Trump is as dumb as they come. When the King of Jordon says its a dumb thing to do, he is usually right.
How to piss off millions of people in one swoop, just do what Trump did. He must be doing this to simply keep his evangelical base happy and some of his Jewish supporters, although I doubt if all Jews are happy about Trump's latest idiot idea.
Given Canadians can be mistaken for Americans, it just makes it more difficult for us to travel safely.
Jerusalam is as much a Muslim city as it is a Jewish city. Trump obviously doesn't understand history. Perhaps the man is only happy when there is conflict and he just keeps conflict going so he keeps happy. Its almost like a little kid breaking a window and saying, see what I can do.
No one ought to have exclusive rights to Jerusalam. as to its being Israel's capital, who are they trying to kid.
sitting up here in Canada, I'd have to agree with the Germans. the big problem is Trump and the U.S.A. Don't view N. Korea as much of a problem and neither do my friends and family. we don't think N.K. will toss the first bomb, but rather Trump.
Turkey ought not to be able to join the E.U. they simply are too dangerous and weird these days, well their President is.
As a Canadian I'd rather see stronger ties with Central and South America, Japan, Europe. Don't trust China or Russia although they are important especially that Russia sits across the Artic from us.
Once NAFTA is flushed by Trump, Canada will most likely pursue more trade with China, carefully. The U.S.A. will return to what it once was, a poverty stricken country with an isolationist attitude. The elimination of the Dodd Frank leg. will hasten the American demise.
Germany is much better off re arming itself along with the other European countries because no one can count on the U.S.A. for anything with Trump in office. He has no real concept of what war is. Even if the dropped him in the middle of a battle field I don't think he understands what it is all about.
France and Germany are large countries and they need to have their military ready to deal with anything and everything because Putin still has delusions of tzarism.
Benni is just such a thug. Its not surprising he and Donnie get on so well. Now if they can throw Benni's ass in the can, perhaps things might improve in the middle east. The man is a major stumbling block to peace, in my humble opinion.
the thing about corruption in Israel is it impacts so many who aren't exactly full fledged citizens of Israel. when Benni keeps up the war mongering I always have the impression he is hiding something else, and viola, there it is corruption. if Israelis lived in a peaceful area, they just might have time to focus on the real issues facing them, their nation, and neighbours.
It isn't just Trump who doesn't care about Puerto Rico but the rest of the Republicans. Trump and his re tweets of British racism demonstrates very clearly why these American citizens aren't getting the help they need.
Perhaps its time for Puerto Rico to join some other country,.
loved the head line. too bad Trump didn't know how many nukes the U.S.A. actually had.
Perhaps Trump wants to go down in history as the guy who started WW III. who knows and who knows why. Perhaps its all to the greater glorification of Trump. He's like a little kid who wants attention. Doesn't care what type of attention just so long as its attention. You know like the kid whose parents didn't pay any attention to him.
Why he wants to bother with Iran is beyond me. Its just another country trying to get through life. On the other hand, it is a country which refused to buckle under and that is something Trump just doesn't get.
The President of Iran handles himself with dignity. the President of the U.S.A. acts like a garbage pile.
As a Canadian I don't feel any danger from Iran and neither do the people I know. We do however feel the U.S.A. is a very big danger to world peace, the environment, etc.
if Trump wants to scrape the deal, he'll do it but if Iran and the other countries keep to the deal, it leaves Trump outside, where he ought to be with his friend Benny the thug.
If Trump tries to start a war with Iran, he might be in it by himself. it is doubtful other countries will join. Its not their fight. I certainly would be working to ensure Canadian troops had no part in it, except perhaps to defend Iran. Trump may also find he doesn't have an armed forces. A great majority of members are people of colour. they may not be up for another fight in which they have no money.
Trump's comments regarding the people of P.R. is true Trump. In my opinion the man is a racist. The comment also plays to his base, who see themselves as victims of the elites but if you're a person of colour you're lazy.
Florida and Texas got help asap. P.R. not so much. why? Florida and Texas have more billionaires and more whites.
Trump would prefer if the P.R. people just up and disappeared. if they're not working at his golf courses, they are of no use to him. Trump's tweets once again confirm my opinion of him. He's a racist.
As long as Iraq is a basket case the Kurds have some security. The Kurds may have done a lot of the heavy lifting during the fighting in the middle east, but once its over, no one will come to their "rescue" should they need it. The world stood by when Saddam Hussein gassed them and they will again.
The Kurds this time will have more arms and training but they had better remain united because if they don't there are at least 3 countries who would try to eliminate them and the U.S.A. and Europe will do nothing to assis the Kurds.
So the Iraqi government wants a war with the Kurds? Well the last time Iraq was in a mess only the Kurds seem to hold it together. As I do recall the Iraqi army wasn't any great shakes at fighting, leaving equipment in the field for ISIS. The real fighters turned out to be Kurds.
Now the Pres. of Iraq may want those oil fields, but really can he fight his way to them to get them. Perhaps that is why Tillerson isn't keen on Kurdish independence. With oil in Iraqi hands, its easier for the Americans to exert control.
This maybe where we see more war in the middle east and that will work ever so well for ISIS. While a few countries go to war with the Kurds, ISIS can resurrect themselves. Nice going.
don't know if Bennie is the one who is "prodding" Trump. don't think Trump cares enough about Israel to go to war for them. If there were a war with Iran, Israel will have more to loose than Iran. No one in the area will win a war. The whole area isn't that big for there to be a real survivor in any war especially if any one fires a nuke. In my opinion Trump has a pickle up his ass about Iran, we just don't know what its about.
Trump's speech at the U.N. was appalling. He clearly demonstrated he is not playing with a full deck. he makes Kim 3 look sane.
Trump's continued verbal assaults on Iran is completely irrational and dangerous, Iran is complying with the agreement it signed. the other countries are good with it. As a Canadian, I'm good with it. Whatever Trump's problems are with Iran, it maybe what is wrong with his brain.
Iran is not a perfect country and they have along way to go on women and human rights, but at the rate the U.S.A. is going with Trump, they won't be much better.
Trump needs to realize Iran and N. Korea are sovereign nations and they owe him and the U.S.A nothing. He has not right to dictate to them.
Liked what Khamenei and his Generals had to say about Trump and they are quite correct, if Trump walks away from the deal, no country will want to sign a deal with the U.S.A. because they can't keep their word. No wonder Kim 3 doesn't want any type of deal with the U.S.A. its not that I want more countries to have nuclear arms, but I can see why Kim 3 wants to keep his.
Charlie Donnes, you do have a point there, at some level. But two wrongs don't make a right.
If the Russians did get Trump elected they may come to be very unhappy with their decision, especially if he sends some nukes over to N. Korea. it would be a very bad day for all of us in the world. Just as some of the leaders the U.S.A. helped to install turned out to be idiots and not suitable leaders, the Russians may have helped elect and idiot who is an unsuitable leader.
Sitting just north of the American border it doesn't make us feel all that great having Trump as president of the U.S.A. Gives you that insecure feeling.
It took a lot of work to negotiate the agreement. The U.S.A. SIGNED the deal as did the other countries. The other countries are still fine with matters.
It is true, Iran really didn't get much out of the deal except they got to go shopping for needed items, including jets. Of course the countries who benefited from that were the countries who agreed to the deal.
if Trump has the U.S.A. withdraw from the deal, he will clearly demonstrate he is unbalanced as most of think he is. Why Trump wants to make trouble with Iran is beyond me. They are just another country, going about its business. Now of course Bennie is ever so happy I'm sure about Trump's position, but really Israel has always been able to take care of itself and I never got the impression Trump cares enough about Israel to make it the reason to drop out of the agreement.
it maybe that Trump never got over the take over of the American embassy and therefore hates the country. I just can't figure out what in it for him, if the U.S.A. WALks away from the deal. Oh, wait, Iran won't let him build a Trump tower in their country and won't sell Ivanka's line of shoes.
Canada has an act of Parliament which dictates what provinces must cover as part of their provincial medical plans. Each province must cover what the federal act dictates. The federal act says you cover everything except plastic surgery. Doctors may not charge the patient. Hospitals and labs are covered by the system.
Up until recently only one province, British Columbia charged premiums for medical coverage and that was $150 per month for a couple if you made in excess of $40K a year. Now that the government of B.C. has changed those premiums will drop by 50%. Ontario implemented a premium but its based on income. The rest of the provinces don't charge a premium but its part of the tax system.
The medical plans do not cover plastic surgery except as it relates to illness and injuries. It covers scaring from accidents but not a face lift.
Each province negotiates the fee structure in their province with the Doctor's association. All doctors must belong to the association in their province. Its also the group who licenses doctors for the province.
Our system may not be perfect, but whether you have a bad cold or need a heart/kidney transplant, its all "free" Yes we have waiting lists, but emergencies get seen immediately. If you don't pay your premiums in a province which charges them you still are provided medical treatment. Its not a matter between patients and the doctor or hospital. Its between the Revenue dep.t of the province and the person.
What I have never understood is that a country as wealthy as the U.S.A. can't at least cover the children of the country. It truly is beyond me why a nation, its president, politicians would want children to die and/or suffer. What is it with Americans that makes that an O.K. thing to do. What is even more mystifying is why people who profess to be Christian think it is O.K. for a child to die due to a lack of medical care.
The Kurds have served their purpose so one should not be surprised if the countries who used them to fight ISIS, etc. now want to eliminate them. The U.S.A. and others will simply stand by. They did it when Saddam Hussein gassed the Kurds and nothing has changed. Although this time the Kurds are better fighters and are better armed. whatever these countries do they might want to give the Kurds their own space. they've worked hard enough defending against ISIS, etc. Of course no one being that smart will simply start fighting with the Kurds which will give ISIS a new beginning and perhaps some where else to fight, like helping the KURDS.
The Kurds need their own country and the rest of the middle east owes them that much. Of course the Pres. of Turkey isn't going to do that. He'd rather they just disappear. He sees them as a challenge to his status, like wise the Presidents of Iraq and Iran. I do wonder what the west will do when the other countries try to murder all of the Kurds? O.K. I know the answer, the same as they are doing for the Rohiningya, NOTHING.
whatever they had, if they had a solar panel even the camping type, they had some source of power. Its a lesson to be learned. Like wise those who still had phone service had old style, hard wired telephones which were not cordless.
As the climate changes people might want to consider solar panels for back up and hard wired, telephones with cords.
Whether Americans want to accept climate change or not, they might want to make plans for future extreme storms because a few years of these types of storms and the government might simply stop paying for the re building and insurance companies won't pay out either.
Russia will simply see Israel as an extension of the U.S.A. much as the other middle eastern countries will become extensions of Russia. O.k. this will not end well. Russia and Israel have nukes. Don't some of these countries have something else to do besides try to fight and extend their spheres of influence. aren't there more pressing needs, well most likely not in the eyes of the leaders because they're all rich and well supplied.
for some Republicans its never a good time to discuss climate change because they don't know how to talk about it. People whose family members have died due to hurricanes/flooding I'm sure want to talk about it. They most likely want to ensure measures are taken so it doesn't happen to any one else's family member.
Pruitt and trump don't want to talk about it because it might "offend" or rather cut into the profits of some of their big contributors.
Happy to see you're covering Canadian politics. However, Mr. Singh is not a member of the Canadian Parliament, but rather a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, representing the riding of Bramalea-Gore-Malton. In his capacity as an M.L.A. with in the party, NDP, he is the Deputy Leader of the NDP in Ontario. Each Canadian province has a Legislative Assembly.
Mr. Singh has singed up thousands of new members for the NDP in his quest to become leader of the NDP (New Democratic Party of Canada) The NDP is the most left of the 3 major national parties.
Should the NDP elect him as leader, he will have to find a vacant seat in Parliament and run in that to actually sit as a member of Parliament. If one is not currently vacant, it is not unheard of for a sitting member to resign his seat so the new leader can run in a "safe" seat.
Our country's Minister of Defense is also Sikh.
The guy who started the tirade obviously must be some sort of nut bar because certainly in British Columbia we know the difference between a Muslim and a Sikh.
Mr. Singh is also well known for riding his bicycle, no cars.
Bigots are not restricted to the U.S.A. Its usually though Canadians are a tad more polite about their racism.
Since Trump has been elected we in Canada have also seen a rise in racism. its been there all along, but the adherents to racism feel a bit bolder about it these days. Some like to disguise it as a matter of "free speech".
When you cut taxes you defund the government. if any one tries to tell people differently, they're lying. If low taxes caused economic growth, we'd be seeing a whole lot of more economic growth in some of the poorer countries in the world where they don't pay much in taxes at all. Countries which have a higher tax rate also have decent economies.
During the Eisnehower years corporate tax rates were high, that is how he built a lot of the infrastructure which needs repair today.
as the government attempts to control how women dress, extremists will use this as a way to rally people. 'they will appeal first in a more moderate way, and then if they make head way, will start the radicalization.
Its never a good thing to tell people what to wear, especially teen agers. I'd suggest this has serious impact on women. who are these guys, trying to tell a female how to dress. fashion police in any country are not a good thing.
many people do not want to go to a country they don't have a real connection to. They think of themselves as Americans.
As to those going to China and India, l in Vancouver, British Columbia, they may work in China but they own houses in Vancouver and the surrounding cities, where their wives and children live. They commute. They only work in China, they live in British Columbia, Canada. They only do it for the money. Many of the Dreamers don't want that kind of life style and the renumeration in the countries they may have come from do not offer salaries as high as those in the U.S.A. nor do they offer in salaries what they do in China and India to gain the best and brightest. That is why the fled to the U.S.A. Some of the Dreamers come from areas of incredible violence. it is why their parents fled. there is no amount of money which will induce them to return to those areas. Try it yourself some time if you think its such a good idea to go some where to help out.
For Jeff Sessions all Dreamer must go. they do not belong to the WASP group he represents. Even with all the statistics in the country, all the evidence to demonstrate the Dreamers will make money for themselves, the economy, the government, it does not matter. This is not an issue of substance but an issue of Jeff Sessions and his ilk not wanting immigrants of any sort in their lily white country. Unfortunately for Jeff and the folks, that ship sailed before they even got to America. America was populated by people of colour. Then the newly arrived "whites" decided to import slaves, who were black.
Jeff and his crew may want to return to the days of whites in charge, First Nations dying on reservations, and African Americans as slaves, but he needs a reality check. its not going to happen. These whites live in dreams and not the type Roy Orbison sang about.
Jeff Session, Trump, etc. may have convinced their rabid white base, if every one is forced out of the country, they don't want in it, the rabid white base will once again become well employed. That isn't going to work. these Dreamers have skills, education, and drive the "white rabid base" does not. if the rabid white base actually went out and got an education they might not be in the situation they currently are in.
Bella was right and its been down hill all the way since then. and before any one thinks Clinton was O,.K. he really gave dismantling support for children and families by changing how people collected welfare. He played to those who opposed some sort of government support for those who needed it. They played off of the same script, scape goating African Americans.
As to donating and "being nice", it doesn't work in this environment. This time, once again the fascist/Nazi's are in charge. They hated the Jews in Germany because they were Jewish, just like they hated the Gypsies because they were Roma. 'they all went to the death camps and it wasn't just Germany. When they invaded other countries, they rounded up the Jews in those countries also. Hitler needed a group to use as scape goats and the Jews fit the bill just as Muslims and Latinos do today. He stole their assets and murdered them.
When the brown shirts had their marches in the streets of Germany, had they been treated as they treated others, who knows how things might have ended. As an old quote goes, if every Jew had met the SS at the door with a gun, there might not have been a holocaust. This time the ones doing the rounding up are doing it in a foot at a time manner, but in the end Trump and his racist buddies will remove just about every one and any one they can.
I found it interesting that the newly released document in England about how they plan to treat those entering the country may only stay for 2 years to work and will have their finger prints taken.
Being more than a tad familiar with what went on in Europe, WW II era,I can see the day Trump and his ilk will finger print and register Muslims also. Just look at history. remove the word Jew and replace it with the word Muslim and you will see the future. Muslims must organize. (me I'm an atheist)
Genocide has always been with us. We have only to look a the news for the past oh so many decades. Look at the refugees trying to get into Bangladesh/
if Muslims in American do not form a national Civil Rights Movement things will only get worse. United Muslims may stand a chance, but if not united, we know how that ends. The U.S.A. in my opinion has a nasty anti Muslim President along with a lot of his base and fellow Republicans. They also are anti Latino, anti Dreamer, just about anything anti except themselves.
Muslims need a national advocacy group which can work with other groups, to become more of a political force.
What Trump and his ilk are doing to Muslims and Latinos is not much different from what Hitler and his Nazi's did to the Jews, Gypsies, gays, labour leaders, etc
it just never ends and people need to get organized to save themselves because no one else will. We have seen that often ought through out history.
Given the lack of raw meat Trump has been able to throw at his base, he will end the program. Congress will not get it's act together in time to enable legislation to allow the Dreamers to stay.
The U.S.A. will loose more than just those who will be forced to leave. They are disposing of a large group of people who are working hard, paying taxes. the U.S.A. will be loosing the future of their country. On the upside, Canada and other countries will be gaining a great deal.
British Columbia, Canada is scrabbling to hire enough teachers due to a Supreme Court decisions forcing the provincial government to lower class size. Those Dreamers Trump wants to get rid of would be a nice addition to Canada.
The genocide in Burma is being covered on the MSM in Canada, .
It comes down to what sells ads and the Burma situation doesn't sell ads. Unless a big "star" get behind something, not much gets done in the press and even then I suspect its initially done because its a "star", then the ball gets rolling and it sells.
its easier for people to see things in black and white and that is how most things are presented here in North America. it sells, its cheap, and corporations and their owners love it. there is always some one else to blame and to blame some one they need to be a minority in that country. god help the American press when all that is left in the U.S.A. is white trash.
with Iran as a viable strong country in the middle east the U.S.A. is unhappy. They want to control the agenda and Iran, being a soverign nation has told them to "fly a kite". Trump and his ilk need a war to take people's minds of the problems within their own country and to make money. Nothing makes money like a war in some one else's back yard. Trump and his ilk having perhaps realized they can't get N. Korea to attack and being protected by china, they need another "victim". they decided Iran would work given the less than happy thoughts regarding the holding of American hostages.
I'm not a big fan of Iran, but lets get real. the country is a lot better than China, Russia, Phillipines, etc. Living conditions are better there than in a lot of African countries, and gang invested countries in central America.
Iran has problems with their religious zealots and their attitude towards women, but then Trump and his ilk suffer the same problems. Can't say one is worse than the other. they just do it differently. The U.S.A has a million African Americans in jails, Iran jails "political" prisoners and women who don't follow the game rules. who is worse?
once this is all over or most of it, watch for the americans to abandon the Kurds and the others to start the assault on them, lead of course by Turkey.
In my opinion, Erdogan is simply solidifying his position so that when it comes time to invade and eliminate the Kurds he won't have much in the way of opposition in Turkey.
Turkey may at some point be booted out of NATO. the joined and had hoped to join the E.U. but in my opinion they will now not be admitted given the dictatorship and other problems. Erdogan is setting himself up as a Muslim strong man to take advantage of the vacumn left by Saddam Hussein. Erdogan acts like a thug and is good company for a vacation with Netanyahu, Trump, Assaid, and Putin. Might as well let the Presidents of China and the Phillipines go along.
It is doubtful Harvey was even on Trump's mind on Friday. its not like he cares about people unrelated to him or gracing him with praise.
His "pardoning" of Arpaio was simply saying if you're a friend of mine, you don't do time. Your convictions will be "pardoned". Next step will include massive contributors to Trump's campaigns and businesses. We have seen the start of the selling of American justice. We've always known there was one law for the rich and one for the poor, now its been extended to one law for friends of the president and another for every one else.
Trump was not kidding when he said he could shoot some one in New York, etc. Once elected he could pardon himself. This places the American justice system squarely with countries where people can murder others and get away with it because there is no real law. The law is what the president says it is.
What might be fun is if Arpaio were arrested for crimes against humanity and taken to the Hague for trial. It might be about time Americans understood the Hague courts are there for all citizens of the world, not just those in 2nd and 3rd world countries.
if Trump wants to wage war on North Korea he can have at 'er. the rest of may not be so interested. North Korea has always talked a good game and if you kind of ignore them, it gets quiet again. then the Americans had to elect Trump. I for one wish he would shut up.
If Trump wants to wage war from now until the end of time or his time in office in Afganistan, he can go for it, but the rest of NATO doesn't have to follow him into that mess. Lets see, they say Afganistan is the grave yard of empires. Well it sure didn't work out for the Russian and if they couldn't win then the Americans certainly won't either.
Just leave it all, tell Pakistan to get with the agenda and/or cut off all aid to them and for those who would like to leave, let them. Its no place for women and children. Invading Afganistan was one of the dumbest things the Americans have done in awhile. You can't win against "guerrilla" types. they ought to have learnt that in Vietnam.
Merkel certainly ought to be considered the leader of the "free world" whatever that means, but certainly she is the leader for those not aligned with the nut bars of the world. Trump is one of the nut bars of the world, sort of like the Pres. of North Korea, the guy running turkey, Egypt, Russia, etc. Too bad Merkel could take over for trump in the U.S.A. Hey a Canadian can dream can't they. Most of Canada's population lives close to the 49th par. One bomb slightly out of line could hit us.
good post. some parts of the article just made me laugh, the magical WASP. Would some one get a can of pest control stuff or hair spray, it works just as well and then you can wash him away.
this is supposed to be the President of the U.S.A. He looked like one of those bible pounders you used to see on early morning Sunday t.v. going on forever and then asking for your money. he even sort of has the weird hair.
The world saw the real Trump at the trump tower press conference and then again in Phoenix. the other world leaders must be having a really good laugh. the guy is a wack job. The unfortunate thing is its dangerous.
He is a racist or else he is mentally ill. He can't seem to remember what he said previously, gee perhaps he ought to google his previous speeches but we will have to get used to it. It is doubtful the Republican Party will get rid of him or counter his orders by passing legislation.
As we have seen in other countries, civilization is just a thin veneer and it could all erupt very quickly. Its like he and his base would really like a race war. What those white people don't seem to understand is that a very large number of the black and brown families have been in American longer than they have. they need to get used to it.
The jobs they lost were not taken by people of colour but by the corporate system which is run by a lot of old white guys and they voted for an ugly one, and not just his soul.
You do make some excellent points. Language can be a dangerous thing if used incorrectly or unwisely. the MSM in the U.S.A. is a case in point. Trump is a case in point. he is never going to utter those little words, "this is the work of home grown white terrorists". That is his base. We may well see how the "poor young man" who drove his car into the crowd has a mental illness, hit the wrong peddle, etc.
When I saw the pictures of the crowd of white racists, Nazi's, etc. it looked like men from the 1950s. it was truly horrifying. Not much has changed in all these years. Marching on a university campus at night with torches lite, omg it was truly scary.
When we wonder how countries slip into chaos and we wonder why, just have a look at what happened. A few more cities, a few more universities and there goes the U.S.A. into a new civil war. The terror isn't coming from North Korea, it is right here in the U.S.A.
As a Canadian living just above the 49th parallel about the only thing I can keep reminding myself is the North Korean government is more mature than Trump and won't fire the first shot. Trump, in my opinion is, bat shit crazy. he talks like he is at some fantasy world.
In terms of nut bar world leaders, at this point, I'd suggest Trump wins. Who talks about nuking another country for trying to defend what it considers its sovereignty. I'm not crazy about North Korea having nukes, but hey I'm not crazy about India and Pakistan having them either, but that is life.
North Korea is a sovereign nation and who is the U.S.A. to tell them what they can and can not do with their weaponry,. Its not like they're good friends. North Korea has always seemed a tad "nervous" about the west and not without reason. those years of sanctions didn't help things.
Trump makes the Iranian leaders of the pas seem very reasonable and sane.
Mr. Kissinger, like Mr. Trump need to find something else to do. Kissinger is out of touch and still trying to peddle the same old, same old. Perhaps if we ignore these two old crazies they will find something else to do. Hey we can hope can't we.
I would suggest Trump is "discussing" pardoning himself so that others will not bother filing charges or convicting him of anything. If any departments in government have any idea of convicting any of Trump's team he will simply pardon them and he is giving the others what he considers "fair warning".
gee the American economy could be in trouble. If those republicans don't like universities how do they think scientists and doctors will come about? wave a little wand. How do they think NASA is staffed? those guys running the military and those fighter jets and those floating airports all have university grads running them. How do they think Silicon Valley is going to be staffed. Here is an idea, oh right they don't want any people of colour coming into the country. As I've suggested before if things keep going the way they are the U.S.A. will be the basket case of the western hemisphere.
The jobs of the future will require educations which will not be provided in the world by the Betsy deVos types and with Betsy deVos types a lot of people will no longer qualify for entrance to a university unless they went to private school. That will then create an even greater underclass in the U.S.A. than the currently have. Once the under class becomes the majority and they buy into the NRA bull tweet, they'll have a real war going in the U.S.A.
of course with any luck Donnie, Donald, Ivanka, Steve, etc. will all go to jail and life might improve in the U.S.A.
of course it is dangerous and of course it will increase violence. that is the whole point of Trump's actions. He and Bannon look forward to it. then things can change. Bannon would like to see the break down of American society so it can be rebuilt in his and Trump's idea of the ideal society. Sort of like Pol Pot in Cambodia.
Trump wants to silence those who do not agree, hence the attack on the media and the media is going right along with it. They frequently ban cameras now at the press briefings. its a strategy to get everyone used to these types of actions., No one has stood up to the W.H. on this but its the first step and the sheep are following right into the gas chambers.
Any violence which comes from Trump's opposition will be met with martial law, under the guise this time of dealing with terrorist.
This will not end well. I am waiting for the day we have race riots in the U.S.A. again. it will most likely start in a place like Chicago when Trump/Bannon send in troops to deal with the crime. They will be followed by the loyal followers of Trump and the NRA. From there it could get a little messy but hey, no one is going to do much about it.
The last time the U.S.A. was almost in a civil war was during a strike in the south in the early 20th century, when they had 10K armed civilians ready to go at it. This time it will be much worse.
Oh, well Mexico and Canada can expect the refugees, just make sure to disarm them before they cross. They'll get a medical card in exchange.
When Trump isn't the center of attention, being "adored" by the masses, he isn't interested in being anywhere. In my opinion he lacks social graces and the ability to communicate with his peers. He doesn't know how to act or what to say to the other world leaders. He is the odd person out.
Having his daughter sit in for him, while he was out, simply demonstrates how 'dumb' he and his are when it comes to these type of settings.
Trump's meeting with Putin, Trump looked like he was afraid of Putin.
Trump's leaving meetings and his position on any number of things is going to leave the U.S.A. isolated and in the end not very well off economically. The U.S.A. was once a fairly backward country, it may well return to that position.
lets hope that boy doesn't get to go to G.B. for a state dinner.
in answer to your question, depends upon the country. European countries, China, Japan, any country with large urban areas where there is a good infrastructure. India, will take a long time as will many 2nd and 3rd world countries. Some countries such as Canada and Australia won't outlaw them because of the distances needed to be traveled. the U.S.A. never. they'll mount guns on them and have the NRA take up a fight against it except in some of the more progressive states. Although the 3 large western seaboard states may vote to leave and form their own country with a medical plan and a huge transit infrastructure.
Good post.
Trumpist must have loved Poland. all those white faces. the speech was more than I could handle. Concluded it might well have been written by Bannon. going to Poland for Trumpister was a "good decision". He'd be welcomed there.
In the 20th century Poland was not so welcoming of Jews, and Bannon's attack on Muslims is simply another way of attacking Jews. Attacking Jews is just not on, but attacking Muslims they can get away with. As a result there is a negative impact on all minorities.
during the uprising of the Warsaw Ghetto, the Poles did not support the Jews, such was the dislike for them, so its reasonable to conclude not much has changed there.
Just Trumpster out there rallying his fascist troops and getting a good dose of adoration before he has to face reality in Germany. I'm sure he and Bannon are happy.
I'm sure Trump and his gang are well aware of the finding, but they are of no concern to him and his. They are rich, they can move to higher ground, where ever that will be.
Climate change will impact those at the bottom of the economic scale more than those at the top for no other reason, those at the bottom can't rebuild, they don't have the money or the money to move. We have simply to look at New Orleans and see what was re built and what wasn't.
What many of Trump's base don't realize is they will be the ones most negatively impacted. Some one ought to show them the study, but it may be a waste of time. Many simply won't believe it.
The U.S.A. has the potential to become the economic basket case of the western hemisphere this century. The 600 billionaires will be just fine.
This should surprise no one. Trump and his cabal care about no one but themselves. Pruitt's meeting with Dow Chemical ought not to be a surprise at all. These people are evil. They don't care about people dying. They didn't care in Flint Michigan when they provided poisoned water to the population and they won't care about how many people die now. That is what the roll back of any government funded medical services is about. when you consider how the rates of cancer will increase in the next decade, 50%. those who can afford clean water and health care live on. Those who are poor die. Works for the Trumpits. What some of those Trumpits don't realize is they are also expendable.
"apes seedy dictators", in my opinion he is a seedy dictator, he is just working on getting the control he wants and needs for he and Bannon to establish the new reich.
We have only to look at what Hitler did to the Germany media prior to WW II or Egypt, Turkey, China, etc.
When you look at how fast Syria became a war torn country and in ruins you shake your head and wonder how did it all happen so fast. Well it will happen just as fast in the U.S.A.
it doesn't matter to people like Bannon and Trump what the facts are or that these are a group of young women who will help make the world a better place. People like Bannon and Trump don't want to get along with others, they want there to be strife and they are working hard to create it.
There is not much about Bannon and Trump which hasn't been done before by other dictators. Give it another 5 years and it will look just like Nazi Germany did prior to WW II and those they target will be much more than Muslims. the list will expand.
it is truly a shame these young women can not attend this conference and it may well be that other international organizations will no longer hold events in the U.S.A because of the ban. this 90 ban will continue for another 90 days and then another 90 day, until the end of the time Trump spends in the Wh. House.
This is simply not on. How the hell can one country or a group of countries tell another to close their media down. that would be like having Germany and Norway decide to call G.B. and tell them to call the U.S.A. and close down the New York Times and CBS. It would be laughable. So why does any one think its a good idea to close Al Jazeera?
I live in Canada and from time to time I read Al Jazeera. Don't agree with a lot of their coverage of Israel, but some of their other coverage is good and I for one support freedom of the press.
The is just Saudi's way of extending their censorship to other countries in the region. They may well be doing it at the request of the Americans who themselves have started censorship with the banning of cameras when ever the White House decrees it so at White House Briefings.
don't expect the MSM to deal with some of the real issues facing the U.S.A. Its easier and better for them to avoid the real issues. It keeps the masses entertained when they have interview upon interview to discuss what Trump tweeted today. its a distraction from the real issues of the day. That won't change because the real news will negatively impact upon them, i.e tax cuts for the rich/corporations.
the real issues of health care, such as the number of dead is of little concern to corporations. it won't impact them and having no decent health care will keep taxes low, for them. America has always been survival of the fittest. What most Americans don't realize is that the financial elite consider all of them expendable. They can always import more.
and people consider this clown the leader of the free world? right he's a clown. each night a lot of us in North America wait for Stephen corbet, Trevor Noah, and Seth Myers to do their monologues skewering Trump for all the stupid things he says and does each day. When you think of it this man keeps a min. of 3 comedians/political satirists busy 4 to 5 nights a week and the rest of us in stiches laughing.
Every day its another stupid comment by Trump and his political allies. Much of it defies logic if not common sense. They're jokes.
this evening Stephen Corbett ran a series of announcements by trump saying there were big plans and in a couple of weeks they would be announced. well nothing ever gets announced. His latest pronouncement was regarding health care, there will be a "big surprise" in a couple of weeks. Right just like all the other announcements. The man only knows how to sit at a small desk have people standing around him while he signs pieces of paper which actually don't have any real meaning in law.
so if the clown prince of the U.S.A. is now making statements regarding bombs in Syria, he might want to offer proof because not many are going to believe him. He is just deflecting because his health care bill is going no where. If the American generals don't know about any Syrian bomb, who knows perhaps Trump's good friend Putin told him or the tooth fairy. Trump in my opinion is an idiot and may be suffering from early onset of dementia. he sure acts like it and his forgetful ness of previous messages, well............
Trump needs war to keep people's attention off of what they are not getting from him as promised. He is deluded enough to think Putin might play along.
of course what may become a problem is the Kurds wont give up the territory they hold in Syria. Can't blame them. With out them the real ground fighting might not have been as successful as its been.
If Trump manages to have "light/contained" war with Russia or some other country he can achieve his goals in further reducing the American democracy. He started with his ban on 6 Muslim countries. He has a semi interim win in the Supreme court today. Another war, some more countries are excluded and then they will start increasing what they consider "patriotic". its not the first time the U.S.A. has gone down this road, we have only to look back at WW I and the attacks on democracy at that time.
In my opinion Trump is no different than Hitler and he and his pal Bannon and the alt right have an agenda and sometimes having a war somewhere helps them attain that agenda. its not that Trump is that smart, but Bannon is.
A war with anyone will keep people's attention off of the investigation into Trump and his family. works all round for the Trumps and the Republicanthugs. What they don't expect is that war to be brought to their own ground. Trump's ban on 6 Muslim nations is a crock. If terrorists really want in, they'll be in and they won't be coming from one of those 6 countries. we have only to look at ISIS and their increased fighting in the Phillipines. No ban on them....
on the bright side for those living in British Columbia, Canada when the southern part of B.C., which is either at sea level or below, we can all move to Kelowna or Kamloops. Although there are those who used to joke, one good earthquake and Calgary will be beach front.
unfortunately other countries will be in dire straights with a rise in sea level and countries need to learn to reduce green house gases. We also need to ensure the land we do have is protected for food production.
the rich will be able to move to higher group. they who own the corporations who will cause this rise in ocean levels don't really care.
well it keep some people's attention off of the fight over the new trumpcare. if Trump can keep people focused on one thing while he does another, it will work for him. anyhow a war with anyone or intensifying a current war will keep people interested in him, not their problems the countries problems and hey, war is always good for business. One might also say Tillerson is a tad out of the loop and this is one way of Trump keeping him guessing also.
It is somewhat strange that 4 countries want another country to close one of its newspapers. It down right weird. What would we say if some countries had G.B. mediate with the U.S.A. to close Fox News or the New York Times. Regardless of what we may thing of what Al-J. its an organization which provides news and its called free speech. from time to time I read the English version on line. I don't agree with every thing it writes, but hey I don't have to read it then. My opinion, it ought to continue to operate. It provides an alterative view point with the news and that is always a good thing.
Given Saudi Arabia is involved in this it does make one wonder if the U.S.A. is behind this action to censor the news.
and who is Saudi Arabia to dictate to Qatar who they can speak with. Now Iran is no bastion of liberty and feminism, but I've always had the opinion it was a tad more "liberal" than Saudi Arabia.
Lets leave Iran and Qatar alone. What are they trying to do, provoke a war with Iran? Perhaps this has more to do with Trump's dislike of Iran than anything else.
They accuse Qatar of "exporting" terrorism, well so do the Saudi's with their brand of Islam. Let each country clean up its own act internally before going to try to clean up another country. They all look like hypocrits.
Trump's speeches during his campaign promoted the type of actions taken by this white piece of trash. Trump promoted hate. Now the effects are being seen. this is what people like Bannon, Sessions, and Trump view as a good thing. In the end more people will be killed by these white nationalist than by any terrorist in the U.S.A.
The Europeans will be telling Trump jokes for decades. The man acted like a thug. shoving the leader of another country to get to stand in front of the camera first, OMG, where did they find that kid.
Bet the British are a tad worried about Trump coming over for a "visit". I'm sure May has regretted her invite. Can hardly wait for Trump to give Charles or Phillip a shove so he can stand next to the Queen. Of course then it might be fun to arrest him...................
sitting here in Canada not even our dumbest politician would say that and we have more than a few. this guy must be delusional. what does he think happens when you have cancer and aren't treated for it? oh, perhaps he still believes in miracles. next time he gets sick lets ensure he doesn't receive medical care and he can see what happens.
Trump will try to do what he can get away with. Unfortunately some cities/states aren't going along with his plans. Its like your other article, Merkel had to explain 11 times to Trump .............. this is no different.
Now he wants to cancel NAFTA and then he wants to implement a 24% duty on Canadian soft wood lumber. The man has no idea of how much is shipped from those 35 American states, whose biggest trading partner is Canada. but hey it made a great sound bite and his base most likely bought into it. From a Canadian perspective, it made great material for Stephen Corbett's show.
when I saw that the other day I thought it was a joke. didn't think he was that stupid. On the other hand I think its part of how Trump operates. some little kids will keep asking the same question until they wear their parents down and they say Yes. Guess the Chancellor of Germany has dealt with a lot of toddlers in her time so she is fine dealing with Trump.
one hates to agree with Dash/ISIS/whatever they call themselves, but in regards to the U.S.A., yes it is being led by a buffoon. It was once again on full display in the press conference with King Abdullah. King Abdullah is smooth, sophisticated, speaks well, good vocabulary. Then there is Trump who is still using basic language. Trump couldn't even help himself and took a swipe at Susan Rice. it wasn't the time or place. there he was "airing" the family's dirty laundry with company present. He just doesn't get it.
Trump doesn't have a plan for anything he answers with, he is not going to tell the enemy in advance.
Trump doesn't know what to do about N. Korea. He is way out of his league. Of course we might all be concerned about his getting a little excited and push a button instead of sending a tweet. lets hope the first daughter stays close to him to prevent it.
Trump may have talked about being unhappy about the gas bombs in Syria, but they did come directly after he indicated he was no longer fixated on getting rid of Assad. In my opinion, that is the same as saying go ahead and do what you want. Assad can stay. Trump is too scared of Putin to take him on, so expect more gas bombs to drop in Syria. No one is going to do anything. Like how hard would it be to get rid of Assad if they really wanted to. Perhaps they can hire the Israeli's to do the job.
of course Trump likes Al Sisi. they're both from the same school of dumb ass politicians with limited intellect. If Trump could get away with what Putin, Assad, and Al Sisi do, he'd do it. He has Jeff Sessions working on it with a "review" of police procedures and the DOJ.
As to Egypt. You can't sit on it forever. There are a lot of bright young people. A large armed forces. At some point it will all explode. Things will not end well for Al Sisi or Trump. Perhaps some one could arrange for them to share a jail cell some where, given how much Trump "admires" Al Sisi. For good measure we could toss in Putin, Short fat guy from N. Korea, Assaid a few others and all might improve in the world.
As to the question at the beginning of the article, who knows for sure. We've heard Trump wax on about how great Putin is, but in this case it may be that Trump really doesn't know what to do. He is out of his league and therefore can not make a decision, hence giving the impression he has deferred to Putin/Russia.
There isn't much the U.S.A. can do about Syria and Putin has no limitations.
As to the Kurds, they have so far demonstrated they are the most organized group in the region and certainly know how to fight as an army. It is to be hoped they will have their own country. To this day I remember the cover of National Geographic of the dead Kurdish father laying by his dead little son. They were bombed with chemicals by S. Hussein. had other countries dealt with Iraq/Hussein at the time, who knows how the middle east would have looked today. Most likely with a lot less blood and war.
It isn't just the U.S.A.'s fault, almost all western countries helped. We need only look at the position countries take in these regions when their corporations want to remain "friendly" with nasty governments so they can continue to make money.
other governments continue to do business with the waring factions and don't do much of anything to help the people who have live through it.
Most of the world doesn't care if 20 million die of starvation. don't expect the U.S.A. to do much and China, Russia, rich middle eastern countries will be missing in the action of charity or assisting these countries.
As long as their side is making money most countries don't care how many children and adults die. This isn't the first time and it won't be the last.
and this is news???? hey this knowledge about technology has been out for some time. do democracies spy on their own citizens, you bet, regardless of what they tell you.
that guy ought to be unelected next time. Comparing health care costs with purchasing an I-phone, omg that guy is out of touch. Health care prior to the ACA for some of the people I know was $900 a month. An I-phone is a lot less.
It is just so weird that a country would want their citizens to die because they were sick and didn't have enough money to purchase health care. gee. some of those "law makers" in Washington might be considered terrorists of the worst kind. At least a gun man will kill you ought right, these "law makers" let people die slowly and painfully.
So Canada and Norway each had a white wack job who killed a lot of people. the real danger to society, particularly American society are all those people who go around shooting and killing each other. Your article gave me a good laugh. Compared to Norway and Canada, the U.S.A. is in a terror league all of its own. One could even consider the Republican Congress people to be terrorists for their failure to continue with health care. Hey you go with out health care, you're terrified.
it doesn't much matter what the Canadian is charged with. He is going away and won't be getting out. First degree murder in Canada is 25 yrs before you can apply for parole and some are never given parole. they are few and far between, but he won't be getting out. Canadians take a more measured approach to law than Americans hence no terror charges.
Trump/Sessions/Bannon have this thing about Muslims which I truly don't understand. They carry on as if it were the end of the world if people of the Muslim faith came into the U.S.A. it is truly beyond me. Canada had 40K Syrian refugees come into Canada last year and we're all doing fine. No problems.
What is interesting with all this rhetoric what did the U.S.A. get? 3 men of South Asia descent, were shot, 2 dead and over a 100 threats to Jewish sites. Now it is interesting that no stats are being issued for attacks/threats to Muslims, but could it be the Americans don't know the difference between people from India or the middle east who are of Arab descent.
Perhaps all the chatter against Muslims was to start a campaign against Jews. its hard to know, but whatever is going on in the U.S.A. it isn't good.
At the rate things are going some of us in Canada expect American citizens to start coming into Canada to apply for refugee status. Oh, they're welcome to come. Just leave the guns at the border and we'll give you a health card, yes we do government health care and you can get an abortion or a heart transplant; fix your broken bones,
if countries believe Russia will interfere with their elections then they might want to consider it an act of war and act accordingly. Not with armies and such but the same things the Russians use.
These countries might want to put more effort into making their citizens aware of what Russia is up to and ensure their computer systems are up to date regardless of the cost.
Russia has unlimited resources to do what they want when it comes to these types of activities and unless other countries recognize this, they will loose. Its like China doesn't have to invade a country, it just buys it up one property at a time. with Russia, they just play with the computers.
It is in Russia and Trump's best interests to have a divided Europe and to have "nationalist" parties in office. they will leave the E.U. thinking they are smarter and can handle Russia. Such are the egos of politicians. ?When you look at some of these nationalists you just want to shake your head. What a bunch of nut bars.
What Trump means is he wants Iraq to pay for the "work" the U.S.A. military is doing in Iraq and they can pay for it by turning over their oil. It would help his friend he is nominating to the Cabinet ever so much.
Trump doesn't care about Iraq and expect him to pull American forces out of there in the not so distant a future because Iraq is a Muslim country. He doesn't want Iraq citizens coming into the U.S.A. so expect big changes. As far as fighting ISIS, expect that to stop shortly also. Its costing the U.S.A. money which won't be there once the tax cuts are in place. trump is going to be defunding the treasury so waging war is not going to be part of the plan.
its all about painting a picture that Muslims are dangerous. expect more restrictions to be placed on Muslims in the U.S.A.
First you ban them from coming into the US.A., then you ban them from holding military positions, then you ban them from holding office. My parents saw something like this, it was the rise of the NAZIs.
Canada accepted 25K Syrian refugees, mostly Muslim in 3 months. it has worked out fine. There isn't any reason we can't accept 3 million American Muslims as refugees. We don't care about your religion as long as you love hockey. we don't have many guns but we have a lot of medical health cards.
Putin loves him so there is no reason Trump turnip won't either. He's Trump's kind of guy. its sad when you think people will believe /Trump did say this because hey, we've seen what else Turnip has said.
If Americans start to reject Trump and he takes "action" against them, expect it to be along the lines of Assad's actions against the citizens of Syria. the war in Syria didn't start out like it is now. it was about people feed up with their President.
In my opinion Trump looks at the people in Iraq as loosers and at Assad as a "strong" leader. there goes the neighbourhood.
Trump is simply playing to his base with statements regarding the "deal" with Iran. Unfortunately Trump hasn't understood that the USA is not the world. Its one country. If Trump decides to not honour the agreement there are a lot of other countries which will. Trump does not understand his country is not that far from being just another 2 world country, sort of like Russia, big military but the people live in poverty.
If Trump doesn't want to "play" according to the rules, other countries may simply ignore him and go ahead with life. In a short time China will over take the U.S.A. as the major world power. Trump ought to realize that most of U.S.A.s debt is held by China. If he tries to default, he may be in for a big surprise. Some of those politicians in China are a lot tougher than Trump and they and Iran know a B.S. artist when they see one.
When Trump says he wants a better deal with Iran or Cuba what he really means he wants to build hotels in their country and he wants the land for free. I'd suggest the other countries simply call his bluff.
Russia is run by a bunch of thugs. we could say its a Russian mob country. Its run by Putin and his oligarch buddies. A weakened E.U. works for them because with G.B. out, so is their police and intelligence forces to a great extent. It allows the Russian mob to make inroads into Europe.
Now the average Russian will see no improvement in their lives with trump even if he is pro Putin. I wouldn't say he is pro Russia, just pro Putin. The billiionaires of the world tend to roll together. some times there are squabbles, but on the whole they share common interests and that is making money. With Trump in office Putin and his oligarchs see a chance to move into the U.S.A and scoop even more money. The Passionate Eye ran a great documentary on Putin and his accumulation of wealth since becoming president. His friends haven't done so badly either.
When you look at how South Africia's president's family has made out like bandits, expect the same from the president elect in the U.S.A. Government by thugs, for thugs.
There is no gain for an working person in Russia or the U.S.A. with this merry little band of billionaires.
The problem with a lot of Americans, as I see it is their limited education when it comes to world history and other religions.
Any one who considers Islam a cancer is sorely missing a few chapters of history. there are people who abuse Islam and use it for their own political purposes just as there have been Christians and still are who abuse the Christian religion, using it to advance their political agenda. They're all nut bars in my opinion and perhaps ought to get a room together. They might be surprised how much they have in common.
This general may be bright in some areas but in my opinion, he is simply another ignorant person.
The Americans voted for Trump or failed to vote. I wish them the best of luck. The real trouble will start when all those Americans who thought Trump was going to make life better for them find out he lied. I'm sure most of them have guns also.
Yes, Canada is very fortunate to have Neil MacDonald and the C.B.C. Although some complain about the CBC it is what helps Canada remain Canada. it helps us retain our identity.
Yes, Canada elected Justin Trudeau, the U.S.A. may elect Trump. I'm luck my parent immigrated to Canada in 1951. Although if Trump is elected it will impact Canada, with Trump threatening to tear up NAFTA and increasing custom duties.
If Trump is elected I'm sure some Americans will immigrate here and others will simply cross the border and apply for refugee status. Hey we're good at the refugee thing, we took 25K Syrians in approx. 3 months. Americans just need to understand, they need to check their guns, etc. at the border but not to worry, we will give them a card which entitles them to health care they won't have to pay much if anything for and it covers heart transplants, broken bones, etc.
The Republican party has no one but themselves to blame for Trump having taken over their party. In the quest to attain power in previous elections, they took in everyone and pandered to everyone. This is what you wind up with.
It might be better for American politics if there were more than 2 parties, as there are in most other democratic countries (G-8 types) In a country as large as the U.SA. not all political views can be covered by 2 tents. Even Canada with only 36 million people has 3 major parties and 2 minor ones. For democracy to thrive there needs to be a variety of parties.
Now as to religion and mythology, well if I weren't an atheist I'd be praying right now for a Clinton win.
Pence is one wacked out dude. Nice book end for Trump. One wants a wall between the U.S.A. and Mexico and the other wants to invoke his religious beliefs, as law for all Americans, sort of like you say, evangelical religious law. The Constitution provided for separation of state and religion and now we have people who want to impose religious doctorne as law for the country.
Don't know how that will work for Jews, First Nations, some Protestants, etc . but it could have quite an impact on Canada.
How so, Canada accepts political refuges. We're the country just north of the U.S.A. which brought in 25K Syrian refugees (when the U.S.A wouldn't) and the country and the refugees are doing just fine. Yes, a lot of them are Muslim and a lot of others are Orthodox Catholic. So if the Republicans get their way and bring in their version of extremist Christianity, many will be able to apply for refugee status in Canada.
Canadian officials will shortly head to Iraq to document more refugees to bring into Canada. I guess if things go side ways in the U.S.A. we could expect hundreds of thousands.
I'm good with that, as long as they all check their guns at the border. We'll give them a medical system card and they can practise the religion of their choice. Canadians keep their religion out of politics. (well the last P.M. not so much but he's gone) Our current P.M. is a Catholic. The Minister of Defense is a Sikh. The Mayor of Calgary, Alberta is Muslim.
What is so highly entertaining about the American religious wing nuts is all their desire to kill those who they don't agree with. Makes one wonder if these "religious" people ever read the Bible or even the 10 commandments.
It would be so much easier if everyone were atheists or agnostics.
if all this killing is being done in the name of God/Allah, please let the world become atheists. it would be ever so much more peaceful.
its all about power and control and I do believe some people have been at war so long, that is their way of life. Even if the president of Syria steps down tomorrow, would the killing really stop now? its like this will go on until there is no one left. Not a very religious thing to be doing.
What all of these killings are expected to secure is beyond me. Where will it all end? Perhaps in Russia's own back yard.
What Trump has been saying is what many Americans have been thinking, if you'd call it that. In my opinion, that is why he is so popular. his racist comments have found fertile ground and those he appeals to have finally found some rich and powerful guy who agrees with them.
Cruz's message isn't that different, but he says it more quietly, hence the lack of votes.
Americans may have had a civil war, the Civil Rights movement, but at some level, not much has changed.
have gotten into serious disagreements with people on the subject, when I raise how many killed in U.S.A. per yr via gun violence. Thank you ever so ,much for all the figures.
In British Columbia, Canada 81 people per year are killed by distracted driving; another similar amount by drunk driving. Yet our former P.M. thought it was a good idea to pass laws which violated our Charter of Rights and Freedoms, to fight alleged "terrorism" in Canada. (we had yet to have 1 incident of real terrorism) Our new P.M. of course is putting an end to that silliness.
very interesting and informative article. IF a country does not have a strong central structure, it isn't going to survive as an effective country. In major cities such as Brussels there needs to be a central police department, with one chief. Anything less, makes for a lot of problems.
That is the problem with arming one side. if they are over run or change sides so do the weapons. It is not always the best strategy.
Most of the west does not understand the middle east and haven't even been bright enough to get a score card which list the teams and their alligences. Oh, well at least the arms dealers are making a lot of money. its just so sad so many innocent people are being killed and a country destroyed.
In answer to the question, no American President can deliver much without the support of the Senate/Congress. So Saunders won't be able to do much if elected, if he doesn't have support in the House.
Economic inequity continues to grow in the U.S.A. and until that is addressed not much will get better. When Govenors think its O.K. to let their citizens drink water full of lead, the country has a problem and one man is not going to be able to solve it,
of course if Saunders is elected, we will have one pissed off Clinton
I do believe we maybe seeing what we haven't seen in a couple of hundred years. An American civil war.
Is this what Trump wants? Does he know what he is doing? He can't be that stupid. His calls for deporting 11 million people to Mexico, that alone is enough to start a civil war. Given many in the National Guard and Armed Forces are people of colour, this could be interesting, if not dangerous.
I expect we in Canada might see a lot of Americans applying for political refugee status if Trump or Cruz are elected. Well we took 25k Syrians with out a problem.
have read somewhere there are more guns in America than people, so an armed event, isn't that out there. On the other hand given some of the mass shootings in the U.S.A. do you think they would notice an armed/violent event?
Oh, well when the bullets start flying perhaps Trump will have the good grace to step in front of one. (I do know that isn't nice to write, but alas, it is a solution) Trump may well led the AMericans into a civil war. I do think he knows exactly what he is doing and he will continue to do it.
On the upside for Putin, he is starting to look down right reasonable compared to Trump.
It will remain to be seen what happens. I can not say I'm unhappy Scalia is dead. he wasn't that good for women's rights and a whole lot of other people's either.
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if a new judge is appointed who is not a remake of Scalia things may improve in the Supreme Court. On the other hand the U.S.A. is so far gone, it is doubtful it can come back from the abyss.
nice to know democracy is alive and well in the U.K. Getting a debate with 100K signatures, not bad.
Now as to the Donald. if he preaches hate then he ought to be kept out of G.B. They have done it before and there is no reason they can't do it again.
if Donald wants to pull his "investments" out of G.B., let him. It will most likely cost him a lot more than it will cost G.B. It will also send a message, your money doesn't buy you respectability.
Now as to Tony and the gulf war, agree, he and George ought both to be pulled into the Hague to stand trial along with a few others. Might send an even better message. War for the sake of oil is not on. Its not civilized. They destroyed the countries they invaded. Its a form of genocide. Just because Tony and George are important and rich and from the west doesn't mean they can't stand trial. It might send a message to others who want to invade a country just because they have "some information". They invaded Iraq, but hey we still have North Korea and their leader doing just fine. Why didn't they ever invade that country. why have they sat around while genocides in other countries continued, especially in Africa.
we have these courts, lets use them. they ought not to be reserved for those we don't like.
this ought to be funny. two terrorist organizations having a go at it. Yes, I consider the state of Saudi Arabia to be a terrorist organization. so the two groups "deserve" each other. Both violate women's rights, human rights, both say one thing and do another. We have the Saudi's doing their pious routine at home and then going to western countries and acting like pigs. We have the ISIS groups selling off antiquities they consider inappropriate, etc.
if those two groups go to war, lets hope the west is smart enough to stay out of it. Way out of it. The Saudi's are not our friends.
What Trump is suggesting makes no sense. In my opinion he does not understand the Muslim faith. it is as different as Christianity is. there are all sorts of denominations and they all have different beliefs.
What was interesting is Trump's "exclusions" from his proposed ban, athletes and politicians. wonder if that permits the Saudi royal family into the U.S.A. along with their friends.
Trump has awakened the latent bigotry which has always been alive and well in the U.S.A. He has made it O.K. to be a bigot, in the views of many. It is sad. It is disgusting. It is scary. Trump first wanted to deport Mexicans and keep them from coming into the U.S.A. Now its Muslims. You wonder who will be next. Perhaps Jews, Russians. Where will it end?
If this man actually gets elected to the Presidency, we may see the American military ensure he never gets his hands on that little red button. it could be very "interesting".
if it weren't so tragic it would be funny, these people not wanting Syrian refugees, because of the Paris attack. 126 were killed in Paris and 194 are in hospital. Now lets have a look at some other stats. In British Columbia, Canada, with a pop of approx. 5 million, in 2013 we had 186 deaths due to drunken driving, 184 deaths due to distracted driving. B.C. has not give up cars, booze, cell phones, etc.
The U.S.A. looses about 50 thousand people a year due to drunk driving. They have never had that many people killed even in one event by terrorists. I don't know what those 30 states are concerned about You are much more likely to be killed by some one with a gun or did those governors suddenly forget about the theatre shootings and all the other mass shootings in the U.S.A. by "ordinary Americans", with gun.
People who are "suddenly" opposed to refugees because of the Paris incident, have most likely always been against taking refugees. The Americans started this mess, now they need to help with the clean up and that starts by taking refugees. They could take a million before anyone would notice,
The MSM might want to start reporting "regular" news instead of this steady diet of "faux' news, turning over and over every little incident during the Paris incident. What did people expect. France has been in the middle east wars for some time. All they other side did was bring the war home to the French. When you go to war, expect, these days, to have it brought back to you.
You really do need a chart to keep up with everything in Syria. Its one of the reasons I believe the West ought to have stayed out of the middle east to begin with.
anyhow if Russia, with its air strikes makes some head way against the extremists, Putin will have something to crow about. The West will then have to "forgive" him for Ukraine and get on with life.
Canada may have a new P.M. on Monday, so the rhetoric against Putin will cool down and Canada will most likely pull out of the middle east, immediately. The current P.M. Harper has been very vocal about his dislike of Putin and Arabs/Muslims. Monday is the election. Both other main stream parties have promised to get out. One less other country messing things up and one less country supporting Benni in Israel.
If this mess continues in the middle east and Benni takes Israel into the mess, we will all be in trouble. Canada has always supported Israel, but the support Harper gives to Benni, not a good thing.
It would be nice if Putin could arrange for Assad to go somewhere else, but who knows who would replace him..........We've seen replacements and they don't always work.
Bombing a country inflicts so much pain and misery on the civilians, its hard to say what is worse, the bombing and killings or the extremists and the killings. Its like once one of these wars start, it becomes a way of life, like no one knows what else to do.
that is so not good. the president is crazy. squatting is o.k. gee perhaps we could go squat at the president's house or that of his relatives. see how he likes that. Squatting in these days and in a country like Israel is another form of stealing and the last time I checked stealing wasn't part of the Jewish religion.
The Americans and Canadians need to get out of the middle east. the west going in is what created the problem and our staying there simply continues the problem.
Our war mongering P.M. Harper loves war. He tries to sell himself as the "great warrior" P.M. but hid in a closet when there was gun fire last year in Ottawa.
The middle east needs to settle this themselves. What other countries can do is, instead of sending military equipment, is help settle refugees, whether its in camps or in other countries.
I don't like ISIS. I don't like the killing, etc. But when I sit back and look at the big picture more people have been killed by this war and the fighting which started as the result of the war, than ISIS has killed. Its rather gruesome when ISIS shoots and kills several hundred military people and civilians, but all the fighting has killed a couple of hundred Canadian soldiers, 4 thousand American soldiers and 100s of thousands of civilians.
The Kurds are doing fine in their area. Iran is doing fine in their country. Since the west's invasion of Iraq nothing has gone well for the people there. If ISIS brings stability, then so be it. If people don't want to live under their authority, then they can go to other countries. Of course that is the problem. Lots of the other countries won't take them, and that includes countries in the middle east.
The problem, as I see it, is Iraq was a divided country, kept together by one President. Once he was gone the country fell apart. the current army is not up to the task and neither are the politicians. When you think Iraq and Iran fought a war for years and did not suffer this type of destruction, you really have to wonder about the Iraq military these days.
If Iraq can't hold it together than let it fall apart and let people start over again. this fighting is solving nothing and just making arms dealers rich, along with those who control the oil
well perhaps human decency ought to stop them from stealing the land. Theft is theft.
It isn't as if Israel couldn't afford to buy the land. No when a government steal land, which is all some people have its more about something else. If Israel paid the people what the land was worth and then some, those people could at least have a way to support themselves or re locate if they choose to, but to steal someone's home, that just isn't decent.
liked the article, Netanyahu wasn't very gracious about this success. The current leadership in Iran appears to be much more moderate. It is time to give the leadership a chance. If Netanyahu is concerned about war, he might want to be concerned by countries such as Saudi Arabia, which have more than a few jets and has a sect of Islam which isn't particularly progressive. Now some may say Iran isn't either, but its way ahead of Saudi Arabia and other countries. When it comes to being ungracious about the success of the negotiations Canada was right there with Bennie but then both harper and netanyahu like to win their elections using fear. It keeps citizens from looking at other things which are wrong in their countries
A most unfortunate turn of events for the young couple. If Bush, Blair, and Harper would have kept out of the mess in Iraq and areas, they might not be in this place today.
If Iran can handle it, more power to them. it saves other countries money and lives. It maybe time for the west to get over their, we can do it better attitude.
Of course there maybe western politicians and generals who do not want to see Iran "handle" the problem, because it might raise their profile with in the Arab world. Its time to get over it and the west ought to look after their own problems at home in their own countries. When other areas/countries "ask" for help, that is soon enough. it was all that western "help" which got the world into this pickle to begin with. I for one wish our Prime Minister in Canada, would shut his mouth and start dealing with the issues in Canada, like the 1,200 murdered/missing First Nations women.
some really good points and I do trust the western powers who are currently involved in this mess do give it all some thought.
If and when IS goes the way of the dodo bird, what will happen? I doubt the Kurds will give the area up. They have committed too much and fought too hard to give up one square inch. The pain which has been inflicted on the Kurds by the Iraq government when it was run by S. Hussien wasn't nice and the west simply sat around, while the Kurds were poisoned. I don't think I will ever forget the cover of National Geographic mag. with the dead father laying there with his small son. I doubt if the Kurds will either.
My Opinion, the west ought to stay out of it, should Iraq and the Kurds get involved in a dispute. The more the west messes with an area, the messier it gets. Looking back on things now, I'm sure the west wishes they had left S. Hussain exactly where he was, in charge. He wasn't a nice man, but the country was in better shape and people were safer.
those gentlemen might want to get their acts together and stop fighting amongst themselves, before ISIS rolls right through town and over them. Not much will be gained if ISIS controls most of the country except for the area controlled by the Kurds..
It might be best if the Kurds are left alone with the land they now control. They will most likely fight to do so and better they are on Iraq's side and taking aim at ISIS. If the Kurds don't have anything of their own to defend, don't count on them fighting on behalf of Iraq to defeat ISIS.
Iraq was a country created by the west, not by the people in the region. When Bush and his buddies decided to invade Iraq, they created this problem. They got rid of Saddem Hussein, only to find they were left with something even more frightening. No one ever said Bush was smart, but the rest of the countries which followed him in, ought to have known better.
The Americans and their friends destroyed a country and now look at what they have there: death, destruction, civil war, famine, lack of infrastructure. Upp, the west really helped in Iraq and gave them democracy. Next time they want go "rescue" a country, they might want to look at what they did to Iraq and stay home.
When I first saw the head line I started laughing. Its not funny, but how crazy are these Americans? Islam isn't a religion? We know the American educations system isn't up to standard but really.
it is beyond me why people object to a Muslim place of worship and why they don't want a Muslim cemetery????? Its not like its going to be a noisy bunch of drunks at the local bar. some one ought to tell these people in Tenn. people in a cemetery are dead and make for very quiet neighbours.
Americans ought to sit down and read their constitution. It gives people their freedom of religion.
must be coming up to election season. Bush got the U.S.A. and others into the wars and now they want to blame Obama?
While the U.S.A. was responsible for tens of thousands of deaths in the middle east, Russia has invaded the Crimea and only two were killed. Now lets go over that again. It will take decades for Iraq to recover. Next time someone feels like a war, let them go personally over and do some fighting. Let our young people stay home and rebuild our own countries. Canada and the U.S.A. have a lot of work to do at home.
Iraq started to "unravel" the minute it was invaded. Up until then, it wasn't doing too badly. Yes there was corruption and political misdeeds, but hey, China is in about the same bag as Iraq was and every body is just ever so happy to keep talking to them.
Snowden is hero. He ought to be give a Nobel Prize for his work. He let the world know what was going on, loud and clear. Once he made public what he knew, it simply could no longer be denied. It is out in the open. He isn't a traitor. He is a patriot. Snowden exposed the rot.
The Americans think they are free. however, as the article points out, they are not and haven't been for a very long time. Just because people get to carry guns around, they think they are free. They are far from it. The U.S.A. is not a country to be admired nor is it a country which has any moral authority to comment on other countries practises. The Americans in their own way are about as bad as it gets. O.K. they haven't dropped barrel bombs on their own citizens, but there may come a day.
Trump is as dumb as they come. When the King of Jordon says its a dumb thing to do, he is usually right.
How to piss off millions of people in one swoop, just do what Trump did. He must be doing this to simply keep his evangelical base happy and some of his Jewish supporters, although I doubt if all Jews are happy about Trump's latest idiot idea.
Given Canadians can be mistaken for Americans, it just makes it more difficult for us to travel safely.
Jerusalam is as much a Muslim city as it is a Jewish city. Trump obviously doesn't understand history. Perhaps the man is only happy when there is conflict and he just keeps conflict going so he keeps happy. Its almost like a little kid breaking a window and saying, see what I can do.
No one ought to have exclusive rights to Jerusalam. as to its being Israel's capital, who are they trying to kid.
sitting up here in Canada, I'd have to agree with the Germans. the big problem is Trump and the U.S.A. Don't view N. Korea as much of a problem and neither do my friends and family. we don't think N.K. will toss the first bomb, but rather Trump.
Turkey ought not to be able to join the E.U. they simply are too dangerous and weird these days, well their President is.
As a Canadian I'd rather see stronger ties with Central and South America, Japan, Europe. Don't trust China or Russia although they are important especially that Russia sits across the Artic from us.
Once NAFTA is flushed by Trump, Canada will most likely pursue more trade with China, carefully. The U.S.A. will return to what it once was, a poverty stricken country with an isolationist attitude. The elimination of the Dodd Frank leg. will hasten the American demise.
Germany is much better off re arming itself along with the other European countries because no one can count on the U.S.A. for anything with Trump in office. He has no real concept of what war is. Even if the dropped him in the middle of a battle field I don't think he understands what it is all about.
France and Germany are large countries and they need to have their military ready to deal with anything and everything because Putin still has delusions of tzarism.
Benni is just such a thug. Its not surprising he and Donnie get on so well. Now if they can throw Benni's ass in the can, perhaps things might improve in the middle east. The man is a major stumbling block to peace, in my humble opinion.
the thing about corruption in Israel is it impacts so many who aren't exactly full fledged citizens of Israel. when Benni keeps up the war mongering I always have the impression he is hiding something else, and viola, there it is corruption. if Israelis lived in a peaceful area, they just might have time to focus on the real issues facing them, their nation, and neighbours.
It isn't just Trump who doesn't care about Puerto Rico but the rest of the Republicans. Trump and his re tweets of British racism demonstrates very clearly why these American citizens aren't getting the help they need.
Perhaps its time for Puerto Rico to join some other country,.
loved the head line. too bad Trump didn't know how many nukes the U.S.A. actually had.
Perhaps Trump wants to go down in history as the guy who started WW III. who knows and who knows why. Perhaps its all to the greater glorification of Trump. He's like a little kid who wants attention. Doesn't care what type of attention just so long as its attention. You know like the kid whose parents didn't pay any attention to him.
Why he wants to bother with Iran is beyond me. Its just another country trying to get through life. On the other hand, it is a country which refused to buckle under and that is something Trump just doesn't get.
The President of Iran handles himself with dignity. the President of the U.S.A. acts like a garbage pile.
As a Canadian I don't feel any danger from Iran and neither do the people I know. We do however feel the U.S.A. is a very big danger to world peace, the environment, etc.
if Trump wants to scrape the deal, he'll do it but if Iran and the other countries keep to the deal, it leaves Trump outside, where he ought to be with his friend Benny the thug.
If Trump tries to start a war with Iran, he might be in it by himself. it is doubtful other countries will join. Its not their fight. I certainly would be working to ensure Canadian troops had no part in it, except perhaps to defend Iran. Trump may also find he doesn't have an armed forces. A great majority of members are people of colour. they may not be up for another fight in which they have no money.
Trump's comments regarding the people of P.R. is true Trump. In my opinion the man is a racist. The comment also plays to his base, who see themselves as victims of the elites but if you're a person of colour you're lazy.
Florida and Texas got help asap. P.R. not so much. why? Florida and Texas have more billionaires and more whites.
Trump would prefer if the P.R. people just up and disappeared. if they're not working at his golf courses, they are of no use to him. Trump's tweets once again confirm my opinion of him. He's a racist.
As long as Iraq is a basket case the Kurds have some security. The Kurds may have done a lot of the heavy lifting during the fighting in the middle east, but once its over, no one will come to their "rescue" should they need it. The world stood by when Saddam Hussein gassed them and they will again.
The Kurds this time will have more arms and training but they had better remain united because if they don't there are at least 3 countries who would try to eliminate them and the U.S.A. and Europe will do nothing to assis the Kurds.
So the Iraqi government wants a war with the Kurds? Well the last time Iraq was in a mess only the Kurds seem to hold it together. As I do recall the Iraqi army wasn't any great shakes at fighting, leaving equipment in the field for ISIS. The real fighters turned out to be Kurds.
Now the Pres. of Iraq may want those oil fields, but really can he fight his way to them to get them. Perhaps that is why Tillerson isn't keen on Kurdish independence. With oil in Iraqi hands, its easier for the Americans to exert control.
This maybe where we see more war in the middle east and that will work ever so well for ISIS. While a few countries go to war with the Kurds, ISIS can resurrect themselves. Nice going.
don't know if Bennie is the one who is "prodding" Trump. don't think Trump cares enough about Israel to go to war for them. If there were a war with Iran, Israel will have more to loose than Iran. No one in the area will win a war. The whole area isn't that big for there to be a real survivor in any war especially if any one fires a nuke. In my opinion Trump has a pickle up his ass about Iran, we just don't know what its about.
Trump's speech at the U.N. was appalling. He clearly demonstrated he is not playing with a full deck. he makes Kim 3 look sane.
Trump's continued verbal assaults on Iran is completely irrational and dangerous, Iran is complying with the agreement it signed. the other countries are good with it. As a Canadian, I'm good with it. Whatever Trump's problems are with Iran, it maybe what is wrong with his brain.
Iran is not a perfect country and they have along way to go on women and human rights, but at the rate the U.S.A. is going with Trump, they won't be much better.
Trump needs to realize Iran and N. Korea are sovereign nations and they owe him and the U.S.A nothing. He has not right to dictate to them.
Liked what Khamenei and his Generals had to say about Trump and they are quite correct, if Trump walks away from the deal, no country will want to sign a deal with the U.S.A. because they can't keep their word. No wonder Kim 3 doesn't want any type of deal with the U.S.A. its not that I want more countries to have nuclear arms, but I can see why Kim 3 wants to keep his.
Charlie Donnes, you do have a point there, at some level. But two wrongs don't make a right.
If the Russians did get Trump elected they may come to be very unhappy with their decision, especially if he sends some nukes over to N. Korea. it would be a very bad day for all of us in the world. Just as some of the leaders the U.S.A. helped to install turned out to be idiots and not suitable leaders, the Russians may have helped elect and idiot who is an unsuitable leader.
Sitting just north of the American border it doesn't make us feel all that great having Trump as president of the U.S.A. Gives you that insecure feeling.
It took a lot of work to negotiate the agreement. The U.S.A. SIGNED the deal as did the other countries. The other countries are still fine with matters.
It is true, Iran really didn't get much out of the deal except they got to go shopping for needed items, including jets. Of course the countries who benefited from that were the countries who agreed to the deal.
if Trump has the U.S.A. withdraw from the deal, he will clearly demonstrate he is unbalanced as most of think he is. Why Trump wants to make trouble with Iran is beyond me. They are just another country, going about its business. Now of course Bennie is ever so happy I'm sure about Trump's position, but really Israel has always been able to take care of itself and I never got the impression Trump cares enough about Israel to make it the reason to drop out of the agreement.
it maybe that Trump never got over the take over of the American embassy and therefore hates the country. I just can't figure out what in it for him, if the U.S.A. WALks away from the deal. Oh, wait, Iran won't let him build a Trump tower in their country and won't sell Ivanka's line of shoes.
Canada has an act of Parliament which dictates what provinces must cover as part of their provincial medical plans. Each province must cover what the federal act dictates. The federal act says you cover everything except plastic surgery. Doctors may not charge the patient. Hospitals and labs are covered by the system.
Up until recently only one province, British Columbia charged premiums for medical coverage and that was $150 per month for a couple if you made in excess of $40K a year. Now that the government of B.C. has changed those premiums will drop by 50%. Ontario implemented a premium but its based on income. The rest of the provinces don't charge a premium but its part of the tax system.
The medical plans do not cover plastic surgery except as it relates to illness and injuries. It covers scaring from accidents but not a face lift.
Each province negotiates the fee structure in their province with the Doctor's association. All doctors must belong to the association in their province. Its also the group who licenses doctors for the province.
Our system may not be perfect, but whether you have a bad cold or need a heart/kidney transplant, its all "free" Yes we have waiting lists, but emergencies get seen immediately. If you don't pay your premiums in a province which charges them you still are provided medical treatment. Its not a matter between patients and the doctor or hospital. Its between the Revenue dep.t of the province and the person.
What I have never understood is that a country as wealthy as the U.S.A. can't at least cover the children of the country. It truly is beyond me why a nation, its president, politicians would want children to die and/or suffer. What is it with Americans that makes that an O.K. thing to do. What is even more mystifying is why people who profess to be Christian think it is O.K. for a child to die due to a lack of medical care.
The Kurds have served their purpose so one should not be surprised if the countries who used them to fight ISIS, etc. now want to eliminate them. The U.S.A. and others will simply stand by. They did it when Saddam Hussein gassed the Kurds and nothing has changed. Although this time the Kurds are better fighters and are better armed. whatever these countries do they might want to give the Kurds their own space. they've worked hard enough defending against ISIS, etc. Of course no one being that smart will simply start fighting with the Kurds which will give ISIS a new beginning and perhaps some where else to fight, like helping the KURDS.
The Kurds need their own country and the rest of the middle east owes them that much. Of course the Pres. of Turkey isn't going to do that. He'd rather they just disappear. He sees them as a challenge to his status, like wise the Presidents of Iraq and Iran. I do wonder what the west will do when the other countries try to murder all of the Kurds? O.K. I know the answer, the same as they are doing for the Rohiningya, NOTHING.
whatever they had, if they had a solar panel even the camping type, they had some source of power. Its a lesson to be learned. Like wise those who still had phone service had old style, hard wired telephones which were not cordless.
As the climate changes people might want to consider solar panels for back up and hard wired, telephones with cords.
Whether Americans want to accept climate change or not, they might want to make plans for future extreme storms because a few years of these types of storms and the government might simply stop paying for the re building and insurance companies won't pay out either.
Russia will simply see Israel as an extension of the U.S.A. much as the other middle eastern countries will become extensions of Russia. O.k. this will not end well. Russia and Israel have nukes. Don't some of these countries have something else to do besides try to fight and extend their spheres of influence. aren't there more pressing needs, well most likely not in the eyes of the leaders because they're all rich and well supplied.
for some Republicans its never a good time to discuss climate change because they don't know how to talk about it. People whose family members have died due to hurricanes/flooding I'm sure want to talk about it. They most likely want to ensure measures are taken so it doesn't happen to any one else's family member.
Pruitt and trump don't want to talk about it because it might "offend" or rather cut into the profits of some of their big contributors.
Happy to see you're covering Canadian politics. However, Mr. Singh is not a member of the Canadian Parliament, but rather a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, representing the riding of Bramalea-Gore-Malton. In his capacity as an M.L.A. with in the party, NDP, he is the Deputy Leader of the NDP in Ontario. Each Canadian province has a Legislative Assembly.
Mr. Singh has singed up thousands of new members for the NDP in his quest to become leader of the NDP (New Democratic Party of Canada) The NDP is the most left of the 3 major national parties.
Should the NDP elect him as leader, he will have to find a vacant seat in Parliament and run in that to actually sit as a member of Parliament. If one is not currently vacant, it is not unheard of for a sitting member to resign his seat so the new leader can run in a "safe" seat.
Our country's Minister of Defense is also Sikh.
The guy who started the tirade obviously must be some sort of nut bar because certainly in British Columbia we know the difference between a Muslim and a Sikh.
Mr. Singh is also well known for riding his bicycle, no cars.
Bigots are not restricted to the U.S.A. Its usually though Canadians are a tad more polite about their racism.
Since Trump has been elected we in Canada have also seen a rise in racism. its been there all along, but the adherents to racism feel a bit bolder about it these days. Some like to disguise it as a matter of "free speech".
Thanks for the post.
When you cut taxes you defund the government. if any one tries to tell people differently, they're lying. If low taxes caused economic growth, we'd be seeing a whole lot of more economic growth in some of the poorer countries in the world where they don't pay much in taxes at all. Countries which have a higher tax rate also have decent economies.
During the Eisnehower years corporate tax rates were high, that is how he built a lot of the infrastructure which needs repair today.
as the government attempts to control how women dress, extremists will use this as a way to rally people. 'they will appeal first in a more moderate way, and then if they make head way, will start the radicalization.
Its never a good thing to tell people what to wear, especially teen agers. I'd suggest this has serious impact on women. who are these guys, trying to tell a female how to dress. fashion police in any country are not a good thing.
Thanks for bringing this to our attention.
many people do not want to go to a country they don't have a real connection to. They think of themselves as Americans.
As to those going to China and India, l in Vancouver, British Columbia, they may work in China but they own houses in Vancouver and the surrounding cities, where their wives and children live. They commute. They only work in China, they live in British Columbia, Canada. They only do it for the money. Many of the Dreamers don't want that kind of life style and the renumeration in the countries they may have come from do not offer salaries as high as those in the U.S.A. nor do they offer in salaries what they do in China and India to gain the best and brightest. That is why the fled to the U.S.A. Some of the Dreamers come from areas of incredible violence. it is why their parents fled. there is no amount of money which will induce them to return to those areas. Try it yourself some time if you think its such a good idea to go some where to help out.
For Jeff Sessions all Dreamer must go. they do not belong to the WASP group he represents. Even with all the statistics in the country, all the evidence to demonstrate the Dreamers will make money for themselves, the economy, the government, it does not matter. This is not an issue of substance but an issue of Jeff Sessions and his ilk not wanting immigrants of any sort in their lily white country. Unfortunately for Jeff and the folks, that ship sailed before they even got to America. America was populated by people of colour. Then the newly arrived "whites" decided to import slaves, who were black.
Jeff and his crew may want to return to the days of whites in charge, First Nations dying on reservations, and African Americans as slaves, but he needs a reality check. its not going to happen. These whites live in dreams and not the type Roy Orbison sang about.
Jeff Session, Trump, etc. may have convinced their rabid white base, if every one is forced out of the country, they don't want in it, the rabid white base will once again become well employed. That isn't going to work. these Dreamers have skills, education, and drive the "white rabid base" does not. if the rabid white base actually went out and got an education they might not be in the situation they currently are in.
Bella was right and its been down hill all the way since then. and before any one thinks Clinton was O,.K. he really gave dismantling support for children and families by changing how people collected welfare. He played to those who opposed some sort of government support for those who needed it. They played off of the same script, scape goating African Americans.
As to donating and "being nice", it doesn't work in this environment. This time, once again the fascist/Nazi's are in charge. They hated the Jews in Germany because they were Jewish, just like they hated the Gypsies because they were Roma. 'they all went to the death camps and it wasn't just Germany. When they invaded other countries, they rounded up the Jews in those countries also. Hitler needed a group to use as scape goats and the Jews fit the bill just as Muslims and Latinos do today. He stole their assets and murdered them.
When the brown shirts had their marches in the streets of Germany, had they been treated as they treated others, who knows how things might have ended. As an old quote goes, if every Jew had met the SS at the door with a gun, there might not have been a holocaust. This time the ones doing the rounding up are doing it in a foot at a time manner, but in the end Trump and his racist buddies will remove just about every one and any one they can.
I found it interesting that the newly released document in England about how they plan to treat those entering the country may only stay for 2 years to work and will have their finger prints taken.
Being more than a tad familiar with what went on in Europe, WW II era,I can see the day Trump and his ilk will finger print and register Muslims also. Just look at history. remove the word Jew and replace it with the word Muslim and you will see the future. Muslims must organize. (me I'm an atheist)
Genocide has always been with us. We have only to look a the news for the past oh so many decades. Look at the refugees trying to get into Bangladesh/
if Muslims in American do not form a national Civil Rights Movement things will only get worse. United Muslims may stand a chance, but if not united, we know how that ends. The U.S.A. in my opinion has a nasty anti Muslim President along with a lot of his base and fellow Republicans. They also are anti Latino, anti Dreamer, just about anything anti except themselves.
Muslims need a national advocacy group which can work with other groups, to become more of a political force.
What Trump and his ilk are doing to Muslims and Latinos is not much different from what Hitler and his Nazi's did to the Jews, Gypsies, gays, labour leaders, etc
it just never ends and people need to get organized to save themselves because no one else will. We have seen that often ought through out history.
Given the lack of raw meat Trump has been able to throw at his base, he will end the program. Congress will not get it's act together in time to enable legislation to allow the Dreamers to stay.
The U.S.A. will loose more than just those who will be forced to leave. They are disposing of a large group of people who are working hard, paying taxes. the U.S.A. will be loosing the future of their country. On the upside, Canada and other countries will be gaining a great deal.
British Columbia, Canada is scrabbling to hire enough teachers due to a Supreme Court decisions forcing the provincial government to lower class size. Those Dreamers Trump wants to get rid of would be a nice addition to Canada.
The genocide in Burma is being covered on the MSM in Canada, .
It comes down to what sells ads and the Burma situation doesn't sell ads. Unless a big "star" get behind something, not much gets done in the press and even then I suspect its initially done because its a "star", then the ball gets rolling and it sells.
its easier for people to see things in black and white and that is how most things are presented here in North America. it sells, its cheap, and corporations and their owners love it. there is always some one else to blame and to blame some one they need to be a minority in that country. god help the American press when all that is left in the U.S.A. is white trash.
with Iran as a viable strong country in the middle east the U.S.A. is unhappy. They want to control the agenda and Iran, being a soverign nation has told them to "fly a kite". Trump and his ilk need a war to take people's minds of the problems within their own country and to make money. Nothing makes money like a war in some one else's back yard. Trump and his ilk having perhaps realized they can't get N. Korea to attack and being protected by china, they need another "victim". they decided Iran would work given the less than happy thoughts regarding the holding of American hostages.
I'm not a big fan of Iran, but lets get real. the country is a lot better than China, Russia, Phillipines, etc. Living conditions are better there than in a lot of African countries, and gang invested countries in central America.
Iran has problems with their religious zealots and their attitude towards women, but then Trump and his ilk suffer the same problems. Can't say one is worse than the other. they just do it differently. The U.S.A has a million African Americans in jails, Iran jails "political" prisoners and women who don't follow the game rules. who is worse?
once this is all over or most of it, watch for the americans to abandon the Kurds and the others to start the assault on them, lead of course by Turkey.
In my opinion, Erdogan is simply solidifying his position so that when it comes time to invade and eliminate the Kurds he won't have much in the way of opposition in Turkey.
Turkey may at some point be booted out of NATO. the joined and had hoped to join the E.U. but in my opinion they will now not be admitted given the dictatorship and other problems. Erdogan is setting himself up as a Muslim strong man to take advantage of the vacumn left by Saddam Hussein. Erdogan acts like a thug and is good company for a vacation with Netanyahu, Trump, Assaid, and Putin. Might as well let the Presidents of China and the Phillipines go along.
It is doubtful Harvey was even on Trump's mind on Friday. its not like he cares about people unrelated to him or gracing him with praise.
His "pardoning" of Arpaio was simply saying if you're a friend of mine, you don't do time. Your convictions will be "pardoned". Next step will include massive contributors to Trump's campaigns and businesses. We have seen the start of the selling of American justice. We've always known there was one law for the rich and one for the poor, now its been extended to one law for friends of the president and another for every one else.
Trump was not kidding when he said he could shoot some one in New York, etc. Once elected he could pardon himself. This places the American justice system squarely with countries where people can murder others and get away with it because there is no real law. The law is what the president says it is.
What might be fun is if Arpaio were arrested for crimes against humanity and taken to the Hague for trial. It might be about time Americans understood the Hague courts are there for all citizens of the world, not just those in 2nd and 3rd world countries.
if Trump wants to wage war on North Korea he can have at 'er. the rest of may not be so interested. North Korea has always talked a good game and if you kind of ignore them, it gets quiet again. then the Americans had to elect Trump. I for one wish he would shut up.
If Trump wants to wage war from now until the end of time or his time in office in Afganistan, he can go for it, but the rest of NATO doesn't have to follow him into that mess. Lets see, they say Afganistan is the grave yard of empires. Well it sure didn't work out for the Russian and if they couldn't win then the Americans certainly won't either.
Just leave it all, tell Pakistan to get with the agenda and/or cut off all aid to them and for those who would like to leave, let them. Its no place for women and children. Invading Afganistan was one of the dumbest things the Americans have done in awhile. You can't win against "guerrilla" types. they ought to have learnt that in Vietnam.
Merkel certainly ought to be considered the leader of the "free world" whatever that means, but certainly she is the leader for those not aligned with the nut bars of the world. Trump is one of the nut bars of the world, sort of like the Pres. of North Korea, the guy running turkey, Egypt, Russia, etc. Too bad Merkel could take over for trump in the U.S.A. Hey a Canadian can dream can't they. Most of Canada's population lives close to the 49th par. One bomb slightly out of line could hit us.
good post. some parts of the article just made me laugh, the magical WASP. Would some one get a can of pest control stuff or hair spray, it works just as well and then you can wash him away.
this is supposed to be the President of the U.S.A. He looked like one of those bible pounders you used to see on early morning Sunday t.v. going on forever and then asking for your money. he even sort of has the weird hair.
The world saw the real Trump at the trump tower press conference and then again in Phoenix. the other world leaders must be having a really good laugh. the guy is a wack job. The unfortunate thing is its dangerous.
He is a racist or else he is mentally ill. He can't seem to remember what he said previously, gee perhaps he ought to google his previous speeches but we will have to get used to it. It is doubtful the Republican Party will get rid of him or counter his orders by passing legislation.
As we have seen in other countries, civilization is just a thin veneer and it could all erupt very quickly. Its like he and his base would really like a race war. What those white people don't seem to understand is that a very large number of the black and brown families have been in American longer than they have. they need to get used to it.
The jobs they lost were not taken by people of colour but by the corporate system which is run by a lot of old white guys and they voted for an ugly one, and not just his soul.
You do make some excellent points. Language can be a dangerous thing if used incorrectly or unwisely. the MSM in the U.S.A. is a case in point. Trump is a case in point. he is never going to utter those little words, "this is the work of home grown white terrorists". That is his base. We may well see how the "poor young man" who drove his car into the crowd has a mental illness, hit the wrong peddle, etc.
When I saw the pictures of the crowd of white racists, Nazi's, etc. it looked like men from the 1950s. it was truly horrifying. Not much has changed in all these years. Marching on a university campus at night with torches lite, omg it was truly scary.
When we wonder how countries slip into chaos and we wonder why, just have a look at what happened. A few more cities, a few more universities and there goes the U.S.A. into a new civil war. The terror isn't coming from North Korea, it is right here in the U.S.A.
As a Canadian living just above the 49th parallel about the only thing I can keep reminding myself is the North Korean government is more mature than Trump and won't fire the first shot. Trump, in my opinion is, bat shit crazy. he talks like he is at some fantasy world.
In terms of nut bar world leaders, at this point, I'd suggest Trump wins. Who talks about nuking another country for trying to defend what it considers its sovereignty. I'm not crazy about North Korea having nukes, but hey I'm not crazy about India and Pakistan having them either, but that is life.
North Korea is a sovereign nation and who is the U.S.A. to tell them what they can and can not do with their weaponry,. Its not like they're good friends. North Korea has always seemed a tad "nervous" about the west and not without reason. those years of sanctions didn't help things.
Trump makes the Iranian leaders of the pas seem very reasonable and sane.
Mr. Kissinger, like Mr. Trump need to find something else to do. Kissinger is out of touch and still trying to peddle the same old, same old. Perhaps if we ignore these two old crazies they will find something else to do. Hey we can hope can't we.
I would suggest Trump is "discussing" pardoning himself so that others will not bother filing charges or convicting him of anything. If any departments in government have any idea of convicting any of Trump's team he will simply pardon them and he is giving the others what he considers "fair warning".
gee the American economy could be in trouble. If those republicans don't like universities how do they think scientists and doctors will come about? wave a little wand. How do they think NASA is staffed? those guys running the military and those fighter jets and those floating airports all have university grads running them. How do they think Silicon Valley is going to be staffed. Here is an idea, oh right they don't want any people of colour coming into the country. As I've suggested before if things keep going the way they are the U.S.A. will be the basket case of the western hemisphere.
The jobs of the future will require educations which will not be provided in the world by the Betsy deVos types and with Betsy deVos types a lot of people will no longer qualify for entrance to a university unless they went to private school. That will then create an even greater underclass in the U.S.A. than the currently have. Once the under class becomes the majority and they buy into the NRA bull tweet, they'll have a real war going in the U.S.A.
of course with any luck Donnie, Donald, Ivanka, Steve, etc. will all go to jail and life might improve in the U.S.A.
of course it is dangerous and of course it will increase violence. that is the whole point of Trump's actions. He and Bannon look forward to it. then things can change. Bannon would like to see the break down of American society so it can be rebuilt in his and Trump's idea of the ideal society. Sort of like Pol Pot in Cambodia.
Trump wants to silence those who do not agree, hence the attack on the media and the media is going right along with it. They frequently ban cameras now at the press briefings. its a strategy to get everyone used to these types of actions., No one has stood up to the W.H. on this but its the first step and the sheep are following right into the gas chambers.
Any violence which comes from Trump's opposition will be met with martial law, under the guise this time of dealing with terrorist.
This will not end well. I am waiting for the day we have race riots in the U.S.A. again. it will most likely start in a place like Chicago when Trump/Bannon send in troops to deal with the crime. They will be followed by the loyal followers of Trump and the NRA. From there it could get a little messy but hey, no one is going to do much about it.
The last time the U.S.A. was almost in a civil war was during a strike in the south in the early 20th century, when they had 10K armed civilians ready to go at it. This time it will be much worse.
Oh, well Mexico and Canada can expect the refugees, just make sure to disarm them before they cross. They'll get a medical card in exchange.
When Trump isn't the center of attention, being "adored" by the masses, he isn't interested in being anywhere. In my opinion he lacks social graces and the ability to communicate with his peers. He doesn't know how to act or what to say to the other world leaders. He is the odd person out.
Having his daughter sit in for him, while he was out, simply demonstrates how 'dumb' he and his are when it comes to these type of settings.
Trump's meeting with Putin, Trump looked like he was afraid of Putin.
Trump's leaving meetings and his position on any number of things is going to leave the U.S.A. isolated and in the end not very well off economically. The U.S.A. was once a fairly backward country, it may well return to that position.
lets hope that boy doesn't get to go to G.B. for a state dinner.
in answer to your question, depends upon the country. European countries, China, Japan, any country with large urban areas where there is a good infrastructure. India, will take a long time as will many 2nd and 3rd world countries. Some countries such as Canada and Australia won't outlaw them because of the distances needed to be traveled. the U.S.A. never. they'll mount guns on them and have the NRA take up a fight against it except in some of the more progressive states. Although the 3 large western seaboard states may vote to leave and form their own country with a medical plan and a huge transit infrastructure.
Good post.
Trumpist must have loved Poland. all those white faces. the speech was more than I could handle. Concluded it might well have been written by Bannon. going to Poland for Trumpister was a "good decision". He'd be welcomed there.
In the 20th century Poland was not so welcoming of Jews, and Bannon's attack on Muslims is simply another way of attacking Jews. Attacking Jews is just not on, but attacking Muslims they can get away with. As a result there is a negative impact on all minorities.
during the uprising of the Warsaw Ghetto, the Poles did not support the Jews, such was the dislike for them, so its reasonable to conclude not much has changed there.
Just Trumpster out there rallying his fascist troops and getting a good dose of adoration before he has to face reality in Germany. I'm sure he and Bannon are happy.
I'm sure Trump and his gang are well aware of the finding, but they are of no concern to him and his. They are rich, they can move to higher ground, where ever that will be.
Climate change will impact those at the bottom of the economic scale more than those at the top for no other reason, those at the bottom can't rebuild, they don't have the money or the money to move. We have simply to look at New Orleans and see what was re built and what wasn't.
What many of Trump's base don't realize is they will be the ones most negatively impacted. Some one ought to show them the study, but it may be a waste of time. Many simply won't believe it.
The U.S.A. has the potential to become the economic basket case of the western hemisphere this century. The 600 billionaires will be just fine.
This should surprise no one. Trump and his cabal care about no one but themselves. Pruitt's meeting with Dow Chemical ought not to be a surprise at all. These people are evil. They don't care about people dying. They didn't care in Flint Michigan when they provided poisoned water to the population and they won't care about how many people die now. That is what the roll back of any government funded medical services is about. when you consider how the rates of cancer will increase in the next decade, 50%. those who can afford clean water and health care live on. Those who are poor die. Works for the Trumpits. What some of those Trumpits don't realize is they are also expendable.
"apes seedy dictators", in my opinion he is a seedy dictator, he is just working on getting the control he wants and needs for he and Bannon to establish the new reich.
We have only to look at what Hitler did to the Germany media prior to WW II or Egypt, Turkey, China, etc.
When you look at how fast Syria became a war torn country and in ruins you shake your head and wonder how did it all happen so fast. Well it will happen just as fast in the U.S.A.
it doesn't matter to people like Bannon and Trump what the facts are or that these are a group of young women who will help make the world a better place. People like Bannon and Trump don't want to get along with others, they want there to be strife and they are working hard to create it.
There is not much about Bannon and Trump which hasn't been done before by other dictators. Give it another 5 years and it will look just like Nazi Germany did prior to WW II and those they target will be much more than Muslims. the list will expand.
it is truly a shame these young women can not attend this conference and it may well be that other international organizations will no longer hold events in the U.S.A because of the ban. this 90 ban will continue for another 90 days and then another 90 day, until the end of the time Trump spends in the Wh. House.
This is simply not on. How the hell can one country or a group of countries tell another to close their media down. that would be like having Germany and Norway decide to call G.B. and tell them to call the U.S.A. and close down the New York Times and CBS. It would be laughable. So why does any one think its a good idea to close Al Jazeera?
I live in Canada and from time to time I read Al Jazeera. Don't agree with a lot of their coverage of Israel, but some of their other coverage is good and I for one support freedom of the press.
The is just Saudi's way of extending their censorship to other countries in the region. They may well be doing it at the request of the Americans who themselves have started censorship with the banning of cameras when ever the White House decrees it so at White House Briefings.
I support Al Jazeera
don't expect the MSM to deal with some of the real issues facing the U.S.A. Its easier and better for them to avoid the real issues. It keeps the masses entertained when they have interview upon interview to discuss what Trump tweeted today. its a distraction from the real issues of the day. That won't change because the real news will negatively impact upon them, i.e tax cuts for the rich/corporations.
the real issues of health care, such as the number of dead is of little concern to corporations. it won't impact them and having no decent health care will keep taxes low, for them. America has always been survival of the fittest. What most Americans don't realize is that the financial elite consider all of them expendable. They can always import more.
and people consider this clown the leader of the free world? right he's a clown. each night a lot of us in North America wait for Stephen corbet, Trevor Noah, and Seth Myers to do their monologues skewering Trump for all the stupid things he says and does each day. When you think of it this man keeps a min. of 3 comedians/political satirists busy 4 to 5 nights a week and the rest of us in stiches laughing.
Every day its another stupid comment by Trump and his political allies. Much of it defies logic if not common sense. They're jokes.
this evening Stephen Corbett ran a series of announcements by trump saying there were big plans and in a couple of weeks they would be announced. well nothing ever gets announced. His latest pronouncement was regarding health care, there will be a "big surprise" in a couple of weeks. Right just like all the other announcements. The man only knows how to sit at a small desk have people standing around him while he signs pieces of paper which actually don't have any real meaning in law.
so if the clown prince of the U.S.A. is now making statements regarding bombs in Syria, he might want to offer proof because not many are going to believe him. He is just deflecting because his health care bill is going no where. If the American generals don't know about any Syrian bomb, who knows perhaps Trump's good friend Putin told him or the tooth fairy. Trump in my opinion is an idiot and may be suffering from early onset of dementia. he sure acts like it and his forgetful ness of previous messages, well............
Trump needs war to keep people's attention off of what they are not getting from him as promised. He is deluded enough to think Putin might play along.
of course what may become a problem is the Kurds wont give up the territory they hold in Syria. Can't blame them. With out them the real ground fighting might not have been as successful as its been.
If Trump manages to have "light/contained" war with Russia or some other country he can achieve his goals in further reducing the American democracy. He started with his ban on 6 Muslim countries. He has a semi interim win in the Supreme court today. Another war, some more countries are excluded and then they will start increasing what they consider "patriotic". its not the first time the U.S.A. has gone down this road, we have only to look back at WW I and the attacks on democracy at that time.
In my opinion Trump is no different than Hitler and he and his pal Bannon and the alt right have an agenda and sometimes having a war somewhere helps them attain that agenda. its not that Trump is that smart, but Bannon is.
A war with anyone will keep people's attention off of the investigation into Trump and his family. works all round for the Trumps and the Republicanthugs. What they don't expect is that war to be brought to their own ground. Trump's ban on 6 Muslim nations is a crock. If terrorists really want in, they'll be in and they won't be coming from one of those 6 countries. we have only to look at ISIS and their increased fighting in the Phillipines. No ban on them....
on the bright side for those living in British Columbia, Canada when the southern part of B.C., which is either at sea level or below, we can all move to Kelowna or Kamloops. Although there are those who used to joke, one good earthquake and Calgary will be beach front.
unfortunately other countries will be in dire straights with a rise in sea level and countries need to learn to reduce green house gases. We also need to ensure the land we do have is protected for food production.
the rich will be able to move to higher group. they who own the corporations who will cause this rise in ocean levels don't really care.
well it keep some people's attention off of the fight over the new trumpcare. if Trump can keep people focused on one thing while he does another, it will work for him. anyhow a war with anyone or intensifying a current war will keep people interested in him, not their problems the countries problems and hey, war is always good for business. One might also say Tillerson is a tad out of the loop and this is one way of Trump keeping him guessing also.
It is somewhat strange that 4 countries want another country to close one of its newspapers. It down right weird. What would we say if some countries had G.B. mediate with the U.S.A. to close Fox News or the New York Times. Regardless of what we may thing of what Al-J. its an organization which provides news and its called free speech. from time to time I read the English version on line. I don't agree with every thing it writes, but hey I don't have to read it then. My opinion, it ought to continue to operate. It provides an alterative view point with the news and that is always a good thing.
Given Saudi Arabia is involved in this it does make one wonder if the U.S.A. is behind this action to censor the news.
and who is Saudi Arabia to dictate to Qatar who they can speak with. Now Iran is no bastion of liberty and feminism, but I've always had the opinion it was a tad more "liberal" than Saudi Arabia.
Lets leave Iran and Qatar alone. What are they trying to do, provoke a war with Iran? Perhaps this has more to do with Trump's dislike of Iran than anything else.
They accuse Qatar of "exporting" terrorism, well so do the Saudi's with their brand of Islam. Let each country clean up its own act internally before going to try to clean up another country. They all look like hypocrits.
Trump's speeches during his campaign promoted the type of actions taken by this white piece of trash. Trump promoted hate. Now the effects are being seen. this is what people like Bannon, Sessions, and Trump view as a good thing. In the end more people will be killed by these white nationalist than by any terrorist in the U.S.A.
The Europeans will be telling Trump jokes for decades. The man acted like a thug. shoving the leader of another country to get to stand in front of the camera first, OMG, where did they find that kid.
Bet the British are a tad worried about Trump coming over for a "visit". I'm sure May has regretted her invite. Can hardly wait for Trump to give Charles or Phillip a shove so he can stand next to the Queen. Of course then it might be fun to arrest him...................
sitting here in Canada not even our dumbest politician would say that and we have more than a few. this guy must be delusional. what does he think happens when you have cancer and aren't treated for it? oh, perhaps he still believes in miracles. next time he gets sick lets ensure he doesn't receive medical care and he can see what happens.
Trump will try to do what he can get away with. Unfortunately some cities/states aren't going along with his plans. Its like your other article, Merkel had to explain 11 times to Trump .............. this is no different.
Now he wants to cancel NAFTA and then he wants to implement a 24% duty on Canadian soft wood lumber. The man has no idea of how much is shipped from those 35 American states, whose biggest trading partner is Canada. but hey it made a great sound bite and his base most likely bought into it. From a Canadian perspective, it made great material for Stephen Corbett's show.
when I saw that the other day I thought it was a joke. didn't think he was that stupid. On the other hand I think its part of how Trump operates. some little kids will keep asking the same question until they wear their parents down and they say Yes. Guess the Chancellor of Germany has dealt with a lot of toddlers in her time so she is fine dealing with Trump.
one hates to agree with Dash/ISIS/whatever they call themselves, but in regards to the U.S.A., yes it is being led by a buffoon. It was once again on full display in the press conference with King Abdullah. King Abdullah is smooth, sophisticated, speaks well, good vocabulary. Then there is Trump who is still using basic language. Trump couldn't even help himself and took a swipe at Susan Rice. it wasn't the time or place. there he was "airing" the family's dirty laundry with company present. He just doesn't get it.
Trump doesn't have a plan for anything he answers with, he is not going to tell the enemy in advance.
Trump doesn't know what to do about N. Korea. He is way out of his league. Of course we might all be concerned about his getting a little excited and push a button instead of sending a tweet. lets hope the first daughter stays close to him to prevent it.
Trump may have talked about being unhappy about the gas bombs in Syria, but they did come directly after he indicated he was no longer fixated on getting rid of Assad. In my opinion, that is the same as saying go ahead and do what you want. Assad can stay. Trump is too scared of Putin to take him on, so expect more gas bombs to drop in Syria. No one is going to do anything. Like how hard would it be to get rid of Assad if they really wanted to. Perhaps they can hire the Israeli's to do the job.
of course Trump likes Al Sisi. they're both from the same school of dumb ass politicians with limited intellect. If Trump could get away with what Putin, Assad, and Al Sisi do, he'd do it. He has Jeff Sessions working on it with a "review" of police procedures and the DOJ.
As to Egypt. You can't sit on it forever. There are a lot of bright young people. A large armed forces. At some point it will all explode. Things will not end well for Al Sisi or Trump. Perhaps some one could arrange for them to share a jail cell some where, given how much Trump "admires" Al Sisi. For good measure we could toss in Putin, Short fat guy from N. Korea, Assaid a few others and all might improve in the world.
As to the question at the beginning of the article, who knows for sure. We've heard Trump wax on about how great Putin is, but in this case it may be that Trump really doesn't know what to do. He is out of his league and therefore can not make a decision, hence giving the impression he has deferred to Putin/Russia.
There isn't much the U.S.A. can do about Syria and Putin has no limitations.
As to the Kurds, they have so far demonstrated they are the most organized group in the region and certainly know how to fight as an army. It is to be hoped they will have their own country. To this day I remember the cover of National Geographic of the dead Kurdish father laying by his dead little son. They were bombed with chemicals by S. Hussein. had other countries dealt with Iraq/Hussein at the time, who knows how the middle east would have looked today. Most likely with a lot less blood and war.
It isn't just the U.S.A.'s fault, almost all western countries helped. We need only look at the position countries take in these regions when their corporations want to remain "friendly" with nasty governments so they can continue to make money.
other governments continue to do business with the waring factions and don't do much of anything to help the people who have live through it.
Most of the world doesn't care if 20 million die of starvation. don't expect the U.S.A. to do much and China, Russia, rich middle eastern countries will be missing in the action of charity or assisting these countries.
As long as their side is making money most countries don't care how many children and adults die. This isn't the first time and it won't be the last.
well some one is making money on all of this, if only those who sell the arms.
and this is news???? hey this knowledge about technology has been out for some time. do democracies spy on their own citizens, you bet, regardless of what they tell you.
that guy ought to be unelected next time. Comparing health care costs with purchasing an I-phone, omg that guy is out of touch. Health care prior to the ACA for some of the people I know was $900 a month. An I-phone is a lot less.
It is just so weird that a country would want their citizens to die because they were sick and didn't have enough money to purchase health care. gee. some of those "law makers" in Washington might be considered terrorists of the worst kind. At least a gun man will kill you ought right, these "law makers" let people die slowly and painfully.
So Canada and Norway each had a white wack job who killed a lot of people. the real danger to society, particularly American society are all those people who go around shooting and killing each other. Your article gave me a good laugh. Compared to Norway and Canada, the U.S.A. is in a terror league all of its own. One could even consider the Republican Congress people to be terrorists for their failure to continue with health care. Hey you go with out health care, you're terrified.
it doesn't much matter what the Canadian is charged with. He is going away and won't be getting out. First degree murder in Canada is 25 yrs before you can apply for parole and some are never given parole. they are few and far between, but he won't be getting out. Canadians take a more measured approach to law than Americans hence no terror charges.
Trump/Sessions/Bannon have this thing about Muslims which I truly don't understand. They carry on as if it were the end of the world if people of the Muslim faith came into the U.S.A. it is truly beyond me. Canada had 40K Syrian refugees come into Canada last year and we're all doing fine. No problems.
What is interesting with all this rhetoric what did the U.S.A. get? 3 men of South Asia descent, were shot, 2 dead and over a 100 threats to Jewish sites. Now it is interesting that no stats are being issued for attacks/threats to Muslims, but could it be the Americans don't know the difference between people from India or the middle east who are of Arab descent.
Perhaps all the chatter against Muslims was to start a campaign against Jews. its hard to know, but whatever is going on in the U.S.A. it isn't good.
At the rate things are going some of us in Canada expect American citizens to start coming into Canada to apply for refugee status. Oh, they're welcome to come. Just leave the guns at the border and we'll give you a health card, yes we do government health care and you can get an abortion or a heart transplant; fix your broken bones,
if countries believe Russia will interfere with their elections then they might want to consider it an act of war and act accordingly. Not with armies and such but the same things the Russians use.
These countries might want to put more effort into making their citizens aware of what Russia is up to and ensure their computer systems are up to date regardless of the cost.
Russia has unlimited resources to do what they want when it comes to these types of activities and unless other countries recognize this, they will loose. Its like China doesn't have to invade a country, it just buys it up one property at a time. with Russia, they just play with the computers.
It is in Russia and Trump's best interests to have a divided Europe and to have "nationalist" parties in office. they will leave the E.U. thinking they are smarter and can handle Russia. Such are the egos of politicians. ?When you look at some of these nationalists you just want to shake your head. What a bunch of nut bars.
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What Trump means is he wants Iraq to pay for the "work" the U.S.A. military is doing in Iraq and they can pay for it by turning over their oil. It would help his friend he is nominating to the Cabinet ever so much.
Trump doesn't care about Iraq and expect him to pull American forces out of there in the not so distant a future because Iraq is a Muslim country. He doesn't want Iraq citizens coming into the U.S.A. so expect big changes. As far as fighting ISIS, expect that to stop shortly also. Its costing the U.S.A. money which won't be there once the tax cuts are in place. trump is going to be defunding the treasury so waging war is not going to be part of the plan.
its all about painting a picture that Muslims are dangerous. expect more restrictions to be placed on Muslims in the U.S.A.
First you ban them from coming into the US.A., then you ban them from holding military positions, then you ban them from holding office. My parents saw something like this, it was the rise of the NAZIs.
Canada accepted 25K Syrian refugees, mostly Muslim in 3 months. it has worked out fine. There isn't any reason we can't accept 3 million American Muslims as refugees. We don't care about your religion as long as you love hockey. we don't have many guns but we have a lot of medical health cards.
Putin loves him so there is no reason Trump turnip won't either. He's Trump's kind of guy. its sad when you think people will believe /Trump did say this because hey, we've seen what else Turnip has said.
If Americans start to reject Trump and he takes "action" against them, expect it to be along the lines of Assad's actions against the citizens of Syria. the war in Syria didn't start out like it is now. it was about people feed up with their President.
In my opinion Trump looks at the people in Iraq as loosers and at Assad as a "strong" leader. there goes the neighbourhood.
Trump is simply playing to his base with statements regarding the "deal" with Iran. Unfortunately Trump hasn't understood that the USA is not the world. Its one country. If Trump decides to not honour the agreement there are a lot of other countries which will. Trump does not understand his country is not that far from being just another 2 world country, sort of like Russia, big military but the people live in poverty.
If Trump doesn't want to "play" according to the rules, other countries may simply ignore him and go ahead with life. In a short time China will over take the U.S.A. as the major world power. Trump ought to realize that most of U.S.A.s debt is held by China. If he tries to default, he may be in for a big surprise. Some of those politicians in China are a lot tougher than Trump and they and Iran know a B.S. artist when they see one.
When Trump says he wants a better deal with Iran or Cuba what he really means he wants to build hotels in their country and he wants the land for free. I'd suggest the other countries simply call his bluff.
Russia is run by a bunch of thugs. we could say its a Russian mob country. Its run by Putin and his oligarch buddies. A weakened E.U. works for them because with G.B. out, so is their police and intelligence forces to a great extent. It allows the Russian mob to make inroads into Europe.
Now the average Russian will see no improvement in their lives with trump even if he is pro Putin. I wouldn't say he is pro Russia, just pro Putin. The billiionaires of the world tend to roll together. some times there are squabbles, but on the whole they share common interests and that is making money. With Trump in office Putin and his oligarchs see a chance to move into the U.S.A and scoop even more money. The Passionate Eye ran a great documentary on Putin and his accumulation of wealth since becoming president. His friends haven't done so badly either.
When you look at how South Africia's president's family has made out like bandits, expect the same from the president elect in the U.S.A. Government by thugs, for thugs.
There is no gain for an working person in Russia or the U.S.A. with this merry little band of billionaires.
The problem with a lot of Americans, as I see it is their limited education when it comes to world history and other religions.
Any one who considers Islam a cancer is sorely missing a few chapters of history. there are people who abuse Islam and use it for their own political purposes just as there have been Christians and still are who abuse the Christian religion, using it to advance their political agenda. They're all nut bars in my opinion and perhaps ought to get a room together. They might be surprised how much they have in common.
This general may be bright in some areas but in my opinion, he is simply another ignorant person.
The Americans voted for Trump or failed to vote. I wish them the best of luck. The real trouble will start when all those Americans who thought Trump was going to make life better for them find out he lied. I'm sure most of them have guns also.
Glad I live in Canada.
Yes, Canada is very fortunate to have Neil MacDonald and the C.B.C. Although some complain about the CBC it is what helps Canada remain Canada. it helps us retain our identity.
Yes, Canada elected Justin Trudeau, the U.S.A. may elect Trump. I'm luck my parent immigrated to Canada in 1951. Although if Trump is elected it will impact Canada, with Trump threatening to tear up NAFTA and increasing custom duties.
If Trump is elected I'm sure some Americans will immigrate here and others will simply cross the border and apply for refugee status. Hey we're good at the refugee thing, we took 25K Syrians in approx. 3 months. Americans just need to understand, they need to check their guns, etc. at the border but not to worry, we will give them a card which entitles them to health care they won't have to pay much if anything for and it covers heart transplants, broken bones, etc.
The Republican party has no one but themselves to blame for Trump having taken over their party. In the quest to attain power in previous elections, they took in everyone and pandered to everyone. This is what you wind up with.
It might be better for American politics if there were more than 2 parties, as there are in most other democratic countries (G-8 types) In a country as large as the U.SA. not all political views can be covered by 2 tents. Even Canada with only 36 million people has 3 major parties and 2 minor ones. For democracy to thrive there needs to be a variety of parties.
Now as to religion and mythology, well if I weren't an atheist I'd be praying right now for a Clinton win.
Pence is one wacked out dude. Nice book end for Trump. One wants a wall between the U.S.A. and Mexico and the other wants to invoke his religious beliefs, as law for all Americans, sort of like you say, evangelical religious law. The Constitution provided for separation of state and religion and now we have people who want to impose religious doctorne as law for the country.
Don't know how that will work for Jews, First Nations, some Protestants, etc . but it could have quite an impact on Canada.
How so, Canada accepts political refuges. We're the country just north of the U.S.A. which brought in 25K Syrian refugees (when the U.S.A wouldn't) and the country and the refugees are doing just fine. Yes, a lot of them are Muslim and a lot of others are Orthodox Catholic. So if the Republicans get their way and bring in their version of extremist Christianity, many will be able to apply for refugee status in Canada.
Canadian officials will shortly head to Iraq to document more refugees to bring into Canada. I guess if things go side ways in the U.S.A. we could expect hundreds of thousands.
I'm good with that, as long as they all check their guns at the border. We'll give them a medical system card and they can practise the religion of their choice. Canadians keep their religion out of politics. (well the last P.M. not so much but he's gone) Our current P.M. is a Catholic. The Minister of Defense is a Sikh. The Mayor of Calgary, Alberta is Muslim.
What is so highly entertaining about the American religious wing nuts is all their desire to kill those who they don't agree with. Makes one wonder if these "religious" people ever read the Bible or even the 10 commandments.
It would be so much easier if everyone were atheists or agnostics.
if all this killing is being done in the name of God/Allah, please let the world become atheists. it would be ever so much more peaceful.
its all about power and control and I do believe some people have been at war so long, that is their way of life. Even if the president of Syria steps down tomorrow, would the killing really stop now? its like this will go on until there is no one left. Not a very religious thing to be doing.
What all of these killings are expected to secure is beyond me. Where will it all end? Perhaps in Russia's own back yard.
What Trump has been saying is what many Americans have been thinking, if you'd call it that. In my opinion, that is why he is so popular. his racist comments have found fertile ground and those he appeals to have finally found some rich and powerful guy who agrees with them.
Cruz's message isn't that different, but he says it more quietly, hence the lack of votes.
Americans may have had a civil war, the Civil Rights movement, but at some level, not much has changed.
Absolutely loved the article!
have gotten into serious disagreements with people on the subject, when I raise how many killed in U.S.A. per yr via gun violence. Thank you ever so ,much for all the figures.
In British Columbia, Canada 81 people per year are killed by distracted driving; another similar amount by drunk driving. Yet our former P.M. thought it was a good idea to pass laws which violated our Charter of Rights and Freedoms, to fight alleged "terrorism" in Canada. (we had yet to have 1 incident of real terrorism) Our new P.M. of course is putting an end to that silliness.
very interesting and informative article. IF a country does not have a strong central structure, it isn't going to survive as an effective country. In major cities such as Brussels there needs to be a central police department, with one chief. Anything less, makes for a lot of problems.
That is the problem with arming one side. if they are over run or change sides so do the weapons. It is not always the best strategy.
Most of the west does not understand the middle east and haven't even been bright enough to get a score card which list the teams and their alligences. Oh, well at least the arms dealers are making a lot of money. its just so sad so many innocent people are being killed and a country destroyed.
In answer to the question, no American President can deliver much without the support of the Senate/Congress. So Saunders won't be able to do much if elected, if he doesn't have support in the House.
Economic inequity continues to grow in the U.S.A. and until that is addressed not much will get better. When Govenors think its O.K. to let their citizens drink water full of lead, the country has a problem and one man is not going to be able to solve it,
of course if Saunders is elected, we will have one pissed off Clinton
In answer to your question: YES.
I do believe we maybe seeing what we haven't seen in a couple of hundred years. An American civil war.
Is this what Trump wants? Does he know what he is doing? He can't be that stupid. His calls for deporting 11 million people to Mexico, that alone is enough to start a civil war. Given many in the National Guard and Armed Forces are people of colour, this could be interesting, if not dangerous.
I expect we in Canada might see a lot of Americans applying for political refugee status if Trump or Cruz are elected. Well we took 25k Syrians with out a problem.
have read somewhere there are more guns in America than people, so an armed event, isn't that out there. On the other hand given some of the mass shootings in the U.S.A. do you think they would notice an armed/violent event?
Oh, well when the bullets start flying perhaps Trump will have the good grace to step in front of one. (I do know that isn't nice to write, but alas, it is a solution) Trump may well led the AMericans into a civil war. I do think he knows exactly what he is doing and he will continue to do it.
On the upside for Putin, he is starting to look down right reasonable compared to Trump.
It will remain to be seen what happens. I can not say I'm unhappy Scalia is dead. he wasn't that good for women's rights and a whole lot of other people's either.
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if a new judge is appointed who is not a remake of Scalia things may improve in the Supreme Court. On the other hand the U.S.A. is so far gone, it is doubtful it can come back from the abyss.
at some point some one should ask Trump for his and a medical report to determine if he is of a sound mind, you know sound enough to run the U.S.A.
Of course if Trump and Cruz square off over this, the rest of the candidates can have a real debate about the issues.
nice to know democracy is alive and well in the U.K. Getting a debate with 100K signatures, not bad.
Now as to the Donald. if he preaches hate then he ought to be kept out of G.B. They have done it before and there is no reason they can't do it again.
if Donald wants to pull his "investments" out of G.B., let him. It will most likely cost him a lot more than it will cost G.B. It will also send a message, your money doesn't buy you respectability.
Now as to Tony and the gulf war, agree, he and George ought both to be pulled into the Hague to stand trial along with a few others. Might send an even better message. War for the sake of oil is not on. Its not civilized. They destroyed the countries they invaded. Its a form of genocide. Just because Tony and George are important and rich and from the west doesn't mean they can't stand trial. It might send a message to others who want to invade a country just because they have "some information". They invaded Iraq, but hey we still have North Korea and their leader doing just fine. Why didn't they ever invade that country. why have they sat around while genocides in other countries continued, especially in Africa.
we have these courts, lets use them. they ought not to be reserved for those we don't like.
this ought to be funny. two terrorist organizations having a go at it. Yes, I consider the state of Saudi Arabia to be a terrorist organization. so the two groups "deserve" each other. Both violate women's rights, human rights, both say one thing and do another. We have the Saudi's doing their pious routine at home and then going to western countries and acting like pigs. We have the ISIS groups selling off antiquities they consider inappropriate, etc.
if those two groups go to war, lets hope the west is smart enough to stay out of it. Way out of it. The Saudi's are not our friends.
Bezos has the best suggestion yet!
What Trump is suggesting makes no sense. In my opinion he does not understand the Muslim faith. it is as different as Christianity is. there are all sorts of denominations and they all have different beliefs.
What was interesting is Trump's "exclusions" from his proposed ban, athletes and politicians. wonder if that permits the Saudi royal family into the U.S.A. along with their friends.
Trump has awakened the latent bigotry which has always been alive and well in the U.S.A. He has made it O.K. to be a bigot, in the views of many. It is sad. It is disgusting. It is scary. Trump first wanted to deport Mexicans and keep them from coming into the U.S.A. Now its Muslims. You wonder who will be next. Perhaps Jews, Russians. Where will it end?
If this man actually gets elected to the Presidency, we may see the American military ensure he never gets his hands on that little red button. it could be very "interesting".
if it weren't so tragic it would be funny, these people not wanting Syrian refugees, because of the Paris attack. 126 were killed in Paris and 194 are in hospital. Now lets have a look at some other stats. In British Columbia, Canada, with a pop of approx. 5 million, in 2013 we had 186 deaths due to drunken driving, 184 deaths due to distracted driving. B.C. has not give up cars, booze, cell phones, etc.
The U.S.A. looses about 50 thousand people a year due to drunk driving. They have never had that many people killed even in one event by terrorists. I don't know what those 30 states are concerned about You are much more likely to be killed by some one with a gun or did those governors suddenly forget about the theatre shootings and all the other mass shootings in the U.S.A. by "ordinary Americans", with gun.
People who are "suddenly" opposed to refugees because of the Paris incident, have most likely always been against taking refugees. The Americans started this mess, now they need to help with the clean up and that starts by taking refugees. They could take a million before anyone would notice,
The MSM might want to start reporting "regular" news instead of this steady diet of "faux' news, turning over and over every little incident during the Paris incident. What did people expect. France has been in the middle east wars for some time. All they other side did was bring the war home to the French. When you go to war, expect, these days, to have it brought back to you.
You really do need a chart to keep up with everything in Syria. Its one of the reasons I believe the West ought to have stayed out of the middle east to begin with.
anyhow if Russia, with its air strikes makes some head way against the extremists, Putin will have something to crow about. The West will then have to "forgive" him for Ukraine and get on with life.
Canada may have a new P.M. on Monday, so the rhetoric against Putin will cool down and Canada will most likely pull out of the middle east, immediately. The current P.M. Harper has been very vocal about his dislike of Putin and Arabs/Muslims. Monday is the election. Both other main stream parties have promised to get out. One less other country messing things up and one less country supporting Benni in Israel.
If this mess continues in the middle east and Benni takes Israel into the mess, we will all be in trouble. Canada has always supported Israel, but the support Harper gives to Benni, not a good thing.
It would be nice if Putin could arrange for Assad to go somewhere else, but who knows who would replace him..........We've seen replacements and they don't always work.
Bombing a country inflicts so much pain and misery on the civilians, its hard to say what is worse, the bombing and killings or the extremists and the killings. Its like once one of these wars start, it becomes a way of life, like no one knows what else to do.
We can only hope for peace.
that is so not good. the president is crazy. squatting is o.k. gee perhaps we could go squat at the president's house or that of his relatives. see how he likes that. Squatting in these days and in a country like Israel is another form of stealing and the last time I checked stealing wasn't part of the Jewish religion.
The Americans and Canadians need to get out of the middle east. the west going in is what created the problem and our staying there simply continues the problem.
Our war mongering P.M. Harper loves war. He tries to sell himself as the "great warrior" P.M. but hid in a closet when there was gun fire last year in Ottawa.
The middle east needs to settle this themselves. What other countries can do is, instead of sending military equipment, is help settle refugees, whether its in camps or in other countries.
I don't like ISIS. I don't like the killing, etc. But when I sit back and look at the big picture more people have been killed by this war and the fighting which started as the result of the war, than ISIS has killed. Its rather gruesome when ISIS shoots and kills several hundred military people and civilians, but all the fighting has killed a couple of hundred Canadian soldiers, 4 thousand American soldiers and 100s of thousands of civilians.
The Kurds are doing fine in their area. Iran is doing fine in their country. Since the west's invasion of Iraq nothing has gone well for the people there. If ISIS brings stability, then so be it. If people don't want to live under their authority, then they can go to other countries. Of course that is the problem. Lots of the other countries won't take them, and that includes countries in the middle east.
The problem, as I see it, is Iraq was a divided country, kept together by one President. Once he was gone the country fell apart. the current army is not up to the task and neither are the politicians. When you think Iraq and Iran fought a war for years and did not suffer this type of destruction, you really have to wonder about the Iraq military these days.
If Iraq can't hold it together than let it fall apart and let people start over again. this fighting is solving nothing and just making arms dealers rich, along with those who control the oil
well perhaps human decency ought to stop them from stealing the land. Theft is theft.
It isn't as if Israel couldn't afford to buy the land. No when a government steal land, which is all some people have its more about something else. If Israel paid the people what the land was worth and then some, those people could at least have a way to support themselves or re locate if they choose to, but to steal someone's home, that just isn't decent.
liked the article, Netanyahu wasn't very gracious about this success. The current leadership in Iran appears to be much more moderate. It is time to give the leadership a chance. If Netanyahu is concerned about war, he might want to be concerned by countries such as Saudi Arabia, which have more than a few jets and has a sect of Islam which isn't particularly progressive. Now some may say Iran isn't either, but its way ahead of Saudi Arabia and other countries. When it comes to being ungracious about the success of the negotiations Canada was right there with Bennie but then both harper and netanyahu like to win their elections using fear. It keeps citizens from looking at other things which are wrong in their countries
A most unfortunate turn of events for the young couple. If Bush, Blair, and Harper would have kept out of the mess in Iraq and areas, they might not be in this place today.
It does put a human face on things. How very sad.
If Iran can handle it, more power to them. it saves other countries money and lives. It maybe time for the west to get over their, we can do it better attitude.
Of course there maybe western politicians and generals who do not want to see Iran "handle" the problem, because it might raise their profile with in the Arab world. Its time to get over it and the west ought to look after their own problems at home in their own countries. When other areas/countries "ask" for help, that is soon enough. it was all that western "help" which got the world into this pickle to begin with. I for one wish our Prime Minister in Canada, would shut his mouth and start dealing with the issues in Canada, like the 1,200 murdered/missing First Nations women.
some really good points and I do trust the western powers who are currently involved in this mess do give it all some thought.
If and when IS goes the way of the dodo bird, what will happen? I doubt the Kurds will give the area up. They have committed too much and fought too hard to give up one square inch. The pain which has been inflicted on the Kurds by the Iraq government when it was run by S. Hussien wasn't nice and the west simply sat around, while the Kurds were poisoned. I don't think I will ever forget the cover of National Geographic mag. with the dead father laying there with his small son. I doubt if the Kurds will either.
My Opinion, the west ought to stay out of it, should Iraq and the Kurds get involved in a dispute. The more the west messes with an area, the messier it gets. Looking back on things now, I'm sure the west wishes they had left S. Hussain exactly where he was, in charge. He wasn't a nice man, but the country was in better shape and people were safer.
those gentlemen might want to get their acts together and stop fighting amongst themselves, before ISIS rolls right through town and over them. Not much will be gained if ISIS controls most of the country except for the area controlled by the Kurds..
It might be best if the Kurds are left alone with the land they now control. They will most likely fight to do so and better they are on Iraq's side and taking aim at ISIS. If the Kurds don't have anything of their own to defend, don't count on them fighting on behalf of Iraq to defeat ISIS.
Iraq was a country created by the west, not by the people in the region. When Bush and his buddies decided to invade Iraq, they created this problem. They got rid of Saddem Hussein, only to find they were left with something even more frightening. No one ever said Bush was smart, but the rest of the countries which followed him in, ought to have known better.
The Americans and their friends destroyed a country and now look at what they have there: death, destruction, civil war, famine, lack of infrastructure. Upp, the west really helped in Iraq and gave them democracy. Next time they want go "rescue" a country, they might want to look at what they did to Iraq and stay home.
When I first saw the head line I started laughing. Its not funny, but how crazy are these Americans? Islam isn't a religion? We know the American educations system isn't up to standard but really.
it is beyond me why people object to a Muslim place of worship and why they don't want a Muslim cemetery????? Its not like its going to be a noisy bunch of drunks at the local bar. some one ought to tell these people in Tenn. people in a cemetery are dead and make for very quiet neighbours.
Americans ought to sit down and read their constitution. It gives people their freedom of religion.
must be coming up to election season. Bush got the U.S.A. and others into the wars and now they want to blame Obama?
While the U.S.A. was responsible for tens of thousands of deaths in the middle east, Russia has invaded the Crimea and only two were killed. Now lets go over that again. It will take decades for Iraq to recover. Next time someone feels like a war, let them go personally over and do some fighting. Let our young people stay home and rebuild our own countries. Canada and the U.S.A. have a lot of work to do at home.
Iraq started to "unravel" the minute it was invaded. Up until then, it wasn't doing too badly. Yes there was corruption and political misdeeds, but hey, China is in about the same bag as Iraq was and every body is just ever so happy to keep talking to them.
Snowden is hero. He ought to be give a Nobel Prize for his work. He let the world know what was going on, loud and clear. Once he made public what he knew, it simply could no longer be denied. It is out in the open. He isn't a traitor. He is a patriot. Snowden exposed the rot.
The Americans think they are free. however, as the article points out, they are not and haven't been for a very long time. Just because people get to carry guns around, they think they are free. They are far from it. The U.S.A. is not a country to be admired nor is it a country which has any moral authority to comment on other countries practises. The Americans in their own way are about as bad as it gets. O.K. they haven't dropped barrel bombs on their own citizens, but there may come a day.