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U.S. withdrawal? Irrelevant
Re Trump To Pull U.S. From Paris Accord (June 2): In his speech declaring that America will drop out of the Paris climate accord, Donald Trump asks, "When will the world start to laugh at us?"
I believe that day just arrived.
Tom Scanlan, Toronto
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In the new world order, a German chancellor is the de facto leader of the free world, the one who wears the mantle of moral suasion so easily tossed aside by the current occupant of the White House.
Serious headlines ask: Can China Be A World Leader On Climate Change? (June 2).
All this as Donald Trump leads the United States ever more inward into irrelevancy. I find myself agreeing with John Ibbitson: Mr. Trump's absence will not be missed (Pull Out Of The Accord, Trump. The World Has Moved On, June 2).
Helen Johnson, Regina
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With Donald Trump's decision to pull the United States out of the Paris climate agreement, perhaps the remaining members (that would be all of the world's countries – with the exception of Nicaragua, Syria and now the U.S., what in Trump parlance could be referred to as "The Losers Club. Sad!") might now consider instituting a green tax on U.S. imports. To be consistent, this should apply equally to all three non-members.
Two per cent (representing the Paris goal of restricting the increase in average global temperatures) might be a fitting levy. All proceeds to be applied to helping developing countries with climate-change mitigation.
MAKE THE WORLD GREAT AGAIN! (Just a thought.)
Richard Cooper, Ottawa
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Donald Trump says that he does not represent Paris, and that is a good reason to renounce the Paris agreement. It should be noted, in light of what climate scientists are saying about sea-level rise, that he is also not representing New York or Miami.
Michael Greason, Toronto
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B.C. politics' best-laid plans
In addition to all the other political uncertainties British Columbia is facing, an MLA's ill-timed, unintended absence from the legislature or unavoidable ill health can always potentially undermine any governing stability in an assembly that is so narrowly divided (For B.C.'s Parties, Clash And Compromise, June 1)
British Columbia's last minority-government experience in 1952-53 adds an even darker, tragic caution in the current numbers. Following the 1952 election, two of the four elected Conservative MLAs died before the Social Credit government faced the Legislative Assembly in February, 1953. Earnest Carson (MLA for Lillooet) died of a heart attack in his Oak Bay garden in October, 1952; Albert McDougall (MLA, Vancouver - Point Grey) died of cancer in January, 1953, just days before the opening.
Accidents and other human events can happen and sadly frustrate our current party leaders' most well-laid, optimistic ambitions, particularly when the uncharted waters are so narrow.
Norman J. Ruff, Victoria
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Hit a bullet, every time
It's a genuine feat to intercept a bullet with a bullet, which is what the Pentagon says it managed to do with this week's successful missile defence test (Pentagon Successfully Tests ICBM Defence System For First Time, May 31).
Just don't confuse that with protection from a North Korean missile attack.
The Pentagon still is not close to reliably intercepting missiles under anything approaching realistic conditions (for example, with active counter measures engaged). The problem is, any defence against nuclear attack with less than a 100-per-cent success rate amounts to catastrophic failure.
Even a missile defence system that reliably performed at a 90-per-cent success level would cede all the advantage to the attacker.
Once North Korea manages to mount a warhead on an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching the continental U.S. (something that isn't imminent but is likely in the absence of any agreement to end its nuclear program), it faces the relatively simpler challenge of building enough such missiles to stay just ahead of a necessarily less than perfect American missile defence system.
North Korea is already doing that in response to the regional missile defence system (THAAD) the U.S. has now deployed in South Korea, as Pyongyang practises regular and multiple firings of tried and true Scud missiles – of which it can build as many as it thinks it needs to overwhelm the defence.
The real accomplishment of missile defence is to create powerful incentives to accumulate ever larger inventories of offensive missiles.
Ernie Regehr, senior fellow, Simons Foundation; research fellow, Centre for Peace Advancement, Conrad Grebel University College
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In my (non) expert opinion …
I continue to struggle to understand the position that the blindingly obvious can only be recognized when pronounced upon by "experts" (Experts Urge Transparency In Doctor, Drug Industry Links, May 30).
As an "expert" in nothing other than clear thinking, it seems to me that it must be obvious to everyone that doctors in policy-making positions should disclose all financial ties to the drug industry, or to any related industry – medical equipment, for example – for that matter.
Better yet: They shouldn't have such ties at all, in my non-expert opinion.
Jenna Chaplin, Toronto