(This blog consists of a compendium of thoughts relevant to the happenings in March)
The war in Ukraine goes on. The Russian Army seems to have no other aim than to kill as many Ukrainians as possible, in other words, a form of genocide. A major question is how the war will end. Different scenarios have been put forward such as a peace treaty, a stalemate, or a Russian withdrawal in the face of economic challenges. The demise of Mr. Putin has even been suggested. But what happens if Russia conquers all of Ukraine?
“. . . perhaps human nature was incapable of using power arising from dictatorship without succumbing to the temptations of its abuse of power.”
- John Toland, from his book “The Last 100 Days”
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There have been adds recently about a supposedly Chinese dance troupe called Shun Yen. The add makes the point that it represents “China before Communism”. But this kind of entertainment bares no resemblance to the real China before Communism unless it could be found in the world of some very rich war lord. The truth is that China before Communism was a feudal country where 80% of the people were peasants who lived the way they had lived for over five hundred years. Only in the cities in eastern China were things any different. The average Chinese peasant farmed maybe a quarter acre of land that he rented or bought from the village chief, who in turn worked for the county overlord who paid for the privilege to the area war lord. The average peasant farmer paid 50 – 80% of his annual income in taxes. If you doubt these figures, I commend to you a book titled “Thunder out of China” (I found a copy of the book on Amazon. It had been reprinted in 1992). It was written by two journalists for Time magazine, Theodore H. White and Annalee Jacoby, who were in China for most of the Sino-Japanese and Second World Wars. Like any book you read, the first thing you should look at is the book’s copyright date, which in this case is 1946. This date shows the historical context at the time when the book was written, namely after the war was over but before the main communist push to take over China. It shows a China that was suffering through revolutions and wars from 1911 until 1945. None of these events seemed to make any improvement in the fate of the millions of peasants in the country. That change would not come until the communist take-over in 1949 – 50.
“It's so much easier to suggest solutions when you don't know too much about the problem.”
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The war in Ukraine has brought a call for Canada to strengthen its armed forces with more people in uniform and new weapons. Retired Generals and military friendly writers have been promoting this idea. The problem any Canadian government has is getting buy-in from a majority of the voters and taxpayers. Any time such an idea has been raised, particularly since the end of the Cold War, it has been howled down by just about every special interest group around. People much prefer more money for health care, dental care, pharmacare, childcare, climate change, infrastructure plus about twenty other things that are considered priorities. This is the reason why no government of any stripe has dared to do much about it. The recently announced agreement between the Liberals and NDP will only make this matter worse. Despite the NDP agreement to support defence spending, where is the money to come from after the new social programs have been costed (this was the NDP condition of defence spending support)? The NDP have never been in favour of defence spending. Whether the current climate of war in Europe will make any difference is anyone’s guess.
But no matter what happens with available money, the one thing that has to be done is to improve the state of defence procurement. The first thing on that file has to be the elimination of the “what me worry?” attitude of the three government departments that currently oversee such procurement, Defence, Procurement, and Industry (whatever their titles are these days) which are all beholden to Treasury Board. Efficient defence procurement requires a single entity to be in charge once a procurement has been given the go-ahead by Cabinet. Perhaps in a future blog I’ll give you my insight on other defence procurement issues gleaned from over 35 years in the business.
“Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself.”
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The three most pleasant things we have right now are laughter, music, and the promise of spring. Laughter can make us feel better, music (other than rap or heavy metal) can sooth us, and the promise of spring makes us appreciate the outdoors again.
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(You now have to wonder what April will bring.)
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