Focusing on Asia in the 4Q of 2021

Philippine President #RodrigoDuterte announced his retirement from politics which came as quite a surprise to many folks thought he would  pull a "Putin" and run for VP to circumvent the constitutional limit of a single six-year Presidential term. His withdrawal paves the way for a possible presidential run by his daughter, Sara Duterte, mayor of Davao city, who has topped independent public opinion surveys on who should lead the country next.

Earlier blog  Asia-in-2018

Oct 6, 2021

Bongbong Marcos, whose father Ferdinand was chased from office in a  revolt in 1986 and died in exile in Hawaii three years later, is running for President in PI.

Nov 3, 2021

India’s Defense Ministry ran a successful test launch of the Agni-5, the country’s longest-range missile, which is capable of reaching Beijing, China,  It appears the June 2020  bloody Himalayan clash  hasn't been forgotten. 

Nov 26, 2021

Riots in the Solomon Islands over a switch of allegiance from Taiwan to China that occurred two years ago. A bipartisan delegation from the US House of Representatives visited Taiwan this week.

Possible boycott of the Beijing Olympics looming.  Can any of this make a dent in the power of Communist China?

Dec 22, 2021

The citizens of Taiwan don't want to be the next Hong Kong. Yesterday they backed the DPP, the ruling party, on four referendum questions and rejected the Nationalist Party which wants closer ties with Communist China. Let's hope Biden is paying attention and stops his habit of forgetting our friends.

Jan 25, 2022

Who needs guns?

 Two gangs from rival ethnic groups in the province of West Papua used machetes, arrows, and Molotov cocktails to settle a quarrel. The fighting sparked a fire killing 12 in a nightclub.

Feb 5, 2022

Mynamar(Burma), military junta will likely repress its country despite how bad things get and resemble a non -nuclear version of North Korea. Child begging at traffic lights has proliferated to the level that drivers are afraid to stop at traffic lights.

Feb 25, 2022

Filipino police said about 1,100 protesters gathered on the same Manila highway where millions assembled 36 years ago to end the Ferdinand Marcos' dictatorship. They had a clever chant

"Bring back the loot, not the thief" and held a banner "No to Marcos/Duterte2022" asking voters to not elect Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.

March 17, 2022

A Japanese maritime patrol detected Russian amphibious warfare ships, which can carry dozens of tanks, other military vehicles, and hundreds of troops, and monitored them as they passed west from the Pacific Ocean to the Sea of Japan through the narrow Tsuruga Strait. Possible destination Europe!

April 11, 2022

 Brain-drain continues in Hong Kong . Executives continue to depart while admission rates in several international schools have tumbled.  The European Chamber of Commerce's latest survey showed that nearly half of the businesses were considering moving elsewhere next year. 

Many market traders are moving to Singapore which is pushing up residential rental costs there.

April 15, 2022

Philippine President  Duterte vetoed a bill that would require social media users to register their legal identities and phone numbers. For now, so much for all those who say Duterte is a dictator.

April 23, 2022

Hong Kong will allow international travelers for first time since 2020.

Ok, hurry up and visit! Keep your mouth shut and restrain yourself online, and you may be able to leave without being imprisoned.

May 3, 2022

 Cambodia's PM Hun Sen urged Myanmar's top general to allow a special Southeast Asian envoy access to ousted and imprisoned leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

May 10, 2022

Thank you, President Reagan : Biden's State Dept has not backed off the Six Reagan-era security assurances(1982) given to Taiwan, which the United States declassified in 2020. Two key items:

USA has not set a date for ending arms sales to Taiwan, nor agreed to prior consultation with Beijing on such sales.

June 7, 2022

For anyone who has followed Japan's defense spending post WW2, this is a remarkable step. In an annual economic policy document Japan for the first time mentioned a time frame of five years for a large defense expenditure increase and a concern about threats faced by Taiwan.

June 21, 2022

I had to re-read this a few times. Protesters stormed a stadium in Maldives where more than 150 people were taking part in an event celebrating International Day of Yoga, They brandished placards proclaiming that yoga was against the tenets of Islam.

Islam is the state religion in the Maldives, a group of islands in the Indian Ocean.

July 8, 2022

 Tetsuya Yamagami told police he was dissatisfied with Shinzo Abe, a former PM of Japan, and wanted to kill him. He accomplished that using a home-made gun while Abe was campaigning for a seat in Parliament. Japan has some of the strictest gun laws in the world.

July 18, 2022

Biden "handed" Afghanistan to the Taliban in August, 2021 and girls above the sixth grade have yet to enter a classroom again. Not a word from AOC or Pelosi! 

Aug 13, 2022

While Nepal tries to maintain diplomatic neutrality and /or remain non-aligned, its nationals are allowed to be recruited into the armed forces of India and the United Kingdom. 

Sept 9, 2022

 U.S. Army's Pacific commander, General Charles Flynn, said he is in no rush to withdraw rocket launchers and other equipment from the Japanese Ground Self Defense Force base on Amami Oshima at the edge of the East China Sea. It will remain there until the next joint drills. I'm sure the Commies in Peking ain't smiling.

Dec 19, 2022

Hostage talks start after Pakistani Taliban militants seize interrogators and demand safe passage to Afghanistan. Let's go Brandon!

Dec 21, 2022

The Taliban released two Americans detained in Afghanistan on the same day its officials banned Afghan women from attending universities.

Dec 22, 2022

Nepal is set to release Sobhraj, the Serpent, who began traveled the world in the early 1970s, befriending, robbing, and killing young backpackers as he made his way along the Hippie Trail from Europe to Southeast Asia. In prison in 2008, he married Nihita Biswas, who is 44 years his junior and the daughter of his Nepalese lawyer. His health is shaky, but I wonder if other countries will pursue charges against him.

"Eastern " Europe next

 Lithuania’s Defense Ministry advised consumers to throw away their Chinese phones and avoid buying new Chinese produced phones because one version of Xiaomi phone has built-in censorship tools whilea Huawei model has security flaws.

Communist China remains angry that Taiwan  missions in Lithuania are called the Taiwanese Representative Office. Here is a link to an earlier blog with related information on Eastern Europe

oct 12

The Czech Communist party, whose support helped PM Babis keep his majority, failed to enter parliament for the first time since WW2.  Babis, also lost to a center-right coalition fronted by Petr Fiala.

Dec 16, 2021

Belarus gets worse. Sergei Tikhanovsky, a one-time presidential hopeful who was arrested several months before last year’s disputed presidential election, was sentenced to 18 years for organizing mass riots, etc. His wife Svetlana ran in his place, and many said she beat the crowned winner Lukashenko. She fled to Lithuania almost immediately after the election.

Dec 27, 2021

This should make things more interesting with Russia. Ukraine will be able to import 8 million cubic meters of gas from the European market daily via Hungary beginning January 2022.

Jan 4, 2022

While Joe Biden and Germany consider bowing down to Putin, Finnish President Sauli Niinisto argued proposals that Russia gave to the United States and NATO in December to ensure that the alliance did not expand eastward or place mid-range nuclear weapons on its border were "in conflict with the European security order" and challenged Finland's sovereignty.

Jan 20, 2022

 US State Department gave the go-ahead to Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia to send American made missiles and other weapons to Ukraine. Are we using the side door instead of getting directly in Putin's face?

Jan 24, 2022

If you're keeping score on the Ukraine situation:

Germany won't allow Estonia to send German made arms to Ukraine

Vice Admiral Kay-Achim Schönbach stepped down as the head of the German Navy after  stating that Crimea was lost to Ukraine, and we should show Putin more respect

 US State Dept told dependents of staffers at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine that they must leave the country but claimed it wasn't an evacuation. That's Biden-speak 101.

Feb 17, 2022

The US Embassy in Bulgaria blamed supply chain disruptions for the delay in the delivery of the new F-16 fighters, and claimed the USA remains committed to the modernization of Bulgaria's armed forces. Something is fishy about the timing of this statement and "supply chain" remains a convenient alibi these days whether it's valid or not.

Feb 18, 2022

I'm trying to get some background on the Ukraine situation and Putin's push to return to one Russia.  Some Ukrainian and Belarusian historians view Rus from the 11th and 12th centuries as no more than a ‘union of monarchs’, a loose collection of warring principalities.

Feb 26, 2022

History: The sack of Kiev in 1169 by the ‘northern’ party was a deeply symbolic act, deliberately designed to undermine the city’s sacred status.

March 12, 2022

I'm trying to catch up on Ukraine, particularly Kiev. The Mongols sacked Kiev in 1240 and remained a force there until the 15th century.  

Most Russians consider the idea of Kiev as the ‘mother of Russian cities’ as central to their understanding of their origins as a nation.

March 19, 2022

Meanwhile, residents of northern Greece travel en masse to Bulgaria for gasoline and groceries, because they can't stand the prices at home.

May 1, 2022

Solzhenitsyn(1918-2008) became Putin's buddy in the 2000s.  He criticized Alexander I for failing to press home Russia’s decisive advantage after the defeat of Napoleon in 1812, and regain Galicia, which is now southeastern Poland and western Ukraine.

June 18, 2022

Russia's war in the Ukraine has leaders exploring eastern Europe for answers. Macron sees little chance of an agreement with Russia to get grain out the Ukrainian port of Odessa, but plans are in the works to regenerate rail routes linking Odessa to the Danube River in Romania as an alternative.

June 23, 2022

Finland did not abolish military conscription for males as many other western nations did after the end of the Cold War and claims it 's prepared to fight Russia. Ain't the first time! They fought two wars in the 1940s against its eastern neighbor, with which it shares an 810-mile border. 

June 26, 2022

 Toblerone can no longer call its chocolate bar Swiss because it's adding a plant in Slovakia, and it will not be exclusively made in Switzerland. It's changing its design to say originated in Switzerland.

July 20, 2022

Belgium has gone through many phases, including periods of neutrality, since 1830 when it declared independence from Netherlands.  USA State Department green-lighted the potential sale of F-16 sustainment and related equipment worth $127 million to Belgium.

July 26, 2022

"The Russian troops who were in Belarus in February under the guise of a so-called 'training exercise' have not left our territory." Max, is a member a network of Belarusian opposition activists in Ukraine, who view their temporary new home as the perfect base to continue the fight against Putin and Lukashenko.

Aug 20, 2022

 USA will give the Czech Republic eight Bell military helicopters for free, and the Czech defense minister said it was recognition of the NATO country's aid to Ukraine. I know the world has changed since my youth during the cold war days, but it's a headline I'd never thought I'd see.

Sept 18, 2022

Poland’s top leaders celebrated the opening yesterday of a new canal that will mean ships no longer must secure Russia’s permission to sail from the Baltic Sea to the ports of the Vistula Lagoon. The canal is not quite finished but should give Poland full sovereignty in the northeastern region and encourage development of a region that borders Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave.

The intersystem gas connection Greece-Bulgaria will begin operation on October 1, and the planned initial capacity of the interconnector is 3 billion cubic meters per year.

Oct 7, 2022

In the recent parliamentary elections in Bulgaria 87,378 voters chose "I do not support anyone".

Nov 17, 2022

Austria and Hungary pledged to help Serbia organize deportations by plane of people who come to the Balkan nation from so-called safe countries of origin and aren't eligible for asylum in the EU or in Serbia. The migrants come into Serbia from North Macedonia and Bulgaria after arriving there from Turkey and Greece. 

Dec 28, 2022

Not surprising but noteworthy: A Minsk court sentenced in absentia former Olympic swimmer Aliaksandra Herasimenia to 12 years in prison for public calls to commit actions aimed at causing harm to the national security of Belarus. And it also ordered the seizure of Herasimenia's apartment, her car, and $48,700 in her bank accounts.

Jan 15, 2023

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Surva, a festival held every January in the village of Kosharevo, Bulgaria, is a mixture of Christian and pagan rituals that can be traced back to Thracian times. Revellers dress in red, some wearing huge masks and belts strung with large copper bells, dance around a fire on the main square to drive away evil spirits and bring in good health and crops for the New Year.  

Jan 30, 2023

After the Soviet-Yugoslavia split in the late 1940s, Albania and Bulgaria were the main conduits the USSR used to funnel funds to the communists in Greece.

Feb 19, 2023

In April 2022 in response to the massacre of civilians by Russian troops in Ukraine, the Lithuanian Art Creators' Association called for an embargo on Russian culture and art in Lithuania until the end of the war in Ukraine. I get the anger but don't see how it's made you safer and rejecting the existence of Russian art doesn't mean it vanishes from the planet.

March 2, 2023

Someone painted the Russian flag on the base of the Little Mermaid sculpture which is displayed on a rock by the waterside at the Langelinie promenade in Copenhagen, Denmark. How did no one witness the vandal at play?

April 3, 2023

In Finland the Conservative National Coalition party emerged victorious with 20.7 percent, In second place the nationalist Finns party with 20.1 percent, and PM Sanna Marin's Social Democrats garnered 19.9 percent. All of this as Finland prepares to join NATO.

April 7, 2023

Azerbaijan expelled four Iranian diplomats this week. Back in January Azerbaijan closed its embassy in Tehran after its head of security was killed in an attack and then last week opened an embassy in Israel.

April 16, 2023

Western Bosnia was called Ottoman Croatia in the 1600s.

April 22, 2023

I missed this story from late 2022. American combat drones are deployed at the air base in the Greek city of Larissa. The base is used for training NATO pilots. 

May 3, 2023

Just a reminder of why Denmark is important: It controls the entrance to the Baltic Sea, and will likely play an important strategic role in a potential military conflict with Russia as a transit point for NATO reinforcements.  Hence, Denmark's intelligence service expects Russia to recruit civilians and use journalists, business executives, etc, to spy on the country as an alternative to Russian diplomats who were expelled last year. Will headlines be borrowing from Shakespeare? "There's something rotten in the state of Denmark."

May 27, 2023

I've been reading a history of Romania book and am shaking my head at this ruling. ECHR ruled Romania must legalize same-sex civil unions. Orthodox religions in Romania survived decades of Communism, let's see how they handle extreme secularists.

 Increasing signs of jihadist groups plotting possible attacks in Europe, including in the Netherlands.  Let's not get too consumed with the Ukraine.

June 15, 2023

UDMR's ethnic Hungarian party is quitting Romania's governing coalition in a row over cabinet posts. It has served as a bridge between the coalition's main two parties, the leftist Social Democrats and the center-right Liberals. Hungarians have a long, sometimes testy history in Romania.

June 29, 2023

Morocco and Turkey are upset that a Swedish court gave an Iraqi refugee permission to burn some pages of the Koran outside Stockholm's central mosque. It's a part of freedom which ain't always pretty.

Sept 19, 2023

Bulgarian Beekeepers are pissed: Ukrainian and Chinese honey are marketed as Bulgarian honey.

Oct 16, 2023

Romania is moving its air defense closer to its Danube border due to Russian drone parts landing there.

Also, the deployment of four additional US F-16 fighter jets and an expanded no-fly zone, are signs of growing concern in Romania that the war in Ukraine could spill over into its territory.

Oct 21, 2023

Germany pushed Bulgaria to declare a token war on the USA and UK in December 1941, and Sofia was bombed by the Allies in January 1944.

Jan 9, 2024

Bulgaria and Romania will enter the Schengen via Air and Sea in 2024 - no additional refugee-related conditions from Syria and Afghanistan.

The goal is to ease travel for citizens and the strengthened internal markets within the Schengen area.

Jan 21, 2024

Shakespeare's comment on rot in Demark resonates a little more while reading about the Vikings: Norway-Demark-England battles.

Sure feels like being King was the main reason for living.

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Ergodan and his Ottoman Empire wishes

 #ergodan is all over the world news  while ignoring his  receding popularity at home in Turkey. He's pushing lasting peace on ethnically divided Cyprus is through the international community’s acceptance of two separate states which the EU opposes. Also, Greek Cypriots object to Turkey's demand for a permanent military presence on the island because it would likely turn the island into Ankara's “protectorate".

Next he expects the USA to meet "conditions" which include financial, logistical, and diplomatic support, so that Turkey can run and guard Kabul's airport while other foreign troops leave Afghanistan.

Other example of Ergodan's behavior over the years can be found here: Ergodan-Orwellian

july 22, 2021

Ergodan inflamed the situation more by taking step to open the ghost town of Varosha in defiance of UN resolutions.

Aug 3, 2021

In an earlier blog I mentioned that convicted Turkish crime boss Sedat Peker accused Soylu, the Turkish IM, of tipping off #Korkmaz  to the criminal investigation against him. Korkmaz, who was tight with Erdogan’s son-in-law Berat Albayrak, is in a Vienna, Austria jail, awaiting his fate in an extradition battle between the U.S. and Turkey which involves allegations of laundering proceeds from a U.S. renewable-energy tax credit fraud.

Aug 12, 2021

While #Ergodan has been busy trying to be a world leader, an internal refugee problem has  grown rapidly. There are 3.7 million Syrian refugees in Turkey, and last night shops and homes of Syrians were smashed in  Ankara. Meanwhile Afghan refugees are arriving in eastern Turkey from Iran.

Aug 13, 2021

Greece continues to raise pressure on aid groups that help asylum seekers, accusing them of involvement in trafficking. Plus, they designated Turkey as a safe country for five nationalities of migrants—Somali, Bangladeshi, Afghan, Pakistani and Syrian—which means that they should seek asylum there and making it nearly impossible for them to qualify for asylum in Greece. #Ergodan can't be happy.

August 27, 2021

And the world gets wackier: The Taliban asked #ergodan for assistance in running Kabul airport claiming , 'We'll ensure security and you can operate it'. But Ergodan has  not made a decision yet.

Sept 20, 2021

Turkey has technicians working at the Kabul airport  alongside a Qatari team and hopes to extend its influence through its ties with Qatar and Pakistan . However, if Turkish population starts seeing the bodies of dead Turkish soldiers, Ergodan's dash to be a world leader may crash. He's at the UN this week and is hoping for a chat with Biden while in the USA.

Oct 5, 2021

Did #Ergodan turn a blind eye? Israel accused Iran of plotting to kill Israelis in Cyprus after police in Nicosia arrested  #Azeria , a 38-year-old who used a Russian passport to cross from Turkish-occupied northern Cyprus.  He had a gun with a silencer in his car.

Oct 15, 2021

USA forces will have access to four additional military bases in Greece under the new expansion of a defense cooperation agreement signed yesterday by the two. Our troops won't be far from Turkey. I'm sure Ergodan sees his dream of being a local super power vanishing.

Oct 23, 2021

FATF,  a global finance watchdog  added Turkey to its list of countries requiring special regulatory oversight for failing to stop money laundering and terrorist financing. Turkey joins a group of 23 countries on the list, including Zimbabwe, Haiti and Syria. The so-called gray-listing of Turkey will likely spur an exodus of money out of the country as the money boys are forced to reassess their exposures.

Nov 12, 2021

It didn't take long for Ergodan to respond to pressure from Putin and the EU. Turkey banned people from Syria, Iraq, and Yemen from flying out of Turkish airports to Belarus because of the migrant crisis at the Belarus/Poland border.

Iraq is organizing repatriation flights for Iraqi nationals from Belarus.

Dec 4, 2021

Ergodan continues to justify his low interest-Lira killing financial mismanagement with Islamic doctrines forbidding usury.

Dec 28, 2021

Shoppers from Bulgaria and Greece flooded into Turkey last week to go on holiday shopping sprees due to the country's declining lira currency. Meanwhile, Turks wait for bread in long lines in the cold. Ergodan refuses to raise interest rate to deal with skyrocketing inflation.

Feb 27, 2022

What is this?  Erdogan, Putin's home boy, called for an immediate halt of Russian attacks and the start of ceasefire negotiations. He has some options, but does he only exert power against journalists who disagree with him in print.

 The 1936 Montreux Convention granted Turkey control over the Dardanelles and Bosphorus straits that connect the Mediterranean and Black seas and could limit the passage of warships during wartime.

However, Russia had the right under Montreux to return ships to its home base.

March 13, 2022

Seven months later and they're still haggling over who's running the Kabul airport. Turkish Foreign Minister Cavusoglu said  talks with the Taliban on operating the  airport were still underway, a day after he met acting Afghan Foreign Minister Muttaqi in southern Turkey.

April 19, 2022

So some folks expect Turkey to play peacemaker in the Russia/Ukraine war? Turkey has conducted numerous cross-border aerial and ground operations against the PKK over the past decades. Their latest offensive focuses on the Kurds in northern Iraq’s Metina, Zap, and Avashin-Basyan regions.

May 18, 2022

Erdogan claims that Turkey will not approve Finland and Sweden in their bids to join NATO, calling Sweden a "hatchery" for terrorist organizations, and adding it had terrorists in its parliament. He's seeking to repatriate people he alleges have links to Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and also followers of Gulen, whom Ankara accuses of orchestrating a 2016 coup attempt.

May 26, 2022

Syria's foreign ministry considers any Turkish military incursions into its territory as "war crimes and crimes against humanity." Erdogan plans on creating safe zones 20 miles beyond its southern borders to combat Kurdish armed groups in northern Syria. I'm sure Putin has no time to deal with this problem between his buddies.

June 17, 2022

Turkey jailed 16 Kurdish journalists over propaganda charges. Ergodan must be in top 5 in clamping down on the press, and he's the one tying up Finland and Sweden's bids to join NATO.

June 22, 2022

Turkey/Saudi Arabia: Restrictions on trade, flights and the screening of TV series, with mutual negative media coverage also halted. That's a chilly comment on media coverage.

July 25, 2022

Militarizing the Greek islands in the eastern Aegean is prohibited under the Treaty of Lausanne agreed to in 1923 and the Treaty of Paris in 1947. Ergodan has been whining about violations. Greek authorities claim that its military is in the area to prevent Turkish ships from approaching the Greek coast. It wouldn't surprise me if Ergodan fancies himself as being a mini-Putin.

Aug 24, 2022

Shortly before Erdogan stated it's mandatory for Russia to return Crimea to Ukraine, Russian FM Sergey Lavrov stated, during a meeting with his Syrian counterpart in Moscow, that any new Turkish operations in Syria are unacceptable. One needs a scorecard to keep track of the Turk/Rusky relationship.

Sept 4, 2022

Semra Guzel, an elected member of the Turkish Parliament, was detained in Istanbul on Friday and a court ruled late on Saturday to jail her pending trial 

Veysi Eski, a lawyer for Guzel, said 

"A person visiting an acquaintance in the organization (PKK) camp does not in and of itself constitute the crime of membership of (a terrorist) organization." A photo of the visit pre-dates her election to office.

Oct 2, 2022

Ergodan is a sensitive leader who has initiated around 200,000 legal proceedings claiming defamation of his character since 2014.  His latest complaint is against Wolfgang Kubicki, vice president of Germany's lower parliamentary chamber, for calling him a sewer rat. Kubicki noted that sewer rats are cute, but also "clever and devious.".

Oct 18, 2022

 "Remember Izmir," Ergodan, the war hawk recently said, referring to the coastal region of Turkey that the Greek army occupied a century ago until the Turks took it over. Many of the remaining Christians fled or were transferred to Greece under the terms of the 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey.

Nov 21, 2022

Turkey launched air strikes in northern Syria and Iraq, hitting Kurdish posts and Syrian army positions, while Iran attacked Kurdish towns in northern Iraq. Is Ergodan getting tighter with mullahs in his pursuit of a new Ottoman Empire? His buddy Putin is kind of busy with Ukraine.

Dec 2, 2022

You just knew this was coming thanks to Ergodan's bombing attacks on the Kurds. The Syrian Democratic Forces, a U.S.-backed group that battles Islamic State jihadists in Syria, has stopped all joint counter-terrorism operations as a result of Turkish bombardment on its area of control.

Dec 20, 2022

 Sweden's Supreme Court blocked the extradition of Bulent Kenes, a Turkish journalist, because it viewed the coup allegations by Turkey as being in part related to a political crime and there was a risk of persecution based on his political views. This could end Sweden's bid to join NATO.

Jan 14, 2023

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu claims that Sweden "cannot escape its responsibilities" by only condemning the hanging in effigy of Ergodan.  Hey Cavusoglu, Sweden isn't a dictatorship like Turkey.

Feb 2, 2023

 Turkey slammed Germany, the Netherlands, and Great Britain for temporarily closing down their consulates in Istanbul over possible retaliatory attacks for Quran-burning incidents in parts of Europe. Turkish authorities claim they haven't found any weapons, ammunition, or signs of a planned violent acts.

Feb 10, 2023

Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the head of the main opposition Republican People’s Party, said shoddy construction contributed to the high casualty toll from the earthquakes in Turkey. And access to Twitter in Turkey was temporarily restricted. Ergodan can't stomach anything resembling free speech.

March 9, 2023

Five women protesting on Women's Day were detained in Istanbul for walking down the street with signs. Ergodan is clueless.

April 15, 2023

Ergodan's government on a burnt a copy of the Koran and the Turkish flag in front of the Turkish embassy in Copenhagen."It is unacceptable to allow these vile attacks under the pretext of freedom of expression, despite all our warnings,"  Please look up the definitions of freedom and of sovereignty.

May 15, 2023

 It's likely that Turkey is headed toward a May 28 presidential H2H runoff since Ergodan didn't make it to 50%. Erdogan 49.6% , Kemal Kilicdaroglu 44.7%.

June 9, 2023

Turkish lira plunges as Erdogan starts another presidential term, and the Swedes bow down to him and will send Kurds back to Turkey. Crazy world!

July 14, 2023

Sweden's Supreme Court blocked the extradition of two Turks that Ergodan claims are terrorists, which may put Sweden 's NATO bid on hold again.

Aug 19, 2023

Turks threaten UN peacekeepers in Cyprus.  US Navy Nam vet told me years ago: being sent to Cyprus after serving in Nam was a nightmare- you got it from all sides.

Oct 2, 2023

Turkey bombed suspected PKK terrorists in Bradost region of Iraq yesterday. Ergodan does what he wants!

Oct 5, 2023

US F-16 warplanes shot down a Turkish drone in Syria. Ergodan, the Emperor!

Nov 13, 2023

Turkey sent 3K Afghans back to Kabul in past 20 days. Iran and Pakistan have intensified similar deportation operations.

Dec 10, 2023

 Erdogan made his first visit to Athens in six years last week. Greece be wary!

After a war lasted eight and a half years between 1821 and 1829, the Greeks won their freedom from Turkish rule.

Feb 27, 2024

Turkey will help defend Somalia's long coastline by helping to rebuild Somalian  naval forces and Ethiopia ain't happy. It's been trying to gain access to the Red Sea via formal recognition of Somaliland, a breakaway state.

March 5, 2024

Turkey's Dortyol terminal, a key Mediterranean oil hub, will cease accepting Russian oil imports. Maybe it's the USA sanctions, maybe a bluff?

April 1, 2024

Not fooling! CHP retained Ankara and gained 15 other mayoral seats in cities in Turkey yesterday. Big losses for Ergodan's AKP. Wonder if he blames the Kurds?

 

Cuomo reminds me of Mussolini

 #Cuomo uses Mussolini’s method, of  taking control and bullying businesses and groups to do his bidding.

1)  In 2018 he ordered the NY Department of Financial Services to urge insurers and bankers statewide to determine whether any relationship they may have with the NRA  sends the wrong message.

2) Governor Cuomo will hold a $10,000 per person fundraiser on June 29.

3) Right now it appears the state will be paying Cuomo's legal fees in the  New York AG probe  into whether  sexually harassed women who worked on his staff.

Earlier blog on NY related topics https://vaporvents.blogspot.com/2013/03/save-me-from-daytime-talk-tv.html

June 5, 2021

Maybe Andrew is like his dad? With "Anyone but Cuomo" sentiment running strong, especially upstate, Mario Cuomo's bid for a fourth term failed. He lost to Republican state senator, George Pataki, in 1994.

In the mid 1990s, Bill Clinton  was recorded suggesting that Mario Cuomo "acted like" a Mafiosi and was a "mean son of a bitch."

June 8, 2021

Federal Prosecutors subpoenaed individuals who were involved in editing early versions of Cuomo's book in hopes of  acquiring  information on nursing-home issues and how the governor’s responded to the pandemic.

July 8, 2021

 Gov. Cuomo on Tuesday declared a state of emergency over gun violence, which he said is now claiming more lives than Covid-19, and also signed legislation making it easier to sue gun manufacturers who don't  prevent their products from being marketed or sold illegally in New York.

How, the He!! are gunmakers supposed to keep tabs on guns forever. You know this law will be contested and in the meantime gunmakers will flee the state of New York.

Aug, 5, 2021

You know it's getting bad for Cuomo when fellow Democrats invoke Richard Nixon's name. Assemblywoman Amy Paulin, a Democrat from Westchester County, said :

“Perhaps when he sees we’re all serious—and when the articles of impeachment are right in front of his face—he’ll realize it’s time. ----- “Nixon didn’t resign right away.”

Aug 9, 2021

#MelissaDeRosa , Cuomo's consigliere who helped implement a protocol in 2020 in which the governor was never left alone with younger female staff, is resigning. The walls are crumbling!

Aug 28, 2021

The do as I say not as I do crowd took another hit from Cuomo's fall from grace. #TinaTchen, a former chief of staff for Michelle Obama,  resigned  as the head of  Time's Up, a group founded during the #MeToo movement by Hollywood women to fight sexual harassment, over reports she gave Cuomo advice  in his battle against charges of sexual misconduct.

Sept 28, 2021

#Hochul , Cuomo's replacement, has a direct line to God:  "those who refuse the COVID-19 vaccine "aren't listening to God and what God wants."  Is the word omnipotent in the oath to to be Governor of New York?  

Dec 4, 2021

#chriscuomo canned by CNN, whose parent company AT&T is preparing to merge its media assets with those owned by Discovery Inc. Last month John Malone, a major Discovery shareholder, said he wanted to see CNN “actually have journalists” and “evolve back to the kind of journalism that it started with.” Now that's F'n hilarious.

Dec 18, 2021

Ok, I'm no fan of Il Duce Cuomo, but New York AG Letitia James’s statement, that it cannot seize millions of dollars paid to former Gov. Cuomo as part of a book deal without a further investigation, is correct.  This slows down a request to the AG from the New York Joint Commission on Public Ethics  to get those funds disgorged. Bureaucracies know no bounds.

March 3, 2022

NY AG James has been having issues nailing Cuomo in court recently and now Judge Cohen blocked her bid to shutter the NRA. He raised concerns that shutting down the NRA could impinge on free speech and assembly rights of its members, but allowed the portion on the case on diverting NRA funds to continue.

March 28, 2022

Rangers fans booed Gov. Hochul during ceremonial puck drop at MSG on March 15 during “Women’s Empowerment Night” at the Garden. I'm surprised it wasn't louder.

July 14, 2022

Remember when Tina Tchen was criticized following reports that Cuomo and his aides sought her advice on how to handle a growing harassment scandal while she simultaneously led the nonprofit, which was founded to help those who have been sexually harassed or assaulted. 

Obama Foundation hired her which shows again the Left takes care of its own. Valerie Jarrett defended the hire by claiming Tchen is a national Changemaker- is that a word?

July 22, 2022

Lee Zeldin, GOP candidate for Governor of NY against Hochul, escaped uninjured from a knife attack in Rochester. Gov Hochul’s press secretary, Avi Smal, deflected questions about providing Zeldin with a state police security detail.

And the governor’s office did not respond to a request for comment about the state’s bail laws after David G. Jakubonis, Zeldin's attacker, was released on his own recognizance.

Sept 13, 2022

Hey, New York is denying parole to at least one bad guy. Mark David Chapman, John Lennon’s killer, was denied parole for 12th time in late August, 2022

Oct 16, 2022

From Cuomo to Hochul to a Republican??? Zeldin has a legitimate shot at becoming Governor and rattling a lot of entrenched folks in Albany.

March 18, 2023

A onetime aide to former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo who accused him of sexual harassment in a federal lawsuit filed a separate lawsuit Wednesday against the state.

March 18, 2023

Charlotte Bennett, a one -time aide to ex Gov Cuomo, filed a complaint in state court in Manhattan saying her former employer, the state of New York, is liable for Cuomo's sexual harassment. She has federal lawsuit pending against Cuomo. And the hits keep coming!  I guess she figures she'll win somewhere.

What if? just fracking around Part 2

 The old blog was getting long. https://vaporvents.blogspot.com/2013/06/the-what-if-frack.html

What if you're watching the volcano at Mount Fagradalsfjall in Iceland and get hungry. Some scientists   decided to cook sausages on the lava at the foot of the volcano.

March 24, 2021

Suez canal  blocked: Tug boats and diggers are working to refloat a giant container ship  ,Evergreen Marine, which officials suspect of being hit by a sudden strong wind, causing the hull to deviate, hit the bottom, and run aground.

April 4, 2021

What if you don't cover your tattoos?  Italian police tracked down Marc Feren Claude Biart, a fugitive Italian gangster who hid his face but not his tats in a culinary video he had uploaded to YouTube. He was arrested in the Dominican Republic last week and extradited back to Italy.

April 17, 2021

 What if a new Protestant Reformation from Germany lurks? #PopeFrancis is aware of the German Synod's push to tear down the Catholic Church’s teaching on human sexuality, priestly celibacy, and other morally and politically charged issues,  and has complained to at least one German bishop that the synod’s focus is on “political issues” more than on converting souls.

April 21, 2021

What if a major publisher found some backbone?  Jonathan Karp, Simon & Schuster Chief Executive, said  the publisher will proceed with a book by former Vice President #MikePence despite objections from some of its employees, saying he wants to preserve a culture that presents different perspectives.

What a bizarre world  when I'm giving him credit for doing his job.

May 5, 2021

Switzerland has represented USA interests in Iran since 1979. What if a high-ranking diplomat. at the Swiss embassy in Tehran died after falling from a building?

May 20, 2021

What if  the state of Greater Idaho, which would include rural eastern Oregon and large swathes of northeastern California, becomes a reality? Seven Oregon counties , Malheur, Sherman, Grant, Baker,  Lake , Jefferson, and Union, have voted to leave Oregon. However ,  getting this through the state of Oregon's legislature and the US Congress will be nearly impossible. Plus  getting California's approval will be daunting.

May 27, 2021

What if  the folks in charge are made accountable?  Ex PSU President #Spanier, who was  convicted of one misdemeanor count of child endangerment in 2017 for being aware of possible child sexual abuse on the State College, Pa., campus but choosing to ignore it, is finally headed to jail to serve a two month sentence. 

June 15, 2021

National Parks in the USA are closing their gates  because they're over capacity .What  if an  app said a park was open? Well, folks remain parked next to a sign that says ‘closed to camping’.

June 24, 2021

What if only 43 People Withdrew Their Signatures from a  Petition to remove Newsom as the Governor of California?  Then the recall election  date needs to be set.

July 13, 2021

What if you live in a remote village in Bohitiwaya, Sri Lanka and need an internet signal for online classes during the Covid shutdown? You climb across trees  through dense bushes sometimes visited by leopards and elephants to reach a mountaintop treehouse in a forest reserve.

July 30, 2021

What if you live in  a  federal parliamentary- constitutional monarchy,.and see your government do this? Australia has deployed hundreds of soldiers to Sydney to help enforce a Covid lockdown. They did a similar thing in Melbourne last year.

It's to review your constitution!!!!!!!!!

August 17, 2021

What if  the UK and Russia ambassadors, respectively Simon Shercliff and Levan Dzhagaryan,  re-staged a  famous photo taken in Tehran in 1943  of allied leaders Stalin, Churchill, and FDR?

 Iran's Foreign Minister Zarif called the picture "extremely inappropriate".

At least Iran can't blame the USA since there wasn't an American in FDR's spot.

Aug 26, 2021

What if Sirhan Sirhan, the man who was found guilty of assassinating  RFK , a presidential candidate in 1968, is up for parole?  Los Angeles County DA #GeorgeGascón  will not send a  member of his office to the parole board hearing, and RFK's son supports his parole.

Sept 17, 2021

What if  you heard someone say I found the “The beaver film,”? You'd probably suspect something x-rated.

in 2014 Michal Davidson, a collections archivist for the Idaho State Archives, found a 1948  film, which shows beavers in specially designed boxes parachuting from the sky as part of a Fish and Game experiment to relocate them into remote wilderness. 

Oct 31, 2021

While reading the news on the  Climateers and the G-20 proposals for world taxes, I was reminded of King George III's  plans in the 1760s and 70s to bring all the colonies into a single, coherent system that would allow taxes to be raised for their governance and administration. Many powerful British leaders wanted to rein in colonies who were  managing more of their own affairs.

nov 14, 2021

On October 17 Federal District Judge Lance Walker ruled in favor of the Maine Lobstering Union when he rejected a four-month federal ban protecting whales, that would have prevented lobstering in the Gulf of Maine.  I learned last week while on a road trip and murmuring aloud about paper straws being used in restaurants in MD and VA, that paper straws are  all the rage because plastic straws' trash hurts the whales. 

Nov 16, 2021

What if heavy rain and flooding  hit southern Egypt?  Three people died and more than 500 went to hospitals with scorpion stings. The rain forced scorpions from their hiding places into many houses across the region.

Jan 2, 2022

What if a political leader said this in today's tweet mad world.  Metternich, an important Minister in the Austro- Hungarian Empire, saw revolution as an essentially French disease.

Jan 3, 2022

French authorities on Sunday removed a large EU flag attached to the Arc de Triomphe in Paris after opponents of Macron accused him of "erasing" French identity. Of course, Macron's folks said the EU flag was to mark France's six-month EU presidency and it was temporary.

Jan 13, 2022

Virginia House Speaker Todd Gilbert (R-Shenandoah) lashed out at exiting Governor Northam for "lecturing us all from some assumed moral high ground because he read the book ‘Roots’ and then went on a non-stop reconciliation tour.”  

Feb 3, 2022

What if Fidel Castro, a commie leader, pledged that every child under seven would have a liter of subsidized milk every day.  In 2022 the guaranteed monthly ration of three kilos of powdered milk for children is running out.  So all you wokers keep wearing your Fidel or Che t-shirts.

March 22, 2022

What if Sarah Palin runs in and wins a special election to fill the seat left vacant by the death of Alaskan congressman Don Young (R)? Just having a little fun this morning.

March 31, 2022

What if the CBS News staff was embarrassed and baffled by Mick Mulvaney joining CBS, which MGT claims is to gain more GOP access Hey staff. you got bigger things to be embarrassed about. Do you remember CBS paid  Dan Rather, etc?

April 2, 2022

A rule, proposed by Mayor Wu and passed Wednesday by the Boston City Council, prohibits people from targeting people in their homes with protests from 9 p.m. to 9 a.m. Five people were cited outside her house with $ 50 fines, however  Wu’s administration didn’t put out anything saying this rule was going into effect. Welcome to Putin's Boston.  

May 10, 2022

What if radical climate activist groups Extinction Rebellion and Mothers Rise Up have staged protests outside the Lloyd's of London tower in London? Well, Lloyd's of London (SOLYD.UL) is scared and encouraging members of its 100-odd syndicates to attend its annual general meeting next week online rather than in person.

June 15, 2022

Well, if you live long enough: Mayra Flores won a special election and will be the first Mexican-born congresswoman and the first Republican to represent the Rio Grande Valley area in Texas since Reconstruction. 

July 27, 2022

What if a debate host faints while on air? 

The TalkTV/Sun event between Tory PM candidates, Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss, ended abruptly when TalkTV’s political editor, Kate McCann, fainted during the debate.\

Aug 16, 2022

What if being a woke corporation doesn't matter to Biden's bureaucracy? Starbucks alleges that a regional NLRB office made special arrangements for pro-union workers to vote in person at its office, despite mail in ballots being the store's chosen election option. And that NLRB officials disclosed confidential information to the union, including which ballots had arrived in the mail to be counted.

Sept 14, 2022

What if Giorgia Meloni, leader of the conservative Fratelli d'Italia party, becomes Italy's first female Prime Minister.  Will the press continue to use the goofy word- rightist- to describe her political views.

Oct 11, 2022

What if a New Zealand’s government proposal to tax the greenhouse gases that farm animals make from burping and peeing becomes law?

The government says that farmers should be able to recoup the cost by charging more for climate-friendly products. This not a Babylon Bee article.

Jan 1, 2023

 Bill Cosby wants to tour. I'm sure he'll get chuckles, but will a venue host him?.  Well, Deshaun Watson returned to the NFL, and the beat goes on.

Jan 7, 2023

What if Hillary Clinton won't go away?  She's joining the Columbia School of International and Public Affairs as a "professor of practice". Whatever the he!! that is! Perhaps Allan Iverson has the answer?

March 11, 2023

What if New Hope, a nonprofit adoption agency and pregnancy center that helps new mothers and does not receive government funding, had to fight the New York Office of Children and Family Services agency for four years in court to avoid being shut down. New York state agreed to pay them 250K and leave them alone for now. It's just nuts how folks have to battle so long to prevent the government from intruding in every aspect of our lives. Perhaps, bureaucrats need to take a class in Civics.

Sept 27, 2023

New Zealand will tax farmers for methane from animals from 2025 so they''ll vote against Labour this year.

Nov 7, 2023

California boat captain found guilty of 'seaman's manslaughter' in fire deaths of 34 people that occurred on

Sept. 2, 2019, near Santa Cruz Island

Jerry Boylan, the captain of the 75-foot dive boat Conception was convicted by a U.S. District Court jury in Los Angeles on a single charged count of "misconduct or neglect of a ship officer" under a federal homicide statute created in the early 1800s to deal with steamboat accidents. Boylan got off the boat quickly and didn't warn other passengers. Four other passengers survived.

 Federal investigators didn't determine precisely what triggered the blaze, but they found it began toward the rear of the main deck where passengers had plugged cellphones, etc into lithium ion battery chargers.

March 14, 2024

A deep red lip-paint contained in a stone vial which was found at an ancient graveyard site in southern Iran in 2001, has been identified as a lipstick that was applied with a brush during the Bronze Age.

March 19, 2024

Arthus Schubarth pleaded guilty to charges he was involved in genetically engineering a sheep species. He imported parts of Marco Polo argali sheep, which is the largest sheep species in the world, from Kyrgyzstan into the USA without declaring the importation.

His goal was to earn higher prices from shooting preserves,

He violated the The Lacey Act which prohibits trade in wildlife, fish, and plants that have been illegally taken, possessed, transported, or sold.

Hawaii, Canada

 In a previous blog Cale-mut carcasses- variety pack I rambled on about the 49th parallel, the Ambassador Bridge, the Treaty of Ghent,  while discussing the history of relations between the USA and Canada. Today, I stumbled across a story about thousands of Hawaiians settling in the British Columbia’s Gulf Islands in the mid 1800s.  In the late 1850s, when the border between the US and present-day Canada solidified, many Hawaiians moved north, where they were able to attain the rights of British citizenship. The Gulf Islands in Canada are scattered across the Salish Sea between Vancouver and Southern Vancouver Island.

Dec 3

 Vancouver Police Chief #AdamPalmer pushing back against budget cuts: "We're one of the few services the city provides that is an essential service. We're not a nice-to-have, we're a must-have." More police chiefs should be that frank.

dec 9

In other news, Canadian conservatives are debating 24-7 on Bill C-7 which is supposed to bring Canada's assisted-dying law into compliance with a Quebec Superior Court ruling last fall, which struck down a provision that allows assisted dying only for people whose natural death is reasonably foreseeable.

Jan 6, 2020

I started reading "Scoundrels of the Salish sea" to  get more acquainted with the Pacific Northwest, and found out a little more about the Battle of Puget Sound and the Battle of Seattle, including how the courts take their time. In  December 10, 2004 a historical court convened in Pierce County, Washington ruled “as a legal combatant of the Indian War… Leschi, a Nisqually Chief,  should not have been held accountable under law for the death of an enemy soldier in 1858 and exonerated him, but did not declare that Leschi did not kill territorial militia Col. A.B. Moses. Leschi was hung in 1858.

Jan 12, 2021

 Thankfully, Trudeau doesn't get to choose if there's a snap election in Canada in 2021, and he knows his Liberals could lose. “Our priority as a government is going to be helping people get through this pandemic … it’s not in our interests to have an election,”. Polling data suggests Liberals would fall short of winning a majority.

Jan 13, 2021

Trudeau blocked Chinese state-owned Shandong Gold Mining Co. from buying a gold mine in the Canadian Arctic . He got one right. Many opponents of the purchase have argued it would give China too much access to the Arctic .

Jan 28, 2021

While making my way through Scoundrels of the Salish Sea, I read a  story about the Billingsleys, a family of bootleggers from Oklahoma who used Seattle area pharmacies to circumvent the state of Washington's prohibition laws. One of those guys left a son  named Glenn behind in Oklahoma. An actress, Barbara Combes, married him. Say hi to June Cleaver of the Leave it Beaver TV show. #BarbaraBillingsley

Feb 22, 2021

On March 3 Niagara Falls will be illuminated in the Bulgarian flag colors, white, green and red, to mark  the 55th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Bulgaria and Canada. It can be seen during this time frame 22:00 and 22:15 Canadian time (05:00 - 05:15 in Bulgaria) from both the Canadian coast and the United States.

April 3, 2021

I finished "Scoundrels of the Salish Sea" and the last third of the book was thin on details and riveting stories about the 1930s and 40s in Washington. However, it did remind me that some things never change. For example,  a prosecutor can later become the defense attorney for someone he or she once prosecuted or vice-versa.

April 16, 2021

Oh Canada  who Can Keep Returning Asylum Seekers to the USA for now.

Sure looks like they're using the pandemic to be less friendly to asylum seekers. Many were entering the country at an unofficial border crossing between New York state and the Canadian province of Quebec where the Safe Third Country Agreement doesn’t apply. In 2020 the Canadian government tightened border restrictions in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

May 1, 2021

Part of Canada's consideration of lighter criminal sentences to combat racism includes proposed changes on some firearm convictions, such as unauthorized possession and use of certain weapons in situations not linked to organized crime. This would allow Judges to issue a sentence they deem appropriate under the circumstances.

While I think Canada's gun laws are nuts,  it's crazy that they want divide crime into organized  or individual , for lack of a better description.

May 11, 2021

Wild, wild west Canada: Man killed in gang-related violence at Vancouver airport in broad daylight. Police caught up with the getaway SUV, but the pursuing officer did not return fire from the escaping suspects in a busy area and stopped the pursuit.

May 28, 2021

Canada wants to force YouTube, TikTok, and other video- and audio-sharing sites to prominently feature it's nation's artists so here comes censorship and a less open marketplace.

aug 29, 2021

Polling shows Conservatives with a slim lead over Trudeau’s Liberal Party as Canada readies for the upcoming September 20 vote that Trudeau triggered in hopes of solidifying his power.

Sept 25, 2021

I don't know if the crossbow shooter in Vancouver was bored or mean or both when he shot a bolt from the fire escape of an apartment building and struck a man just below the knee cap. He left his crossbows, replica assault rifles, scopes, and lights and lasers and fled safely away.

Nov 11, 2021

This is going to be a nightmare: Canada Strips Military of Powers to Investigate Sexual Misconduct.

 All investigations and prosecutions of sexual offenses in the military will be handled by civilian law enforcement.

Feb 1, 2022

Trudeau calls trucker protest an 'insult to truth'. Congrats Trudy. you're now qualified to a be a fact checker for FBook.

Feb 10, 2022

Quebec MP Joël Lightbound, a fellow Liberal, criticized Trudy this week for demonizing groups that disagree with Covid mandates.

Feb 13, 2022

I missed this item from earlier this month. Quebec Premier Francois Legault dropped plans to tax unvaccinated residents amid backlash. How could he not foresee anger over this nonsense?

June 4. 2022

The Progressive Conservatives were on track to win at least 83 of the provincial legislature's 124 seats in the province of Ontario., They held 67 in the last legislature. Doug Ford's Progressive Conservatives came to power in 2018 after 15 years of Liberal rule.

June 8, 2022

Chief Electoral Officer Stephane Perrault sent a report to Canada's House of Commons suggesting it should be illegal to knowingly spread disinformation about the voting process. So he wants Canada to have a Ministry of Truth?

Sept 29, 2022

Thaw Nandar Aung, the Myanmar beauty queen, who had spoken out against military rule in her country and was left in limbo at Thailand's airport, found temporary sanctuary.  She will live in Prince Edward Island, a province off Canada's Atlantic coast, with the government's assistance, but her official status in Canada is unknown.

Nov 2, 2022

The Punjab referendum is asking people of Sikh origin in several countries whether they want the Sikh-majority Indian state to become an independent nation. It is unofficial and non-binding and is stirring up tensions in Canada which is one of the first to hold votes. There are folks waving flags of Khalistan, the independent state that some Sikhs want to see carved out of India, and the nationalists brandishing the Indian flag.  I'm not sure if the vote in Canada is being held on public or private property.

Nov 30, 2022

 Alberta's government has introduced a bill that would grant Premier Danielle Smith and her cabinet broad powers to rewrite provincial laws behind closed doors in an effort to push back against Trudy and the folks in Ottawa. This should be entertaining.

Jan 25, 2023

And I thought Trudy and Biden were buds. Canada is upset that the USA plans to maintain tariffs on Canadian softwood lumber imports which are the legacy of a decades-long trade dispute over the structure of Canada's timber sector that were not resolved when a quota agreement expired in 2015.

March 23, 2023

Han Dong will be sitting as an independent MP instead of as Trudy Liberal after being the subject of foreign interference allegations including that he suggested to a senior Chinese diplomat in February 2021 that China should delay releasing Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, the two Canadians who had been imprisoned in China from 2018 to 2021, in order to avoid benefitting the Conservative Party.

April 8, 2023

Canada will deploy Royal Canadian Air Force CP-140 Aurora Aircraft to Japan to support implementation of United Nations Security Council sanctions against North Korea. Trudy is all over the map.

May 17, 2023

More "Chinese police stations" operating in Canada months after Public Safety Minister Mendincino claimed otherwise.

Feb 10, 2024

I missed this from 2022 land acknowledgement syllabus speech battles: Stuart Reges, a computer science professor at UW:

“I acknowledge that by the labor theory of property the Coast Salish people can claim historical ownership of almost none of the land currently occupied by the University of Washington.”