statism watch

Julian Borger, The Guardian
November 22, 2008

States and companies target developing nations, small farmers at risk from industrial-scale deals

Rich governments and corporations are triggering alarm for the poor as they buy up the rights to millions of hectares of agricultural land in developing countries in an effort to secure their own long-term food supplies.

The head of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, Jacques Diouf, has warned that the controversial rise in land deals could create a form of “neo-colonialism”, with poor states producing food for the rich at the expense of their own hungry people.

Rising food prices have already set off a second “scramble for Africa”. This week, the South Korean firm Daewoo Logistics announced plans to buy a 99-year lease on a million hectares in Madagascar. Its aim is to grow 5m tonnes of corn a year by 2023, and produce palm oil from a further lease of 120,000 hectares (296,000 acres), relying on a largely South African workforce. Production would be mainly earmarked for South Korea, which wants to lessen dependence on imports.

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CBC News
November 22, 2008

At least five people were injured in Iceland’s capital Saturday during a protest over the country’s economic meltdown.

Several thousand people attended the demonstration that began in front of the country’s parliament in Reykjavik. A few hundred of those people then made their way to a police building, where they demanded a fellow protester being held by authorities since Friday be released.

Five people were reportedly injured when officers used pepper spray and batons to repel demonstrators after some tried to storm the building.

The crowd was finally placated when authorities freed the man in custody, who had been detained for his role in a previous demonstration, after someone agreed to pay his outstanding fine.

Saturday’s protest was one of several held recently in Iceland, whose banking system collapsed in October. About a third of Iceland’s population of 320,000 are believed to have lost their savings.

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See the spin here? It’s for the environment. Which justifies throwing pig, mouse, and bacteria DNA into the big recombinant roulette wheel? Recombinant corn DNA has crossed over into other species, just blown by the wind – this stuff affects the environment in unknown ways. Oh, and by the way, Monsanto went ahead and sued the corn growers whose corn was now affected by their product, for some sort of breach of patent. Pretty ridiculous. I’ll link to those stories once I look them up on Google. First, I think I’ll re-read parts of Oryx and Crake.

Megan Ogilvie, Toronto Star
November 22, 2008

The pigs, pale pink and bristly, trot around the pen, stopping every so often to root in piles of bedding. They grunt and squeal and wag their short curlicue tails. All three like a hard scratch on the rump.

In almost every way, these broad-backed oinkers are just like the other Yorkshire pigs at the opposite end of the barn.

All except for the brackish green muck that oozes from their backsides. And the snippet of mouse DNA that has been slipped into their piggy chromosomes.

These are Enviropigs, developed by researchers at the University of Guelph to poop out more environmentally friendly waste. The trademarked pigs are just one of dozens of genetically engineered animals at research institutions around the world whose genes have been altered for human benefit. And, due to a recent move in the U.S., the Enviropig may be the first to arrive on your dinner plate.

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Two disturbing sex abuse stories today… notice how a position of power plays a role in both of these sad tales?

Bruce Campion-Smith, The Toronto Star
Nov 22, 2008

Afghan soldiers accused of assaulting children

OTTAWA–The head of Canada’s army has launched an investigation into reports that Afghan soldiers were assaulting children and how the Canadian Forces responded when they heard about the allegations.

Lt-Gen. Andrew Leslie, chief of the land staff, yesterday announced that a board of inquiry has been convened to investigate the circumstances surrounding allegations of assault by Afghan National Security Forces members in late 2006 or early 2007.

The investigation appears to be a response to Star articles in June that highlighted troubling allegations of sexual assault by members of the Afghan forces on young boys.

“We will examine and report on these allegations to determine what may have occurred, the circumstances surrounding these allegations, what the Canadian Forces responsibility is in instances such as these, what actions were taken as a result, and to make specific recommendations for the future,” Brig.-Gen. Glenn Nordick, who has been tapped to lead the investigative team, said in a release.

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Michael Valpy, The Globe and Mail
November 22, 2008

After a 14-month investigation, the Ontario Provincial Police said yesterday it had decided not to lay charges in response to allegations of physical and sexual abuse at a former private school run by Anglican priests.

The statement from the OPP said the decision had been made in consultation with the Crown attorney in Grenville County, where Grenville Christian College was located, just outside the St. Lawrence River community of Brockville.

The school closed in the summer of 2007. Its stone building and grounds have since been sold for a housing development with the $5-million in proceeds being held in trust under an interim injunction won by former students who have launched a class-action suit against the religious community that formerly owned the college.

The Toronto lawyer representing the former students, Loretta Merritt, said, “Obviously my clients are very disappointed with the decision. But I know it has not deterred them from their desire to see justice done.”

New York musician Michael Phelan, the son of a former Grenville headmaster and a former student at the school, talked with the OPP at length about his treatment by school staff. Mr. Phelan said: “I understand that it’s notoriously difficult to prosecute child abuse cases. But at the same time, it doesn’t mean that these things didn’t really happen. It doesn’t mean that I wasn’t abused, that many students weren’t abused. And I don’t regret coming forward. I hope nobody does.”

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‘Free trade’? Or just warmed over mercantilism? It’s notable that most ‘free trade’ pacts run to thousands of pages of exemptions and protections for favoured institutions and industries. Whatever you want to call it – ‘freer trade’? – that’s deliberately confusing. Free trade would be getting out of the way of people that want to trade goods and services. You don’t need any state oversight for that. The protectionism Harper’s referring to is likely just the response of other mixed economies to protect themselves from the current economic warfare. Why not call it what it is? In any case, governments must not be run like corporations. That’s the bottom line.

CBC News
November 22, 2008

U.S. President George W. Bush, right, meets with Prime Minister Stephen Harper at the APEC Summit in Lima, Saturday. (Associated Press)

Prime Minister Stephen Harper used his speech at Saturday’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum to send a message that a freer trading system is the best way to restore world economic prosperity.

He told the APEC summit in Lima, Peru, that countries around the world should be “vigilant” against the rise of protectionism as they grapple with their slowing economies.

Harper said the world is entering an economic period that is “potentially as dangerous” as anything the world has seen since 1929. However, he said, the Great Depression was not caused by a stock market collapse, but by government policies and protectionist trade barriers that followed the crash. [Ed. Note: ...and what kind of policies were those? Look it up.]

Harper said freer trade in North America has created millions of jobs in the last 15 years, and he pledged Canada will remain open to international trade.

“When it comes to Canada’s support of free and open economies and markets, our view is based on the success of our North American partnerships,” he said. “We took a close and trusting relationship with the United States and we transformed it into the most successful commercial partnership in the history of the world.”

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