tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5745488021333840612024-10-04T19:01:15.109-07:00Harpalarphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02462949341072305339noreply@blogger.comBlogger42125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-574548802133384061.post-55672243165128366492011-04-27T15:34:00.000-07:002011-04-27T15:34:36.180-07:00

What follows is a great, objective analysis of the human rights situation in Venezuela. Prof. Rochlin thinks that Canadian foreign policy needs to return to the even-handed approach it has had re: Latin America in the past, as was demonstrated during our country's role as a mediator in the Central American conflicts in the 1980s and 1990s, as well as between Cuba and other countries at various

Harpalarphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02462949341072305339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-574548802133384061.post-82441984892984504202011-04-26T11:44:00.000-07:002011-04-26T12:21:00.571-07:00

Renown Harvard Medical Anthropologist Kimberly Theidon will be at UBC this weekend hosting a series of presentations about her research in Latin America. What follows is the e-mail that was circulated by the Political Science department staff to students. I myself might attend the 'militarized masculinities' lecture at 11 am, and will also be going to a lecture by Prof. Ligia

Harpalarphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02462949341072305339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-574548802133384061.post-20422361564597640462011-04-20T06:56:00.000-07:002011-04-20T06:56:48.796-07:00

The brutal picture of Ignatieff that accompanies the Ottawa Sun article on his recent coalition  announcement.    I don't know what to make of this mess.     A Coalition wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, but now Ignatieff says he'll do one should Harper get a minority government, but refuses to call it a 'coalition'.  But if it walks like a

Harpalarphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02462949341072305339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-574548802133384061.post-46063986788963072452011-04-17T12:52:00.000-07:002011-04-17T12:53:11.838-07:00

At the Rally        As a part of my drive to get real world experience with the Canadian political process, I attended the Conservative Party of Canada's rally in Burnaby, BC yesterday.Plus, it's also nice to stand a room of people chanting your cheering your last name, even if its not really meant for you... Big Crowd    As soon as we got there, we

Harpalarphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02462949341072305339noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-574548802133384061.post-42523629892995954222011-04-10T15:44:00.000-07:002011-04-17T12:24:36.579-07:00

In this interview, Toledo says that he wants Peru to remain open to the international economy. He desires investment in all sectors of the economy, and in particular emphasizes his commitment to openness to investment in the mining sector. Activities of mining companies in Peru have been particularly controversial because of their impact on the environment around local communities and their

Harpalarphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02462949341072305339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-574548802133384061.post-57065255334705026682011-04-07T09:26:00.000-07:002011-04-10T14:44:53.727-07:00

I really laughed when I saw this cartoon from Brian Gable at the Globe and Mail. To me it really represents the feel that I'm getting from the stump speeches of these two leaders.  On the one hand, Ignatieff is trying to appear as the scrappy up and coming candidate whose taking on stubborn, impassioned, and dodgy incumbent (an image which Harper isn't do much to remedy these days). On

Harpalarphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02462949341072305339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-574548802133384061.post-30247583890532927952011-04-06T23:21:00.000-07:002011-04-10T14:45:22.763-07:00

Check out this otherworldly clip of Michael Ignatieff during a CBC interview while he was still the international writer, not the Liberal Politician. Thank god THIS IGNATIEFF didn't run for election - I'd rather stab my eardrums and rip out my eyeballs than listen to this interview again. And to bring some partisan balance to the post, here are two more throwback videos. The first is

Harpalarphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02462949341072305339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-574548802133384061.post-56695722183894674362011-04-06T10:01:00.001-07:002011-04-10T14:50:11.976-07:00

Now I know the media gets heated and picks sides during elections. But this has got to be the most unprofessional editorial I have ever read.  Children on a playground couldn't get away with this without a: being suspended or b: getting beat up.  It makes few pretensions to being at all about election issues, and is instead a personal attack on Stephen Harper.  Perhaps my

Harpalarphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02462949341072305339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-574548802133384061.post-43230449260950436092011-04-05T23:07:00.000-07:002011-04-05T23:38:41.961-07:00

A regrettably salient feature of today's electoral politics are political party attack advertisements.   Everyone knows they distort the truth. They portray statements and events way out of context, and do more to discredit their party's opponents than they do to give credence to the views of their own party.  But rarely does anybody actually follow up the quoted statements in

Harpalarphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02462949341072305339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-574548802133384061.post-40658967999841664532011-04-05T23:05:00.000-07:002011-04-05T23:05:36.804-07:00

Prominent features of today's electoral politics is the use of attack ads. We all know they distort the truth by taking statements and events out of context. But rarely does anybody actually follow up on the quoted statements to see how badly out of context they are. This National Post article does a great job in showing just how badly this was done by a recent Conservative Party attack ad

Harpalarphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02462949341072305339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-574548802133384061.post-59038404442543161372011-04-04T23:48:00.000-07:002011-04-04T23:48:45.513-07:00

This is a very good article written by Jordan Eizenga from the Center for American Progress, a progressive liberal think-tank led by a former advisor to President Clinton. It spreads light on the Liberal Party's current claim that their ten years of balanced budgets were responsible for economic growth, instead arguing that Canada's growth was principally due to prosperous external economic

Harpalarphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02462949341072305339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-574548802133384061.post-85107616475444141372011-04-04T09:39:00.001-07:002011-04-10T14:54:31.123-07:00

Ignatieff promises to develop Newfoundland's long sought after hydroelectric dam, but tries to distinguish himself from Harper in usual campaign rhetorical flourishes. Basically Ignatieff seems to have thrown his support behind Harper's campaign promise while trying to question Harper's commitment to the plan. He also makes other technical quibblings about the deal that must have originated

Harpalarphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02462949341072305339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-574548802133384061.post-59120135244504756962011-04-03T11:58:00.000-07:002011-04-03T22:22:45.742-07:00

Rex Murphy calls out Canadian politicians for their unwillingness to act upon the 'Responsibility to Protect' doctrine of justifiable intervention against repressive states committing humanitarian atrocities, a doctrine Canada was instrumental in the creating. Foreign Policy issues have not been even near a main focus of any Canadian election in a long time. Canadian politics have been

Harpalarphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02462949341072305339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-574548802133384061.post-91587628259960862882011-04-03T10:45:00.001-07:002011-04-03T10:45:29.758-07:00

Argentine inflation: not a problem http://on.ft.com/eDWAAS (Beyond BRICs) In Argentina, the president will maintain the high fiscal spending until at least the next election, despite 30% inflation, in order to maintain her popularity with voters  The interesting point is that Argentinians don't even notice this level of inflation because of their recent experience with hyperinflation ! In

Harpalarphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02462949341072305339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-574548802133384061.post-77653356798725713472011-04-02T20:42:00.000-07:002011-04-03T11:24:59.929-07:00

Thank god for the Election. I now have countless outlets to procrastinate from the English Literature final projects I'm dreading like the first day of High School. I've taken to the interwebs and been letting loose on party ideologues, which IMO are whats wrong with politic in this country. People are all too willing to uncritically accept the positions of  their respective parties, and

Harpalarphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02462949341072305339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-574548802133384061.post-48064090770849488222011-04-02T19:23:00.000-07:002011-04-02T19:23:58.152-07:00

It's Canadian Election time, and although this is not really Latin American-specific, I still think these rules would benefit political debate generally. As a political science student, I like to believe that people should dispassionately assess the merits of policies given the supporting evidence, and vote accordingly. I'm generally a fan of Rex Murphy, but I don't think that influences my

Harpalarphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02462949341072305339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-574548802133384061.post-51355769264668130082011-02-22T08:08:00.001-08:002011-02-22T08:08:26.917-08:00

During the1990s, after the West imposed neoliberal structural adjustment policies on debtor countries seeking financial bailout following economic collapse and financial crisis, many people and experts criticized neoliberslism for being unduly harsh on socioeconomic conditions. However, it now appears that these policies are beginning to bear fruit. Chile and mexico, the two countriesthat most

Harpalarphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02462949341072305339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-574548802133384061.post-34685606146941300892011-02-16T10:59:00.000-08:002011-02-16T10:59:29.014-08:00

I've written previously that I was in favour of the recently revealed border harmonization policies between Canada and the US. While I'm unhappy with the fact that the terms of this initiative weren't being discussed in the House of Commons, I said that I supported the specific details of this plan. Investing in the border infrastructure to speed up passage is not a risk to Canadian Sovereignty

Harpalarphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02462949341072305339noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-574548802133384061.post-80347824739809874312011-02-15T11:20:00.000-08:002011-02-15T14:34:11.170-08:00

I just read this excellent article on Jose's case by Lelo Espejo, a funny Canadian political satiricist. Mr. Espejo's offers a humourous take on this serious issue. He points out that the board member who  finally assessed that Jose was a risk to national security  immediately advised Jose to seek legal council because he will mostly likely have a strong case against the decision that

Harpalarphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02462949341072305339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-574548802133384061.post-92160870631157527882011-02-10T18:37:00.000-08:002011-02-13T12:22:40.964-08:00

Today is a big day for South American Politics. The constitution of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) was ratified by Uruguay, which means that it will now enter into legal being on March 11th as an official recognized regional association of states, similar to ASEAN in South East Asia, and NATO in Europe and North America. UNASUR members include: Argentina, Bolivia, 

Harpalarphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02462949341072305339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-574548802133384061.post-43778448184513449502011-02-09T12:27:00.001-08:002011-02-09T12:27:58.162-08:00

Voices of cultural doom wrong again This article rightly argues that Canadian sovereignty will not be affected by the new border plans. Instead, trade and security will be enhanced. This is the first time since the 1988 agreement that top-level dialogue has taken place between Ottawa and Washington.  Despite the allegations that the 1988 FTA would destroy Canadian culture, usher in

Harpalarphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02462949341072305339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-574548802133384061.post-48427450922328677322011-02-09T09:36:00.001-08:002011-04-10T14:44:22.204-07:00

Whenever cross border cooperation with the Americans comes up, a knee-jerk reaction of some Canadians is too oppose the initiative on national sovereignty grounds.  The latest plan led by Stephen Harper has the misfortune of having been 'revealed' to the electorate rather than having been deliberated upon in the House of Commons. However, despite the lack of democratic input into the

Harpalarphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02462949341072305339noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-574548802133384061.post-77070904709592712552011-02-08T23:55:00.000-08:002011-02-18T12:52:17.983-08:00

The Economist has recently added "Deaths Related to Organized Crime" for the years 2008 through 2010 to it a map that shows Mexican drug trafficking routes and Cartel areas.  The map is made of a compilation of data from Texas-based STRATFOR Geopolitical Think Tank, and the Mexican Government's Official Statistics.   The Mexican Drug War has been raging since atleast 2006 as the

Harpalarphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02462949341072305339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-574548802133384061.post-56239280569988762132011-02-08T23:54:00.000-08:002011-02-12T20:29:47.054-08:00

Canadians like to think that our country is safe from many of the troubles that plague the rest of the world. Indeed, we have been blessed to be spared the endemic poverty, corruption, food and human insecurity, and bad governance that trouble many other countries of the world.  However, a 2010 Macleans article argued that Canada is increasingly under threat

Harpalarphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02462949341072305339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-574548802133384061.post-61691079568031820182011-01-20T17:37:00.000-08:002011-01-20T17:37:35.918-08:00

I have recently begun taking International Political Economy and Latin American Development as part of an effort to broaden my political science horizons beyond my theory, international relations and domestic political background. So far, I have found these courses to be interesting yet challenging. I have also begun contemplating a new career path working in Latin America as part of an

Harpalarphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02462949341072305339noreply@blogger.com0