Reuters reports on our efforts at the United Nations: There are some forms of corruption so grave, whose effects on human life, human rights, and human welfare are so catastrophic, that they should shock the conscience of the international community and mobilise the will of nations to act across borders.
Continue readingTag: foreign affairs
Akaash Maharaj - Practical Idealism: Akaash Maharaj – Huffington Post: The True Cost of Political Corruption
Every year, political corruption kills 140 000 children across the world, by depriving them of food, water, and medical care. My GOPAC parliamentary colleagues and I are at the United Nations UNCAC to bring the worst offenders before the bar of international law.
Continue readingAkaash Maharaj - Practical Idealism: Akaash Maharaj: The Summit of Caribbean Parliamentarians
My address to the Summit of Caribbean Parliamentarians in Trinidad: Apartheid gave us some of colonialism’s worst crimes, yet the choice of people of conscience to stand against Apartheid gave us both Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress, and Mahatma Gandhi and the Indian National Congress…All of us are
Continue readingAkaash Maharaj - Practical Idealism: Akaash Maharaj: Fighting a Crime Against Humanity
My Huffington Post article: Political corruption kills 140 000 children annually, by depriving them of medical care, food, and water. Yet, far too often, the perpetrators of the most outrageous acts of corruption are able to use their illicit wealth and power to pervert the very laws and institutions that
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: More on Baird and Iran
People, even the media who watch such things, seem mystified by the Harper Government(tm) stance on Iran. It’s no big surprise, really. When I took this blog out from under wraps in May, I wrote a lengthy essay describing the “Modern Fascism” that Harper has been cultivating. On foreign affairs,
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: When Logic Does Not Factor Into Policy
Yesterday, Canada’s Minister for the Status of Women spoke on the recent decision for Canada to restrict funding related to War Rape and Forced Marriage victims to organizations and programs that exclude abortion. As a pediatric surgeon, she said she’s confident Canada has chosen to target its aid where it
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: What Was That About "Not Re-Opening the Abortion Debate"?
Since 2006, Harper has repeatedly “refused” to open the abortion debate in Canada … or at least so he claims. But then again, there’s the old saw about “actions speak louder than words”. Once again, the Harper Government has taken actions which very clearly articulate where they stand. On Huffington
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: Harper, The UN and Aboriginal Issues
Once again, we find The Harper Government (which, I am more and more convinced is not a Canadian government), squabbling over the UN’s initiatives to review Canada’s treatment of our Aboriginal population. Countries have their rights records reviewed every four years by the Geneva-based UN forum, but the Harper government has
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: New column day
Here, on how Canada’s federal privacy law actually prohibits our own federal government from conducting secret surveillance (so long as it’s actually followed) – as well as how little that law means if countries don’t recognize that privacy applies beyond their borders. For further reading…– Michelle Shepard reported here on
Continue readingAkaash Maharaj - Practical Idealism: Akaash Maharaj: A Witness to Triumphs and Terrors
My article in the Huffington Post: Recently, work took me to Istanbul to meet with the Syrian resistance. We discussed options for the international community to help bring an end to the Syrian war, by destroying the financial networks that enable the Assad regime to purchase weapons and finance assaults
Continue readingThe Sixth Estate: ICAO Won’t Relocate, But Not Because of Harper Government Diplomacy
Until yesterday, I suspect very few Canadian outside of the airlines industry actually knew that the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the UN organization which promotes regulation of international air travel, had its headquarters in Montreal. Some more Canadians probably know it is today, and, as you probably know, the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: #mtlqc13 Priority Resolution – International Affairs
The NDP’s position on trade policy has of course been a hot-button issue both inside and outside the party – making it the area I’d see needing some discussion in Montreal. And while a number of other resolutions deal with the issue, one offers a particularly neat means to add
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Lori Theresa Waller provides her own take on the Canadian Foundation for Labour Rights’ study on labour rights and inequality: In the 1970s, all provinces used the simple card check system, whereby an employer must legally recognize a union if the majority of
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Edward Greenspon discusses the importance of a public service whose focus extends beyond the narrow interests of the government of the day: The hundreds of thousands of Canadians who work for governments, particularly those employed – in the evolving argot of recent
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On unbalanced trade
When it comes to trying to justify perpetually-increasing restrictions on democratic governance in the guise of “free trade” agreements, advocates present two polar opposite views as to what such agreements are intended to accomplish. The first – and more plausible – view of the actual and intended effect of trade
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Afternoon Links
Assorted content to end your Family Day. – Gerald Caplan comments that it’s long past time to put the Senate out of its misery: Who knew that when well-known Canadians in 2011 begged old acquaintances now turned Conservative Senators to back a bill for cheap generic AIDS drugs for Africa,
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: In Canada’s House of Commons, A Profound Fear Of “Zombies” (VIDEO)
By Obert Madondo | The Canadian Progressive, Feb. 14, 2013: Those of us who live in Ottawa are quite used to the talk and sightings of Zombies on Parliament Hill. Today was different. It all started with the NDP‘s outspoken Winnipeg MP, Pat Martin, asking Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird if he’s “working with
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Deep thought
Much as I generally promote open access to information, I’m starting to come around to the idea that the Cons should feel free to apply a “national security” exemption to pretty much any information about their decision-making. After all, if anybody around the globe knew exactly what they’re dealing with
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Thomas Walkom discusses the meaning of the Ontario Libs’ attempt to take collective bargaining rights away from teachers in the context of the wider labour movement: The union movement is one of the last remnants of the great postwar pact between labour,
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On diverging paths
Earlier this morning, I noted that the NDP is developing on a promising line of economic messaging – highlighting the Cons’ determination to place the interests of the wealthy and privileged over those of mere working Canadians. And I’d expect that principle to factor into the NDP’s foreign policy as
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