The Syrian Crisis Silver Lining

Naked power wielding can be neither transactional nor transforming, only leadership can be.
James MacGregor Burns, Leadership, p.20

At the time of this writing, the European Union's population is over 500 million people, spread through 28 member states. There has been a lot of talk of late of how it is not going to survive. How there are just too many different ethnic groups to get past their differences, not to mention the task of getting past the past. The Oracle of Ottawa has never put too much weight on that kind of defeatist talk. Due to its radical make up and brilliant framework, the European Union is probably the strongest group of nation states in the world today since the Roman Empire.
 

The European Union proves its 'metal'...

 The Oracles early beliefs got an immeasurable lift this morning while watching his local cable news channel. The first reports that Germany had thrown open the doors to the influx of Syrian refugees greatly made the Oracles day. I even have a theory how it may have happened behind the scenes. Europe is a very old place. There exist within it many ancient and noble families of nearly unimaginable lineage. Many of them know that they have had many relatives that went on the N'th Crusade at some time in the Middle Ages, never to return. Then it dawned on someone, that the descendants of their long lost relatives were now at their very gates. Then the breaker tripped.

However it came to happen, the Oracle of Ottawa wishes to extend his most heartfelt congratulations to the parties involved. It is the middle of the Labour Day weekend here in Canada. We are in the middle of a very bitter and ugly Federal General Election. For the last ten years we have been suffering under a neo-con wack ball right wing revolution in the form of the 'Harper Government'. Since the opening of the gates in Europe this morning the polls and the opinion surveys have put the 'Harper Government' in deep third place from first place. The people are in the streets in Canada, from one end of it to another. And that is something that hardly ever happens.

Who ever made the decision to throw open the gates, must know that the decision will have far reaching positive consequences here in Canada and in turn, later on for the European Union. It is certainly going to help a nice young man by the name of Justin Trudeau become Prime Minister of Canada on October 19th, 2015. The EU will finally be able to deal with someone with more than half a brain when it comes to the weighty matters of Canada - EU affairs. Discourse and engagement will be returned, hopefully along with Canada's past reputation. And he promised to fast track the influx of Syrian refugees into Canada starting on day one, to the tune 25,000 in the first year, plus the fast tracking of the community private sponsorships which will probably add up to way more than 25,000.
 

 Hell, one hundred thousand Syrians spread across Canada wouldn't even be noticed. Along with the infinite water, snow, rocks and trees, we have tons of open room. Then I figure that the British Commonwealth nation members will all get on the band wagon, in five ten years we will be wondering what all the fuss was originally about... As the Oracle of Ottawa wraps up this small missive he is listening to Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 on You-Tube, the Karajan recording of course, and he knows with complete certainty that their is nothing that Western Civilization cannot 'sort'.  

Out Of The Way In Ottawa

There is a divergence between private and social accounting that the market fails to register. One essential task of law and government is to institute the necessary corrections.
John Rawls, A Theory Of Justice, p. 268

The Oracle of Ottawa was doing what he does every Wednesday morning, deep in his secure bunker, reading, and around 10:00 a.m., checking the BNN for the quality of the open of the Toronto Stock Exchange. The market was in a rally again, just like fish swimming upstream to spawn. And then the Oracle flipped to the news ticker on the CTV News Network for a silent tape stream of the morning headlines when he saw the BREAKING NEWS banner.

Darth Vader - Resistance is futile?

Something downtown on the Hill and the environs. Flipping to CBC News World the Oracle was not impressed that they were also in end of the world coverage also. But it all hit home as to the magnitude of the event when on channel 33, CNN was joining the rapture hoedown. The first thing that went through the Oracle of Ottawa's gifted brain was that the 'Harper Government' finally got its war.

The morning coverage was classic fog of war. From skipping through the channels the Oracle of Ottawa was utterly amazed at the conclusions of each source. It was the most surreal unfolding of events that the Oracle can remember in a very long time. There were at least four hit teams, there were $1.98 jihadists on every roof top in the downtown Ottawa area. The body count was surely going to be into the double digits before lunch time. It was the most embarrassing amateur hour hosted by Canadian media in a very long time. The Oracle of Ottawa can only hope that a very detailed review of practices and procedures will be undertaken for the coverage of future events.

Contrary to the mouth breathing musings of the Conservative Party talking heads, Canada has been through much worse in it's short history as a nation. Those of us that are somewhat seasoned can easily remember the October Crisis of 1970. The Oracle of Ottawa can still very clearly remember looking out of his grade seven class room window at Saint Joseph Catholic School onto the residence of Senator Joe Greene  who was Energy Minister in the Trudeau government at the time, living in a very grand house in Arnprior, to see a soldier, in full battle dress, armed with a sub machine gun, parading in front of the future Senators house! That is the kind of Canadian history that stays with you forever. 

Compared to the past that the Oracle of Ottawa has lived through, the past weeks events are essentially vandalism. Rag assed one offs. Hardly the attempted overturning of a Nation State. And as to blame? The Oracle of Ottawa blames the insane right wing wrecking crew ideology of the 'Harper Government'.  And there is a lesson to be learned from the events of the past week here in Canada. If a government fails to take care of all of it's people, a certain subset of people will soon take care of the government...there is no other rational and sane conclusion that one of sound mind and body can come to.

Justin Trudeau Whips It Out!

Knowledge, without personality, will not suffice.
Baltasar Gracian, The Science Of Success And The Art Of Prudence, Sec. 2

You just know the end is nigh when the Leader of the Third Party is talking like a Prime Minister with out the use of speaking points or 'do me' pink lipstick. But that was the case on Thursday of last week Dear Reader. The young Justin Trudeau was out giving a perfectly well attended speech. The latest poll data were in and the young Justin was way ahead in all of them. 

Justin Trudeau - The Next One...

 But it all went nuts at the question and answer period after the speech, hosted by the seasoned Don Newman, who the Oracle of Ottawa thought looked just great, for his exceeding number of years. When the young Next One  made the most excellent point that Canada would do much better by staying out of the Americans way in the airspace and rather contribute more to the humanitarian requirements of the 'wack the ISIS' mission. The line 'whip out our CF-18's to show them how hard they are' caused an absolute fire storm in the daily news cycle in Canada.

The Oracle of Ottawa damn near split a gut from laughing so hard, not to mention darn near falling off the couch. The image of Steve Harper of the 'Harper Government' running around naked in the middle east, save for his unraveling blue turban, with his half erect CF-18 flopping about in the breeze still brings a chuckle to the Oracle, even after so many days in passing. The Oracle of Ottawa saw it all as a defining moment. The balls of the young Justin have finally fully descended, no writ required. The next federal election campaign is now officially on.     

It is only the insanity of the last days of the Right Wing Revolution and the 'Harper Government' that would cause the creation of a mission for the Canadian Forces that would essentially entail dropping $100,000.00 smart bombs on $1.98 rag-assed jihadists! Even the thickest Conservative backbencher knows that the Americans don't need any more manned fighters to clutter up the already packed airspace of the middle east.  There are no doubt so many drones in the air at the time of this writing, that they require the air traffic control department of an aircraft carrier! 

You don't need the Oracle of Ottawa to tell you Dear Reader, that there are so many bodies under the ideological bus of the 'Harper Government' that the wheels can longer touch the ground. Now it appears that it is all much worse than that. The wheels are ready to completely fall off the bus all together. The bus is located in Ottawa at an out of the way location at a City of Ottawa snow plow garage, just outside the Chinese embassy personnel compound. If you go late at night you can see that said bus, now up on blocks, way at the back. If you are lucky, you will see the door open, with a weird old fat man at the steering wheel, with a grey toupee hanging off of the mirror, steering and shifting madly at the dead controls, screaming ' I,m driving the fuck out of this bus now!' at the top of his lungs... Such is the last waning days of the 'Harper Government'.    

China's Old Men - Truth or Dare?

If a lion could talk, we wouldn't be able to understand it.
Wittgenstein, Philosophy of Psychology - A Fragment, Sec. 327

Those public demonstrations must be pretty bad in Hong Kong, as they even climbed to the top of the Canadian news cycle today. The paper mache Goddess of Democracy ought to be making it's appearance about anytime now. The Oracle of Ottawa is really enjoying watching China's old men twist. This ain't 1989 Dear Reader! There is so much more at stake at the time of this writing. Back in 1989 China did not have access to the massive and gullible capital markets of the Western Free World.

China's old men - trapped by the ideological balls?

Why it was only last week that Jack 'Forrest Gump' Ma hit up the New York Stock Exchange for over twenty billion real American dollars in that monster Variable Interest Entity IPO of the previously unknown Alibaba electronic bulletin board! The Oracle of Ottawa spent all the week before it went public to inform investors to beware, and that it was really only a two dollar preferred debt offering. Of course the Oracle of Ottawa caught a ton of heat online about it, but come tomorrow we will soon see who was right won't we?

The real question here Dear Reader, is Truth or Dare, Money or Power? Will the demented old peasants of China's corrupt and inbred politburo stomp the citizens of Hong Kong in the social and journalistic media light of the world like they did in Bejing in 1989? And if they did what will be the opening prices of all the Chinese variable interest entities that trade at present on the New York Stock Exchange, come the opening bell on Monday morning?

It is real ignorant, real world irony, of classical proportions that the option chains on Alibaba start trading tomorrow morning! And the Oracle of Ottawa's feelers went all fuzzy, when it was reported  on CNBC last week that some unknown hedge fund laid a huge short position on Alibaba, of 2.4 - 3.6% ! of the outstanding issue. Someone is real cocky or perhaps very well informed, perhaps a bunch of merchant banks from Hong Kong perhaps?

There were many reports about how many Chinese politburo members were "partners" in the last Alibaba IPO. Do you really think they are going to risk all that loot for the sake of a municipal election in Hong Kong? Will the old Chinese men cut the nose off of their very lost faces for mere ideological purity? The Oracle of Ottawa has heard that the Chinese can eat damn near anything, but ideology? Perhaps with a black bean sauce and some Deer Penis Wine...?

'Harper Government' - Just In Time War?

Better a handful of gratification
Than two fistfuls of labor which is pursuit of wind.
KETHUVIM, Ecclesiastes, 4:6, The Jewish Study Bible,  p. 1611

You would have to be living under a rock if you were in Ottawa, at the time of this writing, not to know that the 'Harper Government' and the Canadian right wing revolution are like two pieces of excrement circling ever closer to the center of the bowl at ever increasing speed. As the latest poll numbers come in, confirming the young Justin Trudeau as the 'Next One', the excremental centripetal forces are nearing the point of catastrophic failure.

Ask yourself: Who really created ISIS?

The 'Harper Government' is at the point where it is now forced to reap what it has sown over the last decade. The punks in short pants at the PMO and the Conservative war room have been having fits and many late nights as of late. Nothing seems to work anymore. The poll numbers show that the Canadian Public has tuned out completely, waiting for the writ to drop, or October 2015, which ever comes first.

The panic really set in when the Franklin false flag campaign totally failed when the overall Canadian response was; Prove it! That was when all the announcement videos on You Tube started to vanish. (See earlier posts...) The latest round of attack ads only caused another spike up in the Liberal Parties numbers. It seems that whatever action is taken, it is like going out and actually campaigning for the young Justin Trudeau! This is the worst nightmare to a spin doctor/fart catcher, as it signifies that the point of no return has long ago been passed and exceeded.

Something really desperate was required. And like magic and in perfect tune with the news cycle it appeared. The poor quality ISIS "audio tape" threatening Canada. Now the Oracle of Ottawa was not fooled for a moment with this one. ISIS is not a low budget operation, if that audio was real, ISIS would have made it into a video, and it would have been in full HD to boot!  Complete with soundtrack and score, not a half assed production by the Young Conservatives of Ducks Ass, Alberta! Ho HO!! As they say in baseball; " Got Heeeeemmmm".

Although the Canadian public caught on at once to the rickety ploy, the Conservatives just kept running with it. Just stick to the speaking points and stay on message. Without the approval of Parliament the desperate 'Harper Government' puked up Canadian boots on the ground, without even the Americans asking!  And while granting full media access to the Wall Street Journal (i.e. Fox News) hosted by Goldman Sachs, the chromed dome grise of the 'Harper Government' ran off at the mouth at the rate of over ten thousand words! And actually admitted that he lied to his own legislative body, when in the interview boasted (2:00) that Canada had the second largest force on the ground next to the United States! Which the Oracle of Ottawa was quick to notice would have be many more people than the lie of 39 persons that was sold to the Canadian media and the Canadian House of Commons!!

The best way to handle this rag assed ISIS uprising is to send in the drones 24/7. Put a phone number media campaign in the local television and radio media, that if you see black banners, call 1-800-PEST-Removal. The phone banks would be manned at CIA headquarters at Langley, and the targets listed and sent to Holloman Air Force Base. Where most if not all the drones are controlled from! Today there is simply no need for boots on the ground, you just set up a Face Book page! Too easy.

'Harper Government' - Floundering With Franklin?

A sentence in a story gives us the same satisfaction as a picture.
Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosophical Grammar, p. 171

It was all the news today here in Canada. It was announced by the chromed domed eminence himself, along with his most trusted spin doctors and fart catchers assorted, that one of the long lost ships of the doomed and tragic Franklin Expedition had been located somewhere up in Northern Canada south of King William Island. The first thing that struck the Oracle of Ottawa was how could they make that claim with out even having dived the wreck, which later in the day was announced to be in only eleven meters of water!

Sir John Franklin - As insane as Stephen Harper?

And then for some strange reason the Oracle of Ottawa felt a rage suddenly well up in him. And this reaction is being quite noted all over Canada at the time of this writing. This is not a Canadian story in the least. It is a tragic story of a megalomaniac with a very advanced  death wish psychoses, not at all unlike Steve Harper of the 'Harper Government', who dragged himself and a whole expedition to their deaths. Just like the 'Harper Government' is dragging Canada to a very uncertain future. And whose policies have emboldened the likes of Putin and have created the world environment that has allowed the ISIS Islamic State to thrive...    

It all started to unravel  around 5:00 p.m. when the momentous discovery was discussed on Power and Politics on CBC Newsworld. The majority of the panel was less than impressed. There were very many questions. Such as how does this useless unchecked "discovery" make my life as a Canadian any better? Will it speed up the delivery of my unemployment check? Will it bring critically needed home services to Veterans that have recently been gutted by the 'Harper Government' ? Will it make the lives of the survivors of missing and murdered aboriginal women any better? Will it allow home door to door mail delivery to continue? No? Then what the fuck is it good for? And how in hell can you call finding the remains of a colossal failure very much not unlike your own as 'Nation Building' ?

It is going to look pretty bad if that hulk is not one of the two Franklin Expedition ships. It has totally shocked the Oracle of Ottawa that Parks Canada has not its homework on this one. The two expedition ships of the Franklin Expedition were known as bomb vessels. Do you know Dear Reader how many of these were built by and for the Royal Navy in the 19th century? The list is very long indeed. There were at least one hundred ships of this class constructed! Do you know Dear Reader how many expeditions were sent to look for Franklin in the 19th century alone - Twenty at least! And not to mention how many of these vessels were used by the Hudson Bay Company to supply their outposts into the 20th century!

But it was the communications genius of Geoff Norquay (a total sack of crap..) on hire from Earnscliffe Strategy Group that let all the cats out of the bag, on air, in real time.  The little whippersnapper from the NDP mentioned that instead of looking for Franklins long lost remains it would have been more intelligent to be doing serious mapping for all the international boundary commissions that Canada will have to attend to defend its present borders in the next two years. Geoff Norquay rolled his eyes knowingly nearly into the back of his head and stated that there has been a serious amount of mapping done to locate Franklins trash. Then the young NDP lad stated that that mapping is over five hundred miles useless from the area where mapping was most required! It was killer Dear Reader and no doubt Geoff Norquays last screw up on the PMO dime.

John Baird Plays Gulf of Tonkin?

No sign leads us beyond itself, and no argument either.
Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosophical Grammar, p. 114


You know it is the dog days of the 'Harper Government' when you have the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the personage of one John Baird, blathering gibberish that the Russians, having overflown HMCS Toronto somewhere in the Black Sea constitutes a grave act of war. The Oracle of Ottawa nearly fell of of his sofa when he saw the report on Power and Politics on the good old CBC.  The Oracle of Ottawa is certain that the train wreck minister will soon be doing very gay interior designs for the new Liberal government McMansions in his riding of Barfhaven within the next year.

It is sort of like the Gulf of Tonkin incident all over again.  The war hounds of the 'Harper Government' are trying just one more time, in the hope that a tragedy will some how save their worthless hides. Or it could be that the minister was reading from prepared notes from the United States Department of State, seeing as the president is to speak to the issue(s) on Wednesday night in Prime Time!

HMCS Toronto

Let the Oracle of Ottawa assure all Canadians that what happened to the HMCS Toronto is nothing out of the ordinary. Canadian naval units get "zoomed" all the time. What has really pissed off the Oracle of Ottawa is that when he as a young blood on HMCS Fraser sometime in 1984 and that not only got "zoomed", but "brushed up" by a big bad scary Kashin destroyer of the then Soviet Union!  It got even worse and way more scary when they zoomed us with a Badger bomber at around 150 feet. All these incidents were done with full weapon radars in lock on mode! Which is an act of war in the international law text books. And can be very carcinogenic as we were all told later. And not a word of that ever got into the media back in Canada! What was up with that Dear Reader?

At least HMCS Toronto didn't run into this!

So what could the lads and ladies on the HMCS Toronto have been up to, to provoke such a nasty old cold war response from Ivan? It did not take the Oracle of Ottawa long to find out. And the Oracle of Ottawa has included video proof. The drone flight over the hot area in Ukraine probably did not go over very well. But even then there is nothing to worry about.  


http://youtu.be/zS-pcGnNhac?list=FL_Y-g5pD30zdEKPPCxaLObA (link to secret video...)


HMCS Toronto is part of, by now, a very large SAG, or surface action group.  It includes on the newest and baddest American carriers which I shall not name. If there is a carrier, there is also several nuclear powered submarine attack boats. And seeing the gravity of this situation and how it could get all out of control it would not surprise the Oracle of Ottawa that there also a "boomer" somewhere on station. Loaded up with ICBM's with the pits in and standing by. Hopefully the hapless members of the press and the various MP's will ask about such things at John Baird's briefing tomorrow... 

China - The Best One Volume History

Nations are what their deeds are.
G. W. F. Hegel, The Philosophy Of History, p.74

If you are not living under a rock, you don't need anyone to tell you that China has become, in recent times, a very large force in the world. This is of course going to be real trouble in the near future. A good way to understand this is to have a basic understanding of the history of China. The problem is that the peasants of the Peasants Republic of China has a history that covers roughly about eight thousand years.
 

Worried about China? Forget about it..

 As a public service for his world wide readership the Oracle of Ottawa has been keeping an eye out for the perfect modern day summary that the modern busy person of today could read and benefit from. The problem with Chinese histories is that there is  a lot of them and most of them are as boring and as dry as fried out area of hell. The ideal situation would be to discover one that was written by someone that was actually on the ground at the time of the big modern changes that we are all presently dealing with today.

It is all a pretty tall order, but the Oracle of Ottawa has discovered just the ticket recently, by total chance of course, while still ever working on his "thinking about thinking" project. The name of the work is: A History of Chinese Civilization by Jacques Gernet.(Second edition...) It is under 800 pages, but is the most readable history of Chinese civilization that the Oracle of Ottawa has ever seen. And for good measure the Oracle of Ottawa has read it and most heartily recommends it as the work that hits the spot.

The one you want...

 The work has been translated into English and published by Cambridge University Press which is all that has to said as far as the bona fides are concerned. The book consist of eleven parts, broken into numerous chapters. After reading through it, the reader will have a very strong handle on what makes China tick, and why it ticks in the way it does. It explains most clearly the greatest weaknesses of China as a society in the modern world. The time period covered is from 8,000 B.C. up to 1989 A.D. with that nasty business in Tiananmen Square. The work is very well illustrated, with tons of summary facts and chronologies for handy quick reference. 

This is a most useful work for persons that are thinking of investing and /or doing business in China. (Don't!) Or for people that just want to understand the evening news somewhat more clearly. The main idea is that China is totally different from the Western World. It explains why, and why it will never change. It also explains the great structural weaknesses that presently are built into Chinese society  The Oracle of Ottawa has also included a video of another Canadian who has also been on the ground very recently and comes to pretty much the same conclusions as Gernet does but in an even more hard hitting way. Enjoy...

Brazil - Couldn't Even Afford The Roof

Direct approaches make a distinction between means and ends that often does not exist in reality.
John Kay, Obliquity, p. 50

You know the Brazil 2014 World Cup of soccer is going to be an utter train wreck when somebody in Canada even realizes it from watching the old fashioned vulgar TV media. Billions of dollars have been poured down the proverbial shit hole. The Oracle of Ottawa really thought that story on the stadium built up the Amazon River was especially a laugher. It ought to be a hoot watching all the pussy Euro types drop dead one by one, as the weeks progress. And even someone called jay low, who ever that is, has now refused to show up! The omens are really adding up. 

No soccer for paupers?

And the overall look of the structural rigidity of said stadiums, as far as the Oracle of Ottawa is concerned, look to be somewhat shakey, to say the least. But the Oracle will concede that watching the video on You-Tube of one of them collapsing with a sell out house will certainly be great summer entertainment. Seeing as there is no war scheduled this summer in the sand spit Middle East. You have to take what you can get in the off season.

The main broadcaster of the World Cup in Canada is the poor old CBC, Canada's State Broadcaster. The Oracle of Ottawa can only wonder what the hell they were on or what they were thinking. God only knows how many millions of scarce cultural resources were pissed away to secure the transmission rights. The Oracle of Ottawa figures that at least 10,000 people in Canada, a country of over 35 million people, will be watching at one time. Soccer sure as hell can't compete in the ratings when the almighty Blue Jays are on a hell of a roll this season. Why anyone would want to watch soccer when they can easily watch Major League Baseball is an utter mystery to the Oracle of Ottawa. 

The latest information at the time of this writing states that most all the essential services will be out on strike before the first tip off. That will be something to check out the progress of between innings as I watch my daily baseball game or two or maybe even three. The parts where the locals rob and kidnap the foreigners at will ought to be also most amusing. Not to mention all the weird STD's that will be transmitted back to the developed world after the said great event.  

If you need any more proof that soccer is a corrupt, fixed game with a totally corrupt and out of control board of governance, I guess you will be tuning in, to watch the paint dry. What really makes the Oracle of Ottawa wonder late into the night is why an up and coming country like Brazil would even want the hassle and outsized risk and expense of holding such a train wreck, when they so many other pressing problems on their own patch. Of course the answer to that is easy. Every one has gotten greased. The money is secure in a daisy chain of off shore tax havens, impossible to trace, and proof of a very successful political career.  And as far as the poor and destitue are concerned, Fuck'em, there is plenty more were they came from...

What Is The Peasants Republic of China On?

Better a small piece of a big pie, than a big piece of a small one.
Calouste Gulbenkian, (Mr. Five Percent...)

It is Victoria Day here in Canada, the first long weekend of the summer season. And it was a perfect, pretty, blue and cool day. The Oracle of Ottawa thought that that was a most generous gift of the Gods, but it all got better as the Oracle of Ottawa watched his local old time vulgar media lunch time news. It was that clip from the daily State Department Press Briefing that announced the indictment of a wack of military officers from the great Peasants Republic of China. Needless to say it made the Oracle of Ottawa's day.

No Disneyland for you Wong Dong...

 After the laughing stopped, the Oracle of Ottawa was pretty sure how the State Department actually linked each face to each computer. The stupid peasants left their web cams on as they were vandalizing assorted large American sites for for a free lunch. Yes Dear Reader, way out of control and way too much Deer Penis Wine, that shit will get you every time. 

Actually the Oracle of Ottawa has been simply awed and amazed at the recent actions of the Peasants Republic of China in days as of late. What the hell are they trying to prove by strong arming a semi submersible off shore oil rig into hot contested waters off of Vietnam? Does it make any sense to anybody at all? It reminds the Oracle of Ottawa of a big yella dog that chases cars. If the car actually stops, what is that big yella dog going to do with it? Such are the risks of chasing the hubcaps of global hegemony!

Chinese HD-981 off of Vietnam..

  As the Chinese are finding out at a very rapid rate, it sure sucks to be a peasant master of the universe. Who knew it would all be so much work and effort? Of course if the Peasant Republic wanted to really bring it, they would have formed a sweet joint venture with all the locals and played straight up. The Oracle knows this is true, you can learn a lot of things from Armenians of the recent past, see epigraph above.

But the part of the story that kept the Oracle of Ottawa glued to You-Tube for the last couple of days was the reaction of the "weak state" of Vietnam! They sure got the Peasants Republic of China's attention didn't they? It was all pretty unfortunate about the misidentified Koreans and Taiwanese though, but it proves the Oracle of Ottawa's point, even to Asians, they all look alike. If they can't tell each other apart, how would it be possible for a an old Gajin like the Oracle of Ottawa ever to learn? Ho! Ho!

The Oracle of  Ottawa has taken a lot of heat in recent times of late as to opinions of the true motives of the Peasants Republic. Why some people have even hurt the Oracle of Ottawa's feelings by insisting that he was a bigot! Ouch, that hurt's. But today was the day when it all came together and proved that the Oracle of Ottawa was right all along. It would be all really great if this was the end of the matter, but the Oracle of Ottawa must inform his Dear Readers, that this is all just the start of much graver matters.

Goodluck (!?) Jonathan

Politics is frequently associated today with self-seeking behaviour, hypocrisy and 'public relations' activity geared to selling particular policy packages.
David Held, Models Of Democracy, Third Edition, p.259

It is with wondrous dread that the Oracle of Ottawa continues to hear about certain school girl kidnappings in the third world state of Nigeria. The Oracle of Ottawa is also amazed at how much one can learn from just watching. How does a guy that comes from a family of canoe builders end up being President of Nigeria? This also begs an even bigger question; how does a canoe builder and / or a president of a third world country end up with a net worth of damn near two million U.S. dollars? That is a hell of a lot of canoes!

Goodluck - Setting the price...

Since the Oracle of Ottawa is not owned by big media or any nation state, he feels it his public duty to promulgate his wise and penetrating observations as a public service to his world wide readership. The Oracle of Ottawa deeply respects his Dear Readers. Why did Goodluck Jonathan wait for over two weeks before doing anything about the recently suffered acts of terrorism? What information becomes rapidly apparent from observing the facts?

The first fact of revelation from the good President's silence is that none of the abducted girls were of Goodluck Jonathan's tribe! As one can easily find out today, the great president of Nigeria, at the time of this writing, of course, is a member of the Ijaw ethnic group. This ethnic group of course contains very many tribes and / or clans to numerous to mention.  

And of course, for those of us who know of such things, Africa is not run like North America or the European Union, is it? No business is conducted, much less completed, with out someone of the driving tribe getting his palms and off shore bank accounts greased. Is the Oracle of Ottawa right or is he right? It seems readily clear and most striking to the Oracle of Ottawa that someone in Nigeria is presently selling of the rights to girls schools of other numerous ethnic groups like burger franchises are sold here in the free world!

It may come as a surprise to my Dear Readers that Nigeria and Canada have a few things in common. Nigeria is a lot like the Department of Transportation in one of Canada's Atlantic provinces. At every election all the staffs change at the Department of Transportation! It should all become clear when you discover that good old Goodluck is up for reelection in 2015.

The second fact of revelation is that nothing slows down the political opposition at campaign time as the personal loss of a daughter. A most unfortunate and untimely tragedy. But the Oracle of Ottawa strongly suspects that certain daughters will "escape" (or not), if certain fathers reevaluate their immediate political futures. Such is the politics of a third world tribal country.

Of course Dear Readers you will hear of much bravado of the greatest and most powerful nation states of the world today sending high end secretive "aid" to catch the bad ass terrorists. Well all the Oracle of Ottawa can recommend is don't hold your breath. Our nation states are balls deep into the corruption of said above mentioned third world country.(s)  They are fishing for the big billion dollar contracts for their home companies, that just happen to be major campaign contributors of most all civilized western countries.

The Oracle of Ottawa can only suggest that the solution to this most pressing problem is up to the people of Nigeria, and most unfortunately it will not be solved at the ballot box, but rather in the old fashioned way; the street.

Tobin Tax: Push - Pull Implementation

The introduction of a substantial Government transfer tax on all transactions might prove the most serviceable reform available, with a view to mitigating the predominance of speculation in the United States. 
John Maynard Keynes, The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money,  p. 160 

First of all, it should be called the Keynes Tax. But as James Tobin constantly pushed the idea through out his life time it came to be known in his name. The Oracle of Ottawa has provided the earliest reference of the idea. James Tobin first read Keynes book in 1936, and that is where he certainly got the idea. And it would be fitting that the idea of the greatest tax revenue generator of the future should go to it's true originator.

John Maynard Keynes

The main problem with implementing the Keynes tax is very strong resistance from the financial intermediaries. Better known to the average person as the banks. Of course they have darn near infinite resources and very strong lobbies at all levels of government. The very idea of someone else giving them a haircut sends them into total war mode. 

Much to the Oracle of Ottawa's surprise, the Keynes tax has been implemented in Sweden during the 1980's only to be repealed in the early 1990's. The financial institutions started rerouting the trades and flows around the single agent. Therefore it becomes clear that the tax must be pushed onto the financial institutions, and not just at one place, but at several key places all at the same time. At the time of this writing it is being planned by France and Germany together. If Canada and the United States came on board at the same time that would be it. It would get done.

The pull part of the implementation would come from government in the form of moral suasion. As the Keynes tax is introduced by representative governments, it must also in unison drop capital gains tax rates on the banks customers. Then the banks will have to fight the governments and their own customers! It will not be long before they see the light. 

Of course than you have deal with the next objection. What about the tax havens? Well Dear Reader, the thing about most tax havens is that the banking only benefits a very small number of people. And once the residents realize what revenues their respective governments are giving up, each tax haven will fall into line one by one. If worse come to worse they can also be dealt with with extreme prejudice.    

Discovering Thomas Piketty

It is obvious that lack of adequate investment in training can exclude entire social groups from the benefits of economic growth.
Thomas Piketty, CAPITAL in the Twenty - First Century, p. 22

The Oracle of Ottawa first came across Thomas Piketty at his local Chapters retailer. There was a dozen  brand new hard cover copies of Capital in the philosophy section. Go figure, the Oracle of Ottawa can only surmise that Heather Reisman does not want what is between the covers to become common knowledge in Canada. The book is beautifully printed by the same publisher that published the works of John Rawls, Harvard Press. At just under 700 pages it could also hold up a pretty large window or stop a very large door.

Thomas Piketty at Cambridge...

The Oracle knows that the main push of the book is about economic inequality, but the Oracle of Ottawa bought the book for the insights into the actual mechanics of capitalism itself. As an avid stock picker you can't know too much about the actual workings of capitalism.The writing style is very easy to read and absorb.The two laws of capitalism are worth the price of the book.

At the time of this writing Capital is number two in Amazons Top 100 Books list! It was number one until just recently. It has come up in the Province of Ontario election already. Which is not hard to understand, since Kathleen Wynne is no doubt an avid reader. The NDP were too busy singing Koom By Ya and the Conservatives never read books at any time, hence Kathleen Wynne has a pretty big edge with this monster tome under her belt.

This Thomas Piketty lad has learned all about academia very young. He got his Phd. at the age of twenty two! He was awarded the prize for the most promising young economist in France in 2002. Just come up with a theory that cannot be entirely proved or disproved. You get to be a legend by default. Just like Sigmund Freud. Whatever works....

The Oracle of Ottawa's favorite economists are John Maynard Keynes and Karl Marx, as all my many international readers already know. They too were fascinated with wealth and inequality. They were also obsessed with how wealth was created. And to study the acquisition of wealth they actually tried it themselves. Especially John Maynard Keynes. He got so good at it that his original portfolio is still compounding in timeless bliss at Cambridge. There was never any doubt about Keynes, he had a ton of his own skin in the game all his life. Thomas Piketty should try that, maybe his next book will be about as long as The General Theory instead of the length of Das Kapital Buch Ein....

Stephen Poloz - Just SHUT UP !

Civic education needs to be part of every child's learning process, from early school through to higher education and beyond.
David Held, Models Of Democracy, Third Edition, p. 251

It was Wednesday afternoon last. The time was 3:30 p.m., and the Oracle of Ottawa was quite enjoying watching the close of the trading day on the BNN network. It was a hell of a nice rally, well over seventy points, and there seemed to be "legs" for more before closing time at 4:00 p.m..Then out of the blue, BNN decided it would be nice to cut live to the Senate Banking Committee, where the head of the Bank of Canada, Stephen Poloz was giving the scheduled update to the august Senators and members of Parliament.

Bank of Canada

It was the young and ardent Nathan Cullen that was asking the questions, and the Oracle of Ottawa was quite impressed at how pointed they were, while Stephen Poloz was not so much impressed. As he started to struggle to give an answer that matched the intelligence of the question, the Oracle of Ottawa could see that the market had already decided for the depth of Stephen Poloz' answer. Much to the horror of the Oracle of Ottawa the market shed over twenty points of the rally as the august Governor struggled. What really killed was the anxious grandma hand ballet, as you could sense the hapless Governor's frustration. Yes Dear Reader, the Bank of Canada has it's very own version of Joe Oliver.

Now Stephen Poloz is no Mark Carney. And as we all know Mark Carney is one of the elite. There is no dispute about that anywhere in the world today. The man had (has?) charisma. While Stephen Poloz is just someones brat. For all those that know of such things, the main reason that Mr. Carney had to bail from the Bank of Canada gig was that he made the boss and minions of the 'Harper Government' look like what they truly are, a bunch of hay seed rubes from Ducks Ass, Alberta. And of course, you guessed it, the 'Harper Government' is much more comfortable with Stephen Poloz.

Now the Oracle of Ottawa will concede that a lot of this rally loss was really caused by Nathan Cullen, who never meet a briefing book that he didn't like and read from the first page to the last. The Oracle of Ottawa can find no fault. But the Oracle realized that he is paying the Governors salary as it is with his tax dollars, the Oracle sees no reason why his stock portfolio has to also chip in!

The Oracle of Ottawa knows perfectly well that it is all right to bitch, but the real thing is to propose a solution. And the solution is Dear Readers, that the present Bank of Canada Governor should not be allowed to give testimony or attempt to give testimony while the capital markets are actually open. The Bank of Canada Governor should only be questioned after the markets are closed, that is in the evenings. Just like a government bringing down a budget.

Soon there will be the next Trudeau government. There will be a new Governor of the Bank of Canada at the first opportunity. The Oracle of Ottawa can only suggest that the present Bank Governor book his mover now to avoid the rush of the soon to come exodus of conservatives from Ottawa.  

'Harper Government' - Department Of State Regime Change?

Ignorance is held in contempt; but a dangerous scepticism has succeeded it. 
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, A Discourse On The Arts And Sciences.

It has been a very busy week for the Oracle of Ottawa, and he was hoping to take the wonderful long Easter weekend off. But of course, due to the inane stupidity of the 'Harper Government', weekends off are few and far between. It all blew up on the Oracle's Sony big screen sometime on Friday, and the Oracle of Ottawa just loved the symbology of the United States Department of State announcement of the next forever delay of the approval of the Keystone XL pipeline. 

Says NO..(again...)

It was great to see the United States Department of State us the same slimy tactics that the 'Harper Government' always uses to slip in the bad news. Do it on a Friday or a holiday when you think no one is paying attention. It was in a moment that the Oracle of Ottawa got the analogy. He immediately pictured Steve Harper of the 'Harper Government' freshly crucified on a cross covered in dilbit. The Oracle of Ottawa eagerly awaited the expected announcement by Joe Oliver that the staff of the United States Department of State are nothing but a bunch of foreign terrorists that have something against shitting in their own nest for fun and profit. But alas, the message never came. Perhaps old Joe lost his speaking points, and/or he simply forgot who he was again.

But upon pondering the announcement, the Oracle of Ottawa got the real message that the Department of State was really sending. And that message is; you are going to take NO for an answer, and we are also going to see you out of office as soon as possible! Yes indeed Dear Readers, the United States Department of State is now going with regime change against the pathetic 'Harper Government'. The lads deep in the Department of State know that the male types of the Harper line die around fifty something, and Hilary is soon going to be President of the United States. They just don't want Jason Kenny showing up at Hilary's inaugural ball with his mother as his date.  

The United States Department of State simply want the stylish and oh so hot Justin Trudeau as Prime Minster of Canada, and what the yanks want, the yanks get. And they certainly will love Justin and his hot wife Sophie in Washington, in or outside of the beltway, if you get the Oracle of Ottawa's drift. It is only a matter of time now Dear Readers. The tombstone of the 'Harper Government' will soon be rolled away, and the true Savior shall appear, first to all the ladies of course, because they can vote and they are so many more of them just men. Jason Kenney's Mom is off the hook.... 

Vladimir Putin - Snuffing Out The Blue Flame?

Rumors are only valuable when they are denied.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb, The Bed Of Procrustes, p.33

At the time of this writing, the Russian stock market is only down about twenty percent so far this year. The Russian ruble (rubble?) is at all time lows. No doubt with the latest antics in Crimea, Russia's international credit rating will be harshly downgraded. Being a self proclaimed 'energy superpower' requires a constant ton of incoming international capital. It seems to the Oracle of Ottawa that it is all a pretty high price to pay for a sand spit salt water parking lot.

Putin - Dealing from a full deck?

 Although the Putin spin and image department run full out to make the boss a he man to every man, he certainly needs at least a seminar on real estate appraisal. When you are on the outside looking in, all you can do a is shake your head and wonder if a good government driven mental health strategy for Russia's top leading lights would not be a better use of the tax payers funds.

The Oracle of Ottawa really hates to bring it up, but the whole situation is really starting to look like the "Guns of August" all over again. And it is the 100th anniversary this year. What goes around comes around. And how do you think this will all end at the end of the day Dear Reader? One wonders if the Russians will take kindly to their new diet of Chinese take out?

Once the big bad bear was really bad ass. Now all he wants to do it seems is shop at Wall Mart. The Oracle of Ottawa cant say for sure where this is all going, but he is saying this could all go nuclear on a bad day. And of course the world will still turn, and the environment will make a hell of a quick comeback, just with a lot less problems. 

Chinese Peasants Hear Ping? Ya Right...

All that destroys social unity is worthless; all institutions that set man in contradiction to himself are worthless.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract

The Oracle of Ottawa is really trying to give this blogging thing a break. But stuff keeps popping up on my Sony flat screen X series television that really pisses the Oracle of Ottawa totally off. The most recent occasion of such an affront happened right this very morning on CTV News Net. There was a breaking news report that a Chinese ship Haixun 1  has detected a black box ping nearly thirty days after the vanishing of flight MH 370. The Oracle of Ottawa says: total bullshit.

The paper tiger sweats it out...

There is also a British nuclear submarine in the search area along with a British Royal Navy surface ship also deploying the weird manta ray towed submersible device. Of course the Chinese Peasant technology is way better then imperialist gaijin technology. That of course is why there still is no confirmation at the time of this writing. If the report was true, the Brits would have most certainly picked it up also. If they had picked it up it would all be a simple matter of crossing the bearing lines, and the mystery of MH 370 would have been solved by now.

But alas, another report that crossed the Oracles TV screen later in the day contained the revelation that the owners of said flight MH 370 were very behind in their planned maintenance of such unimportant things as black box underwater sea pingers. Therefore there is simply no way that box is or was even pinging at such a late time after the vanish without a fresh recently installed battery. The Oracle of Ottawa is certain that he can explain all the false and recent news announcements of the said Chinese Peasants Republic.

The Oracle of Ottawa strongly suspects that by now the peasants survivors that have been ruthlessly expended by a very botched false flag operation are in quite an unpredictable state, that is spreading all over the China mainland. It is only with the greatest difficulty that the head Chinese Peasants are keeping the lid on. It is now appearing to the head Chinese Peasants that the old rule of thumb of 'there is more were they came' from is no longer working....

Was Flight MH 370 'Hacked'?

It takes a lot of intellect and confidence to accept that what makes sense doesn't really make sense.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb, The Bed Of Procrustes, p. 84

At the time of this writing there are 1,178 Boeing 777's plying the skies of the world. It is Boeing's most famous and successful jet produced so far. Although the Oracle of Ottawa still believes in his old heart of hearts that the most famous Boeing jet of all time was the Boeing 707. The mighty 707 was the start of it all. And the best thing about the first legend is that a human actually had to fly it most all the time. There was no wussy 'fly by wire' crap, no GPS, it was damn near completely analog all through. If the Oracle of Ottawa ever gets to be as rich as a middle east sand spit oil sheik and could buy any jet he wanted, it would be a perfectly restored Boeing 707, with no computer goodies of any kind. Not even a cell phone.

Boeing 777 - Was it 'hacked'?

 The Oracle of Ottawa, like countless millions of other people, has been very intrigued by the never ending coverage of the totally baffling event of the missing Flight 370, until the Oracle of Ottawa realized that it sure as hell was proving to be a very good distraction from the really important story that just happened to be playing out at the exactly same time! And that event Dear Reader is the criminal land grab of Crimea by Vlad Putin and his oligarch gangsters. Genetic alcoholism, low self esteem and psychotropic drug abuse is not very constructive at the end of the day. 

It was while watching the endless footage on the vanished Boeing 777, that the Oracle of Ottawa for some reason thought of the very weird demise of journalist Mike Hastings. Who was witnessed and recorded on security cameras helplessly caught in a brand new computered up Mercedes Benz! That seemed to be driving itself. Until it was piloted in to the biggest tree on the street. Do you remember that one Dear Reader?
Then that big light bulb of enlightenment come on in the Oracle of Ottawas head again.

Could Flight 370 have been 'hacked'? Could someone have possibly accessed the electronic interface and taken over control of the plane? From where Flight 370 started to Bejing China was a six hour overnight flight. With the technology onboard you set the course and no doubt you could get the console to wake you up at dawn. The Oracle of Ottawa submits that that is exactly what happened, until the pilots realized the sun was coming up on the wrong side of the aircraft. Then they discovered that they were totally locked out from all controls. And being Asians they would not dare try anything dangerous or risky. Cause as all we gajins know, that is how they are raised. Am I right or am I right?

Now of course this pioneer hack was not performed by a first world teenager in his bedroom somewhere in America or the European Union. The Oracle would like to fly the premiss that it was a government that had access to a global satellite chain and the very sharpest digital hackers, that the spying of a very large nation state could provide. The only question that the Oracle of Ottawa can't decide is whether it was the Russians or the Chinese. Somebody should really look into the possibility of this insane theory, shouldn't they?

Justin Trudeau - Waits For His Apology

Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever you shall bind on earth you shall bind in heaven: and whatsoever you shall loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven.
Matthew 18:18, KJV

It was only last Sunday night when the media firestorm broke out, caused by a rather perceptive observation of the young Justin Trudeau, that it would be very likely that the wacked out Putin would probably soon take a run at the Ukraine. That mixed in bit about losing the gold medal in hockey to Canada was a nice touch from where the Oracle of Ottawa was sitting. The Oracle knew the young Messiah was very correct in his observation.

Spetsnaz - Russia's Seal Team 6

 Well, of course we all know of the immediate 'Harper Government' reaction. Not to mention that rather irritated Ukraine ambassador to Canada. The elite and awesome Justin just released too much information all at once for "ordinary Canadians" such as the skid marks that vote for the 'Harper Government'. But the young Messiah was a good sport about it all and went down to the Ukraine embassy and made it all into a very pretty photo op, by formally apologizing to the miffed Ukrainian ambassador. All in and done, and a nice spike to the ever climbing popularity.

Now flash forward to Thursday last. The Oracle of Ottawa first heard the news of the strange men taking over the buildings in the Crimea on the car radio, via that pesky State Broadcaster, CBC, while out enjoying the day. Classic shit, right out of a Tom Clancy novel. Probably Seal Team 6. I am sure that Putin has that one also. All of a sudden the young Justin looks pretty brilliant. But that is the way it is with elites with charisma isn't it? All of a sudden it seems that it is the 'Harper Government' that is in way over its head. And Steve Harper of the 'Harper Government' is just some one else' kid.

At the time of this writing it is Saturday night. The 'Harper Government' cabinet is still closed up in an emergency meeting. God, we are so fucked! Two thirds of them couldn't find the Ukraine on a map if their lives depended on it. The other third thinks that the Ukraine is a construction equipment rental business somewhere outside of Edmonton! All in folks, it won't be long now. We could all be going to the polls anytime...

Homer - The Equal Feast

Nor did their hearts lack for anything in the equal feast.
Homer, The Iliad, Book 1.456, Barry B. Powell translation

The ancient Greek poet Homer is a lot like baseball, there is just no logical way that these two things should have survived into the twenty first century. The works of Homer cover events that happened over three thousand years ago. There are three schools of thought on Homer. The first is that he was actually present at the campaign of Troy. The second is that he is merely a mythical name applied to a very long distillation of assorted myths and stories, compiled around 750 B.C. The third is that the actor never really lived at all and that it is all hogwash.

The Walls of Troy VII

Before actually finally getting down to read the whole text of  The Iliad, the Oracle of Ottawa would have sided with the third school. After reading the excellent Barry B. Powell translation, the Oracle of Ottawa is most certainly now a believer of the first school. Homer lived, and he was at Troy, on the beach, sort of like a state designated war artist of the assembled Argives. What better way to make sure the singer-poets got the deeds right than to have one of them imbedded with the invading force!

After completing my first read through of the Iliad, the Oracle of Ottawa realized that there was enough on the lines and especially between the lines that would provide enough material to blog on forever. The Iliad is not just some story of a military campaign, it is a guide book for Western Civilization. The concepts that are touched on and alluded to are just mind boggling. But there is one that jumped out at the Oracle of Ottawa immediately. And that is the concept of the equal feast. I have included the opening quote where it is first mentioned in the Iliad. It continues to occur many times through out the entire work. 

The greatest number of references to it occur by the Greeks, the Argives. There are very many less mentions of it in use by the Trojans. The equal feast is exactly what it implies. No mans honour was ever slighted in the enjoyment of the portions. Meanwhile the Trojans secure in their high and polished walls in the stronghold of Troy were not so big on the equal feast, measured by the number of times that it is mentioned in the text as occurring on each side. Of course most any person alive today in the modern Western world can tell you how it all worked for the Trojans. It is mentioned in the Iliad that the gods themselves built the high walls of Troy and then Priam tried to stiff the gods by not paying them the agreed price!

The take away of this story is that the society that provides the richest and most secure equal feast will rule, and will continue to rule forever, with many singers singing of their deeds into the countless days of forever more.