WEDNESDAY NIGHT #1700

You are invited to celebrate the 1700th Wednesday Night Salon* on Wednesday, October 1st. – Chez-nous – any time from 7 to 11. Come for a quick visit, or spend the evening with us. There will be wine, a variety of tasty treats, and above all – conversation – which will not be limited to one-at-a-time.

A celebration of Wednesday Night is  a celebration of each and every one of you who has participated, whether regularly or intermittently, over many  years, or very recently, as tenacious exponents of a particular view on a specific subject, as thoughtful contributors on a wide range of issues, or as almost-silent listeners whose rare contributions tend to astonish and often delight. the entire audience.  It is not only the diversity of opinion, but also of level of participation that makes for a weekly renewal of our beloved institution.

Once again, in the words of Lewis Carroll, we will
“talk of many things:
Of shoes—and ships—and sealing-wax—
Of cabbages—and kings—
And why the sea is boiling hot—
And whether pigs have wings.”

Or perhaps in today’s terms:
The bell has rung, debate begun,
– One at a time, the Chairman’s pleas –
Of bombs and boots and seeing Mars
Of sovereign debt  – and rising seas
And  why the world is in a mess
And why no butterflies or bees”

Among those we celebrate this week, in particular:  Julius Grey, subject of  the newly published, by Boréal, Julius Grey. Entretiens with the great cover photo by Robert Galbraith – photo taken at Wednesday Night.
Also notable is Kimon’s op-ed in the Gazette of Saturday in which he posits that ISIS, by ignoring the governing principle of Strategy 101 – divide and conquer, has sown the seeds of its own destruction.
And to Marc , Maya and Bo Nicholson, Clare Schapiro and the entire cast & crew of Singapore Creations, Etc. Congratulations on a successful launch of their project last Thursday! Singapore will never be quite the same.

More food for thought
Dismantling Empires Through Devolution — Democracy is not the most potent political force of the 21st century
Open Canada has published an interesting dialogue between Ian Brodie and Roland Paris on Stephen Harper’s foreign policy — Ian Brodie: Canada disengaging from NATO, the UN and multilateralism? Not a chance — Harper is still an internationalist, albeit of a different kind. A response to Roland Paris who asks Are Canadians still liberal internationalists? Meantime, William Marsden writes that Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s UN performance ends on high note, citing his speech to the UN General Assembly While other leaders of major economies spoke of alliances and the war against terrorism, Ebola and climate change, Harper separated himself from the crowd, mentioning these issues only in passing. Instead, he spoke of long-term economic solutions to address poverty, inequality, health care and freedom.. Unfortunately, the speech was poorly attended, but we’ll address that issue another day.
If anyone has been following the despicable attack by Ezra Levant on Justin Trudeau, Heather Mallick’s Working to find a cure for Ezra Levant is a must-read. As Brett House writes: We seem to have an unfortunate gaggle of personalities in Canadian public life these days, but the upside is that it’s spawning some beautifully acidic writing.
Which leads us to advertise the fact that Brett is organizing a great panel on debt restructuring at 4pm on Oct 9th at the World Bank. If you have not registered now – it’s too late, but we are sure he will share his thoughts after the fact.
Brett’s former colleague, Peter Berezin, was a recent panelist with Andrew McAfee from MIT at BCA’s annual New York Investment Conference. Sending along a link to his presentation A Smarter World: Human Intelligence & Economic Growth From 50,000 B.C. To The Singularity with  an extended transcript that includes “a number of items I did not get a chance to discuss during my speech”, he explains  that he touched on a wide spectrum of issues, ranging from how rising human intelligence has helped propel civilization over the past 10,000 years, to how technology is likely to further increase our mental capabilities and radically extend our lifespans.. He adds, “I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed delivering it.”
Finally, How ‘clicktivism’ has changed the face of political campaigns suggests that by simply signing on to a petition site, individuals may be losing the urge to actively and personally promote important causes.

*For those who are more recent additions to Wednesday Night and may therefore be unfamiliar with  its genesis, do have a look at our Salon page.
As the Salon ‘just grew’ like Topsy,  we never recorded the date on which it could be said to have started, however, dead reckoning yields 3 March 1982, which, taking into account leap years,  gives WN a lifespan of  1700 weeks,  and 391.07 months. (Thank you, Ron Meisels, for the calculator to aid the dead reckoning!)