Why is the U.S. losing the war in Ukraine?

 

Allan: Why is the U.S. losing the war in Ukraine?

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A Russian wife turned to her husband and asked, "What's this special military operation our glorious leader keeps talking about?" Her husband replied, "It's a war to stop America and NATO." "Oh, right,” she says. “How's it going?"

“Well,” he replied, “so far we have lost over 20 generals, 100,000 troops killed, countless injured, 3000 tanks, 300 aircraft, hundreds of helicopters, countless armoured vehicles, artillery and trucks, our flagship along with other naval ships, our army is being defeated in most areas and we have had to resort to conscripting 500,000 Russians including murders and rapists to replace our losses”.

“Wow,” replied the wife, “what about America and NATO”?

“They haven’t turned up yet”

Blacks not allowed!

 It didn't occur to me until today, but with all those videos of the rioters in Washington, D.C. on January 6th I didn't see one black person in the crowds!

It was a whites-only party folks!

We've all become used to the narrative that Trump supporters are as prejudiced as he is..., but this realization of the January 6th riots really brought it home to me!

Oh, no one made any mention of the fact that blacks weren't allowed..., but the proof was in the pudding..., or should we say video!

Let's hope that this shameful episode of American history (Trump) is slowly drawing to a close so that we can once again stand beside our southern neighbours instead of closing the door to any contact..., covid or no covid!

What are some things we can do in the US but not in Canada?

As a follow-up to yesterdays article about U.S. - Canada relations, here are some more thoughts from John smith:

What are some things we can do in the US but not in Canada?

• Depending on the state, one thing you may be able to do in the U.S. that you can’t do in Canada is walk around with a gun. (See this photo below?) 
• It’s of a man who walked into the Atlanta airport — the busiest in the U.S. — in 2015 with a loaded AR-15. He broke no laws. In Canada, he would have been arrested and charged, and probably would have had his guns and gun licence stripped from him. There are lots more things you can do in America that you cannot do in Canada with respect to guns, but I’ll leave it at that.

• Publish and distribute hate speech. Hate speech targeting specific groups is illegal in Canada and punishable with a prison sentence. In the U.S., hate speech is still “free speech”. In Canada we have free speech, too, but as the saying goes, “the right for you to freely swing your fist ends at the tip of my nose.”
• Advertise prescription drugs on TV that make claims. Yes, there are pharmaceutical ads in Canada, but they are not allowed to even tell you what the medication is used for. This has resulted in rather funny and creative Viagra and Cialis ads
• Have cameras in courtrooms. This is strictly against the law in Canada.
• Openly talk about your religion in social settings. I have seen this in the U.S., but it’s not something people do in Canada — believe me, people will think you’re a bit weird and/or will be immediately put off by this. It’s considered to be extremely bad form.

How can the United States and Canada merge to form one greater nation?

 Allan:

"How can the United States and Canada merge to form one greater nation?"

They can’t. Not ever.

Martin Fowler, being from North Carolina, you may not be familiar with the fact that Canada is a long set of compromises so that English-speakers and French speakers could share a polity. The citizens of the United States would never make those compromises, such as official bilingualism in English and French, and so that’s a non-starter.

Second, you may not know the difference in our cultures, expressed in part by very different laws, is felt very deeply by Canadians. There’s no chance that we’d accept being absorbed by a much larger population with (in our opinion) regressive laws on guns, mass incarceration, private prisons, a health insurance system that leaves millions of people without health care, the death penalty, restrictive abortion laws, and so on.

Beyond the laws, Canadians see the United States as a country with deep social problems that we do not share, though we have problems enough of our own. To name one, mass killings by white supremacists aren’t a recurring feature of Canadian life.

Finally, there are political culture, history, and identity. Many of those English-speakers whom you imagine as potential Americans are descendants of residents of the thirteen colonies who left their lands and homes rather than become Americans. They rejected your reality and substituted their own. That’s our founding myth.

There have been two wars in which the militias of what is now Canada fought off American armies set on annexation. Much of Canadian history is one strategy after another to make sure that Canada keeps visibly separate from the United States. 

Because we are not, and do not want to be American.

Ask yourself, would you be willing to become Canadian? Have a parliament and a monarch and a government in Ottawa and the Canadian constitution and Supreme Court? Give up your national anthem?

No, I didn’t think you would. Why would you expect Canadians to do the equivalent?

Garret Jones

No longer the 'world's longest undefended border!'

 The federal government is preparing for the weeks of uncertainty that might follow a U.S. presidential election day with no clear winner — by drawing up contingency plans for the border and other issues that might erupt between the Nov. 3 vote and inauguration day in January.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has signalled already that his government has been monitoring the election more closely in the final weeks of the campaign because of its potential impact on the Canadian economy.

"I think we're certainly all hoping for a smooth transition or a clear result from the election like many people around the world," Trudeau told a news conference earlier this month. "If it is less clear, there may be some disruptions and we need to be ready."

The cabinet committee on global affairs and public security has been preparing for various scenarios: President Donald Trump's re-election, a victory by Democrat Joe Biden, or a lengthy period of uncertainty coupled with multiple court challenges to decide the outcome.

A government official (who asked not to be identified because the person is not authorized to speak publicly on the plans) said the cabinet committee is worried about security at the border, the prospect of even higher COVID infection rates in the U.S. and the possibility of Trump taking harder lines on international issues that could affect Canada.

Trump has refused on a number of occasions to say he will guarantee a smooth transition of power if he loses and has been pushing unsubstantiated claims about massive voter fraud during the pandemic as an unprecedented number of Americans mail in their ballots.

Sen. Peter Boehm is an experienced former Canadian diplomat who was posted to Washington during the disputed 2000 election result in Florida between George W. Bush and Al Gore. He said the Canadian government has worked hard since Trump's election to develop contacts at all levels of the government in the United States.

Boehm said those contacts, honed during the prolonged negotiations to renew NAFTA, should help Canada navigate any challenges that emerge after Nov. 3.

"What we've seen over the last four years is greater utilization of the tools we have. What that means is not just discussions at the head-of-government level but with Congress, on Capitol Hill and with state and local government," he said.

"And what that tells us is that we have had to become more sophisticated in our approach, that there has to be consistent contact and a network, because we can't rely on the good-neighbour, best-friend status anymore. And that remains regardless of a Trump or a Biden victory."

The Trump presidency has proven to be an unpredictable dance partner for Ottawa. Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Paris climate agreement and imposed national security tariffs on Canadian exports of steel and aluminum.

Trump called Prime Minister Justin Trudeau "very dishonest and weak" in tweets following the troubled G7 summit hosted by Canada in 2018.

If the US annexed Canada, would it help alleviate the US's national debt situation?

Allan

It would probably be the beginning of the end for the United States. Canada doesn’t have a huge military, but they have vast amounts of land, lightly populated with stubborn sumbitches who know how to fend off bears.

Major Canadian cities would fall quickly to the overwhelming onslaught of US military might, but a bitter insurgency would spring up across the interior, as guerilla bands emerge from the wilderness to pepper US forces with rifles and improvised explosive devices. The sprawling road network would become too dangerous to traverse, especially in the mountainous west of the continent, where pockets of rebels hunker down for a long resistance. Canada becomes a chain of urban islands in a vast, dangerous wilderness.

Imagine the international outrage if the world’s self-styled superpower made such an aggressive move. We would become a pariah - cut off from commerce, hit with massive sanctions, and penalized in the currency exchange. Our adversaries would be emboldened, and would form new alliances to contain U.S. aggression. Look for skirmishes to pop up in the numerous places we are exposed across the world. Terrorist attacks would increase in frequency against our embassies and military bases.

Despite the new windfall in timber and other natural resources, we would be plunged into a deep depression as firms relying on exports close down. Banks would fail as interest in US securities falls, and the dollar would simultaneously plunge in value against the Euro as countries divest themselves of US currency.

Cut off from international export and financial markets, major Canadian cities would also fall into a deep depression, and the U.S., spread thin between too many military conflicts and hemorrhaging money, would most likely crumble from within and collapse within a few years.

While the other Western powers are grappling with the shift in power, Russia would be emboldened to grab more territory from Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Iran and other US foes would take advantage of the power vacuum, seizing the Strait of Hormuz and cutting off the flow of oil from the region. Israel is drawn into a war of attrition, as long-standing resentments boil over into a steady stream of mortar attacks and suicide bombings.

The European Union is racked by competing pressures, as some countries ramp up military activity in the Middle East. Age-old resentments resurface on the European continent, and NATO loses its power to contain Russian expansion.

Meanwhile, India and China finally have the opportunity they are looking for to emerge as international superpowers. As the U.S. crumbles, Asian powers flow across the Pacific, forging powerful alliances in South and Central America, that bring economic development, immigration, and military bases to protect their new allies from the U.S. Russia intervenes in Central America, offering to stabilize Honduras, Nicaragua, and El Salvador from violence.

As the U.S. devolves into anarcho-oligarchy, billionaire robber barons seize the reins of power, and criminal organizations grow in power. Mexico becomes the conduit for illicit American activity, as New York, Chicago, and other major cities are cut off from London and other financial centers. International criminal elements move to Mexico City en masse, and Mexico becomes a lawless place.

David Cannon