Harper government succeeds in obstructing entry to Palestinian leader and peace activist Mustafa Barghouti

News came through after business hours this Friday afternoon that the Harper government has succeeded in blocking a high profile speaker on Palestinian human rights entry to Canada.

Harper government succeeds in obstructing entry to Palestinian leader and peace activist Mustafa Barghouti | rabble.ca

Canada and Venezuela

By Yves Engler

The government of Hugo Chavez was correct last week when a representative said Ottawa supports "coup plotters" and "destabilizers" in Venezuela.

But it's not because Harper is of the "ultra right" as suggested. In fact, both Liberal and Conservative governments have tacitly supported the U.S. campaign to replace the government of Venezuela.

In April 2002 a military coup took Chavez prisoner and imposed an unelected government. While most Latin American leaders condemned the coup, Canadian diplomats who were working under the direction of a Liberal government were silent.

Canada and Venezuela | Mostly Water

Dawg's Blawg

... a new find. Very informed of the goings on of the Canadian political scene.

Never mind a "long march through the institutions": Stephen Harper and his ideological confederates far prefer the blitzkrieg approach.

Independent watchdogs have been muzzled or fired. Government ministers have meddled in the work of arms-length agencies. Respectable charities have been blacklisted with bogus charges of "anti-Semitism." And the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development has apparently been targeted for outright destruction.

Dawg's Blawg

Democracy Canadian-style: How do you like it so far?

by Lawrence Martin


When you think about it, the way to make governing easy is to dispense as much as is possible with the demands of democracy. The d-word is a drag. It gets in the way of the exercise of power. Ways need be found to circumvent it.

Democracy Canadian-style: How do you like it so far? - The Globe and Mail

Obama’s response to Honduran presidential election is disappointing

By Ana C. Perez, December 3, 2009

The U.S. response to the recent presidential election in Honduras shows that not much has changed under President Obama.

Obama’s response to Honduran presidential election is disappointing | The Progressive

The Stranger Within by Ron Graham

Who is Michael Ignatieff? Why does he want to run the country? And does he have what it takes, not only to defeat Stephen Harper, but also — first things first — to bring peace to his own party? Let us step away for a moment from the ear-splitting racket of the political racetrack, the huffing a...[More]

The Walrus » January/February 2010 » The Stranger Within by Ron Graham

ThreeHundredEight.com: New Ekos and AR Polls

A site for rolling polling numbers. For political junkies only.
Click to enlarge.

ThreeHundredEight.com: New Ekos and AR Polls

Beyond the Votes in Bolivia: A Reflection on Evo Morales’ First Term

The history of popular struggle in Bolivia took an unexpected turn when Evo Morales, the candidate of the socialist party...

Upside Down World - Beyond the Votes in Bolivia: A Reflection on Evo Morales’ First Term

China takes a new look at Marxism

SINOGRAPH : China takes a new look at Marxism

Beijing is actively promoting that the Communist Party should build a "study model of Marxism". Coupled with the visit by a senior party official to Taiwan to discuss - for the first time ever - political models, the signs are clear that China is reforming its own system. - Francesco Sisci

Asia Times Online :: China News, China Business News, Taiwan and Hong Kong News and Business.

Obama's Nice Guy Act Gets Him Nowhere on the World Stage

When he entered office, US President Barack Obama promised to inject US foreign policy with a new tone of respect and diplomacy. His recent trip to Asia, however, showed that it's not working. A shift to Bush-style bluntness may be coming.

US Foreign Policy: Obama's Nice Guy Act Gets Him Nowhere on the World Stage - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News - International

How the US Funds the Taliban

incredible warped tale of corruption and duplicity of massive proportions.

from The Nation by Aram Roston

With Pentagon cash, contractors bribe insurgents not to attack supply lines for US troops

How the US Funds the Taliban

Slavoj Žižek · Post-Wall

"...maybe post-Communist disappointment should not be dismissed as a sign of ‘immature’ expectations. When people protested against Communist regimes in Eastern Europe, most of them weren’t asking for capitalism. They wanted solidarity and a rough kind of justice; they wanted the freedom to live their own lives outside state control, to come together and talk as they pleased; they wanted to be liberated from primitive ideological indoctrination and hypocrisy. In effect they aspired to something that could best be described as ‘socialism with a human face’. Perhaps this sentiment deserves a second chance."

LRB · Slavoj Žižek · Post-Wall

ClubOrlov: Obama Wins Gorbachev's Peace Prize

Needless to say, the web was awash with comment about Obama's winning of the peace prize. I can't say that I bothered to read any of it. It was all rather predictable- a scanning of the headlines was enough to get the idea where people were coming from. Then I came across this one which I found interesting...

And while at the site read the author's "closing the collapse gap" where he parallels the decline of the Soviet Union with what he sees happening to the U.S.

I've said it here before: Obama is the new Gorbachev, the smiling face behind the crumbling imperial façade, the personable, non-threatening loser. Gorbachev got his Nobel Consolation Prize in October 1990; a little less than a year later the USSR was no more and he was unemployed.

ClubOrlov: Obama Wins Gorbachev's Peace Prize

millions spent by lobbyists fighting Obama health reforms | guardian.co.uk

America's healthcare industry has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to block the introduction of public medical insurance and stall other reforms promised by Barack Obama. The campaign against the president has been waged in part through substantial donations to key politicians.

Supporters of radical reform of healthcare say legislation emerging from the US Senate reflects the financial power of vested interests ‑ principally insurance companies, pharmaceutical firms and hospitals ‑ that have worked to stop far-reaching changes threatening their profits.

Revealed: millions spent by lobbyists fighting Obama health reforms | World news | guardian.co.uk

Michael Moore: America's teacher

On September 17, in the midst of the publicity blitz for his cinematic takedown of the capitalist order, Moore talked with Nation columnist Naomi Klein by phone about the film, the roots of our economic crisis and the promise and peril of the present political moment.

Michael Moore: America's teacher | rabble.ca

BBC Documentary: Iran and the West - Iran Press Watch

three part BBC doc on history of Iraq from the fall of the Shah to present.

BBC Documentary: Iran and the West - Iran Press Watch

Deficit and Debt Phobia

by Andrew Jackson


We seem set to go into the next election - which could be in a matter of days - with both the Conservatives and Liberals firmly committed to bringing the federal Budget back into balance in a relatively short time frame, with no tax increases. There appears to be no sign of a break in the conventional wisdom that “exit strategies” from temporary fiscal stimulus should be pursued as a matter of urgency, and I fear that the NDP may well be pushed in the same direction.


The Progressive Economics Forum » Deficit and Debt Phobia

US halts aid to Honduras

The administration of US President Barack Obama has stopped all non-humanitarian aid to Honduras, after the country's de facto government refused to accept the reinstatement of the ousted president.

Al Jazeera English - Americas - US halts aid to Honduras

Americans Want 'Freedom to Pay Too Much for Inferior Health Care'

the title says it all...that seems to be what it boils down to.


US President Barack Obama has lost his messianic status in the row over health care reform, say German media commentators. The debate reveals the downside of America's ideological aversion towards government: Americans are ready to put up with an inferior health service in the name of freedom, it seems.



The World From Berlin: Americans Want 'Freedom to Pay Too Much for Inferior Health Care' - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News - International

Harper consistently embarrasses Canada abroad

by Haroon Siddiqui

Israel and the U.S. have well-deserved reputations for standing up for their citizens abroad. Canada, under Stephen Harper, is gaining a reputation for failing its own.

TheStar.com | Opinion | Harper consistently embarrasses Canada abroad