Category: Foreign Relations | Page 9

533 – America’s great “wreckoning” | Salim Mansur

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Nov 302017

Added to the wreckage of celebrity personalities facing public moral outrage over past alleged sexual improprieties, NBC News announced on November 29 its termination of Matt Lauer, citing similar improprieties for its response to a single complaint.

It is therefore fitting that our discussion today includes some reflections on America’s Great Sexual “Wreckoning” – our own term derived from the wreckage of celebrities and high profile personalities who seem to have exhibited very little “self awareness” about the inappropriateness of certain sexual conduct.

That discussion with Western University Associate Professor of Political Science, Salim Mansur, begins with a greater reckoning – a “Great Reckoning” that is already underway and is being favorably influenced by the world leadership of U.S. President Donald Trump.

The significance of Trump’s recent Asian tour and of major revolutionary developments in Saudi Arabia has been clouded by media distractions concerning domestic sexual improprieties by local celebrities. This may be more than coincidence, for sexuality too plays a significant role in the wider politics of world affairs. Continue reading »

530 – The dismissal of consent – From prostitution to immigration

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Nov 092017

When people of “like minds” find themselves opposed to each other on certain specific issues, there is usually a fundamental principle or concept either missing from the debate or being misrepresented / misunderstood.

Recently, two seemingly unrelated issues have offered evidence of this epistemological dilemma: (1) prostitution, and (2) immigration.

On the prostitution front, the recent murder of sex worker Josie Glenn in London, Ontario, has renewed the local debate about prostitution and the sex trade. On one side of the debate are anti-sex feminists, as represented by Megan Walker of the London Abused Women’s Center. On the other side are pro-sex feminists as well as the women who work as sex workers (as represented by Safe Space).

Is prostitution best defined simply as “sex for money” or as something that is “intrinsically violent”? Are these views of prostitution contradictory or are they simply differing perspectives on the same activity? It’s an unusual divide: feminist against feminist; women against women. Continue reading »

526 – U.N.conscionable / Disappointing discovery

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Oct 122017

The debut of the latest Star Trek series, Discovery, has certainly produced some highly polarized views. It has even generated some controversies that may have more to do with Donald Trump’s “America First” policies than with Discovery’s story itself.

It’s difficult to deny that the strongest reactions to Discovery have been the negative ones – those from fans disappointed with what they saw in the series’ first three episodes – we included. It’s also difficult to deny that whether or not Star Trek Discovery is great entertainment depends upon the eye of the beholder.

But a greater question has arisen, one concerning the Law of Identity: Does Discovery “pass the Star Trek smell test”? Is it “Star Trek”? Are there any objective ways to decide? Does it even matter? Or is this simply another matter to be settled by the “eye of the beholder”?

As a barometer of the times in which its stories were broadcast, the world of Star Trek itself has become increasingly transformed from one of individual rights and individual identity (the hallmarks of a free society) to one of group rights and group identities, with all of the implications that each suggests. Continue reading »

507 – Trump means business

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Jun 012017

Interpret that phrase however you might, but turning words into action has thus far been the hallmark of US president Donald Trump’s administration, and it is applicable to both his business and political style.

To assess the powerfully symbolic impact of Trump’s first presidential visit abroad, Western University’s Associate Professor of Political Science Salim Mansur once again joins us to connect the dots between the events of today and the too-little-remembered history of yesterday.

It was inevitable that “Islam” would become the national and global issue of the day, given the West’s embrace of official multiculturalism.

The ISIS terrorist bombing in Manchester England is but one of the dots connected to Trump’s speech in Saudi Arabia. Another is the history of American and British involvement in having created the conditions in the mid-east that Trump must now confront.

In stark contrast, as Trump fights “Islamization” in America and abroad, Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau continues to pursue policies consistent with the political Islamization of Canada. Continue reading »

504 – Trump’s “Big Stick” foreign policy and France surrenders to Macron | Salim Mansur & Amir Farahi

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May 112017

Despite the establishment media’s continuing hostility to the president, including attempts to paint him as radical and unpredictable, Trump is far more traditional than were his immediate predecessors. That tradition, simply put, is one of acting in his own country’s interests.

“Speak softly and carry a big stick” reflects the Roosevelt foreign policy. It was described by past US president Theodore Roosevelt as “the exercise of intelligent forethought and of decisive action sufficiently far in advance of any likely crisis.”

Amir Farahi of the London Institute and Western University’s Associate Professor of Political Science Salim Mansur join us to share their assessment of what Trump’s early days in office have revealed – both about the president’s foreign policies and about some of the major crisis’ brewing around the globe today.

From America’s actions taken against Assad in Syria, to the bomb dropped in Afghanistan and to movements against North Korea, our conversation connects the dots between what most believe are isolated and unrelated conflicts in distant parts of the globe. Continue reading »

499 – Russian to conclusions—Donald Trump and the Russian affront

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Apr 062017

Those falsely attempting to connect Donald Trump‘s electoral victory to Russian influences in the 2016 American election may well find themselves hoisted on their own petard.

Predicting that it will become bigger than the Watergate scandal, today’s in-studio guest Salim Mansur calls the upcoming major American political scandal “Obamagate“. Whatever the public may eventually come to know it as, there is certainly a clear “Obamagateway” straight to Russia – one whose path Salim traces in the wake of now-known facts and events that have come to light.

To deflect from their own Russian connections, the Democrats have launched a Russian affront against president Donald Trump, who has had no such history. The affront consists of the hypocrisy inherent in creating fake news to hide a truth, while simultaneously insulting American voters in the process. Continue reading »

491 – Neil Gorsuch—Here come the judge / Sanctuary cities

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Feb 092017

GIVE US SANCTUARY – from Virtue Signalers

“By nominating Justice Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, (U.S. president) Trump selected a person who places the idea of limited government and freedom as the number one issue in his legal philosophy,” notes our guest Salim Mansur on today’s broadcast of Just Right.

As a judge who would keep a president in check, Gorsuch’s appointment to the Supreme Court would make completely foolish any claim that Trump is a “fascist” or some other term describing a totalitarian.

Then there was the “so-called judge,” in Trump’s terms, who inappropriately quashed his executive order to temporarily suspend immigration from seven countries identified as sources of Islamist terrorism. Not only was Trump’s executive order perfectly appropriate and within his legitimate authority, the countries cited under the immigration ban were chosen with good reason, explains Salim.

Six of the seven countries (Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Libya, Sudan and Somalia) that have had their immigration rights suspended are failed states. “In other words,” explains Salim, “they have no institutional governments working.” The seventh country (Iran) has been in a declared state of war with the United States for the past 38 years.

All were identified and well documented as problematic by the previous administration. Trump did not add any new nations to the already established list. The previous administration well knew that it was not possible to verify or identify immigrants from these areas – yet did nothing to prevent them from emigrating to sanctuary jurisdictions. Continue reading »