statism watch

Ms. Klein, you are wrong in your career-long (Shock Doctrine, No Logo, etc) assessment of Capitalism – the social and political system premised on individual liberty – as being the enemy. However, your analysis of the cronyism and (let’s call it) ‘Corporativism’ – to borrow Mussolini’s term – is dead on. Naomi! The state and the economy must be kept separate for the same reason the church and state are (or were). Tighter centralization and association with the seat of power isn’t going to fix a problem caused by this dynamic in the first place.

Naomi Klein, The Guardian
October 31, 2008

In the final days of the election many Republicans seem to have given up the fight for power. But don’t be fooled: that doesn’t mean they are relaxing. If you want to see real Republican elbow grease, check out the energy going into chucking great chunks of the $700bn bail-out out the door. At a recent Senate banking committee hearing, the Republican Bob Corker was fixated on this task, and with a clear deadline in mind: inauguration. “How much of it do you think may be actually spent by January 20 or so?” Corker asked Neel Kashkari, the 35-year-old former banker in charge of the bail-out.

When European colonialists realised that they had no choice but to hand over power to the indigenous citizens, they would often turn their attention to stripping the local treasury of its gold and grabbing valuable livestock. If they were really nasty, like the Portuguese in Mozambique in the mid-1970s, they poured concrete down the elevator shafts.

Nothing so barbaric for the Bush gang. Rather than open plunder, it prefers bureaucratic instruments, such as “distressed asset” auctions and the “equity purchase program”. But make no mistake: the goal is the same as it was for the defeated Portuguese – a final, frantic looting of the public wealth before they hand over the keys to the safe.

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Dana Gabriel, Intelstrike.com
October 31, 2008

The Trade, Investment and Labour Mobility Agreement (TILMA) was signed by B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell and former Alberta Premier Ralph Klein in 2006. It has been hailed as an economic union that will be used as a model for the rest of Canada as the deal is open for other territories and provinces to join. The Yukon and Manitoba have declined to sign the agreement. Saskatchewan has also been reluctant to join because of perceived threats to its Crown Corporations and tax incentive programs. Recently, Premier Brad Wall has been discussing a deal with Alberta that would be similar to TILMA. Many provinces and states are also pursuing similar agreements. TILMA goes beyond other trade deals, with some describing it as more extreme and far-reaching than NAFTA. Much like the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) and plans to create a North American Union, TILMA remains one of those best kept secrets.

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Seumas Milne, The Guardian
October 31, 2008

After the west heaped blame on Russia for the conflict, it ignores new evidence of Georgia’s crimes of aggression

So now they tell us. Two months after the brief but bloody war in the Caucasus which was overwhelmingly blamed on Russia by western politicians and media at the time, a serious investigation by the BBC has uncovered a very different story.

Not only does the report by Tim Whewell – aired this week on Newsnight and on Radio 4’s File on Four – find strong evidence confirming western-backed Georgia as the aggressor on the night of August 7. It also assembles powerful testimony of wide-ranging war crimes carried out by the Georgian army in its attack on the contested region of South Ossetia.

They include the targeting of apartment block basements – where civilians were taking refuge – with tank shells and Grad rockets, the indiscriminate bombardment of residential districts and the deliberate killing of civilians, including those fleeing the South Ossetian capital of Tskinvali.

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Martin Mittelstaedt, Globe and Mail
October 30, 2008

Health Minister Tony Clement plans to reintroduce controversial legislation giving the federal government more oversight regarding the quality and safety of supplements, vitamins and other natural health products.

A spokeswoman for the minister, Laryssa Waler, said yesterday that Ottawa intends to go forward with new safety proposals to cover the booming and poorly regulated supplement field, but didn’t offer a timeline.

The decision is likely to cause another pitched battle within the natural health products industry, where one major player, Jamieson Laboratories, yesterday issued a public call for stricter regulations.

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BBC News
October 30, 2008

US General David Petraeus has taken control of US military operations throughout the Middle East and much of Asia as head of US Central Command.

His responsibilities include Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran.

At a change-of-command ceremony at Central Command headquarters, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said he was “precisely the man we need”.

Previously Gen Petraeus was commander of the US military in Iraq, and widely credited with improving security.

Iraq ’surge’

Iraq and Afghanistan are likely to dominate Gen Petraeus’ agenda, says the BBC’s defence correspondent Rob Watson.

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Richard Norton-Taylor and Duncan Campbell, The Guardian
October 30, 2008

Brings investigation into possible criminal wrongdoing, Guantánamo campaigner welcomes decision

Jacqui Smith, the home secretary, has asked the attorney general to investigate possible “criminal wrongdoing” by the MI5 and the CIA over its treatment of a British resident held in Guantánamo Bay, it was revealed tonight.

The dramatic development over allegations of collusion in torture and inhuman treatment follows a high court judgment which found that an MI5 officer participated in the unlawful interrogation of Binyam Mohamed. The MI5 officer interrogated Mohamed while he was being held in Pakistan in 2002.

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Paul Joseph Watson, prisonplanet.com
October 30, 2008

Cossiga says Italian government should “do what I did” under Operation GLADIO – infiltrate protest groups with agent provocateurs

Former Italian President Francesco Cossiga has offered a solution to the Italian government in dealing with widespread demonstrations by students and teachers over a cut in state funding of education – use agent provocateurs to start riots and then have the police “beat the shit out of the protesters”.

Cossiga, former Italian President, Prime Minister, Minister of the Interior, and one of the founders of the Operation GLADIO covert intelligence unit, encouraged Silvio Berlusconi and current Minister of the Interior Robert Maroni to “do what I did when I was Minister of the Interior,” namely infiltrate what so far have been relatively peaceful demonstrations, radicalize them, start riots, then engender public support for a heavy-handed police response.

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Colin Freeze, The Globe and Mail
October 29, 2008

Mohammad Momin Khawaja is a trained terrorist, a terrorist financier and terrorist bomb-builder, a judge ruled this morning, but there was not sufficient evidence to find the suspect knowingly plotted to blow up British targets.

Following a landmark legal marathon, Mr. Justice Douglas Rutherford convicted Mr. Khawaja, laying out the reasoning in a58-page verdict. The Canadian-born al-Qaeda sympathizer was found guilty of the seven terrorist offences he was charged with, though not always to the full extent of what the Crown had alleged.

Mr. Khawaja, a 29-year-old Ottawa resident, was arrested in 2004 while working at his day job of fixing computers for Canada’s Foreign Affairs Department. He is only the second man to be convicted under the Anti Terrorism Act, which was passed specifically to cast a wide prosecutorial net after 9/11.

While a young offender was found guilty last month of being a peripheral participant in a terrorist group, it is Mr. Khawaja who can be described a Canada’s first true terrorist, as convicted by the 2001 Act.

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CBC News
October 29, 2008

An RCMP officer who was arrested following a fatal collision Saturday in Delta, B.C., was the supervisor on site when a Polish immigrant died at Vancouver airport shortly after being stunned by a Taser last October, CBC News has learned.

Police have not released the name of the officer, but CBC News has learned he is Benjamin Montgomery Robinson, who joined the RCMP in the late 1990s and was promoted to corporal in March 2004.

Following Saturday’s crash, Robinson, 38, was reportedly suspended with pay from the RCMP’s Vancouver 2010 integrated security unit.

He was arrested Saturday night shortly after a Jeep collided with a motorcycle, killing 21-year-old rider Orion Hutchinson.

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CBC News
October 29, 2008

Edmonton police have confirmed a man died after officers tried to subdue him with a stun gun on Wednesday.

The incident occurred at a pawn shop in the area of Stony Plain Road and 153rd Street.

Patrick Saunders said he was attacked by a man when he went inside the nearby Anarchy Tattoo Parlour just before 11 a.m. to do some demolition work. The man appeared to be agitated and sweating profusely, Saunders said.

When Saunders entered the store, he had an uneasy feeling about the man, he said.

“He looked kind of sketchy, hesitant, like he was high on something and sweating profusely,” Saunders said. “So I just kind of remained silent, waited and said, ‘Where do I start work?’ ”

Then Saunders noticed the man had drugs and drug paraphernalia lying around.

“I just thought to myself, ‘I’m getting the hell out of here,’ ” he said. “Then I got jumped. He just literally jumped me with everything he had. Started putting the boots to me, punching me, kicking me.”

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