Uh oh. It looks as if Stephen Harper's Great Escape Tour of Europe is going disastrously wrong. The Tour has gone off the rails, and he's fallen off the wagon !!!!! He can't get a deal. He can't get away from Old Duff. He's desperately seeking sexy photo-ops to try to make people forget
Continue readingTag: Syria
drive-by planet: U.S. ‘red line’ on Syrian chemical weapons – a pretext for arming opposition fighters
The Obama administration claims that the Syrian al-Assad regime has crossed a “red line” by using chemical weapons repeatedly over the past year. Obama has gone ahead and authorized the arming of Syrian rebels. According to U.S. officials the weapons will likely include small arms, ammunition, assault rifles and a
Continue readingThe Scott Ross: Why The Syrian Rebels Are Wrong
The Syrian civil war has been raging for so long that nobody remembers why the rebels are wrong. The rebels are wrong of course because this war started, not because the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was overzealous in repressing protesters, but because Assad was overzealous in repressing terrorists. Today it
Continue readingThe Scott Ross: Why The Syrian Rebels Are Wrong
The Syrian civil war has been raging for so long that nobody remembers why the rebels are wrong.The rebels are wrong of course because this war started, not because the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was overzealous in repressing protesters, but beca…
Continue readingThe Scott Ross: Why The Syrian Rebels Are Wrong
The Syrian Civil War has been raging for so long that nobody remembers why the rebels are wrong. The rebels are wrong of course because the Syrian Civil War started, not because Assad was overzealous in repressing protesters, but because Assad was overzealous in repressing terrorists. Today it is admitted
Continue readingdrive-by planet: As Turkey explodes Erdogan claims he is not ‘a dictator’ – rather a ‘servant of the people’
Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan claims he is not a dictator… not even a master… but rather “a servant of the people.” Not many Turkish citizens are convinced because following the Gezi Park protest, the treatment meted out to demonstrators by Turkish police has been a total horror show. It
Continue readingdrive-by planet: Syria and the use of ‘humanitarian interventionism’ to drive the real agenda
Since the Syrian conflict broke out some on the left have bought into calls for humanitarian intervention, even if it does mean tacit support for American-backed interference in yet another Middle Eastern country. Neo-liberal governments and their militaries increasingly employ the language of humanitarianism to elicit support as they pursue
Continue readingdrive-by planet: Smuggled samples from Syria test positive for sarin claim UK, France
According to a Guardian report “medical samples smuggled out of Syria have tested positive for the nerve agent sarin.“: The Foreign Office confirmed that body fluids collected from victims of one or more attacks in the country were found to contain a chemical fingerprint of sarin at the Ministry of
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: Very Little MSM Coverage of the Bloody Protests in Turkey
Richard Hughes-Political Blogger We have been hearing about the protests and riots in Turkey. Fortunately the internet, especially ‘Twitter’ provides coverage that has been sparsely covered in the Western MSM until very recently. It is clear that the Turkish people are not buying what the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government is
Continue readingdrive-by planet: Turks arrest al-Nusra rebels – seize chemical weapons: the west’s Syrian delusions
There has been very little coverage in western media of a current story in Turkish dailies that places chemical weapons in the hands – not of forces connected with Assad – but of the opposition al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front. The Turkish paper Zaman reports that members of al-Nusra planned to bomb
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: The Humanitarian Coalition Launches Joint Appeal for Syrian Refugees
By: Humanitarian Coalition | Press Release: OTTAWA, May 14, 2013 – Today, the Humanitarian Coalition and its member agencies are launching a national joint appeal to raise funds to assist the 6.8 million Syrian civilians affected by the ongoing conflict in their country. Almost five million civilians have been forced to leave their
Continue reading350 or bust: From Boston To Iraq To Syria: Nobody Deserves To Get Blown Up, At Anytime
* Via @AnonymousOpsIRC on Twitter: From Boston to Afghanistan, nobody deserves to get blown up at anytime. #peace not #war American comedian Patton Oswalt posted a thoughtful response to the Boston bombings on his Facebook wall, reflecting on the goodness that remains in the world: …I don’t know what’s going
Continue reading350 or bust: From Boston To Iraq To Syria: Nobody Deserves To Get Blown Up, At Anytime
* Via @AnonymousOpsIRC on Twitter: From Boston to Afghanistan, nobody deserves to get blown up at anytime. #peace not #war American comedian Patton Oswalt posted a thoughtful response to the Boston bombings on his Facebook wall, reflecting on the goodness that remains in the world: …I don’t know what’s going
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Human Rights Watch World Report 2013 (VIDEO)
Video available on YouTube The Canadian Progressive recommends: Human Rights Watch: Challenges for Rights After Arab Spring Canada’s Human Rights Reputation is Fast Becoming a Myth Cornel West Is Upset Obama Was Sworn In On Martin Luther King’s Bible U.S. pressuring Bradley Manning to implicate Julian Assange (VIDEO) The Young
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Human Rights Watch: Challenges for Rights After Arab Spring
The willingness of new governments to respect rights will determine whether those uprisings give birth to genuine democracy or simply spawn authoritarianism in new forms.
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: UNICEF appeals to Canadians to support Syrian children
by UNICEF Canada | Jan 16, 2013: TORONTO – UNICEF is urging Canadians to support its emergency appeal for Syrian children as extreme weather conditions including heavy rain, snow and freezing temperatures has greatly worsened the situation for millions of Syrian children and their families. “The region has recorded the
Continue readingCanadian Progressive: How the ITU threatens Internet freedom and access (VIDEO)
Last week’s shutdown of Internet access in Syria has shifted the focus to the ongoing discussions of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). Concerns abound that the discussions could lead to greater surveillance powers for governments, and crippling limitations on Internet-based democratic activity. RELATED: Google Exposes Harper Government’s Growing Internet Censorship
Continue readingRedBedHead: Gaza & The Not So Slow Decline Of Israel
Not alone any more: Egyptian protestors in Tahrir last year In some ways what just went down in Gaza was business as usual. Israel provoked a mini-war with Gaza killing a leading Hamas politician (who was, in fact, the chief negotiator for a long term ceasefire with Israel) after engaging
Continue readingRedBedHead: Arab Revolutions Put Iran Attack On Back Foot
There can be little doubt that the Arab revolutions have already transformed the Middle East and look set to continue and deepen that transformation. Dictators in Tunisia, Yemen and, most spectacularly thus far, Egypt have gotten the boot. In Tunisia and Egypt the working class played a sizeable role in
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