Wednesday-Night

This week is filled with an assortment of somewhat unrelated topics, although sooner or later the thread always becomes the world economy and the impact of events on it.
A is for Afghanistan, as it often is, and the focus will be on President Obama’s Tuesday speech at West Point, which according to media sources will introduce an exit strategy along with some stiff requirements for the Karzai government to clean up its act. A is also for AJE - Al Jazeera English – and the welcome decision of the CRTC to permit it to serve the Canadian market. We have been devoted followers of Al Jazeera online and are delighted.
C is for corruption – the elephant in the room, according to Kevin Dougherty – and why the Charest Liberals are so reluctant to hold an enquiry; also for Credentials – the welcome news that – at long last – there is a plan to fast-track recognition of foreign-trained professionals’ credentials – something that many Wednesday Nighters’ have advocated for years.
D is for Dubai World and what the Economist terms A financial sandstorm with consequences for the global economy [and some questions raised about sovereign wealth funds]. It appears that the UAE Central Bank (follow Glenn Goucher’s advice and give your central banker a hug) will bail them (or at least the exposed banks) out, but no doubt with the same, if not greater strictures than President Obama plans to impose on Mr. Karzai.
E is for the case of the purloined e-mails - not a brand new story, but one that has had both deniers and proponents of global climate change in an (even greater) prolonged and nasty spat. Christian Science Monitor ; CBC ; Yahoo! news
I is for Israeli intransigence over the settlements issue. Although the government has announced a temporary moratorium it does not apply to areas in the West Bank that Israel annexed to its Jerusalem municipality after capturing the territory from Jordan in a 1967 war. Inevitably, the Palestinians are not impressed.
N is for nuclear and two stories this week. The first is Iran’s insistence on expanding their nuclear program:
Defying the UN just days after receiving a rebuke from the International Atomic Energy Agency, Iran pledged to add 10 more plants and greatly increase its production of reactor-grade uranium, a dramatic expansion of its current sanctioned nuclear program. Authorities from France, Russia, Germany and other nations condemned the plan, promising to consider new sanctions, while Iranian authorities said the expansion came in response to pressure brought by the UN Security Council members plus Germany. Los Angeles Times (11/30) ,BBC(11/30)
The second is the Economist report that a uranium shortage could derail plans to go nuclear to cut carbon emissions (what about Iran’s plans?)
P is for the Plateau and Projet Montreal’s plan to give the area a green makeover. It sounds idyllic, but one wonders how businesses and citizens will react – not to mention Montrealers (closing down Camilien Houde road to vehicular traffic?)
R is for the Richard Colvin/Afghan detainees story that continues to titillate, but our question is, why is this old news coming up now? And what has motivated the obviously sincere Mr. Colvin to risk his career at this juncture?  In our opinion, the best analysis of the story is offered by Examiner.com (not The Westmount), while the CBC maintains a lengthy dossier on who said what when. Former Ambassador Jeremy Kinsman’s piece Time for more public service backbone does a fine job of explaining the answers to our wonderings about what motivated Mr. Colville to go public now.
S is for the Somali pirates who are at it again – this time capturing a huge oil tanker with 28 aboard. This has been going on for months and months and still nobody seems to have a solution. No wonder we cannot solve global problems!
Z is for Zamboni – Not the machine, but Dr. Paolo, whose thinking outside the box brings promising new treatments for MS and hope to many.
Finally, we could not resist giving you this valuable piece of information related to climate change
Australia aims to develop greener sheep
Australian scientists are working to identify a genetic link that causes burping in the hopes of breeding sheep that burp less as part of the country’s efforts to battle climate change. Agriculture accounts for 16% of Australia’s greenhouse-gas emissions, and 66% of agricultural emissions are methane from farm animals. BBC (11/29)