New Media

The Canadian government has fired the nuclear safety commissioner for failing to reopen an ancient nuclear reactor that was having problems with its backup safety systems. Whaaaaaaa???

The government’s representatives then have the gall to state that “the government is not satisfied that she demonstrated the leadership expected”.

With all due respect to the thousands of people around the world in need of medical isotopes provided by the plant, leadership is about choosing between the lesser evil. This move is simply Homer Simpsonesque. Doesn’t anyone remember Chernobyl?

In a classic case of trying to shut the barn door after the cows have escaped, Australia is refusing to sell uranium to India until that country signs the global nonproliferation treaty. This, despite India’s desperate need for nuclear fuel and 10 years of being an admitted member of the club of nuclear-armed nations.

Clearly, India cannot take a sincere pledge not to pursue nuclear weapons (retroactively?). Why does one democratic nation governed by the rule of law want to force another such nation (located in a region not so filled up with democratic and lawful countries) to sign an international treaty that would be rendered meaningless as soon as it is signed? Just because Australians live down under doesn’t mean the primacy of pragmatism over principle ought to be reversed.

Thankfully, my local readers are far from such odd dramas in the sanctity of Vancouver’s own nuclear weapons-free zone.

Taliban say they will attack restaurants – the latest headline about the civilized world’s conflict with the world’s least-scrupulous military force.

The only good news out of this development is that it underscores the Taliban’s perfect inability to mount anything close to a real military offensive against Afghanistan’s recovering urban centers – thanks to the efforts of Canadian soldiers and other NATO personnel.

Any comment, Jack Layton? Still ready to negotiate?

Vancouver-based Lauryn Oates is Vice-President of Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan, Coordinator of the Funders’ Network for Afghan Women and an independent consultant specializing in gender equality. Marc André Boivin is Deputy Director of the Réseau francophone de recherche sur les opérations de paix at the University of Montréal. An article they’ve co-written, published in Le Devoir, about the challenges involved in even considering Afghan government talks with the Taliban explains the problem with the approach very well – in French, as one would expect for Le Devoir. Of course, thanks to the wonders of Babelfish, you can read the English (well, sort of) translation of “Canada Must Understand/Include Afghans” here.

As they say, “a true process of peace must hold account of the multiple obstacles which will not fail to be drawn up on its road. More still, such a process should be preceded by consultations with the first concerned: Afghans.”

Taking a page out of Vancouver uber-blogger Miss604‘s playbook, here’s what’s going on around our gleaming city at the edge of the world:

Marketing Ruined My Life’s Jeremy Lim serves up a classic burger… commercial.

Media maven Michael Klassen on Barack Obama (well, on a link to Barrack, anyway).

Carol Browne tells us it’s the Year of the Rat (a year late, according to one commenter). This is actually a good thing, apparently.

Sean Orr takes pity – sort of – on guilty Vancouver cop. Who knew Morning Brew’s author was such a softie? He must have written this before actually quaffing his morning brew of broken glass and dry roast. Sean, you’re all heart.

John Bollwitt has located a new copyright widget for RSS feeds. All of us west coast geeks are grateful.

Covenant Zone’s peeps are proud to be Canadian. Free Ezra!

Wired Cola introduces Charlie the Cockatoo. Um, yeah.

And of course, Miss604 and a host of other Vancouver bloggers will be flying to Toronto without me because the CBC just forgot to call. I have to keep telling myself that.

Clearly, Vancouver’s blogging community is an eclectic and diverse bunch.