The American coalition in Iraq suffered a major setback with a statement from a major Iraqi Mullah, calling for his followers to stop supporting American troops. This really just breaks down to a change in official positioning for Muqtada El-Sadr, who has likely been supporting the resistance effort for years, albeit quietly. Even so, this change to outright defiance is a pretty bad sign.
It’s also just the latest nail in the coffin of U.S. efforts in Iraq. The British are leaving, domestic support is plummeting, and the little support they once had inside Iraq is disappearing. One really has to question the logic of America staying in the Iraq war. Even if the Bush Administration is right, and pulling out of Iraq is going to trigger a terrorist surge, staying the course will only prolong the inevitable.
America didn’t have sufficient control of the region to win the war two years ago, and their support has only eroded since that time. Unless the Americans are willing to commit a more significant force, like 120,000 troops (and they will never commit to that), then the war is already lost. I would say it’s time for the Americans to cut their losses and move on.
Normally I don’t follow local news closely, but as a former resident of London, Ontario I feel obliged to comment. Today the ownership of Green Lane landfill, located just outside of London, was officially transferred to Toronto.
Toronto currently has a contract that says they can dump their garbage in Michigan, but that contract is up in 2010 and is unlikely to be renewed for any sort of reasonable price. Toronto’s solution was to search for someone on this side of the border who could start carrying the load, and London seems to be the unlucky recipient.
Municipal politicians in London have been fighting the purchase of Green Lane ever since they’ve known about it, and the Mayor of Toronto has pushed the purchase anyway. It would be nice if Toronto could look to their own backyard to dump their garbage instead of targeting their neighbours.
Today the Conservatives unveiled a new French language attack ad that will soon be getting air time in Quebec. The gist of these attack ads is that the Liberal party is concocting some sort of plan to reverse the equalization payments that Quebec recently received.
I am neither impressed, nor surprised. The string of attack ads that have aired since Dion was elected Liberal leader are evidence of the financial inequality between the parties. You would think that the Liberal party, which is widely viewed as the natural governing party of Canada, would have funding equal to if not exceeding that of the Conservative party. They don’t.
The superior fundraising capabilities of the right wing are pretty much a world wide trend. It’s really no wonder. The Conservative party is the sweetheart of big and small business alike, as well as a generally wealthy, suburban demographic of voters. The Liberals and New Democrats, on the other hand, tend to be championed in lower income urban areas. The obvious result is that the fundraising capabilities of the Conservatives outstrip that of their competition.
This leads to an unfair advantage. The Conservatives have the deep pockets required to fund constant ad campaigns trashing the Grits, who pretty much just have to take it. To even the playing field, I strongly believe there should be a cap on how much money the major parties are allowed to raise. Otherwise we are going to wind up like the Americans, who don’t have a shot at leading a major party unless they are able to produce upwards of 20 million in funding before their party’s leadership convention.
A poll published today in the Sunday Telegraph questioned the British public about their opinion on the hostage crisis. Now, despite disagreeing with Blair’s policies, I think he’s generally a pretty apt politician and leader. 66% of the British public seems to agree, trusting Blair to solve the situation peacefully.
The surprising number in the poll is that only 7 percent of Britons think that the government should use force to retrieve the hostages. This is a number that stands in stark contrast to what I imagine the American reaction would be, and really outlines the subtle and often overlooked cultural differences between the two countries.
With guerilla warfare on the rise and conventional warfare becoming less and less common, American military supremacy is no longer a sure bet. Increasingly, the West is going to have to adopt a less reactionary demeanor, lest we find ourselves constantly wading into wars that can’t be won.
Due to poor ice conditions, the annual seal hunt quota is 270,000 seals, down 65,000 from last year. The seals generally breed on the thick ice flows around Newfoundland and PEI, and the thinning of the ice sheets is reducing the numbers in the herd. Experts forecast that as global warming gets worse, the number of seal pups born each year will continue to drop.
While the animal rights activists who oppose the seal hunt welcome the lowered quota, they still largely view the seal hunt as an inhumane massacre. They argue that the seal hunt is both immoral and economically unnecessary, and believe the province should end the seal hunt. They suggest the revenue be replaced by increasing tourism initiatives.
Despite seeming like a perfectly good plan on paper, canceling the seal hunt would likely be a huge economic setback for the people of Atlantic Canada. First of all, making the switch from a hunting/fishing based economy to a tourism based economy is a transition that is far more easily said than done. People who have lived their entire lives as members of the fishing community are not necessarily trained for the tourism sector. These communities are unlikely to possess either the training or the infrastructure to make the overnight switch to a tourism based economy.
Here’s an idea. Let’s keep killing the seals, but start selling the protesters key chains and tee shirts.
So now it’s come out that the British sailors abducted by Iran last Friday were never in Iranian water at all. Of course Iran still claims they were, but the evidence to the contrary is now overwhelming. The British have produced GPS imaging showing that the sailors were still 1.7 km inside Iraqi waters. Even the coordinates that Iran originally produced as evidence that the abduction happened in Iranian water turned out to be on the Iraqi side of the Gulf. Iran has since made a correction and claimed the original coordinates they produced where a result of human error. Yeah, right.
Frankly, I’m surprised that Iran could be both so bold and so stupid. The logic behind the kidnapping seems to be that Iran should feel free to respond to the recent detention of Iranian military personnel with an abduction of their own, because Bush and Blair both have their hands full with Iraq. It’s true that neither the American President nor the British Prime Minister need another war. Tony Blair’s popularity has plummeted because of the war, and British failures in Iraq now seem destined to be his legacy. Bush is in an even worse spot, with the now Democrat controlled Congress threatening impeachment if he starts war in Iran. But that being said, if Iran keeps taking advantage of the public’s anti-war sentiment, that sentiment is going to turn against him.
Iran has already built up more opposition on the international political stage than Iraq had before the Second Gulf War began. If Iran keeps pushing their advantage for no good reason, both the people and leaders of the world are going to realize that a misguided invasion of Iraq does not justify giving Iran a free ticket to do as they please. As things are, Iran does have some leeway, but if they don’t play their cards right, they are going to end up bust.
The Liberals won a minority government last night in Quebec’s provincial election. The final seat count seems to put the Liberals at 48 seats, the ADQ at 41 seats and the Bloc at 36.
I guess it looks like Jean Charest’s final plea to the Quebec people not to form a minority failed. Poor Charest. The Winner’s Circle never looked like such an unhappy place…