NEGLECT OF YOUNG CANADIAN UNDERGRADS GIVING RISE TO POTENTIALLY DISASTROUS SITUATION IN ALBERTA (AND CANADA)

The economic recession that engulfed the globe in mid-2008 has triggered a very disturbing situation in Canada, and Alberta in particular. There were massive job losses in Canada and Alberta not witnessed since 1980s and the people who were among the most severely hit were the young workers – in the age group of 18-26.

In Alberta the huge number of oilsands projects brought a fantastic economic upswing in the province from 2001-02 onwards. Fort McMurray, Calgary, and Edmonton were flush with jobs – with engineering jobs more concentrated in Calgary and Edmonton, and tradespersons’ jobs abounding in Fort McMurray. Hourly rates were going through the roof in the so-called ‘Middle East’ of North America, i.e., Fort Mc.

The burgeoning engineering companies in Alberta were offering jobs to fresh engineering undergrads to experienced alike at frenetic pace. The joke making round in 2005-06 was that if someone could spell ‘engineering’ that person was getting hired. There was a mad rush of immigrant engineers who claimed experience in oil, gas and other sectors.

But as the oilsands projects started to come to a grinding halt in 2008, massive lay offs ensued. And, bearing the brunt of this all were, among others, the young engineers. The saddest part is that these young engineers had cut their teeth in engineering in Canadian engineering schools. These young engineers who were aspiring to be the future torch bearers of Canadian expertise were given most shabby treatment by the oilsands related companies of Alberta.

During these trying times, most of the engineering companies and a number of operating companies of Alberta were and are found following dangerously short-sighted policy of relying on immigrant engineers, who have on paper more number of years of experience, to run their show.

A large chunk of these foreign educated Bachelor degree holders are pathetically ill equipped in terms of communication skills and Canadian outlook toward work culture and excellence in general. As well, most of the immigrant work force is relatively more aged.

Now, what is happening is that by not providing employment opportunities to the young Canadian engineers (EITs), the layer that would otherwise be ready to fill in the vacuum in the middle management level in the coming years when the baby boomers will be gone is not getting properly formed. These young undergrads not only bring the excellence of the Canadian engineering schools but also bring the mindset of Canadian work ethics and attitude right from the day one to their respective jobs.

The young men and women coming out of the various Canadian universities after completing their undergrad studies had formed the backbone of Canadian industrial resurgence in the late 20th century. These young men and women had brought with them the potential managerial skills so very vital to development and sustaining the edge in competition.

But that edge is getting severely blunted and lost especially in Alberta. Because, if the young engineers don’t get the experience they need in their formative years, out of the engineering schools, how will they develop the necessary oilsands and other oil and gas expertise which is fundamental to continuation of Canada’s reputation of delivering high quality output?!

Performance of a company and quality of work depends on the managerial competence of those entities. Canadian universities not only impart high quality education, they also provide a well rounded personality development, including solid grounding in soft skills, during the undergrad courses.

But if the young Canadian undergrads are not provided continued job opportunities how can they get groomed to be future managers of Canada? How will that competent layer be ready to fill the void created by the retiring baby boomers? A layer that is competent in communication skills and ingrained with Canadian work culture and values, a layer that is trained in Canadian excellence and trained to think like one! This situation is indeed potentially disastrous for Canada!!

But sadly, the incompetent and intellectually impoverished decision makers of the various engineering and operating companies are destroying the future of Alberta (and Canada) by not taking back the Canada educated engineering undergrads as soon as new job opportunities are coming up. The situations is getting further exacerbated by robot-like recruiters who cannot distinguish between ‘real’ talent and the ‘irrelevant’ talent which claims simply more number of years of experience on paper.

One hopes Alberta has not become totally devoid of sane and competent people, and that these people will realize the path of disaster the short-sighted blundering idiots are treading on. One hopes the companies in Alberta, especially the oilsands related, will refocus their attention on development of future layers of management based on home grown young undergrad talent by re-absorbing them in jobs.

If the handful sane elements in the provincial or federal Govt don’t intervene soon enough, the damage that will have been caused to future managerial competence of Alberta (and Canada) will be irreparable. Ruing at a later day will not undo the stupid actions of the present day. May God give the decision makers some modicum of intellectual sense!

TO SUCCEED IN AFGHANISTAN UNITED STATES WILL FIRST NEED TO UNDO ITS NEFARIOUS SOUTH ASIAN POLICIES OF THE 1990s

For the following major US and ISAF losses in one day in Afghanistan:
· Oct 2009: Eight US die in Taliban attack in Nuristan, eastern Afghanistan close to Pak border;
· Sept 2009: Six Italian soldiers die in suicide bomb in Kabul;
· Aug 2008: Ten French troops killed in ambush in Sarobi, east of Kabul;
· July 2008: Nine US soldiers die in militant siege in Wanar, bordering Nuristan and Wanar provinces;
· Nov 2007: Six US soldiers and three Afghan troops killed in ambush;
· July 2007: Six Canadian soldiers and Afghan interpreter die when vehicle hits IED in Kandahar province;
· May 2007: Five US, one UK, one Canadian soldier die in hostile attack on helicopter in Helmand province;
· June 2005: Sixteen US soldiers die in attack on helicopter in Konar province; and counting…..

if one had to point toward one major reason, then it would have to be the former President Bill Clinton. And, this is not being said because one is anti-Democrat or pro-Republican. Any impartial, objective analysis of US policies in South Asian region of India, Pakistan and Afghanistan would unequivocally bring out that in 1990s United States pursued a nefarious policy of ‘overlook what Pakistan (and Saudi) is doing in the region’.

Since the buck stops at the table of US President, therefore, the responsibility of policy of deliberate callous indifference towards the diabolical games played by Pakistan in ‘90s must be attributed to then US President – Clinton. Clinton’s era was one of the worst from US foreign policy perspective.

What happened on 9/11 was the direct consequence of Clinton administration's callous indifference alluded to above. President Bush went in to Afghanistan like a mad bull in rage. However, he continued to indulge Pakistani leadership and get fooled (most of the time knowingly) by Pakistani chicanery.

Either Bush was incapable or he was, like his Republican predecessors, more anti-Indian; whatever it was he could not unravel the rogue Pakistan was (and is). Like a fool he continued to play in the hands of the Pakistanis. Result? US and ISAF continued to bleed in Afghanistan.

But Bush's Afghanistan strategy was more of a band aid because he had not fathomed the Clinton-era mistakes nor he had the inclination to do so either. He had no clue of what would be the best strategy or what it should be predicated on! He was too bogged down in Iraq, and he and his advisers were too incapable of figuring out anything sensible beyond Iraq.

Going back to Clinton - regardless of whatever the so-called biographers of Bill Clinton may say or write about the characteristics of the former President, one thing is for sure – Clinton had a pathological aversion (or shall we say, inability) to taking major decisions, especially, related to military geo-politics. Clinton exhibited classic ostrich-like behaviour when it came to dealing with potential or real armed conflict issues.

Clinton liked to be an ‘escapist’ (probably he still does) and under the self-created illusion that everything is fine devilishly revelled in procrastination and avoidance. In case of South Asian region he deliberately overlooked what was going on in the region. Following were some of the notable situations:
· Pakistan was aiding Taliban to overrun Afghanistan so as to control that area indirectly;
· Saudi Arabia was promoting radical Islam (Wahabism) by pumping money in that region (and elsewhere in the moderate Islamic communities);
· Pakistan was fostering terrorism in Kashmir and countless innocent Indians were dying;
· Pakistan, through its nuclear scientist A. Q. Khan, was not only developing its own nuclear capability but also transferring the deadly technology to North Korea, Iran and others;
· Pakistan was channelling US military and civilian aid to further its own military build up;
· Pakistan’s Shia politicians were colluding with Iran to help expand its influence in the region.

It will be disastrous to assume that CIA did not know about the above and much more and was not keeping the President and his advisers informed (if CIA indeed failed to notice and/or track the above, then God bless the US!). But President Clinton chose to overlook all this. Why? Possibly because apart from being an incorrigible ‘escapist’ that he was, he thought that there was NO potential direct (or may even indirect) impact on an American due to whatever Pakistan or Saudi Arabia was doing!! He thought “oh why bother, things are happening thousands of miles away from US shores”.

But this psychopathic philanderer probably forgot what the geniuses of political science have said from ancient times – be it Chanakya or Sun Tzu – to the modern times that to maintain political and military influence one needs to anticipate far ahead what can happen in the coming times. Sun Tzu mentions at one place in his book (The Art of War): ...A leader must be “serene and inscrutable" and capable of comprehending "unfathomable plans".

But then that’s the price a country pays for electing someone whose dick reigns rather than the cerebral competencies. If history is impartial and someday people reflect on past presidents of US, there will be a general consensus that Clinton’s era was a disaster in terms of statesmanship and foreign policy; Clinton failed miserably in its task of protecting US by failing to anticipate and act proactively where it was required.
[Sidebar comment: The so-called economic prosperity seen during Clinton presidency was a result of previous policies already put in place, he was just lucky to reap the fruits]

One may ask, why bring in all the past, Clinton and all, in today’s discussion on Afghanistan strategy? Again, the answer is simple: if you don’t analyze what might have been the cause for a given current situation, how do you assess and arrive at the best option! And, mind you, the top US general in the region Gen Stanley McChrystal is asking for a "dramatically different" strategy to ensure success there.

So, how do you arrive at a "dramatically different" strategy if you don’t know what went wrong in the first place; if you don’t know what has been going on for all these years in the region? What are the areas that need to be fixed to achieve success of the mission? If President Obama and his advisers want to arrive at the ‘best’ option, they will have to look at the past with an open and impartial mind, analyze with the mind set of nobody is a ‘holy cow’, explode old shibboleths, and then come to the conclusion on the best path forward.

Taliban can be defeated. And by the way, President Obama keeps harping on the word Al-Qaeda without mentioning Taliban in his speeches. One hopes he knows that ‘real’ enemy of US and ISAF are the Taliban, Al-Qaeda are just riding piggy back to synergize and cause maximum damage. Anyway, back to Afghanistan: US and the international community can defeat the Islamic radical monsters – created to a large extent by the aid and abetment of Pakistan and Saudis – but it would need a sustained campaign.

How should that campaign be run, that will be the subject of next blog.

IS AMERICAN POLITICKING ANY DIFFERENT FROM SO-CALLED CORRUPT ASIAN DEMOCRACIES?

It is fascinating to watch how the health-care reform debate in US has degenerated in to dirty politicking. The way the so-called right fringe interest groups seem to be able to mobilize support of the Republican politicians makes one wonder whether the American politicians are any way different in overall behaviour vis-à-vis their counterparts in Asian democracies, say, India, Philippines or Indonesia.

President Obama is trying to bring about health-care reform which the right-wing people are opposing tooth and nail. President Obama presented his case to the Congress in his address. The way he explained, his plan sounded rational. He was also at pains to mention that health-care plan his administration wants to go forward with includes ideas from both sides of the aisle.

However, the Republicans remained unimpressive. During Obama’s speech one Republican congressman even tried to heckle by shouting “You lie”. Of course, that was loutish third rate conduct very reminiscent of how many legislators in some of the Asian democracies behave.

But more than the outlandish behaviour of a Republican congressman, the more striking thing is the energy and ease with which the interest groups have been mobilizing Republican legislators’ support in opposing Obama’s health care reform plan.

One may wonder, is the Obama plan really that bad causing the Republicans to baulk at it? Or, is it just the ideological difference that is prompting the rightists to oppose the proposed reform for the heck of it? Or, is there something else that is causing the Republican politicians to rally behind the interest groups?

A quick review of supposedly neutral print and TV media suggests that the interest groups opposing the health care reform in US are being mostly funded by – former Republican politicians, some corporate entities (who fear they potentially stand to lose due to the proposed reform) or right-wing organizations funded by various corporate bodies.

Surely, it just can’t be that Obama’s proposed reform is catastrophic as the right-wing folks would like the people to believe. So, if the proposed reform has some merit, why are the Republican politicians of the current Congress opposing it instead of contributing to it to make it better and more potent? And, President Obama has made it clear that he is willing to consider any good suggestion from the Republicans.

Well, the answer is simple: the said Republican politicians are being ‘incentivised’ by big fat corporate entities that are fearful that the proposed reform will hit at their profit making potential. One may ask at this point, does that mean the American politicians are also purchasable like their counterparts in Asian democracies? Again, the answer is: YES, of course; a lot of them are indeed purchasable! And, this is something not new, it has been happening for decades.

So, how does it happen in US then? Why does the world not get to hear about money related scandals in Washington? Well, the big corporate entities mostly engage lobbyists who act as the conduits for the ‘incentivisation’ of the politicians – whether through huge donations or through skilfully crafted pecuniary benefits that are not easily detectable or which can not be labelled as bribe.

There is a quid pro quo involved in this ‘incentivisation’ game – the politician supports or opposes, as the case may be, to protect some corporate entities’ interest and in return that politician gets some ‘compensation’. The inscrutable and complicated way in which the corporate entities ‘buy’ favours from American politicians is itself a topic justifying some course in a university to understand the whole ramification of it.

The corporate bodies have on their payrolls brilliant financial and law experts who camouflage the ‘incentives’ in such a way that they appear innocuous and generally remain undetectable unless somebody goes after it specifically, say, a special prosecutor. There lies the main difference in the manner American politicians are ‘purchased’ or made ‘amenable’ and politicians in some of the Asian democracies are ‘purchased’ or made ‘amenable’.

In a democracy like India, politicians are quite often ‘purchased’ brazenly, unabashedly through bribes in hard cash, or in kind like giving out a prime real estate or an expensive vehicle. Favours like giving a job to a politician’s relative is considered minor and don’t cut much ice these days.

Now, back to US: The way there has been a sustained campaign against Obama’s proposed health care reform – be it through ad campaigns (some of which apparently are conveying utter falsehoods) or mobilizing hecklers at town hall meetings, or getting thousands of people in Washington on 12th Sept – is surely indicative of one thing: some corporate bodies feel their bottom line profit is going to be hit.

So, just as the corporate bodies in Asian democracies engage in devious ways, by using politicians as pawns, to scuttle government policies they perceive to be harmful to their commercial interest similarly one finds some American companies doing the same thing in this health care brouhaha.

In this context one may feel curious to ask, what the so-called dirt-sniffing media do in US with regard to ‘incentivisation’ of politicians? Do they not expose the wheeling and dealing activities? After all, the American media have created an image in the world as if they are the only people in this profession on this planet who bring out ‘dirt’ with regard to politicians!

Anecdotal data seem to suggest there is some kind of unwritten understanding in American media world that they will try not to ferret out any political scandal in Washington which has its roots in ‘incentivisation’. There are some exceptions though to this but they are few and far between. The American media more readily goes after scandals in Washington which involve some politician sleeping with a woman other than one’s wife.

So, this is a brief snap shot of how a lot of American politicians are manipulated by corporate bodies for sake of protecting their business interests. It is just that American media for decades have been successful in projecting an image to the world as if the American politicians are the paragon of virtues and moral uprightness.

Besides, on the world stage the American politicians follow an aggressive image projection helped by powerful American media to beat their drums worldwide. And, in that din any question about skeletons in their cupboards gets blown away! Didn’t some one say that nexus between a politician and powerful media makes a ready made script for an award winning movie?!!

ALBERTA OILSANDS AND ENGINEERING COMPANIES NEGLECTING THE LAID OFF CANADA EDUCATED JUNIOR ENGINEERS

“Job losses surprise Tories”, screamed a headline from a Calgary’s newspaper on 8th August 2009. The news went on to state that since the economic downturn struck in October 2008, Alberta's jobless rate has climbed month after month, nearly doubling to 7.2 per cent in July 2009 (highest since June 1996) with the evaporation of 75,600 positions.

In Edmonton, the unemployment rate was 7.0 per cent in July, compared with 6.5 per cent in June. Calgary's rate increased to 6.9 per cent from 6.6 per cent. The figures are based on three-month moving averages. Meanwhile, the number of people failing to make payments on their debt jumped more in Calgary than any other Canadian city, according to Equifax Canada.

First, due to the incompetence and blunders of oilsands companies the Canada educated young engineers suffered when the projects got shelved, and then due to the combined effect of incompetence of recruiters and myopic view of employer companies, the aforementioned junior engineers are getting a raw deal.

Someone not familiar with Canada and in particular Alberta would wonder why this calamity befell Albertans. For them and others, here is a quick recap: During 2006-07, a number of oilsands companies launched highly ambitious plans for development of the vast hydrocarbon resource – called oilsands – that abounds Alberta.

It must be said that except Imperial Oil the top management of these oilsands companies made investment decisions in a stupid manner without doing commonsensical due diligence regarding risks to their long term investment plans. Like a bum high on pot, these numbskulls thought in their fool’s paradise that oil prices will remain high and their projects will have attractive IRR’s.

Due to the mega projects arising out of financially foolish decisions of these various oilsands corporations, the engineering companies in Alberta filled positions with people like crazy – a lot of these positions were filled by new immigrants who came in droves to join the gold rush.

However, in mid-2008 came the cataclysmic downturn stemming from greed filled devious financial products sold in US. The disaster that started in US caused a global meltdown which, among other things, brought a precipitous fall of oil prices from >US$120 to less than US$40.

This dealt a huge blow to the not well thought out ambitious oilsands projects alluded to above. Except Imperial Oil's projects, other projects started to get shut down or moth balled one after another from late 2008. Consequently, the engineering companies in Alberta started laying off people in hundreds.

In this massive layoffs the young engineers who did their undergraduate degree from Canadian universities are the worst affected. However, as the oilsands companies – small to big – reconciled to reality in Q2/Q3 2009 and started to develop new projects in slow and cautious manner, some laid off engineers started to get job offers.

But the job offers are very few and far between for engineers having 2-3 years experience in oilsands projects. These bright Canadian universities educated engineers are getting shunned by the myopic, dim witted and foolish attitude of both engineering and oilsands companies.

The aforesaid companies want engineers with 5-7 years or more oilsands’ experience. Since there is this racket in Alberta and Canada of hiring of people through recruitment companies, the young, dynamic Canada educated engineers are getting filtered out at the hand of the robotic recruiters.

These twits are just looking at numbers (of experience) rather than the core competency of the candidates who may have relatively less experience. The important aspect that is getting overlooked is that these young engineers cut their teeth in oilsands rather than drifting from some other oil and gas experience and that too from other countries.

Moreover, because of their Canadian engineering education these junior engineers have an edge over the so-called 5-10 years experienced jokers coming from outside Canada a large number of whom can’t even speak English properly.

Most of the recruiters don’t have necessary competence to discern whether a so-called 5-6 years experienced engineer, who may have done his Bachelors from some other country’s very pedestrian level university, has got necessary oilsands experience, or, is s/he bluffing her/his way through by camouflaging their experience under the façade of years of experience.

The poor young engineers who started their career in oilsands after completing their undergraduate course from Canadian schools are getting edged out at the very screening level at the hands of lousy recruiters, and second-rate interviewers of employer companies.

The question is: who will crack the whip to instil some sense in the minds of the employer companies to provide employment opportunities to the bright, Canada educated young engineers rather than opting for some foreign educated clown who has neither the communication skills nor the familiarity with the Canadian way.

It is so disgusting and painful to see the young, bright, capable (but less in so-called years of experience) Canada educated engineers suffering, for no fault of theirs, due to callousness, inadequacy, incapability of people charged with hiring processes. Probably only God’s intervention can bring some relief to these struggling young folks! Amen!

US PURSUING ITS AF-PAK POLICY CLEVERLY – GETS INDIA TO YIELD TO PAKISTAN

The recent joint statement issued by India and Pakistan, following the meeting between the Prime Ministers of the two nations on the sidelines of NAM Summit at Sharm El-Sheikh seems to indicate that the bickering greedy loser Indians have once again been humbled by the shrewd Pakistanis.

The joint statement sees some departures in both Indian and Pakistani positions in that there is no reference to Jammu and Kashmir in the statement but both countries have agreed to discuss outstanding issues.

There is nothing in non-mention of Kashmir for the Indians to gloat about because Pakistan got a significant victory by getting to include a reference to threats in Balochistan which is an oblique reference to allegations by Pakistan of Indian involvement in the region. This reference on Balochistan will prove very disadvantageous for the Indians in the overall diplomatic duel between the two countries.

Within days of the joint statement K-word got mentioned. As Pakistan wanted, Kashmir was mentioned in Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s statement on reaching India. The fact of the matter is that to make its Af-Pak policy more effective, the US is playing all the necessary political games. And, in this process they are getting the ‘pawns’ to do what they want them to do to suit their tactical moves. From US’s point of view this totally makes sense.

As part of all encompassing diplomatic push there was a statement from Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs Philip J Crowley who said "The meeting in Sharm El-Sheikh and the statement between the Indian leader and the Pakistani leader in terms of cooperation on terrorism (is) vitally important to stability in the region."

But what the common Indian must be thinking is: what did or will India get in return from US by playing ball with it in making Pakistan happy. It is important to note that Pakistan wants to extract some pound of flesh as quid pro quo for acting militarily against the Taliban – Pakistan wants US to pressure India to yield on Kashmir issue permanently.

US wanted to throw some crumbs in Pakistan’s way and they got the Indian suckers to drop their pants to the Pakistanis. US would think that this will help them in pushing the rogue Pakistanis further in their (Pak’s) overt military action against the Taliban. May be it will, may be not, because the schmuck Pakistanis have proven time and again shrewder than the Americans in the Af-Pak geo-political theatre.

If US thought that they can get the Pakistanis to completely crush the Taliban in NWFP and FAP, they would be foolishly mistaken. Pakistan will NEVER EVER destroy the chess piece that gives them THE leverage vis-à-vis USA. When the other day in an interview with CNN correspondent the former ISI chief of Pakistan said that they (Pakistan) can mediate between US and Mullah Omar, it was immediately clear that the rogue Pakistanis had another important card up their sleeve.

Pakistanis know that without their support the US and the ISAF can achieve nothing in Afghanistan and this IS their biggest trump card. And, US with all their vaunted intelligence network and military might will not able to make any friggin’ damage to the Taliban network unless their schmuck bootlicking poodle Pakistan provides necessary support.

Well, to do some ego massage of the ever obliging stupid Indians, Hillary Clinton has visited India first but this visit is just a window dressing. The main substantive portion of the Af-Pak policy will be further pushed by Richard Holbrooke visiting India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Brussels in the week of July 20.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is facing disquiet within his own political party, while the opposition parties in Parliament are tearing him to pieces for the perceived ‘disastrous’ joint statement issued at Sharm El-Sheikh. Singh’s foreign minister S.M. Krishna does not seem to have much clue about how foreign policy games are played. He seems to have merely gone by the strategy paper prepared his Foreign Secretary.

It will be interesting to see how the Af-Pak policy of US pans out in the near and longer term. Hopefully, USA will not be lulled in to believing that Pakistan is cooperating sincerely just because of their military action in Swat valley. Pakistanis can never be trusted - even sons don't believe their fathers - that's Pak history. One hopes US will keep the pressure on the rogue Pakistanis to achieve ultimate success against the Al Qaida and the Taliban.

DUMB SCHMUCK REPUBLICANS AND RIGHT WING MEDIA WANT UNITED STATES AND OBAMA TO SCREW UP IRAN POLICY

Iran is at the threshold of a momentous change. Presently a tussle is going on in that country which could turn out to be decisive in the modern history of Iran. In this tussle on one side are psychopathic Mahmoud Ahmedinejad and his master Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and on the other side are defeated presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi and his supporters.

The intellectually challenged Republicans, who neither had any idea of what art of diplomacy is nor have any idea now, want President Obama to jump in the Iranian fray. The saying ‘a fool’s bolt is soon shot’ couldn’t be more true in case of these numb-skull Republicans who think that the whole world is their fiefdom and the US can be a gun-toting policeman who can walk in to any country and meddle in its internal affairs.

But the right wing media who may be deeply intellectually impoverished are not so impoverished or idiot not to know the consequences of blatant interference in any other country’s internal affairs. Still they would like President Obama to commit a gaffe and make a mess of Iran issue.

There is another saying ‘to cut one’s nose to spite one’s face’ – this saying seems applicable to the attempts the scheming schmuck right wing media is making to build a hype on their channels that US should overtly step in to Iranian affair right away. They know that it would be a folly to do so, but then who cares of national interest when personal grudges reign supreme.

One could see the above mentioned nefarious strategy on a well known global news channel the other day. The anchor, who has clearly not yet been able to stomach Democrats ascendancy at Capitol Hill and White House, tried his best to put words in the mouth of an expert on Iran to extract some statement, like, US should overtly interfere in Iran’s affairs. The said anchor looked clearly disappointed when the expert didn’t fall for the bait.

President Obama knows the dirty tricks of these people who place personal defeats – political or idealogical – above the interest of the country. Obama has handled the Iran issue very astutely so far. However, he needs to be on guard against any knee-jerk action to counter the Republican pressure which is being purveyed by the likes of the television anchor mentioned in the foregoing.

A sidebar comment: No wonder Obama made the aforesaid tv anchor butt of his joke at RTCA gathering held in June. This anchor, who seems to have come up to this level in life more by stroke of luck and literally sucking up to right benefactors rather than his genius, probably thinks he can sustain at that level by licking the boots of his patrons, never mind even if they are downright rogues and/or stupid in regard to their approach to what is basically good for US and what is not.

Anyway, it is heartening to see that the current president of US has treaded on the Iran affairs very appropriately. Overt meddling may not be called for at this stage; in fact, the western world, supported by Israel, could provide all the help and succour the Mousavi supporters need in disseminating the information from Iran to the outside world – be it pictures, recordings, written material, whatever.

The world needs to provide all and every help to the Iranians who want freedom from repression of the clerics who are insanely living in the medieval ages and are given to savage like behaviour and temperament. Every modern gadgetry and means that can provide some assistance towards realizing the aspirations of those Iranians must be made available by the western world.

Right now concerted covert operations duly supported by measured overt diplomatic game must be the order of the day. That being said, there also needs to be a readiness in terms of gun boat diplomacy, just in case. The US military is stretched in terms of ground forces, but the naval and air force wherewithal should be adequate to put the irrational savage clerics on the defensive. US must rally its allies to support the cause of the democracy loving citizens of Iran.

The Iranian society is now polarized between saner and fanatical elements. Now is the time to drive the wedge harder to let the saner elements win. But in the process of accomplishing this, the US and its allies should avoid falling in the trap being attempted to be set by the disgraced, vanquished and self-seeking political opponents (and their lackeys) of Obama and the Democrats.

If the western world can play its cards properly, surely the Iranian society could be freed from the tyrannical and repressive elements of that country. Quite often a cool and methodical approach works better than shoot-from-the hip approach. The modern world is not the Wild West of 19th century United States – it is now an internet and satellite driven world of the mentally sharp and balanced!!

ALBERTA VICTIM OF CANADA’S VOTE BANK POLITICS; AND, UNEMPLOYED SUFFERING DUE TO DELAYS IN EI DISPENSATION

Amidst all the recent brouhaha related to auto industry’s near closure situation in Ontario province, the plight of huge unemployed work force of Alberta has got submerged and forgotten. No doubt thousands of workers were axed by GM, Chrysler and Ford and potentially many more may have been affected indirectly, but the fact remains that Alberta also saw massive lay offs from Q4 2008 till Q2 2009 – it is still going on.

The precipitous fall of crude prices led to cancellation of many oil sands projects. Coupled with this, falling prices of natural gas caused big cut down in new wells to be drilled. This dealt a double whammy to the Albertans and resulted in job losses not seen in decades. As well, there have been thousands of bankruptcies in the province which was riding wave of prosperity until a year ago.

But the unfortunate part is that while auto sector workers have got all the attention from the Federal government in terms of bail out funds and other help, no body has bothered to look at the plight of the massive number of laid off workers of Alberta. A substantial portion of people were laid off from the engineering companies and these people have no other job options because there are hardly any oil and gas projects elsewhere in Canada.

The Federal government seems to be keener in looking after the Ontario workers because the number of Parliament ridings is far more in that province than Alberta. Obviously, the vote bank politics is prompting the government attitude rather than the compassion or humane side of things. The Alberta workers have been left to fend for themselves with very little government support coming forth.

To make matters worse, the EI support to the laid off workers has been very slow to come. There doesn’t seem adequate staff to cope with the deluge of EI applications in Alberta. EI support cheques should start arriving within couple of months of having got laid off, but reports suggest longer waiting period for the laid off workers.

People in the other part of the world may have a perception that in Canada things happen in a non-partisan, fair and equitable manner but in reality that seems to be more of hogwash, complete rubbish. Hypocrisy rules the roost in Ottawa it would appear, securing vote bases for future parliamentary elections seems to be more important than the predicament of the suffering folks of provinces which do not send MP’s in droves.

Shameless self-seeking schmuck politicians do not exist in the developing countries only, they are present in Canada too; the difference may be only in terms of façade or polish that is maintained in this North American country.

One wonders when the conditions would turn around in Alberta, and the thousands of hapless engineers, skilled workers, and other laid off work force would get employment and lead a reasonably un-stressful life. It seems only God can provide some succour to the suffering and the dejected. The question is: when would He decide to shower His Grace!