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Friday December 3, 2021

December 3, 2021 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday December 3, 2021

Boosters or global vaccine sharing? Canada can do both amid Omicron: experts

May 11, 2021

The discovery of the new Omicron COVID-19 variant has reignited the issue of global vaccine inequality as richer nations debate whether to accelerate third doses of vaccines.

But as Canadian officials figure out how to protect their populations, they must also not lose focus on vaccinating other parts of the world to stop new variants from emerging, experts say.

“There has been a lack of appreciation and foresight into how important and directly impactful it is to ensure that we vaccinate the entire world,” said Dr. Matthew Miller, associate professor of biochemistry and biomedical sciences at McMaster University.

“We need to be thinking really carefully and deliberately about how we ensure that nations and regions that have not had good vaccine availability get access to those vaccines.”

August 21, 2021

Following the revelation of Omicron last week, which the WHO warns poses a “very high” risk, wealthy nations around the world have taken steps to try and protect their populations.

Among those measures are travel bans. mainly on nations in Africa, where the variant was discovered, but also on accelerating expanding third dose rollouts.

The United Kingdom has decided to open booster shots for all adults, and the head of the European Commission said Wednesday the European Union needs daily reviews of its travel restrictions and rapid deployment of boosters to protect from Omicron. It is unclear right now if the variant is more deadly, or if it can evade current vaccines.

May 20, 2021

The Canadian government has requested the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) to quickly provide the latest directives on booster use in light of the Omicron variant, Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos said Tuesday.

Canada’s vaccination rate vastly differs from other countries in the world. Right now, 86 per cent of eligible Canadians are fully vaccinated whereas the world’s population overall is 43.58 per cent fully vaccinated, Johns Hopkins University indicates.

However, Johns Hopkins’ data shows large portions of Africa remain unvaccinated. In Nigeria, the continent’s most populous country, only 1.74 per cent of eligible Nigerians are fully vaccinated. In Ethiopia, 1.28 per cent of its eligible population is fully inoculated.

Many African nations have had challenges with their vaccine rollouts, and have wasted doses that have been given with short notices and short shelf lives. Some countries have also run into vaccine hesitancy, which has impacted uptake.

Those challenges show that global vaccine equity is more than just supplying shots, Barrett said, adding wealthy countries like Canada need to help with rollouts even as they boost their populations.

January 28, 2021

“Vaccine rollouts have been so ineffective in some places that they’ve been throwing vaccines out because it expires over the last number of months,” she said.

“How do we start to support other countries in a real way to get their vaccine rollout in a more effective space and place, so they’re not throwing out expired vaccine doses?”

To date, Canada has donated more than 8.3 million surplus vaccine doses through COVAX, and has also shared 762,080 AstraZeneca doses through direct, bilateral arrangements with countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The government has also pledged to donate at least 200 million doses to the COVAX by the end of 2022. (Global News)

Thursday July 23, 2020

July 30, 2020 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday July 23, 2020

Cyber attack agreements needed to avoid mutually assured destruction, Blair says

Countries around the world need to form cyber attack agreements to avoid going down a path to “mutually assured destruction”, Tony Blair has said.

August 1, 2019

In the wake of the report into Russian interference in British democratic processes, the former prime minister called for states to “push for some common form of standards”.

Without such a framework, he warned, countries would be carrying out cyber attacks the “entire time to each other”, putting global security at risk.

In an interview with the PA news agency, Mr Blair, who was a leading Remain voice in the 2016 referendum, said he was “not one of those people who thinks the Brexit result came about as a result of Russian interference”.

March 21, 2018

But he said: “If they are interfering, and they will want to interfere, because obviously it is the policy of the Russian government to have a weaker West, and so you can see why they might want certain results to happen in politics.

“If they are trying to do it, then you need to take countermeasures.”

Mr Blair said that the “heightened ability to use cyber in destructive way” meant that at some point “the world is going to have to come to a set of agreements and protocols on this because otherwise you are going to be down a path of mutually assured destruction”.

“These capabilities are only going to grow, they are going to become more and more sophisticated, and governments are going to use them.

COVID-19 Cartoons

“But to be clear, that capacity has got to be developed in order to defend yourself as a country and then you’ve got to know how to both thwart interference and cyber attacks.

“And in the end you are going to have to push for some common form of standards here, otherwise countries are going to be doing it the entire time to each other and then the security of the world gets put at risk.”

Earlier this week, the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) accused the Government of being slow to recognise the potential threat posed by Russia to British democratic processes and of not properly considering whether Moscow could interfere in the Brexit referendum until after the event.

Mr Blair said: “I don’t know that people turned a blind eye deliberately – but the fact is that if a foreign government is essentially engaged in trying to disrupt our democratic process, whether they are successful in it or not, of course you’ve got to act. (Newschain.uk)

Tuesday July 14, 2020

July 22, 2020 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday July 14, 2020

When will it be safe to reopen the U.S. border?

How much longer can this go on? How much longer can the world’s longest undefended border remain largely sealed?

April 18 2020

It’s an increasingly urgent question facing Canadian governments. Even with the U.S. border open for commercial business, and exceptions being made to allow families to reunite, our joint border is mostly closed. And the impact is huge.

This discussion is relevant this week for a couple of reasons. First, the current emergency border-crossing restriction package is set to expire July 21. Second, the government is facing mounting pressure from commercial interests.

The Canadian Travel & Tourism Roundtable, a coalition of 120-odd travel and tourism companies including Canada’s major airlines, last month sent an open letter to the government calling for the loosening of travel restrictions.

A second open letter was sent by Canada’s airlines and many of Canada’s biggest companies including banks and telecoms.

On one hand it is hard to blame the tourism sector, which has been among the hardest hit by the pandemic, for putting its economic interests first. But it is also more than a little troubling that airlines were quick to do away with social distancing minimums when we know they are crucial in slowing the spread of COVID-19.

May 24, 2020

Fortunately, it’s not up to the tourism/travel sector to make public policy. That’s up to the government, and based on what top officials such as Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland are saying, protecting public health is still the top priority. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said: “We are going to be very, very careful about when and how we start reopening international borders.”

Something most people do not recognize is that cross-border traffic is already increasing thanks to loosening of some restrictions. The volume of traffic crossing land borders has increased from about 115,000 a week from late April to early May to 175,000 a week in late June. Officials say those figures include commercial and non-commercial traffic. The number of non-commercial highway travellers entering Canada has nearly doubled over that period, going from about 3,300 a week to about 6,500.

June 2, 2017

At the same time as Canada is allowing more cross-border traffic, the situation in the U.S. is deteriorating. As recently as the weekend states like Florida were announcing record new infections and deaths. Florida alone reported more than 15,000 new cases. American leadership is polarized, with the Trump administration basically in denial. Some states are rolling back reopening, others seem unwilling to do so despite exploding infection rates.

Worst of all, America has no apparent unified strategy to regain control. Even if Trump loses the November election, it’s predicted to take months to change direction and get COVID under control.

Under these circumstances, how on earth could Canada even consider significantly loosening border controls? Doing so would literally put at risk everything this country has done right to flatten the pandemic curve. All the work and sacrifice Canadians have endured would be at risk.

It is said that governing in these times is an ongoing struggle to balance safety with renewed prosperity. Fair enough. But on some fronts there can be no overall compromise. The U.S. is not a safe place to be, and Canada should not face further exposure until things change. That could easily keep the border closed until the end of this year, at least, say infectious disease experts.

It’s a sad reality with a great cost to Canadians and our economy. But we have no choice. (Hamilton Spectator Editorial)

Tuesday January 10, 2017

January 10, 2017 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday January 10, 2017

Who’s patiently waiting for Trump?

The US President-elect Donald Trump has admitted that he likes to keep people guessing. He’s a master manipulator as his book The Art of the Deal proudly portrays. “You tell a lie three times, they will believe anything. You tell people what they want to hear, play to their fantasies and then you close the deal,” he wrote. It worked like a dream during the campaign.

In less than two weeks, his biggest deal of all will finally be sealed. Only then will Americans and world leaders be able to distinguish between Trump the showman and the real deal of a man, who, according to some of his closest friends, is a charming, charismatic bon-vivant and a genuine patriot.

Without doubt many of those who perceive Trump as a saviour are in for a disappointment. His reach-out to veterans was overwhelmingly successful, but his plan to privatise veterans’ health care has dampened their enthusiasm.

His vow to get coal miners back to work, which helped him win Pennsylvania and Ohio, has been made harder to keep thanks to President Barack Obama’s parting regulatory shot and the fact that coal production is no longer economically viable due to cheaper oil and natural gas. Moreover, if he’s serious about imposing up to 45 per cent tariffs on Chinese imports to protect American manufacturers, that will not only result in inflation impacting the working class, but could incur World Trade Organisation penalties and kick-off a trade war that experts assert China is best-placed to win. Likewise, the governments of Canada and Mexico wait to see if Trump is serious about either renegotiating or dumping North American Free Trade Agreement. Canada says it would be willing to renegotiate terms. Mexico has flatly refused.

On the foreign policy front, heads of state are breathlessly waiting to know the score in the realisation that what Trump says now and what he will do are two different things. In this connection, President Vladimir Putin of Russia springs to mind.

Putin hopes for a reset in relations between Moscow and Washington, which he blames Obama for souring. Putin feels that his nation has been disrespected by the US in recent years and he wants to work with the new White House to resolve international crises provided the US sanctions are lifted and Russia is placed on an equal footing.

Signs are that he may get his wish; at least in the short term; that’s if Trump can skilfully manoeuvre between opening a new chapter with Russia — moving on — as he put it, with the hawkish anti-Russian sentiments expressed by senior figures in his own party. There is little divergence between the two men’s policies on Syria. Both see the need for eliminating terrorist elements and Trump has in the past referred to Syria’s President Bashar Al Assad as “a natural ally” in the fight against Daesh.

Trump tends to gravitate towards strongmen, and may be inclined to support Putin’s pick to head Libya, General Khalifa Haftar, whose forces have wrested back territory, including oil ports, from the control of Daesh, the self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. Trump’s senior security adviser James Woolsey says his boss will make the destruction of Daesh a priority, including in Libya.

However, despite what’s touted by the mainstream media as a Trump-Putin ‘bromance’, cracks in their tentatively friendly relationship could show-up once the US and Russian interests diverge. If there comes a time when those two massive egos clash, prepare for … well … anything. China could be a point of contention and so could Iran given Trump’s hostility to the nuclear deal.

There is arguably no one salivating more at the thought of Trump getting his feet under his new desk than the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Trump slammed Obama’s decision not to veto a recent UN resolution reaffirming the illegality of colony construction which he believes constitutes no obstacle to peace, and has given his approval for the US embassy to be relocated to Jerusalem.

Yet, he has also sworn to effect an Israel-Palestinian peace agreement, he characterises as “the ultimate deal” — and he has appointed Jason Greenblatt, a real estate lawyer and former Israeli West Bank colonist and armed guard to begin the process!

It’s not clear what British Prime Minister Theresa May really thinks of Trump. But she definitely wants to get in his good graces. She broke the ‘special relationship’s unwritten rule with her condemnation of John Kerry for a speech in which he criticises Israeli colonies as an obstacle to a two-state solution, even though his words echoed Britain’s long-held position.

Let’s not forget that among the cheerers and appeasers waiting for January 20th to dawn, there are millions of Americans, among them American-Muslims and undocumented migrants, living in terror of what the future might hold if Trump implements his campaign threats.

Uncertainty has become the new normal. The day Trump comes clean on his actual policies, strategies and global friends lists can’t come soon enough! (Source: GulfNews)

Wednesday December 24, 2014

December 24, 2014 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, (Originally drawn in 2001) – Wednesday December 24, 2014

Tale of 1914 Christmas Day Truce Is Inspiring

The Christmas Truce, when British and German soldiers were said to have suddenly stopped fighting on the Western Front for a few hours on Christmas Day 1914, is written in history.

What started with the singing of “Stille Nacht” on the German side, followed by a response of “Silent Night,” was said to have included an impromptu soccer game on the No Man’s Land between the opposing trenches.

“We all grew up with the story of soldiers from both sides putting down their arms on Christmas Day when gunfire gave way to gifts,” Prince William said at a ceremony in England two weeks ago to unveil a memorial to the event.

“Football,” the prince continued, “has the power to bring people together and break down barriers. It is vital that 100 years on, we keep the Christmas Truce story alive. It remains wholly relevant today as a message of hope and humanity, even in the bleakest of times.”

Hope and humanity and perhaps, ultimately, futility.

Soccer is a remarkable game that crosses boundaries around this world. But whatever took place on that day a century ago did not stop the carnage that took an estimated 16 million lives, nor did it break down barriers to prevent wars today.

“Sport, not war” has to be among the most contrite of phrases.

The sculpture unveiled by Prince William was designed by a 10-year-old boy, Spencer Turner. It depicts two hands clasped in friendship inside the outline of a ball. It is simple, brilliant and full of boyish hope.

And grown men are running with that hope. There have been re-enactments of the reported No Man’s Land game, including a match between the British Army and German Army teams in Aldershot, England, and a game in Belgium this week near the Flemish field where the truce happened. (Continued: New York Times)