easy to find in[Read More…]
“Russia needs to be aware, made aware of its responsibility in the bloody actions last week by the Assad regime and therefore we are always open to working with our friends, allies and partners allies to send clear messages through sanctions and other means to Russia.” PM Justin Trudeau. Canada’s PM Trudeau displayed all the sycophancy of a stalwart U.S.[Read More…]
It is apparent given the timelines and the lack of time given to verifying the validity of accusations concerning the gas attack in Homs, Syria, that plans had already been coordinated for such an attack. Watching the mainstream media the viewer receives the impression from the wording of the announcers reports and questions for the “experts” that the matter was[Read More…]
Vladimir Putin is the devil incarnate of the present media frenzy supporting all things USA! USA! USA!. Having just read a trio of books concerning Putin it is obvious that the lense through which Putin is viewed has blinders on the side and rose coloured tints as a lense coating. The blinders are those things the authors just do not[Read More…]
I was deeply saddened upon hearing the news about the murder of six people in a mosque in St Foy, Québec yesterday. While these kinds of killings are commonplace in the U.S., and the killings in other areas of the world greatly outnumber this relatively local occurrence, this one seemed to be more significant. It is not significant just that[Read More…]
The CBC today (Tuesday, January 10, 2016) presented the news concerning Chrystia Freeland’s new appointment as Foreign Affairs Minister for Canada’s Trudeau government, noting mainly that she was on the sanctions list from Russia. The announcer also noted that she is of Ukrainian background and is very opposed to Russia’s supposed actions in Ukraine. I say supposed because the descriptor[Read More…]
Most interesting watching the progress of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between Canada and the EU through the various opaque backroom ministrations this past week. NAFTA first As the progeny of North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA, 1994) it serves to refer to a bit of history. Former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney very recently on CBC said that[Read More…]
Wow, the world gets crazier every moment! Stephen Lewis, former socialist NDP leader from Canada’s province of Ontario was asked about PM Justin Trudeau’s letter to the UN asking for a special General Assembly meeting, as reported by the CBC yesterday: The Canadian Mission to the United Nations has submitted a rare request asking the president of the General Assembly[Read More…]
I heard the news today…. I caught the CBC news this morning (Thursday, October 13, 2016) as the French Prime Minister and Canada’s PM were talking to the media. From the little bit I caught – a bit that makes for a good sound bite – it appears that Canada, under the guise of ’peacekeeping’ will be sending some 600[Read More…]
Reading Inside the Middle East is quite an adventure. I learned that I probably am a fairly quixotic fanatic tilting at windmills; that I need to learn how to be a critical thinker “demanding that concepts and narratives be replaced with facts and reality;” that I “need to fine tune [my] critical thinking and analytical capacities; all that so I[Read More…]
A small town in Palestinian West Bank, north of Jerusalem, Nabi Saleh, essentially the home-town of the Tamimi clan, has like all other Palestinian towns suffered under the occupation of Israeli military forces and settler villages. Ben Ehrenreich’s book “The Way to the Spring: Life and Death in Palestine” documents his many months in the town and in surrounding areas.[Read More…]
Only half a year in power and it is apparent that Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada, is essentially following Harper’s footsteps when dealing with Canada’s foreign policy – militarily, politically, and economically. The recent NATO meeting and Trudeau’s sojourns to Ukraine have indicated – that like Obama using “hope and change” to replicate Bush’s U.S. policies – that like Harper,[Read More…]
I wasn’t at first going to listen to Rosemary Barton’s interview (CBC) with NATO General Secretary Jens Stoltenberg considering I would probably not learn anything new. But I did and I didn’t – I did listen and I didn’t learn anything new, the interview only reinforced previously held ideas. In general that falls into two parts. First it reminded me[Read More…]
America’s War for the Greater Middle East – A military history. Andrew J. Bacevich. Random House, New York, 2016. Andrew Bacevich has written a series of books on the topic of U.S. imperialism and U.S. military power. His latest work, America’s War for the Greater Middle East [the GME War] is the latest in this series and as with the[Read More…]
Selling One’s Soul – The betrayal of Christ and Constitution 
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Yarrow Mamout Masjid Dedicated at Georgetown University 
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Indian Democracy & Chaos in Parliament! 
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Self-Reliant Farmers Improve their Economics and Also Contribute to Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation 
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Our beloved K.P.Sasi is no more. Filmmaker, cartoonist, writer, mentor, friend and above all tireless activist championing the cause of every underdog, Sasi breathed his last, mid-afternoon this Christmas day – after battling a medical condition for months. I remember the last time I met him, almost exactly a month before he passed away, at the ayurvedic healing center in[Read More…]
