Breaking News! The Saga of Brady’s Balls is over! May the country return to sanity now?
2016 is an election that is focused on foreign policy and yet all the talk is about ISIS and China with immigrants thrown in……there is more to worry about and few are paying attention…….
All the problems in Ukraine has seemingly revived the old “war with Russia” saga that has been dormant since the collapse of the Iron Curtain at the end of the Cold War…..
The US, the EU and NATO has been pumping funds and supplies into the region to offset any advances by Putin and his military……many people working at think tans are loudly proclaiming the conditions for a new “Cold War” are ripe for the picking…..
But is it really possible? A war with Russia that is……
A couple of months before he retired in July, the head of Canada’s air force provided a blunt assessment of what might emerge from the current military mission to Ukraine.
Source: The coming war with Russia | Ottawa Citizen
Hopefully the American people will listen……the world is getting more dangerous by the day and we must soon pick a president that will have to deal with all these dangers………do they, Americans, want someone with ideas or slogans to handle the dangers?
The more the candidates talk the more we have people with slogans and slim on ideas….if that is truly the case then the world will get a lot more dangerous than it is today……that should scare the crap out of all Americans!
I’m sure if Obama can figure out a way to set this war in motion before he leaves office – he will.
You know he is a neo con, some will not believe it but he is just as much a war hawk as any….but on this I think he will punt on the Russia thing….he has a full plate trying to figure out what to do about ISIS……Russia will be someone else headache……
I don’t think Obama is so much a “war-hawk” as he is a complete pussy. He just folds to the war-hawks and does what they want while “nudging them toward a better path”. At least, that’s the pathetic rationalization in his head. (See: drones, spying, perpetual war, etc, etc, etc.) Because that attitude has dominated his approach to everything while in office. He’s such a “surrender monkey” that the even the French would mock him.
In fairness, he’s probably afraid of going out like JFK, or heading right into permanent unemployment…should he piss off the right folks by not supporting the Military-Industrial-Spy Complex. If he plays along, he’ll get to live…and live well! Thanks to The Powers That Be.
He seems to be easily molded to fit a certain style……I cannot wait to see his replacement…..oh goody…more of the same….
His replacement? Hillary, with 51% of the vote. Get it? 🙂
Naw….about a 5% or less swing… over some wrinkled, old, white dude TBD…probably from whoever is 4-6th right now…whoever that is (No 2016 until 2016!) He will rise far above what he deserves by defending manhood & capitalism from the evil feminist, communist, hoards!
Just switch “black” to “female” and you got an exact repeat of the last 8 years. Feel free to take an 8 year long nap. You’re welcome.
LOL! Thanx I needed that ….chuq
Canucks get boners every time Americans pay attention to us. Even negative attention. It’s a Pavlov’s Dog kind of thing.
Now for some Canuckistan context. We’re currently ruled (hopefully just until the October elections) by Stephen
HarperHerpes. Like Herpes, nobody wants him, but we just can’t get rid of him. Under Herr Harper’s rule, he has quietly, fundamentally, altered this nation’s longstanding, bi-partisan, positions on numerous things.We used to be a nation of “peace keepers” , “honest brokers” and always on the side of the good/little guys. (aka our national self-image) We used to be proud of not getting sucked into America’s wars. (Vietnam, Iraq2) But under Herr Harper, Canuckistan is now an over-eager colony of the US Empire. We’re 4 square behind the Empire’s Perennial War. Israel is now “incapable of doing any wrong”. (virtually a direct quote from PM & several cabinet members) Under the cover of ISIS, we’ve joined the Iraq War. And we just can’t do enough spying & violating of everybody’s rights.
The Military-Industrial-Spy-Complex went from 0-100Kmh in 1.06 seconds. Next to Almighty Oil, war is quickly becoming this government’s number one economic priority. War Machine jobs are the only manufacturing jobs not fleeing Canada, even though our dollar has gone from $1.15 American to $0.75 in just 2-3 years. Auto plants, our bread & butter, are shutting down. Yet, we’re trying hard to get in on this F-35 debacle, even if it means bankrupting the nation to do it. Hell, Harper is even financing the drone game. None of this is popular outside of the Conservative’s small “base” of about 30% of voters. But Harper is an ideologue with a contempt for democracy.
So in that context….Canada, one of the most loved & respected nations on Earth, is in DESPERATE need of enemies. And seeing as the best the “unstoppable armies of Terror” have done to us in 15 years is “inspire”:
1) the improvisational incidents of 2 crazy Quebecois with a history of severe mental illness, drug & alcohol abuse and run-ins with the law. One decided to run over a uniformed soldier walking down the street with his car. The other shot an unarmed guard at the National War Memorial. (Who the fuck gives a guard a gun without bullets? Canada, that’s who!) This “ace” terrorist then ran to Parliament with his rifle (on “security” camera the entire time, but confronted by nobody), shot nobody and then jumped into the 1st bullet fired his way. In a previous run-in with the law, that guy BEGGED the courts to lock him up, so he could get help. Without it, he said he was going to do something really crazy. But to no avail.
Harper tried to spin both as “the work of ISIS”, which allowed him to justify Bill C51, an even harsher attack on civil liberties. Not only was it completely unnecessary, it seems the government agencies it granted unprecedented powers to weren’t even interested in getting said powers.
2) An FBI created “terror cell” of 2 complete imbeciles who actually thought they could destroy a train bridge on the busiest line in Canada WITH HAND TOOLS!!! And in between trains, so they could target the one daily passenger train going to New York (thus excusing FBI involvement on foreign soil.) It’s amazing that these 2 fucktards could figure out how to get out of bed in the morning.
3) A conspiracy of 15 Internet losers having delusional fantasies about blowing things up they could never possibly blow up (with out aid of an infiltrator) and dreams of severing the head of Stephen Harper. This time last year, I could legally say “Go for it, man!”. However, Bill C51 has declared even the ironic “cheering on” of merely theoretical threats of violence towards the state/corporations/Canucks a Thought Crime punishable by…well, whatever it is they want to do to me. Whatever it is will be done in complete secret.
So, after giving this long, rambling, context that will probably get me a stay in Gitmo North….
The Conservatives NEED to find as many scary enemies as possible, even if they don’t exist. Believe it or not, they’ve virtually pinned their ENTIRE ELECTION STRATEGY on it. (aka “You’re not ALL dead & homeless yet, so we deserve re-election”. I mean, these fuckwipes took a budget that was balanced for 10+ years and ran a deficit the entire time they were in office….even though oil income was high and while issuing massive cut backs to public services. (ie. ending mail delivery to Canadians)
So this is why the evil old Soviet Bear is being called back into action. Harper needs enemies to Canada…other than himself.
Damn….thanx for catching me up….I knew Herpes was not real popular….but he sounds no better than our GOP…war hawks……I appreciate the synopsis……chuq
Hey, you couldn’t have possibly read all that blather in such a short time!
Anyway…I could go on for days how he has masterfully “boiled the Canadian frog” (not a shot at my French Canadian brethren). He defected from a political party to join a Canadian version of a Teabagger party. Then he forged a palace-coup conspiracy with an insider to murder a political party. (Details available upon request) Yet people mysteriously still trust this guy and always took him seriously.
He killed the centre-right Progressive Conservative Party and re-animated its corpse into the far right Conservatives. He has dragged this country a similar distance to the Right as the Republicans have in America, but in under half the time. And he’s not one of these tea-bagging crazies. He’s an immensely boring, cold, calculating, emotionless, ruthless, political psychopath. And he has a “tell” as obvious as Cheney’s head tilt every time he tells a lie. Harper’s tell is his smile. Every time he has complete contempt for what/who he’s talking about/to he “smiles”..and it’s the only time he ever smiles.
Yes, he’s un-popular. Even some of his fans are rightly disappointed. Despite having 100% power, he’s completely failed on 2 of his career long personal crusades (budget deficits, Senate reform) But Harper knows every trick in the book. He’s turned his party from a party that 60% of Canucks would consider voting for…into a party that 60% would NEVER vote for. Yet he managed to manipulate our ghastly “first-past-the-post” electoral system (that only the US & Brits share with us) using “vote splitting” among opposition parties. This is how he can win a Majority Government with 100% of the power with only 39% of the votes (aka 20% of Canadians over 18).
And this time, it looks like he’s loosing. Conservatives are now 3rd in the national polls at 28%, but are a close second in projected seats in Parliament. He STILL might be able to get a Majority, if he can just bump support up to as little as 33% of the votes!!!
http://www.electionalmanac.com/ea/canada/
If that happens…I may join ISIS…..only ironically CSIS agents, only ironically!!!!
Does not Canada have truth in campaign law or something? That would kill politics in the US for lies are what it is all about….all I know about politics in Canada is what little I read on blogs and the news..
That is the way I feel about Trump…….
Truth in campaign law? No, but that would be nice. (The Aussies or New Zealand might have had one.) Alas, like all advertising, you’re free to lie your fucking ass off. Not that Canadian political ads do much of that. Historically, they’ve just make empty promises, or over-hyped the value of a policy.
However, Herr Harper has poisoned the Canadian political climate by introducing American style attack ads. And not just during elections. The Conservatives have spent untold millions assassinating the character of the last 4 Liberal Party leaders. The vast majority of these ads occurred nowhere near an election.Harper uses them as pre-emptive strikes to create a negative first impression of a new leader and force feeds that image to Canadians. Unfortunately, its worked all 4 times.
In fact, the Conservatives eagerly wasted millions attacking one Liberal leader who was only an interim leader. While there was much speculation he’d run for the leadership, he never actually did. That’s how Harper roles. He uses every manipulative trick in the book. He’s even uses government ads (military, tax policy, national parks) as political ads. I’ve seen more Canadian Armed Forces ads this year than the last 20 years combined, purely because it dovetails nicely into his campaign strategy.
The big difference between Harper and Trump & most Republicans is that they are overt radicals and obvious clowns. It works for them inside the party &, to a lesser extent, outside it. Canadians, while stupid, aren’t that stupid…yet. In America, you can succeed by selling policies equivalent to suicide machines to the drooling masses. Canadians are a far more skeptical bunch, especially of The American Dream. Unlike Republicans, Harper KNOWS only a small percentage of Canadians actually want what he’s selling and he’s figured out how to maximize his numbers. Harper is smart, disciplined and deadly serious. He’s a fucking undertaker (in more ways than one). He’s a master of stealth and subtle manipulation. Even though he wants to, he’s been great at not “taking things too far”. He doesn’t draw much attention (unlike Trump & Co) and he always has a rationalization for what he’s doing. (eg C51) In fact, he tries to let American politicians do the heavy lifting for him…and take any lumps. He treats them as argument “market testers” and borrows their most effective lines.
Oh, and I forgot. Harper LOVES him some Northwest Passage history. He likes the frozen tundra (matches his cold personality) and thus is more aware of the Russian Bear than most. In fairness, we actually DO have a bit of a legit border dispute building up there with Russia…but also America and Greenland. But we can only declare ONE of the 3 an “enemy”…and that one just so happens to fit his political agenda perfectly.
Sorry for prattling on…but at least this around time it’s more “on-topic” than usual. Hopefully, I’ll never have to rant about Harper again…but I ain’t holdin’ my breath…even with just 30% support.
I thought I read somewhere about the ads thingy….oh well brain clutter.
I appreciate you taking the time to explain Canadian politics a bit….I just wished Americans could be more suspicious and cynical about politics we would make better decisions if we were….I promise to try and steer away from Canadian politics for awhile…..LOL