Book Review: Terry Jones' Barbarians

One of the drawbacks of living on this side of the pond is that North Americans do not always get to see the best of British television programming such as BBC2's Terry Jones' Barbarians. Luckily for us, however, the inevitable companion book to the series is appearing in bookstores.

First of all let me say, "Yes, it is that Terry Jones." In addition to his work as a member of Monty Python, Jones has written children's books and books on medieval England, including Who Murdered Chaucer? and Chaucer's Knight. This particular book is co-written by Alan Ereira, a producer and writer of history programs.

The book itself has an ambitious goal: it seeks to correct the impression that most of us have of the "barbarian" societies that competed with the Roman Empire. Let's face it, the impression most of us have of barbarians is that of illiterate, ill-clothed tribes with no culture other than a savage love of war, violence, and plunder. We may no longer believe in God, but we do certainly believe it when ancient writers referred to Attila as "the scourge of God".

The book looks at nearly a millennium of Roman interaction with the Atlantic Celts, the Germans, the Greeks and Persians, and the Vandals and Huns. Regardless of which group they are talking about, Jones and Ereira provide an alternative portrait of the so-called barbarian societies as cultured, enlightened, and, in many cases, more tolerant than the Roman behemoth with which they contended. Among the books many claims:

• the Atlantic Celts not only made superior weapons to Romans, they also built extensive networks of roads much earlier than the Romans;
• the Celts were so far advanced in astronomy that their calendar is still accurate today, whereas the Roman calendar had to be adjusted several times to re-align it with the actual seasons;
• the Goths were Christians whose sacking of Rome destroyed only one building;
• Vandals were also highly moral and educated Christians, and their sack of Rome did not destroy a single building;
• Roman-era Greeks were sophisticated mechanics who constructed elaborate machines that were not replicated until the Renaissance.

If you are a big fan of the Roman Empire, you will probably not like this book, but if you are interested in an alternative approach to ancient European history, I highly recommend that you get your hands on a copy of this book.

Terry Jones' Barbarians

Terry Jones and Alan Ereira

BBC Books, London 2006

ISBN: 0-563-49318-6

Help, I'm Becoming My Mom!

They say that the older we get, the more we become like our parents. I have just discovered this to be true, at least in the kitchen.

When I lived at home, my mom used to cook a lot with dill. Now I don't have any problems with dill in pickles, but the thought of dill-draped potatoes never sat well with me. Imagine my surprise, then, when I found myself purchasing a large bunch of fresh dill at the grocery store last week.

Ostensibly, I was going to use the dill with a salmon recipe that I had seen in a newspaper. Unfortunately, I forgot to clip the recipe out so it is wherever they take recycled newspapers. Not wanted to waste food, even if it is only $1.09 worth of fresh dill, I scrambled to find something to cook that would permit me to use the ample sampling of dill that I had acquired.

In the end, the only thing I could think of was to make a cucumber salad. I sliced up a large cucumber, added a bit of diced red onions, blended in some plain fat-free yogurt, and added some chopped dill, parsley, and chives. (In other words, I took advantage of my predicament to rid my refrigerator of other unused herbs and foods.)

I couldn't help noticing, as I ate the salad, that I actually liked the way the dill enhanced the flavour of the cucumbers and red onions. In fact, I am actively seeking out other recipes to use up the rest of the dill. After that, who knows? I might even try cooking with parsnips.

The Price of Art

One of my favourite Johnny Clegg songs is "Cruel, Crazy, Beautiful World", an upbeat tune whose chorus goes, "Its your world so live in it."

Recently, I decided to take this advice and today that meant going out to take some photographs at one of the local conservation areas.

I had been there numerous times in the spring, summer, and fall, so I had a fairly good idea of what sort of shots I could get. Unfortunately, I had never been there in the winter, especially when the road was covered with snow. As you can see, I ran out of road and stranded myself for a while until the tow truck came.

An hour later, I was on my way home, embarrassed but all right. The car was undamaged, and I had several nice photographs.

Hot Off the Press

Modern technology can be wonderful. Take this photograph, for example. I took it at 7:01 and here it is posted on my blog already. The fact that I could have printed this photo a minute after I took it is impressive enough, but now it is available for people throughout the world to see. That, my friends, is truly cool.

And Then There Were Two

Lloyd Clemett died the other day at the age of 107.

It was not his age that made Lloyd special, although 107 is remarkable. Rather, Lloyd has become known to Canadians because he was one of the last three living Canadian veterans of the Great War.

Lloyd joined in the army in 1916. Despite his best efforts, he was not sent to the front lines until November of 1918. Any chance he had of seeing combat evaporated when the armistice was declared on November 11th.

Last year when Members of Parliament were floating the idea of a state funeral for the last remaining veteran, Lloyd came out against the idea. He felt it would be more appropriate to have a memorial service for all of the chaps who served. I think he was right.

Schlaf leicht, leibe Freunde

Today is the 64th anniversary of the trial and execution of Christoph Probst, Hans Scholl, and Sophie Scholl for crimes against the Nazi regime. The story of their resistance group -- the White Rose -- is, in some ways, better known in the non-German world than it ever has been, thanks in part to a fantastic movie called Sophie Scholl - The Last Days. (Check out my April 22, 2006 review of the film if you would like to learn more about the movie.)

I don't know why the story of the Scholls speaks so powerfully to me, but it does. A handful of university students stole paper and created leaflets denouncing the Nazi regime. They had no realistic chance of changing people's attitudes towards Hitler and his cronies, but the members of the White Rose decided to act anyhow.

Perhaps I admire the group so much because they acted, at great risk, because nobody else was acting. I admire the fact that they understood the need for someone, anyone, to speak up against the crimes of the regime. Perhaps I also stand in awe of the love they had for justice and, it must be admitted, for God.

Much has been written about the White Rose and the character of its members, but perhaps they are best encapsulated in the final words attributed to the Scholls. Hans is reputed to have cried out "Es lebe die Freiheit" ("Long live freedom") before the guillotine's blade severed his head from his body. Sophie's last words are often said to be, "God, you are my refuge to eternity."

Probst, the Scholls, and other members of Die Weiße Rose were willing to give their lives so that the world would be a better place. How many of us are willing to join them?

Flashback

The Governor General honoured members of the Canadian forces on Monday. Two soldiers, Captain William Fletcher and Sergeant Patrick Tower, were awarded the Star of Military Valour, which is second only to the Victoria Cross in the list of Canadian gallantry medals. Four other servicemen received the Medal of Military Valour, the third-ranking decoration. A further 33 soldiers, including Captain Nicola Goddard, received service decorations.

As I watched the news reports, it struck me how bizarre the war in Afghanistan is. Thousands of men and women are serving or have served there. A number have died, and many more have been injured (some seriously). Yet the war is far away.

Sometimes, when the news shows scenes of Canadian soldiers firing and scrambling for cover, I feel like I am back in 1968 watching US Marines under fire in Vietnam. Or maybe "sitting in a pub watching the first Gulf War play out on CNN" is a better analogy. In either case, there is a disconnect that separates those over there and those over here. I wonder if the civilian population felt the same way in the First and Second World Wars.

Notes from the Johnny Clegg Concert

I just got back from the Johnny Clegg concert and boy was it fantastic!

The music was great. Clegg and his band played some of his best songs such as Daughter of Eden, African Sky Blue, The Revolution Will Eat Its Children, Bullets for Bafazane, Dela, Scatterlings of Africa, and Cruel, Crazy, Beautiful World. The guitar work was excellent, the sax player was awesome, the choreography was coo,l and Clegg's stories between songs were both funny and fun. The concert may have started half an hour late, but once it got started it was a hoot.

I was feeling a bit down before the concert started. Hearing all the South African accents made me wish that I came from somewhere specific, rather than being the tumbleweed that I am, but I soon got over this once the music started. I guess one of the benefits of being a tumbleweed is that I can expropriate other cultures' artists, like Johnny Clegg, who have come to mean something to me.

The best part of what was an excellent concert was when the band ended the concert with Scatterlings. I have never seen such looks of pure joy as I the ones I saw on the faces of the South African ex-pats when the band began playing those familiar notes. People's faces lit up as they were reminded of Africa, friends and family, university days, and probably a host of other good thoughts. It was beautiful to see and wonderful to be a part of.

The Prince of Kosher Gospel

I was listening to CBC radio yesterday afternoon as I was driving back from a meeting and I heard one of the most interesting and unique guests I have heard in a long time. The hosts of the program Freestyle were interviewing Joshua Nelson, the "prince of Kosher Gospel".

If you have never heard of Kosher Gospel before, don't feel bad -- it's a term that Nelson himself made up. Nelson, you see, is a third generation Black Jew who grew up listening to the great Mahalia Jackson. He combined his love for traditional Black American gospel music with traditional Jewish liturgical prayers to combine Kosher Gospel.

Nelson has appeared on the Oprah Winfrey show and is the subject of a 60 minute documentary, Keep On Walking, but intrigued music fans in the Vancouver area this Saturday (February 24th) can see him perform live as part of the Chutzpah! Festival. You can find out more about Nelson -- and the festival -- at http://chutzpahfestival.com/. (And if you do, or if you have seen Nelson perform, be sure to bounce me back a comment.)

Truth in Five Lights

There is much to be said for clarity, as the television commercials go, but there is also much to be said for grittiness.

Sometimes there is more truth to be found in a grainy snapshot than there is a crisp, perfectly composed photograph.

The key is to recognize the graininess for what it is: a tool to reveal, not a flaw to conceal.

Searching for a Glimpse of God

If I could have any intellectual gift in the world, I think I would ask to be able to understand mathematics. I am not talking about your ordinary everyday math -- I am talking about the mind-boggling mathematical concepts that only true geniuses understand, the sort of math that is so esoteric it seems like magic to people of limited abilities like me.

Don't get me wrong -- I am not innumerate. I use math daily and, unlike many people, I enjoy math. When it comes down to complex mathematics, however, I am a child compared to the math savants. But even a child can recognize beauty and I recognize the beauty of math.

There is truth in mathematics, a truth that transcends everything else in this universe. There is power and order and logic. There is symmetry in mathematics and beauty, but perhaps these are just two facets of the same diamond. In the end, I do not think I exaggerate the situation to say that mathematics offers us a glimpse of God, perhaps even a full portrait.

Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to see the universe the way a great mathematician does, to understand complex concepts and to strive to find answers that I, in my current state, do not even suspect could exist. I know this will never happen, but that doesn't matter. It is comfort enough to know that such people exist.

Kudos, Mr. Letterman

Tonight is the last night of "Ventriloquist Week" on the Late Show with David Letterman. All week, Letterman has showcased a different ventriloquist. Some have been good; at least one has been quite boring. At least, that's how it seems to me.

To be sure, ventriloquists are not my favourite kind of act. When they are good, they can be very, very funny. But when they are bad, they rank somewhere between jugglers and mimes in the universe of horrible entertainment. Nevertheless, one has to give Letterman credit for bringing back this classic, if creaky, art form.

The Confectionary Conspiracy

My doctor asked me to lose some weight for a variety of reasons, all of them good. I am finally at the point where I have the stomach, so to speak, to do what it takes to lose the necessary weight.

It is at this point that I have discovered a conspiracy aimed against me and my noble intentions to live longer by eating healthier. No matter where I go, I am faced with tasty temptations beckoning me from counter displays and vending machines.

The sirens that sung to Ulysses' men could not be more alluring than a vending machine filled with flavourful, fat-laden candy bars and chips.

Poem: Lost Patrol

Lost Patrol

Here we lie,

Abandoned statues of

Flesh and ice
A million miles from home.

Here we lie,

Twisted and frozen,

Alone beneath a frigid desert sky.

Here we lie,

Forgotten and famished,
Afloat on an ocean of

Muskeg and starvation.

This is no place for feeble men.
The night, like the land,

Never ends.

This is no place for hearty souls,

For the cold respects

No man.

And so we lie,

Mute witnesses to Empire.

Only the savage heart endures.

(c) J S Phillips

A Great Canadian Question?

Last night the Toronto area finally got the big snowstorm that the weather forecasters have been warning us about. In fact, it is still snowing this morning. However, the roads are not in terrible shape and the landscape has not been buried under snow like parts of upstate New York have been lately, all of which brings me to a big question: why do schools in the suburbs close down for snow days when the roads are still passable and everyone else is expected to go to work.

I saw plenty of public buses running, so I know it cannot have anything to do with the fact that buses are difficult to handle on snowy roads. Ditto for the argument that cancelling school is a safety issue because of a lack of seatbelts on school buses. In any event, most kids are driven to school or walk to school from what I understand.

I can't see how it is more difficult for teachers to get to their schools than it is for nurses to get to hospitals or waitresses to get to restaurants or sales clerks to get to shopping malls, so that can't be it. Perhaps this is just one of those imponderable questions that may never be answered.

Envy

I am very envious these days.

I am not envious of the rich, or the powerful, or the famous.

I am envious of indigenous Australian (or as they are better known, Aborigines).

I envy their practice of "going walkabout". Going walkabout is a temporary return to indigenous life between periods in the dominant white Australian culture. Some people go walkabout between periods of schooling; others go walkabout between jobs.

Of course, I am not aboriginal; I am a white, (nominally) Protestant, male. In other words, I am representative of the white lifestyle that the indigenous Australians are walking away from. That doesn't mean, however, that I don't feel the same powerful urges to return to my roots when modern post-industrial Western culture threatens to overwhelm my very existence.

The trouble is that I have no roots to return to. I was born in Saskatchewan, but I moved as a child. I have nobody to see there and no places with special memories. I lived in several mid-western American states, but have no concrete ties with anyone there. I attended high school and university in British Columbia, but despite the fact that my entire family lives there, it never feels like home when I return. Nor do I feel at home in Ontario.

Perhaps that is why I envy the indigenous Australians. They do have a place to go back to. They have a culture and a geography to return to. They have a connection to the generations who have been here before them. All I have is Toronto.

Another Sign of the Endtimes?

Boy, am I pissed off today!

You see, Saturday saw one of the most disgusting displays of arrogant affluence that I can recall.
40 of the world's wealthiest gourmands and their guests gathered in Bangkok for what has been dubbed "the meal of a lifetime". The meal -- which was prepared by six three-star Michelin chefs from Europe -- cost diners $25,000 each and featured truffles, live Brittany lobsters, caviar, and some of the best vintages of wine in the world.

I know that my recent posts have been a bit political in nature, but things are just so buggered up these days that it is hard to limit myself to comments on how cold it is or what music I am listening to. Events like this are just not right!

I realize that the guests have the money to afford the meal. They also have the money to pay for private jets to get to Thailand and to afford private islands, expensive cars, and watches that cost tens of thousands of dollars. The problem is that there is no way in the world that anyone can justify spending this much money when people are still dying of AIDS and other diseases, when children die of starvation or thirst, and when the world is faced with what could be catastrophic climate change.

$25,000 dinners are just another sign that something has got to change -- and change fast. I know that communism died with the Soviet Union, but these people have got to understand that there will be a revolution against such excesses unless they get their shit together.

The Empire Strikes Back

As I suspected, it did not take the United States very long to respond to Russian President Putin's comments about American foreign policy. Today, the same Robert Gates who declined to comment yesterday is quoted as saying "one cold war was quite enough". Another government spokesman stated, "We are surprised and disappointed with President Putin's comments. His accusations are wrong."

The problem, unfortunately, is that Putin was right -- the United States has flouted international laws except in those cases where it served their purposes to observe the laws. That is why the United States, for the first time in history, appears poised on the brink of creating an anti-American coalition of Frace, Germany, Russia, and China (not to mention the middle east and the United Kingdom, if Westminister actually expressed the popular will of the people).

I keep hoping that the United States will wake up and return to its idealistic, republican roots but I fear it won't. More than likely, it will continue to act in a Wilsonian imperialist way, even though the only people fooled by such an approach are the Americans themselves.

Message to the Empire

Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, spoke for a lot of people earlier today when he attacked American foreign policy. According to news reports, he accused the United States of "an almost uncontained hyper use of force in international relations" . He went on to say that not only did the US overstep its national borders "in every way", but also that the situation was very dangerous because "nobody feels secure anymore because nobody can hide behind international law."

Putin did not comment on American efforts in Afghanistan or Iraq, but he did comment on the expansion of NATO and American plans to place a missile defense system in the Soviet Union's former Warsaw Pact vassal states, so it is clear that Russia, at least, is feeling hemmed in by the American empire. One has to wonder how China -- the next world superpower and the not-so-secret rival in the Bush regime's mind -- views the situation. Somehow, I doubt they would disagree.

Americans, of course, disagree with Putin's assessment. US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates declined to comment, but Senator (and presidential candidate) Joe Lieberman felt Putin was provocative as well as inaccurate. "Even our involvement in Iraq, certainly Afghanistan, is pursuant to United Nations resolutions," he is quoted as saying. This is certainly an optimistic interpretation of history, not to mention a surprising commitment to international organizations considering the propensity of the United States to thumb its nose at any and all forms of international agreements over the past decade.

Perhaps now would be a good time to remind America's political elite of the inevitable fate of empires, a fate that was so eloquently summarized by Chalmers Johnson in The Sorrows of Empire:

"Empires do not last, and their ends are usually unpleasant. Americans like me, born before World War II, have personal knowledge -- in some cases, personal experience -- of the collapse of at least six empires: those of Nazi Germany, imperial Japan, Great Britain, France, the Netherlands, and the Soviet Union. If one includes all the twentieth century, three more major empires came tumbling down -- the Chinese, Austro-Hungarian, and Ottoman. A combination of imperial overstretch, rigid economic institutions, and an inability to reform weakened all these empires, leaving them fatally vulnerable in the face of disastrous wars, many of which the empires themselves invited. There is no reason to think that an American empire will not go the same way -- and for the same reasons."

Perhaps it is too soon to write the obituary of the American Empire. However, as Putin's remarks illustrate, the world's patience with America's imperial hubris is wearing pretty thin.

The Sorrows of Empire - Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic
Chalmers Johnson
Henry Holt & Company, New York City, 2004
ISBN: 0-8050-7004-4
Page 310

Another American Tragedy

If you live in North America and have access to a television, you are by now aware of the recent death of Anna Nicole Smith. Less than six months after the death of her 20 year old son, the former Playboy model, reality TV star, and weight loss spokesperson died in Florida at the age of 39.

During her life, it was easy to laugh at Smith - her fluctuating weight, her gold-digging marriage to a man 63 years her senior, and her surreal appearances in interviews and in her reality show gave comedians and audiences alike fodder for mocking her - but there was always an air of tragedy about her. If we are honest with ourselves, most of us would probably admit that we were not surprised to hear that the poor woman died alone in a hotel room.

The fact of the matter is that Anna Nicole Smith, like so many other celebrities, was not famous for much besides being famous. To be true, the young model that was declared "Playmate of the Year" in 1993 was blessed with an attractive face and figure. At the same time, she was cursed with an apparent dearth of any other talent. When combined with what seemed to be an addiction to fame, you have a recipe for another American tragedy.

I regret to admit that I was one of the many who derided her drug-addled interviews. I cringed at the pathetic drama surrounding the paternity of her newborn daughter. I made cruel comments the two times I watched her reality television show. Like pretty well the rest of North America, I forgot that beneath all of the drama and all of the pathos and all of the mess there was a very broken human being. I am ashamed that it took her death to show me the real tragedy of Anna Nicole Smith's life.

Upcoming Concert: Johnny Clegg

I just bought tickets for the Johnny Clegg concert that is happening on February 20th at the Danforth Music Hall.

Clegg grew up in the UK, Israel, and Zimbabwe, but he has spent most of his life in South Africa. As a teenager, he became fascinated with Zulu street music and dancing. For a while he taught anthropology at the University of Witwatersran, but he is better known as the front man for two integrated bands: Jaluka (which he founded with Sipho Mchunu) and Savuka (which he formed when Mchunu returned home to take over the family farm).

I have been a big Clegg fan since the early 1980s. I first heard Jaluka on the CBC Vancouver morning show, and I immediately and went out to buy the Scatterlings album. Since then, I have purchased half a dozen other albums and have attended a concert where he opened for King Sunny Ade.

I used to wonder why his music was not more popular, but I suspect it has to do with two things. First, Clegg's music has always been overtly political and has attacked Apartheid (One (Hu)'Man One Vote), government death squads (Bullets for Bafazane), labour inequality (Work for All), and, most recently, Robert Mugabe (The Revolution will Eat Its Children). Secondly, while Clegg's bands are multi-ethnic and his music incorporates Zulu lyrics, rhythms, and instrumentation, he is still a white South African, and an immigrant at that. The fact that he has been pretty well adopted by the Zulus is of little consequence.

Anyhow, I am excited about the prospect of attending another concert. The one I attended back in Vancouver in the 90s was positively electric, with great music, fantastic dancing, and a gathering of truly dedicated fans who had attended Clegg concerts throughout the world.

Kudos to You, Vancouver (and Alison)

I was looking on Wikipedia early today (February 8th) and I noticed that the feature article is on my (adopted) home town - Vancouver, British Columbia. Glad to see my old stomping grounds getting some recognition.

Interestingly enough, the previous day's featured article was on Alison Kraus, one of my two favourite female country vocalists. (The other is Emilylou Harris.)

Prior to that there were articles on scouting, the Russian T-34 tank, ecclesiastical hierarchy, and sea birds. It just so happens that I was a cub scout, have made several T-34 plastic models, am the son of a Lutheran minister, and have been known to be an avid bird watcher.

Hey - I think they are spying on me and using my interests to select their featured articles! If Saturday's featured article is about paranoia, I will know for certain.

Things Fall Apart

There is an odd and disturbing story coming out of the United Kingdom today. It seems there have been three letter bomb explosions in three days at firms involved in the processing of traffic fines. Although police have not identified suspects or a motive, some people are describing the bombings as an extreme case of road rage. If so, it is a frightening comment on the state of things in Britain.

The Coldest Night of the Year

Bruce Cockburn once sang about "The Coldest Night of the Year". I think he was singing about last night.

After enjoying a mild start to winter, the Greater Toronto Area is in the middle of a cold snap, thanks to a steady stream of Arctic air. The temperature at 8:00 AM was -18 degrees Celsius (0 degrees Fahrenheit), or -28 degrees Celsius (-18 degrees Fahrenheit) with the wind chill factor.
Of course, this being the year it is, we are getting the bone chilling winds even though the temperature of the Great Lakes is above freezing. That's right -- there is no ice on Lake Ontario but there are Arctic air temperatures.

The city of Toronto has issued an extreme cold weather alert and has attempted to get homeless people into shelters. School bus service in some areas is cancelled, and people in general run the risk of being frost-bitten if they expose skin for too long. For the indefinite future, I suspect, there will be a lot of skeptics about global warming in Ontario.

One Step Back

As if the human death toll and property damage were not costly enough, the recent Florida storm has yet another cost. 18 young Whooping Cranes died as a result of the storm, resulting in a setback for those who would establish a viable eastern flock of the endangered birds. Ironically, this was the first year in which none of the young cranes had been lost during the migration flight south.

Conservation efforts will continue, of course, but this loss is a clear reminder of how fragile the Whooping Crane population still is.

It Was Bound to Happen

Well, I knew it was going to happen sometime. Last year, the Tory government announced its plans to provide the Canadian Forces with four Boeing C-17 strategic transports. This week, the politics of defence procurement is coming to the fore, in the newspapers at least.

To be sure, the initial decision was controversial. Some argued that Canada did not need to purchase the aircraft (which are capable of carries heavy loads, including tanks, for incredible distances). Others felt the Canadian government should sign a leasing arrangement with Skylink Aviation to use their fleet of Russian-built strategic transports. Still others favoured the Airbus A400 as an aircraft that could replace the aging C-130 fleet as well as add a strategic lift capacity.

In the end, the government chose to buy Boeing, at a cost of $3.4 billion for four C-17 aircraft. The Skylink option was, for various reasons, deemed unworkable, and the A400 is still in the design stages and will not fly for quite some time. The C-17, it seems, is the only choice.

This is where it gets interesting: there were two stories related to the purchase that made the news this week. In the first one, several politicians from Quebec vocally commented that la belle province had better get "its" share of the industrial offsets, since Quebec has 60% of the nation's aerospace industry.

Of course, they did not mention that part of the reason Quebec has such a large share is because the Tory government choose to award a large CF-18 contract to a Quebec firm for political purposes, even though it was inferior and more expensive to a bit from a Manitoba company. Nor did they mention any of the "corporate welfare" benefits that Montreal aerospace giant Bombardier has received over many years.

This first story is rather predictable, and will likely be repeated when the Navy awards the Joint Support Ship (JSS) contract. The second story is rather a surprise. Canada is the beneficiary of a very generous act on the part of the United States Air Force. The USAF, it has been reported, has allowed Canada to "cut in line" so that we can obtain our four C-17s by the end of next year. Had they not done so, Canada would not have received the airplanes until much later. It appears that Canada is getting rewarded for taking accountability and investing money in its own defence.