Sunday, January 20, 2019

When the US war economy intrudes on Canada’s Consciousness

When I first heard about how The Bank of Canada was created and operated as a public bank many years before it was transferred into a private bank under Pierre Trudeau’s reign, I was fascinated.  Here was the answer to Canada’s financial woes.  If the privatization of The Bank of Canada could be changed back to this bank’s original mandate of being a public bank where our Canadian government could borrow at little or no interest for capital works, then so many good things could happen.  Unemployed people could be put to work as roads and bridges and low income housing were realized, along with environmental clean ups and clean drinking water for every First Nations Reserve in Canada. There are many good people working on the concept of restoring The Bank of Canada to its original Act, title and meaning through the courts and public opinion.  Through an organization called COMER a lot of work is being done on this.  Please Google COMER and see what they are doing. But lately I have become as worried about the war-mongering politicians in the US than the past and future financial woes of Canada.


Many polls show that most US citizens pay little or no attention to international politics and these policies, whatever they are, do not influence US voting habits to any degree. The major concern for most people is the economy, that is, jobs. They don’t even consider the fact that the US economy is dictated by the US military complex. This complex is based on the petro dollar, that is, US dollars as the reserve currency by which all other currencies must pass in financial exchanges between countries.  There are many advantages to holding the right to the world’s currency exchange.  One of the main advantages is that if another country displeases the US, the US can impose monetary sanctions including tariffs, embargoes and outright blockades.  As it is the world’s only reserve currency, the US can starve almost any country into submission.  Failing that, they can always bomb.  That usually works, and is certainly good for the war economy, which even Justin Trudeau is picking up on as Canada ships armoured vehicles to Saudi Arabia, a rogue nation if there ever was one. Canadians like to think of themselves as peacemakers. The C$14.8bn Saudi arms deal suggests otherwise. General Dynamic Land Systems Canada, a manufacturer based in London, Ont., has been contracted to deliver 742 light armoured vehicles (LAVs) to the Arabian Peninsula kingdom. LAVs have been transported since July.


I fear that Canadians are only marginally more interested in international affairs compared to the US.  Few people are worried about the international questions being shoved in our faces by current events.  For instance, what are Canadian troops doing on Russia’s border?  Why do we find ourselves in some kind of an insane tug of war with China?  Why do we genuflect every time Benjamin Netanyahu appears and refuse to protest Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians on a national scale?  Why are we not up in arms over the apparent determination of both Israel and Saudi Arabia to goad the US into bombing Iran? Not paying attention? But this scenario is quite likely.  The US and NATO allies are just a bit leery of bombing Russia just yet, but Iran?  The US neocons and Armageddon- bound religious zealots are certainly working on this along with Israel and Saudi Arabia.  And If this should happen, then what?  Where would Canada be if US led NATO should bomb Iran?  Where would China and Russia be on this?  Where would the planet be?  And while the struggles seem to be over rights of territory, rights of air space, rights of privacy and tech dominance these dangerous struggles that seem to be coming to a head are actually at bottom over something else.  Next time.