Archive April 2010

A Miscellaneous update on the Afghan Adventure 

- 'Afghanistan no Just War': After all that has happened in Afghanistan, all the innocents that have been murdered, villages destroyed, women kidnapped and sold into the sex trade, little boys and girls getting kidnapped and also sold into the sex trade, people like Allan Woods are still trying to convince us that we Canadians are fighting a just war." 

- The above letter [excerpt] was in response to Allan Woods' fawning 'inside story' on the Canadian Special Forces in Afghanistan (JTF2, pre-CSOR), 'Canada's elite commandos and the invasion of Afghanistan.' Despite the 2500 words, there is little of substance that is being "told for the first time," rendering the strategic asset still "all-but-invisible to Canadians except for the highest ranks of the government and military leadership," leaving one to wonder whether this article is little more than propaganda in the service of bolstering "Canada's reputation as one of the top special forces teams in the world."

- On Tuesday, it was finally confirmed that 'Blackwater trained Canadian troops,' thanks to documents obtained via Access to Information Act request by CanWest reporter Tom Blackwell: 

"The department [of defence] sent a succession of personnel to Blackwater’s Moyock, N.C., training compound from 2005 to as recently as April 2009, some of them learning tactics for working in dangerous settings, records obtained through access-to-information legislation indicate." 

Although this was treated as earth-shattering news, we…

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2010-04-28 4:11 PM

Schnoor v. Imperial Canada

A very interesting battle on the horizon, pitting a documentary filmmaker against the Canadian Ambassador to Guatemala, Kenneth Cook. Recall that when Cook was Ambassador to Haiti in 2001-2004, he was the point man for Canada's role in the destabilization of and eventual coup d'etat against the democratically elected government of Jean Bertrand Aristide. In 2007, Cook spread misinformation about the filmmaker, Steven Schnoor. An open letter sent to the Department of Foreign Affairs in February 2007 stated:

"Multiple sources, including Guatemalan church leaders, have now attested that Ambassador Cook has been engaging an active campaign of disinformation to discredit what Schnoor has brought to light in his recent work, which examines the conduct of Canadian mining companies operating in Central America, and traces complicity in human rights violations by such companies."

Now, Schnoor has filed a defamation lawsuit (.pdf) against Cook in small claims court:

"Steven Schnoor originally attempted to address concerns regarding the Ambassador’s role in the conflict through dialogue with the Department of Foreign Affairs, but after receiving a form letter that failed to address any of the serious concerns raised by him, Steven reluctantly decided that a defamation lawsuit against Ambassador Cook in small claims court was a necessary and more effective way to defend both his film and the voices of the indigenous Mayan Q’eqchi’ that Canada has marginalized.  It is expected that a…

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2010-04-28 3:39 PM

America Latina: around the Canadian Imperium

On the Latin American front, some recent news and analysis:

- Tune in to the latest Canadian Dimension 'Alert' broadcast: "Honduras–based Rights Action worker, Karen Spring, explains that because the current post military coup government is particularly friendly to Canada’s mining interests in Honduras that the Canadian government is blind to that country’s numerous human rights violations including those conducted by death squads." Anti-coup journalists continue to be targeted for kidnapping and assassination, while, cynically, this week the Canadian government "welcomed the announcement by Honduras that it would establish a truth and reconciliation commission to investigate the events leading up to the country’s June 28, 2009, coup d’état." Former Canadian Ambassador to the US, Michael Kergin, has been appointed an international member of the OAS-sponsored Commission. Whitewashing Canada's support for the coup and indicating how the OAS is attempting to use the commission to legitimate the fraudulent right wing regime that has installed itself, the press release falsely states, "Canada was deeply involved in all efforts to reach a peaceful, negotiated solution to the political impasse in Honduras,  and has committed to assisting the country with its reconciliation process." 

- 'Canadian Fact-finding Delegation Discovers Mexican Community Devastated by Mining Activities of Blackfire Exploration': "A Canadian delegation that visited Chiapas, Mexico following the murder of…

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2010-04-24 4:26 PM

'For $10 Billion in Promises, Haiti Surrenders Its Sovereignty'

Kim Ives writes :

"It was fitting that the Mar. 31 "International Donors Conference Towards a New Future for Haiti" was held in the Trusteeship Council at the United Nations headquarters in New York. At the event, Haitian President René Préval in effect turned over the keys to Haiti to a consortium of foreign banks and governments, which will decide how (to use the conference's principal slogan) to "build back better" the country devastated by the Jan. 12 earthquake."

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2010-04-22 10:44 PM

'Fueling the Afghan War'

                              

"It was as if the Kyrgyz government had been some kind of criminal enterprise within which the United States ran a military base."

Last week, mainstream outlets such as the Washington Post reported on a House panel's investigation into how "Two overthrows of the government [in Kyrgyzstan] have been linked to corrupt dealings at Manas air base." Specifically, they are looking into the mega-deals with Red Star Enterprises Limited, which " owns and rents storage tanks outside the U.S.-run Bagram air base and has a contract to deliver oil products from its tanks to a distribution facility on the base." 

This week, The Nation published investigative journalist Aram Roston's in depth account of the scandal, 'Fueling the Afghan war,' "the story of two interlinked and secretive offshore companies run by a former Army intelligence officer. The firms run a specialized monopoly of massive proportions. Their niche: supplying aviation fuel for US military operations in Afghanistan--enough to fill two Olympic-size swimming pools each and every day of the year." 

Roston's article is a must-read, but one little tidbit that he leaves out concerning Red Star, is found in a reated piece by Eurasianet.org, 'Kyrgyzstan: Deconstructing Manas Fuel Suppliers' Corporate Structures,' which notes that at one point Red Star " won Department of Defense fuel contracts with company registration in Toronto, Canada." (Defense contracts to the Toronto-based Red Star appear to…

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2010-04-22 7:30 PM

Embedded in the Wikileaks video, a reminder of Canadian complicity in Iraq War

                            

The 2007 attack video released by Wikileaks could not have happened without Canadian support. The video "depicts an AH-64 Apache helicopter" which, according to Richard Sanders, a researcher with the Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade (COAT), no fewer than 16 Canadian war contractors help to build/service. See "Canadian War Industries Exporting Parts and/or Services to the USA for the AH-64 'Apache'" for further details. 

If you are wondering how weapons sales to the US make Canada complicit in the Iraq war, consider the historical record, beginning with Victor Levant's Quiet Complicity: Canadian Involvement in the Vietnam War. Levant devotes an entire chapter of his richly documented tome to this question (Chapter 6: 'Canadian Arms Sales to the U.S.'):

"'Vietnam War Boosts Canadian Sales to U.S.,' headlined the Toronto Star on March 28, 1967, noting that sales were at their 'highest level in years.'...Throughout the peak years of the war, the financial pages of Canadian newspapers were filled with reports of export business generated as a result of U.S. military activity." 

Consider the Ottawa Citizen headline almost 36 years to the day later, "Canadian industry goes to war: Our military didn't join the Allied Forces in Iraq, but Canada's defence firms are well represented there" (Bagnall, James, March 27, 2003Pg. F2):

"When Prime Minister Jean Chretien declined [sic.] earlier this month to join the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq, the decision wasn't…

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2010-04-20 5:25 PM

[Un-]Spinning Canada's Special Forces

For some reason, this interesting post from FDL's Jim White, "More Spin on McChrystal's Command of Special Forces in Afghanistan," got me thinking about his Canadian counterparts.

The activities of the Canadian Special Forces are little known to the Canadian public (falling under the rubric of CANSOFCOM (Canadian Special Operations Forces Command) are: Joint Task Force 2 (JTF2), Canadian Special Operations Regiment (CSOR), the 427 Special Operations Aviation Squadron (427 SOAS), and the Canadian Joint Incident Response Unit). Although (or because) they are one of only three "strategic military assets" available to the Canadian state (the other two are the CF reserves and four submarines) their operations are a closely guarded secret.

In March 2006, then-Chief of Defence Staff Rick Hillier travelled to Washington, D.C. where he announced that he had stood up CANSOFCOM as part of the Canadian Forces' 'transformation,' and that Canada's new tier two special operations forces (CSOR) were just about operational. Speaking to reporters he described the significance of the development of Canada's SOF capabilities:

"We are putting a significant investment into the [special operations forces] because that's the demand business -- it really is -- and we're finding that out every single day." (Inside the Pentagon, March 2, 2006)

The expansion of Canada's SOF capabilities parallel the country's long-term commitment to unconventional warfare. A proper discussion of Canada's post-2011…
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2010-04-20 1:12 PM

What have NED and their polyarchic friends been up to lately?

- Michael Barker critiques Mother Jones' coverage of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), stemming from the latest in a periodic series of puff pieces that focus on or attempt to [de-]contextualize the polyarchic U.S. foreign policy arm. [via Swans]

- In other NED-related news, last week the affiliated 'World Movement for Democracy' held its sixth 'global assembly' in the far-from-democratic Indonesia. Along with the usual cast of interventionist fellow-travelers, including the NED and its affiliates, IRI, NDI, CIPE, ACILS, the U.S. State Department, and the Hurford Foundation, Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs chipped in an undisclosed amount to help subsidize the event. Former Canadian Prime Minister Kim Campbell, a prominent global 'democracy' promoter (and Chair of the WMD's steering committee), gave the welcoming remarks. Too busy with Parliamentary investigations into their activities, NED's Canadian sister organization, Rights & Democracy, elected not to attend.

- Although it slipped under the radar, at least three Canadians attended the '2010 Human Rights Summit' sponsored by Freedom House and Human Rights First, February 17-19, 2010, in Washington, DC. Canada's Ambassador to the U.S., Gary Doer, along with DFAIT's Flavie Major and David Ulmer, joined a full slate of 'democracy' activists. The opening evening saw a private reception and dinner hosted by the Canadian Embassy. Along with the Canadians, notable funders included the Carter Center, the…

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2010-04-19 5:52 PM

'Noam Chomsky Has ‘Never Seen Anything Like This’'

Chris Hedges interviews Noam Chomsky about the coming fascism:

"As our nation’s most prescient critic of unregulated capitalism, globalization and the poison of empire, [Chomsky] enters his 81st year warning us that we have little time left to save our anemic democracy. “It is very similar to late Weimar Germany,” Chomsky told me when I called him at his office in Cambridge, Mass. “The parallels are striking. There was also tremendous disillusionment with the parliamentary system. The most striking fact about Weimar was not that the Nazis managed to destroy the Social Democrats and the Communists but that the traditional parties, the Conservative and Liberal parties, were hated and disappeared. It left a vacuum which the Nazis very cleverly and intelligently managed to take over.” “The United States is extremely lucky that no honest, charismatic figure has arisen,” Chomsky went on. “Every charismatic figure is such an obvious crook that he destroys himself, like McCarthy or Nixon or the evangelist preachers. If somebody comes along who is charismatic and honest this country is in real trouble because of the frustration, disillusionment, the justified anger and the absence of any coherent response...This could become an overwhelming force. And if it happens it will be more dangerous than Germany. The United States is the world power. Germany was powerful but had more powerful antagonists. I don’t think all this is very far away. If the polls are accurate it is not the…

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2010-04-19 5:13 PM

Rare Sighting: Mainstream TV looks at Canadian mining imperialism in Guatemala

                                                      Picture 3

                                           Picture 2

                             Picture 1

CTV's W5 'Paradise Lost: Searching for gold at the end of the Guatemalan rainbow.' As hard-hitting a mainstream investigation into Canadian mining corporation's activities that we are ever likely to see. Watch it and tell your friends to do the same. [Here, in 1, 2, 3, 4 parts] 

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2010-04-19 4:43 PM

'Pentagon Invents Taliban Atrocity in Khataba'

Following up on my post last week ('Canadians & the Gardez killings'), Matthew Nasuti of Kabul Press has written an extensive analysis of NATO's cover-up, which I encourage you to read in its entirety. Nasuti argues that the cover-up will likely fuel the insurgency while the "impact on the battlefield from this scandal may continue to be felt for years," that NATO may, as a result, "find themselves with zero credibility in the future. This is not an instance where there was an exaggeration, or spin or a false statement or two. This is not the tale of a few bad apples. What occurred in the aftermath of these seven killings was a carefully orchestrated cover-up." 

Importantly, Nasuti places Canadian Brig. Gen Eric Tremblay at the centre of his "criminal conspiracy," and, accordingly, calls on Gen. Stanley McChrystal to fire him, along with two other warriors of disinformation: 

"It is not too late to fix this. General Stanley McChrystal should begin by firing General Tremblay, Captain Campbell and Lieutenant Colonel Breasseale and sending them home." [Full article is here] 

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2010-04-19 12:20 PM

Papers of note from ISA 2010

Each year, I like to browse through the submissions to the International Studies Association (ISA) Annual Convention. This year (2010) I found a number of interesting papers that might appeal to Web of Democracy visitors:

- Complicity and Resistance: The Responsibility to Protect and the case of East Timor

- American Democracy Promotion as Imperialism

- Justifying War: Security and Humanitarianism in the Case for Iraq

- A Tale of Two Shirts: Public Discourse and Canadian Foreign Policy

- Revolutionary Democracy and Regional Governance: The ALBA

- Fortress North America: The Role of Canada and Mexico in Constructing US Defensive Power

- When Theory Meets Reality: A Gramscian Analysis of Ghana and the IMF

- Counter-Hegemony as Lived-Experience: Radical International Politics in the Life-World of Praxis

- Philosopher, NGOs and Radicals: A Story of Human Rights and Other Scandals

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2010-04-15 8:03 PM

A happy COINcidence

Just yesterday I went searching in vain for the Canadian Counterinsurgency Operations manual that Wikileaks released last August. Fortunately, Public Intelligence has uploaded a copy of said manual to their website. For good measure, I've uploaded their copy to the Web of Democracy's 'Declassified' section, which you can download (.pdf) here. For reasons that the Department of Defence has declined to make clear, they still haven't made it a public document (unlike their U.S. counterparts). Last March, a Canadian Army Communications Officer from Army Public Affairs told me in an e-mail, "The final version of the manual remains unclassified and will be available for public access in its entirety." 

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2010-04-14 5:55 PM

Declassified documents link Kissinger to Op. Condor Terrorism

                              

"Only five days before a car-bomb planted by agents of the Pinochet regime rocked downtown Washington D.C. on September 21, 1976, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger rescinded instructions sent to, but never implemented by, U.S. ambassadors in the Southern Cone to warn military leaders there against orchestrating "a series of international murders," declassified documents obtained and posted by the National Security Archive revealed today... "We know now what happened: The State Department initiated a timely effort to thwart a 'Murder Inc' in the Southern Cone, and Kissinger, without explanation, aborted it," Kornbluh said. "The Kissinger cancellation on warning the Condor nations prevented the delivery of a diplomatic protest that conceivably could have deterred an act of terrorism in Washington D.C." [See the rest of the National Security Archives press release and full slate of declassified documents]

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2010-04-12 2:49 PM

Chomsky Warns of Risk of Fascism in America

Via The Progressive's Matt Rothschild:

Noam Chomsky, the leading leftwing intellectual, warned last week that fascism may be coming to the United States.

“I’m just old enough to have heard a number of Hitler’s speeches on the radio,” he said, “and I have a memory of the texture and the tone of the cheering mobs, and I have the dread sense of the dark clouds of fascism gathering” here at home.

Chomsky was speaking to more than 1,000 people at the Orpheum Theatre in Madison, Wisconsin, where he received the University of Wisconsin’s A.E. Havens Center’s award for lifetime contribution to critical scholarship.

“The level of anger and fear is like nothing I can compare in my lifetime,” he said.

He cited a statistic from a recent poll showing that half the unaffiliated voters say the average tea party member is closer to them than anyone else.

“Ridiculing the tea party shenanigans is a serious error,” Chomsky said.

Their attitudes “are understandable,” he said. “For over 30 years, real incomes have stagnated or declined. This is in large part the consequence of the decision in the 1970s to financialize the economy.”

There is class resentment, he noted. “The bankers, who are primarily responsible for the crisis, are now reveling in record bonuses while official unemployment is around 10 percent and unemployment in the manufacturing sector is at Depression-era levels,” he said.

And Obama is linked to the bankers, Chomsky explained.

“The financial industry preferred Obama to…

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2010-04-12 2:32 PM

Canadians & the Gardez killings

In today's Times of London, reporter Jerome Starkey recaps how the U.S. was forced to come clean concerning its role in the gruesome murder of five Afghan civilians by U.S. Special Forces on February 12th:

"It was the day before the Marjah offensive and most journalists in Afghanistan were braced for a massive operation to fight the Taleban in Helmand, when Nato announced a “gruesome discovery” in the east. [Note: the falsely headlined press release is still on the ISAF website]

On Friday, February 12, less than 24 hours before Operation Moshtarak, soldiers found the bodies of three women who had been “tied up, gagged and killed” during a night raid that left several militants dead.

The implication was clear: the dead militants were also guilty of killing the women civilian prisoners. Nato said that intelligence had “confirmed militant activity”. The coalition spokesman, Brigadier-General Eric Tremblay, talked of “criminals and terrorists who do not care about the life of civilians”. Only that is not what happened."

Starkey has covered the murder and attempted cover up tenaciously. In response, NATO and its allies tried to smear him, as described in this video by Rethink Afghanistan.

Despite their best efforts at disinformation and obfuscation, earlier this week, NATO admitted killing the civilians. Subsequently, General Stanley McChrystal ordered an investigation into the coverup (aka 'botched raid'), meanwhile continuing to  "[dispute] the most sensational allegations…

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2010-04-09 3:58 PM

7 years since the fall of Baghdad

Al Jazeera reports: 


"Thousands of Iraqis have been holding demonstrations throughout Iraq to mark the fall of Baghdad during the 2003 US-led invasion. Marchers on Friday called for an end to what they said was the continued occupation of their country by hundreds of thousands of foreign troops and military contractors." 

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2010-04-09 3:27 PM

Ergo, COIN: Ignoring public sentiment, Canadian government escalates footprint in Afghanistan while elites beat the post-2011 drums

Just as Defence Minister Peter MacKay made a surprise visit to Kabul yesterday, where he announced an increase of 90 new soldiers to the Canadian Forces occupation footprint in Afghanistan (bringing the total to nearly 3,000), Ekos released a new poll today that shows 49% of Canadians are opposed to Canada's current role in the occupation of Afghanistan (36% in favor), while 60% are opposed to extending that role past the parliamentary-decreed deadline of December 2011. The image below captures the trajectory of Canadian sentiment during this 'long war':

                              Picture 7

In spite of how a majority of Canadians feel, an increasing number of elite-penned commentaries demanding that the government commit to a post-2011 military role are appearing in the corporate-run media. Such appeals, which are beginning to resemble something of an elite consensus on the issue (notable exceptions aside), follow in the wake of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's floating the possibility of Canada providing upwards of 600 military "trainers" as a post-2011 mission that the U.S. would welcome, during her visit for pre-G8/G20 Summit meetings last week. As a National Post editorial recounted on Tuesday:

"Last week, during her visit to Canada, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made official what had long been a known secret — the Obama administration would like Canada to maintain a substantial military presence in Afghanistan beyond Parliament’s declared end-date of July…

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2010-04-09 2:59 PM

'Revolution in Kyrgyzstan: Nothing to do With Tulips'

Richard Seymour over at Lenin's Tomb, writes:

"If the 'Tulip revolution' wasn't a precise replica of its Georgian and Ukrainian cousins, this revolt is as different as can be. Despite an extraordinarily violent crackdown by Bakiyev, the grassroots insurgency prevailed. Protesters succeeded in taking over police stations, weapons, even winning police over to their side. They have demonstrated that the state does not possess a tight control over the means of violence, and that therefore popular demands cannot be ignored or suppressed. The Social Democrats, despite attempting to take the reins of power, still don't really control the country. If they attempt to control it with violence, they may face the same end as Bakiyev and Akayev." [Lenin's Tomb]

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2010-04-09 11:45 AM

The latest on Kyrgyzstan; in reporting thus far Canada remains a silent superpower

- Kyrgyz president Kurmanbek Bakiyev claims control [Exclusive interview from with Al Jazeera from Osh]

- The largest foreign company in Kyrgyzstan, Canada's Centerra Gold, assures shareholders that operations "continue uninterrupted and are currently unaffected by the unrest in the country." Other companies with mining assets in the country, such as Eurasian Minerals, or this UK-company, Orsu Minerals, which is part-owned by BC billionaire and close friend of former President Bill Clinton, Frank Giustra (via his Endeavor Financial), have not issued statements, and have not yet responded to press queries. Only one day before Bakiyev's government was ousted, the Kyrgyz Ministry of Natural Resources extended Orsu's gold mining licenses until the end of 2012.

- Russia recognizes new de facto government, headed by Roza Otunbayeva, a former Kyrgyz Ambassador to the U.S. and Canada and Tulip Revolutionary:

"Edil Baisalov, a Kyrgyz democracy activist and key civil society leader of the Tulip Revolution who has been in political exile in Sweden since 2007, says he will return to Kyrgyzstan to work with Otunbayeva, whom he believes is a genuine democrat." [CS Monitor]

- Otunbayeva herself said: "You can call this revolution. You can call this a people's revolt. Either way, it is our way of saying that we want justice and democracy."

- Rick Rozoff writes one of the best analytical pieces so far, "Kyrgyzstan and the battle for Central Asia':

"Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev was…

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2010-04-08 3:35 PM

Oh Manas: Canada, Afghanistan, and the Kyrgyzstan Crisis

The news wires are reporting that opposition protests "appear to have overthrown the government of Kyrgyzstan, an important American [and Canadian] ally in Central Asia." Dozens of people were killed in recent clashes between protestors and the government, which rose to power in a Western-backed 'Tulip Revolution.' Several protests in recent months led up to today's crescendo. It's unclear whether or not this is a 'colored revolution' redux. At least one of the rally's last month protested "government efforts to block the broadcast of U.S.-funded radio and television programs," in particular the U.S. foreign propaganda arm, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. The National Endowment for Democracy and its affiliates maintain a significant level of funding ties and programs throughout the country, but if the movement's reported calls for the closure of a local U.S. military base are any indication, this may not be a U.S.-backed movement; time and, hopefully, good investigative reporting, will tell. 

 

After backtracking on threats to shut down the strategic U.S. military hub last year at Manas, which logistically enables the NATO counterinsurgency war in Afghanistan, just last month Kyrgyz officials announced US "plans to build a $5 million military base for training local troops to assist in the fight against international terrorism." (Update: PressTV reports that the U.S. "US military flights from [Manas] base north of the Kyrgyz capital have been suspended after authorities…

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2010-04-07 3:56 PM

'Afghanistan, the Pipeline, and Politics'

              

                               

A new piece by John Foster and Millie Morton:


Canadian military involvement in Afghanistan began in 2002, more than eight years ago. In all this time, despite three federal elections and an evolution of reasons for the conflict, few politicians have dared to comment on the Big Picture -- the geopolitics of the region. Understanding this Big Picture, which is very much a part of US strategic thinking, is critical to assessing Canadian involvement in Afghanistan...As new conflicts emerge, it behoves Canada to avoid entrapment in wars for resources. The militarizing of energy has many consequences, including ever larger defence budgets and fewer tax dollars available for health care and other needs at home. As history confirms, governments often tell fairytales, rather than reveal politically unpopular and possibly illegal reasons for military actions. The TAPI pipeline project is significant to wealth and power in the region. Its connection with the conflict in Afghanistan may be murky, but it is relevant. Public attention to the geopolitics of energy is essential before Canada signs on for new military and security assignments in foreign lands. [Via Peace Magazine]


- Also recently from Foster, a more extensive article in the Journal of Energy Security, "Afghanistan, the TAPI Pipeline, and Energy Politics." 

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2010-04-06 7:19 PM

'A Tale of Two Shirts: Public Discourse and Canadian Foreign Policy'

Utilizing Gramscian hegemonic theory, Mark Neufeld critiques the "very similar" Canadian foreign policy analyses of defence lobby pundit Jack Granatstein and Michael Byers in his "A Tale of Two Shirts: Public Discourse and Canadian Foreign Policy," (.pdf) an academic but readable paper presented at the recent International Studies Association conference. 

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2010-04-06 7:02 PM

US military implicated in 'indiscriminate slaying' of more than 12 Iraqis in leaked 'Collateral Murder' video

WikiLeaks has released a classified US military video depicting the indiscriminate slaying of over a dozen people in the Iraqi suburb of New Baghdad -- including two Reuters news staff.

Reuters has been trying to obtain the video through the Freedom of Information Act, without success since the time of the attack. The video, shot from an Apache helicopter gun-site, clearly shows the unprovoked slaying of a wounded Reuters employee and his rescuers. Two young children involved in the rescue were also seriously wounded.

Watch the video at: http://collateralmurder.com/, and follow along with the transcript. Background resources including coverage of the US military's original lies and disinformation about the massacre (deceptively called a "clash with militias" by the NYT), are here. 

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2010-04-05 1:01 PM

'Live Independent or Die'

Haiti's original Declaration of Independence Found by Canadian researcher. [Globe and Mail]

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2010-04-02 12:09 PM

'Hollowing Out Corporate Canada? Changes in the Corporate Network Since the 1990s'

An important new article about the Canadian capitalist class/elites, globalization, and transnational corporations by William Carroll and Jerome Klassen in the current Canadian Journal of Sociology:

"The recent spate of foreign takeovers once again raises the question of whether Canada’s corporate elite is being ‘hollowed out’ in a silent surrender to foreign-based transnational firms. Using data from a study of interlocking directorates among the largest corporations in Canada and the world for the years 1996 and 2006, this paper assesses whether recent changes in the Canadian corporate network indicate a process of hollowing out or the reproduction of a domestic elite within global circuits of capital." [Full text .pdf]

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2010-04-01 5:21 PM

Allan Nairn vs. the Indonesian Special Forces

Here's the first few paragraphs of investigative journalist Allan Nairn's* outstanding article, 'Indonesian Army, Kopassus, Implicated in New Assassinations. Forces Chosen By Obama for Renewed US Aid Ran '09 Activist Murders':

"According to senior Indonesian officials and police and details from government files, the US-backed Indonesian armed forces (TNI), now due for fresh American aid, assassinated a series of civilian activists during 2009.

The killings were part of a secret government program, authorized from Jakarta, and were coordinated in part by an active-duty, US-trained Kopassus special forces General who has just acknowledged on the record that his TNI men had a role in the killings.

The news comes as US President Barack Obama is reportedly due to announce that he is reversing longstanding US policy – imposed by Congress in response to grassroots pressure – of restricting categories of US assistance to TNI, a force which, during its years of US training, has killed hundreds of thousands of civilians."

For exposing this, Nairn has been threatened with arrest by the Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI), a threat that Nairn has welcomed. As of today, two previously scheduled interviews with him on Indonesian TV have been censored, the first, just a couple of minutes in, and the second, cancelled last minute "due to pressure from Kopassus (the Indonesian Special Forces)."

One outlet that wasn't censored was Democracy Now! Amy Goodman, Nairn's longtime colleague, interviewed…

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2010-04-01 3:07 AM