Wednesday-Night

New battle over Arctic oil plans
(BBC) The grey waters of the Arctic Ocean are the scene for a new battle over plans for a huge expansion in the drilling of oil and gas far beyond the Alaskan shore.
The governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin, in her speech accepting her nomination as Republican Party candidate for vice-president […]

The U.S. 2008 Presidential Election: An Evaluation
by Rodrigue Tremblay
In his quite exhaustive analysis (excerpts below), Dr. Tremblay concludes
The 2008 American presidential election is a most unusual and interesting election, and it will be studied intensively in the coming years. My preliminary assessment is that this is still a presidential election for the Democrats to […]

Welcome home to all the summer’s happy wanderers. We have missed you - and you have missed some fascinating evenings - and look forward to catching up with your news, along with your thoughts on The News as it unfolds.
Speaking of unfolding,-  or more accurately, unravelling -, the Republican Convention will surely go down in […]

This fascinating counter view of the respective roles of the belligerents and those of the U.S. and the U.K. is a must-read. Pay close attention also to the comments regarding China.
From a neighboring state, the view of recent events in Georgia is somewhat different.
A few points for you to consider:
1. Neither Abkhazia, nor South Ossetia […]

The Medvedev Doctrine and American Strategy
(Stratfor) The fifth point is the critical one: “As is the case of other countries, there are regions in which Russia has privileged interests.” In other words, the Russians have special interests in the former Soviet Union and in friendly relations with these states. Intrusions by others into these regions […]

Following last Wednesday Night’s Canada-focused (healthcare, the NDP and environment) evening, we are looking forward to reviewing matters beyond our borders in the company of Carole and Rodrigue Tremblay. Dr. Tremblay, an economist, is a former Quebec Minister of Industry and Commerce, and  has published 27 books, most of them dealing with finance and economics while […]

Excellent selection of readings suggested by one of our favorite sources
Petrodollar bonanza offers economic key
(FT) At today’s prices, the value of oil in the ground exceeds the combined value of all the world’s equity and debt markets.
Oil-importing nations are paying oil-exporting nations roughly $1,500bn per annum for oil – about 2.5 […]

We are delighted that Anne Lagacé Dowson, the NDP candidate in our by-election will be joining us this Wednesday. As all of you who have not been hibernating (what would be the summer verson of hibernating?) in the woods, absent all forms of print and telecommunications news, the race in Westmount-Ville-Marie is […]

Gathering Storm of Expectations in Nairobi Slum
NAIROBI, Aug 20 (IPS) - For the first time in its 60 years of existence, there is a ray of hope for the one million inhabitants of Kibera, one of the world’s most densely-populated slums. After spending most of his life on opposition benches — or in prison — […]

17 August
Russia’s Arctic ambitions challenged
With rich oil and gas reserves at stake as the Arctic ice thins, US and Canadian ships are teaming up to conduct a seismic survey of the Beaufort seabed north of the Yukon-Alaska border
16 August 2008
Russia leads scramble for Arctic
(The Telegraph) With the polar icecaps melting, and oil prices at […]