Political coup in Canada; Dion to replace Harper as new PM

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timesofindia.indiatimes.com
2 Dec 2008, 0739 hrs

TORONTO: In a political coup, Canada’s three opposition parties have joined hands to oust the just elected minority government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

In a deal signed by the Liberal Party and the New Democratic Party (NDP) and backed by the separatist Bloc Quebecois in Ottawa on Monday, the first two parties will form a new government, with the third supporting them from outside.

Under the deal, Liberal Party leader Stephane Dion will become the new prime minister till May when his party chooses a new leader to replace him.

[…]

via Political coup in Canada; Dion to replace Harper as new PM-Rest of World-World-The Times of India

Military contractor in Iraq holds foreign workers in warehouses (updated)

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Updated: added video report; and another article;  see below

By Adam Ashton
McClatchy Newspapers
12/02/2008

BAGHDAD — About 1,000 Asian men who were hired by a Kuwaiti subcontractor to the U.S. military have been confined for as long as three months in windowless warehouses near the Baghdad airport without money or a place to work.

Free Press: Wanted, FCC Chair

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freepress.net

Free Press: Wanted, FCC Chair

Free Press just placed this help wanted ad in four major Washington publications.

Vote for your top qualifications and help America get the right person for the job.

The American public is inviting applications for the position of chair of the Federal Communications Commission. We seek a dynamic candidate who will champion the public interest at a time of hope and transformation for our national media.

Check the top three qualifications you most want for the FCC chair and then submit your vote to see the results:

The successful FCC chair would:

Please make up to 3 selections from the choices below.

Increase licenses for low-power FM stations nationwide Offer more radio and TV licenses to women and minorities Protect an open Internet by enforcing Net Neutrality Create open access standards for mobile phone networks Use federal programs like the Universal Service Fund to deliver broadband to rural communities Open more public airwaves to high-speed Internet access Foster more competition among wired and wireless Internet service providers Stop propaganda, fake news and radio payola Encourage access to more diverse and independent content on cable networks Break up media conglomerates and return stations to local control

Discuss other priorities you would like to see represented at the Help Wanted Ad blog post here.

Go here to vote: Free Press: Wanted, FCC Chair

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Somalia: Another CIA-Backed Coup Blows Up By Mike Whitney

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By Mike Whitney
December 02, 2008 “Information Clearinghouse”

“The Ethiopian invasion, which was sanctioned by the US government, has destroyed virtually all the life-sustaining economic systems which the population has built for the last fifteen years.” Abdi Samatar, professor of Global Studies at the University of Minnesota, Democracy Now

Up until a month ago, no one in the Bush administration showed the least bit of interest in the incidents of piracy off the coast of Somalia. Now that’s all changed and there’s talk of sending in the Navy to patrol the waters off the Horn of Africa and clean up the pirates hideouts. Why the sudden about-face? Could it have something to do with the fact that the Ethiopian army is planning to withdrawal all of its troops from Mogadishu by the end of the year, thus, ending the failed two year US-backed occupation of Somalia?

India Pakistan relations stable

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TheRealNews

With the violence in Mumbai at an end, and the city beginning to return to normal, the question of response is moving to the front of the conversation. Siddharth Varadarajan believes that there is plenty of evidence to suggest that the attackers were from an Islamic fundamentalist group based in Pakistan known as Lashkar-e-Toiba, which means Army of the Righteous. Siddhartha, drawing on a previous interview he conducted with the leader of that group, Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, believes that the group is after more than Kashmir, but would like to see numerous other Indian states with significant Muslim populations ruled according to the group’s interpretation of Sharia law.

Mosaic News – 12/1/08: World News from the Middle East

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Warning

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This video may contain images depicting the reality and horror of war/violence and should only be viewed by a mature audience.

linktv

Mosaic needs your help! Donate here: http://linktv.org/contribute

“Mumbai Attacks Heighten Tensions Between India and Pakistan,”
“Israel Awaits Mumbai Attack Dead,” IBA TV, Israel
“Israeli Navy turns away Libyan ship carrying Gaza aid,” Al Jazeera TV, Qatar
“‘Israel spy’ put to death in Iran,” Al-Alam TV, Iran
“Reconstruction Efforts Moving Forward in Anbar,” Al-Iraqiya TV, Iraq
“Weapons from Iran flowing into Afghanistan,” Al Jazeera English, Qatar
“Hajj pilgrims urged to be wary of scams,” Al Arabiya TV, UAE
“UAE Celebrates 37th Year Anniversary,” Dubai TV, UAE
Produced for Link TV by Jamal Dajani.

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Mumbai India Terrorist Attacks November 26 2008

MUMBAI ATTACKS: The British are behind it by Roland Michel Tremblay

Roundtable discussion on the Mumbai attacks

Extortion – Vote for Obama or you get more of the same by William Blum

The Mumbai Massacre: Who Benefits? by Steven Jonas

by Steven Jonas, MD
featured writer
Dandelion Salad
crossposted on Buzzflash.com

December 2, 2008

In the past month or two, peace talks have been going on between the new, democratically elected (!) government of Pakistan and the Congress Party government of India (democratically elected, of course). The peace talks would eventually have to get to the status of the disputed region of Kashmir, of course. They would ultimately be considered successful only if a final settlement was reached of that dispute which was set up by the British when they left the Indian Raj split in two in 1947 (three, actually, for the original Pakistan had an East portion, now Bangladesh, and a West portion, now Pakistan). Initiated by the new Pakistani President, a businessman, they have focused at a much lower level, concerning such matters as visa-free travel (at present there are not even scheduled flights between the two nations’ capitals), the opening up of trade between the two countries on a broad scale (essential for the Pakistani economy, now heavily dependent on the International Monetary Fund for its survival), and a joint “no nuclear first strike” treaty.

Censorship in America? By Timothy V. Gatto

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By Timothy V. Gatto
Information Clearinghouse
http://liberalpro.blogspot.com
December 01, 2008

The people of the United States might not know what it is that they want the new administration to do, they may not know what it is they want Congress to do, but one thing for sure is that they don’t want another repeat of the Bush Administration or the last two sessions of Congress. One reason that progressives and liberals seem to be the ones complaining about Obama’s cabinet picks is because this is a group of people that get their news not from the mainstream media, but from the internet. We are better informed than those that believe that Wolf Blitzer or Katie Couric is “informing” them and keeping the politicians honest. We don’t listen to right-wing talk radio and repeat Rush Limbaugh’s talking points; we like to figure things out on our own. That may be why some say that trying to get a liberal consensus is “like herding cats”.

We may or may not be smarter than others, the reason that we are usually the first to start complaining or coming out against something is because we get our information first. The rest of the country is just a little slower. To understand this or to validate what I just claimed, all one has to do is think how long it took the majority of Americans to realize they had been duped about Iraq. For months, anyone that was against the war was considered a traitor. Another example is the conflict between Georgia and Russia. During the Democratic National Convention both Barack Obama and Joe Biden railed against “Russian aggression” against Georgia. It’s pretty clear now to almost everyone who started the hostilities, the NY Times has reported twice during the last two weeks that Georgia initiated the hostilities. Anyone that has read the reports on the internet would have known who had initiated hostilities the day after they started. I knew what had happened and I don’t get a national security briefing every morning, nor am I brighter than most other Americans. In order to back my claims you can go to an article I posted on Information Clearinghouse on August 15, 2008.

The Cost of Hegemony is Beyond Reach By Paul Craig Roberts

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By Paul Craig Roberts
December 01, 2008 “Information Clearinghouse”

Undeterred by massive budget deficits from wars, a falling economy, and financial bailouts, the US government has managed to start a new cold war with Russia. Last Friday, the Russian military announced that it was developing a new generation of ballistic missiles in response to the US government’s decision to deploy ballistic missile defenses in Poland and the Czech Republic.

The “peace dividend” that the Reagan-Gorbachev accord provided has been squandered by an arrogant American government seeking world hegemony.

In 2002 the Bush regime unilaterally withdrew from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty that the US government signed with the Soviet Union in 1972. This treaty stabilized the “assured mutual destruction” that prevented the two military superpowers from initiating war, thus averting a nuclear holocaust for 30 years.

Countdown: Bushed! Torture-Gate + India and the Bush Doctrine

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heathr456

Bushed!

Tonight’s: Wow Did He Miss the Point-Gate, Mortgage-Gate and Torture-Gate.

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Steve Clemons Inverview Dec. 1, 2008

Keith talks to Steve Clemons about the tensions between India and Pakistan and how our country can tell India they don’t have a right to pre-emptive strikes after what we did in Iraq and Afghanistan.

see

Documents Reveal U.S. Knowingly Transfers Detainees To Countries That Torture

Bush White House ‘endorsed torture’

Torture

Mumbai India Terrorist Attacks November 26 2008

Roundtable discussion on the Mumbai attacks

MUMBAI ATTACKS: The British are behind it by Roland Michel Tremblay

By Roland Michel Tremblay
featured writer
Dandelion Salad
The Marginal
Dec. 2, 2008

The new terrorist attacks in Mumbai have opened new conspiracy theories, one of them that MI6 might be behind those attacks. It would not be hard to convince me it is true, I never believed those London terrorist attacks were genuine, whilst I was in the middle of it all.

Roundtable discussion on the Mumbai attacks

Dandelion Salad

Democracy Now!
Dec. 1, 2008

Toll From Deadly, Coordinated Mumbai Attacks Tops 170, Two Top Indian Officials Resign, Tensions Rise Between India and Pakistan

We host a roundtable discussion on the attacks in Mumbai, India’s financial and entertainment capital, that has left nearly 200 people dead and hundreds wounded. Indian officials claim that as few as 10 gunmen coordinated attacks that began late Wednesday night on multiple targets including a crowded railway station, two luxury hotels, a popular cafe, a Jewish center, a hospital, and a movie theater. India’s top domestic security official, the Home Minister, Shivraj Patil resigned Sunday over his failure to contain the attacks. The State Chief Minister and his deputy have also offered to quit. We speak with South Asian History professor Vijay Prashad, New York City-based activist Biju Mathew, veteran journalist and commentator Tariq Ali and award-winning activist and journalist from Mumbai Teesta Setalvad [includes rush transcript].

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via Democracy Now! | Toll From Deadly, Coordinated Mumbai Attacks Tops 170, Two Top Indian Officials Resign, Tensions Rise Between India and Pakistan

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Roundtable discussion on the Mumbai attacks

IWantDemocracyNow

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Extortion – Vote for Obama or you get more of the same by William Blum

by William Blum
www.killinghope.org
Dec. 1, 2008

The Anti-Empire Report

Read this or George W. Bush will be president the rest of your life

Vote First. Ask Questions Later.

Okay, let’s get the obvious out of the way. It was historic. I choked up a number of times, tears came to my eyes, even though I didn’t vote for him. I voted for Ralph Nader for the fourth time in a row.

During the past eight years when I’ve listened to news programs on the radio each day I’ve made sure to be within a few feet of the radio so I could quickly change the station when that preposterous man or one of his disciples came on; I’m not a masochist, I suffer fools very poorly, and I get bored easily. Sad to say, I’m already turning the radio off sometimes when Obama comes on. He doesn’t say anything, or not enough, or not often enough. Platitudes, clichés, promises without substance, “hope and change”, almost everything without sufficient substance, “change and hope”, without specifics, designed not to offend. What exactly are the man’s principles? He never questions the premises of the empire. Never questions the premises of the “War on Terror”. I’m glad he won for two reasons only: John McCain and Sarah Palin, and I deeply resent the fact that the American system forces me to squeeze out a drop of pleasure from something so far removed from my ideals. Obama’s votes came at least as much from people desperate for relief from neo-conservative suffocation as from people who genuinely believed in him. It’s a form of extortion – Vote for Obama or you get more of the same. Those are your only choices.

Secrets of Iraq’s death chamber by Robert Fisk

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by Robert Fisk
http://www.independent.co.uk
Tuesday, 7 October 2008

Prisoners are being summarily executed in the government’s high-security detention centre in Baghdad. Robert Fisk reports

Like all wars, the dark, untold stories of the Iraqi conflict drain from its shattered landscape like the filthy waters of the Tigris. And still the revelations come.

The Independent has learnt that secret executions are being carried out in the prisons run by Nouri al-Maliki’s “democratic” government.

The hangings are carried out regularly – from a wooden gallows in a small, cramped cell – in Saddam Hussein’s old intelligence headquarters at Kazimiyah. There is no public record of these killings in what is now called Baghdad’s “high-security detention facility” but most of the victims – there have been hundreds since America introduced “democracy” to Iraq – are said to be insurgents, given the same summary justice they mete out to their own captives.

[…]

via Secrets of Iraq’s death chamber – Middle East, World – The Independent

h/t: CLG

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.