Art's blog

The situation in Iran is simply stated. The Iranians have oil. They also have a nuclear development programme. Whether this is for peaceful purposes or otherwise is beside the point. The Iranians also exercise a tight control of the Strait of Hormuz, the strategically important waterway between the Gulf of Persia and the Gulf of Oman. Through this straight moves about 40 per cent of the world’s oil. The Israelis with U.S. support are opposed to Iran’s nuclear programme. The Europeans don’t like Iran’s nuclear meddling either, but they do like Iranian oil. The Iranians have cut off oil supplies to France and the UK, and threatened to sever oil supplies to the rest of Europe. If Israel does what it threatens to do, which is to bomb the bejesus out of Iran’s nuclear sites, they risk not just the threat of retaliation but the reality of severe counter-measures. Unlike Gaza or the West Bank or other centres that can be pushed and bullied around with impunity, Iran is more than capable of defending itself. The Israelis need reminding that the Iranians are not Canaanites to be slaughtered without mercy on God’s command. Quite apart from risking air strikes from a well-armed foe if it does what it threatens, Israel risks dragging the U.S.A. into another major conflict with or without UN support. The Iranians only have to announce they have mined the Strait of Hormuz, or intend to do so, and they effectively strangle western commerce. Again, let it be said, it is wise counsel to welcome Iran into the nuclear club. They will develop a nuclear programme whether it is welcomed or not. Anyone who causes another conflagration in the Middle East to satisfy their hubris must be barking mad indeed.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Canada signed numerous agreements during his visit to China in the company of a large political entourage and a train of corporate heads and industrialists. Hailed by some as a coup de chance, a magnificent stroke of luck as well as political expertise, the contracts negotiated included the export of uranium concentrate enough to warm the cockles of all Saskatchewan hearts. That this meant overruling the misgivings of Canadian non-proliferation experts is of small consequence in the overall scheme of things. In effect, this gives the Chinese free rein to do as they wish with this bonanza of uranium concentrate. Would the Canadian Government not extend the same courtesy to the Iranians, who are equally desirous of acquiring ample supplies of uranium concentrate – for peaceful purposes, naturally. What force majeure operates to prevent the sale of uranium to the Iranians? It cannot be a moral one. More likely it’s the right of might, which means the hypocritical cards are stacked against those dastardly, devious and deceitful Iranians, which in fact is a rather sad and duplicitous state of affairs. The United States rattles its sabre, the Israelis weigh the chances of a few swift bombing runs and risking one hell of a retaliation. This is a real conundrum over which, one hopes, Canadian politicians and diplomats will manage to keep straight faces when next they confront their American and Israeli counterparts across the banquet table. After all, one must keep one’s ducks in a row and maybe, just maybe, China will let Iran have a few tons of the concentrate they receive from Saskatchewan. Watch this space for further developments.

Those like me who are on the outside looking in on the politics of the United States can only admire the passion, fervour and argument preceding the presidential election that takes place every four years. We watched and listened with avid attention to the jockeying for position that preceded the contests in Ohio, Hampshire, South Carolina, Florida and now moved farther afield. The proceedings are far more engaging than anything to be found in the democratic institutions: of France, Germany, and countries of the British Commonwealth. Money, too, flows like the flood of Noah (if that ever was). It takes a fertile imagination to reconcile the countless millions raised for tv advertising with the appalling level of poverty in that greatest nation on earth, which is not said with tongue in cheek. The high rate of unemployment, a housing market in the doldrums, the genuine want that exists from one side of the continent to the other. It’s not the place of outsiders to make suggestions or to interfere in any way. So I for one say go to it. Have a slugfest. It’s fascinating to witness extreme fighting on a national scale and to stand by while Gwen Ifell weekly moderates the ‘Week in review’ programme on Public Broadcasting System (PBS).

Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird and Minister of Finance Jim Flaherty visited the Middle East this week – or what is left of it. They assure the Israelis that Israel has no greater friend than Canada (Bit cheeky this. What will the U.S. think?) Baird then chastises Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Maliki and says that Canada views the Palestinian initiative (to have their territory recognized as a state by the United Nations) as profoundly wrong. (Really!) Unilateral action such as this is shocking and beyond reasonable, he said. Palestine must go back to the negotiating table without preconditions, but for what compelling reason? Hasn’t Canada enough problems of its own without sticking its oar in elsewhere? What about their failure to accommodate their own First Nations, to settle their differences with Quebec, with building more prisons for declining crime, spending billions on fighter aircraft to protect Canadian borders, which have yet to be attacked except by the States (besides, the U.S. is doing that for them, but against what?), rescinding a registry of long guns, telling the Canadian public what a marvellous job their doing? Who’s going to get the Israelis to the table without preconditions? They must love this international attention. Anyway, they’re too busy getting ready to thump Iran for running a nuclear programme. Oh yes, the very gall of it all seems beyond belief.

Let us raise a toast to any politician of a single party in a single country who creates a single job without access to the public purse. The public purse is what governments jingle with the taxes they collect – or fail to collect as the word has it in the case of Greece, Spain and Portugal. We are teetering on the brink, whatever that is, from failure of the financial system. What lies below? Jagged rocks and crashing surf? Crushing debt is the lot of nations stretching from Europe to North America. The reason? Governments that take more from the trough than comes into it. Politicians and public servants of every stripe with hair-brained schemes who award themselves fat salaries, indexed pensions and unlimited expense accounts cause national strife. The fat cats of the banking sector have been long enough at the trough.

Republican contestants for nomination in the coming presidential election have been so busy denigrating Cuba, someone has to leap to its defence. Work permits, see here, were essential in the olden days – for most people anyway. More than that, assignment to a work gang was the norm. Work Gang 69 was a swinging crew to which yours truly was assigned at the José Marti Airport. Not to infuriate expatriate Cubans or to consternate their politicians, hard work had its privileges as in the United States. Cuba has two kinds of workers: those at the bottom of the heap who work and those above who direct. Both categories are civilised. There were those who ate from battered aluminum plates and drank out of mugs of the same metal in the cafeteria. The privileged few ate in a Cuban-style Delmonico’s, feasting off bone china and having double-damask dinner napkins. Moved from the cafeteria to this elegant restaurant for exemplary work done it was no joke being returned in disgrace to the work gang – all for confessing to a journalistic assignment and asking for an interview with the President. Journalists were anathema to Cuban high society.

Readers of Arabic will recognize this press card and note that it is for Yemen, which at the time of its issue in 1978 was known as North Yemen. That distressed land was then busy having a furious donnybrook with South Yemen. To meet and interview the then President of that volatile land, this one-time reporter had to pass through an iron curtain security. Briefcase, pockets and personal possessions were intensely scrutinised and only then did the interview proceed. Six weeks later, President Abdul al Gashmi of North Yemen was blown to kingdom come by a bomb brought by an emissary from South Yemen, who accompanied the President on his journey. The present brought was gift-wrapped. The emissary would otherwise never have passed through the iron-clad security barrier. To correct an historical misconception, Al Gashmi was not blown up by a suitcase bomb as now reported. As the only journalist ever to have interviewed this mercurial dictator, and familiar with the scene in that quarter, I stick by my opinion relating to the means used to assassinate him.

With the exception of Dr Ron Paul, dubbed a libertarian, contenders for the Republican nomination in last Monday night’s debate in Florida blithely discussed taking out Iran’s nuclear installations with the assistance of Israel. This idea is ludicrous with or without Israeli involvement. The U.S. has had enough wars and armed conflicts since the Second World War to last a lifetime. As Ron Paul said, going to war over control of the Strait of Hormuz, gateway to the Persian Gulf, is easily avoided by discussing the matter with the Iranians. Why not? The Iranians are believed to speak English as a second language well. As has already been said, ‘Jaw-jaw is better than war-war’. It has taken ten years of fighting to speak to the Taliban. The U.S. should try the same thing with the Iranians before starting a slugfest. It is not necessary to send in the Marines every time to sort out the ruffians.

Former Governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney seeking the Republican nomination for President of the United States released his tax returns today. Vultures of the news media pounced to wallow in the detail. Rounded off, Romney’s income for one year is $21 million. Of this he paid 15 per cent in taxes and invested the rest, having first given away $7 million to charitable organisations. Journalists, commentators and his opponents blame him for being rich. But what’s wrong with that? He earned his wealth by hard work and need apologise to no one. On the same news report, a basketball player is stated to have signed a contract that guarantees him $25 million a year. Whether the player has a university degree, experience in commerce or industry or knows anything beyond basketball was not revealed. The contrast is revealing. It should make you think.

Question period in the Canadian House of Commons is unlike question and answer time in any other national assembly. With the possible exception of Prime Minister Harper, who is confident enough to speak off the cuff – he is, after all, answerable only to himself – members of the government answer questions from the opposition by reading from hand-held notes, probably typed in large letters by their assistants to make sure they read the message as written. Regretfully, the art of rhetoric is likely lost forever. Ministers of the crown, their deputies and stand-ins mumble and stumble their way through question period like shipwrecked sailors floundering through the surf to shore and shelter. This sad state of the quality of eloquence reflects miserably the worth of public discourse. Before members of parliament are elevated to high office the very least they can do is learn to speak extemporaneously and with confidence.