Wednesday Night #2268

All eyes on China as Xi, Putin and Kim Jong-un appear together
Xi Jinping shows off China’s military hardware at event attended by leaders from Russia, North Korea, Iran and Myanmar which followed the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit that than 20 leaders of non-Western countries including Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
China’s Xi pushes a new global order, flanked by leaders of Russia and India
Xi-led summit challenges current U.S.-led global order
Xi hosted 20 leaders, including Russia’s Putin and India’s Modi
China offers aid, AI cooperation to SCO initiative members

Israel, Palestine, Gaza, West Bank
As much of the world focused on events in China, Israeli Finance Minister outlines plan to annex West Bank territory

This has not been a good week for Trump in the courts:
Harvard Secures a Court Victory in Its Fight With Trump
Harvard had sued the Trump administration in an effort to restore billions in research funds that the government canceled this spring.
Appeals Court Blocks Trump’s Use of Alien Enemies Act to Deport Venezuelans
The case appears set to return to the Supreme Court in a decisive battle over President Trump’s use of the 18th-century law to deport migras.
Judge rules Trump can’t act as national police chief
The president broke the law when he deployed troops to Los Angeles, Judge Charles Breyer ruled.

When Donald Trump made no public appearances for several days, social media was flooded with rumors of his death. VP Vance may not have done himself any favours when he declared that he is ready to take over –JD Vance addresses Donald Trump death rumors: He’s ready to take over. If we were advising the Democrats, we might suggest this is an opportunity to create a wedge between diehard Trump/MAGA fans and more traditional Republicans…
However, Trump is alive and continuing his rampage through US government and governance, despite the ruling by Charles Breyer, the federal judge overseeing a suit brought by California Governor Gavin Newsom whose scathing conclusion is that The Trump administration broke the law. Its officials knew they were breaking the law. And they’ll likely try to do so again. Both Trump and his critics have pointed to the deployment in LA as a model, first for the current use of the National Guard in Washington, D.C., and now for potential deployments in cities including Chicago, San Francisco, and Baltimore. (See Long reads below for The Trump Administration Gets a Serious Scolding). On Wednesday, an unrepentant Trump added a subservient New Orleans to the list (Trump suggests he could send troops to New Orleans in another crime crackdown)

Meanwhile, Venezuela is the target (literally) of US Foreign Policy as Trump Says U.S. Attacked Boat Carrying Venezuelan Gang Members, Killing 11

Canada brief notes
For Peter Frise comment Twin crises threaten Canada’s auto industry – but one is entirely within our control
Carney’s cabinet meeting to focus on infrastructure, trade and crime, ahead of Parliament resuming
Prime Minister Mark Carney is meeting with his cabinet this week in Toronto to focus on his government’s fall agenda, which includes fast-tracking major infrastructure projects, Canada-U.S. relations and tackling crime.
The two-day meeting, which the government is calling a cabinet planning forum, is taking place two weeks before Parliament is set to resume and amid a continuing trade war with U.S. President Donald Trump that shows no signs of abating.
Carney Sends Envoys to DC After ‘Constructive’ Trump Call
Mark Carney said Canada and the US are in negotiations to resolve issues in tariff-affected sectors after a “very constructive” conversation with President Donald Trump on Monday evening.
The Canadian prime minister said more meetings are taking place in Washington involving officials including Michael Sabia, Canada’s top civil servant.
Of course he didn’t know anything!: Legault was unaware of cost overruns at Quebec auto insurer until public scandal, he says
Quebec Premier François Legault told a public inquiry on Tuesday that he knew nothing about the $500-million cost overrun tied to digitization efforts at the province’s auto-insurance board until it became public knowledge in February.
Montreal unveils predicted $228-million budgetary hole
The shortfall is expected to grow to over $400 million by 2028. The numbers revealed Wednesday reflect the situation as of June 30. Speaking to The Gazette, Benoit Dorais, the Plante administration’s point person for finances, said the city is actually in a good position and it isn’t uncommon to face a funding shortfall in the month of June.

U.S. economy
Ian Bremmer asks Is American capitalism still capitalism?
While government subsidies for strategic industries like semiconductors may make sense, Ian warns that other industrial policies, like trying to re-shore large-scale manufacturing, risk being backward looking. Ian also argues that much of what passes for capitalism in the US is really oligarchy: corporations using lobbying to secure entrenched advantages and offloading the costs of their business models onto the public.
Meanwhile, China has thrived with state capitalism for 50 years, and the US is increasingly trying to compete by playing the same game.
US Employment Picture Darkens With New Data
(Bloomberg) It’s only the third day of a much-feared month of September and sobering US economic news is already piling up. Yesterday it was six straight months of shrinking manufacturing. Today it’s job openings falling in July to the lowest in 10 months, adding to other employment data (including a report last month that caused Donald Trump to fire the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics) showing America’s once-robust post-pandemic jobs landscape continues to darken.

Brett House: President Trump’s tariff push is hurting American consumers, disrupting global trade, and straining U.S. alliances—including with Canada.
He argues that [Trump’s] tariffs are less about economics and more about political leverage. The costs are already adding up, as quoted in Trump’s tariffs: who will be the greatest loser? by Austė Sargytė for LRT,(See Long reads below)
As Brett is Columbia Business School Professor of Professional Practice, it seems appropriate to insert this intriguing development: Nemat Shafik, Columbia President During Protests, Takes Another Tough Job Dr. Shafik, who came under fire for her handling of pro-Palestinian campus protests last year, is now the chief economic adviser to Britain’s prime minister.
Dr. Shafik, an Oxford-trained economist who goes by the name Minouche, will be charged with helping devise policies to reignite Britain’s economic growth and dig the government out of a deep fiscal hole. Her immediate task is to aid in drafting the next government budget, which is widely seen as a litmus test for Mr. Starmer, after a trouble-prone first year that has left him deeply unpopular.

AI and digital sovereignty
Following  last week’s stimulating debate on AI with many cogent comments both pro and con, 70 leading Canadians, civil society groups ask Carney to protect Canada’s ‘digital sovereignty’
Open letter calls for a new digital services tax and Liberal border bill to be killed
The signatories ask Carney to stake out protections for social media, cloud systems, AI engines, digital transactions and other data that can be “weaponized by a Trump regime seeking unchallenged technological dominance.”
and
Marie Lamensch writes “I’m looking forward to the launch of MIGS‘ new report “Wired for War”. Written by my colleague Kyle Matthews and me, with the support of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung Canada, we look at new forms of disinformation warfare, including through the use of AI and why it must be seen as national and international threat.”

Graham Greene, Canadian star of stage and screen, dies at 73
Multi-faceted performer was Oscar-nominated for best supporting actor in Dances with Wolves
Greene’s management team in Stratford, Ont., said that he died on Monday following a long illness.
“He was a great man of morals, ethics and character and will be eternally missed,” Greene’s agent Michael Greene (no relation) told Deadline magazine.

Kevin Costner pays tribute to ‘Dances With Wolves’ star Graham Greene, dead at 73
Canadian actor Graham Greene, the Oscar-nominated star of “Dances With Wolves” and “Green Mile,” has died at age 73.
His agent Michael Greene, no relation, said in a statement to USA TODAY that Greene died “after a lengthy illness.”
“He was a great man of morals, ethics and character and will be eternally missed,” Michael Greene wrote.
The Canadian First Nations actor, a tireless advocate for Indigenous representation in Hollywood, first appeared in the 1979 drama series “The Great Detective” and in the 1983 film “Running Brave.”
But Greene’s leap to Hollywood came with “Dances With Wolves,” playing the wise and compassionate Sioux medicine man Kicking Bird.

Varia
Margaret Atwood v Alberta
Alberta premier says new order banning school library books with sexual content coming soon
“It’ll be paused for a couple of hours while the ministerial order is rewritten. The direction will be to take books with pornographic images out of the libraries and to leave the classics alone. I think that there was some misunderstanding of the order, so it’s being made clear.”
Margaret Atwood releases satirical short story critiquing book bans in Canada
Author quipped she wrote ‘suitable’ piece after Alberta school ban included her novel The Handmaid’s Tale
Rightwing ‘parents’ rights’ groups gain ground in Canada as Alberta book bans target LGBTQ+ titles
Trivia notes for Chris Roper
Throughout American history, there have been 15 times that the vice president has gone on to become president, with eight of those times occurring due to the death of the president, and four of those later securing an election, according to the U.S. Senate.
‘I’m very proud of it’: Sir Richard Branson visits Halifax to celebrate the inaugural North American visit of the Brilliant Lady
The Brilliant Lady will make its way to Saint John, N.B., for Sept.19th and will return to Halifax on Sept. 21st, 30th and Oct.6th.
The latest addition to the Virgin Voyages adults-only cruise fleet

Long reads
Trump’s belligerence is pushing Xi, Putin and Kim together – and tearing the old world order apart
The three-way partnership on show in Beijing is united in opposition to US hegemony and a western-dominated financial system

Trump’s tariffs: who will be the greatest loser?

The Trump Administration Gets a Serious Scolding
A federal judge’s scathing opinion explains why Trump’s deployment of troops to California was more than just an overreach.