City of the Mind

  Detail from the US Capitol building   There have been two unusually long periods of global stability in the modern world: the Pax Britannica (1815-1914) and the Pax Americana (1945-2025).  These were named after the Pax Romana, the “Roman Peace”, which was how ancient Romans saw the period of their halcyon days.   Pax Romana (The Roman Peace) In that pre-globalized world, what those ancient Roman observers noted was, that by bringing the entire Mediterranean Sea and the territories extending beyond it under their control, the previous age of war and rampant piracy in the region had come to an end.  With the sea lanes kept safe by Rome’s navy and an ever-expanding network of high-quality roads, commerce and people could move freely.  While there was certainly poverty, and the suffering of the enslaved was terrible, the well-planned, well-built (or re-built) cities of the empire give testimony to a rise in the quality of life for urban citize...

    Canada and Canadians must come to grips with the fact that the United States of America is no longer the friend and reliable ally it once was.    While many Americans want to maintain that longstanding relationship and continue to work within the kinds of legal frameworks that have made our mutual economic and military parentship unique in the world, about a third of the US electorate has no qualms about putting into power a man who shits on America’s friends and makes nice with it’s enemies.    The man is an avatar of a direction in US politics that is not going away anytime soon.    While the next President may be a Democrat of a more internationalist bent, like Joe Biden was, honouring treaties and traditions, it is clear that the one after might as easily be another manifestation of American isolationism and Manifest Destiny thinking, ready to throw all and any under the bus—and perhaps even attempt to rob us of our sovereignty in a ploy o...

    I was listening to US President Trump’s comments at a press conference on February 3, 2025, in which he broached again the topic of Canada becoming the 51 st  state.  It was noteworthy that he recognized that there would be pain involved, even if “people played the game right”.  But, he said, “most of the pain would be theirs.”  Some in Canada, especially in the 18-25 age bracket, have voiced a willingness to “become the 51 st state” if they were granted immediate citizenship, and their assets were immediately converted to US dollars.  Let me warn you: That will not happen.   The process of absorbing one country into another is not just a matter of removing border controls, extending citizenship, and switching currencies.  Some members of the European Union have been working toward more integration since the 1950’s.  There was even the somewhat painful process of introducing a common currency (the Euro),...