statism watch

Russia has delayed completion of an Iranian nuclear reactor, most likely as a reciprocal gesture in response to Obama’s scaling back planned missile installations in Europe within striking distance of Russia. It appears that the UN is plowing ahead, laying the groundwork for sanctions in order to appease Israel. But is painting Iran as more of a pariah state than it already is the right solution to attempt to stabilize the region, or is this simply polarizing it further in a drive to further conquest, as Dr. Paul Craig Roberts expects? It’s telling as well that another faction in the IAEA disputes Western intelligence on this matter.

Flashback: Iranian commanders assassinated, Iran fingers Western intelligence | IAEA members question Iran nuclear intel authenticity | US military could strike Iran, but at what cost? | Another War in the Works | Iran to allow nuclear site inspection | Iran plays into Obama’s hands with disclosure of nuclear facility | UN approves nuclear ‘disarmament’ resolution | Obama scales back missile defence shield in Europe | Israel ‘will attack Iran this year’ if West does not cripple Tehran with sanctions | Brookings Publication mentions possibility of ‘Horrific Provocation’ to Trigger Iran Invasion | Blast at Iranian mosque raises tensions in run-up to presidential election | Netanyahu: We may be forced to attack Iran | Proposed Missile Shield seen as Provocation by Russia | Neo-cons still preparing for Iran attack | Russia threatens to ’strike’ Poland in wake of U.S. missile plan | Cheney Considered False Flag Operation to Justify War with Iran | US scales up covert destabilization efforts in Iran, continues funding ‘al-Qaeda’ | Israelis ‘rehearse Iran attack’ | Israeli official says attack on Iran ‘unavoidable’ | Bush ‘plans Iran air strike by August’ | U.S. Navy starts exercises in Gulf waters | U.S. National Intelligence Estimate: Iran stopped nuclear weapons work in 2003 | Cheney Orders Media To Sell Attack On Iran | U.S. sending third aircraft carrier to the Middle East | US aircraft carriers in Persian Gulf | Investigative Reporter Seymour Hersh: US Indirectly Funding Al-Qaeda Linked Sunni Groups in Move to Counter Iran | Former CIA Officer – US Plans Nuclear Attack On Iran

BBC News
November 16, 2009

The UN’s nuclear watchdog says it needs “more clarification” about the purpose of a recently declared Iranian nuclear site near the city of Qom.

The International Atomic Energy Agency also said in a new report the delayed declaration of the plant raised concern about other possible secret sites.

A UN team was allowed access to inspect the Qom site last month.

Some Western nations fear Tehran is trying to build nuclear weapons but Iran says its programme is peaceful.

Chief Iranian nuclear negotiator Ali Asghar Soltaniyeh told Iranian media that Tehran had “provided all the information about the new facility” and called the IAEA report “repetitive”.

The US said the report showed Iran had not met its international obligations.

Earlier, Russia said a nuclear power station it had been building at Bushehr in southern Iran would not be completed by the end of this year as planned.

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Purges – the Afghan answer to the cabinet shuffle.

Flashback: Karzai ‘wins’ as Afghan run-off cancelled | Occupiers involved in drug trade: Afghan minister | Afghan leader’s corrupt brother paid by CIA, U.S. officials say | Afghan probe voids thousands of Karzai votes | I was ordered to cover up President Karzai election fraud, sacked UN envoy says | EU observers say a third of Karzai’s votes might be suspect due to fraud | Afghanistan Drug Raid Snares Border Police Commander | Afghan vote called ‘mockery’ | Accusations over Afghan vote rigging | Afghan President Karzai registers for re-election, picks warlord as running mate | Canadian troops could soon target Afghan drug trade: top soldier | Reports reveal concerns over drug use among Canadian military | Afghan government sacks Kandahar governor | NATO to let troops fight Afghan drug lords | Karzai’s kin linked to heroin trafficking | Afghani Narco-state Continues to Blossom under Puppet President

CBC News
November 16, 2009

Afghanistan’s justice minister will lead a new unit to take on corruption, following international criticism of widespread kickbacks and allegations the country’s presidential elections were plagued with fraud.

“Corruption is the cancer that is destroying the lives of the people,” said Justice Minister Mohammad Sarwar Danish in Kabul.

Corruption is considered a major problem in Afghanistan, especially in Kandahar. For example, thousands of police officers are thought to be on the take in some form, while other government officials expect extra payments to process official documentation that affect the daily lives of Afghans.

Interior Minister Hanif Atmar acknowledged accusations of bribery among police, but said there also were many Afghan police officers who risk their lives daily to enforce order.

“For the next five years, the priority of Karzai is to fight corruption,” he said.

But President Hamid Karzai has appointed many people to the panel who were involved in the recent election that has been accused of wide-spread corruption, including ballot box stuffing.

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It’s worth keeping an eye on the various UN organizations (FAO, WTO) with an interest in global food supplies.

Flashback: Food prices set to rise? | Will recession spark global food crisis? | American thinktanks sowed seeds of food crisis | Agribusiness positions GM crops as panacea to predicted global food shortage | Billions needed annually to raise food production: UN chief | Monsanto Plans to Save World with its Biotech Crops | High-level UN task force to tackle global food crisis | Head of IMF says if food prices remain high, consequences are dire

CBC News
November 16, 2009

Help promised, without specifics

World leaders and government officials at a United Nations food summit have pledged to increase agricultural aid to help poor countries feed themselves, but did not set a target amount or timeframe for action.

The declaration agreed to Monday, on the first day of the annual three-day World Summit on Food Security in Rome, was made with the aim to “halt immediately the increase in — and to significantly reduce — the number of people suffering from hunger, malnutrition and food insecurity.”

“We are alarmed that the number of people suffering from hunger and poverty now exceeds one billion,” the declaration states. “This is an unacceptable blight on the lives, livelihoods and dignity of one-sixth of the world’s population.”

The lack of specifics in the declaration falls short of the goals of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, which had hoped world leaders would agree to a specific figure of $44 billion a year for agricultural aid.

The FAO also hoped countries would adopt 2025 as a deadline to eradicate hunger.

Instead, the declaration stated a commitment to “take action towards sustainably eradicating hunger at the earliest possible date.”

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Flashback: Food under $4 to be HST-free, Ontario says | McGuinty says HST doubters exist in Liberal ranks | If passed, HST locked in through 2012 | New HST tax is fair, McGuinty says | Thousands rally against coming HST tax in BC | Flaherty offers taxpayer-funded bribe to adopt HST tax, holdout provinces demur | BC, like Ontario, moves to harmonize taxes | Ontario Liberals pressing to hide new ‘harmonized’ tax in prices | Ontario to merge GST, PST in ‘harmonized’ tax hike | EU approves free-trade talks with Canada | Canada expects EU free-trade talks soon: Stockwell Day | Harper, Sarkozy vow to work toward Canada-EU deal | CD Howe Institute backs Canada-EU deal, deep integration | Towards a new world order: Canada-EU trade proposal rivals scope of NAFTA

The Canadian Press
November 16, 2009

Ontario’s Liberal government has introduced legislation to harmonize the province’s eight per cent sales tax with the five per cent GST.

The bill, tabled Monday afternoon at Queen’s Park, creates a single, 13 per cent sales tax that will take effect next July. The bill also includes a series of cuts to income, small business and corporate taxes that would take effect in January.

The province needs to make businesses more competitive so they can hire more people and lower prices for consumers, Finance Minister Dwight Duncan said. The tax package is about creating jobs and rebuilding Ontario’s economy as it emerges from the recession, he said.

The bill provides for tax rebate cheques of up to $1,000 for families to help offset the impact of the HST in the first year.

The opposition parties call the HST a blatant tax grab that will add eight per cent to many items now exempt from the provincial sales tax, including gasoline, home heating fuel and hydro bills.

Ontario’s New Democrats said the Liberal government is kicking people when they’re down.

‘Job killing tax’

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath told the legislature on Monday that people “don’t want a new tax that will make life more expensive during these tough economic times.”

Horwath called the HST a “job killing tax” and said the government should not be giving profitable companies a huge tax cut.

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