Wednesday Night #2234

Looking forward/Looking back

We cannot remember any time when we were as alarmed and discouraged as we are today – not even when we lived and worked in Washington during the Cuban missile crisis. At least, then, the leaders of both countries were sane. The amount of harm at a global scale that the Musk/Trump/MAGA alliance
-for as long as it lasts- can and will accomplish is truly terrifying.

Justin Trudeau = Canada’s Joe Biden – doing the right thing for the country, and the party,  far too late.
The best commentary we have heard was from Gerry Butts on CBC Radio The Current
“I think it’s hard to say that he left at the appropriate time, if I can put it that way. It would have been a much more orderly transition for — most importantly — the country and certainly the party had he gone sooner than he did.
“But … I know how difficult those jobs are, and I don’t want to be one of those people screaming from the sidelines. But it’s hard, you know, it’s hard to look at the circumstances that the country is in now and not say we’d all be in better shape had he gone last spring.”
See also Long reads below for Andrew Coyne: With the country under attack, Trudeau leaves it to drift – for months
The title of Jeremy Kinsman‘s piece in Policy is appropriately Memo to Trudeau’s Successor: Make Canada Count Again
The resignation has made headlines in media around the world including this column in the Washington Post by Ishaan Tharoor As Trudeau exits, Canada faces division, uncertainty and Trump – Departing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau once cultivated the image of an “anti-Trump.” The luster of that brand has long faded.
‘Our country is not for sale,’ Ford says as he pitches energy plan with U.S.
In the current leadership vacuum, Doug Ford, who chairs the Council of the Federation of Canada’s premiers, is pushing to lead Canada’s efforts to work with the United States.

Biden and Harris’s agonized, ironic roles in certifying Trump’s win
Eight years ago, Biden helped formalize Trump’s victory. On Monday, Harris did the same. In between, a pro-Trump mob attacked Biden’s certification.

Jimmy Carter lies in state at the U.S. Capitol as Americans pay their respects
Jimmy Carter lies in state for two days, followed by the official state funeral at Washington National Cathedral on Thursday. All five living U.S. presidents are expected to attend. The service is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m.
Carter’s remains traveled to the snow-covered nation’s capital Tuesday following a ceremony at the Carter Presidential Center in Atlanta, where residents gathered for public viewing at the start of the week.

Trump suggests he could use military force to acquire Panama Canal and Greenland and ‘economic force’ to annex Canada
Not waiting for the inauguration, Trump is already behaving as though he were President, launching a bizarre foreign relations campaign that includes annexation of Canada as ‘the 51st state”; acquisition of Greenland from Denmark by purchase or possibly force; taking back control of the Panama Canal; and renaming the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America.
The Atlantic‘s Jonathan Chait describes Trump’s actions as performative imperialism
Added to that are Elon Musk’s attacks on Europe’s leaders and embrace of its far right.

Trump says the United States doesn’t need Canada’s auto industry. Should Windsor be worried?
(CBC) This week, U.S. president-elect Donald Trump said the United States doesn’t need Canada’s automotive industry, amid threats to use “economic force” to make Canada a state and levy 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian goods. But is it all talk? The CBC’s Jennifer La Grassa speaks with Dimitry Anastaski, a business professor at the University of Toronto and Peter Frise, an automotive engineering professor at the University of Windsor.

Russia-Europe
Thousands left without heat or gas in Moldova’s pro-Russian separatist region
Transdniestria faces severe gas and heat shortages after Russia-Ukraine gas transit deal expires
Moldova blames Gazprom for energy crisis in Transdniestria
Russia says Ukraine responsible, accuses Moldova of ignoring problem
Moldova says Russia stirring instability before elections
More than 51,000 households were left without gas and 1,500 apartment buildings had no winter heat in Moldova’s Moscow-backed separatist enclave, authorities said on Monday, as Moldova and Russia traded blame for an escalating energy crisis.
Ukraine closure of Gazprom pipeline to Europe hurts Russia’s war effort but leaves Transnistrians in the cold
Kyiv has finally turned off Russia’s gas supply to Europe, ending a source of income that helped pay for Moscow’s war against Ukraine. The decades-old deal, which allowed the transit of natural gas produced by Russian energy giant Gazprom through Ukraine, ended at midnight on December 31, shutting down Russia’s last major gas corridor to Europe.
Europe’s dependence on Russian energy had already drastically reduced since the invasion in February 2022, so the gesture is mostly symbolic. But it doesn’t make the decision less important or mean there are no consequences for the remaining Gazprom customers in Europe.
Russia will continue to supply some gas via the Turkstream pipeline across the Black Sea – mostly to Serbia and Hungary. But the loss of transit connections through Ukraine has dealt another major blow to Gazprom on top of the closure of the Yamal-Europe pipeline via Belarus and the cancelling of Nordstream 2 in 2022.
Russian-linked ships are suspected of sabotage in the Baltic Sea. Some say it may be just the beginning
Cables damaged on Christmas Day represent 3rd case of suspected sabotage in just over a month

And from Gaza: Israeli strikes kill dozens in Gaza amid stepped up ceasefire push
US, Qatar, Egypt intensify ceasefire efforts amid ongoing conflict
Hamas demands Israel end war, withdraw troops for hostage release
Israeli troops recover body of hostage from Gaza tunnel
Israeli strikes killed dozens of people across Gaza on Wednesday, Palestinian medics said, as talks to halt the fighting continued in Qatar and Israeli troops recovered the body of at least one hostage from a tunnel near the southern city of Rafah.
Palestinian medical workers said an Israeli airstrike killed at least 10 people in a multi-storey house in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City, while another killed 10 in other parts of the city.
Will this hypocrisy never end?

On Tuesday, a 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck a remote part of China’s Tibet region, while in California, fast-moving fires in the Los Angeles area have forced more than 30,000 people to evacuate their homes, as the skies turned red and fierce winds knocked down trees and power lines. There are at least 126 victims of the earthquake, two victims of the wildfires, but huge losses in property -more than 1,000 buildings reduced to ash. California wildfires: blaze explodes in size.
An indication of things to come: Trump blames California’s governor, and his water policy, for the wildfires.

Doug Sweet asks how to reconcile Why a stock market crash may be imminent, the view of Frederick Vettese, former chief actuary of Morneau Shepell and author of the PERC retirement calculator, with Ron Meisels’ seemingly perpetual optimism.

The Great Crypto Crash – Trump will usher in a speculative frenzy
The danger is not just that crypto-friendly regulation will expose millions of Americans to scams and volatility. The danger is that it will lead to an increase in leverage across the whole of the financial system. It will foster opacity, making it harder for investors to determine the riskiness of and assign prices to financial products. And it will do so at the same time as the Trump administration cuts regulations and regulators.

Varia
Peter Yarrow RIP
It seems sadly appropriate that the Peter of Peter, Paul and Mary and author of Puff the Magic Dragon, should have died this week. Gentle, righteous souls like his should not have to endure the prevailing tumult.
‘He wouldn’t hurt a fly – literally’: remembering Gerald Durrell at 100
The beloved conservationist, who died in 1995, would have turned 100 today. A new collection, Myself and Other Animals, traces the origins of his lifelong rapture with animals. (Myself and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell review – hidden gems)
Pope Francis names first woman to head a major Vatican office
Pope Francis on Monday named the first woman to head a major Vatican office, appointing an Italian nun, Sister Simona Brambilla, to become prefect of the department responsible for all the Catholic Church’s religious orders. … The office is one of the most important in the Vatican. Known officially as the Dicastery for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, it is responsible for every religious order, from the Jesuits and Franciscans to the Mercy nuns and smaller newer movements.
Jordan Peterson gets interesting insights out of Pierre Poilievre, in spite of himself
…the conversation unearthed some enlightening things about the man who is likely to become the next prime minister, almost in spite of the instincts of the man interviewing him.
NB see: Canada’s Next Prime Minister | Pierre Poilievre
(YouTube) Jordan Peterson sits down with Canadian member of Parliament Pierre Poilievre (and likely the next Prime Minister). They discuss his role as Leader of the Opposition, the untapped energy sector, the real reason Canadians cannot afford homes, how Justin Trudeau has walked the country off a cliff, and what will likely play out in 2025 leading up to the much-needed election.
Trump’s Cabinet lineup so far is surprisingly pro-animal
As Vivek Ramaswamy put it: “Animal cruelty will eventually become a genuine concern for conservatives.”
Trump’s animal-welfare record during his first term was far from flawless.
However, his administration absolutely helped notch some critical victories for the broader animal welfare movement. Now, as the once-and-future president begins shaping his next administration, take notice of some of the people he has selected for Cabinet positions relevant to this issue. The list is surprisingly pro-animal.

Long reads
Ian Bremmer: What happens when no one’s in charge
The United States and China, the two most powerful countries in the world by a wide margin, assertively reject responsibility for the rest of the planet. They cast an eye at enemies first and foremost within their own borders and worry increasingly about threats to their stability. Both are informed by political and economic value systems focused on the short term, despite the increasingly obvious reality that they’re not working for most of their people – especially the increasingly disillusioned youth. …
Andrew Coyne: With the country under attack, Trudeau leaves it to drift – for months
At one point the Prime Minister mused “we are at a critical moment in the world.” He got that much right, not least where Canada is concerned. The country is under assault on several fronts: by China, by India, by Russia, but most of all, incredibly, by the United States, whose president-elect has, for no sensible reason, declared economic war on us.
And for the next several months, at least, we will just have to sit tight before anyone does anything about it – not because the Prime Minister is going, but because, as he also announced, he is staying, pending the election of a new leader.
Alone in his office – for his staff will be off filing job applications – the Prime Minister might speak, but will find no one is listening. He will pull on all the old familiar levers, and find they are not attached to anything. …
The Political Logic of Trump’s International Threats
Since winning a second presidential term, Donald Trump has made a curious pivot to a kind of performative imperialism.
There is little the US can do to constrain Elon Musk. But here are some ideas
Robert Reich
Musk is not the first person in history to be seduced by the thrill of unconstrained power, although this may be the first time so much power is concentrated in one unelected megalomaniac.
GWYNNE DYER: Another victim of Trump, Trudeau bites the dust
Trudeau’s downfall was Trump’s tariff demand, writes Dyer, but it doesn’t mean Poilievre is a shoo-in
Donald Trump excels in every field, including surrealism. Leonard Cohen sang “First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin!” but it’s completely outclassed by Trump’s “First we take Greenland, then we take Canada!” And he’s going to take the Panama Canal too! …