Canada Continues its Historic World Cup Run

The Canadian men's team celebrate Eustaquio's goal

I was too nervous to watch Canada play against South Africa today in the World Cup. But millions of others tuned in with excitement.

The game was even shown at Vancouver International Airport, where screens at the luggage carousel broadcast the game so that passengers were informed of the score (0-0) at the time.

The game on at YVR

And then at the 92nd minute Stephen Eustaquio scored the only goal of the match and Canadians were ecstatic.

Although Canada did not rank at the top of its group, the men's team have certainly made historic strides in this year's World Cup, and Canadians are not taking it for granted.

They are celebrating every win and relishing every moment. Some die-hard fans splashed thousands of dollars to be in Inglewood, California to witness Canada's first time in the knock-out stage.

And now Canada advances further to play against either Morocco or the Netherlands on July 4 in Texas.

Meanwhile coach Jesse Marsch publicly praised his players in a huddle on the pitch after the game.

"Canadian heroes for the future children of this country, who play this sport," he said. "This sport has a big future because of you guys. You should be so proud of who you are. You should be so proud of this game -- you never lost belief. You went after it, point after point, moment after moment. You are Canadian heroes."

Marsch (in grey) praising the team post-game

The American coach was criticised for doing the post-match pep talk out in the open, but Marsch is unapologetic. 

Perhaps it's a tactic, or showing off his leadership skills. Or he wants to show Canadians are too modest and he wanted to openly pat them on the back.

Whatever it is, it's working and the team seems fired up for the next match.

And so are we! O Canada!

Petition Calls for Musk's Canadian Citizenship to be Revoked

Over 317,000 people want Musk's Canadian citizenship revoked

There's an online petition going around calling for the Canadian government to strip Elon Musk of his Canadian citizenship.

It has garnered over 317,000 signatures, making the petition the most popular in the history of the House of Commons.

British Columbia author Qualia Reed launched the petition last week, calling on the Canadian government to revoke Musk's citizenship and Canadian passport because of the role he is playing in US President Donald Trump's government.

MP Angus sponsored the petition

"Elon Musk has engaged in activities that go against the national interest of Canada. He has used his wealth and power to influence our elections; he has now become a member of a foreign government that is attempting to erase Canadian sovereignty; and the attempts of Elon Musk to attack Canadian sovereignty must be addressed," reads the petition that was sponsored by New Democrat MP Charlie Angus.

Musk saw the petition and his response? "Canada is not a real country," he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

He was born in South Africa, though his mother Maye Musk was born in Regina, Alberta, which is how he got his Canadian citizenship.

"I left South Africa by myself when I was 17 and just a backpack & suitcase of books," he posted on December 28, 2019. "I worked on my Mom's cousin's farm in Saskatchewan & a lumber mill in Vancouver. Went to Queens Univ with scholarship & debt, then same to UPenn/Wharton & Stanford."

Musk met his first wife, Canadian author Justine Wilson, at Queen's University.

But while many are signing the petition to revoke Musk's Canadian citizenship, in reality it's not possible.

Musk's flippant response to the petition

Immigration lawyer Gabriela Ramo said under Canadian law, someone's citizenship can only be revoked if it can be proven they committed fraud or misrepresentation to obtain it.

"Before they could move to do this, they would need to introduce legislation, there would have to be amendments to the current Citizenship Act," said Ramo. "There's no provision that would allow them to pursue revocation of citizenship of a Canadian birth, by virtue of his birth to a Canadian mother."

As a result, it's fairly rare for Canadian citizenship to be revoked.

Angus admitted the petition is more symbolic, but has touched a nerve with a lot of people across the country.

"I wasn't expecting that it would explode the way it did," he said. "to me it was really instructive because it shows just how angry Canadians are about what's happening in Washington and how angry people are at the actions of Elon Musk. To me this is a real symbol of this moment."

Where's Xi?

Xi and Ramaphosa with their wives in a photo call

China watchers are wondering what's going on after Chinese leader Xi Jinping arrived in South Africa for the Brics Business Forum, but failed to show up for the opening where he was supposed to deliver a speech.

In his place, Commerce Minister Wang Wentao read Xi's speech in Johannesburg, which had a veiled criticism against the United States for its tendency toward "hegemony".

Putin gave a speech virtually, but Xi a no-show

It is the first in-person summit at Brics, where the leaders of Brazil, India, South Africa, and China are meeting since the pandemic, though Russia's Vladimir Putin is virtually there as there is an international warrant for his arrest in the host country.

Although Xi arrived on Monday evening and later met South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, the Chinese leader was a no show at the business forum with no explanation given either.

Bonnie Glaser of the German Marshall Fund was quoted as saying: "It is extremely unusual for a Chinese leader to show up in a country hosting a multilateral meeting -- especially one that China is deeply invested in, like Brics, and fail to show up at the opening event."

Meanwhile Brian Hart, a fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies added: "Xi's absence is highly unusual. Chinese leaders rarely go off script at high-profile events like this... Xi's disappearance is yet another reminder that Beijing can be a black box."

Xi had arrived Monday, met with Ramaphosa

CNN alluded to former top diplomat Qing Gang being suddenly disappeared for a month with no explanation either but replaced last month by his predecessor Wang Yi.

The Brics forum has more than 30 other heads of state and leaders from global organisations, including UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, attending the event.

It is the largest gathering of the Global South countries from Africa, the Caribbean and South America, as well as the Middle East, West Asia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia.

Will Xi resurface later? Does he have a headache? Or would rather go check out a safari instead?

Many questions...

Review: Blind Ambition

A tense scene during the wine competition in France

The other day I saw a documentary called Blind Ambition, by Warwick Ross, the same director as Red Obsession, a film about the Chinese people's love of wine.

I had interviewed him in 2014 about Red Obsession and at the time it seemed like the topic of wine was a one-off, as his next project was going to be about more than 60 British, Chinese, Danish and Canadian intelligence, marine and naval officers eluded invading Japanese forces and left Hong Kong on Christmas Day, 1941.

But it seems Ross was sidetracked by another wine story -- about four Zimbabweans who formed a team to compete in a prestigious wine competition in France in 2017.

Ross has directed another documentary on wine

The remarkable thing about this quartet is that a few years before then, they had never tasted wine. They each left Zimbabwe under strongman Robert Mugabe who wrecked havoc on the economy, and came to South Africa to make a new life for themselves.

They separately started working in the restaurant business and were intrigued about wine, and eventually becoming sommeliers.

However, were they good enough to take part in the World Blind Wine Tasting Championship in France? They were about to find out.

Ross follows each of their stories of why they left Zimbabwe and how they got into wine, and also viewers get to find out how difficult this wine competition is -- the teams must identify the grape variety, the country the wine was made in, the producer of the wine and the vintage.

Through tasting and inspecting the wine they need to use a process of elimination to figure all this out. As a team they lean on each other's knowledge but also need to trust them in believing their hunch might be better than theirs.

Complicating the situation is Team Zimbabwe's coach Denis, a Frenchman who used to be one of the best wine tasters in the world, but has since lost his touch, who riles up their previous coach JV, another Frenchman who was diligently training the South African team.

The four are top sommeliers in South Africa

Wine expert and writer Jancis Robinson is Team Zimbabwe's champion -- helping start an online fundraising campaign to get them to France. She sees not only their potential, but also is excited by their eagerness to learn.

Nevertheless, other wine experts compare their challenge like Egypt having a team of skiers to compete in the Olympics...

The personal stories are so inspiring, and explains their motivations. One recalls being smuggled to South Africa in a container with not a lot of air in it...

In general the filmmaking is inconsistent, with some gorgeous overview shots of the chateau where the competition is held, along with the stunning natural scenery of Zimbabwe, while other scenes are literally shot as they happened, like the dust-up between the rival coaches, while the cameraman is seen reflected in the video call with the French coach.

In any event, Blind Ambition has great tension, not only with the wine competition itself, but also the personal obstacles each of them have gone through. It's an inspiring film that if anything gives insight into the lives of refugees and how we should give them a hand to help them achieve their dreams.

Blind Ambition

Directed by Warwick Ross and Ross Coe

95 Minutes