-TSS-

The Queen didn't have nominal political power but she had clout. A lot of it. I doubt Charles will have as much clout.

23 years ago in the Australian referendum the republic lost because they were offered a republic whereby the GG would just become President but that's all. People wanted a republic where the President is the real political leader like in the USA. Does anybody think the US-system is something to go for?

As far as I'm aware the arrangement whereby the British monarch is the head of state of other otherwise independent countries stems from a time when the vast majority of the populations of Canada, Australia and New Zealand consisted of people who really didn't consider the British as foreigners or Britain as a foreign country. In the following decades things have changed and demographics have changed. Large proportions of those countries include people who have no ties to Britain therefore no affinity but also the descendants of those who didn't consider Britain as a foreign country they do consider it as a foreign country. The current arrangement would be unacceptable if there had to be a decision on it today.

There are some people whose death is widely talked about even before they are dead. The Queen was one of them.

Seems as if people are surprised that even she was mortal. Her death will have implications on not only the UK but numerous other countries including Canads the nominal head of state she was.

You in Canada have very massive areas of inland water. That means fresh water which is absolutely precious. How are you managing it? We in Finland also have a lot of fresh water and our traitor politicians are giving their ownership away.

According to the news Gorbachev has died. I wonder would he have started the war against Ukraine.

I wonder is there anybody who believes both that Trump genuinely lost in 2020 and Trump genuinely won in 2016. It seems that if you think about the controversies surrounding both elections that if you think the controversy around one of the elections is a ridiculous conspiracy-theory you think at the same time that the controversy around the other election is unquestionable truth.

The Russian military might has been based on two things. First of all, bluff. They have been able to create an image of themselves as much stronger than they actually are and that bluff has been exposed in a real war. Secondly, there just are so many of them that they don't run out of men and life is cheap and everybody is expendable. Soldiers can be ordered to charge against machine-gun fire and surely some of them will survive. If they refuse they get shot by their own officers or politruks. The Russian military might has never been based on any military strategic wisdom.

Have they really thought this through? I always believed that Trump wasn't going to run but this episode changes everything. Now if he doesn't run it seems like weakness and defeat. If they really want to get rid of him perhaps they should have left him alone. Of course there's that theoretical possibility that the justice system actually is neutral and doesn't work based on how it affects politics. Anyone who believes such idealistic but hopelessly childish nonsense needs to grow up.

Athos from Vancouver. Yeah right. More like Athos from St.Petersburg.

The strike in the Crimea was a huge humiliation for Russia as a lot of Russian tourists escaped in panic. They had trusted the word that Crimea is safe for holidays. People on the beach in their swimming suits while in the background there's a huge explosion.

People say that the reason why American internal news get so much international attention is because America sets the trends. What happens in America now happens elsewhere later. However I don't think other countries are going to start passing stricter abortion-laws. So why does this particular American news get so much international attention? Maybe because somehow all westerners somehow identify with America as if we're somehow all Americans.

Germany is the weakest link of all. If and perhaps even when they start freezing next winter the sanctions against Russia will all be for nothing as Germany will cave in.

Christianity is dying and Catholicism is the fastest dying Christian creed. In Europe Catholicism is completely dead almost everywhere even in the nominally Catholic countries. Not least because many Catholics view the current Pope as an impostor. I wonder what the situation is in the Central-American countries.

These people need some improvement in their PR-skills. I mean Klaus Schwab is a comical character. Just like from a villain from a Bond-movie with his lines "you will eat ze bugs". Bill Gates is an absolutely unlikeable hideous creep who is like somebody who was bullied at school and who is getting his revenge now. If these people are the best they've got we still have hope.

In Canada if you want to travel from Toronto to Vancouver how do you do it? Obviously you fly. The distance is simply too long to do it practically otherwise. If flying becomes a luxury only the rich can afford it means it will eventually break the country apart.

What's your opinion? Is the Canadian system of parliamentarism better or worse than the American system of strong presidential power? In the American system you can't remove the President in the middle of the term unless you can claim that he has broken the law and that is a complicated process. In the Canadian system and in every parliamentary system you can remove the PM if he is useless and you believe someone else can do a better job.

That happened in Italy in the early 1990's. All the established political parties collapsed and new ones were formed after. Not sure if Italy these days is better off though.

As I said it's been almost 20 years since I have last flown. However I live very near the main international airport in Finland and I go to work by train which connects to the airport. Those trains are always absolutely packed full of people with those suitcases which you pull behind you and which take a lot space and which make an annoying screeching noise as their wheels roll on the ground. I can't help wondering how many of those people belong to the crowd who say that they are very worried about the climate change but don't you dare touch my foreign holiday.

I realised the other day that last time I flew on an airplane, that environmentally most harmful way of transport, was before Greta was born. I guess in North-America where distances are vast it would be at least very unpractical, if not impossible, to give up flying altogether.

I'm sure you are pleased that you don't have that problem in your country.

Can you think of any other so-called western country, for example Canada, the UK, Finland, Sweden etc, where there would be serious claims about questioning the legitimacy of elections?

I wonder is BoJo like Trump also in that respect that people will still be talking about him long after he's gone.

These fertilizers have made greater harvests possible in the first place. Let's give up on them but please let's not pretend that would mean that nothing would change regarding our standard of living.