A strange title for a book, The Future is History, remember in 1989 we were told that history had ended because the Cold War had ended and Communism was defeated. Rather naive to believe that then, it was merely a re-ordering of politics. In this book, the author attracts our attention to her thesis or her reality that Russian history today is a simple repetition of what happened in the XXth Century Soviet Union with a hiatus between 1989-1999.
This is the latest book I am reading, the author Masha Gessen, a Russian citizen, journalist and author, born in Moscow in 1967 and living now in New York City.
In The Future is History Masha Gessen follows the lives of four Russians, born as the Soviet Union crumbled, at what promised to be the dawn of democracy. Each came of age with unprecedented expectations, some as the children or grandchildren of the very architects of the new Russia, each with newfound aspirations of their own – as entrepreneurs, activists, thinkers and writers, sexual and social beings. Gessen charts their paths not only against the machinations of the regime that would seek to crush them all (censorship, intimidation, violence) but also against the war it waged on understanding itself, ensuring the unobstructed emergence of the old Soviet order in the form of today’s terrifying and seemingly unstoppable mafia state under Vladimir Putin.
She makes the distinction in her book between Authoritarianism and Totalitarianism, the two words are different in political terms. The first is about the rule of one person through personal authority (dictatorship) but devoid of ideology, i.e. Chile under Pinochet, Spain under Franco, Greece under the Colonels, Germany under Hitler, the dictator rules using terror and violence on the masses to enforce compliance. In the case of the Nazi dictatorship, Gessen explains that Nazism was not so much an ideology it was terror used to silence anyone opposing the regime, a regime which borrowed its ideas from the writings of the dictator like the one on racial superiority but overall maintained itself in power by terror and nothing else. Where Totalitarianism is dominated by Ideology, the Bolcheviks and Lenin used terror but justified it with the ideology of class warfare as described by Karl Marx an ideology which proclaimed world revolution by the workers against other classes. The Communist party then constantly tweaked the ideology to maintain itself in power. Stalin and Mao proclaimed the exclusive authority of the Communist Party as the only correct ideological source for their society. Stalin then tried to impose this model on other countries after 1945 in Eastern Europe and Mao did the same in Asia in Tibet, Cambodia, Mongolia, North Korea etc. it continues today in China. Gessen tells us in her book that since 1999 under Putin, Russia is returning to the good old ways of the Soviet Union but under a new guise. It would be too crude now to reimpose a Soviet model, so Putin instead has married the nostalgia for the Czarist regime, the Supremacy of the Orthodox Church with the Totalitarian ideal of the Soviet regime which gives stability Russians crave. Giving us a new Czar Putin who unites factions within his authority and glorifies the exceptional nature of Russia in an ideology of nationalism which echoes the old glories of Imperial Russia. What Gessen is also showing us is how Russia never was a democracy and had no democratic institutions, the Russian knew Imperial orthodoxy under an absolute ruler with the Russian Orthodox Church as co-ruler then they simply moved into a new system aping the old with the Bolchevik and then Communism.
It’s a fascinating book, a great read and explains a lot about Russia and Putin today. With the gradual withdrawal of the USA from the World stage, an inept President who is too intellectually lazy to understand how the USA is simply being eclipsed, Russia is stepping into the void like China is doing and they are not losing time.
But Gessen in her book also shows us the danger of a population who is willing to give up on a more inclusive open form of society and government for the security of stability at all cost. In a way she is saying that we in the West are also at risk. Countries like Poland and Hungary are falling back into the old ways. The rise of the Alt-Right and Christian-Conservative movements in the USA with a President who shows openly his contempt for the Constitution puts the USA on a similar path. A good read and one that makes you think about what is going on around us.
You know the expression it is a slippery slope, a few months ago I was reading a book by Austrian author, journalist, poet, historian Stefan Sweig, 1881-1942. The book was entitled The World of Yesterday, it tells the story of life in Europe prior to the First World War 1914-1918, a world ruled by Emperors, Kings and old Empires, genteel and elegant, a world vanished by 1919, replaced by a frantic and disillusioned Europe gripped by economic chaos, revolutions, violence and hate, preparing itself for an even greater disaster the rise of Fascism and the Second World War 1939-1945.
The events of the last week makes me wonder if the world has not lost it’s mind. We learned that the Great Barrier Reef off Australia is now dead, a terrible ecological disaster with grave consequences. We have been warned for decades that this was going to happen if nothing was done, well nothing was done, no one cared and here are the results.
A passenger on a flight beaten by security goons in Chicago in what I call the Airport Security Circus, an airline unable to apologize and admit its fault. Only after a Public Relation nightmare did the CEO of United finally apologize. But what does that say about the world we live in, no one is safe now, Corporations use the police to beat people with impunity. In Canada our Minister of Transport in Parliament announces new security measures at airports, when asked during Question Period what they are, he refuses to answer stating Security reasons and State Secret to justify his non answer.
In Syria more atrocities, gas used on civilian population, a clear crime against humanity. In fact the use of gas or chemicals is strictly forbidden under International Law for civilians and military. In response US President Trump bombs an empty air base, provoking a strong warning from Russia, not to cross that line again because they will retaliate against the USA. China also condemns the USA the day the Chinese President leaves Mar-a-Lago after his visit with Trump. Secretary of State Tillerson is unable to get the G-7 countries to back more sanctions against Russia despite Canada and the UK support. Tillerson uses un-diplomatic language calling the Russian incompetent in controlling their ally Syria. Tillerson is to visit Moscow on Wednesday 12 April, what will that achieve and for what purpose?
War ships are being sent to the China Sea to threaten North Korea over the ballistic Nuclear weapons dispute. South Korean government is so worried that Trump will launch a pre-emptive strike against North Korea that it has to reassure its own people that a military strike won’t happen. Trump finally tells China that if they do nothing about North Korea he will retaliate militarily, however if the Chinese cooperate they might get economic concessions, such talk angers the Chinese. So an erratic American Foreign Policy seems to be the way Trump wants to play this game, which is confusing to all and dangerous.
Wars are started on pretext and incidents usually after an escalation of rhetoric. Russia will not be impressed nor bullied by the USA and China can flex its own muscle to harm the economic interests of the USA.
Like many now I am worried about war and the behaviour of this President who fails to appreciate that World politics is complex and delicate. Russia may very well call Trump’s bluff and he will loose face. China has, through its official newspaper The People’s Daily already ridiculed Trump. It looks like a new Cold War but without the old reserve and careful maneuvering of the past.
The Chinese curse is ”May you live in interesting times” well we are living in such times now. Turkey a NATO country has been acting with great belligerence towards Germany and The Netherlands over the refusal of both countries, also NATO members, to allow Turkish politicians allied to President Erdogan to campaign on the up-coming referendum to give him near dictatorial powers on their national territory and speak to the ex-pat Turkish community living there. Germany has a large and well established Turkish population going back 130 years. This behaviour by President Erdogan of Turkey and his rapprochement with Putin is destabilizing NATO and is difficult to understand.
On the one hand Turkey has never had good relations with Russia in over 500 years. Continuous wars and conflict, Turkey joined NATO after the Second World War to counter Soviet influence in the Mediterranean since they control access from the Black Sea via the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles. Also in this diplomatic conflict with The Netherlands, Turkey risk loosing billions of Euros in trade and tourism. There is already damage but Erdogan does not seem to care, did Russia promise investments? Most probably and China is not far behind, clever Chinese silent but deadly.
Which brings me to a far more dangerous and deadly possible conflict, that involving North Korea and the USA. In the Nuclear age a doctrine was established that no country would ever be allowed to develop ballistic Nuclear weapons to be used against the USA and its allies, but more importantly against a direct attack against the continental USA, this includes Canada since the USA is directly responsible for our Nuclear defence in case of attack.
The Trump administration has made it clear this week that it is not interested in continuing negotiations with the North about its developing nuclear missile facilities. For many years the USA have negotiated with the North Korean leadership and provided a sweetener in the form of aid. China who is the nominal protector of the North Korean Regime since the truce* in the Korean War in 1952 has also used leverage with the Kim family, it is not working anymore and China is frustrated. North Korea has been developing ever more sophisticated nuclear weapons and now are about 3 years away from having Inter-Continental Ballistic missiles capable of reaching the Western Coast of the USA. This means that the US Government and the President must stop North Korea before it is too late, the afore mentioned doctrine dictates it. Such North Korean missiles could easily be fired and reach the USA in 20 minutes, not enough time to properly respond in kind and this is why a sophisticated computer program monitors 24/7 the world in case of such an attack, which could come from Russia or China but it highly unlikely for a host of reasons including leadership ones who understand all too well what it means in terms of survival for us all. The computer system detecting such an attack can automatically launch missiles in case the White House does not respond quickly enough.
This week Secretary of State Rex Tyllerson was in South Korea and is then going to visit Japan and China. He has made it clear that the USA is considering a pre-emptive strike against North Korea if there is any further escalation or un-acceptable behaviour, what does that mean exactly is anyone’s guess. But the visit itself to China is to warn the Chinese President and leadership that President Trump is going to act differently from the past and a strike could come at any time, maybe even a nuclear one.
Trump is clearly after regime change in North Korea, the Kim family have for far too long teased the USA and made threats, testing missiles by launching them repeatedly to show they are capable of attack.
Rex Tyllerson is going to tell the Chinese that the time for discussion is over and if they do not act to change the leadership in North Korea, which they can easily do, given their enormous influence, the USA will strike. The big problem is that Nuclear weapons today are one thousand time more powerful than the one used in Hiroshima and then Nagasaki in August 1945. No one has seen the power of today’s weapons and it is truly terrifying. What would be the reaction of Russia in such a case, probably annoyance but not much more as long as their territory is not affected by the fall-out, though they border North Korea. What about China, major cities like DanDong across the Yalu river from North Korean, sharing 1000 Km border and they could suffer from the fall-out with all the horrors it entails. South Korea would certainly by affected given how close the Capital Seoul is to the North, only 22 minutes by air separate the two capitals or 121 miles.
Given that Mr Trump does not appreciate the power of Nuclear weapons nor the complicated balance between States and other great powers, such a pre-emptive strike could easily lead to a major catastrophe or doomsday for life on this planet. Most people do not want to believe this possible, but the unpredictability of Trump makes this quite possible. At the same time Kim Jong Un is equally responsible for this state of affair and he is not without knowing that a direct nuclear threat to the USA invites automatically a terrible response.
Well tomorrow the USA will have a new President, gloom and doom, much apprehension and despair. Fear of war and economic collapse that is what is in the news. No one knows what will happen and in my life I have seen quite a few swearing in of new Presidents starting with JFK but I do not remember anything like this in the past. There was drama as when Lyndon Johnson became President after the assassination of JFK in Dallas, Nixon’s second term, though unpopular there was no hysteria. Many were no happy with George W. Bush there was ridicule but again life went on. This time something is clearly unhinged, I deliberately did not watch or listen to much about Trump until a few days ago. It is not my country, I did not vote in this election and could not anyway, the USA is another political culture very different from ours, we have our own problems in Canada and things to worry about here. Our Prime Minister is currently on a tour of Canada stopping in many small towns to meet people here and there, people are invited to ask him questions on the spot, he has made some mistakes and maybe he is tired but twice he showed poor judgement in the way he answered questions and the Press pounced at once. He then went on do to a bizarre thing in Sherbrooke, where a women asked him a question in English and he replied in French, that did not go down well. The Conservative Party now has 15 leadership candidates, all more stupid than the next, men and women, three of them would like to be Donald Trump, no seriously, just weird.
What struck me this week, I listened briefly to the confirmation hearings, some of the questions were loaded and the candidate had to be careful not to endorse a point of view. Most answers given were not answers and the candidate showed they had an agenda. Rick Perry discovered that the Energy Dept is about nuclear matter and not oil and gas. Tillerson gave the impression that he would like a war with China, a nuclear power. DeVos though well spoken is clueless. Wilbur Ross the Commerce Secretary nominee appears ready to do a lot of harm to trade on NAFTA, which will harm many American workers whose job exist because of the Free Trade Agreement. What will happen in Canada, our economy is very well integrated with the American economy, so Ross has to be careful and I wonder if causing a lot of economic pain in Mexico is a good idea, given the number of Americans who go there on vacation or own homes.
It is all pretty sad and I have the impression that we are entering the age of Ignorance and greed something we should worry about a lot. I also worry about all those Americans, millions of them, who are likely to loose medical insurance under ACA. How can any elected official take away from Citizens something as vital as Health Care, I do not understand. Is Trump the Manchurian Candidate, is he Russia’s man. I cannot imagine in all the movie thriller scenarios, such a plot where the American President would be the puppet of Russia, formerly the Soviet Union, Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy would be stunned. Well we will have to wait and see. But I will not pass judgement or give out an opinion on what is happening South of the border, it is not for me to say.
The Embassy of Canada entrance 501 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington D.C. the inaugural parade will pass in front of our Embassy.
Emigration is probably a phenomenon as old as humanity, humans have always had a need for one reason or another to move where the grass is greener. Canada is built on immigration and the oldest Federal government department is that of Immigration. It was created by Prime Minister Sir John A.Macdonald in order to populate this vast new country of Canada in 1873. Populating Canada has always been since 1608 the no.1 task of Royal Governors and various administrators. If one looks at the original 13 colonies of what would become one day the USA, one can see from the beginning a large influx of Europeans, mostly at the beginning Dutch and German with some English in the lot. The first two groups were so prominent in 1776 when the USA was created, German was considered as a possible official language of the new country. Canada was a very different story.
The USA population has always been 10 times greater than that of Canada, and the development of the 13 original colonies was much more robust and faster than that of New France and then after 1763 of Canada as a whole. Even in 1890 the fastest way to travel was often by river transport between major cities and then the train became the main highway to move people and goods. The USA already had a good road system and more infrastructure simply because they had a greater population than us. Per example in 1890 the total population of Canada was about 5 million people, whereas the USA had a population of 63 million people. So it is not difficult to understand why a strong immigration policy was necessary to allow for quick growth of the National Population in Canada.
Since 1873 Canada has been actively seeking and recruiting immigrants to populate the country. At first immigrants were mostly Europeans and this continued until about 1976 when the government of the time decided to focus more on other regions of the globe and focus less and less on Europe. Today the vast majority of immigrants to Canada come from India and China. From India it is mostly from one province alone the Punjab, this explains the visibility of this community and its presence in Parliament and in the current Federal Cabinet. It is a community which has integrated well on the whole and has been successful.
The Chinese started to arrive in large numbers in Canada as 1997 loomed, the return of the British Territory of Hong Kong to Communist China created a panic among the Cantonese speaking population of the British Colony and many thousand chose to come and live on the West Coast of Canada, Vancouver being the destination. In more recent years they in turn have been replaced by economic migrants from mainland China who are Mandarin speaking and seek economic advantages in Canada which they cannot have in China or wish to hide ill gotten loot, Canadian Courts have been busy in the last 20 years with notorious cases which endangered our diplomatic relations with China.
Many up to 40% per year come to Canada as immigrants only to disappear after obtaining Permanent Resident Status, it is believed that they end up in the USA where taxes are less than in Canada and salaries are much higher. This group of Chinese immigrants do not integrate well, living in closed ghettos amongst other Mandarin speaking Chinese, they shun Canadian society or anyone who is not from their Han, Mandarin speaking group. Their main goal is having a base in Canada through ownership of real estate. This in turn has created enormous social problems in British Columbia in and around Vancouver and in greater Toronto area, less so in Montreal, PEI appears to be the next target.
One problem which has alarmed financial circles, the IMF and now the Governor of the Bank of Canada is the unsustainable real estate speculation in many Canadian cities fuelled by the Chinese buyers. The news media has carried reports that in Vancouver alone house prices could appreciate by 75% in 2017 and by 50% in Toronto. This makes no logical sense and shows that speculation is the root of this phenomenon. Another theory which circulates in Financial circles is that China could undermine a national economy with excessive speculation in various markets in the hope of fostering its own dominance. In Latin America and in Africa, China has displaced the USA as an investor. A form of economic war which is not unknown in the long history of China with its neighbours in Asia. Because of this aggressive policy, China has tense and difficult relations with India, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan.
The speculative bubble burst in Shanghai 6 years ago after massive speculation by home buyers and the deflation that ensued ruined many. This was due to some Party bosses corrupt practices and lack of regulations within the internal Chinese market.
Canadians also have another serious problem in individual personal debt currently at 167% per person. Yes Canadians are living well beyond their means. Any increase in interest rates which could happen next year could create a crisis here.
Having said this then what fuels the move out of China for so many are the unresolved contradictions the 1949 Communist takeover have not resolved within China and the constant rivalries between urban coastal communities and the vast rural areas of inner China. The revolution was to give the peasant class preeminence in Chinese Society and the Cities were to be marginalized, or so said Communist ideology, that is not what happened. Mao himself an uneducated peasant played the peasant rule all card against other Party bosses and was able to eliminate many of them between 1967-1976. However his luxurious life style and personality cult did nothing to resolve internal social contradictions between city and country.
An article in the New York Times of this past weekend presented the current problem of too rapid growth can create for a country like China and its unwieldy population. One of the main realization of the Communist Party in 1994 was to eradicate for the first time ever famine in Chinese history. The Party has also created consumer wealth with large infrastructure programs in the coastal area of the country benefitting about 500 million Chinese, however in the rest of the country where the other 900 million live, progress has been extremely slow and discontent is ripe. The challenges for the Party is an enormous one and authoritarian response by over using the riot police to quell dissent has not worked well.
The new party leader Xi JinPing is aware that to stay in power the Party has to focus more and more efforts on the vast rural areas and try to offer similar access to education and prosperity. Ten years ago when I was in China the crisis of urban against rural came to a head, this was coupled with the Chinese migrant workers who came to the cities by the millions to work for peanuts so that the urban centres could look more modern or ”Western” with poorly built buildings. The peasant workers are exploited shamelessly by the Chinese entrepreneurs who often forgot to pay them and the Central Government who would not allow them to live in the cities beyond the terms of their work contracts, with a complex system of internal passports and visas to travel between cities, all of it controlled by the Police.
The Party is very anxious that the Western World think of China as a great nation. Vis-a-vis Europe and North America the Communist Party have a huge inferiority complex and a grudge. Official Propaganda called us Bourgeois Imperialist Paper Tigers while Mao was alive, after his death in 1976, the new leadership went on to copy the Capitalist model under Deng Xiao Ping and his program of accelerated consumerism with pseudo Marxist framework. Realizing that Mao’s Policies where about keeping him in power, bringing the death of millions through failed policies 1959-1961 and not advancing China, the Party had to re-invent itself.
Now Xi JinPing is offering more university seats to rural students in big city universities. He has modified the education program to copy the former Imperial Mandarin Education program which educated the elite who worked for the Emperor. Parents of students in cities like Beijing and Shanghai have been protesting this government decision to offer more placements to rural students who often have no chance at entering a prestigious university. They claim that they spent years preparing their children for the University entrance exams and will not allow peasants to take their place. In the countryside schools and universities are sub par and the education level is poor. There is none of the prosperity or affluence you see in cities and coastal areas, this despite years of efforts to bring up standards to those of urban centres. Systemic corruption of Communist Officials has also played its part in delaying progress in rural areas.
For those who can afford it there is always an education abroad in colleges and universities in Canada or the USA. However this is very expensive and not a guarantee of success since many Chinese students return to China to find out that their foreign degrees are rejected by Chinese employers on the basis that it is foreign thus not acceptable. English language skills are also very important in China if you wish to work for one of the big State Enterprises. Again many Chinese students returning from years in Canada or the USA are barely able to speak English, many lived in Chinese ghettos abroad finding it less challenging culturally. Is this new policy of the Chinese Leadership like so many other a cosmetic attempt at solving an old Chinese problem, most probably and it will be said to work through official propaganda and decrees. The other solution of the Party is to make it easy for Chinese citizens to emigrate abroad while remaining loyal to the Party. This explains the constant presence of Senior Chinese Diplomats at any function given by Chinese business groups in Canada. This way the Communist Party reminds all that they may be living abroad but the Party is watching and monitors behaviour.
Despite more than 60 years of Communism and great upheavals, China remains a class society, where Communist Party affiliation, money and family name weighs in on your chance for advancement. It is a dictatorship and a Police State with allures of consumerism, no one should be fooled by this.
At the moment it is the Spring Festival or New Year in Asia. Commonly know as Chinese New Year. This year 2016 is the year of the Monkey an animal who has magic properties.
I was born under that sign since my birth year was the year of the Monkey, 2016 is the 4713th Chinese Year. According to Chinese Horoscope calendar, the first day of Red Monkey is on February 4, 2016. Monkey is the 9th animal in 12 zodiac signs.
Many Chinese women try to give birth in a year of the Monkey, as they believe that this will make their babies clever. In China saying, “Your kid is like a Monkey,” is perceived as praise.
In traditional Chinese mythology, the monkey god is almost all-pervading and all powerful. Images of the monkey (god) can be seen in many traditional settings as a talisman of protection: According to ancient beliefs, the stone monkey blesses the baby with peace, and the baby will be very capable and efficient when he or she grows up.
Monkeys frequently appeared in Chinese literature, most famously “the Monkey King” — Sun Wukong, hero of classical novel Journey to the West. In India he is known at Hanuman and is mentioned in both the Hindu epics, Ramayana and Mahabharata.
When I lived in Beijing in 2004 we celebrated the year of the Monkey. This period of the year in China is marked with fireworks day and night for 7 days. Everyone buys fireworks and firecrackers. If I remember correctly I believe that each person living in Beijing was allowed to buy 20 Kg of fireworks of all kinds and some of them where the size of what is used here in Canada in professional displays. The Chinese grocery stores sold them on the sidewalk. You could buy the little firecrackers in wheels of 600, you lit up your match set the fuse on fire and ran as fast as you can, it was so much fun, the noise was deafening. Every one did it and it was fun, the sky were illuminated with firework displays.
Also at the time of my living in China, the old Imperial Temples were being all restored after decades of neglect. We visited them and prayed to the various gods for good luck or fortune or whatever, burning incense sticks. The Lama Temple in Beijing was a favourite of mine as was the Temple of Heaven south of the Forbidden City. The Lama Temple was for many centuries the Official Residence of the Yellow Hat Buddhist and where the Tibetan Dalai Lama came to reside when he would visit the Emperor. Tibet in Imperial times was an independent kingdom.
The Lama temple in Beijing
The Temple of Heaven set in a great park full of Juniper trees and old Cypresses.
These temple complexes were not open to the public in Imperial times, they were reserved for the Emperor who would come and perform complex religious rites to bring prosperity, rain, good harvest for the people. The Emperor would travel the short distance from the Forbidden City with an army of Mandarins, Courtiers, family members and other dignitaries, flag bearers and guards along a special road paved with great stones. The people had to kowtow and it was forbidden to look at the Emperor on pain of death.
I was lucky to live in Beijing when these temples were being restored, they had suffered enormous neglect under Mao and his fanatical young Red guards.
Temple of Confucius and the academy for the training of Mandarins who would work in the Imperial government. In the final exam students were judged for their handwriting and ability to compose poetry under some very strict guidelines based on ancient rules, the judges would then recommend the winner to the Emperor. This 5.4 acre temple park was until recently a school for Communist Cadre and a day care centre for their children, I saw it before restoration in 2005, it was a sad looking place.
But if you are in China food is an important topic, the Chinese love fine cuisine, unfortunately it does not exist here, what you find in most Chinese restaurants is very poor imitation or made up Chinese food, dishes that are unknown in China. I was spoiled by Chinese cuisine while in Beijing.
My favorite dish was Peking Duck and I had my favourite restaurant to go to for it. Beijing’s Da Dong Restaurant is one of the best places in the world serving up Peking duck. Succulent, crispy and perfectly sweet when lightly dipped in a bean sauce, roast Peking duck is pure indulgence. The owner chef is very famous Dong Zhen-xiang.
DaDong dining room in Beijing
Duck’s roasting in wood fired stone ovens.
Roast duck with all the condiments and the paper thin pancakes.
I also liked the Sea Cucumber, (it’s not a cucumber) delicious.
First image on the left is Duck Foie Gras shaped into small balls and coated with a hawthorne berry sauce. Middle photo duck steak and on the right duck meat wrapped in cucumber slices.
Here is Chef Dong Zhen xiang sitting surrounded by other chefs.
There are so many great dishes and none I ever found outside of China. This is all part of the food culture in China which can be refined. In the days prior to the Olympics in Beijing prices were still reasonable and you could go out almost every night to the restaurant.
The Northern Gate, Shenwu-men or Divine Prowess, of the Forbidden City looking south towards Meridian Gate, Wu-men and Tian’An Men, Heavenly Peace Gate.
This week I had 3 days of duty as docent at the National Gallery of Canada. One was hosting the Wednesday Morning Lectures-Mercredis Culturels, I coordinate that program in French and in English. Then I had a school group, the students around 9 years of age where quite good and had lots of good questions and observations, the teacher was also interested and helpful, that is not always the case. We also had a training session, unfortunately the NGC is under a lot of renovations in preparation for Canada’s 150th Anniversary of Confederation. The Canadian Galleries are being completely redone, the Bookstore is getting a facelift after 27 years in the same spot. There is also some work installations in the Contemporary Galleries which are taking more and more space at the NGC and slowly eclipsing the other collections. Also all the lights in the museum are being converted to LED, apparently that is better. I also presented a work of art by Matthias Stom, Flemish School of Painting, 1630, entitled The arrest of Christ. I never know who is going to come and listen to my presentation which last about 10 minutes,”officially”. I had a father with his little daughter who was 7 yrs old and she wanted to know what a Museum guide did, she was very attentive and a little overwhelmed. I also had a couple from Spain and a Muslim lady who told me how much she loved the museum and was appreciative of my presentation. Another lady wanted to give me a tip, which I declined.
The subject of this painting from the Baroque period is religious and so I was not sure how it would go over. You cannot count on people knowing about Biblical stories or even being able to identify the Deity nowadays. At any rate I concentrate on the colours, the light and other details of the composition such as facial expression, clothing, hand gestures etc. I speak about the painter and the technique he used and then speak about the frame and how it was made. One person did ask me where this scene was taking place and another asked who was Judas. Christ is looking up towards Heaven and one person asked what is he looking at given the violence around him, I said God the Father which confused them, many do not know who that is. A bit like in another tableau where the Virgin Mary and Jesus are featured, many Renaissance paintings (1300-1600) have a strong religious subject. One fellow asked me who was that women with the baby in her arms, before I had time to answer a 9 year old who was also looking at the painting said, that’s Mary and Jesus, thank you kid and shame on the adult.
Virgin and Child with St-Anthony Abbot by Hans Memling
I take that sort of lack of knowledge as a sign of the age we live in, we think we know a lot but in fact we know nothing and understand even less. To me that is really sad and unfortunate. Quite a few people do not understand why European paintings of the Renaissance and Baroque period feature religious themes, despite the fact that the explanation fact sheet explains where it came from. There appears to be this belief that since we all know religion is bunk then why show it, it’s boring I am told. Sad really, I often have to explain that the European galleries show 900 years of paintings and through the ages style and fashion evolve and we are showing this evolution in human history. The galleries are arranged like a clock when you start you are in 1290 and when you finish at the other end its 1970, still many just don’t get it. Well I console myself, thinking if one visitor I spoke too loved it and was inspired my job is done.
I wonder if anyone has done a study of why more women come to the museum than men. I am sure there must be a thesis some where on the topic. I did observe that in Europe there are more men in Museums in general but in North America it is different, culture no doubt.
Finally, I always make a point of going through the galleries whenever I have a moment at the museum to look at what is new. In the last week I counted 15 new works on the wall. They had replaced other works, so the rotation happens more quickly now than before, the NGC can only show about 1000 works at the moment with the space we have, the basement has over 35,000 in storage. This of course is not counting the sculptures, the Diploma works of the Canadian Royal Academy, the photographies and all the sketches and prints. We do have a very rich collection.
While I was walking in the 19th century gallery, a work by Henri Fantin-Latour (1836-1904) caught my eye, entitled Roses, 1885. The simplicity of presentation and botanical accuracy of his still-life paintings prompted many critics to compare him to the 18th century painter Jean-Siméon Chardin.
What I did not know and discovered was that Fantin-Latour would pick flowers from his own garden early in the morning, arrange them and then create a painting of them. He became famous for his delicate portrayal of roses.
Les Roses, 1885 at the National Gallery of Canada.
I also noticed on the explication note that he would cover the canvas with a thin layer of transparent colour that would serve as a background- a neutral colour determined by the bouquet he wanted to paint.
During the Song Dynasty in China (960-1127) painters would do this also on their canvas applying a thin layer, with a broad brush, of black tea and ink.
Unfortunately the reflection of the glass does not help, however I purchased this in Beijing from an artist of the Chinese Central Academy of Arts, Ms. Zhai Wei. She applied a thin layer of black tea and ink before painting the little sparrows on a ficus branch, thus imitating the style of painters during the Song Dynasty.
This weekend was a lovely sunny weekend here in Ottawa and I am surprised by the good weather we have been having, warm days, Indian Summer no doubt.
So Jade died, she had these awful black spots and fungus, she was drooping and many limbs had been amputated in the hope of saving her, to no avail. It is said that you cannot kill a Jade plant only if you over water it. I was very careful not to water it more than once every 5 weeks and just so as to give it just moisture but no more. It had thrived for several years. I started noticing the loosing of leaves and then the dark black spots, sure enough after trying to save it by going through a repotting in cactus soil, for easy drainage, this is what Jade Trees require. I did notice the roots being all dark brown, this is not a good sign at all, they should be white, sign of good health. It is a succulent plant, meaning that the branches of the tree and the fat leaves are full of water like a sponge, it has that dark jade stone look when in good health. I do not know what caused the fungal bacteria to appear, but it was fatal. So now the old Qing Dynasty painted vase sits empty. I found that vase in a market place in Beijing in 2005, the Qing Dynasty was the last one to rule China from 1608-1911. They were not ethnic Chinese but Manchu, considered foreigners by Han Chinese. This is why their porcelain is so very different from the Ming Dynasty they overthrew.
We also went to the Theatre at the Great Canadian Theatre Company (GCTC) where we have season tickets. They usually produce good plays by new authors, this is not an old or classic repertoire company. They will introduce to audiences new playwrights and will it is usually good stuff with a social message. But I often have the impression that they are preaching to the converted. Those who need to hear it are not there and not listening.
The play is called Jake’s Gift, it’s a one actor show playing 3 different characters, a child, an old Veteran returning to Normandy for the first time since the War and a French grandmother. I understand that economics may dictate that one actor show is the norm now but it leaves me dissatisfied, I would have liked to see 2 actors instead of one. You need the play between actors to bring the play closer to you. This play is good, and the plot line is very humane and close to everyone. Veterans of the Second World War are very old all in their 90’s now, it is a War that is slowly fading away. The Great War 1914-1918 has certainly faded from memory, no one is alive to actually remember the World as it was then and unfortunately Canadians are not too good with history.
I am also reading a book I picked up recently on Princess Louise (1848-1939) who was one of the daughters of Queen Victoria. The book gives a very different picture of the Royal Family and a very negative picture of Victoria. This negative picture comes from surviving and now available correspondence between mother and her children. Despite the fact that Princess Beatrice, the youngest daughter of Victoria edited severely the correspondence after her mother’s death in 1901, she did not edit the nasty parts strangely enough. Queen Victoria certainly does not come across as a nice woman at all. Princess Louise is well remembered in Canada, she was married to John Campbell, Duke of Argyll, Marquis of Lorne and Governor General of Canada from (1878-1883). In Alberta’s Banff National Park, Lake Louise is very famous, it’s water come from a glacier and the lake has a surreal colour, I would say almost a contemporary painting shade depending on the hour of the day. She was also an artist and left at Rideau Hall in Ottawa some beautiful objects including a painted door in the private Vice-Regal apartment preserved to this day.
Her mother Queen Victoria, now that her journals have been published, comes across as a Germanophile Princess, the whole family is closely related to Principality of Hanover, Germany, they spoke German at home and in their correspondence. The family name is Saxe-Cobourg-Gotha and will only be changed in 1918 to Windsor at the insistence of the Private Secretary of King George V who was a first cousin of Wilhelm II the German Kaiser and favorite grandson of Queen Victoria.
Victoria did not care much for England or the English, like her ancestors who came to England from Germany. She hated children despite the fact she had lots of kids of her own, all quickly given to Nannies to look after, she describes them as grotesque, ugly, fat, horrible.
A self-centred, lazy, indolent women, Victoria loved eating bonbons and going for carriage rides. After the premature death of her husband Prince Albert in 1861, she became a recluse, a professional widow and basically gave up all her functions, foisting the work on the kids including Princess Louise. Victoria was merciless with her criticism, writing very mean letters to her children constantly berating them about the most inconsequential trifle. Poorly educated and not very wordly, she entertained deep seated prejudices against anything she did not understand. Even her Prime Ministers were displeased with her behaviour but little could be done about it. At the time had Victoria not been the Sovereign, she would probably have been institutionalized by her family.
When Princess Louise decided that she would accept the marriage proposal of John Campbell, she told him to make sure that he should give the impression to her mother Queen Victoria that the happiness of the Queen was far more important than that of Louise. He played his role well and became the perfect sycophant, she agreed to the nuptials. Everything had to be about Mother, how very sad. Other siblings like Princess Victoria who was the eldest and would go on to marry the heir of the Imperial throne in Germany, Frederick III who reigned only for 2 months dying of throat cancer at 57 or Bertie who would become King Edouard VII in 1901 also suffered constantly being belittled by their Mother the Queen in private and in public.
This book depicts the struggles of Princess Louise and her determination to break free, she would as an adult entertain progressive ideas and promote women’s rights, become friends with artists and take an interest in society around her.
I also spent quite a lot of time at the National Gallery of Canada, there have been some changes again in the paintings exhibited and discovered a newly hung Van Gogh, I had never seen it before.
and two new modern, contemporary paintings one by Jack Bush from 1967 entitled Pink with border from a show at the André Emmerich Gallery in NYC. Apparently Clement Greenberg is agent pushed him to paint with more risks and this is the result. I really like Jack Bush, his canvas are happy, colourful, bright colours.
The other is a brand new acquisition by the NGC, a rather big work by Swedish born Jan Poldaas, who studied to be an architect but has emerged as one of Canada’s most important minimalist painters. This work is entitled E.G. Series realized between 1978-1980, it is a portrait of a city, its businesses, artists, infrastructure, each panel uses a distinctive type of paint found in Toronto. It is a record of the artist’s life in the City.
Looking at it I recognized the colours and what they corresponded to in Toronto. It is exposed in a very large room of the Gallery.
Recently the King of Saudi Arabia died and he was replaced within a few hours by Prince Salman. In the wake of his death, commentators wrote about the relationship of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Western World. On the chat lines many people questioned why we had relations with thatcountry and presenting their views, mostly and largely uninformed. I do not know why politicians love to use the term our good friends in country X or the expression we are shoulder to shoulder with this country, blah blah. It is simply a false statement, a delusion, it is true that Statesman can see eye to eye on a specific point of mutual benefit and interest but that is usually limited in time and focused on a specific topic.
What most people do not seem to know or take into consideration is the fact that all relations between nations is dominated by self-interest, fierce competition, one upmanship and little else. It is true that in the last 70 years countries like Canada have enjoyed peaceful political relations with many other countries, some relations are old and well established, there are many common interest but at the same time elements that devise and irritate the other party. This is true of our relations with the USA, the UK, France, which historically have been mixed at many levels. Our first Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald knew this and he always kept a weary eye on both London and Washington.
Somerset House Conference 1604, Peace between Britain and Spain.
To return to the events of last week, in the case of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia we have to think of the geopolitics of the region and its long and old history. How the Arab Monarchies of the Arab Peninsula dislike Iran and fear its influence. Currently Iran is negotiating with the USA on nuclear matters and preventing Iran from developing Nuclear weapons. Saudi Arabia is fearful of a deal or arrangement which would leave them out. Iran is a regional power and has been influential in the region for a very long time, centuries in fact. Iran supports military groups in Lebanon and Syria. It enjoyed good relations with the Assad regime, father and son. It plays a role in Iraqi politics and supports Shia politicians and their armed groups. This to the great displeasure of Saudi Arabia who is a new regional power, new in the sense of since 1973 when the oil prices jumped and created new wealth for the Saudis.
Canada has relations with Saudi Arabia, again relatively new relations, we are newcomers to this region compared to Britain. Our relationship is also very different in historical terms. We have more than 500 post-graduate students in Canada and this alone brings in millions of dollars to our Universities, cities and in taxes not counting also consumer goods they buy. This is a wealthy group of students who often drive luxury cars and live in tony neighbourhoods. Many Canadian companies do very profitable business with the Kingdom, Canadians profit economically in many various ways. Our politicians need to consider this carefully when making decisions on Foreign Policy matters.
It seems that for the average person issues like women having to wear a veil or not being able to drive or having their civic rights curtailed by tradition and culture. Every one has a horror story they read in the newspapers about Saudi Arabia. A country were the death penalty is still applied with a high number of executions per year. Such items in the news always disturbs Canadian sensibilities and that would be enough reasons to cut off diplomatic relations for most people. Luckily such decisions are not in the hands of public opinion. Breaking diplomatic relations would be very shortsighted, it would go against our self-interests.
The same reasons could apply to many countries, according to that train of thought we should simply walk away from such countries, because they are corrupt or have a justice system different from ours or their culture and history is offensive to us. Public opinion says shame them for behaving contrary to our norms and beliefs. Such reactions are emotional or based on ignorance. Diplomatic relations are far more complicated than that, because you must never forget that if you break relations with one country, it will be very difficult to re-establish them later and many years may pass before being able to negotiate a new understanding on mutual relations, concessions may be asked which may not be to our liking and then what about Consular relations and the protection of your own citizens who visit countries with whom you have no relations. Currently Canada has broken off relations with Iran and Syria. Other countries may seek to exploit the vacuum for political and commercial reasons. They will step in to take your place economically and politically, those same countries may be a NATO ally or a country with whom you have long peaceful relations. They will profit at your expense and you will lose because you want to stand on principle. Principles are fine but in the end such a narrow position would not be sustainable economically nor politically. Careful analysis must be made of every situation and disagreement before taking action you may later regret.
The ambassador of Siam at the Court of the Sun King presenting gifts.
Diplomacy and Foreign Relations is not about morals or ethics, Diplomacy is an amoral business. You have to be a hard nose realist and pragmatic in any relations you conduct, emotions and feelings have no place in Foreign Relations. Our Prime Minister likes to say that we conduct a moral or ethical Foreign Policy, that for domestic consumption is great speechifying and the common person may rejoice that our PM will tell those people what is what. Think again, it does not work that way at all and Harper found out the hard way with China. He snubbed China for three years and made hostile and intemperate statements at home to please his local base of right wingers. When he finally went to China, the Chinese made him apologise and publicly rebuked him. Harper understood that commercially the Chinese were far more important than he had ever imagined or understood.
China is pursuing an aggressive Foreign Policy, they have the population and economic might to regain the old glory of Imperial days and despite the fact that they may say that they are bridging the gap, resolving differences through mutual understanding, all that is again words for the naive. In any negotiations the Chinese are very tough and unyielding, they know their weight and know that Western consumers want cheap products, Western governments cannot refuse to satisfy the demands of shoppers back home. At the same time the Chinese understand the limits of aggressive behaviour in Asia against neighbours with whom they have irritants with Vietnam, Japan, India to name a few countries. The Chinese are also careful not to get involved in International crisis by taking sides, Crimea, Syria, North Korea, ISIS or ISIL terrorism etc.. they always say that they do not want to get involved in what they consider internal crisis. Their interest is to protect their markets and economic development. At home the Chinese Communist government can only survive if they give the population more wealth and if the country prosper.
China has routinely blocked with its Veto any economic sanction measures at the UN all the while negotiating that Veto vote with the countries most concerned by proposed sanctions. China is only doing what is good for China and its people. Though some have suggested that with its increased International profile China will have to get more involved in crisis around the world that is unlikely to happen.
European Embassy being presented to the Ottoman Sultan, La Sublime Porte
Relations between Canada and China are interesting, China sees us as a supplier of raw resources and nothing else. We do not matter much to Chinese geopolitical way of thinking. On the other hand our politicians believe that because we have a large Chinese population made up mostly by Cantonese speaking Southern Chinese (AKA Hong Kong and Guandong Province) we must matter to China, you know we had this Canadian Norman Bethune who helped Mao in the late 1930’s and we supplied wheat to China during the great famine of the late 1950’s that must mean something. Wrong, it means little though the Chinese are very clever at playing this up knowing we think it is important. When Canadian politicians travel to China be it a Provincial Premier or a Mayor of some metropolitan area, said Canadian politicians fully expect to be received at the highest level of the Chinese Government, i.e. the President or the Prime Minister of China. Wrong again, usually Provincial premiers will be lucky to meet with a member of the Politburo the Chinese judge to be of an equal level as the Canadian provincial premier. As for Canadian Mayors usually the calculation is based on the population size of the City in Canada compared to a neighbourhood in Beijing. A deputy Mayor for that area of the Chinese Capital will meet with the Canadian Mayor. Many Canadian politicians have been dismayed at the polite, courteous but junior level reception they got. So our Canadian politician must make a big deal of any trip to China and show results at home but it is usually pocket change investments for the Chinese.
The Chinese are experts at assessing the opposite side and responding at the level they judge proper in relation to their own view of the world and their place in it. Can we call China our great friend? No not at all, we have correct business like relations which are often difficult and that is it.
Another area where interest matter is commercial contracts. Trade as always been since time immemorial the driver of much of the diplomatic ties between Kings and Princes and today between States. The power and wealth of Nations depends on trade, not just military strength. Venice is a prime example as a City State, the Hansa of Northern European Cities is another, Spain and Seville after 1492 and under Charles V was the wealthiest of Empire due to the riches from the Americas and the trade in goods that were then sold to other European States, Britain and its Empire, German industrial might and its merchant navy, etc.
Trade disputes often lead to war with devastating effect. Then you have the case of France, it had many African colonies and it decolonized in the late 1950’s early 1960’s but to this day France keeps a tight watch on so many of its former colonies for commercial reasons which favour French Companies. The diplomatic relationship in this case is incestuous, patronizing and the success or downfall of any French speaking ex colony depends very much on how much the President for Life of country X is willing to play ball with the Elysée Palace in Paris. France will not hesitate to send troops to any of its ex-colonies to protect commercial interests disregarding National Sovereignty of those countries, i.e. Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, etc.
Interestingly the Middle-East is another region where France played a role prior to the Second World War, a secret Treaty Sykes-Picot of 1916 created Lebanon to protect the Arab Christian population with allegiance to France. Was the population consulted, of course not, one could argue cynically this was done for their own good. Same for much of the Middle-East, Syria, Iraq, Jordan created by Britain out of a promise made to Sheik Hussain of Mecca with the help of T.E.Lawrence who was the British Liaison Officer in the great Arab Revolt against Ottoman rule.
France today would like to play a greater role in the Middle-East but would have to be let in by the USA. France did not participate in the Wars involving Iraq and various coalitions since the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq in 1990-1991. France was suspicious and angry that US oil companies in the event of victory and an overthrow of the Saddam Hussein Regime would lose oil contracts it had negotiated for TOTAL the French oil company. TOTAL did lose its contracts in Iraq.
Here in Canada the Harper Government has badly played its hand in its diplomatic relations with the White House and the Obama Administration. It is obvious that our Prime Minister is much more philosophically in tune with the GOP and the Tea Party in Congress and in the Senate. He does not hide his preference and that is bad politics and diplomacy. President Obama does not like him much and is tired of being hectored by the likes of the now ex-Foreign Minister John Baird, who according to former Canadian diplomats, the worst Foreign Minister we’ve ever had in Canada. However Baird was a faithful servant of his master Stephen Harper. This in itself is the job of any diplomat to carry the message of your master no matter how distasteful it may be to you personally, you must defend the message and endorse it that is what a diplomat does. So no Canada does not have friendly relations with the USA and the USA is not our friend. We have a complex relationship based on commercial interests, supply of energy products and military dependency for our National Defence. People can be friendly towards each other and this is very often the case but not Governments, simply because they have other objectives and interests.
King Louis XV
In closing a bit of music by Jean-Philippe Rameau composed to celebrate a diplomatic & military victory of France with the successful conclusion to the War of the Austrian Succession during the reign of Louis XV.
Tutto iniziò con Memorie di Adriano ..sulle strade dell'Impero Romano, tra foto, storia e racconti! It all began with Memoirs of Hadrian .. on the roads of the Roman Empire among photos, history and stories!
Telling the stories of the history of the port of Charlottetown and the marine heritage of Northumberland Strait on Canada's East Coast. Winner of the Heritage Award from the PEI Museum and Heritage Foundation and a Heritage Preservation Award from the City of Charlottetown
