Web of Democracy

Jon Elmer reports for Al Jazeera:

"When Binyamin Netanyahu arrives in Canada on Friday, immediately following the ceremony in Paris to introduce Israel to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), it will mark the first visit to Ottawa by a sitting Israeli prime minister since Yitzhak Rabin in 1994.

During his last visit, in 2002, Netanyahu's closed door speech at Concordia University in Montreal sparked a riot that made headlines around the world.

In the years since, as Israel has found itself increasingly isolated on the world stage, successive Canadian governments have moved against the trend and deepened ties with Israel - something that Netanyahu is keen to protect.

"What Netanyahu is trying to do is cement the base," said Dr David Bercuson, the director of the Centre for Military and Strategic Studies at the University of Calgary and author of Canada and the Birth of Israel.

"The Israeli diplomatic position is deteriorating and he's trying to keep the stalwarts in place.” 

Via the Canada Haiti Action Network:

"The following article from the May 22 New York Times should send chills up the spines of Canadian citizens. The prison massacre that it reports in the aftermath of the January 12 earthquake was perpetrated by the Canadian-trained Haitian National Police-Police nationale d'Haïti (PNH), backed by United Nations "peacekeepers." UN and Haitian authorities now say they are "investigating" the accusations." [Read more, or go straight to NYT article, 'Escape Attempt Led to Killings of Unarmed Inmates.'

 (Haitian protester holds sign that reads: "Clinton + Preval = Corruption)

Over at News Junkie Post, Gilbert Mercier reports: 

"In March, an international donors conference, under the hospice of the United Nations, pledged $10 Billion over the next 10 years to help Haiti’s rebuilding efforts. Projects have to be reviewed and approved by a committee co-chaired by Haiti’s Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive and former US President and UN special envoy Bill Clinton. The [Interim Haiti Reconstruction Commission] is composed of an equal number of Haitians and foreign members [including Canada, having anted up the required $100 million]. A lot of Haitians view the creation of the committee as a violation of Haiti’s constitution and national sovereignty. Monday’s protesters shouted that “Preval should leave power and be arrested” and that “Preval is a traitor because he wants to sell Haiti to foreigners"...Considering the troubled history of Haiti, nobody can blame Monday’s demonstrators for being concerned by a leader wanting to hold on to power and by foreign meddling. Haiti is one of the clearest example of the disastrous consequences of colonialism, neo-colonialism and of continued interventionism." 

The AP called it " the largest political protest since the Jan. 12 earthquake," adding:

"Many demonstrators identified themselves as supporters of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who was exiled to Africa aboard a U.S. plane during a 2004 rebellion.…

Murray Dobbin warns via Rabble.ca:

"[W]ith interest rates where they are, over 375,000 Canadian mortgage holders are "challenged" by their monthly payments. When interest rates hit 5.25 per cent, an additional 500,000 home "owners" will be in that situation. In other words, almost a million Canadian families will be cutting back on expenditures on food, clothing, education, travel and health just to stay in their homes. Tens of thousands will fail and many thousands will face bankruptcy. (The Canadian government is on the hook for virtually all the defaults.) All of this would be certifiably delusional even if the country was booming and salaries and wages were increasing. It is utter madness in the current context."

"Ottawa (5 May 2010) - The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) has released a new pamphlet entitled Canada-Colombia Trade Deal - Canada's Shame, condemning the agreement negotiated by the Harper government with the murderous regime that runs the crime-ridden South American country.

"It’s time for Canada to take a principled stand against violence and corruption in Colombia," says the pamphlet, which notes that the death toll in 2009 alone included 45 trade unionists and 114 indigenous women, men and children along with thousands more who were forced off their land."

- Also see this declassified Defense Intelligence Agency (U.S.) document (.pdf) that discloses Colombian President Alvaro Uribe's ties to drug kingpin Pablo Escobar in the 1990's: