Unpleasant News from Russia

Murder inquiry into missing politician dropped
Russia's prosecutor general has cancelled a murder inquiry into the disappearance of presidential candidate Ivan Rybkin less than an hour after it had been opened.

Asked about a report that the national prosecutor general's office had overturned the formal opening of an inquiry into premeditated murder, a spokeswoman said: "Yes. That's right. The case has been cancelled."

Mr Rybkin, 57, has been missing since last Thursday.

He is a political rival of President Vladimir Putin, who is challenging him in the March 14 election.

Read more.

UPDATE: Another article, going into more depth on other events. Lebed's helicopter crash seemed like an awfully big surprise.

Virage

Today, I've come to the realization that I don't want to do school any more.

This isn't because I don't like Queen's, since I do; this isn't because I don't like my classes, since I do; this isn't because I don't like my instructors, because I do; this certainly isn't because I don't like my classmates and fellow cohort in the English graduate program here it Queen's, because I most definitely do.

I just feel burnt out and completely unmotivated right now. I want to get my MA in English, with all due and appreciated thanks to the institution and the people who man it; then, I want to get out of the academic environment I've lived in for almost two decades, including one year of kindergarten, twelve years in the public school system, six years at the undergraduate level, and my current year at the graduate level. I want to go to Toronto, find a career and apartment, and make my way from there.

I've no doubt that I'll do that. I've also no doubt that I'll complete my degree. Still, this is frustrating and a bit disappointing.

Feedback

My letter to the editor addressed to The Guardian got a response in the Sunday issue. I'll reproduce it here, and leave off writing my reply to later this week.

"We're not all flipping burgers"

Editor:

In last Saturday's Guardian, Randy McDonald of Kingston, Ont. ("In all probability I won't be back") said: "I do not intend to return to my native province in the search of work, simply because almost all of my university-educated friends have found it impossible to find rewarding careers here."

I sympathize with anyone's difficult search for meaningful employment and I feel that this has been all too common, both here and elsewhere in Canada for many years. I graduated from college in 1976 and many of my fellow graduates had a difficult time in finding meaningful employment, especially in their field of training.

This is the first point I wish to make. Often a university education will only get you that great job if you're trained in an area applicable to the place you live. I don't know the demand for bachelor of arts graduates, here on P.E.I., or anywhere else in Canada. One of my interests is woodworking and I thought for years the idea of working on movie sets would be very exciting and profitable, but training in that area wouldn't leave me many options on P.E.I. I imagine careers in paleontology or aerospace engineering would also leave you struggling to stay on P.E.I. and work in your field of choice. As well, some people have numerous diplomas and degrees and they're still in school.

I don't intend to defend this or any previous government's record for attracting high-paying jobs here. It hasn't been great. But consider the following;

The current population of P.E.I. is approximately 140,000. According to Treasury Board of Canada, there were just over 1500 federal public servants on P.E.I. in the year 2000. That means that just over one percent of the Island's population work for the federal government, mostly decent-paying jobs. The current population of Canada is approximately 31.4 million. If one percent of all Canadians worked for the federal public service, there would be 314,000 federal employees across Canada. The same table on Treasury Board of Canada's Web site shows there were approximately 146,000. It would appear we have twice the per capita average from the rest of the country. This is just one example that we aren't all working at call centres or flipping burgers.