statism watch

Flashback: J.P. Morgan rolls into Calgary | JPMorgan, Citigroup Helped Doom Lehman, Report Says | Goldman role in Greek crisis probed | How EU Countries Cooked Books Using Derivatives | Goldman Sachs Helped Greece Obscure Debt Through Currency Swaps | America slides deeper into depression as Wall Street revels | How Goldman secretly bet on the U.S. housing crash | Goldman Sachs breaks record with $16.7bn bonus pot | More US Bank Failures and The Coming Deposit Insurance Bailout | Arrest Over Software Illuminates Wall St. Secret | The Lords of Time: Goldman Sachs and low-latency trading | Record quarterly profits and bonuses: Goldman Sachs makes out like a bandit on taxpayer’s dime | Goldman-Sachs: Pilfered trading code could be used to ‘manipulate markets’ | Taibbi: NYSE ends transparency to protect Goldman Sachs | Central banks to take off ‘training wheels’ | Goldman Sachs: The Great American Bubble Machine | 10 U.S. banks to repay U.S. bailout money | Top Senate Democrat: bankers “own” the U.S. Congress | Barclays, Lloyd’s, RBS join Goldman-Sachs in the black | Goldman-Sachs to repay TARP loan, resume private operations, bonuses, at “earliest time” possible | Which Banks Will Rule? | Wall Street’s Big Takeover | IMF may need to “print money”, act as “world’s central bank” as crisis spreads | Behind the panic: Financial warfare over the future of global bank power | Goldman-Sachs Alumni Hold Reins of Financial System | What Really Killed Bear Stearns? | Soros points out regulated markets fail to operate on market fundamentals, calls for more regulation | Competition study calls for lowered barriers to foreign ownership, bank mergers | Massive overhaul urged on foreign investment in airlines, media, and banks | Bilderberg Seeks Bank Centralization Agenda

Matt Taibbi, Rolling Stone
March 31, 2010

How the nation’s biggest banks are ripping off American cities with the same predatory deals that brought down Greece

If you want to know what life in the Third World is like, just ask Lisa Pack, an administrative assistant who works in the roads and transportation department in Jefferson County, Alabama. Pack got rudely introduced to life in post-crisis America last August, when word came down that she and 1,000 of her fellow public employees would have to take a little unpaid vacation for a while. The county, it turned out, was more than $5 billion in debt – meaning that courthouses, jails and sheriff’s precincts had to be closed so that Wall Street banks could be paid.

As public services in and around Birmingham were stripped to the bone, Pack struggled to support her family on a weekly unemployment check of $260. Nearly a fourth of that went to pay for her health insurance, which the county no longer covered. She also fielded calls from laid-off co-workers who had it even tougher. “I’d be on the phone sometimes until two in the morning,” she says. “I had to talk more than one person out of suicide. For some of the men supporting families, it was so hard – foreclosure, bankruptcy. I’d go to bed at night, and I’d be in tears.”

Homes stood empty, businesses were boarded up, and parts of already-blighted Birmingham began to take on the feel of a ghost town. There were also a few bills that were unique to the area – like the $64 sewer bill that Pack and her family paid each month. “Yeah, it went up about 400 percent just over the past few years,” she says.

The sewer bill, in fact, is what cost Pack and her co-workers their jobs. In 1996, the average monthly sewer bill for a family of four in Birmingham was only $14.71 – but that was before the county decided to build an elaborate new sewer system with the help of out-of-state financial wizards with names like Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Chase. The result was a monstrous pile of borrowed money that the county used to build, in essence, the world’s grandest toilet – “the Taj Mahal of sewer-treatment plants” is how one county worker put it. What happened here in Jefferson County would turn out to be the perfect metaphor for the peculiar alchemy of modern oligarchical capitalism: A mob of corrupt local officials and morally absent financiers got together to build a giant device that converted human shit into billions of dollars of profit for Wall Street – and misery for people like Lisa Pack.

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Flashback: Manipulation Of Gold And Silver Prices Further Exposed

Update (2010/04/09): Further details on this incident were found in an AmericanFreePress.net article, which goes further in explaining the allegations of the whistleblower: “On Feb. 3, Maguire gave a two-day warning by email to Eliud Ramirez, a senior investigator for the CFTC’s Enforcement Division, that the precious metals would be attacked upon the release of the non-farm payroll data on Feb. 5. On Feb. 5, as market events played out exactly as predicted, further emails were sent to Ramirez while the manipulation was in progress. It would not be possible to predict such a market move unless the market was manipulated. Murphy explained that despite the Enforcement Division receiving detailed information in December 2009, the manipulation continues unabated as can be seen by the way gold was taken down during the last week of March in order to rob holders of April gold call options in the strike range of $1,100 to $1,150, as the hammering made them expire as worthless.”

Nathan Lewis, The Huffington Post
March 31, 2010

We’ve had a string of amazing revelations recently regarding the world’s precious metals market. This is important stuff for anyone (like me) who holds gold as a means to avoid currency turmoil and counterparty risk.

(My earlier post on shenanigans at the Comex gold market.)

This news has been actively suppressed in the mainstream media.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission, a U.S. government regulatory agency, held hearings in Washington D.C. in late March regarding position limits in the futures market.

People involved in the markets have known/suspected for years that they have been manipulated by certain large entities, notably JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs.

Analysts like silver maven, Ted Butler, hedge fund giant, Eric Sprott, and the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee (GATA) have been collecting evidence of this manipulation for years.

These hearings were supposed to be a non-event. However, despite the media lock-down, the word is getting out.

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“How much longer are you going to put up with a foreign army controlling your streets and highways?” Stone was heard saying.

What foreign army? Is this evidence of the fantasy role-playing that Stone’s brother was talking about on CNN – firming up the idea this case is manufactured entirely wholecloth – or was the leader of the group, their ‘pastor’, completely out of his mind? It’s now incontestable that entrapment plays a large part in this case, the only question is to what degree. But that won’t matter as news of domestic terror will now be on the front page for years to come.

Flashback: Alt-Media Predictions Borne Out: FBI Agent Discovered at Center of Alleged Hutaree Conspiracy | Undercover agent helped in probe of Hutaree | Raid on ‘unheard of’ Hutaree militia puzzles small town | 9 Hutaree members face federal charges of conspiracy, attempting to use ‘weapons of mass destruction’ | FBI raids in Washtenaw, Lenawee counties tied to Michigan militia group | DHS Video Portrays Average Americans As Terrorists | US Police to get access to classified military intelligence | US Homeland Security: Terror fight needs public’s vigilance | DoD Training Manual Describes Protest As “Low-Level Terrorism” | UK schoolkids trained to inform on ‘extremist’ classmates by police DVD | ‘AmeriCorps’ Domestic Paramilitary Propaganda Ad | Scouts Train to Fight Terrorists, and More | Secret Homeland Security Threat Assessment Labels Gun Owners Potential Terrorists | UK Home Secretary unveils civilian anti-terrorism security force | US Urban Warfare Drills Linked To Coming Economic Rage | Army ‘Strategic Shock’ Report Says Troops May Be Needed To Quell U.S. Civil Unrest | Pentagon earmarks 20,000 additional troops for American streets | Two More U.S. Military Units Assigned For Homeland Security | US Counterinsurgency Manual Leaked, Calls for False Flag Operations, Suspension of Human Rights | ‘Lone wolf’ terror threat on rise, report warns | US Experts Can’t Agree on Whether ‘Al-Qaeda’ Poses a Threat, Look to ‘Leaderless Jihad’ in America | Fascist America, in 10 easy steps

Reuters
March 31, 2010

Eight members of an extremist militia group accused of conspiring to kill law enforcement officers as part of a wider war on the U.S. government pleaded not guilty in federal court on Wednesday.

Attorneys for the eight sought to fight government efforts to have the defendants detained for the duration of the proceedings, a court case that one of the lawyers predicted would be “a mega-trial that will take years to unfold.”

The group’s leader, 45-year-old David Brian Stone, had planned to take over three or four rural counties in southeastern Michigan and use the toehold to ambush and kill members of U.S. law enforcement, Assistant U.S. Attorney Ronald Waterstreet said.

The Christian militia group, which called itself the Hutaree, viewed the police as their enemy because they believed U.S. law enforcement officers were acting as agents of a “new world order,” Waterstreet said.

Prosecutors played a recording which they said was taped by a federal agent who had infiltrated the group.

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Related: New chief Climategate investigator failed to declare eco directorship| A perfect storm is brewing for the IPCC | UK: University at center of Climategate accused of misleading MPs, deleting information | Global warming panel to get independent review | Climate scientists withdraw journal claims of rising sea levels | Climategate U-turn as scientist at centre of row admits: There has been no global warming since 1995 | Leaked climate change emails scientist ‘hid’ data flaws | Canadian scientist says UN’s global warming panel ‘crossing the line’ | Manufactured ‘Science’: Another IPCC Scientist Reveals How UN Scientists talked about ‘trying to make IPCC report so dramatic that US would just have to sign Kyoto Protocol’ | Glacier scientist: I knew data hadn’t been verified | UN wrongly linked global warming to natural disasters | The IPCC glacier meltdown: More global warming fraud exposed | Taxpayers’ millions paid to Indian institute run by UN IPCC climate chief | Climategate: A 2,000-page epic of science and skepticism – Part 2 | Climategate: Al Gore lies | Climategate: A 2,000-page epic of science and skepticism – Part 1 | If Climategate Is No Big Deal, Why Are Questions About It Met With An Armed Response? | Climategate: Investigations into climate fraud fixed | ‘Independent’ United Nations panel to examine Climategate evidence | Bombshell UN Climate Documents Reveal Planned “End Run” Around National Sovereignty | Climategate: Global Warming scientists placed under investigation | Latest Climategate revelation: Climate change data dumped | Climate change: this is the worst scientific scandal of our generation | Obama’s ‘Science Czar’ John Holdren Friend of Climate Deception Lab | “Climategate”: Peer-Review System Was Hijacked By Warming Alarmists | Top Climatology Lab Hacked, E-Mails Reveal Biased Science | E-mails indicate EPA suppressed report skeptical of global warming | Polar bear expert barred from conference by global warming advocates | Top Japanese Scientists: Warming Is Not Caused By Human Activity | IPCC caught with false figures, doubt cast on accuracy of global temperature record

Paul Joseph Watson, PrisonPlanet.com
March 31, 2010

One down, two to go: First “investigation” into data fixing scandal clears scientists, says warming is real

A Parliamentary investigation into the climategate scandal has cleared the scientists involved of any data fixing and subversion of the peer review process, and notes that the scandal provides no evidence to challenge the notion that human activity is causing catastrophic global warming.

The House of Commons’ Science and Technology Committee Report (PDF), the first of three investigations into climategate, produced its report after only a single day of oral testimony.

The report concludes that UN IPCC affiliated scientists at the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit, led by director Phil Jones (pictured at the hearing), did not tamper with data in an effort to exaggerate the threat of global warming.

The Report states that “The scientific reputation of Professor Jones and CRU remains intact”.

The committee added that it found nothing sinister in Jones’ use of the words “hide the decline” and “trick” with regards to data on temperature changes.

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The truth will out. In this case, it only took two days. (The New York Times has some additional background here on the Stone family, distinctions between militias in Michigan, etc.)

Flashback: Undercover agent helped in probe of Hutaree | Raid on ‘unheard of’ Hutaree militia puzzles small town | 9 Hutaree members face federal charges of conspiracy, attempting to use ‘weapons of mass destruction’ | FBI raids in Washtenaw, Lenawee counties tied to Michigan militia group | DHS Video Portrays Average Americans As Terrorists | US Police to get access to classified military intelligence | US Homeland Security: Terror fight needs public’s vigilance | DoD Training Manual Describes Protest As “Low-Level Terrorism” | UK schoolkids trained to inform on ‘extremist’ classmates by police DVD | ‘AmeriCorps’ Domestic Paramilitary Propaganda Ad | Scouts Train to Fight Terrorists, and More | Secret Homeland Security Threat Assessment Labels Gun Owners Potential Terrorists | UK Home Secretary unveils civilian anti-terrorism security force | US Urban Warfare Drills Linked To Coming Economic Rage | Army ‘Strategic Shock’ Report Says Troops May Be Needed To Quell U.S. Civil Unrest | Pentagon earmarks 20,000 additional troops for American streets | Two More U.S. Military Units Assigned For Homeland Security | US Counterinsurgency Manual Leaked, Calls for False Flag Operations, Suspension of Human Rights | ‘Lone wolf’ terror threat on rise, report warns | US Experts Can’t Agree on Whether ‘Al-Qaeda’ Poses a Threat, Look to ‘Leaderless Jihad’ in America | Fascist America, in 10 easy steps

Kurt Nimmo, Infowars.com
March 31, 2010

On Monday we asked you to count the hours before links to the feds emerged on this one — turns out it was 48.

The FBI had an informant inside the Hutaree group and he participated in the alleged conspiracy to kill law enforcement officers, according to The Wall Street Journal today.

In sworn testimony, Thomas William Piatek is described as a Cooperating Witness and an undercover FBI agent.

Thomas William Piatek is pictured at the bottom right. It is interesting to note that, unlike the other suspects, he appears not to be wearing a jail uniform.

“A spokesperson at the FBI’s Detroit office declined to comment on the undercover agent and any role such an agent may have had in the investigation. A spokesman at the Justice Department in Washington also declined to discuss specifics of the investigation,” the Journal reports.

It is not surprising that the FBI had penetrated the Hutaree group and an agent was apparently at the center of the alleged conspiracy. In fact, it is part of a well established pattern.

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Recipe for uncovering ‘domestic terror’. Find tiny impressionable group of semi-moronic hillbillies engaging in target practice and wargaming (note: David Stone’s brother, Randall Stone, was on CNN and mentioned his brother had developed a card game involving “two military teams playing against a make-believe world”). Add one or more charismatic federal agents and stir: Suggest various hypothetical training situations and elicit ‘militia’ opinions as to what they might do in said situations while driving to a protest rally, ensuring said militia leader will shoot his mouth off on wiretap. And there you have your domestic terror, prepackaged and ready for the major news media.

Flashback: Raid on ‘unheard of’ Hutaree militia puzzles small town | 9 Hutaree members face federal charges of conspiracy, attempting to use ‘weapons of mass destruction’ | FBI raids in Washtenaw, Lenawee counties tied to Michigan militia group | DHS Video Portrays Average Americans As Terrorists | US Police to get access to classified military intelligence | US Homeland Security: Terror fight needs public’s vigilance | DoD Training Manual Describes Protest As “Low-Level Terrorism” | UK schoolkids trained to inform on ‘extremist’ classmates by police DVD | ‘AmeriCorps’ Domestic Paramilitary Propaganda Ad | Scouts Train to Fight Terrorists, and More | Secret Homeland Security Threat Assessment Labels Gun Owners Potential Terrorists | UK Home Secretary unveils civilian anti-terrorism security force | US Urban Warfare Drills Linked To Coming Economic Rage | Army ‘Strategic Shock’ Report Says Troops May Be Needed To Quell U.S. Civil Unrest | Pentagon earmarks 20,000 additional troops for American streets | Two More U.S. Military Units Assigned For Homeland Security | US Counterinsurgency Manual Leaked, Calls for False Flag Operations, Suspension of Human Rights | ‘Lone wolf’ terror threat on rise, report warns | US Experts Can’t Agree on Whether ‘Al-Qaeda’ Poses a Threat, Look to ‘Leaderless Jihad’ in America | Fascist America, in 10 easy steps

David Ashenfelter, Ben Schmitt, Detroit Free Press
March 31, 2010

Photograph of deadly ‘Hutaree’ compound can now be revealed.

An undercover law enforcement officer infiltrated a Christian militia group to gather evidence that led to FBI raids of the Michigan-based Hutaree group over the weekend.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Ronald Waterstreet told U.S. Magistrate Judge Donald Scheer this afternoon that the leader of the group, David B. Stone, 45, of Clayton wanted the undercover agent to prepare bombs to fight law enforcement officers, who the group regarded as enemies of the country.

During the ongoing detention hearing, which began around 1:15 p.m., for eight alleged members of the group, Waterstreet played an audiotape of Stone saying, “Now is the time to strike and take our nation back. … This war will come whether we are ready or not. We will fight alongside anyone that calls the new world order their enemy.”

Stone’s speech was clandestinely recorded on Feb. 6 in a vehicle as members of the group were headed to Kentucky for a meeting with other militia groups, the prosecutor said, adding that Stone’s remarks were part of a speech he planned to deliver at a gathering in Kentucky.

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That should be … interesting. The border searches, of course, are only for the proles. This is understood clearly by all right-thinking people. (Yes, that is sarcasm.)

Flashback: Toronto G20 summit security to be ‘massive’ | RCMP needs 5,500 rooms during G20 summit | G20 ’sherpas’ meet with IMF, World Bank on Ottawa | Downtown Toronto to become a fortress for G20 summit | G8/G20: Gearing up for the biggest security event in Canadian history | Toronto braces for G20 disruption, Ottawa to pick up security tab | Convention centre confirmed as location for Toronto G20 summit | G20 security could strangle downtown | G20’s Metro Convention Centre location to bump baseball, pride activities | Harper confirms June G20 summit in Toronto | Is G20 more than Toronto can handle? | With only seven months to go, G20 site may be moved to Toronto | Top Mountie says Huntsville too small for G20

The Canadian Press
March 31, 2010

Foreign envoys and their entourages will be exempt from detention and customs searches

Ottawa is granting formal diplomatic immunity to the extensive foreign entourages who will take part in the G20 summit in Toronto in June.

That means hundreds, if not thousands, of government aides and advisers, as well as their spouses, can enter Canada without having their bags checked.

They can’t be arrested or detained and there are no restrictions on the papers and documents they bring with them.

Experts accompanying the delegations have also been granted many of the same benefits.

The immunity is good from now until July 4, and covers travel to preparatory G20 meetings in Calgary in May, says a government notice in the Canada Gazette posted on Wednesday.

Federal organizers don’t yet know exactly how many people to expect for the June 26-27 summit in Toronto.

Delegations can range anywhere from 10 people to well over 100.

Granting such privileges to diplomats is standard procedure, but hasn’t always worked out well.

In 2001, a Russian diplomat in Ottawa was accused of drunk driving, after his car crashed into two pedestrians, killing one and seriously injuring the other.

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The Afghan parliament actually has autonomy? Who knew? Good luck to them.

Flashback: Hamid Karzai takes control of Afghanistan election watchdog | Karzai set to replace most of his cabinet | Afghanistan announces latest ‘corruption crackdown’ | 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

The Associated Press
March 31, 2010

Lower house voted down a proposal to allow Afghan president to appoint three of the five members the Electoral Complaints Commission

Afghanistan’s parliament rejected a bid Wednesday by President Hamid Karzai to tighten his control over a key electoral watchdog body, after concerns he was reneging on promises to clean up corruption.

The lower house voted down a proposal to allow Mr. Karzai to appoint three of the five members the Electoral Complaints Commission that monitors election fraud and had stripped Mr. Karzai of nearly one-third of his votes in last year’s presidential election. Mr. Karzai was declared the victor after his challenger dropped out of a runoff.

In February, Mr. Karzai signed a decree allowing him to appoint all five members of the body, but agreed later to allow two foreigners on the commission.

Previously, the United Nations appointed the chairman and two other commissioners. The Afghan human rights commission and the Supreme Court named one commissioner each.

Mr. Karzai issued the decree when parliament was not in session. Afghan law gives parliament the option of reviewing – and possibly rejecting– such decrees after it reconvenes.

Wednesday’s rejection follows concerns among many at home and in the West that Mr. Karzai is backing away form commitments to clean up the graft, cronysim, and vote fraud – often cited as among the reasons many Afghans have turned to the Taliban. Western diplomats and the U.N. had pushed Karzai hard not to force through the changes to the commission.

Independent legislator Fatama Aziz said many lawmakers believed Mr. Karzai had no intention on consulting independent voices on the makeup of the commission.

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It’s Soros and the international financiers back to save the day. Because they care so much about the environment. Of course, this has nothing whatsoever to do with boosting the power of the global central banking architecture – fie, perish the thought.

Flashback: IMF chief calls for quota-based global warming slush fund | EU considers general carbon tax | Leaked UN Documents Reveal Plan For “Green World Order” By 2012 | Davos: Global climate fund threatens aid to developing world, campaigner warns | Davos 2010: George Soros warns gold is now the ‘ultimate bubble’, calls for IMF to handle climate fund | Copenhagen Accord Establishes Global Government Framework | Canada part of Copenhagen climate deal | Final Copenhagen Text Includes Global Transaction Tax | World leaders push for climate deal | UN Chief: We Will Impose Global Governance | Copenhagen climate summit releases draft final text | IMF could fund climate adaptation: Soros | Copenhagen climate summit in disarray after ‘Danish text’ leak | Bombshell UN Climate Documents Reveal Planned “End Run” Around National Sovereignty | Canada agrees to contribute to $10-billion climate change fund | UK: Brown proposes global fund to kick-start Copenhagen climate change process | Leaked G20 Documents Shed Light on Global Carbon Tax | Everyone in Britain could be given a personal ‘carbon allowance’ | Czech President: Copenhagen to be ‘Largest tax increase in world history’ | Friends of the Earth attacks carbon trading as banker scam | Oil Companies Support Global Warming Alarmists, Not Skeptics | Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth sequel stresses spiritual argument on climate, downgrades CO2 threat | EU agrees to pay developing countries ‘climate aid’ to pass Copenhagen | Copenhagen’s Plans for a New ‘Government’ are Scary | Copenhagen, carbon, and the global corporate agenda | Lord Nicholas Stern: The world’s future is being decided this weekend | Thatcher science adviser: Copenhagen goal is world government | German Scientists Call for ‘World Climate Bank’ | G8 Summit: Rich nations to pay green tab | US Congress Passes the 1,200-page Climate Bill that it was not allowed to read | Climate Cops To Fine “Wasteful” Homeowners & Businesses | Obama targets US public with call for climate action | Obama to stake reputation on fast-tracked climate bill | The great carbon credit con: Why are we paying the Third World to poison its environment? | Ontario unveils cap-and-trade legislation | Economic stabilization may rely on carbon economy, economist says | Climate panel presses for federal cap-and-trade system | NRTEE Carbon Market Panel is ‘Round Table on Socialist Planning’ | Obama, Gore, tied to Chicago carbon exchange | U.N. ‘Climate Change’ Plan Would Likely Shift Trillions to Form New World Economy | U.N. Environment Head Wants Global Warming Tax | Time to emulate Roosevelt’s New Deal and create green jobs | EU calls for global carbon trading system to fight climate change

John Vidal, The Guardian
March 31, 2010

Ed Miliband concedes ground and offers to sign new Kyoto treaty in unilateral attempt to heal rift between rich and poor countries

Britain brandished a diplomatic olive branch today as it tried to restart global climate change negotiations with an initiative to heal the rift between rich and poor countries following the failure of the Copenhagen summit.

Climate secretary Ed Miliband conceded considerable ground, offering to sign a new Kyoto treaty as developing countries’ demand, but while also requiring that those nations enshrine their commitments to tackling global warming in international law.

Britain’s unilateral move addresses the key issue that doomed Copenhagen — that the rich accept the legally binding commitments to cut greenhouse gas emissions enshrined in Kyoto.

The initiative could lead to two separate global treaties on climate change. It also offers a challenge to China, India and other major developing countries, who have been unwilling to commit legally to acting on climate change because the Kyoto agreement specifically exempts them.

“We are asking that developing countries internationalise in a legally binding agreement the actions they take domestically,” said the government action plan, published today in advance of formal UN negotiations that reopen next week in Bonn.

“We would not envisage developing countries being subject to any punitive compliance measures,” it added.

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Keep stonewalling, MacKay. Canadians aren’t paying attention, so you can probably get away with it.

Flashback: Tories flood Ottawa with blacked-out documents in response to Afghan torture scandal | Opposition threatens contempt motion over Afghan torture documents | NDP tables torture-prevention bill | Ottawa anticipated Afghan torture allegations: memo | CSIS secretly interrogated Afghan prisoners | Canada wanted Afghan prisoners tortured: lawyer | Harper grilled over prorogation, Afghan detainee torture documents | MP threatens motion on Afghan documents | PM Harper downplays detainee torture scandal, prorogation | Claims troops mistreated prisoners unfounded: military police | Peter MacKay, Red Cross discussed detainees in 2006 | Canada’s troops investigated for Afghan abuse | Colvin disputes witnesses’ detainee testimony | Tories sabotage Afghan committee meeting | Canada ‘defended’ torturer | Ottawa won’t release Afghan torture documents | Top general’s Afghan detainee reversal hikes pressure for public inquiry | Richard Colvin’s Afghan torture memos reveal government concealed prisoner access issues | Torture claims unreliable, officials say, despite having found evidence of torture | MPs vote public inquiry into Afghan detainees, Tories ignore majority motion | Torture claims weren’t probed, official testified | Harper government changes tune on Afghan prisoner issue | Colvin’s testimony true: former Afghan MP | David Mulroney testifies war confused issue of torture | Hillier says he saw no credible reports of torture | Afghan torture emails reached MacKay’s office | Opposition wants documentation prior to government torture rebuttal, PM cries foul | Canadian officials discussed torture in 2006 | Canada shamed on Afghan prisoner torture | Canada ignored torture warnings: Diplomat | Military lawyer stonewalls on Afghan torture claims | Ottawa was warned Afghan detainees might be tortured | Military commission suspends torture hearings, gags witness | Torture probe delayed; Tories deny gagging witness | Federal court limits Afghan detainee torture probe | Watchdog rejects government bid to delay Afghan detainee inquiry | Ottawa moves to block Afghanistan detainee torture hearings again | Bid to Block Afghan Detainee Inquiry Slammed | What Ottawa doesn’t want you to know: Government was told detainees faced ‘extrajudicial executions, disappearances, torture and detention without trial’

The Canadian Press
March 31, 2010

Document debate rages in Parliament

Concerns over the handling and safety of detainees in Afghanistan were relayed to Defence Minister Peter MacKay and other senior officials as potential “mission killers,” a diplomat said Wednesday.

Cory Anderson, a former senior political adviser to Canada’s provincial reconstruction team in Kandahar, said he briefed MacKay several times between 2007 and last year.

“We would talk about issues that we were concerned about in terms of what we would characterize as mission killers – and this was one of them,” Anderson told MPs at a special committee studying the Afghan mission.

He said he had no specific allegations of prisoner abuse to pass on because before 2007, Canada had no way of tracking the people it handed over to Afghan authorities. However, there were general worries about torture.

Anderson said despite a lack of hard evidence of torture, senior civilians and military brass in Ottawa were “fully aware of the plausible risk of abuse” of prisoners handed over to the Afghan National Directorate of Security, or NDS.

He said he did brief officials, including MacKay, about the problems of the NDS, which he described as duplicitous and open to manipulation by politically powerful people behind the scenes.

“It’s common knowledge amongst senior officials, civilian and military, the behaviour of the NDS when it comes to how they react to certain pressures placed upon them by tribal elders or people of influence throughout Kandahar.”

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