Canadian Super Bowl

Canada's Super Bowl--the Grey Cup--is today, pitting Calgary  and Toronto against each other.

I played briefly (very briefly) in Canada and the three downs and 110 yard field takes some getting used to.  If the field looks crowded, its because there are 12 men on the field!

There is a lot of snow coming down too, making this the first snowy Grey Cup since 1996. 

The Canadian Football League season runs a little earlier than the NFL, starting in July and ending in November. That is to avoid the awful weather of the Great White North's winter.  Sometimes the snow hits anyway!

I have always been surprised by the amount of passing in Canadian football, especially considering the whether.  That is what happens when you have three downs instead of four.  It can come as a bit of a shock when you grow up with Pittsburgh-style smashmouth football.

When it comes to things Canadian, I'm a Westerner, so GO CALGARY!!!

Is Germany a democracy?

Remember the last time Germany had problems forming a government?

The German election of 2017 is an exercise in chaos, which something the ordinarily well organized Germans are not known for.

Angela Merkel won 41% of the vote and cannot form a government.  With such a low vote, Merkel;s Christian Democratic Party is not able to form a partnership with its traditional partner the Christian Socialist Union.  The usual partner forming mechanism is not working for a variety of reasons.  Some point to Moslem immigration while others speak of growing anti-European Union sentiment.  There may be a myriad of other reasons too.

German politics, since 1945, have tended toward coalition building so one party does not become too dominant.  The reason: 1933-1945...look it up.

The European Union has faced criticism that it is too bureaucratic and undemocratic.  Germany is starting to face the same critics.  This behind the scenes coalition building makes everything seem too secretive.

The result is that the CDP is reaching across the political spectrum to its opponents to build a coalition. 

That generally does not work.

When German politics become interesting, the rest of Europe takes notice.

Hopefully they bet it together.  Makes you happy America has the Atlantic and Pacific on both sides.

Russian Revolution 100th Anniversary

A century ago today, the world was shaken by the Russian Revolution, toppling the three century old Romanov dynasty and bringing in a Communist superstate and launching Russia onto an oddesy that would shape the 20th century.

The Soviet Union would last until 1991, but until then, the USSR helped crush Nazi Germany and after the war, it was a rival to the United States for world domination and had a nuclear arsenal that rivaled its American rival.

They could have destroyed the planet.

The Soviet Union also was a showcase for the failure of Communism.  The bloodthirsty collectivication of agriculture and mass purges made it a close second to Hitler in mass killing.

After 1991, Russia re-emerged from the Soviet wreckage and it was in terrible shape, attempting to vault into capitalism from communism in a bout of "shock therapy".  The result was another Time of Troubles.  In the face of what Moscow regarded as Western imperialism--NATO expansion and the bombing of Serbia in 1999--Russia began to rebuild itself as Vladimir Putin stepped forward to bring his nation back onto  the international stage.

The 21st century has seen Russia become a powerful country again.  While it might not be the world wide menace its Soviet predecessor was, Russia is clearly a Great Power again.

It has been a wild century for Russia, but for a country that lived through Mongols and Nazis, it was just another hundred years.