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Monday, October 25, 2004
Press Review
From today's edition of NORMAN'S SPECTATOR (where the articles are hotlinked).
US papers lead with news from Iraq, with the upcoming presidential and recent Afghanistan elections also receiving front page treatment.
In the UK, British troops heading to Basra and the execution of 49 Iraqi soldiers are front page news.
The French are dealing with a revolt in Tahiti, a gruesome murder suicide and a new book by the leading candidate to replace Jacques Chirac. Sheila Copps' is not faring as well.
The French are dealing with a revolt in Tahiti, a gruesome murder suicide and a new book by the leading candidate to replace Jacques Chirac. Sheila Copps' is not faring as well.
On the other hand, a new book by William Kaplan (to which yours truly contributed an Afterword) gets the lead review by Peter Desbarats in this month's Literary Review and prominent attention in the current issue of the Hill Times (here and here by subscription). And here's Paul Wells' review--freely available.
The New York Times’ editorial board weighs in on textile tariffs, and intelligence reform.
Zbigniew Brzezinski says neither of the candidates has an Iraq plan. William Safire says American-Arabs are voting for John Kerry and Jews should vote for Bush.
In the Wall Street Journal, Canadian-born professor Ruth Wisse describes what it’s like to be a Bushie at Harvard. John Fund writes about the ground war in politics.
The editorial board defends Pentagon official Doug Feith against Sen. Carl Levin’s accusations that he misled Congress on Iraq.
In the Washington Post, Sebastian Mallaby asks whether Kerry has an Iraq plan. Jackson Diehl poops on Putin.
The editorial board thanks the campaign fact checkers, including the Congressional Budget Office.
The Los Angeles Times’ editorial board weighs in on Gulf War Syndrome.
Ian Buruma says Americans are no longer loved around the world. Howard Husock and Abigail Thernstrom say there’s no such thing as a wasted vote.
At home, the parliamentary press gallery were partying with Ottawa pooh-bahs on Saturday, and we’ll soon see whether they or readers will win from the schmoozing. So far, it does not look good.
The Globe and Mail fronts Jane Taber’s puff piece on Albina Guarnieri--our superfluous Veterans Affairs minister--and a set up on today’s equalization meeting by new Ottawa bureau chief, Brian Laghi; one thing you can say in its favour is that the analysis is not in Chinese though, truth tell, there is a whiff of mandarin about it.
From Beijing, Geoff York has the real thing. Margaret Philp serves up a fine piece on a new OECD study panning Canadian child care.
Inside, Alan Freeman reports on the US campaign from Pennsylvania. The editorial board endorses John Kerry:
“George W. Bush is the worst president of the United States in recent history. On his watch, the country has gone from peace to war, surplus to deficit, economic boom to economic trouble. Asked Ronald Reagan's famous question — are you better off now than you were four years ago? — most Americans would have to answer no.”
In commentary, Lysiane Gagnon who, unlike Stephen Harper has actually been to Brussels and I'll bet has sampled the fine moules marinière, writes,
“There is no worse model than Belgium , a country where linguistic feuds have been fraught with extreme bitterness — to a point where the country had to be split into two completely unilingual regions…”
Bill Thorsell reaches into history and writes,
“Our wars are civil; theirs are civil wars. And so finally, we must admit, that their election next Tuesday is bound to be much more compelling than any of our own.”
Roy MacGregor is in Alberta and concludes,
“It is simply far too significant a province — both economically and politically — to treat as “a breed apart.” Far too important to be naively dismissed, as Klein himself once said, as “the Canadian equivalent of the Beverly Hillbillies.”
Bruce Little takes a close look at the jobs numbers and writes,
“Of the jobs existing in 1961, 19 per cent survived until 1999, 72 per cent were lost to plant closings and 9 per cent lost in plants that survived but downsized; in all, fading operations accounted for the disappearance of 81 per cent of the jobs.
Of the 1999 jobs, only 14 per cent had been there since 1961 (the 237,000 were a smaller share of the new, higher total), slightly more than 10 per cent were created in long-time plants that expanded employment and 76 per cent were in plants born during the four decades. All told, that's 86 per cent of the jobs that were new to the scene during that period. Put another way, the dynamic of renewal was responsible for almost nine of every 10 jobs available.”
Hugh Winsor writes,
“Ms. Copps's well-documented penchant for hyperbole and her enmity toward Mr. Martin have discredited even those observations that had a grain of verisimilitude, creating more, rather than fewer, obstacles to any political comeback.”
Even wonder where Buzz Hargrove gets the silly ideas he expounds in the National Post?
CAW economist Jim Stanford writes in today's Globe that John Kerry would be good for Canada ’s economy because most of his protectionist ire would be directed at China, which has squeezed many Canadian suppliers out of the US .
The Toronto Star fronts Stephen Truscott, Tim Harper on the US campaign from Florida, and a fight over who pays for OHIP.
Inside, Mitch Potter reports from Israel on the Gaza pullout. The editorial board revels in Ford’s Oakville investment, but pans the Senate for foot-dragging on protecting animals.
Carol Goar is onto welfare reform. Ian Urquhart is on the waterfront.
Concordia U president Frederick Lowy justifies the ban on Barak. Chantal Hébert craps on Copps.
The National Post, Ottawa Citizen and Montréal Gazette front the US election.
The Post also features Mohammed Elmasry and a Winnipeg transplant.
The Gaz fronts incest and Game 2 of the World Series—Go Sox, Go.
The Citizen has more on immigrant education, pregnancy complications in Africa and more bad news for our navy. Inside, the editorial board says of Air Canada,
“Ms. Dion is a great talent, but we'd gladly trade her for a few more inches of leg room”; another editorialist looks at the Noranda takeover:
“ China may still be ruled by an authoritarian and sometimes belligerent regime, but the Noranda deal -- like China 's membership in the WTO and its willingness to send peacekeepers to Haiti and Liberia -- suggests China wants to full integration into the globalized world. With all due caution, we must assume the odds are better that a prosperous, internationally engaged China will be a more peaceful China.”
Susan Riley writes about the First Ministers meeting on equalization:
“Martin is in the enviable position of having extra cash, but it will require more than money to fashion a compromise and preserve a flawed, but generous national program. It will require a statesman, not a headwaiter.”
Inside the Gaz, the editorial board is blowing hot air:
“with its promise to ease our dependence on polluting sources, wind power might well be worth paying for.” L.Ian Macdonald leaves yours truly confused about missile defence: “It's not rocket science. It's about determining the national interest, and exercising our political and territorial sovereignty.”
Inside the Post, Senator Serge Joyal writes of the health agreement and asymmetric federalism,
“Under the Meech Lake plan, there was at least a requirement to respect the national objectives of federal programs. In Charlottetown , there was recognition of the values articulated by Canada 's economic and social union. In the health agreement signed last month, by contrast, the provinces remain free to spend money on programs other than health (which is what Quebec will do this year) and are answerable only to their own voters. Citizens would have to take the matter up with their provincial government if they are dissatisfied with the result.”
George Jonas pans the ban on pit bulls. Nadeem Esmail of The Fraser Institute says the only way we’ll shorten waiting lists is through two-tier medicine, though he doesn’t use the t word.
Lorne Gunter does—or at least another one: “Unless and until official Ottawa can break free of the delusion that there is nothing especially worth defending in Western pluralism, it will never fully engage the terrorists.”
On the same subject, the editorial board opines: “However we choose to contribute to the war on terror and the stabilization of failed states, increased defence funding is merely a necessary -- and not a sufficient -- component. We also need a plan.”
Another editorialist looks at CBC’s coverage of the US election and finds it wanting: “Canadian viewers deserve balanced coverage from a network that is funded with their tax dollars. In the coming week, we expect the CBC to provide some.”
Posted by Norman Spector on October 25, 2004 | Permalink
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And in other news:
"Iraq purging tens of thousands of police officers for corruption, dereliction of duty or loyalty to insurgents" --
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/9990009.htm
"The police purging is providing a clearer picture of Iraq's security capabilities. The national force stood at a seemingly robust 91,000 in May. But a majority of those officers were either phantoms who never showed up for work or were grossly unqualified. Revised figures put the force at just 40,000"
So much for G-Dub's 125,000 Iraqi Forces by the end of the year.
Posted by: MWW | 2004-10-25 11:04:59 AM
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