Category: Foreign Policy

Ethics, Foreign Policy, Media, Politics1 Comment

While Women Burn

Podritske

The sorry state of politics, and the oppression of women in particular, in Iran, is a nightmare ignored by an agenda-driven media in the west. In politics, most media organizations are obsessed with continuing the “true” intellectual orthodoxy, i.e., restoration or maintenance of Leftist governments. Added now, with religious fervor, is the “extraordinary popular delusion” of “climate change” hysteria. Meanwhile in Iran, as reported by Masih Alinejad, a young woman set herself on fire after being sentenced to 6 months in prison for daring to sneak into a soccer stadium. I doubt if this incident was unusual. The desperation and … Continue reading While Women Burn

Canada, Foreign Policy, Media, Politics1 Comment

Media Searches for Meaning Without Definition

Podritske

Despite efforts to find its meaning for the collective populations of North America, “nationalism” remains undefined throughout an article for The Canadian Press. This is the sort of incondite journalism we can probably expect from government-subsidized (or soon-to-be subsidized) media. Not only does the author of the piece not challenge any of the obfuscating terms used by a politician, he perversely claims to draw a “clear implication” from them. The article opens with this paragraph: On a historic Remembrance Day, a century after the end of the First World War, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told a Paris crowd that decaying … Continue reading Media Searches for Meaning Without Definition

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What Difference Does Syria Make?

Podritske

Syrians killed in the ongoing civil war will be just as dead tomorrow whether their lives were extinguished by beheading, bombing, shooting, stabbing, defenestration or gassing with chemical weapons. “What difference does it make?” is to borrow an infamous question from one of the New Left’s most prominent of sacred cows, Hillary Clinton. Of course she was referring to the circumstances surrounding the Benghazi affair in which four Americans were killed nearly one year ago. Today still there are no reasonable answers to the embarrassing questions some were asking and which led to her hectoring outburst. Was the US secretly … Continue reading What Difference Does Syria Make?

Ethics, Foreign Policy1 Comment

A Killer President

Podritske

There is inherent immorality in one man wielding enough coercive force to identify, target and execute any individual deemed to be a terrorist threat to the United States. That is the power possessed by Barack Obama and it is currently being expressed through the use of aerial drones in several parts of the world. I recognize the Commander-In-Chief role held by president Obama in a state of war, but that is a purely legal argument not necessarily a moral one. The nature of the endless War on Terror is a separate topic for examination. For now there is a curious … Continue reading A Killer President

Foreign Policy, Politics2 Comments

Islamic Hope and Change

Podritske

How is it that the American government got caught so flat-footed on 11 September 2012? As Americans observed the eleventh anniversary of the worst terror assault in their country’s history plans were being implemented half a world away for violent protests against anything American. The US State Department had overlooked the seemingly obvious precaution of bolstering security in world trouble spots around this important date. Intelligence failures would appear to be at issue as well. Why has this happened? Out-of-context “hope and change” is not enough to protect civilized people from the savages who crawl over this earth. Pretext For … Continue reading Islamic Hope and Change

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SOS: Stay Out of Syria

Podritske

Unwittingly, Turkey and Syria collaborated to give the west more reason to stay out of the Syrian civil war. Syria, accidentally, deliberately or in outright blunder shot down a Turkish jet fighter that entered its airspace last Friday. Turkey is a NATO member and is entitled to call upon its partners to respond to an attack against one as an attack against all. A NATO conference has been called to craft a response to the incident. Harbouring defectors leaving the Syrian regime, Turkey may have presented itself as a provocateur. Syria was entitled to engage an aircraft entering its airspace, … Continue reading SOS: Stay Out of Syria

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Rocket Redo

Podritske

On 25 March—from a position safely outside the demilitarized zone (DMZ) dividing North and South Korea—US President Barack Obama warned the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) against taking any “provocative” measures. It was a meaningless warning of empty rhetoric. For years this regime has drawn attention to itself in order to gain benefits, much as a horrid little child would by throwing a tantrum until mommy gives in and provides more treats. That is approximately the level of sophistication the US and other nations have demonstrated in dealing with North Korea, a socialist dictatorship featuring the usual famine and … Continue reading Rocket Redo

Foreign Policy1 Comment

Semi-Free Trade

Podritske

I applaud the efforts of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to promote free trade. Over the course of many months we’ve heard about the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) with the United States and several Asian-Pacific nations. Discussions are ongoing with specific countries or regions, including Europe, India, China and most recently, Japan. News reports suggest that free trade is a good thing for Canada and for Canadians.  It is indeed, if it is the simple concept of free trade they’re all talking about. Ordinary Canadians however, are distanced from the facts of the “negotiations” surrounding the multiple “free-trade agreements” currently being … Continue reading Semi-Free Trade

Foreign Policy1 Comment

What Would the Ayatollah Do?

Podritske

A Reuters story in the National Post (23 March)indicates that various intelligence sources “agree” that Iran does not have “the bomb”, may not even want one, and in any event is years away from developing a deliverable weapon. In the context of recent talk about pre-emptive strikes this relaxed position seems to be predicated largely on “what would the Ayatollah do” in this situation. Iran Does Not Have a Nuclear Weapon Let’s have a look at the points of agreement. First, it is agreed that Iran does not have a nuclear bomb now. That’s pretty believable. If it did, this … Continue reading What Would the Ayatollah Do?

Ethics, Foreign Policy, RightsLeave a comment

The Right Food

Podritske

Did you know that the United Nations employs a position entitled, “The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food”? I did not know it either. Prof. Olivier De Schutter holds that position and his job is to compile reports for the governing body. That is what a Rapporteur does routinely. Prof. Olivier De Schutter has denounced, according to an Agence France-Presse article appearing in the National Post online, a current UN report which supports the Israeli commando raid on a Turkish “aid flotilla” in May of last year. The “Gaza Freedom Flotilla” was bent on breaking the Gaza … Continue reading The Right Food