Anti-Government Ukrainians prepare to fight police in Kiev. Below: Rioters throw gasoline bombs at police in Ukraine; Alberta Labour Minister Thomas Lukaszuk. (Wikimedia photos.) You can bet money that when trouble is brewing abroad things are always far more complicated than local enthusiasts for one side or the other make
Continue readingTag: NATO
The Disaffected Lib: Arms Race Update – Turkey Buys Air Defence System from China
Turkey, NATO’s sole member from the Muslim world, has ordered a new, air defence system – from China. A government committee chaired by Recep Tayyip Erdogan, prime minister, decided this week to proceed with buying the long-range anti-aircraft and ballistic missile system from the state-owned China Precision Machinery Import-Export Corporation,
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: A Case Against Invading Syria
With the UK and the United States arguing that it’s time to take action against Syria, it seems a good time to consider the consequences of such involvement from the NATO powers. On general principles, I do not believe that there is a particularly strong case for any of the
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Sure, the Iron Curtain Fell, But What’s Going Up In Its Place?
When the Berlin Wall came down it quickly led to the liberation of eastern Europe and the demise of the Soviet Union. Western European leaders, egged on by the United States, pulled out all the stops to sign up eastern Europe into the E.U. and NATO. America sought to drive
Continue readingCanadian ProgressiveCanadian Progressive: The Nobel Peace Prize is slipping into irrelevance
by Brian Lee Crowley | Troy Media | Macdonald Laurier Institute My mother could have told you why giving the Nobel Peace Prize to the European Union would produce such a predictable and deserved outpouring of derision. An aspiring writer, she took a creative writing course. One of the assignments
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Why NATO?
China’s Next Cold Warriors? The North Atlantic Treaty Organization made a lot of sense when it was an alliance of North Atlantic nations to mutually defend the security of North Atlantic nations. Notice the emphasis on “North Atlantic“? With the demise of the Soviet Union, NATO’s raison d’etre, the alliance
Continue readingbastard.logic: Deja Vu All Over Again (And Again, And Again, And…)
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, Canuckistan: Stephen Harper is leaving the door open once again to extending Canada’s military participation in the costly Afghanistan war. When the Official Opposition NDP pressed the Prime Minister on Wednesday about reports the United States has asked Canada to stay in
Continue readingPeace, order and good government, eh?: Responsibility to Deflect
Perfection may remain a distant dream for most of us but according to Anders Fogh Rasmussen, NATO has achieved it. The secretary general of the Alliance continues to claim that it managed to conduct the air campaign over Libya without causing a single confirmed civilian casualty. Of course “confirmed” is
Continue readingPeace, order and good government, eh?: It no longer has a mandate?
Why doesn’t the moral imperative that drove us to intervene in Libya extend to investigating the deaths of innocent civilians we may have caused or compensating the families of the victims? Nato has failed to properly investigate or provide compensation for civilian deaths caused by its air strikes during the
Continue readingPeace, order and good government, eh?: Inside the wire
Canadian media outlets began reporting yesterday afternoon that Canada had followed the example set by other NATO allies in Kabul. Canadian officials in Afghanistan have been ordered to stay out of government buildings after two senior American officers were killed inside a supposedly secure ministry office in Kabul. The measures
Continue readingPeace, order and good government, eh?: "People are turning up dead in detention at an alarming rate"
The outcome of the NATO intervention in Libya has been touted as a “political victory” for Stephen Harper and a vindication of his foreign policy. In a ceremony held last November, Harper himself spoke about “honour” and the Governor-General talked about our commitment to international law and “the rights and
Continue readingOccupy Ottawa: Adbusters: Occupy May 2012 NATO and G8 Chicago Summit
Hey you redeemers, rebels and radicals out there, Against the backdrop of a global uprising that is simmering in dozens of countries and thousands of cities and towns, the G8 and NATO will hold a …Read More
Continue readingHellberta: The Great Oil War [Chapter 2] : Iran
In chapter 1 of what now may be considered the beginnings of a World-War III we discussed what was then the active military action against Libya. We covered economic hitmen and the typical approach taken by western nations to overthrow or at least get nations to play along with their game. Of
Continue readingPeace, order and good government, eh?: Sorry but I’m not feeling the love
Stephen Harper called today “a day of honour.” And when Governor-General David Johnston joined with him in paying tribute to the Canadian Forces who served in the recent campaign in Libya, he said the following as quoted in the Globe and Mail with my emphasis added. “On behalf of all
Continue readingPeace, order and good government, eh?: Our moral imperative
Seumas Milne in the Guardian: Amnesty International has now produced compendious evidence of mass abduction and detention, beating and routine torture, killings and atrocities by the rebel militias Britain, France and the US have backed for the last eight months – supposedly to stop exactly those kind of crimes being committed by the Gaddafi regime. Throughout that time African migrants and black Libyans have been subject to a relentless racist campaign of mass detention, lynchings and atrocities on the usually unfounded basis that they have been loyalist mercenaries. Such attacks continue, says Bouckaert, who witnessed militias from Misrata this week burning homes in Tawerga so that the town’s predominantly black population – accused of backing Gaddafi – will be unable to return. All the while, Nato leaders and cheerleading media have turned a blind eye to such horrors as they boast of a triumph of freedom and murmur about the need for restraint. But it is now absolutely clear that, if the purpose of western intervention in Libya’s civil war was to "protect civilians" and save lives, it has been a catastrophic failure. … What is now known, however, is that while the death toll in Libya when Nato intervened…
Continue readingPeace, order and good government, eh?: Warning shots
In case you haven’t heard yet Libya’s former dictator, Muammar Gaddafi, was killed earlier today. It turns out that he had been hiding in his home town of Sirte. With the rebel assault on that city assured of victory, he tried to make a break for it. This is from a BBC report: French Defence Minister Gerard Longuet said French jets had fired warning shots to halt a convoy carrying Col Gaddafi as it tried to flee Sirte. He said Libyan fighters had then descended and taken the colonel. Now let’s go to the Guardian:…
Continue readingRedBedHead: US Sacrificed Aid Agencies That Help Children To Kill Bin Laden
If you ever had any doubt that the hunt to locate and then kill Osama bin Laden was about anything other than vengeance and demonstrating to the world that Captain USA always gets his man, this latest revelation ought to dispel that. First, it was reve…
Continue readingPeace, order and good government, eh?: Our moral imperative revisited
Libya: exodus from Sirte as thousands flee rebel offensive Plumes of smoke rose over the city from the barrages of heavy Grad rocket fire. As the tanks rolled forward, civilian cars streamed in the opposite direction. "They are bombing us and women and children are dying," said an elderly woman, wrapping her shroud to hide her face. Over three thousand men, women and children have fled the besieged city in the last three days. Risking their lives to cross the front lines in search of refuge, they described grim and bloody conditions inside the town. One more time: if the priority was the protection of civilians then NATO allies would long ago have insisted on a ceasefire on both sides and attempted to facilitate a political solution. Instead, NATO countries determined which group of Libyans we wanted to control Libya and provided them with air support, artillery support, weapons, training and intelligence. We encouraged them to continue hostilities and an operation that was only going to last for a few days or a few weeks is still going six months later. We have blood on our hands here. The UN itself is completely compromised on this and NATO is just…
Continue readingRedBedHead: Pakistan: When Thieves Fall Out
As Neil Sedaka once crooned “breaking up is hard to do”, especially when you’re a superpower who needs the help of an unstable and corrupt government to have any chance of defeating an insurgency. It looks like the USA is just beginning to figure out w…
Continue readingbastard.logic: Looking Backward in the Year 2011
by matttbastard Der Spiegel runs down W’s “tragic legacy” in the long, long, looooong decade of U.S. decline that followed 9/11: America was trapped in Iraq for years, where a victory was a long time coming and was never a … Continue reading →
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