Xerxes

I will go any day with someone who is not a career politician. Is Marc Carney a globalist. Sure he is. In Canada we don’t a luxury to be isolationist. And I prefer that than Pierre who is the mirror image of Trudeau but on the other side. Poilievre tried to model himself after Trump. His brand and marketing pitch took a beating when Trump after Canada. If Doug Ford ever runs for federal Conservative Party that could be interesting. But for now I certainly don’t need a divisive leader like Pierre P. who is going to hug U.S. even after being shown the middle finger.

I am pretty sure I didn’t name Trump in my post. And in any case, I have no problems stating when he is doing the right thing … just as well I don’t have a problem criticizing him. And I am fairly certain almost all Americans don’t dislike Canada nor they even voted for what we see now between Canada-U.S. I also can appreciate all the support you give Trump, I understand why. This being a public forum. But it is also ok to criticize him. (aside saying he is not moving fast enough) I mean how can anyone be 100% right on anything.

——-general comment ——— We are NOT at with war with US. But certainly the situation sucks, … got to take the hit and move on. Maybe they are not worth it. Or maybe they are. Who the hell knows … That said we will certainly miss them bitching and complaining about everything like a slightly older uncle. Funny thing about this uncle: they complain about defense and how they’re protected by oceans, and they have nothing to do with situation in Ukraine. They forget that WE are as well. Lol. In fact we have three oceans. And their so called % defense budget covers the whole globe, but count it as NATO contribution. Maybe kiss Israel butt a bit less. That saves you some real dollars. And the only time (in my memory) that Canada asks for help in international realm from the U.S., was about the two Canadians in China and the current situation in India. Both times we got the middle finger from this ally. Can someone remind me when was the last time (or if ever) that U.S. lift a finger for Canada in international affairs

Trump visited Saudi Arabia as his first foreign travel back in the golden age of Trump 45’. In short there is no rules to this thing. .., and what came out of that weird meeting was the isolation and banishment of Qatar …. All to be reversed few years later Carney has a full plate. Paris and London are places to be.

Article 5 would be tested vis a vis the Baltic states, in a not too distant future. That said Poland and the rest are probably safe. Poland is too strong for the bear. It is interesting: I recently learned that U.S. never recognized the annexation of the Baltic states by the Soviet Union some 50-60 years ago. I didn’t know that.

I wasn’t aware that by swapping into very long dated bonds, current holders of T-bonds, can help decrease the interest rate. Shouldn’t that be in reverse. The more liquid pool of assets should be more sought after. Thus lower rates.

Thanks James. looks like a long read. So I need to read it carefully. I try not to use the word “nazi” in my posts, because of the negative connotation. That is how we as a society decided to go with post-1945. If Germans were our allies and Stalin our enemy in the 1940 (flip the geographical location of the two), our “baseline” bogeyman in arguments would be communists, and Churchill would be high fiving Hitler in Yalta. Yaks ! But true Nationalism and populism can happen anywhere. We are ally susceptible to various degree. But I for one am aware of my weakness. Or is that strength.

@John Hjorth I hope Ottawa did put a clear statement in T&C of the then RFP that “Supplier (and affiliated companies) (“Seller”) shall not incorporate a Big Beautiful Kill Switch (“BBKS”) in the Patrol Ships”

I think this Rasmus character is not aware that Denmark already fought a war with a fellow NATO country. So nothing new here : https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whisky_War The Canadian-Danish War went out for decades. The Danes fought valiantly, but at the end, they succumb to the greater and better whiskey.

Canada needs to cancel as well. you cannot trust the hardware anymore. whether there is a “kill switch” or not for F-35, cannot trust these guys.

Thanks LC, every time i hear south of Italy, it takes me to this movie

If you enjoy having an inside look at Softbank, this will provide it:

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This would be a 1,000 pages long PhD thesis looking all the different permutations, beyond my puny mind. I have no idea if you would have been more or less successful in a what if scenario. U.S. chose to lead and stand-up for the Western civilization in the 1940s. But it was not all charity, Marshall Plan may have been seem like charity, but I promise you it was done as an investment with an eye on the Soviet Union and how easy a war ravaged Europe would succumb for the communism. If there was not Soviet Union, Europe would have had no Marshall Plan. Everything since than, it has been to reinforce its global hegemony, through wars, coup d'etat, interventions, military or economically etc. I hope I am not breaking news here. Whoever voted the neoconservatives to power 20 years ago, are probably the same people that are now donning the MAGA hats. They had their fun and a go at gunboat diplomacy and nation building, now they are having a go at being isolationist. U.S. presidents were elected by the American people. Their decision represents the will of the people. Right or wrong. As an example, it is not Canada' fault that U.S. had to go off the gold standard, because Vietnam was costing too much. Who elected your presidents then and what was their policy vis a vis the dreaded RED threat. Were those policy and views vis a vis communism overblown. Seem like it. Just a decade later, a new approach was made. You collectively voted in those leaders, and lived under that umbrella, thumb your chests for them, and your corporations benefitted immensely because of it as new markets opened up. Not too mention that flow of oil that fueled the growth of your economy, even as you militarized the region. .... and we don't want to even talk about the mess in the middle east either. So own up to your own past, the things you have done, ... before demanding to annex your allies and wipe out their identity, through economic subjugation, as sort of a weird bizzarro payment, because it costs to much to maintain the empire, and you don't feel like doing it anymore. ... and then having the audacity to threaten more retaliation, because Canada is not rolling over fast enough. If U.S. wants to abdicate its global leadership role. So be it. People have demanded change. Make it happen. And I (and anybody else) have no problems with U.S. discussing legitimate and unfair trade practices. But we all know there is more to it than that. The Trump Administration is seeking a casus belli. I was in India for three weeks, right after fresh off the Canadian-Indian spats. All the Indian tour guides I met, looked at me in a funny way, ask me about Trudeau by name. Some of them even asked me, "if Canadians don't like Indians"; i had no idea where that came from. In my book that shit is between government not people; But it wasn't complicated either, i just had to show them that i am not some asshole from the West. I think they bought it. since I had a great time.

owned up 2 hours ago and even acknowledged by yourself. how are we doing on your side. ?

General comments for our southern neighbours: look folks, just like it is not U.S.’s and U.S. taxpayer responsibility to keep the world safe it is not the rest of the world responsibility to be blamed because once upon a time U.S. sought the imperial purple, led the whole world for its geopolitical and national security gains (which also benefit its allies), but now decided to de-throne itself. FDR, Truman, Nixon, Johnson, Bush, Clinton, Reagan etc were all American presidents. Elected to the office by the will of the people. They did your bidding. at least own up to it. if you cannot even own up and acknowledge that very basic statement than we are not even on the same wavelength

As a FYI when I call them, I think they said for non-US currencies, you can maintain them as they are (for instance piling up Yen or Euro) if they are in non-registered account. in registered account, it will auto convert into either USD or CAD. all this to say that there seems to be more flexibility in the non-registered account.

no problem. That is fair. but just don’t rewrite history.

that is interesting. I always figured the opposition in the south was more due to the don of dons and the likes having a freer hand with the relatively powerless monarch far away in the north. Whereas Mussolini was about centralization ? The Italian monarchy was pretty young, perhaps 100 years old at best.

There has to be a “market” for criticism. We should not feel forced to take a position as if everything is binary. On a certain geopolitical topics, when I talk to friends, the one that is pro-A sees my view as pro-B, and on the same exact topic with another person, the one that is pro-B sees me as pro-A. Everybody is looking to reinforce their biases.

Canada like most European companies have been not contributing as much to NATO as they should. Facts are facts. That said the “spin” that U.S. pays for Canadian protection specifically (I.e NORAD) protection is nothing more than an Trumpian invention. U.S. if anything had been using Canada as a shield. You think NORAD is there to help the farmers of Edmonton and the city dwellers in Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa. Also U.S. does not have radar systems in Greenland for the local’ protection, it is there to “see” incoming ICBM for its (American) protection. Or do you believe the radar system currently in Greenland are there help bunch of Greenlanders riding on dog sleds. U.S. forces were not involved in the wars of Middle East for some Arab sheikh out of the kindness of their heart. It was to be ensure the flow of oil and stability in the Persian Gulf. Only recently U.S. has become an hydrocarbon superpower. Prior to that it had to secure its energy security abroad. Are we now pretending that none of this happened. I have never seen “western narratives” rewritten so fast. It is concerning.

@KCLarkin My answer would from page 1 of this thread. Hope it helps.

I said some years ago (I don’t now which thread it was): those of us who live in the Western world (myself including), have never truly been tested when it comes to certain things. Probably no one understood what I meant. We like to opine on the rest of the world, point fingers at their problematic governments, point fingers on the locals that seem to go along with their government, critic them for lacking education or not knowing better. I always wondered what I would do if I, myself, was a middle class Italian or a German in the early 1930s. Would I “pass the test” and not be swept up by populism and nationalism ? It is easy to look back and say that would never happen to me. But I was never sure (still not sure) if I can pass that test. It is a powerful thing.

I think it will be hell … but there at lot of pressure on Kremlin to at least pretend.

Strongman Doug Ford and Strongman Donald Trump had a duel today. The Chinese won …