How Fox North became Harper's priority | rabble.ca

Remember the attack ad the Paul Martin Liberals used in the 2006 federal election campaign that backfired so badly it helped galvanize Canadians to turf them out instead?

Aimed at terrifying Canadians about the militaristic and undemocratic impulses of Stephen Harper's Conservatives, the Liberal ad intoned over a war drumbeat: "Soldiers with guns... In our cities... In Canada... We did not make this up."

Today the tables could be abruptly turned on the Conservatives with this far more sinister message: "The prime minister's office. In a first-world democracy. Controlling a major media network. We did not make this up."

How Fox North became Harper's priority | rabble.ca

“Sowing Light” Part 1: Bringing Solar Power to Rural Venezuela

By James Suggett

Venezuela Analysis

Tuesday, Aug 31, 2010

Good-news story.

“We live in paradise. Look, the people are very tranquil, the kids are growing, and we cultivate food without contamination because we know how to produce natural fertilizer from worms. And now, with solar electricity, it’s like a dream,” said the Venezuelan farmer Ramón Dávila with a smile, his solid stature and rough, wrinkled skin bearing the signs of six decades of rural life in the remote Andean village of El Quinó.

“Sowing Light” Part 1: Bringing Solar Power to Rural Venezuela | Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela |Axisoflogic.com

A good year for Québec solidaire | rabble.ca

In the past year, Amir Kadir, Québec solidaire's first elected MNA, has become one Québec's most popular personalities. He has won plaudits from all observers and, more importantly, from the public for his performance in and out of the National Assembly. His widely publicized positions denouncing political corruption among the ruling Liberals, supporting the battles against the government's spring austerity budget, or lambasting mining and pharmaceutical corporations, have won him a growing recognition among working people and the wider public

A good year for Québec solidaire | rabble.ca

Endless War, Humanitarian Crisis, and Perpetual Resistance: U.S. Foreign Policy in the 21st Century

The unnamed war: what's happening in the media shadows.

 In 2009, the mainstream U.S. media reported with satisfaction that the Pakistani government had finally responded positively to the United States and NATO’s demands[1] for an aggressive military policy aimed at depriving the resurgent Taliban of “safe havens” in Pakistan.[2] The subsequent offensive, featuring a Pakistani invasion of these areas and aerial assaults by the U.S. and its NATO allies, and has become just another unexceptional element of the open-ended military campaign formerly known as GWOT (the “Global War on Terror”), but which, under the Obama administration has continued without a name. It receives little attention from the mainstream media, which is focusing its limited attention on Afghanistan, to the exclusion of the other “hot wars” the U.S. is currently conducting in Iraq and Pakistan.

Endless War, Humanitarian Crisis, and Perpetual Resistance: U.S. Foreign Policy in the 21st Century

Harper's Christmas Card: him looking at pictures of himself

Harper’s $130 Million Chapter 11 Giveaway

Posted by Jim Stanford
Canada’s federal government made an important announcement this week. It was kept deliberately quiet: with a news release issued at 4:45 pm on a calm Tuesday in the middle of the late-summer news “dead zone.” But it should set alarm bells ringing for anyone concerned with the anti-democratic direction of global trade law.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservative government reached a $130 million out-of-court settlement with the bankruptcy trustees overseeing the restructuring of AbitibiBowater Inc., a failed forestry and paper giant. The settlement relates to a claim that Abitibi brought against Canada under NAFTA’s notorious Chapter 11 process. This process is a bizarre kangaroo court in which investors from one NAFTA partner (and only investors - normal people aren’t allowed in) can sue another NAFTA government for actions which are deemed to break NAFTA’s broad investment rights provisions. If a Chapter 11 tribunal rules against the offending government, it can order damages be paid to the aggrieved investor.


The Progressive Economics Forum » Harper’s $130 Million Chapter 11 Giveaway

Luke Powell - Photographs Fine Art Landscapes Afghanistan

A beautiful photo-essay from the mid-70's. About 100 photos.

Luke Powell - Photographs Fine Art Landscapes Afghanistan Pakistan Ladakh Middle East Central Asia Travel Muslim Islam Palestine Egypt Vermont Ceylon Sri Lanka Afghan women children

Monsanto in Gates' Clothing?

by Eric Holt Gimenez

If you had any doubts about where the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is really placing its bets, AGRA Watch's recent announcement of the Foundation's investment of $23.1 million in 500,000 shares of Monsanto stock should put them to rest. Genetic engineering: full speed ahead.

Monsanto in Gates' Clothing? The Emperor's New GMOs | CommonDreams.org

#26: Disband NATO | Dangerous Ideas | Big Think

It's been over 20 years since the Berlin Wall fell, yet the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance (NATO), a military group which was originally created to defend Western Europe from Russia, continues to exist, with 28 member states pledged to collectively defend one another in the face of outside aggression.

MIT linguist and political activist Noam Chomsky thinks it's time to disband the organization, which he believes is now an "international intervention force" that only exists to project U.S. military power on the other side of the globe

#26: Disband NATO | Dangerous Ideas | Big Think

Canada unpredictable on human rights says new Amnesty boss - thestar.com

MONTREAL—Canada’s position on human rights issues is becoming harder and harder to predict, says Amnesty International’s newly appointed boss.

Salil Shetty said Monday that Canada is now taking drastically different positions in areas such as torture and the death penalty where it has traditionally been progressive.

“Generally speaking if you talk to most Canadians, there’s a big gap between what they believe Canada does and what the reality is in terms of government policy and actions,” Shetty said in an interview.

“It’s a G8 country, it’s a major world power and it has produced so many leaders on these issues, so it has (had) a trendsetting or agenda-setting role.”

Amnesty’s new secretary general said it’s hard to know where Canada stands on many issues.

“You could predict where Canada stood on many of the issues in the past and now you can’t be sure,” Shetty said before delivering a speech at the CIVICUS World Assembly, a gathering of civil society groups.

Canada unpredictable on human rights says new Amnesty boss - thestar.com

The Transformation of Latin America is a Global Advance

by Seumas Milne

Nearly two centuries after it won nominal independence and Washington declared it a backyard, Latin America is standing up. The tide of progressive change that has swept the continent for the past decade has brought to power a string of social democratic and radical socialist governments that have attacked social and racial privilege, rejected neoliberal orthodoxy and challenged imperial domination of the region.

The Transformation of Latin America is a Global Advance | CommonDreams.org

Bin Laden is Dead: Long Live “Bin Laden”. Who’s keeping the terror myth alive?

While the mainstream media rarely if ever question the belief that bin Laden is still alive, some cracks have been appearing in the consensus. In a September 11, 2009 piece in Britain’s Daily Mail, Sue Reid wondered, “What if everything we have seen or heard of him on video and audio tapes since the early days after 9/11 is a fake—and that he is being kept ‘alive’ by the Western allies to stir up support for the war on terror?”

An even more prominent sceptic is UPI Editor at Large Arnaud de Borchgrave whose July 26, 2010 commentary titled “Elvis bin Laden” may herald a new consensus. Sifting much the same evidence as Reid, the “legendary journalist” stated that “some key intelligence officials are taking bin Laden’s reported demise seriously.”

Bin Laden is Dead: Long Live “Bin Laden”. Who’s keeping the terror myth alive?

Hungary's Defiance of IMF and European Authorities Scares the Guardians of Austerity in Europe

by Mark Weisbrot

The government of Hungary has taken on a lot of powerful interests in the last couple of months, and so far appears to be winning - despite provoking outrage from everybody who's anybody.

"The IMF should hold the line," shouted the Financial Times in an editorial the day after Hungary sent the IMF packing in July. "With so many countries in vulnerable positions, it cannot be seen to be a soft touch. Showing a few yellow and red cards is a good way to send a signal to other governments that might be tempted to flirt with indiscipline."

This is the great fear among the defenders of European "pro-cyclical" policies - that is, policies that weaken the economy during a recession or when it is barely growing. Hungary's defiance could conceivably spread to other governments currently being squeezed by the IMF and European authorities.

Hungary's Defiance of IMF and European Authorities Scares the Guardians of Austerity in Europe | CommonDreams.org

Oliver Stone: the new Michael Moore? – Prospect Magazine

I like documentaries, I love Latin America, I am generally sympathetic to left wing politics. I guess this makes me the target audience for Oliver Stone’s new film, South of the Border, but that said, go see it, it is great. No matter what your politics, it is worthwhile to see what a real filmmaker can do with a tired genre.

Oliver Stone: the new Michael Moore? – Prospect Magazine « Prospect Magazine