Scotty

I confess to being unaware of the upcoming referendum. I have no idea why Sudan's rulers accepted it if they have no intention of accepting the results. I can see where it would be in the interests of just about everyone other than Sudan's muslims if the majority of the oil were to fall under the control of non-Muslims. But given the condition of the new 'country' I wonder how much of the new oil wealth will be used to help the people, and how much will enrich the new leaders. Globe and Mail - Birth of a nation

The Emerites only have a population of about 6 million - of which the majority are foreign workers. Their actual citizen population is closer to 2 million. Emeritis generally don't do actual work. Foreigners are imported to do that. Yet it's national airline is bigger than Air Canada. This says that their airline is not there to serve their population but to serve the international market. Capitalism would say let them compete, and may the best airliner win. If they can run people between Vancouver and Toronto with a higher customer satisfaction rate than Air Canada they ought to be allowed to do that. On the other hand, that is not how the international airline market is run. If you want to run people between point A and B within a nation you're required to establish your airline within those borders and employ local people. Think what you can about that, it's how things work, and the Emerites, rather than seeking changes, have simply tried to bully their way around the rules.

Not to punish other nations, but to restrict illegal immigration.

It's VERY, VERY bad for exports. And for the entire manufacturing sector.

They have an immense amount of oil. The sheiks of the UAR are among the wealthiest people on the planet. To help protect them. The Taliban and Al Quaeda consider the Emirs of the UAE to be apostates (not without reason) and have made it quite clear every single political leader of the UAE is on their target list. As far as I'm aware they provided an empty piece of sand (the UAE Is almost all empty sand) so we could put down temporary buildings and tents. While I would agree Air Canada provides poor service I don't think the answer is to elminate it and replace it with a subsidized Arab airline.

That article appears extremely biased, supporting the UAE against all accusations all the way along. As far as I know the problem from Canada's perspective is that there isn't all that much direct traffic betgween little UAE and Canada. And the current landing slots are more than adequate for that. What the UAE wants is for its carrier to be able to fly people between Toronto and London, say, or Toronto and Paris, not to mention between Toronto and Vancouver, Calgary and Regina. Canada said no, and the government of the UAE, which can basically be described as a group of oil sheiks who can do whatever they want, threw a hissy fit. The UAE airline is a "toy" of one of the major princes there, so he's very unhappy.

We might be commited to smuggling of drugs across borders but not to the extent we could not legalize their use within our borders. The Dutch did it, after all.

Ruthless. He'd send million man armies at the Germans knowing they were basically untrained cannon fodder, but that he could spare them and let the Germans use up their ammo and take what casualties the cannon fodder could inflict. He wore the Germans down. Yes, but we'd been at war for 6 years at that point. If a future war lasts 6 years we have time to build more planes too. The Israelis would not be able to afford the military they have were it not for the Americans helping them pay for it. As to the Swiss, we do not have the national sense of commitment to defense here. You will never get us agreeing to any kind of mandatory national service outside an emergency, and Canadians aren't willing to pay the money for it.

I believe that America's attitude towards drugs has a major role in influencing how Canada's govermment, be it Liberal or Tory, treats the drug issue. If the Americans weren't so crazed about the subject then the Canadian government probably wouldn't feel the need to be either. If Pat Robertsonl's belated realization of how over the top America's drug laws are helps to tone things down in the south it might ease up in the north, too.

We don't have the pilots to man that many aircraft, nor the maintenance staff to maintain them, nor the budget to hire them. Are we to buy dozens of extras and just keep them in hangars for years against the possibility the ones we operate will be shot down? "Quantity has a quality all its own." Joseph Stalin

The political arena is a new one for him, where every stray word can be picked out and used as ammunition. Maybe that's why he's having a try at it as Senator before he runs for Parliament - where they're even nastier.

I believe PETA is defiantly hard left and proud of it.

It is ironic that this thread started about immigration employees getting money for favours and ends with stories of the minister herself getting services and pizza for favours. It just shows that the immigration system is corrupt from top to bottom.

There is no single reason why Israel is targetted for so much abuse despite being much less of a human rights abuser than others. The main reason has to be media attention. Israel gets much more media attention than any other nation for any other reason. Why? The axium is "if it bleeds, it leads". And you can always count on something bleeding in the Israeli Palestinian mess. But you can find that all over the world. So why Israel? Again, there are many reasons. One is that the Israelis, for lack of a better term, are considered "white". Most of the rest of the abuses are being done by people who, for want of a better term, we can call "brown". For whatever reason, it is considered a bigger story if "white" people hurt others, especially non white people. Brown people hurting Brown people just doesn't seem to be as newsworthy. How many brutal attacks in Darfur have you seen on your TV lately? None. That's one reason. Another is that it's just so much easier for the world press to operate in Israel. The network reporters can stay at 5 star hotels, take a taxi to where they can do their story, then return to upload to a satellite, go to a fine restaurant, go out to a bar, and return to their 5 star hotel. It's all delightfully civilized. If you want video from North Korea, from China, from Chechnia or Darfur, well, you take your life in your hands. Those governments will not even allow you into areas of disturbance. There is great violence, great discomfort, no easy way in or out, no safety, no 5 star hotels, no fine dining and dancing, no air conditioning, and you can be executed or imprisoned if the government finds you. So you don't see NBC or CBC or CNN plastic haired reporters breathlessly showing us video of the latest Chinese executions, or the latest village targeted by Indian security forces, or the latest ethnic slaughter in Liberia or Burma. Too hard, too dangerous, too uncomfortable. So Israel supplies the "bleeds and leads" story day after day, year after year. This can't help having an affect on people who don't really think very much past what they see on their television news. And Israel begins to assume an importance out of all proportion with its real importance. It's a catch 22. The media is there, constantly reporting, because Israel is important. And Israel is important because the media is there, transmitting everything that happens. The death toll after years of the Intifada is tiny compared to the death tolls in many other areas of civil unrest, guerrila or terrorist wars. But they come to seem like so much more because every little incident gets to the front page of the newspaper, gets on the national news. The media is full of the 6 Israelis and 3 Palestinians killed yesterday when the Palestinians attacked a gate. How many people died in the Congo? Do you know? Any guesses? Examine this please Killings in the Congo To quote the story in part: "Fighting between ethnic militias in Ituri has claimed some 50,000 lives since July 1999" Now did you even know that 50,000 people had died in the Congo fighting since 1999? How many TV reports have you seen of the brutality and violence? None? Do you know anything about this ethnic fighting? Why is it not front and centre in the news? Many more people have died there than in Israel or Palestine. Many, many, many more. No, everything focuses on Israel and Palestine. Now a second reason, in my opinion. There is a reflex, a tendency among westerners, especially liberals, to be anti-military. And to sympathise with people not in uniforms when they are attacked by people in uniforms. There is also a tendency to sympathise with the underdog. So video of soldiers in tanks attacking, or seeming to attack people who throw rocks, who are much less well armed, who are much weaker, well, it is a reflex to side with the Palestinians. Especially after seeing that sort of thing for years and years. Terrorist bombs are much less dramatic because by the time the cameras get there all you have are bodies and people screaming. And the western media is notoriously shy of showing too much gore, so such scenes have limited television appeal. Video of lines of Palestinians waiting to pass checkpoints are dramatic. But Israelis line up for searches before entering any public place. You just rarely see it, and it requires some thought to understand that even though they are being searched by fellow Israelis it is the Palestinians who are behind it all. Not that there aren't bloody hands in Israel. But really, only a fool would say it is all Israel's fault. The Israeli/Palstinian issue is of little importance to us here, or should be of little importance. People continue to comment on it and attack Israel mainly because of the media attention. Not because Israel is guilty of terrible crimes.

And yet, she was never punished, was she? It is very rare to find a politician with integrety, a politician who will take responsibility.

Here's a significant part of the problem. Wasted money. There is a huge amount of money wasted by the Canadian military. Or more honestly, by the department. It is wasted not so much by those in uniform as the civilians and their political masters. The money we pump into DND would be enough for a reasonably good miltiary if it were wisely spent.

The buck stops here. - Harry S Truman This is a phrase unknown to modern politicians, especially in Canada, where blaming someone else is the name of the game. Whatever happens, it's always someone elses fault.

The bill for Martin's two airplanes will be concrete. His suntan will be concrete I can't imagine anything of substance or importance can possibly be achieved. He will get to continue to ignore the country's problems for a little while longer, eat well, have a nice holiday, be schmoozed and made to feel important by a petty dictator. Martin is resembling Chretien more and more. The only thing he wants the job for is to say he's the boss.