This is not an original thought. Somewhere, almost a week ago, on a blog I only go to for news about Russia vs. NATO stuff (where most of the commentors deny global warming and the dangers of COVID) there was a link to a site that said the Canada vs. India spat [wherein J. Trudeau accused the Modi government of assassinating on Canadian soil, a Canadian citizen who was a Sikh advocate of Sikh separatism] was mainly about the USA putting Modi off-balance.
The USA was not happy that Modi successfully resisted pressure to have an anti-Russian message be agreed upon at India's hosted G-20 summit. [When I mentioned US plans to compel Modi to do this to an intelligent co-worker of Indian origins (a Sikh, ironically), he said (as if it was the most obvious thing in the world) "But Russia is our friend."] Trudeau is citing "Five-Eyes" intelligence. Trudeau (like stephen harper and most Canadian PM's before him) was willing to serve as the USA's attack miniature-poodle against China in the bullshit lawfare case against Meng Wanzhou, and there's no doubt he would have even less of a problem stepping on India's toes. (Canada had more to jeopardize by pissing off China given our much lower interaction with India.)
This isn't to say that Modi couldn't have had Hardeep Singh Nijjar killed. Just that I can also see that the USA could use Canada to send a message to Modi to register its displeasure with his benign neutrality towards Russia.
A top Canadian lawmaker apologized on Sunday for honoring Yaroslav Hunka, a 98-year-old Ukrainian man who fought for a notorious Nazi military unit during World War II.
Anthony Rota, speaker of Canada's House of Commons and a member of the Liberal Party, hailed Hunka during a ceremony late last week as "a Ukrainian hero" and "a Canadian hero" who fought for "Ukrainian independence against the Russians" and "continues to support the troops today."
Canadian lawmakers in attendance gave Hunka a standing ovation, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy—who had just delivered a speech to the House of Commons—"raised a fist during the applause," NBC Newsreported.
Rota's description of Hunka—who fought in the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the Nazi SS—sparked outrage, with the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies saying in a statement that "the fact that a veteran who served in a Nazi military unit was invited to and given a standing ovation in Parliament is shocking."
...
In response to the backlash, Rota issued a statement saying he has "become aware of more information" that leads him to "regret" the decision to recognize Hunka.
"I wish to make clear that no one, including fellow parliamentarians and the Ukraine delegation, was aware of my intention or of my remarks before I delivered them," said Rota. "This initiative was entirely my own, the individual in question being from my riding and having been brought to my attention. I particularly want to extend my deepest apologies to Jewish communities in Canada and around the world. I accept full responsibility for my actions."
It would be nice if everyone involved in this debacle (including the media reporting on it) would realize that this is the natural end-point to this insanity. Here's a blast from the past from the late, great Robert Parry about the beginnings of this crisis:
At the Gazetteer, in a post about BC Liberal leader Kevin Falcon's fond memories of SoCred Premier Bill Bennett, commentor "e.a.f." expands upon the "Solidarity" protests of 1983 (where one of Falcon's fond memories took place):
Some Union people were not keen on the "community people". they wanted a "general strike", but the union people felt, they would be paying for it, while the "community people" had nothing to loose and weren't paying for any of it. As one person said to me at the time, the "community people" want a general strike, but most of them don't have jobs so they have nothing to loose. the Union members would loose to much money.
"Operation Solidarity" was not cheap to run and it was the Unions which were paying the freight. The one thing Unions understand is, when push comes to shove, when you're fighting with the government, they can send Union members to jail. The community people" didn't seem to grasp that concept.
More than one Union leader weent to jail. As I recall the head of the Postal Workers Union did time, Jean Claude Parrot, 1980. He was the guest speaker at our Union convention the following year. Pleasant man.
1981, Grace Hartman, President of CUPE was sent to jail for conselling members to go on strike, even though hospital workers were not permitted to strike.
I'd like to speak to these thoughts with regards to my own "People Power" to save public healthcare posts.
Just have to say that I'm pleasantly surprised to hear that Doug Fraud has been moved to do the only act of practical importance (guilty parties resigning from government to cash-in in the private sector, "heartfelt" apologies from Fraud and his subordinates, promises to never do it again, etc., are worthless) and cancel the land deals in the Greenbelt.
I didn't think this would happen. Now I have two theories for why this is happening. The first is that the Fraud government's behaviour in this scandal has been so brazenly criminal that our official legal system (which managed to countenance the serial crimes of the harper government ON TOP of the usual establishment shenanigans of corruption) told Fraud that THIS TIME it wasn't going to happen. Alternatively, the fact of the matter is that Doug Fraud, besides being a stupid, stupid, man, is also incredibly insecure and emotionally needy. Almost everywhere he goes he either gets a frosty reception or a hostile one. And it tears him apart emotionally.
Either way, this is one of those rare moments when I allow myself to think it isn't entirely futile.
The other day I remembered watching this winning performance on the Ukrainian version of the "[Country-X's] Got Talent." Kseniya Simonova tells a story in sand on an illuminated table that is projected for the audience. It's a story of two young lovers separated by war. Ukraine had suffered many tragedies in the 20th Century, from the bloody chaos of the Civil War, to Stalin's terror-famine (the Holdomor) and the Second World War.
I remember at the time being affected by the story-telling, but also by the audience's reaction. Particularly this well-dressed middle-aged woman dabbing her tears. Everyone in Ukraine has (I'll bet) memories of a family member who was lost to those maelstroms. Entire societies can be traumatized, and the pain of the affected generation is often visited upon subsequent generations.
And now, thanks to deluded, arrogant, psychopathic US shit-heads, the Ukrainians are suffering another tragedy. Most serious analysts estimate Ukrainian war dead at 400,000. (Russia's dead are estimated at 70,000.) The USA imposed on Russia what it would not tolerate for itself. This war and all its dead is the responsibility of the "Forever Wars" crowd currently working through the doddering Joseph Biden. They sought to do to Russia and Putin what they did Libya and Qaddafi. Putin tried to avoid this war. He tried diplomacy. NATO ignored him. In so doing, NATO pursued the course that has led to millions of refugees, 400,000 soldiers killed and god knows how many more (definitely over a million) wounded, perhaps maimed for life.
US-Americans went on for decades of how THEY were traumatized by the Vietnam War. Their total casualties over almost a decade were less than 60,000 killed. The memorial to their dead is a fittingly stark and sober one. But remember: Ukraine has lost more than SIX TIMES that number in two years. From a smaller population.
Putin tried diplomacy. NATO ignored him. European leaders admitted that they bargained in bad faith in the Minsk I and II negotiations. They were simply playing for time to build up Ukraine's military. Pro-war US writers talk about how cheap this war on Russia is for them. They're benefitting US weapons makers. And there's been officially no cost in US-American lives (aside from mercenaries and volunteers). Because US-American lives are supposedly more precious and important than Ukrainian lives.
Ukraine's counter-offensive was doomed to fail because of inadequate air support. (At the beginning of World War II, France had better tanks than the Germans but the Battle of Montcornet was ultimately lost due to German superiority in air power and artillery. It doesn't at all surprise me that NATO tanks and fighting vehicles are getting destroyed by Russian artillery and missiles.) This is the sort of stupid thing that US military planners are always doing. Build up the Afghan army on paper by pushing men through a fraudulent training process and then being surprised when it evaporates before the Taliban. Which reminds me: Recent estimates of excess deaths caused by the USA's "War on Terror" stand at 4.5 MILLION. But we're supposed to believe that the blood-soaked, psychopathic monsters in Washington care about Ukrainian's freedom and democracy?
When these hypocrites and scumbags like Blinken and Biden rebuffed Putin's attempts at diplomacy, this is what they must have known would be the result. That's why they installed nazi shit-heads at the control of the Ukrainian government. Nazis, being shit-heads, will do stupid things for stupid reasons. Just like Jihaadists do. Normal people in Ukraine wanted peace and they voted for Zelensky as a peace candidate. The nazis said they'd hang Zelensky from a tree if he pursued peace.
So, last time, I talked about how Canada's healthcare system, specifically single-payer insurance, public hospitals and unionized public sector workforces, were all being deliberately undermined through under-funding, de-listing and privatization (including PPP's) by neo-liberal politicians in thrall to profit-seeking privatizers. I said that to oppose this we need to construct a legislature-ready plan for the restoration of federal-provincial funding and regulations to bring us back to the status-quo as it prevailed in the 1980's. This plan was to be presented to the federal and provincial governments as a non-negotiable demand. Concerns about how to fund it are addressed by Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) that says that governments spend money on whatever it is that they want and that taxation is used only to stabilize the money supply. Considering how much the bloated incomes of the wealthy is based on useless, unproductive behaviour [including monopolistic price-gouging] and how much of their wealth is simply hoarded (often illegally overseas) or is used to monopolize real-estate and further drive up the cost of living, heavier taxation of the wealthy will NOT have any adverse economic effects whatsoever.
So last time I wrote about the need to spend the majority of our time articulating a positive vision for humanity and a coherent road map for how to get there. I also said that while we were doing this we should carry out smaller campaigns, such as the saving of public healthcare in Canada, both because they're necessary in the short-term and because they can serve to rally and empower ordinary people.
I used to hang around on rabble.ca's "babble" until May, 2006, and, since then, I've been found at www.enmasse.ca and www.breadnroses.ca. Even more lately, I've been at EnMasse, but also numerous blogs from the progressive side.
I'm sometimes rude to people and I've been accused of "schoolyard taunts," so, here's my schoolyard.
