Wednesday, January 7, 2026

Are we next?

USA Ambassador to Canada can't understand why Canada would not want to be the 51st State. Maybe these will help him understand if someone reads them to him.



 Trump's attack on Venuzuela seems to have triggered even more madness. Declaring that USA must have Greenland for security reasons in nonsense as USA has a military base on Greenalnd and a defense agreement with Denmark. Yes, Greenland has mineral resources but I expect Trump is too stupid to know why that is important. Stephen Miller is actually running foreign policy along homeland security's ICE, deporting, imprisonng or out right killing Brown pople. There are 65 million Hispanics in US of which many were there before USA was a country. If Stephen Miller has his way they will all be disposed of one way or another. 

Whether Trump will attack Canada militarily or not is debateable. Economic warfare is more likely. CUSMA is up for renewal and Trump will likely refuse to negotiate a new agreement. Carney is doing his best to put Canada in the EU trading block and now in the EU SAFE program. F35's are out, Grippen is in. NATO is dead. 

This is from Sean Prpick on Facebook, taken from a Globe and Mail opinion piece. 

A pretty bracing column has been published in the Globe & Mail by leading scholars Thomas Homer-Dixon and Adam Gordon, raising the possibility of a post-Venezuela military invasion of Canada. Their scenario hinges on failed independence referendum in Alberta creating a “casus belli” for Trump, who will denounce the results as “fake” and then roll invasion forces across the 49th parallel. But…I’m going to raise the ante here and say the scenario could be even worse.
I think there’s a better than even chance that a sympathetic Sask Party government will be so "moved" by Premier Smith’s referendum, should it take place, they will stage a coordinated referendum here at the same time.
Homer-Dixon and Gordon predict a 30% “Yes” vote for separation in Alberta.
I think it would be about 15% here in Saskatchewan, but the margin of victory for pro-Canada forces in twin referendums probably doesn’t matter.
The vote here in my province would be be equally “fake” in Trump’s eyes and any results coming out from Elections Saskatchewan will just incite him more.
And that'll raise the chances he’ll invade, not only sending military columns through Alberta border crossings but ours as well.
Homer-Dixon and Gordon are right.
However fantastic these scenarios appear today we have to be ready in the near future.
********************
“We Need to Prepare for the Possibility that the U.S. Uses Military Coercion Against Canada”
By Thomas Homer-Dixon, who is executive director of the Cascade Institute at Royal Roads University and professor emeritus at the University of Waterloo.
And Adam Gordon, who served as the senior legal and policy adviser to Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and is currently an affiliated researcher at the Cascade Institute.
So, this is the “peace president" ?
Donald Trump promised that under his leadership the U.S. would eschew “nation building,” “forever wars,” “regime change,” and violent foreign engagements more generally.
Yet since his second inauguration, he’s ordered military action in Syria, Yemen, Somalia and Iraq; bombed Iran’s nuclear weapons complexes; and blown up more than a score of boats allegedly carrying drugs in the Caribbean.
In just the past two weeks, he has launched missiles against Islamic terrorists in northern Nigeria, declared that the U.S. was “locked and loaded” for another attack on Iran, and now decapitated Venezuela’s government.
In this context, Canadians must acknowledge the real risk that Mr. Trump will use military coercion against our country.
It’s important to connect three recent data points. First, in his press conference on Saturday, Mr. Trump explicitly stated that the Venezuela operation’s aim was to secure access to the country’s oil. Then, in an interview with The Atlantic on Sunday, he refused to rule out military action to seize Greenland – despite the fact that Greenland is a democracy and, through Denmark, a NATO member – saying, “We do need Greenland, absolutely
From Mr. Trump’s perspective, three dominant powers – Russia, China, and the U.S. – are establishing coercive hegemony in their respective domains. With its oil, minerals and water, Canada is a vital resource hinterland in the U.S.’s part of the map.
Second, the just-released U.S. National Security Strategy outlines the “‘Trump corollary’ to the Monroe Doctrine” and identifies U.S. “pre-eminence” in the Western Hemisphere as a main geostrategic objective.
But Canada can’t count on exclusion from the doctrine’s ambit. In the 1950s through the 1980s, when the U.S. intervened in Guatemala, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Chile, Nicaragua, Grenada, and Panama, it was looking south and treated us as more an irrelevancy than a vassal. In contrast, today the Trump administration has little affection for Canada, and it’s clearly concerned about geostrategic insecurities as far north as the high Arctic.
Third, and finally, nothing in international law protects Canada that shouldn’t have protected Venezuela. As a nation, we rely on exactly the same rules – the obligation to respect state sovereignty, the prohibition on use of force and the principle of non-intervention – for our own
Connecting these dots, a plausible scenario for U.S. application of military force against Canada to seize our oil resources goes something like this.
An independence referendum in Alberta – during which separatists receive a huge infusion of grey MAGA money – sees a majority vote to remain part of Canada, but with 30 per cent or more voting for separation. Mr. Trump declares the result is “fake” and that actual support for separation was “well over” 50 per cent.
Alberta separatists then appeal to the U.S. for help, claiming various kinds of oppression.
The U.S. moves troops to the northern Montana border and tells the rest of Canada that Alberta must be allowed to join America as the “51st state.”
In the above situation, ensuring electoral-process integrity is clearly job one. We can also make it clear to the U.S. that any use of military force will be extremely costly, by dramatically accelerating investments in national service and homeland defence, rapidly building out domestic defence industries, and developing a national drone strategy.
Finally, we should bolster ties with traditional allies and novel partners alike and work alongside those who are similarly threatened by giant neighbours, such as Finland, the Baltic republics, Mexico and Taiwan.
We should aim to marshal a global consensus that such flagrant violations of international law are unacceptable and will bring the U.S. costly reputational harm, as has been true for Russia – harm that will only grow exponentially if the U.S. repeats such actions in Canada or elsewhere.
The world is wildly non-linear now, so little can be predicted with confidence.
“Running” Venezuela – whatever that means – will almost certainly not work in the longer term, as the country fractures or rallies against the U.S.; and elsewhere in the world, China might use the action against Venezuela as a license to attack Taiwan
But whatever surprises are in store, one fact is certain: our neighbour’s autocratic and avaricious leader is demonstrably eager to use his country’s massive military power to advance his interests.
We must get ready.

Friday, January 2, 2026

Who Knows Where the Time Goes?

 When Judy Collins released "Colors of the Day" in 1972, I was working for the Honourable Company of 
Adventures aka Here Before Christ in Inuvik and Cambridge Bay. It showed up in our stocks a year later, I bought it and nearly wore it out. Her cover of Ian Tyson's Someday Soon has never been equalled and earned her a spot on CBC's Ian and Sylvia Ten-Year Reunion in 1986 

Time goes by slowly but when you look back, 50 years has gone by. Who knows where the time goes?  Judy Collins is performing in concert in Saskatoon on January 27th. My daughter gave me tickets for Christmas. 


Tuesday, December 23, 2025

19 Years Today

Tanya's sister called her from Siberia and my kids texted congratualtions. Otherwise we would have completely forgotten our anniversary. 

I asked Tanya to marry me after I had met her people in Siberia and they approved. Tanya said she would marry me if I moved to Ukraine. Internet was not so good in those days but sure. First she had to come to Canada to meet my kids. They loved her (and she has been the best step-mom ever). Mostly they loved her because she was taking me to Ukraien, they said.

We got married two days before Christmas 2006. My cousin did the officiating, her friend Helen (Elena) stood up with her and did a running translation/interpretation. My son stood up with me. My three daughters sang. And then we all went to a steak house for supper. 

Here are a few pictures from our wedding. We have changed a bit since then. No pictures of today but we did have an anniversary supper of beef roast which at today's prices is reserved for celebratory occasions. 







Thursday, December 18, 2025

Dealing with the Demons in my Head

Blogging has taken a back seat for a while. I needed to get my annual Christmas letter written and distributed. Also my ADHD doesnt help me concentrate (I got fired at the orange juice factory). So if I havent been to visit your blog lately, it isnt that I don't care. Some days coping is difficult.

My running joke is that my cognative dissonance is caused by sitting under my SAD lamp reading the news from USA and Ukraine. Second, not so funny, is that I have this feeling there is a hole in the bag and the marbles are falling out. That is scary. 

My oldest daughter took me to a Geriatrician to see how many marbles I have left. She looks after me. The girls had noticed for some time that my short term memory was giving me some trouble, espcially since moving from Regina where everything was familiar to Saskatoon where very little was familiar. Dealing with paperwork such as Tanya's EI and PR/Visa documents were getting more difficult and I tended to shut down until I took a break and came back in the morning.

After a thorough four hour grilling including the Montreal Cognative Assessment on which I did slightly better than Trump. I at least knew what the animals were but could only remember 4 of 5 words. Daisy would not stick. 

Montreal Cognative Assessment

My Geriatrician concluded I have Mild Cognative Impairment and gave me a list of things to do to improve or at least reduce decline. Key was get out of the house and find a useful purpose. Hours doom scrolling on the computer was not so helpful. So I am volunteering at the Western Devlopment Museum. I've attended the introductory volunteer course and want to take the caring for artifacts course which is needed even to dust displays. 

There is a community woodworking shop where I can go and see what is there. I used to love woodworking but have neither tools nor place to work so this could be fun. The Museum has a working blacksmith shop with a volunteer blacksmith who looks the part. They have a harnes sshop but no one doing leeather work or even keeping the leather clean and oiled. I want to find a course that will teach me enough to at least be able to emboss belts. 

I need a new Western belt anyhow. Since walking Lucky nd reducing intake in my old age, I shed 25 kg and wear a 2X shirt now and 42" jeans. Be proud of me for that. My belt is way too long. 

Christmas is coming but it doesnt feel very holiday seasony. We do have lights up as my oldest daughter dug them out of the shed and strung them up. Our 3-block street is very nicely lit up at night. Tanya wants to roast a duck for Christmas so we need to track one down at our grocery store.

All lit up

To all my loyal readers, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Solstice , Season's Greetings and Happy Holidays. My wish for all of you is a happy, peaceful 2026

Monday, December 15, 2025

Ekaterina Shelehova Christmas Caroles

 This holiday season, more than ever, we need peace and stability in our lives, in our countries and in all the earth. This is my wish for 2026. Many will not have a happy holiday this year. "Let us pause in life's pleasures and count its many tears," Please remember them even as we celebrate 



Saturday, December 6, 2025

The Mascot for 2025 - a drunken Raccoon.

 The hottest trend on Threads right now is of a raccoon that broke into a liquor store, creating havoc and grabbing a bottle of expensive single-malt, passing out in the bethroom between the toiet and garbage can. After the 2025 we have had, everyone can identify with him (male assumed as a given). 





Many suggestions followed. Person of the year, replacement for Pete Kegsbreath and running him for president in 2028. For a running mate, the raccoon thast broke into a bakery and ate so many doughnuts, he couldnt move. 

He is even appearing in liquor ads.



The raccoon spent the night in the Animal Rescue drunk tank and was released next day into the wild with the mother of all hangovers

So remember, even if your diet is mostly trash, drink responsibly.

Tuesday, December 2, 2025

And now for something completely different again

 This is a dump of a build up of stuff I am too lazy to file in appropriate folders. They are not in any particular order because I cant figure an easy way to sort them. Click to enlarge