Wednesday-Night

With the winding-down of the Beijing Olympics, it seems inevitable that Vancouver’s organization should become a political target - at least in Canada. Thus, it is hardly surprising that the media should notice the none-too-subtle conditions attached to federal funding, not to mention the coincidental cuts to arts funding. Equally inevitable will be the debate […]

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 […]

See also U.S. campaign 2008
August 21
Between rallies and parties next week, Democrats would do well to come up to the Rocky Mountain promontory where William F. Cody, the Elvis of the Old West, is buried. They should come to this perch and look out at the future. It’s theirs to lose.
(NYT) DENVER -– From […]

See also Afghanistan news on Wednesday-night.com and
CBC Background on Afghanistan 2008
Robert Galbraith
August 20
(NYT Editorial) The more territory the Taliban controls, the more money it can raise from narcotics and black-market activities to mount an even fiercer challenge against the foundering civilian governments in Kabul and Islamabad. And the more territory the Taliban controls, the more […]

August 18
Disgruntled investors lose Ontario court bid in ABCP meltdown
(CBC News) Disgruntled investors, who bought asset-backed financial instruments, will need to go to the Supreme Court of Canada if they still want to scuttle an agreement in one of the country’s largest financial meltdowns ever.
On Monday, the Ontario Court of Appeal turned down a bid […]

Background on UN Convention of Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)
Real Climate - Climate science from climate scientists Arctic & Antarctic

Photograph: Louise Murray/Science Photo Library
August 17
A Push to Increase [U.S.] Icebreakers in the Arctic
A growing array of military leaders, Arctic experts and lawmakers say the United States is losing its ability to patrol and […]

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 […]

August 15, 2008
David Jones . Don’t kid yourselves, Canada
Citizen Special
Sometimes one wonders why a politician marches into a swamp clearly marked, “Here lie alligators.” Is it hubris — the conviction that water walking is not confined to Biblical characters? Is it an effort to float a lead balloon by someone confused as to whether lead […]

Enlarged map and notes
See also Arctic and Antarctic
(BBC) British scientists say they have drawn up the first detailed map to show areas in the Arctic that could become embroiled in future border disputes.
A team from Durham University compiled the outline of potential hotspots by basing the design on historical and ongoing arguments over ownership.
Russian […]

(Strategic Forecasting Inc.) Kosovo, Russia and the West
2007 saw the resurgence of a long-dormant issue: independence for Serbia’s breakaway province of Kosovo. The tiny region is a key pressure point on the fault line between Russia and the West.
The subject of independence for Kosovo is re-emerging as a serious issue. The West seems intent on […]