August1991

Lenin wanted to changed the world. In his mind, Putin wants merely to ensure his country exists. He wants to protect Russia. ===== We defeated the Leninists in 1989. We now live in a multi-polar world: Russians, Chinese, Indians. Like Canada.

Churchill rightly spoke of the wars of religion and the wars of nations. To him, 1618-1648 were the wars of religions. ==== To me, Putin is a typical Russian Tsar - he is no Lenin.

It has always astonished me that the French regard Napoleon in a positive way. He was a psychopath. The Germans properly understand Hitler and what happened. ===== If Europeans have any hope, it is that Russians remember that they defeated both of these tyrants. And the British remember that they always chose the minority side.

Let me explain further: Tim Horton and Eddie Shack were young guys. In the 1960s, they had a name. I recall seeing an Eddie Shack restaurant. Ron Joyce took the name and turned it into a successful restaurant business. Who deserves the benefit? Labrador - uh, people in Newfoundland - or the people who take the risk to build the dam? If you own a gold mine on Mars, are you rich? Or is the person who figures out a way to get the gold to Earth rich? And does more gold make any of us rich? Spices, I can understand.

Greg, And Michael - you both. And Charles Anthony - all deserve recognition. I remember newspapers and the Internet of the late 1990s. Like small mammals after the asteroid, you have ensured that life continues.

I'm wrong. You are correct. I stand corrected.

Our constitution, such as it is (once a British law, the BNA Act amended), makes no reference to five years. Correct me if I'm wrong. Harper invented/passed the four year idea. If tested, I suspect our Supreme Court would over turn Harper's law. ==== By tradition, the GG dissolves parliament before five years or when a government loses a "confidence vote". We had a general election in July 1974. Our next was May 1979. It happens. ==== For those curious, Laurier lost to Borden in Sept 1911. We later had a coalition government until the awful conscription election of Dec 1917.

After the 1979 federal election, if Clark had made Fabien Roy a cabinet minister, Canada would be different today. But then, Clark would have screwed it up anyway.

It's not. No NDP member has a seat at cabinet. (Imagine if Trudeau Jnr made Singh his finance or foreign affairs minister - it could happen! - then, it would be a coalition.) ==== Harper passed a law to set federal election dates. It's nonsense. By tradition, a government exists by parliamentary confidence vote. After five years or so, no government has confidence. The GG dissolves parliament, calls an election.

These are leading questions. A good friend was two days in the hallway of the ER. Once diagnosed, he received good care. ==== Our Canadian health system is an insurance system. It is better managed by provinces - but with federal re-insurance, to spread the risk.

At this moment, various people in America (and elsewhere) are communicating with Voyager I and II, two probes we sent years ago. Whenever I watch American movies, even old ones - noirs, I look at the names, family names.

I remember those times. At the time, 1990 or so, no one knew what would happen. I reckoned that we should bring as many places under our western NATO umbrella as possible. It was the Cold War. ==== By 2000 and Blair's numerous flights to St. Petersburg to meet Putin, I should have known better. Putin was learning politics. Blair didn't understand life.

The US is pay-as-you-go. https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2023/12/12/how_might_we_reform_social_security_part_i_150177.html In Norway and Quebec, we have the false illusion that paper is a legitimate claim.

Betsy, Years ago, I was in a Ukrainian Catholic Church in Paris. Did you know that these priests can marry? (If they are ambitious, they don't marry.)

Napoleon wanted to change the world. Hitler wanted to change the world. Lenin, he also, wanted to change the world. ===== When Clinton, Bush Jnr and Blair bombed/invaded Serbia/Iraq, they too wanted to change the world.

Putin is not Hitler or Napoleon- anymore than Biden or Nixon is. Putin does not want to dominate, change Europe. IMHO, Putin is a typical Russian Czar - he wants to ensure Russia exists.

Trudeau Jnr was elected in September 2021 but with a minority government. In an agreement, the federal NDP agreed to support the federal Liberals - not a coalition. ==== I reckon that these federal Liberals will stay in power as long as they can. Trudeau Snr in 1979 did.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/canada-dental-care-plan-benefit-1.7055975 Of course, three groups of people agree: Dentists Poor people Bureaucrats ==== Dentists? Imagine a seller with a guaranteed buyer. Poor people? Some one else pays to make me look like Tom Cruise. Bureaucrats? I can decide who has access to this scheme. ==== 1. For good reason, education and health care are provincial jurisdictions in Canada. The federal government should not be involved in dentistry. 2. Unlike the US, we Canadians do not have a federal department of urban affairs, education. We leave health (and dental) issues to the provinces.

The Chinese State imposed one-child families, and then both abortion and male-births increased. As Richard Dawkins would say: Gender/sex is not inherited. === Youtube/Imdb: "Please Murder Me"

Foolish people think that they understand life since a computer can play chess better than a human. Life? When two different computers play games as two humans do, I'll buy a Tesla.

There are foolish people now who believe that we can live on Mars. (No human will ever live on Mars. Mars has too much solar/universal radiation.) Travel to other stars, solar systems? Absurd. ===== I rather think that we should discover why Venus is the way it is. What happened? Knowing what happened on Venus may help us to protect our life here - on this planet. Among the various efforts, rather than send people to Mars, I would recommend searching for asteroids arriving by sunlight - and why Venus has the environment it has.

Have you heard of Cosmic Crisp: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_Crisp

Kissinger recently died. I recall a phrase from his work. Kissinger believed in a balance of power, like Trudeau Snr. Yet Kissinger said that the Soviets were Marxists and wanted to change the world.

The Communists/Leninists/Soviets wanted to control/change the world. Russians? Slavic people, stubborn. ====== America won the cold war in 1989/1991. Americans fought in Korea, Vietnam. We westerners defeated the communists. We have no need for NATO.

Fascinating question, but this OP should be moved to a different thread.