Watching democracy’s retreat

  

I wanted to write on something lighter this week. But with world affairs as they are, I’m not sure how I could gloss over my feelings of shock and – to be completely honest – inner rage. 

The full-scale invasion of Ukraine is difficult to fathom. Although I suspected Russia might attack, part of me never really thought Vladimir Putin would go through with it. Not to this extent.  

Most of us have heard the parallels being drawn to WWII. Only a week ago, we watched a show taking place in Great Britain in 1938. The British characters were celebrating the peace deal British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain signed with Adolf Hitler after Germany annexed a portion of Czechoslovakia. 

Clearly, Chamberlain didn’t realize he was dealing with a madman. Not even Joseph Stalin, a madman himself, was wary enough when it came to this German dictator. 

There is nothing “trustworthy” about Putin, as George W. Bush once reassured the American public. Not even Russians know what to expect from him anymore. Normally a cruel but astute tactician, many now wonder what kind of madman (for lack of a better word) invades a sovereign country without an exit strategy. One has only to think of Vietnam, Iraq or Afghanistan to see how history treats the invaders. 

Unfortunately, it can take decades for the occupying nation to realize its folly. Only after untold funds are spent and countless lives are lost. 

The little hope I had for a diplomatic resolution has been erased, knowing that any retaliation on the part of Ukrainians will be quickly quashed, Russian style. There will be no more free protests without retribution. 

Our relatives in Ukraine watch aghast as state-run Russian news channels show Russian soldiers freeing Ukraine from the hold of neo-Nazism. One can only wonder how they echo Putin's false truths with a straight face – making the Jewish, former comedian Ukrainian president into a fascist dictator. 

It sickeningly resembles Fox News messaging, with American hosts downplaying the invasion as a lost cause, perhaps at Donald Trump’s behest. “Putin declares a big portion of Ukraine as independent. Oh, that’s wonderful,” Trump said a day before the invasion. “How smart is that?” 

If ever there was a moment to signify democracy’s world retreat, it is this. The former leader of the “free world” – and let’s be honest, it’s freest for those who actually get to vote – has made a mockery of Western ideals of life and liberty. In a way, he’s followed in the footsteps of George W. Bush, who also invaded a sovereign nation with feeble justification. Afghanistan was a reaction to a legitimate terrorist attack (even though it turned out just as futile), but Iraq was all about one president's personal retribution. 

In much the same way, Putin is emotionally entranced by the nostalgia of a past Soviet empire, losing all sense of what is real. As with Bush’s foreign ventures, Putin’s nation will pay for this – I hope dearly. A former American diplomat suggested that the sanctions placed on Russia in 2014 ranked 2 out of 10 on the severity scale. So far, the new sanctions sound more like a 4 or 5 – hardly enough to deter a madman. 

 In the meantime, we can only watch from abroad the economic and political havoc this will cause for Ukraine – for our family and friends who still live there. One cannot fully predict the future at this point, but the trajectory so far is bleak. One can only imagine the collective distrust of a puppet government that will ensue – the bristling anger of a population occupied by a former ally. 

So far, my sister-in-law and her husband in Ukraine are safe. Our nephews, both who served in the Ukrainian military, are thankfully both in Canada. 

We understand, not everyone can leave so easily. 

New North Korea rising

  

As the Beijing Olympics wrap up and we reward our Canadian athletes with the pride and patriotic fervour they deserve, can we now say definitively that China should never be allowed to host this event again? 

I had hoped this Olympics would be boycotted. As much as I like the Olympics – as much as I love to see our country defeat monoliths like the U.S., Russia and China; as much as I love to watch our women’s hockey team embarrass team after team after team – I don’t want to give China any more positive recognition than they deserve on the world stage. 

And they deserve very little. 

As Canadians, we’re all too aware of the lengths China will go to retaliate, whether it be through trade tariffs or imprisoning our citizens. But that’s just scratching the surface. 

For the last ten years, China has been involved in the widescale persecution of an ethnic/religious minority called the Uyghurs (pronounced wee-gurs). This has involved over a million people detained in internment or “re-education” camps, the destruction of mosques and religious sites, and oppression of citizens at home and abroad. 

Rape and torture have been widely reported. Communication has been restricted to the point where some Canadian and American Uyghurs haven’t heard from their families since 2017, when the internment camps were established. Last year, the Canadian Parliament overwhelmingly voted to declare China’s treatment of Uyghurs as genocide. 

Other religious minorities are also under attack. Christian churches used to exercise some freedom in China, so long as the proper relationships were maintained. That, too, appears to be changing. 

Hong Kong is losing its autonomy. China is squelching what remains of Hong Kong's independent voice and may overtake other disputed territories like Taiwan in the future. Nations and companies that dispute China’s right to control these territories are already paying a price. 

It was never supposed to be this way. China was supposed to remain quiet and obedient; to gradually democratize as it joined the world economy. Bill Clinton once joked about China trying to censor the internet: “Good luck! That’s sort of like trying to nail Jell-o to the wall.” Twenty years ago, it was believed the free flow of ideas would overcome even the most authoritarian regimes. 

Instead, just the opposite. Technology has provided a new tool for authoritarian regimes. Big Brother is alive and well in China, like in North Korea, and he doesn’t like to be criticized.  

Just ask Chinese tennis player, Peng Shuai, who dared accuse a prominent Chinese Communist Party official of sexual assault on social media last year. She has now retracted her story and suggested she may retire from the sport. She made brief public appearances at the Olympics, then disappeared again into “quarantine.” 

It’s hard for us to grasp in a free country, but this is what authoritarian regimes thrive on: blind loyalty and fear. One can choose to oppose the regime, like Jimmy Lai, owner of one of the last free newspapers in Hong Kong (now shut down), or like Russian political opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, but your days will be numbered. Lai and Navalny have both recently been imprisoned. 

China’s surveillance terror network extends past its country’s borders. Gulbahar Haitiwaji writes in The Guardian about how she was falsely lured back into her home country of China ten years after immigrating to France. It turns out that the authorities had discovered a picture on the internet of her daughter protesting Uyghur oppression while in Paris. Unaware that her teenaged daughter had even been involved in a protest, she spent two years in an internment camp for her daughter’s transgressions. 

Even Canadians of Chinese descent are being targeted for what they post on social media. The mayor of Coquitlam, BC has said that dozens of his constituents have complained to him about threatening phone calls and Chinese officials showing up in-person after posting something critical of China. Yes, in Canada. 

After reading China Unbound: A New World Disorder by journalist Joanna Chiu, I’ve lost all reason to give China the benefit of the doubt. When a Uyghur athlete is chosen to light the Olympic cauldron at the opening ceremonies, we must see it for what it is: propaganda. 

Until the human rights issues are addressed, China should never be given the opportunity to put itself in a positive light on the world stage again. 

It’s the very least we can do. 

What happens when our galaxies collide? And other things to ponder...

 

 

I’ve always marveled at scientific findings, but some continue to baffle me. I know, most of you probably don’t get hung up on such esoteric matters. You probably live your life without thinking once about the possibility of a multiverse or the fact that there’s another galaxy veering straight towards us. That’s great – not about our galaxies colliding, but that you don’t dwell on these things. But please, allow me a few moments to express both awe and wonder, and possibly fear, at a few scientific concepts that continue to blow my mind... 

 

Gravity. That’s right, what’s with gravity? We take it for granted but this is a challenging concept to grasp. To think that we as humans can live at different locations on a sphere-shaped piece of rock and not even know it. 

And to think that each of us – every single thing that has mass – also exerts a gravitational force. You exert gravity on me. Hardly noticeable, but you do. Not only that, but gravity is somehow related to time. The further one moves from Earth, the slower time passes. This is why clocks in space have to be adjusted to match clocks on Earth. This blows my mind. 

Not only that, but gravity affects light. As light escapes a gravitational pull, it turns redder, as red has a longer, lazier wavelength than other colours. If the gravitational pull is extremely strong, like in the case of a black hole, no colours escape. A black hole is a relatively small blob of matter so dense that it gobbles up everything in its path, light included. 

 

Evolution. Sometimes it becomes hard for me to wrap my mind around a theory I was told was bunk while growing up. As a teenager living in a Christian community, I was told over and over again that it was only a theory. I only later learned how much evidence there is to support it. Even prominent Christian scientists like Francis Collins cannot deny the evidence. But I digress....  

The marvel of human evolution is enough to blow the mind, but take a moment to consider marsupials. Largely isolated on the island of Australia, these animals were allowed to diversify like nowhere else. Almost every one of these animals has a pouch to raise their young. We’re talking koalas, Tasmanian devils, kangaroos, and the now-extinct Australia tiger. That’s right, as recently as the 1930s, there used to be a dog-like animal with tigerish stripes on its back end and a pouch on its underside. Even the males had a pouch, for crying out loud! (See the full documentary on Netflix’s Animal.) 

Then there’s this: A kangaroo that lives in trees. This in itself proves that evolution is a process, as this kangaroo has not quite adapted to living above ground. Incredibly awkward, they kind of hop along the branches. Their young barely know what to do when they first come out of the pouch. “I was never meant to be up here!” they must think as they look down at the forest floor beneath them. Some fall to their deaths, but enough survive to perpetuate a population of kangaroos in trees. In another million years, they may finally get it right and evolve into, um... marsupial monkeys? 

 

The Multiverse. Uh, let’s skip that one. I’m not ready. 

 

The Universe. Much simpler, but massive. I'm afraid it’s more massive than you could ever imagine. There are up to a trillion stars in our Milky Way galaxy alone. There are up to a trillion galaxies in our universe. Assuming each galaxy has the same number of stars, that means there could be up to 24 septillion stars (that’s a 1 with 24 zeroes after it) in our universe... of which there may be more than one.  

Not only that, but these galaxies are moving further and further apart. In a few billion years, we won’t be able to see most of these galaxies from Earth anymore. That is, except for one, because it will be colliding with ours. In a mere five billion years, the Andromeda galaxy will integrate with the Milky Way to create a night sky that will rival the greatest Canada Day fireworks. If you’re still around then, I would definitely check it out.  

 

Microorganisms. In grade 12, I was flummoxed to learn there were little parasites living on my eyelashes. Now I learn there are actually more microorganisms in our bodies than our own human cells. Trillions of microbes are co-existing with us, within us. In fact, we wouldn’t be alive without them.  

We tend to think that microorganisms, namely viruses and bacteria, are largely bad, when those that have evolved in us are actually good. The pathogens that tend to harm us are those that have evolved in other species. The coronavirus is such a virus, as is HIV-AIDS. As we know, these can kill millions of people and other animals, too.  

But for the most part, we can thank these microscopic menaces for keeping us alive: Aiding in digestion, warding off sickness and even creating mental stability (a lack of gut microbes has been linked to anxiety and depression). We can increase our good gut bacteria by eating probiotic yogurt and, if you prefer, a stinky fermented cabbage called kimchi. 

 

I’ll leave it at that. Enjoy the wonders of the day.

Covid memories of pandemic past

 

As the pandemic wanes and the coronavirus slowly disappears from existence, we can now look back at some covid memories with fondness and even humour. And rest assured, this is the last wave, as I’ve told my co-workers numerous times over the last couple years. Hospitalizations and deaths may still be rising, but take heart, our officials tell us we've plateaued. It’s clear sailing from here on in, folks. 

 

I’ll touch on a few memories that are forever imprinted on my mind, although I must say, these last two years have been a bit of a blur... 

 

Remember when we feared shopping? Remember dousing the groceries with various chemical sprays, then letting them sit on the floor for days until we felt we could touch them again safely? This was followed by the sorting of rotten fruits and vegetables and the salvaging of edible meat and dairy. Mmm, I can still smell those day-old eggs. 

 

Remember when there were no cars on the road and too many people on the walkways? During the first lockdown, I would go for walks in the middle of the street as almost every car in our neighbourhood sat idle. I also recall seeing a middle-aged woman stand lifelessly in her front yard with a mask on, staring blankly into space. She scared me.  

After three weeks of lockdown, the weather improved and everyone went outside to escape from their holes. It was a disaster. I’ve never seen our walkways so full. My wife got clipped by another biker who couldn’t wait long enough for her to make a left turn. It got so bad, the city invoked a one-way only walking direction around Wascana Lake – a policy that lasted for an entire year. So traumatizing was it that to this day I still walk in the pandemic’s clockwise direction. 

 

Remember when we first wore masks? Before any mask mandates, I remember my dad deliberating aloud before going into a store: “Mask or no mask? Um, mask!” I thought it was funny. Surely, we won’t all have to wear masks one day, I thought to myself. All the research says they don’t work! How naïve we were. 

Once the mask mandate was in place, the opposite effect took hold – you felt naked if you weren’t wearing one. I recall a funny incident where a man entered a small clothing store bare-faced. The owner, who was standing next to me, spotted him immediately and asked if he had a mask to wear. The man looked at us with shock and embarrassment, then covered his mouth with his hand and ran out of the store as if he had actually been caught with his pants down. 

            Remember when a hundred covid cases per day meant, "Run for the hills!"? Now we're hitting a thousand and the response is more like, "Meh, I'll get another booster." A year ago there were signs outside our city with warnings: "Covid Alert! Avoid travel in city!" It was like we had the plague, and I guess we did. My parents were so scared, they wouldn't even stop for gas while travelling through – the very thought of touching a Regina gas pump was enough to induce infection. Those were the days, when fear kept us safe.

Speaking of fear, remember when we didn’t really worry about dying? I don’t want to downplay the trauma some people have had to live through these past years, with loved ones getting sick and even dying, but it’s true that most of us hardly ever think about death.  

Interestingly, it’s the people who fear the virus the most who have the least to fear; they’re likely vaccinated and cautious in their interactions with others. It's those who end up in the hospital and still refuse a vaccine who need a little, uh, life coaching?

For most of us this was a wake-up call, showing how our Golden Age can quickly take a turn for the worse. We’re still susceptible to the forces of nature. We are mortal. 

 

On that uplifting note, get boosted if you haven't already and, as they used to say during the pandemic, stay safe! Maybe one day we’ll be able to live again like it’s 2019.