Quick Thoughts

--  When the crisis in Ukraine began, my level of dissatisfaction with the current, heavily-ideological leadership of the U.S. Government reached new heights. Looking at the situation in context, I could see no outcome in which the Crimea does not revert to Russia.  The goal of our statesmanship should have been how to accomplish this obvious fact without making further enemies and without completely undermining our moves over the past decades to support states giving up either nuclear weapons or development of nuclear technologies.  Instead, we have blustered ahead, all engines full, and are now looking at a new Cold War, a badly damaged deterrent effect after the President and the Secretary have issued so many toothless threats, and an international awareness that nuclear weapons are the only real security guaranty.

--  I remember the exact point on the long Etihad flight home to the United States where all knowledge of Urdu left my brain.  It was in between Scotch-on-the-rocks numbers three and four, delivered by a leggy Australian young woman as part of their morning "tea service."  Good-bye, Pakistan. (And, incidentally, good-bye Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs....not my cup of tea at all!)

--  In Spanish training one watches a lot of Spanish-language news broadcasts.  This affords the opportunity to compare and contrast the nightly network newsbroadcasts in English with those in Spanish; for example, one can compare the NBC Nightly News and Univision Noticias a las Seis, both owned by the same giant corporation.  Conclusion:  the viewer of the NBC Nightly News is approximately 87 years of age, cannot understand anything beyond simple declarative sentences and is very interested in cute aminals and the latest prescription drugs, while the viewer of Univision is around 22, views politics as a tribal grudge match which is proceeding well or poorly depending on how one's tribe is doing, is quite fond of busty gals and cars and is seeking to procure professional services, such as tax preparation or a car loan, in which is "documentation status" will not be discussed.

--  I was in France with my family for most of August, my glittering prize for living in Islamabad for a year. Normandy was fantastic, just perfect.  We decided to do a day trip in to Paris to spend my wife's birthday at Harry's.  Harry's was closed (duh, it was August in Paris...where was my mind?) but the Cafe de la Paix was not.  However, the change in Paris is complete.  In 1989, when I first went there, the city was overwhelmingly French with a solid African and Asian minority.  In 1996, when I first returned, the African and Asian minorities were very much more visible, as was an assertive Islamism and a certain strange kind of fear/tension on the Metro.  In 2013, the city was markedly African, the Metro even more so.  In Chatelet-Les Halles at 10.40pm on a Friday night, me and my family were the only While people (except for very busy police) among the hundreds waiting for a train.

--  Headline from France:  Car Pollution Causes French Government to Consider Car Ban in Capital.  Care to guess why the Metro-loving French have taken to cars in record numbers?  (Hint: It's the same reason no one uses public transport in Los Angeles).

--  I am now firmly convinced that we will see a coup of some kind against the Republic in France in our lifetimes.  France has always been *the* bellweather of Western Civilization and its position has not changed.

--  My oldest son is now taller than my wife and only six inches shy of my height.  My younger son can speak to me about the Harlem Renaissance and the importance of Jazz in our culture.  My little girl draws me insightful and very funny comics to brighten my day while I study Spanish.  I didn't quite realize what I would miss being gone a year.  Never again will I allow this.

--  Don't get me started on the Canucks.  My line last summer was "blow the team up, get a new GM and let's rebuild with youth."  While I am grateful that Luongo has finally been shown a much-needed exit, the fact is that GM Gillis has never been accepted by the other GMs into the club, for the same reason a former defense attorney never makes a good DA.  It's not a question of knowledge or competence, but of sensibility, of calling.  Vancouver deserves so much more than this in a team.  It's really saying something when a man like Ryan Kessler wants out.  "Winners Need Not Apply" or something quite similar.

--  Was a guest at a restaurant earlier this week owned by a New Zealander.  When asked over a glass of fine N.Z. sauvignon blanc about his prime minster's move to replace the current N.Z. flag with a black banner with a silver fern leaf he said (and I summarize):  well, this is part of a larger discussion that has to do with the relationship of the Maori people and the Crown....we have paid hundreds of million dollars in settlements out of the Treaty of Waitangi and we taxpayers are paying it, so if we are to leave the past behind and move forward with a new New Zealand, without the crown, those grievances against the crown will have be part of that as well."  Wise man, and ain't it funny how no matter how different the context, these issues really all boil down to the same thing in the end?

--  President Joe Biden in 2016.  We so derserve it.