Julian Assange IS Che Guevara - in his brain maybe...

So the trouble most self-styled revolutionaries have, is at a certain point in their feverish pursuit of their inner narrative, blood is spilled (often theirs). That fact, proven time and time again, always seems to surprise them as if this one time the law of checks and balances will not apply to them. This willful ignorance is another example of the magical thinking that runs prevalent among so many. Take Julian Assange, currently ensconced in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. As Golgotha is lonely this time of year he emerged the other day to, predictably, lay all of his troubles at the feet of the U.S.A. who are hell bent on prosecuting him for Wiki leaks. He was a target, all charges were bogus, it was an international conspiracy that put him there. So he says he was forced (the champion of free publicly available information) to seek shelter in the arms of Ecuador, a country with a long and distinguished tradition of press censorship and brutal repression.  Whats missing in this story arc is the fact that Julian Assange has been charged with rape in Sweden, a country not known for a sense of humour about these things and believed to be competent both in its investigative and prosecution process. So one would believe that these charges have merit and Julian Assange is a sex criminal on the run who is trying everything he can to avoid the trial and eventual conviction his reprehensible actions have brought upon himself. 

There is an expression I have long believed (ignoring it occasionally to my regret) along the lines of "don't believe your own bullshit".   So moving onto Mr. Guevara he, with Fidel Castro, led the popular revolution in Cuba against Fulgencio Batista.  So the other problem with  most self-styled revolutionaries is, like The Highlander, in the end there can be only one.  So ignoring the bullshit rule he led the revolution into Bolivia and, abandoned by his "brother" Fidel was hunted down and executed by the Bolivian military (nothing much had happened there since Butch and Sundance).   I wonder in the end if Che understood that the law of checks and balances was immune to his charisma, the rightness of his cause, all the money his image would make on t-shirts etc.  Julian Assange, like Che, has left a lot of wreckage behind him (Bradley Manning will get of jail in the year never) as well as the women he victimized.   His current plea for "justice"  (i.e. not being held accountable for his actions) is his personal Bolivia whether he knows it or not.  In the end the law of checks and balances is a kind of essentialist karma - justice without the personal satisfaction.

"Maybe I'm a different breed
Maybe I'm not listening
So blame it on my A.D.D. baby"
SAIL - Awolnation

Peter McKay - this is your Trotsky moment - enjoy!

The Russian Revoultion of 1917 was a fascinating story of an imperfect idealogy married to popular discontent that resulted in an inconceivably worst system that inflicted decades of misery on its population.  As the revolution "progessed" the various leaders spent a lot of their time and energy eliminating each other.  A great example is Leon Trotsky, who as the founder and first leader of the Red Army (among his other accomplishments)  was murdered in his mexican home in 1940 with an ice axe (ick.).  His fate sealed by his acrimoneous relationship with history's greatest monster Josef Stalin, what I find interesting is, that without his early efforts the success that Lenin and others achieved in building the communist party might not of been achieved.

Flash forward to today and take a look at the slow motion and very public evisceration of Peter Mckay over the F35 fiasco.  For the record I don't blame Peter McKay, Stephen Harper or pretty much anyone else in Canada for this mess.  Dwight Eisenhowser warned the world all those years ago about the military industrial complex in the US, Canada is just another dog being wagged by the tail in this respect.  This deal was probaly going wacky before the ink dried.  No the lesson from history is that  Peter McKay is quite simply Stephen Harpers Trotsky and although I am pretty sure he is safe from an ice axe the principle of keeping your friends close - your enemies closer has never been more true.

Simply put without  Peter Mckay's agreement to merge the Alliance party with the Progressive Conservatives (how Canadian is that name eh!) the present day Conservative party would not exist.   So at best McKay is an embarrassing memory of when our fearless leader was not the master of his domain.  At worst he is an heir in waiting for a king who has no intention of setting aside his crown.  So what happens next?  Peter McKay will end up "shuffled" to another portfolio,  lots more woman will get cabinet jobs and the F35 fiasco (which McKay will take the fall for) will now be blamed on greedy American companies as Harper now makes a stirring example of cabinet loyalty.  Cue the inspiring music and lets have a May Day parade..

Peter?  My advice - hold off ordering pizza for a while.