Iran In Latin America!

In this article, Obama has just signed a bill, passed by congress, to counter Iranian influence in Latin America. Although the official text of the bill is secret, one piece of this article sums up the validity and aim of this bill: "senior State Department and intelligence officials have indicated there is no apparent indication of illicit activities by Iran". That quote, along with the bills aim of bolstering security and surveillance at the Mexican and Canadian borders, and within Latin American countries, the text provides for a multi-agency action plan to provide security in those countries, along with a "counterterrorism and counter-radicalisation plan to isolate Iran and its allies", gives the impression that this bill is simply more veiled attempts at increasing domestic surveillance and spying in the American homeland, and increasing militarisation of Latin America under the auspices of global security. We should be reminded by the lessons of history that this is simply not the case, as the decades-long drug war and it's legacy of death, destruction, and rampant human rights violations has taught us.

Policy of a Sheep

Back in April, I had posted here about the Mujahideen-e-Khalq, or MEK, being trained on US soil for insurgency operations aimed at destabilizing Iran. Last week, Stephen Harper's Conservative government dropped the MEK from it's official list of terrorist groups. This is one more step the Harper administration has taken to align itself with a US and Israeli approach to foreign policy concerning the Middle East; a policy that is increasingly hostile to Iran, intent on blocking any Palestinian attempts at a Two-State Solution, and complicit in war crimes committed by Israel. Look at the facts:

-Canada recently severed diplomatic ties by closing it's embassy in Tehran, and expelling Iranian diplomatic staff from Ottawa.
-Canada supported Israeli military action against the Gaza strip during Operation Pillar of Defense (which could have been avoided altogether).
-Canada voted against a UN resolution to upgrade Palestine to non-member observer state status in the United Nations. Canada was joined in the dissenting votes by the United States, Israel, the Czech Republic, and the powerful nations of the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, and Panama. One hundred and thirty-eight nations voted for the measure.

These policies have been a large divergence from the traditional peace-keeping, friendly role that Canada has played in world security, and instead now Harper has taken us on a path aligned with an aggressive, neo-liberal policy perpetrated by the United States. 

Iran Article

Here is an interesting post on the current Iran nuclear issue:

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2012-09-28/guest-post-netanyahu%E2%80%99s-red-line

Save the Beef

With the new E-coli beef recall just initiated in Canada, does anyone ever consider why our beef gets infected with this bacteria as much as it does? I give you the answer:

Industrial farming! Where cows never tread or eat grass, instead they walk all day in their own shit and are fed corn and grain. What part of this picture looks even remotely healthy enough to consider adding to your diet?

One Hard Step Closer To Iran

Canada, or should I say the Conservatives, have suspended diplomatic relations with Iran and expelled all Iranian diplomatic personnel from Canada, as well as closing the Canadian embassy in Tehran. In the increasingly polarized world that is divided between East and West, I'm sad to see the Conservative government getting behind the American and Israeli led smear campaign inflicted on Iran. The fact that Baird even speaks of the Geneva convention, when our neighbour to the south, have constantly been breaking it with threats of military action against Iran. And I further disgusted that they receive praise from Netanyahu, who's government and military is constantly guilty of war crimes and defying declarations by the United Nations and the World Court.

Let me reiterate that there is no direct physical evidence that Iran is attempting to build a nuclear weapon, and that many intelligence agencies have stated they do not believe Iran is and will attempt to do so. I'm curious if there is an ulterior motive in the closing of the embassy in Tehran. Embassies are also used by intelligence agencies to gather intelligence of the government and military of the country they are stationed in. Could this possibly be a way to pull down the blinders a little more on this issue? Will the government, in the future, after Iran has been bombed and no nuclear weapons found, say "we weren't sure and deemed military action worth the risk of preventing a nuclear armed Iran"?

I do agree with Canada's stance on Iranian support for Assaad. I don't agree with it, nor do I agree for support for Hezbollah. I also do no agree with a Zionist-dominated Middle East, nor with a Middle East dominated by cruel regimes supported by US foreign policy. If we are to speak of Human Rights, it is our responsibility to also look at the ones around us who are constantly violating them.

Asian Strategic Posturing

Here's a perfect example of strategic posturing, which can be easily seen when you take two events and fit them together:

First, you have a news article about China and India, two of the world superpowers, agreeing to increase military and strategic cooperation with one another. This move solidifies the two countries' positions in the Asia-Pacific region, and is sure to draw attention from the United States.

Next, two hours later, another news article about US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton calling on ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) to present a united front to China on disputes over the territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

And what does this all mean? China and India are continually increasing their strategic and political position in Asia, and America position in the same area is becoming weaker. In terms of Western economic and strategic dominance of Asia, this cooperation is a nightmare scenario. Both nations have the economic influence to sway position in the Middle East. China and India have been continually dealing with Iran despite the trade sanctions imposed by the US and Europe, one example of how the two powers could present an obstacle to US foreign policy. And in all fairness, China and India have shown just that towards the Middle East, while the US continues to support dictatorships and drop bombs.

Another Straw On the Horse's Back

If the horrible austerity measures being piled on Greece by the European Central Bank, the European Comission, and the IMF weren't enough, now they want to impose a six day work week on the Greeks! Boosting unemployment is going to help them get out of debt?

Example of Privatisation

I am currently watching the documentary "the Corporation", and in it I've found a piece that sums up a horrible case of privatization that the World Bank continually inflicts on the developing world. This case is from Bolivia:

This is exactly how the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, which are both run by the US, impose a neo-liberal agenda on developing nations that have fallen into debt. Money is lent with conditions of privatizing certain resources or markets, which are then invaded by multinational corporations, many times with dire consequences for the local populace, as in this case. More often than not, the governments of these countries are corrupt dictatorships that are supported directly or indirectly by the US.

The current target for this is Greece, which is in such bad financial shape that the Eurozone and IMF is imposing such crippling requirements on the Greek people for a bailout that the future generations will surely be financially crippled, such as a 22% cut in the minimum wage, reduction in pensions, raising the retirement age, and reduction of seniors benefits. And the requirement that proves the point of this post: a $50 billion target for proceeds from the sale of public ports, airports, roads, and energy infrastructure. Who's to say what's next?

Romney's Speech

Here, courtesy of Democracy Now!, is an excerpt of Romney's acceptance speech at the Republic National Convention. I want to pick it apart. First of all, his comment of ensuring freedom of religion can be translated to imposition of religion, due to his stance on pro-life, thus an agenda to eliminate abortion based on religious fundamentals.

"President Obama promised to begin to slow the rise of the world's oceans. And to heal the planet. My promise is to help you and your family."

Between those two comments about Obama's enviornmental policy is bouts of laughter, laughter at the enviromental problems we face. It makes me sad to see this ignorance towards environmental destruction and the obvious global deterioration of fragile ecosystems. It's obvious from this quote that Romney's administration, if elected, would entail more environmental deregulation and emphasis on non-eco-friendly energy sources such as coal and oil. He wants to create jobs, apparently, and the Republican record of the approach to this problem is always deregulation and a golden key for corporations.

"America, he said, had dictated to other nations. No, Mr. President, America has freed other nations from dictators."

Like Iraq? To call Iraq free now is would be sorely irresponsible and ignorant. I would challenge Romney to live the life of a common Iraqi for a month and endure the constant bombing and sectarian violence that plagues the country. He makes more hard line comments about foreign policy toward Iran, which I am highly critical of. And saying Obama has thrown Israel under the bus. I wish this was actually true, because it would mean the end of sole support for a racist regime continuously guilty of war crimes.

There was even a comment on relaxing sanctions on Cuba. The old enemy and barrier to American neo-liberalism in Latin America can expect more harsh treatment from the great superpower under Romney. What can also be expected is further arms racing and clashing with Russia, when Romney reverses the "abandonment" of Poland and re-starts the missile defence shield that Bush initiated during his term. And it's not to defend against Iran, that's an outright lie. The purpose of the missile defence shield in Poland is to nullify Russia's nuclear weapon deterrent, thus removing a barrier to American lead NATO foreign policy. This is inherently dangerous, as Russia will have no choice but to invest in further nuclear arms missile and delivery system research to protect their deterrent to American aggression, thus placing the world further under the shadow of total destruction from nuclear weapons. And there the irony is: the threat to the world by nuclear weapons is not from Iran, it's from American foreign policy.

From Romney's speech I can walk away and simply say this man is Bush 2.0. His rhetoric on freeing people from dictatorship, his hard line stance on Iran, his plans for missile defence, his plans for further antagonism of Russia, his environmental stance, and his economic policy on deregulation is parallel to Bush's policies during his two terms. I believe Romney is dangerous, and will surely be an inhibitor to civil rights advances and the progress towards world peace.

If That Wasn't Enough...

My last post highlighted the problem with the amount of power the military industrial complex holds. If that wasn't enough, Romney wants to give it even more: (click on the picture to enlarge)

Courtesy of Bloomberg Insider's Convention 2012 Issue

His proposed defense budget increase is $400 billion more than Obama's, taking it to nearly $1 trillion annually! I'm curious as to what he plans using this build up for, which will certainly be near Cold War levels.

The Military Industrial Complex

As US arms sales tripled in 2011 to $66.3 billion, I give you Dwight Eisenhower's farewell speech at the end of his presidency in 1961, warning the country about how the military industrial complex presented a threat to the liberties and freedom of America. Fifty years later, his fears are very realized. The US maintains, by a huge margin, the largest military in the world. It runs a drone strike program in many nations that kills people without trial. It sells weaponry to governments with questionable human and civil rights records. All of these points are made possible by extensive lobbying and influence by the "defense" contractors that make up the military industrial complex.

Did You Know?

With the upcoming election in the United States months away, it's about time to dig up some dirt on the contenders. Barrack Obama was the first African American to hold the position of president. Eric Holder is the first African American to serve as Attorney General of the United States, under Barrack Obama. This represents a major leap in racial equality, which I am all for. Am I all for Barrack Obama or Eric Holder? NO!

During his law practice at Covington & Burling, an international law firm that has a number of large multinational corporations as it's clients, Holder represented the Chiquita Brands International in a criminal case and later civil suit for the funding of paramilitary death squads in Columbia. In this case the paramilitary group in question is the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), which was at the time, and still is, on the State Department's list of foreign terrorist organizations. I take a quote from an article written here:

"In 2003, an Organization of American States report showed that Chiquita’s subsidiary in Colombia, Banadex, had helped divert weapons and ammunition, including thousands of AK-47s, from Nicaraguan government stocks to the AUC. The AUC – very often in collaboration with units of the U.S.-trained Armed Forces – is responsible for hundreds of massacres of primarily peasants throughout the Colombian countryside, including in the banana-growing region of Urabá, where it is believed that at least 4,000 people were killed. Their systematic use of violence resulted in the forced displacement of hundreds of thousands of poor Colombians, a disproportionate amount of those people being black or indigenous."

Holder helped broker a deal between the Justice Department and Chiquita. The deal would include no prison time for Chiquita officials, even though they pleaded guilty to this crime, but would force the company to pay $25 million in fines over five years. Chiquitas annual net income in 2011, 2010, and 2009 is $57 million, $57 million, and $90 million, respectively[1]. 

So there you have it, on Obama's team includes a man that defended financial support of terrorism and the murder of innocent civilians, not to mention the defense of corporate corruption and ethical malpractice. And he's the head of the US Department of Justice...

A Quote On Corporate Environmental Mistreatment

I want to quote a passage concerning corporations I found in a book I am currently reading:

"when I look at corporations, I see a dangerous abberation of our own making. The corporate animal exists only in the two dimensions of paper, yet it feeds on the wet and wild three-dimensional living world. Unlike any other user of the earth's resources, corporations have evolved untouched by the inexorable pressures that have forced each species to coexist with every other.Their growth is cancer-like, but instead of withering on the destruction they cause, corporations escape death by lifting their heads and moving on to another unsullied energy-rich habitat.
      This cannot continue.
      In a not-too-distant future, the natural systems we all depend on will be crippled. They will fail to sustain life. The predatory growth of corporations has eaten gaping holes in the planet's nervous system, fragmented the essential ebb and flow of energy, and ignored the closed-loop nature of our existence.
      Diversity is natures's ace in the hole. Whether it's a forest of trees, a species of salmon, or a herd of caribou, nature has made certain that the organisms are not all the same. If a certain strain of virus or bacteria develops a taste for caribou, the diversity among the species ensures that at least some of the caribou will survive. But corporations value uniformity-uniform species of trees, uniform pools of Atlantic salmon. This seems the height of folly. It assumes that any and all pathogens are under our control. They are not. And if the corporate world continues to defeat the world's natural systems of diversity, one day we will pay an exceedingly high price."

-Alexandra Morton, Listening to Whales pg. 297-298

Nationalisation

Based on a debate I just had with a family member, I wanted to comment on the increasing nationalisation of industries in South America, such as Argentina's nationalisation of oil giant YPF, and Bolivia's nationalisation of the local unit of Red Electrica. This has been an increasing trend in South America, a major player being Venezuela under Hugo Chavez. I am not a proponent of state socialism, I believe there should be minimal government control and the workers should own production in a total free market, BUT I do believe that state socialism (totally transparent and properly managed) is a satisfactory way to transition into my vision of free markets.

And the argument that state nationalisation of industries is somehow a move to control the populace or bad intentioned can be argued by looking to Scandinavia. In Norway, the state owns key industries such as oil, hydroelectricity, aluminium production, the largest Norwegian bank and telecommunication provider, and is arguably the best managed country in the world. This can easily be seen in their Human Development Index, which is the highest in the world. There is also significant state ownership in key areas of the Finnish economy. If handled properly with a sense of morality and non-alignment, socialism works.

At the moment I am traveling for a few months, so posts will be few, as following politics or putting my head into it is hard when you're at the beach.

But I am following the Greek situation, just waiting for the anti-austerity parties to form a coalition and give the finger to the European creditors!

Sarkozy Gets Sacked

Well it's official, Sarkozy is out! The first socialist president in seventeen years, Hollande wins it with 51.7% of the vote. This is sure to shake up the Eurozone debt problem, since Hollande is not pro-austerity. Already announced, his first meeting is with Angela Merkel, where I'm sure the Fuhress will be lecturing him on the need to weaken Southern Europe's sovereignty in the name of "economic stability".

And it's also important to note the voter turnout for this election: an estimated 80%! That's democracy at work!

I'm waiting to hear the results of the Greek Parliamentary Elections, which are looking to shake things up even more.

Dissenting the Iran Issue

In an article here in the BBC, more dissenting views on attacking Iran are beginning to be heard in the Israeli power circle. Yuval Diskin, the former head of the internal intelligence service, Shin Bet, has said that he thinks Netenyahu and Barak are misleading the public. Al Jazeera even goes further with a quote Diskin made: "I really don't have faith in a leadership that makes decisions out of Messianic feelings." This is quite a profound statement. Accusations of religiously motivated military policies are very rare within Israel, as religion in that region is such an intense and sensitive issue, and the Israeli leadership goes to great lengths to avoid being portrayed in a crusading way.

I'm very excited by the developments in this issue during the past month, where we've seen a number of high level officials in the Israeli intelligence circle express their dissatisfaction of the policy towards Iran. In my post here, the Chief of Staff of the Israeli military said he did not believe Iran was pursuing a nuclear weapon. Last month, the former head of Mossad said "bombing Iran is a stupid idea". Both of the men mentioned in this paragraph have also stated that they believe the Iranian leadership is "very rational". This is also my view. To believe that the Iranian leadership is not knowledgeable in the theory of Mutually Assured Destruction is pure nonsense.

The biggest fact of this whole issue is the fatwa (religious decree) issued by Ayatollah Khamenei that prohibits the acquisition, development and use of nuclear weapons. I'll emphasize that the Ayatollah is the boss, not Ahmadinejad. And as history shows us, when Islamic Fundamentalists make statements about their religion, they mean it.

Spanish Unemployment

As reported by Al Jazeera, Spain's unemployment just hit a record 24.4 per cent!

I'm wondering how Merkel plans to bail out 1.1 million people...

Nuclear Easing

As reported by Al Jazeera, Israel's military chief has stated he does not believe Iran will produce an atomic bomb, and even went as far as to describe Iran's leadership as "very rational". Now, this begs the question: if the Israeli military chief and the Prime Minister have two completely opposing views of this situation, who do we believe? I'm going to choose the general, who's statement is backed by much more fact and rationality than that of Netenyahu's.

Really, the solution to this entire issue is close on the horizon, after Iran's Ambassador to Russia said Iran is considering Moscow's proposal of halting it's nuclear program in order to avoid further sanctions. Now seeing this, I would say that diplomacy has prevailed and the US can declare "mission accomplished" on stopping a potential nuclear weapons program. But instead, we get this response from the State Department:

In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland dismissed Sajjadi’s remarks, saying the Iranian is “not a central player” in international talks over Iran’s nuclear program. “Frankly, what’s most important is what Iran says and does at the negotiating table,” Nuland said at briefing with journalists.

Frankly, I believe it's the US that is stonewalling progress on this issue, which leads me to believe that their objective lies not with stopping the nuclear program, but with total regime change, which would effectively cut the cord on funding to Hezbollah and Hamas, reducing opposition to Israeli-US dominance in the Middle East. Although on that topic, we may have a new emerging figure, Egypt (see stories here, here and here)

I'm going to end this post with a little mentioned fact: Israel is one of four countries in the world that refuses to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The others are Pakistan, India (who just tested an ICBM and nobody cared), and North Korea, who had signed but withdrew.

Military Death Sentence

An excerpt from the 2011 Amnesty International report on death sentences and executions:

"Of concern during 2011 was the increased use and pursuit of the death penalty by military 
courts and tribunals, including against civilians, in countries such as Bahrain, Democratic 
Republic of Congo, Egypt, Lebanon, Palestinian Authority (in the West Bank and Gaza), 
Somalia and the USA."

A nation who considers it it's duty to deliver Democracy to the world is in league with countries such as Somalia and Bahrain when it comes to matters of justice. By seeing this, and among other things, it's fair to say that in the US, the word "free" is quite a loose term. This trend of military trials can only be described as backwards steps towards legal justice and fair representation. It is also important to note that in 2011 the US was the only country in North America to carry out an execution. In fact, they carried out forty three.