The American Empire circles the drain... make America great again!

America is the exceptional nation. The indispensable nation. The country destined to lead the world, as both Kamala and Donald will tell you. Not that they’re telling you. You probably don’t give a shit if America “leads the world,” as long as you’ve got a job that pays your bills and gives you a half-decent life. No, they’re not talking to you. They’re talking to their billionaire donors. Those are the people who matter, and it matters to them that America remains the Big Dog. A lot of the things that matter to you - affordable housing, health care, education and groceries, simply aren’t a problem for the rich. But it matters to them that their wealth remains secure. That’s why America’s cred has always hinged, at the end of the day, on the US military. When push comes to shove, the Empire is the Empire because it can muscle any and all rivals out of the way. While that’s been a dubious proposition since at least the fall of Saigon, recent events make that proposition ever more dubious. The fall of Kabul was Saigon 2.0 - just with different Asians falling to their deaths. We’re well on our way to the final curtain for the Empire. In 2014 America engineered the overthrow of the democratically elected government in Ukraine, paving the way for a regime of ultra-nationalist Russophobes eager to curry favour in Washington by antagonizing Russia. And curry favour they did! We goaded Zelensky into a hot war with Russia with the promise of NATO membership and the solid guarantee that we would provide whatever it takes for as long as it takes to crush Putin. Meanwhile, America has given Israel a blank cheque to bully any and all possible rivals since at least the Six Day War. The Israelis are even more in thrall to their exceptionalism than the Americans, as frightening as that may be to contemplate. The decades of indulgence have brought us to the current abyss. Between the hundreds of billions in cash and weapons, and the ever-ready veto at the UN, the ruling clique in Israel is convinced it is above all laws and completely unaccountable, not even to its enablers in Washington. Furthermore, they have now painted themselves into a corner and assume Uncle Sam is coming to the rescue. From the bipartisan noises coming from DC, it looks like America will stand with Israel with whatever it takes, for as long as it takes. The good news is this. Once the American Empire has collapsed, it will be possible to make America great again for ordinary Americans who couldn’t care less about leading the world, but just want a job that provides a decent life.

America's democracy theatre; the show must go on!

I watched the first half hour of the Walz-Vance debate before succumbing to terminal ennui. I thought both VPs have more going on than their respective presidents, but who cares? What does it matter? The first topic was, given the events of the day, America’s loyalty to Israel. Both candidates promised unquestioned fealty. More “whatever it takes for as long as it takes.” Where have we heard that before? And how’s that going? The CBS moderators and both candidates celebrated the joint USA/IDF defeat of the dastardly Iranian missile attack. In fact, that was the only story you heard on mainstream media. Meanwhile, the internet was abuzz with video of Iranian missiles exploding on Israeli air bases. I said at least ten years ago Iron Dome was bullshit. There is no “missile shield.” The next topic was the devastating hurricane in the southeast. The VPs went back and forth on that one. They bickered about climate change and greenhouse gasses and fracking. Nobody mentioned the bipartisan neglect of infrastructure over the last half century. Of course they didn’t! That would cost money to fix! Money we need to support our many wars. Do you want the next billion in deficit spending to build public housing, or to finance Israel’s wars? The bipartisan consensus is a no-brainer. That’s why there’s a housing crisis in America, but Israel has unlimited 2,000 lb. ‘bunker-busters’ to preserve peace and democracy in the Middle East. Great to see the VP debate unify a divided country! We have bipartisan agreement that the interests of the genocidal psychopaths steering the ship of state in Israel take priority over the interests of the American people! Democracy rocks!

Doug Ford and the politics of wishful thinking

There’s a half-page advert on p. 3 of Saturday’s Globe. The picture shows a clearly delighted Ontario dad plugging in his EV while his young son watches in awe. The text reads; Powering economic growth through clean, affordable nuclear energy. Ontario’s new small modular reactors are creating jobs and will contribute billions to the economy, while providing clean and affordable energy. It’s all happening here. Paid for by the Government of Ontario. This is a project at Darlington that’s been featured in numerous advertisements and press releases for several years now, so I was curious how close that father and son might actually be to plugging into that clean and affordable energy. Turns out not that close. Here’s some good news from a few months ago; First phase of site preparation completed. That only took two years. We’re now heading into the “main” phase of site preparation, which will include excavation and “shoring walls.” In other words, the only jobs created thus far have gone to a handful of heavy equipment operators and the copywriters at Doug’s ad agency! According to Doug’s spin doctors, this revolutionary project will make Ontario a world leader in small modular reactors. Maybe it will, but according to Wikipedia, Russia and China are the only countries that have successfully built SMRs. To my way of thinking, that makes them the world leaders. Here’s a Bloomberg interview with Professor of nuclear engineering Kirk Atkinson at Ontario Tech University. I daresay the interviewer sounds a tad skeptical. In the event everything pans out, we may eventually have a SMR that could power 300,000 homes - or one Google data centre! Given the history of nuclear construction cost over-runs and missed deadlines, the awestruck kid in that ad will be plugging in his own EV by the time that happens. And have you heard about the 70km tunnel under the 401?...