From here in BC, the Trans Mountain expansion project (TMX) seems like an irresistible force meeting an immovable object. I think the Trudeau government will still make it happen, but it won't be easy.
Lack of pipeline capacity is costing the Canadian economy something like $15B/year, due to the …
read moreHow do you make decisions when the outcome is uncertain? A good general rule is to hope for the best, but plan for the worst.
An example from the H-DIPLO mailing list (for historians of foreign policy):
read moreFrom: Eric Bergerud
List Editor: "H-DIPLO [Rausch]"
Editor's Subject: Nixon, Kissinger, and Vietnam …
Hans Morgenthau explains how the prospect of general nuclear war and the annihilation of civilization changes our experience of death. "Death in the Nuclear Age" (1961):
read moreIn the works of his mind, man, the creator, survives.
Yet why are those works a "monument more lasting than bronze," and why can …
Lucius Shepard, Life During Wartime (1987):
read moreIt occurred to Mingolla that his father had been right about war, that it had indeed made a man out of him. He could see intricacies that he had never before suspected, he understood the nature of his responsibilities and felt able to handle …
My attempt to explain the Trudeau-Notley compromise: take climate change seriously, halt Alberta's growth in emissions, and use a rising price on carbon to cut Canada's fossil CO2 emissions, while continuing to export Canadian oil and trying to get the best price for it instead of leaving money on the …
read moreRobert Gilpin, War and Change in World Politics (1981), on the difficulty of retreat:
read moreThe fundamental problem with a policy of appeasement and accommodation is to find a way to pursue it that does not lead to continuing deterioration in a state's prestige and international position. Retrenchment by its very …
Robert Gilpin, War and Change in International Politics (1981), describes the relationship between economic growth and power, like Paul Kennedy's The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers: Economic Change and Military Conflict, 1500-2000. Compared to Kennedy, Gilpin's book is considerably more abstract and concise.
Gilpin describes the dynamics of …
read moreTaxation and public spending is basically a form of collective shopping. For some goods (food, clothing) it makes no sense to buy them collectively. For others (roads, insurance) it does make sense.
Joseph Heath, Filthy Lucre:
read moreOne of the goods that can often be purchased most efficiently through taxes is …
An illustration of wastefulness as a sin, from a novel set in 14th-century Norway: The Mistress of Husaby (1921), the second novel of the Kristin Lavransdatter trilogy, by Sigrid Undset.
read moreKristin had not had much sleep the first night, even though the priests had blessed her bed. 'Twas spread above …
Back in August, someone on Reddit asked:
Please excuse my ignorance on this topic (I only arrived in Canada recently) - but can someone explain like I'm five the whole pipeline situation?
I think of it as an irresistible force (there's $15 billion/year at stake) meeting an immovable object (the …
read more