Editor’s Notebook © by John Arkelian
The best of writing, photography, art, and argument – on everything from film to foreign policy.
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John Howe — Canadian artist and co-conceptual designer on all three “The Lord of the Rings” motion pictures.
* Editor’s Note: The age of the dinosaurs has at last come to an end — with the arrival of this website!
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On October 24, 2018
© By John Arkelian
Is it just us, or is anyone else sick to death of the endless ballyhoo being made over the utterly perverse legalization of marijuana in Canada on October 17th? We say perverse because normalizing the recreational use of a narcotic, by giving it an official stamp of approval, is inconsistent with the health and welfare of those who use it and society generally. It’s true that certain other mood-altering toxic drugs (notably alcohol) are legal, but we see no coherent reason why narcotic use should be added to the list of socially (let alone legally) acceptable behaviors. How is using a drug to alter the psyche a practice we should tolerate, let alone implicitly endorse? Furthermore, this narcotic is typically imbibed by smoking it and inhaling its fumes. Wasn’t smoking (of anything) supposed to be very bad for the health – of smokers and bystanders alike? Finally, on the separate matter of the previously legalized use of cannabis for purported medicinal purposes, we remain skeptical. If there truly were some medically demonstrable beneficial purpose for the drug, why hasn’t its active ingredient been rendered into pill form? Instead, we have the preposterous spectacle of people smoking, deliberately inhaling smoke into their lungs, for some supposed health benefit.
Copyright © 2018 by John Arkelian
On September 12, 2018
© By John Arkelian
I. Contempt for Courts
It is appalling that the freshly-minted new government of Ontario abruptly decreed that Toronto city hall had too many elected representatives and arbitrarily cut their numbers nearly in half – in the middle of a municipal election campaign – throwing existing campaigns into chaos. That action was arbitrary, capricious, and undemocratic. (It was also discriminatory, insofar as Toronto was singled out for electoral amputation, a result it appears, of the fact that Ford bears a grudge against Toronto city hall.) Premier Doug Ford and his minions never even hinted at such a plan during the provincial election this summer; so they hardly had ‘a mandate’ from the electorate for such drastic and precipitous interference with another level of government. And speaking of mandates, a large majority of voters rejected the so-called “Progressive” Conservatives, by casting their votes for other parties. As is commonplace in Canada, both federally and provincially, a party that captured only a minority of the votes got a majority of the seats. It’s true that under our “first past the post” system that electoral result confers a right to ‘form the government;’ but forbearance, which is the sine qua non of a democratic polity, ought to preclude decent, fair-minded elected officials from acting as if their humble 40-some-odd percentile of the votes bestowed upon them absolute power. Unfortunately, decency and fair-mindedness appear to be alien concepts to Ford and his caucus, who prefer to think they can rule by dictatorial fiat.
When, earlier this week, a court struck down their heavy-handed, needlessly hasty interference in an on-going municipal election, Ford shamelessly announced that he would invoke the override clause in the Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms. That clause was the cost (imposed by some recalcitrant provinces) for Canada’s belated adoption of a constitutionally-entrenched bill of rights. The expectation was that it would only rarely be used – and only in gravely vital situations. And, indeed, it has hardly ever been invoked, federally or provincially, and never before by Ontario. Invoking a ‘for emergency use only’ clause to infringe constitutionally-protected, core human rights (in this case, the right to free expression by candidates and voters in an election campaign that was already in progress) takes appalling to an unseemly new level. Ford displays his ignorance of and contempt for the rule of law by attempting to justify his grossly improper action by saying, “I was elected; the judge was appointed.” Someone needs to explain to him that elected governments are still subject to the constitution and the inviolable rights which are entrenched there. Just as urgently, Ford needs some instruction in the division of powers in a constitutional democracy – between the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government. All three branches play distinct and essential roles, with the judiciary responsible for interpreting the law and ensuring its compliance with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Invoking a clause to override core rights, and doing so for no reason than personal pique and vainglorious hubris, is a grotesque affront to democracy and to the rule of law. The Supreme Court should intervene and declare Ford’s action to be invalid. Meanwhile, where are the supposedly ‘wiser’ heads in Ford’s government (people like Christine Elliot, Caroline Mulroney, and Rod Phillips)? By supporting Ford in this matter, they, and every other M.P.P. who votes to override the Charter of Rights, deserve public opprobrium and a permanent forfeiture of voter support: They have proven, irretrievably, their unfitness for public office.
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II. Contempt of Court
While the jury was still deliberating the fate of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort (before he was convicted of eight criminal counts of bank fraud and tax fraud), Donald Trump publicly opined that Manafort was ‘a good guy’ and that what was happening to him was ‘terrible.’ Those declarations by the President of the United States constitute an egregious interference with the administration of justice: They posed a clear and present danger of influencing the jury, subverting its impartiality, and prejudicing a fair trial. They constituted classic contempt of court (which consists of any conduct that tends to bring the authority and administration of justice into disrepute or tends to prejudice a fair trial in a case that is before the courts), and the presiding trial judge ought to have immediately charged Trump with that very offence. (Incidentally, Manafort’s defense lawyer transgressively made matters worse by repeating Trump’s grossly improper declarations on camera.)
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III. Beneath Contempt
A few weeks ago, on social media, Canada’s foreign affairs minister, Chrystia Freeland, quite rightly criticized the wrongful actions of Saudi Arabia in arresting some peaceful activists in the areas of civil society and women’s rights and called for their immediate release. One of those human rights advocates, Samar Badawi, has family ties to Canada – not that a Canadian connection is in any way a prerequisite for Canada to demand respect for human rights abroad. The autocratic regime in Saudi Arabia doesn’t like to be criticized (however much they deserve to be), and they reacted harshly, seemingly intent on making an example of Canada. Canada’s ambassador was sent packing; future trade and investment was summarily cancelled by the Saudis, and Saudi nationals studying in Canada with Saudi government financial help were told to vacate the country that dared to criticize Saudi Arabia for its dreadful human rights record. Sadly, Canada’s closest friends and allies stayed conspicuously silent, lest they, too, incur the vindictive wrath of the Saudi autocrats.
Let’s hope that Canada stands its ground. Let’s face it: Saudi Arabia is hostile to democracy and human rights. Its crown prince (Mohammed bin Salman) seems to like to be hailed as a reformer. But, his recent lifting off the prohibition on women driving cars only marginally brings his benighted regime into the early 20th century: they still have a century’s worth of catching-up to do. They could start by getting rid of the harshly retrograde requirement that females need the permission of a male to leave their homes! While they’re at it, why not crack down on religious schools that inculcate hateful doctrines? (Lest we forget, most of the 9/11 terrorists, including the man behind that mass murder, Osama bin Laden, were from Saudi Arabia.) In recent months, the same regime has kidnapped the prime minister of Lebanon to compel that country’s compliance; wrongfully sought to intimidate its neighbor Qatar over differences of policy, and continues to inflict systematic war crimes in neighboring Yemen, directly precipitating a humanitarian disaster there of massive proportions. Lamentably, Canada (like most of the West) hasn’t had much to say on that front; instead, we’ve upheld our wrong-headed $15 billion sale of armored military vehicles to the desert kingdom where fundamental human rights are an illusory mirage.
Canada should stand its ground and reiterate its just criticisms. It should also take this convenient opportunity to reopen its embassy in Iran, which is the Saudis’ chief rival in the region. Frankly, the regime in Tehran is no more noxious than its counterpart in Riyadh; and it would be instructive for the Saudis to be reminded that they are not the only player in the region that wants to have its voice heard in the wider world.
John Arkelian is a former diplomat and international lawyer.
Copyright © 2018 by John Arkelian.
On September 7, 2018
As citizens of free and democratic West – each of whose member nations, in its own way, is an aspirational Republic of Virtue – here are words we ought to take to heart. JA
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“When the government says something, you only have one question: ‘Is it true?’”
From the film “Shock and Awe” (USA, 2018)
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“[The] call of faithful presence gives priority to what is right in front of us – community, the neighborhood, and the city, and the people in which these are constituted…. It is here where we learn forgiveness and humility, practice kindness, hospitality, and charity, grow in patience and wisdom, and become clothed in compassion, gentleness, and joy. This is the crucible in which Christian holiness is forged.”
James Davison Hunter, quoted in “Believe Me: The Evangelical Road to Donald Trump” by John Fea (Eerdmans, 2018).
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“The aim of every political Constitution is or ought to be first to obtain for rulers, men who possess most wisdom to discern, and most virtue to pursue the common good of society…”
James Madison in The Federalist Papers, quoted in “Believe Me: The Evangelical Road to Donald Trump” by John Fea (Eerdmans, 2018).
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“Republics rise and fall based on the virtue of the people and their leaders.”
From “Believe Me: The Evangelical Road to Donald Trump” by John Fea (Eerdmans, 2018).
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“The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those who speak it.”
George Orwell
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“Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter. But I should mean that every man should receive those papers and be capable of reading them.”
Thomas Jefferson, Third President of the United States and one of the nation’s Founding Fathers.
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Donald Trump is “an intellectual midget and a moral homunculus.”
A panelist on CNN on August 15, 2018.
On July 8, 2018
© By John Arkelian
Vladimir Putin has ruled Russia since 1999, brazenly circumventing
 “Donald Trump’s Axis of Evil” editorial cartoon © 2018 by Michael de Adder. term limits by serving variously as prime minister and as president – and making sure that key executive powers moved with him to whichever office of convenience he occupied at the moment. In March 2018’s presidential election, to no one’s surprise, Putin won yet another six years at the helm, purportedly winning 76% of the vote in an election that was denounced by the West as fraudulent and rigged. (For one thing, Putin’s chief opponent, Alexei Navalny, was barred from even running.) But the highly suspect nature of Putin’s victory didn’t stop Donald Trump from congratulating him. Trump’s words rankled in the ears of every defender of democracy, as Senator John McCain so rightly pointed out: “An American president does not lead the Free World by congratulating dictators on winning sham elections…. President Trump insulted every Russian citizen who was denied the right to vote in a free and fair election”
McCain was right on point again in June 2018, when he objected to Trump’s boorishness toward his country’s longtime allies: “The President has inexplicably shown our adversaries the deference and esteem that should be reserved for our closest allies. Those nations that share our values and have sacrificed alongside us for decades are being treated with contempt. This is the antithesis of so-called ‘principled realism’ and a sure path to diminishing America’s leadership in the world.” Astonishingly, that critique of Trump’s perverse behavior came before Trump upped the atrocious behavior ante by launching an insulting tirade against his Canadian hosts in the aftermath of the G-7 summit in June 2018 and going on to embrace the murderous tyrant of North Korea as a trusted new friend.
Copyright © 2018 by John Arkelian
Editorial cartoon © 2018 by Michael de Adder
Michael de Adder’s editorial cartoon “Donald Trump’s Axis of Evil” was originally published in “The Hill Times,” a newspaper concerned with the people and politics of Parliament Hill. It is reproduced in Artsforum Magazine with the kind permission of the artist. See more of his work at: http://deadder.net/
Editor’s Note: Canada has been America’s closest friend and steadfast ally for more than a century. But, judging by Trump’s imposition of high tariffs to impede the import of steel and aluminum from Canada (and other close allies), on the puzzling grounds of “national security,” and his flurry of tweeted insults in the aftermath of the G-7 Summit (on June 8-9, 2018 in Charlevoix, Quebec), Canada has suddenly been ranked among the dangerous and the reviled. Canada’s chief ‘weapon’ in rattling Trump, its protectionist dairy quotas, is illustrated here by Prime Minster Justin Trudeau, who is sheepishly brandishing a glass of milk – incongruously alongside a couple of real menaces on the world scene. JA
On July 8, 2018
© By John Arkelian
On Trump
Donald Trump is a clear and present danger to the vital interests of the United States. As a private citizen, he could be happily ignored as the petulant, grandstanding egotist that he is; but, as the nation’s chief executive, he poses a very real threat to America. He daily demonstrates abysmal judgment, a dearth of basic civility, and instinctive nastiness of character – hardly the characteristics we want in a leader. In place of wisdom and instead of setting a good example for others, Trump shamelessly demeans the public discourse and undermines national unity. Intemperate, small-minded, and vindictive by nature, Trump continues to subvert democratic institutions, vital alliances, and common decency – in ways no one would have believed possible until his deplorable arrival on the scene.
Donald Trump insults the nation’s longstanding allies and shockingly cozies up to the autocrats who crush freedom and human rights in such places as Russia, China, Turkey, The Philippines, and North Korea. Those odious regimes are hostile to our core values; three of them are outright enemies of the West. Before he was even elected, Trump undermined the alliance that has safeguarded the West for nearly 70 years. The central pillar of NATO is that an attack on one member is an attack on all. By calling that critical premise into question, Trump undermined the cohesion and credibility of NATO, an act which was so such grossly irresponsible it ought to have instantly invalidated him as a candidate. Instead, he somehow became president, from which high office he continues to undermine America’s closest alliances. Our mortal foes (in Moscow, Beijing, Pyongyang, and elsewhere) must be jubilant over this one-man wrecking crew’s path of destruction. If Donald Trump’s avowed intent and purpose were the weakening of America, he could not go about that task any more effectively than he’s doing right now.
We are agog and appalled at Trump’s dealings with the repellent regime in North Korea. For months, he imprudently threatened “fire and fury,” a not very veiled threat of nuclear war that broke a necessary taboo simply by being spoken aloud, when he might, more sensibly, have heeded the advice to “speak softly but carry a big stick.” Now, suddenly, Trump is embracing the murderous tyrant Kim Jung Un as though he were a pal, mere hours after going out of his way to grossly insult (and threaten) his country’s closest friend and ally. Simply meeting with Kim handed that hateful tyrant a prize: The North Korean dictatorship has been craving a face-to-face meeting with an American president (and the legitimacy and status such a summit would confer) for decades. No such meeting should have occurred unless ironclad gains in countering North Korea’s nuclear threat had been achieved in advance. Instead, Trump handed Kim a second gift, on a silver platter, by endorsing the North Korean view that the United States’ joint military exercises with South Korea are “a provocation” and unilaterally suspending them. Incredibly, Trump ended his summit with Kim by declaring, “There is no longer a nuclear threat from North Korea” – a cavalier assertion for which there is not a shred of evidence. (Indeed, all current and past evidence of North Korean duplicity points sharply in the opposite direction.) Adding moral offense to strategic injury, Trump went on to express admiration for Kim, whom he described as “very talented.” That outrageous proposition is a hard slap in the face for all those oppressed, enslaved, tormented, and murdered by Kim and his forbears. Trump says he trusts Kim and that he’s sure Kim “wants to do the right thing.” And, Trump “knows for a fact” that North Korea is serious about denuclearization. It’s as if the world has turned upside down, with demonstrable nonsense masquerading as statesmanship. But this brand of nonsense is incalculably dangerous.
Congress (or at least those of its elected members with the foresight to put national interest above partisan advantage), together with the courts, the press, and the public (through civil society institutions and non-violent mass protest) must act to sideline Donald Trump and circumscribe his ability to do harm. Until such time, if any, that Congress acts to impeach Donald Trump and remove him from the office he is so manifestly unfit to hold, it is imperative that all other components of the public polity embark upon relentless damage control. Examples of how this might be done aren’t hard to devise. Congress should enact legislation to explicitly bar the president from firing the special counsel Robert Mueller or otherwise interfering with his investigation. The American Bar Association and leading legal academics should vigorously denounce the preposterous notion that the president has the legal power to pardon himself. The public should apply maximum pressure on Senators and Representatives to decline to consider any further nominee by Trump for the Supreme Court until the result of the Mueller investigation is complete.
Congress should rein-in the executive’s war-making powers, with a view to the fact that the constitution gives Congress exclusive control over declaring war. Congress should put other immigration issues to the side long enough to settle the status of persons who were brought into the country years ago as minors. Congress ultimately has the final say on treaties (including trade treaties), too. So, it should reassure valued trading partners that it will countenance no rash or destructive moves by the Administration. Each time Trump says something inflammatory, no matter the subject, members of Congress should publicly contradict and condemn his destructive rhetoric and petulant musings.
On Putin
Opponents, rivals, and even truth-sayers (prominent among the latter being journalists) have a distressing way of being jailed or killed in Putin’s Russia. And self-imposed exile in the West is no guarantor of impunity, either. Several Russian exiles in the U.K. have died in highly suspicious circumstances. One was Boris Berezovsky, a Russian oligarch and outspoken Kremlin critic who was found inexplicably dead in his home in Britain in 2013. In 2006, Alexander Litvinenko, a former KGB agent who defected to the West, died a slow, painful death after ingesting tea poisoned with the deadly radioactive isotope polonium-210. A subsequent British inquiry named the two Russian agents who came to Britain to kill Litvinenko, leaving a radioactive trail of evidence from Moscow in their wake. The inquiry ruled that the substance used is one that is only available to state-actors, and that it was inconceivable that the murder took place without the knowledge and consent of Russia’s autocrat himself. Then, in March 2018, a former Russian spy, Sergei Skripal, and his daughter Yulia, fell deathly ill with poisoning by the nerve agent ‘Novichok.’ A policeman who tended to the stricken pair was collateral damage. All three survived, though it was a near-run thing. (In July 2018, two more people fell deathly ill from the same chemical weapon; it is supposed that they inadvertently handled some object discarded by the killers.) In March, Britain’s foreign minister promised Parliament that, “no attempt to take innocent life on U.K. soil will go either unsanctioned or unpunished.” But, did the punishment truly fit the crime?
Sending killers to a foreign county to commit murder is an act of state aggression, tantamount to an act of war. Arming them with chemical weapons is a war-crime. Some Russian diplomats were expelled (the Russians reacted in kind by expelling some British diplomats). But, the gravity and abhorrent nature of Russian politically-sanctioned murders in Britain needs a much stronger response. First, the U.K should seize any assets of Putin and his regime’s allies on British soil (or on deposit in British banks). Second, the British authorities should indict Putin for murder and attempted murder and announce that it will not recognize any claim by him to state or diplomatic immunity (from arrest and prosecution) should he set foot on British soil. The effect of those latter measures would be symbolic; but they would send the message, like no others, that no one is above the law; and that repugnant acts carry grave consequences. The proposed measures would also lift whatever flimsy veil of respectability still clings (in the eyes of the ill-informed) to Putin and put a well-deserved dent in his cherished status as a world leader.
Copyright © 2018 by John Arkelian
On May 29, 2018
A political ‘platform’ in ten words or less, from the bumpkin of the week (in the current Ontario election campaign): “You know me, folks. I’m for the little guy.” Moral of the story: If patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel, then ‘getting tough on crime’ takes second place in any political charlatan’s bag of tricks, with bogus concern for the plight of the common man (or woman) hard on the heels of the first two frauds.
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