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The Khashoggi Affair.....

10/24/2018

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     He went to the Saudi embassy in Istanbul and disappeared. 
     Once he was in the inner circle and then he became a critic, albeit not too harsh. He took a moderate line, hoping to influence the new Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, who ad announced himself as more willing to ease some of the restrictions, especially on women, even permitting them to drive by themselves. 
    bin Salman has, however shown himself with his actions against Canada, Qatar, and especially in the genocidal war against Yemen to be anything but. He was volatile, erratic and showed poor judgement and had little or no tact.
His actions against Canad for a tweet fro Chrystia Freeland, the Global Affairs minister was overboard,. She had tweeted her support for women's rights blogger, Badawi , sent bin Salman into a rage. He expelled our ambassador, recalled his, froze trade and investment and ordered Saudi students studying in Canada to return home ( he acted similiarly against Qatar, because he felt that they were becoming too friendly with Iran).
His genocidal war against the Houthis in Yemen has seen women and children slaughtered by weapons sold to him by USA and Britain ( Canada has a deal to sell LAV's but he did not cancel that and neither has Canada so far. He needs them for civilian unrest at home.
The Khashoggi case has been pure savagery, no doubt orchestrated by him, as nothing gets done in that top-down, autocratic government, without approval from above. 
The Turkish government and especially the president, Recep Erdogan, have been adamant about the Saudis' involvement in the " savage murder"., From the onset they kept the world informed about what they have found out, with details and pictures. These pictures showed Khashoggi entering the embassy. He had been called in to come andget the necessary papers in order to get married to a Turkish national. He has not been seen since that Oct.2 and the Saudis have come out with a variety of answers when they were questioned about his whereabouts.
First, they said he had left ( they had someone dressed in Khashoggi's clothes leave the embassy by the back door . This speaks volumes.). Then they claimed that there was a fight and he as killed then they changed that and said he was accidentally killed in a choke hold. When all this failed ( as the Turks gave more ad more details, after they were allowed to enter the embassy and do their own investigations...a clean up crew was seen entering the building and the Turks found evidence that they had tried to clean up but they were able to find blood splatters).they finally admitted that a " rogue" element had killed him.
That was another lie. 15 Saudis, including a forensic expert had flown in earlier that day. They had a bone saw with them. They left hours after. Who were they? At least one of them was a close confidant of bin Salman ( he was seen in various pictures accompanying him on various missions abroad).
What happened? It is obvious that they wanted to kidnap and return Khashoggi to Saudi Arabia. But here things get blurry. That he as killed is of no doubt ( the Saudis have admitted that now). How he was killed is not known.
Where is the body? None has been produced and the Turks are saying that he was dismembered and his remains scattered in some nearby forests. ( thus the bone saw and the forensic specialist).
All the efforts by the Saudis are made to shield the Crown Prince bin Salman. Trump has offered them some cover, by first bringing up the " rogue" element and so far  has not been willing to hold the Saudis or bin Salman responsible. In this he is joined by one of his senior adviser, his son-in law Jared Kushner, who has established a close relationship with bin Salman. He, Kushner, has become Trump's whisperer. He is also close to Israel and its prime minister Netanyahu and Netanyahu wants to preserve the US/Saudi realstions and their opposition to Iran, which Israel sees as an enemy. He also supports Trump's scrapping the nuclear agreement and bringing back sanctions against Iran. 
So America's position and their refusal to call out the Saudis on this brutal, savage killing, is being shaped by Kushner who has dealings with bin Salman and is a known financial and religious backer of Israel.
With the exception of Germany, no other country has ( there were some murmurings from GB and France) has taken a stand afraid of losing their businesses with the Saudis. This is cowardice and it is immoral. Trump has said that he has billions in arms deal that he will not end because of potential  jobs' loss and so do the others.
Canada's Trudeau has been a vocal supporter o Human Rights and especially Women's rights and Canada has a LAV deal with the Saudis and has come under attack from them suspending trade and investments, withdrawing students and ambassador.
Canada can lead the way. When the Saudi foreign minister, Adel Al-Jubeir, asked "
 are we a banana republic? and questioned our treatment of Quebecers and " Indians", he tried to equate us with a regime that chops off limbs, stone, behead publicly, imprison without trial , , tortures,  wage a genocidal war and govern without restraint, doing what they please, we must reply firmly. Cancel the LAV deal, close their embassy, stop buying their oil ( we do not need it ), stop trading with them and show them that we stand for Law and Order, Human Rights and Decency. What can they do? 
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Quebec Election 2018 ( Oct.1) and echoes of 1944.

10/2/2018

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     The voter have spoken, especially those in the Regions, and the Coalition Avenir Quebec, has won an overwhelming victory.( 73/125 seats) and their leader Francois Legault will be the provinces 43rd premier. 
     Philippe Couillard and his Liberals have gone down to defeat ( 32 seats ) after almost 14 years ( except for  a few months of PQ's Marois) and for the first time in almost 50 years, a party other than the Liberals or Parti Quebecois will be in power.. 
     The PQ has suffered its worst defeat since 1970, winning only 9 seats, with its leader JF Lisee, himself going down to defeat, ( like Marois in 2014) and resigning ( like Marois in 2014).
     Quebec Solidaire has won 10 seats, a break through ( plus 7), winning seats outside of Montreal...Quebec City, Sherbrooke etc.
     The polls were again wrong as they predicted a close race and a minority government, but the CAQ won about 37% of the votes ( the polls had shown them around 31%).
     The PQ vote collapsed and that helped the CAQ and the QS as nationalists went to the CAQ and socialists went to QS. 
     The PQ will lose its official party status in the National Assembly and with that goes financial support. It runs the risk of oblivion, unless some energetic and articulate leader emerges and defines clearly what it stands for ( Lisee was all over the place, desperately trying to please everyone, changing the party platform as the days go by and even to personal and elitist  attacks on Manon Masse, the QS outstanding face.
     The CAQ appealed to nativism...raising fears of Quebec losing its language, ite culture and its values, thus its identity in the face of  the threats from immigrants, refugees, Muslims, " les autres". He campaigned against increased immigration ( the Liberals were concerned with labor shortage due to the growing economy, the low birth rate, the aging population and the need for workers, skilled and unskilled to fill the need). Legault was adamant that Quebec should take in 10,000 less ( from 50,000 to 40,000); that those who came in would have to pass a French proficiency test in 3 years or be deported ( they are protected against this by Sec.6 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms). He also wanted to limit the wearing of hijabs in the workplace and most importantly protect " Quebec Values".
     His appeal was to the Quebec of the past, with its core religious values; its homogeneity; its language insulated and its identity secured. This was an appeal to nostalgia, to the pre-60s Quebec of family farms, Catholicism, to populism and against the foreign hordes and the frightening new world that is at the gates.
     It is reminiscent of the 1944 election, when Maurice Duplessis and his Union National used lies and fears to defeat the Liberal government of Adelard Godbout. Godbout had won the election in 1939 with his support of Canada's entry in WW11 and had governed very competently, introducing many progressive reforms, like giving women the right to vote (1940), founded Hydro Quebec, free education up to grade 7 and a labor code allowing workers to form unions. Duplessis and his wealthy supporters and the Catholic church were adamantly opposed to these " progressive" changes and went on a campaign of fears, lies and against Quebec's support for the war ( PM McKenzie King's "Conscription, If Necessary"). Duplessis falsely accused Godbout of wanting to bring 100,000 Jewish refugees into Quebec, got support from Lionel Groulx and the Catholic church and money poured from wealthy businessmen fearing the workers and their unions. It worked and the Liberals were defeated. 
     La Grande Noiceur of Roncarelli, Jehovah Witness, Padlock law, communist witch hunt, anti-labor, pro business, anti immigrant became the order of the day until the Supreme Court struck the laws and he died and in 1960 the Liberals under Jean Lesage and his message of Maitre des Chez Nous won and ushered in the Quiet Revolution, which would lead Quebec out of the corrupt, priest-ridden agricultural society of large families and illiteracy to a Quebec with public schools, a new emerging middle class unafraid of technology or business innovation.
     Now we are back to fears about identity, language, culture, Quebec values  and the need to be protected from Muslims, Immigration, refugees, and the encroaching world of internet, i phones,  social media/platforms. Thus language tests, deportations, Quebec values and no hijab in the work place.  
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    fig 2-b My Father and Mother to whom I owe everything

    "Ecce Homo"  ("Behold the Man"), Antonio Ciseri's depiction of Pontius Pilate presenting a scourged Jesus to the people of Jerusalem.

    fig 1-b


    figure 1-a

    F. Goya
    Two men fighting with clubs
    circa 1819-1823

    The Black Paintings Period


    (Fig 2a) The Death of Innocents


    Author

     Ishwar R. Prashad recently retired from over 47 years of teaching.

    He taught Political Science variously at Dawson College, Loyola College, Algoma University College, Sir George Williams University, Concordia University and Vanier College.

    Previously, he taught for nine years in Port Mourant, Guyana.


    He became Principal of Corentyne Comprehensive High School at the tender age of 21. During this time he turned down Scholarship offers to study overseas in England and the U.S.S.R.

    He chose Canada and after graduating from Sir George Williams with a B.A Honours with Distinction, he accepted a Fellowship to complete his graduate work at McMaster University. He completed his first two degrees-Bachelors and Masters- in three years.  

    His last position was as Co-Ordinator of Political Science and Economics at Vanier College and Adjunct Professor of Political Science at Concordia University.

    He is married to the former Juliet Ramcharan (Library Supervisor, McGill University) and together they have three children – Indra R. Prashad, P.Eng. ,McGill (Presently Manager, Ontario Safe Water Drinking Agency), Ishwar R. Prashad Jr., B.A ,McGill (Presently, President, Kismit Gear Inc.) and Rabindra Y. Prashad, (Presently, Artist and Chef).They are the proud Grandparents of eight grandchildren-Miranda, Kamal, Ayesha, Élan, Anĵa , Étienne, Chloé, and Jasmine.

     

     

     





     



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