Wolves on the Wing

So there is a lot of pessimism in the Canadian press about the current negotiations between Canada and the US regarding the future of NAFTA, with many commentators opining that NAFTA's days are essentially numbered. Like many Canadians I share this pessimism. Trade deals require several ingredients for success, among them intellectual openess and awareness about your potential trade partners goals and concerns, a willingness to work together for a common goal, and a sense of good faith and trust.

It requires something else, something that if not present makes just walking away completely from such a massive deal a thousand times more palatable, and that is an adult in charge of the other side of the negotiating table.

Full disclosure here. I did vote for Trudeau in the past Canadian election but I don't actually like him. He strikes me as a bit too much style over substance for my taste. HOWEVER, however, if the Trudeau government decided that the alternative to Canada being bullied into a bad deal by Donald Trump and his...court was to just let NAFTA die and absorb the pain then I would commit my vote to his reelection.  Canada's future is too important to allow Trump to have any say over it and more importantly recent polls have shown that a majority of Canadians are leaning towards letting the deal die rather than taking a bad one.*

Now what I'm going to say is going to sound frankly insulting and for that I do apologize. It does have to be said though so I can set up my final point.

First, if America wants to continue to elect fools and idiots to represent them on the world stage then that is always America's perogative. But you cannot expect anyone to take you seriously, or at least "seriously" in a way that will be constructive for the US. Canada looking to give up on your biggest trade agreement should be seen as a wakeup call in that Canadians really, really, really LIKE Americans. We like your culture, your arts and music, your sports, your wilderness and cities, your serious achievements and your light hearted silliness. We have innumerable friends and family who celebrate their country a few days after we celebrate ours, play four down football with smaller balls, and who have figured out that, yes, you can get rid of "U" in a few words and it doesn't actually change anything.

Secondly, many countries don't like America and more importantly don't trust it. Nor do I think they necessarily should. When Trump was elected the thought occurred to me that perhaps Canada should pull out of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and build our own nuclear weapons. Not to threaten or bully anyone mind you but merely to ensure that when an unpopular and incompetent president wants to boost his ratings with a war they don't attack us. We do have oil after all.

Now the question that raises is if a self described US LOVING Canadian is entertaining these thoughts then how in the hell is America going to deal with places like North Korea when the Commander in Chief isn't able to control himself on Twitter?

The answer is you can't. You don't have the leadership in place and I don't think you will for a long time. And that is very, very sad. :-(



*Those polls do not indicate that leaving would mean a vote for Trudeau. Once NAFTA is gone Canadian politics would be shaken up and what happens then could be anyone's guess. Feel free to submit scenarios in the comments if you wish. :-)

I haven't posted much because frankly I've been a bit down. I know I can't blame all that on the news but when you're walking home from work at night, looking up at the stars above and the first thought you have is "Geesh, if the nukes went off right now my eyeballs would melt instantly" I think it has to have some place in the equation.

Oh well. Civilization has to end eventually. I just never thought it would be by the hand of a failed businessman turned reality tv personality.

However on the plus side at least I got to see The Tea Party live in concert. That was a sweet show actually. Always loved their style of "Morocco 'n' Roll". Its like listening to Jim Morrison fronting Led Zeppelin.

I don't have footage from the show since I just wanted to relax and enjoy it so here's one of their tunes.

Enjoy!

In a nutshell my thoughts on it are this. Its up to the Ambassador's country to choose who they want to send as the representative of their nation, and if they think Sarah Palin is the perfect embodiment of both America and its current Administration then its really not for me or any other Canadian to argue that choice. At least that's how diplomacy usually works although I strongly doubt that will be the case here no matter who they send.

I would however suggest she take language lessons in at least one of our two official languages so that she can speak one of them understandably. That's not a hack at her. I just expect an ambassador to be able to deliver news of an impending trade war or military invasion in a coherent fashion.

*shrug*

....but because they were Muslims praying in a mosque do they matter? They do to me.

As per my usual policy I'm going to hold off further commentary until more news is released. Needless to say I am NOT happy about this.

I think I'm going to link to some of the so-called rogue scientist accounts that have arisen lately in the US. Normally I prefer to get my scientific data from the press but since I'm pretty sure that won't be possible for the next four years or so this is probably the next best thing. Not that I'm surprised by this of course since Stephen Harper's similar muzzling of Canadian scientists is one of many reasons why my conscience prevents me from even considering voting for the right wing in Canada.

What can I say? I like real facts, not alternate ones.

Donald Trump wishing his many enemies a Happy New Year is exactly the type of tweet I imagine Joseph Stalin would have sent out just before starting a purge.

Also I really need to pick up "The Art of the Deal". It can go on the same shelf with "Mein Kampf" and "Selected Quotations of Mao Tse Tung".