As We Turn The Page

A new year is upon us and we 'grads' and past students of HSB, (previously known as Chateauguay High ) deal with the snow, holidays, perhaps some travel or simply enjoy some down-time at home with family and/or friends.

(I am given to understand that Richard Kilpatrick would be coming by from California.)

For me, down-time means the investment market is quiet and therefore demand for my time is minimal allowing a stretch of my attention span to areas of personal curiosity or even to clean the house and help Jane out.

Last week, Bob (Houston) and I went out to Ste. Anne de Bellvue to the Nordic Norway shop and purchased (with Bob's expertise), a whole new set of cross country ski equipment. I'm ready to zoom.

Last night Jane and I went to the Tom Hanks/Julia Roberts movie -Charlie Wilson's War. This has to be one of the most well timed movies given the state of the world. It provides the link as to how the USA provided Al Queida's birth and continued growth. Overall, the movie is well written and very entertaining. But at it's heart, the audience learns a a very real truth which is captured neatly in the story of the Zen Master.

Having seen this movie, and read recently about the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, I realized (-given the down-time I have to do this realizing-) that I had forgotten much of what I learned in University about Afganistan and Pakistan when studying Political Science and the nature of man's struggle to attain and maintain 'power' (political or otherwise).

My perception of Bhutto and Pakistan for example, as of yesterday was limited to figuring that Ms.Bhutto was this kind-of white knight swooping into Pakistan to bring the key of democracy to the locked door of this totalitarian and Islamic regime.

So after watching last night's movie, I realized that my pat little 'perception' was possibly a little too -convenient. So I did some 'Google-ing'. I mean- didn't Canada at some point in the past have something to do with providing the Candu reactor to India and Pakistan which led directly to their creation of "friendly" nuclear devices? Underlying this curiosity about Pakistan and the assasination was a question... Does Canada have anything to do with the politics in this part of the world other than our position militarily, as a potential peace-keeping' force in Afganistan?

Other questions I have are -
How long has Pakistan as a separate Islamic country been in existence -since 1947? (60 years?)

When the term 'Islamic Extremist' is used in the media -who are they referring to exactly, if this is an Islamic country?

Why was the father of Benazir Bhutto executed by one of the previous the military governments?

In the past, how is it that Pakistan could not keep a civilian government in place even when the military stayed out of the way?

How is it that Benazir Bhutto's 19 year old son Bilawal (a student), is now popped into the lead position to take her place as the head of the Pakistan People's Party? Is this some 'family right' ? But then look at the US fixation on certain family names and even in Canada we seem to have 'brand recognition value' with some of ours (Trudeau).

Ah! - Jane has just reminded me that tomorrow is New Years and we need our bubbly along with some groceries and the cat boxes need cleaning. I better get moving -domestic bliss, political thought and down-time notwithstanding.