Wednesday Night #2187

Last Wednesday, we wished one another a Happy Dragon New Year in anticipation of the start of the Chinese lunar new year on Saturday, the 10th. Wonderful illustrations of dragon parades around the world, but the Marina Bay Sands Singapore | Legend of the Dragon Gate Drone Show is outstanding.
This week we offer more modest wishes for the odd combination of Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday – does this mean one should trace a heart in ashes on one’s forehead?

The 2024 Super Bowl is over. History has been made. Presumably, we will hear and see somewhat less of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce once the tumult and the shouting have died away (the sooner the better!). Now back to a world where the average ticket price is not $8,400 and where 1,000 private jets are not parked in our backyard. Super Bowl’s environmental impact: A look at private jet emissions
“Flying in a private jet is the most carbon-polluting way to travel. Private jets produce five to 14 times more emissions per passenger than commercial planes and 50 times more than trains, according to the European clean transportation nonprofit group Transport & Environment.”
Not to be missed: Not only were the Budweiser Clydesdales back on screen, but Goldie Hawn’s Labrador Retriever starred in Budweiser’s 2024 Super Bowl Commercial.

With the death of Seiji Ozawa, classical music loses a guiding light
The charismatic conductor, who died Feb. 6 at 88, taught generations of players and listeners to embrace the classics
This charming and comprehensive tribute by Washington Post classical music critic Michael Andor Brodeur paints a delightful picture of the late conductor including this:  “Ozawa was beloved locally but well-known enough nationally that one could also catch him on “Sesame Street” — attempting to conduct Placido Flamingo on “Pretty Great Performances.” ” (a must see!)

The outcome of Pakistan‘s general elections surprised a lot of people including many pundits. The success of a party seemingly without organization, whose leader, Imran Khan, is in jail, and that the military is opposed to, is quite astonishing.  However, a coalition of rival parties has agreed to form the government and, despite their success, shut out Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party.
How long can this government last? GZERO’s take: While the military is likely to wield its considerable influence to help ensure the governing coalition doesn’t collapse, the parties involved are generally considered rivals, so it may be difficult to keep them unified. Pakistani politics are notoriously volatile — the country has never seen a prime minister complete a full five-year term in its 77-year history as an independent nation.

Indonesia election results strong>Prabowo claims presidential race victory
As the fallout from the Pakistan election continues, Indonesians vote for a new president as Joko Widodo era comes to an end Counting is under way in Indonesia after millions of people turned out to choose a successor to Joko Widodo, the hugely popular president known as Jokowi, who is barred from running for a third term under the constitution. The frontrunner is Prabowo Subianto, the only general ever to be given a dishonourable discharge from the country’s armed forces.
Indonesians vote in world’s biggest one-day election More than 20,000 seats up for grabs in election that spans three time zones, with divisive defence minister predicted to win.
The Economist: Prabowo Subianto looks unfit to govern the world’s third-largest democracy

Finland sets an example: Finland’s former Prime Minister, Alexander Stubb, will replace two-term President Sauli Niinisto. As president, Stubbs’ role is to shape foreign policy and act as commander-in-chief of the country’s armed forces. Finland’s new president sees no limit to NATO ties, Ukraine support. Our loyal correspondent in Helsinki says ”

UNRWA, The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, facing explosive allegations of ties with Hamas, is struggling to preserve its reputation and maintain its lifesaving operations in Gaza. There is no clear alternative to UNRWA in Gaza, but the organization has also been unable to deliver aid to hunger-stricken Gazans in the north since Jan. 23.
A former Wednesday Nighter, who worked for several years with UNRWA where their duties included investigating West Bank Hamas connections of certain staff members, forwarded U.N. Agency in Gaza Fought Hamas Infiltration; Not Hard Enough, Israel Says – The main U.N. agency in Gaza said it has long investigated claims of links, firing several employees over the years. Israel says it is a compromised organization too weak to protect itself..
Our friend comments: Note the article, and other trusted press, don’t address the claims about the school books, and the other allegations in that opinion piece. This is because those claims and allegations have been previously discredited.
Meanwhile, Talks involving the US, Egypt, Israel and Qatar on a Gaza truce ended without a breakthrough on Tuesday as calls grew for Israel to hold back on a planned assault on Rafah in the south of the enclave where airstrikes, destroyed homes and a lack of food and medicine are creating a desperate situation for civilians.
By Wednesday, “Those talks are still underway in Cairo, but, according to Israeli news outlets, Mr. Netanyahu told Israel’s representatives not to return to Cairo.”

Al Jazeera journalist [Muhammad Washah] outed as Hamas commander by IDF
‘In the morning, he’s a journalist on the Al Jazeera channel, and in the evening, a terrorist in Hamas!’ Lt. Col. Avichay Adraee, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman, tweeted on Sunday – in the western press, only the National Post carried this story. Needs verification.

Having ‘liberated’ Canada, (see Le Monde Tucker Carlson’s Canadian stopover before his Moscow ‘coup’), Tucker Carlson headed to Moscow to interview Vladimir Putin. Not a journalistic triumph. ‘Talkshow or a serious conversation?’ Tucker Carlson’s interview of Putin offered neither However, a number of sources appear astonished that “Tucker Carlson exposed Putin’s true war motive: For Russia to own Ukraine” – how is this a revelation? Has anyone seriously doubted Putin’s motive?
The Economist’s succinct summary: The real message of Vladimir Putin’s chat with Tucker Carlson –Russia’s president is not a man to be trusted, still less to emulate or admire
We also concur  with Masha Gessen, who sums up the general reaction: Tucker Carlson Promised an Unedited Putin. The Result Was Boring – In an interview that lasted more than two hours, the Russian President aired well-trod grievances and gave a lecture full of spurious history meant to justify his war in Ukraine.

U.S. politics in their usual turmoil. Two events of particular interest:
Donald Trump said he would disregard the NATO treaty, claiming he suggested to a foreign leader that he would encourage Russia to do “whatever the hell they want” to member countries that don’t spend enough to defend themselves. “One of the presidents of a big country stood up and said, ‘Well, sir, if we don’t pay and we’re attacked by Russia, will you protect us?,’” Trump said during a rally. “I said, ‘You didn’t pay. You’re delinquent.’ He said, ‘Yes, let’s say that happened.’ No, I would not protect you. In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want.”
How Trump urging Russia to invade ‘delinquent’ NATO members distorts how the alliance works
A week ago, Special Counsel Robert Hur dropped a political bombshell when Special counsel passes on charging Biden but paints damning portrait of him. Hur, who used to work for the Trump administration, couldn’t let Biden off the hook entirely, especially 269 days before an election. So, instead, [He] took a page from the James Comey playbook — and made it worse A Republican special counsel puts his finger on the scale once again.
What was Merrick Garland thinking?

Canada has had its own excitement over the past week including
Bell Media planning cuts to CTV, BNN Bloomberg following BCE layoffs, sale of 45 radio stations
Thursday’s round of job cuts is BCE’s largest in nearly 30 years
Bell Media is ending multiple television newscasts and making other programming cuts after its parent company BCE Inc. announced widespread layoffs and the sale of 45 of its 103 regional radio stations
Even the PM has expressed outrage
Bell CEO, other execs called to committee to answer questions about job cuts
Parent company of Bell Media announced last week it’s cutting 4,800 positions
‘We paid too much’: Canada’s AG blasts CBSA over ArriveCan app – Canada’s auditor general has found that those involved in the contracting, development and implementation of the controversial Arrivecan application showed a “glaring disregard” for basic management practices. A too familiar refrain!
Canada has become a very scary place to own a vehicle right now
Where are the stolen cars headed, which vehicle models are likely target and the government’s plan to deal with the auto theft crisis.
Leaks, ineffective anchors, mechanical breakdowns among problems facing new Arctic patrol ships
Meanwhile, the vessels constructed by Irving Shipbuilding only come with a one-year warranty

Juvenile behaviour: McGill student union cancels meeting with Anthony Housefather over views on Israel-Hamas war
Housefather and the SSMU were set to discuss student funding in the face of tuition hikes from the Quebec government. But the student union cancelled an hour and a half before Tuesday’s meeting.
“I have never had a group cancel a meeting because they don’t agree with my perspective on an issue that has nothing to do with the issues that we were meeting about, and hadn’t changed from the time that they asked for the meeting,” Housefather told CTV News on Wednesday.

Wildfires can be successfully fought.
Chile’s deadly wildfires wiped out neighborhoods. One stood unscathed.
In Chile, this community of 80 or so houses emerged unscathed from what have been called the deadliest fires in Chilean history, which killed more than 130 and destroyed thousands of homes. The scene points to possible solutions for a world dealing with increasingly devastating wildfires. The Botania neighborhood owes its escape to the disciplined execution of a fire prevention plan crafted by forestry officials and a local NGO, as well as the support of the U.S. Agency for International Development.

While he is basking in sunny Sicily, Andrew Caddell‘s column addresses a delicate topics We have to stop being naive about the Israel-Hamas war
In the current climate, we must recognize the propaganda campaigns condemning Israel are coming from adversaries who want to destroy the West.
Let me begin by saying I have no admiration for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or his government. From the moment he took power in 2022 with the support of extreme right-wingers, it was a recipe for disaster. And I have long been critical of Netanyahu. …the Trudeau government seems absolutely incapable of hewing a consistent policy line on this conflict. One day, the prime minister tells Jewish voters “We stand with Israel.” And the next, Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly is calling for a ceasefire, which would only give Hamas time to rebuild and attack again. …
During the Cold War, stories of Soviet support for western dissent and terrorist movements were written off as paranoia. Then the Berlin Wall fell, and we discovered they were true. In the current climate, we have to recognize the propaganda campaigns condemning Israel are coming from adversaries who want to destroy the West. Chief among them is a former KGB operative: Putin.
We should not be naive. In Europe, we are told they are hoping for peace, but preparing for war. We should do the same.

Beryl Wajsman will host The Suburban Radio Hour — every Sunday starting Feb.18 from 7-8pm on CJAD 800. The show will look at local news, sports and entertaining happenings “with members of the best team in the business…bottom right (from l-r) entertainment and social scene chronicler Mike Cohen, sports editor Mark Lidbetter, features editor Anthony Bonaparte and associate publisher Oliver Sutton.”

Alan Hustak is celebrating. “I still get a little excited when I get to hold the first copy of a book that I have written. One Long Line of Marvel, my history of 200 years of the St. Patrick Parade in Montreal arrived today….thanks to everyone for making the book happen”. He will be driving to Montreal “and if the creek don’t rise, I’ll be there for Green week and the parade”, and presumably, lots of book signings.

Long reads
The powerful lesson behind Pakistan’s stunning election result
Analysis by Ishaan Tharoor
How Gaza reunited the Middle East
A New Pan-Islamic Front May Be America’s Biggest Challenge
For the United States, asserting its military power by launching precision strikes on militia targets may be a satisfying option. But it is increasingly clear that it will be impossible for Washington to stop the regional escalation unless it can secure a cease-fire in Gaza, end the occupation, and finally establish a viable Palestinian state.
The world is waging war on its children, in an obscene mockery of international law
Simon Tisdall
From Gaza to Ukraine, from Sudan to Myanmar, youngsters are being raped, abducted, maimed, killed and even recruited as soldiers
Timothy Snyder: Putin’s genocidal myth
The foolishness of fascism, revealed in the Carlson interview
Putin has read about various realms in the past. By calling them “Russia,” he claims their territories for the Russian Federation he rules today.
Such nonsense brings war. On Putin’s logic, leaders anywhere can make endless claims to territory based on various interpretations of the past. That undoes the entire international order, based as it is upon legal borders between sovereign states
Please read and react
Lawrence Krauss: Concordia University ‘decolonizes’ engineering
“This five-year strategic plan will put Concordia on the map. We’re telling the world this is what we’re doing, and this is how we’re doing it.”
This was part of a recent statement by Donna Kahérakwas Goodleaf, the Director of Decolonizing Curriculum and Pedagogy at Concordia University’s Centre for Teaching and Learning. She was talking about the university’s new five-year strategic plan to decolonize and indigenize its entire curriculum and pedagogy. The university’s provost, Anne Whitelaw, agreed: “This strategic plan … will change the ways in which we teach at Concordia.”