Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - May 21, 2000, Winnipeg, Manitoba B4 Winnipeg free May 1 sunday forum Freedom of Trade Liberty of religion Equality of civil rights editorial building on regional blocs Federal progressive conservative Leader Joe Clark was delighted by the result of last weeks by election in newfound Why that should be May not be entirely Clear to most but the Mere fact that anyone could find Comfort in the result is an indication of How dangerous Canadian politics has in one of the safest tory seats in the progressive conservative candidate was barely Able to squeak out a despite the fact that the Vot ing took place during the third year of the Liberal governments a when voters May think about sending a message to Ottawa through a by election by voting for a in the Newfoundland Vot ers did Send a message to the liberals came a Distant despite having promised almost million in new spending in an attempt to buy votes and having sponsored a Long Parade of Cabinet ministers to woo Vot ers away from the but they could find no a More in touch tory Leader than Clark might have found less Comfort in the conservative plurality was drastically the liberals May not have been Able to buy but the new hardly a traditional strength in Newfoundland came so close a second that there was Little doubt left that the vote was essentially ant Liberal rather than in the last Federal the maritime provinces ensured the survival of both the progressive conservative party and the new democratic party when voters there turned their backs on the perhaps in protest against the cutbacks in unemployment insurance benefits and other Federal payments that Atlantic Canada has come to depend on As part of its Basic economic what is perhaps most interesting about this vote is the Way that it represents the increasing Region ligation of Canadian a Federal election is expected either this fall or next the inability of the liberals to buy votes in Newfoundland seems to leave the maritime As a Battlefield that will be contested primarily by the tories and the the Atlantic provinces May be the Only place that those two parties have any real or any real Hope for the Canadian Alliance polled Only four per cent of the vote in it has Little Hope of establishing any kind of presence in the maritime by the time of the next nor is it Likely to be a Factor in no so called Federal party at the moment can be seen As a credible threat to the bloc quebecois vote base in in the the former Reform now reborn and renamed As the Canadian seems Likely to maintain its dominant although How British Columbia May vote As any body the major Battle will be fought in where the Alliance will mount a serious Challenge to the present lib eral the alliances leadership race Fea Tures three credible candidates pre Ston Stockwell Day and Tom Long in As exciting a political con test As has been seen in this country in Many the object of that exercise is to woo Ontario voters away from the if the Alliance can take even a handful of seats from the liberals in Ontario and the liberals cannot make up those losses elsewhere in the country the balance of Canadian politics will have dramatically liberals understand where the Dan Ger it is the Alliance that is the tar get of their political and it is to Atlantic Canada that they look to make up those potential losses in like other have Long however even million could not buy a seat in much can change in a few months in but it is difficult to ignore the increasing trend in Canadian politics to Region ligation the tories and the nip in the maritime the bloc in que Bec the Alliance in the govern ment May be determined by a ragout Brawl Between the Alliance and the liberals in and that might not be such a bad when the regions can Send a group of maps to Ottawa that Are Beholden to their then governments suddenly precarious in their Power might suddenly feel like and that would be something that this nation has not seen for some making the Case for mercenaries in the Day when heaven was the hour when earths foundations followed their mercenary calling and took their wages and Are Housman wrote that in 1922 about the old British regular army of Lon service professional soldiers if you like who almost All died in three dreadful weeks near Ypres in in the bloody delaying actions that narrowly prevented a German Victory in the first month of the first world another British army of profession als arrived in Sierra Leone Early this and saved a United nations Force that was on the Brink of like most in peacekeeping Namsil in Sierra Leone was made up of Many different National contingents that arrived and had no experience in collaborating with each some of them were Good soldiers at the individual but the command Structure was almost 500 in troops out of a Force now numbering had already been taken hostage by the drugged up teenagers who make up foday Sankows rebel panic was spreading through the in and the City of Freetown trembled in fear of another incursion by the limb hopping lost boys of the revolutionary United then a Mere British troops flew into the ostensibly to evacuate British and turned the situation they secured the Airport and the City flew Namsil troops Back to the front in their and generally put some Backbone into the the British government swears that they Are not part of the in Force and have no operational but they have already out stayed any need to help with an on wednesday on a patrol 30 Kilometres out from Lungi 20 British soldiers ran into a group of around 40 Ruf a firefight broke and in 10 minutes the Ruf Force leaving four dead not one British Soldier was even what does this Tell us about professional sol Diers if you and about the Utility and future of in peacekeeping operations it tells first of that in conditions of Small unit Well equipped troops enjoy an absolutely crushing superiority even Over much larger numbers of less Well trained it takes months of combat or years of peacetime training to forge such a which is Why its Core members Are Usu ally mercenaries in the broadest sense of the Short term volunteers and conscripts come and go too the True professional Soldier is someone who stays around Long enough who Actu ally makes a living from the men who held the line against the Savage cruelty of the Ruf rebels in Sierra Leone for some years were True mercenaries supplied by Sandline inter National with the secret support of the British foreign then Britain complicity was there was a great the mercenaries were and the country went to with the Ruf Halfway into Power and the population wholly Trau Sierra Leone was granted the doubt Ful mercy of a in peacekeeping it arrived late and did Little Good whereupon a Small Force of British professionals showed up and saved the the main difference Between the earlier British mercenaries and today British Reg ular is that the More recent lot Are working for their own whereas the Sandline lot were working for somebody but that what Allun troops Are doing working for some one else might it not be a Good to create a professional in army that can actually do the Job a no National army whose soldiers really want to be who spend enough time training together to be use and whose inevitable casualties do not threaten the survival of any nation Al its not a new but it is an idea whose time has their shoulders held the sky suspended they and earths foundations stay what god these and saved the sum of things for Gwynne Dyer is a Londo based inde pendent his column appears on has i Salgue Tiona siem thai san it Char Sank lome ended that i thereby Lent i Leader Ken ing to shod a Dinan Foj Sankoh Itaru Volu of razed a thou Ping Jing off become Ive it it pros dates disputing commit the Bercov they und Trefus is no i since Ould not Cou their Ern be Ito the Ted pro cases Imp Nsoto de a Idle rebel and Ven i i Ai duct stand aft cow effect g Caln Alq Al ate the i Yugo to try fight Tew i by a naked Eie of no an Keder beware of Vampire viagra As we grow Henry Reed wrote in a famous parody of we do not get any seasons return and today i am and this time last year i was this time next year i shall be one of the things Many of us come to realize As we grow older is that the lines quoted above might very Well contain More truth than there is an unfortunate As the years pile to take what might be called the old View of every to add a burst of Speed in the headlong Rush toward the the yellow As you look Back at the rising generation with mounting it is easy enough to imagine that you Are even older than you actually there is nothing wrong with growing it happens to most of but there is no need to let the pass ing of time get us unless death is actually staring us in the face and even then one is Well advised to cheerfully make plans for next after knows it might All be a we should As that younger peo almost without expect us to be constantly complaining about out of uncool and generally a pain in the that is How they see even if we Are doing our Best to appear contemporary in every survival in this charged this Brave new is not but there Are a few rules that can help us get through each Day without giving Way to indignation attacks and general bad you have lived a Long time in order to gain a Little respect and dignity Only to discover that respect and not to men Tion the contrasting pleasures of conversation and Are now considered As old fashioned As ear muffs and top it is essential to realize that any Wisdom you have happened to store up As result of years of contemplation and hard knocks is of no use to anyone but offer it in a Way to anyone under 50 and they win Tell you to piss dont fashions change and in time the sort of Wisdom based on experience that nobody wants to hear about today will once again be in by that of you will be pushing up the daisies or More Likely gathering dust in your urn out in the garage because the kids have forgotten to scatter your ashes Over West Hawk in the it is important to get through it All with As much dignity and composure As you can Here Are a few rules of survival do not read any article in the Globe and mails saturday edition in which a Young woman describes in tedious detail How she has had her body hair you will be happier if you know nothing about this particular personal improve ment do not Tell anybody How great or How Boring life was Back in the that particular decade is now Back in but it int the decade you do not rent any movie that is described on the Box As a great Date take my word for tune out of any conversation in which adults Over 30 Are discussing a cartoon they saw on television last face the fact that you think that All the candidates for Leader of the Canadian Alliance party Are snotty nosed especially Stockwell Preston Manning and Tom dont feel that you have to buy a Home computer and get on the they Cost a lot of Money and even the most expensive ones dont if somebody offers to lend you a Book about a Vampire say no it is too late to take up if you feel that some viagra might it is probably too read the stoic philosophers at dont go around telling people that nobody knows How to Cook chinese food what you remember want chinese dont bother with the business Sec it is not Safe or prudent to read Sto Ries about some fat faced twit who is getting a million buyout for running a Trust company into the your pension May mod even but How much new furniture do you need dont feel shy or apologetic about your prostate she made a decision to become a she could have become a brain Christopher Dafoe is a Vancouver his column appears on ;