Job for life.

China’s President Xi Jinping can, if he wants to, and why not, be President for life. Russia’s President Putin has now successfully won a “vote” changing the constitution, which means he can stay in power until 2036. The constitution was reportedly published and in the shops before the result of the vote was declared. Changes also mean the end of gay marriage in Russia. Is it just me or are things lining up just like before WWII in terms of major powers? I’m sure President Trump would like to change things around too and form a dynasty of his own. Perhaps that ambition may be curtailed come November although I wouldn’t be surprised if he won again or, if he lost, to declare the whole thing fake and refuse to step down. Jobs for life but it’s not about the money, is power and domination that giddy a brew?

The new security law for Hong Kong, looks to me to be the end of the city’s unique status. And, if you are ever planning to visit the city then make sure you haven’t broken the new law, even if you are not a citizen. I’m guessing that will likely mean that most if not all foreign journalists, including me, could be arrested, along with a good number of politicians, including leaders. How would that go down on a state visit?

Unless there is a paradigm shift then I can’t see how the west can trade with or in China without risk. To be smug, I did warn about this, time and time again. But, greed will out and now there will be consequences for those that can least afford them.

China has also warned of a new swine flu strain that could go “pandemic.” Great, here we go again? Maybe we should not be factory farming livestock? Maybe we should not be putting most of our meat processing into giant processing plants? Going back a ways maybe we should not have fed animal protein to cattle so they would get mad cow disease? Why can’t we have local meat processing so that animals do not have to travel too far. When I was freelancing for an agriculture magazine out of B.C. I did an article about traveling meat processing plants for small farms. That would work too. Keep food local.

Talking about food migrant farm workers are in the news as they are struck down with COVID19. Working in and living/kept in conditions that make social distancing difficult if not impossible and all because they are vital to businesses, mostly in the food industry. My take on this is if migrant workers are being brought in then they should have rights to healthcare while they are here. Also, these workers often do jobs that locals won’t do and/or the wages are so low that the jobs aren’t viable. Often, without paying low wages the business is not profitable. There is something wrong with this equation to me. What happens to businesses that aren’t viable? Without innovation, technical investment or using low cost labour they will fail. On the labour side with all this talk of the S word I think there’s a fine line here with migrant workers. To be politically correct let’s label them as possibly exploited and leave you, dear reader to make your own mind up.