World Politics – Page 4 – Babel-on-the-Bay

Have a happy insurrection.

June 1, 2020 by Peter Lowry

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. It is not a failure to communicate, it is a failure to care. It is a deep desire to inflict pain, as though you can transfer your pain to others through destruction.

Of course, there are causes. Impatience with the pandemic is everywhere. Washington rebels against the failures of Donald Trump. Hong Kong fights for democracy and the millionaires that the city state creates. Despite the many who have their ticket away from Hong Kong, they still want the opportunity to fight the autocracy of Mainland China. They fight on in what they know is a lost cause.

Lost causes are the battle cry of American blacks, trapped in the ghettos of ugly discrimination. Add the frustration that only one in ten will break free of low-paid service jobs in their lifetime. Add the bigotry of to-day’s white house and compound it with the continued, casual murder of blacks by police. Hell, I would also want to be out there getting even.

But there is another element entirely that wants to be part of the fun. They come for the destruction, the mayhem, the thrills and the notoriety. An element of Toronto blacks, who are trying so hard to stir resentments and racial hatreds, had their day of protest over a little understood event that is still under investigation. A woman, black and maybe mentally ill, fell from a 24^th floor balcony. Since the police had been called to help, they were being carelessly blamed for the incident.

But it was the radical element who led the protest march down to police headquarters. And there they waited, for the cover of night, for the actions of radicals, to hide their pleasure in destruction. They had little knowledge of the cause that brought them there.

Watching the world-wide struggles on the late news last night, the only smart person we saw was an American sheriff, not carrying a gun, not wearing a helmet or armour, who marched with the protestors.

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What is the new normal?

May 26, 2020 by Peter Lowry

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 not wish to repeat.

I think the new normal will be an era of awaking. Same as after the Spanish flu was history; enter the flapper. It was a time of not just awakening, but new freedoms for both men and women, as well as new terrors. The Bolsheviks wrested power in Russia. Countries were making new alliances. New political parties were created. Politics changed and diplomacy discovered new challenges.

It is quite possible that religion will also go through an era of change this time as people reject the old restrictions and conventions. It will likely be an era when small concessions escalate to demands for more.

You have to let your mind loose on this subject. I think one of the most dramatic changes will be in the concept of marriage. Does it have to be two people? We have already conceded that the sex of participants does not matter. Would it not be more stable if the numbers were also flexible? As an economic unit, the union would be better funded and make more efficient use of living quarters. And I would suggest to you that the children of these unions would be healthier and happier and more stable in their attitudes as adults.

And do not forget that work places are also changing. The traditional office might just merge with a more collegial arrangement as we grow more accustomed to working from home.

It is likely we will demand less intrusive utilities on our computers as our personal lives mix with our working lives. Employers will have to contract with the employee for the output that is needed.

There are other changes that we might not be recognizing at this time. We should keep an open mind. Just always remember that as humans take a step forward, they keep one foot firmly planted in the past. It sometimes takes a while before they will raise that next foot.

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The killing ground at the LTCs.

May 25, 2020 by Peter Lowry

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 find that Belgium had more than 50 per cent of covid-19 deaths at their LTCs. I am not. I remember once being taken for a tour through a facility in Belgium. It was dingy and depressing but surprisingly well staffed. The only thing that really bothered me was the floors were divided by language. Even in life’s most difficult of times, the Flemish do not speak to the Walloons.

But Canada has those Belgians beaten. Over 80 per cent of our covid-19 deaths have been at LTC facilities. We even beat the Americans. Despite the lack of coordination in fighting the pandemic and the high percentage of deaths, the Americans have just 35 per cent of covid-19 deaths in nursing homes. Maybe they put more money into them.

As much as some might gloat over Jason Kenney getting called out on his assumption that Alberta had already beaten off the pandemic, the situation in Alberta is a concern we all share. Just the combination of the outbreaks at LTCs and meat packing plants is gruesome.

While Quebec also shares the problem of LTCs, its higher level of incidents of covid-19 are probably caused by its one-week earlier Spring break. That break from school down in Florida cost a lot more than expected.

There is no denying that a large part of the problem in LTCs is the desperate need for more full-time staff. And if they are people who can take pride in their work, they are worth any amount.

But it is up to all of us to make sure there are sufficient, properly run LTC facilities in our provinces to meet the need. We are all potentially in need of them.

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An autopsy or a resuscitation?

May 16, 2020 by Peter Lowry

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 deputy minister of the provincial cabinet office. It is the kind of suggestion that these types of thought leaders often develop over a decent bottle of single malt scotch.

But before you say a royal commission is a good answer, you should review Canada’s experience with royal commissions and the people running them.

The proposal reminds me of the Macdonald royal commission on the economic union and development prospects for Canada that was set up by Pierre Trudeau before he left office in the 1980s. Don Macdonald (Pierre Trudeau’s former finance minister, whom many of us referred to as ‘Thumper’) gave his report to Brian Mulroney’s conservatives. I really think Thumper had the report rewritten for Mulroney based on the demand of the Business Council on National Issues that Canada enter into a free trade agreement with the United States.

Canada has to be a trading nation but this particular drive was badly timed. It was when our country needed to be better aware of its own needs before entering those negotiations. Luckily, we were able to grandfather the Auto Pact into the free trade agreement arrived at between Mulroney’s conservatives and the George H. Bush administration.

The truth was that the North American pact and the later three-country addendum was more of a business-to-business deal than anything that recognized the needs of the 477 million people involved. And the recent reprise with Justin Trudeau’s liberals, Donald Trump’s republicans and president Andrés Obrador’s Mexicans at the table, was not much better.

What the business leaders seem to want is to be able to pick the most accommodating of jurisdictions with the weakest of labour and human rights laws for their processing and manufacturing operations. Luckily, Canada is not yet run by the Fraser Institute.

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It’s all about politics.

April 28, 2020 by Peter Lowry

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 coronavirus was not sent our way by all-powerful gods. We ended up in this mess because somewhere, some politicians screwed up.

The most reliable reports, at this time, are that the politicians in charge in Wuhan City of China were afraid to bother the top dog politicians in Beijing. They became concerned about an unusual flu that was going around. And then things got out of hand, like people dying. You know what happened when the bosses in Beijing found out.

Nobody wanted to hear the news from the world health folks either. When they declared the novel coronavirus to be a pandemic, nobody had any reason to be happy—unless they had a stockpile of personal protective equipment.

Somebody had let the disease dogs out.

To make matters worse, it was all run by the politicians. Some smart politicians listened to the advice of their medical experts and acted accordingly. Some did not like what their medical people told them and twitted their frustrations. That guy in the American white house, told us it was just a passing fancy. It would go away. The mess in the United States today can be laid at the feet of this man who nobody thinks of as a politician.

People such as Captain Canada, in the person of Justin Trudeau, saw a need for leadership. Despite his minority federal government, the prime minister drew the provincial premiers into his magic circle. What the news media see as political unanimity, you should know it for what it is: political opportunity. If our prime minister could just get a haircut, the world would return to normal.

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What Jinping, Putin, Trump have in common.

April 23, 2020 by Peter Lowry

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 pay obeisance to them. They are commanders-in-chief of powerful, subservient armies. Who questions their actions?

Was the constitution of the People’s Republic of China a problem for Xi Jinping? Did anyone say ‘No’? Some troublemakers in Russia have ended up dead or in jail after questioning Vladimir Putin’s motives. Who else might want to say ‘No’? Donald Trump can probably achieve the same ends through executive orders. Who would deny him?

But then, who would be surprised at a few more pandemic deaths in America, the world’s hot spot for the coronavirus? With more than 40,000 covid-19 deaths across the United States, who will wonder about a few more?

Mind you, the governors who are organizing to combat covid-19 could be a problem. They have to be kept busy and not paying attention to what Trump’s people are doing in preparing for the November polls. If you want to be president for life, you have to get more momentum going in your vote. That can be done by having two things happen. One can be making sure all your voters get to the polls. Second, you make sure your opponents’ voters do not get to the polls. It is that simple.

Whatever Trump does do about the election this November, you can count on it being something simple. He is not a complicated thinker.

Nor are the Trump supporters. If you ever want to watch a group of people who should not be allowed behind the wheel of a pick-up, it is those people in red baseball caps saying “Make America Great Again.”

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The populism of the coronavirus.

April 18, 2020 by Peter Lowry

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 old and infirm and the very young, and, carelessly, many in between. It is a leveler.

But it is how the politicians respond to the concerns and needs of their populations at this time that tells you much about them. Their grades are there for all to see.

For that man-child, Trump, in the American White House, his ditty for the day is. “Pandemic, pandemic go away, little Donald wants to play.”

Did you ever expect to see a subdued prime minister such as Boris Johnson in the United Kingdom? He looked a bit rocky after his harrowing experience with covid-19. We will have to wait to see if he learned anything.

Canada’s prime minister sits in the cat bird seat at Rideau Cottage, the nation’s media at his beck and call. His elitist solutions to a financial fix are still allowing hundreds of thousands of Canadians to slip through the sewer grates—the detritus of Canadian humanity. And it is at a time when Bell Canada and other telecommunications companies are reaping the profits—encouraging others to raise prices and profiteer from the silent death.

And then there are the phonies filling in for premiers in Alberta, Ontario, Quebec and Saskatchewan. Their bluster and promises are as hollow as their complaints about reaping the results of inadequate support and control of the long-term care facilities for the old and the frail and the incurable and incompetent in our society. The provinces promote inadequate facilities and pay the caregivers next to nothing—all in the interest of higher profits for their supporters.

Yes, we do measure our society on our treatment of the very young and the very old and those who cannot help themselves. This populist pandemic has found us wanting.

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“The darkness has gathered.”

April 12, 2020 by Peter Lowry

Those were the words of Pope Francis, mentor to the world’s Catholics, who marked the way of the cross Friday in an empty St. Peter’s Square. Not being religious, I usually refrain from commenting on religions. I am making an exception for this Easter.

I do take an interest in world religions. They often get involved in politics. For example, I have always been amazed at how religious conservatives can vote for a hypocrite such as Donald Trump. This man is not just a philanderer and a narcissist, but you will find his Sunday morning worship is usually taken up at one of his golf courses. And religious Americans do not seem to care.

It is also most concerning in this time of the novel coronavirus, that some states in the U.S. are denying the danger of covid-19. These fools are killing their own people. And there are churches in those states that are calling their parishioners to worship. Collecting the simple among us to be struck by the pandemic is gross negligence and murder. There should be no absolution for that.

And we should all be concerned about what is happening in the Muslim world. Iran has already suffered cruelly from the pandemic. This is a theocracy with 20^th century technology, run by 17^th century theologians. The Middle East is a cauldron threatening constantly to boil over and reach outside its borders. The prophet Muhammad might have proposed a peaceful religion, but its adherents are seething in many areas and calling for jihad and new caliphates. And can Arabia’s Saud family really cancel the Haj?

And what of the subcontinent where a snap lockdown of millions caused panic and a massive migration of itinerant workers. And with a religious fanatic such as Modi in charge in New Delhi, there is no telling the course of the disease for Hindus and Muslims alike.

Politically, it looks as though China and Canada might be coming through the pandemic with the economic capability for fast recovery. Just stay isolated, wash your hands and follow the rules—and there is little harm in a few prayers.

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It’s Barnum and Bailey Time.

February 24, 2020 by Peter Lowry

It’s pandemic, it’s frightening, it’s Barnum and Bailey Time. The circus has come to rescue politics from crushing boredom. In America, in Canada and around the world, the clowns, the aerialists, the lion tamers and the bareback riders are doing their stuff in the realm of politics. And it is the World-Wide Web that rules.

Whether it is by blogging, or Facebook, or twitting, or using YouTube, we have the power. We have the power to inform or to misinform. To lead and to mislead. And we should be afraid. Be very afraid. The crazies can use that power against us.

This occurred to me on the weekend as the democrats gathered in Las Vegas to play craps with the future of America. And Michael Bloomberg was there to try to convince the party that their best hope is a billionaire, former republican from New York. And the democrats gathered around the craps table to see if Bloomberg could roll his point. He spent millions on the effort and he lost. Why would America want another braggart and billionaire to fear.

But you can hardly point to the Americans as the fools. The rest of the world have their own circus acts. Here in Ontario, we have that dumb-ass Doug Ford wasting millions in taxpayers’ dollars to learn how a province is run. If he bankrupts us in the process, of what value will be his knowledge?

And speaking of learning, Canada has a prime minister who has also been learning on the job. So far, without much success. He plays at Mr. Dress-Up, he looks better in grease paint. And how do you like him in war paint?

How about that world-famous aerialist Boris Johnson in the United Kingdom? If that guy ever looses his grip in the rarified air of the big top, he will make a hell of a mess in the sawdust of the middle ring.

And are you not glad that Emmanuel Macron of France had a whip and a chair to control the ‘yellow jackets’?

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Fool Britannia.

February 3, 2020 by Peter Lowry

Brexit has come. Brexit is gone. And what does it mean? Has the English Channel widened? Are they filling in the Chunnel? Are the Chunnel trains still running? What does it all mean and do we care on the west side of the Atlantic?

It seems unfair that the Brits will have to prostrate themselves before a jury of their peers in Brussels, to learn their fate. They have most of the year left to work out some accommodation. If I were in their position, I would not want a clown such as Boris Johnson to work out the details. He is no negotiator. He is a blowhard.

I remember when, as a youngster in Canada, we were taught patriotic songs about Britannia ruling the waves and all that stuff. I guess the only waves they can rule today would have to be in a wave pool.

But we do feel badly over here that the United Kingdom has come to this. The nation never has played well with its continental partners. Maybe there is too much history involved.

What has to be recognized is that much of the support for Brexit came from false perceptions of the benefits and requirements for a successful partnership. My feeling was that the UK politicos who never took part in the EU structure undermined the bureaucrats in Brussels. Instead of discouraging the bigotry, they encouraged it and instead of helping sell the benefits of the common market, they put it down.

Johnson hailed the fact of Brexit as a new beginning. I thought that the Brits had their real beginning when the Romans went back to Rome to get dry and warm. You can call the next 2000 years on those islands interesting but you can hardly call them progressive. Have you ever seen another country so determined to fight progress every step of the way, year after year?

Well, they just took another step backwards in time. What does that benefit them?

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