(Jed Tallo/GazetteStaff)
Did you hear that shameless clapping last week? That was the sound of Vladimir Putin gleefully celebrating Donald Trump doing his bidding in ambushing and belittling Volodymyr Zelensky at the Oval Office… I call it the the “Kremlin Clap.”
Coincidentally, I happened to spend last week in Washington DC, the once capital of democratic ideals world-wide and still home to many patriots embracing the anthem, in “America The Beautiful,” for example, which asks, “Who more than self, their country loved/And mercy more than life!”
But these ideas don’t seem to play well in the current White House.
While in Washington, for example, the atmosphere for drinks at my hotel bar with American colleagues could have been ripped from the script of Casablanca, in Rick’s Bar: everyone speaking in furtive tones as if the place was infested with traitors and collaborators. My DC guests discreetly glancing this way and that. It was surreal.
Over my six days in DC it was clear that (at least) these seven things couldn’t be spoken of in public, non-clandestine adult conversation without some element of quiet anxiety:
1. That Zelensky is not a dictator and Russia started this horrible war;
2. That the mob, including many armed white supremacists, that stormed their Capitol and abused police officers were criminals, not political prisoners;
3. That most Republicans can’t even speak of Trump losing the 2020 presidential election if they want to keep their jobs;
4. That the current White House is abandoning democratic allies and teaming up with the world’s worst oppressors (Russia, North Korea, and Belarus), and igniting seriously dishonest, trumped-up trade wars;
5. That the White House attacks on the military, justice system, free press, courts and rule of law, and even Congres, invariably undermine the Constitution;
6. That the impunity of greedy, authoritarian-enabling tech-bro billionaires has zero to do with the wellbeing of America’s struggling middle and working classes;
7. And that if one had to be grateful, the still free world should be grateful to the more than 45,000 Ukrainian soldiers who have died fighting an invading dictator on behalf of our cherished democratic values.
In sum, with the “Kremlin Clap” in ascendancy, our good neighbours to the south are in a dark place and big trouble.
And consequently, we’re all in a hot mess, not just Ukraine.
For example, regarding Canada, one would have thought that when The Wall Street Journal and legendary American investor Warren Buffett (not exactly fellow-travellers of Trump’s favourite “lunatic left” piñata) said the President’s tariffs were extremely ill-advised, “dumb”, and an “act of war”, some knowledgeable grownup in the West Wing would have brought up the facts.
Somehow, the “global we” needs to reflect on a poignant scene from Louise Penny’s latest novel, Grey Wolf, in which a child asks an Elder about two wolves fighting inside him. One is grey, the other black. The grey one wants the child to be courageous, and patient and kind. The other, the black one, wants the child to be fearful and cruel. Upset, the youth asks the Elder, “which one of the wolves will win?” The Elder replies, “the one you feed.”
The Kremlin Clap feeds a fearful and brutal moment for American democracy; and it’s happening with head-spinning speed, a velocity that recent polls claim roughly 60 percent of Americans oppose.
Finally, my own fear is that this particularly barbarous “clap” is also a tech-savvy, predatory and politically virulent communicable disease.
Let’s be alert, valiant and resolute. Collectively, we have the most potent “antitoxin.” We, the “true North strong and free,” can do this!
Bill Roberts, Sophiasburg
The County’s 2021 Official Plan maps how land should be used. It was prepared with input from the public and “helps to ensure that planning and development meets the community’s needs now and in the future.”
It reads: “The County will demonstrate environmental leadership by maintaining and enhancing the…functions of the Natural Heritage Systems and Features.”
Schedule B identifies eleven Natural Core Area and linkages. The Natural Core Areas were designated based in existing Areas of Natural and Scientific Interest, provincially significant wetlands and documented use by species at risk.
Over the past month I have witnessed unusual disregard of the Official Plan recommendations and regulations by Council. Natural Core Areas have been dismissed as inconvenient. There has been no recognition by Council of this important section of the Official Plan.
Council has been disrespectful to me and others when we try to bring the Natural Core Areas to their attention. Members of Council have turned away, walked out of the room, or taken the time to chat to their neighbours as we give our three-minute comments. In other words, they have been amazingly impolite to the people who employ them.
I think it is time to remind Council about the Official Plan Natural Core Area designations and how their recent precedent-setting decisions may have the unwanted consequences of large development proposals for Natural Core Areas throughout the County.
Cheryl Anderson, Picton
Re: No Variance Required (News, February 26). Looking at your front page story on the Picton Terminal small variance issue it boggles my mind that one can have a “water line” that is designated as the height of a man-made dock! What lawyer, hydrologist, civil engineer, or even Boy Scout could possibly defend that definition? I’d like to hear someone at the Conservation authority explain that one.
Gary Kornstein, Picton
See it in the newspaper
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