statism watch

Flashback: Greek bailout not limited to €45bn, Flaherty warns | IMF to move quickly on Greek request for loan | Greek PM calls for EU bailout loans | Greek civil servants strike, challenge EU/IMF talks | Soros warns Europe of disintegration | Investors rush to sell Greek bonds | IMF struggles to conceal glee at Greek deal | Greece secures joint IMF/Eurozone bailout program | Greek PM threatens to go to IMF if no EU bailout | General strike cripples Greece as protesters clash with police | Athens erupts as Greek austerity plan passes | Greece unveils radical austerity package | Athen’s coffers to run dry in two weeks, more cracks appear in Eurozone | Man who broke the Bank of England, George Soros, ‘at centre of hedge funds plot to cash in on fall of the euro’ | Goldman role in Greek crisis probed | Greek workers stage general strike | How EU Countries Cooked Books Using Derivatives | Goldman Sachs Helped Greece Obscure Debt Through Currency Swaps | Collapse of the euro is ‘inevitable’: Bailing out the Greek economy futile, says French banking chief | Euro currency union shows strains | Stimulating our way into debt crises | EU leaders reach secret Greek bailout deal | Will Greece set off ‘global debt bomb’? | EU cautions Greece about its deficit | Could Greece drag down Europe? | ‘Significant chance’ of second financial crisis, warns World Economic Forum | A world awash in debt

Richard Wachman, Nick Fletcher, The Guardian
April 27, 2010

Fears that financial crisis may spread to other eurozone countries

Stock markets around the world plunged today after Standard & Poor’s cut Greece‘s credit rating to junk status and downgraded its view of Portugal in the clearest evidence yet that the European sovereign debt crisis is spreading. Italy and Spain are also viewed as vulnerable.

In London, the FTSE 100 index closed down more than 150 at 5603, a fall of 2.6%, and there were big falls in share prices in Athens, New York, Paris and Frankfurt.

Analysts blamed politicians in Germany for dragging their feet over a Greek rescue package worth €45bn. German chancellor Angela Merkel has demanded that Greece come up with a tougher and longer austerity package before the EU ploughs in €30bn and the International Monetary Fund comes up with €15bn. But investors fear the government will be unable to deliver amid opposition from trade unions who have already taken to the streets.

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Issues like this really pose the hard questions around the role of the UN. Is this an appropriate forum for this issue, however much we may sympathize with the intent? Can we expect the UN, as a supranational body, to be more – or less – accountable to citizens of nations two steps removed from decision making bodies? Is the UN a decision making council or a debating society from which ideas are drawn for use by national governments? Is there any substantive difference in practice between these two possibilities? And are the interests of Canada’s First Nations served by appeal to such a body? From their perspective, perhaps it’s that they can’t get a worse deal.

Related: Residential school survivors fear network end | Residential school graves research a daunting task | For many aboriginals, the truth of residential schools is irreconcilable: commissioner | The future of the residential school commission — An interview with Judge Murray Sinclair | GG relaunches Truth and Reconciliation Commission | New members tapped for residential school commission: report | Chair to have final say as residential schools commission jobs rewritten | Remaining 2 members resign from residential schools commission | Commission to Probe Graves at Native ‘Residential School’ Sites | Government to hold talks over future of residential-schools commission | Chairman quits troubled residential-school commission | Truth commission tied too closely to government: aboriginal groups | Canada hears of native abuse pain | Location of Mass Graves of Residential School Children Revealed for the First Time; Independent Tribunal Established

CBC News
April 27, 2o10

Representatives of Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission went to the United Nations on Tuesday, calling for the international community to work together on dealing with the legacy of aboriginal abuse around the world.

Justice Murray Sinclair of Manitoba, the lead commissioner, said they asked the permanent forum on indigenous issues at the United Nation to consider sponsoring an international forum on truth commissions and assessing their effect on indigenous peoples.

“We think that there is a question about the role that truth commissions can have on addressing indigenous issues around the world,” Sinclair said in New York.

Canada’s commission was set up to probe the physical and sexual abuse aboriginal children faced at residential schools across Canada in the past. However, about 50 other countries also have similar truth and reconciliation commissions to deal with the legacy of abuse at their own boarding schools.

Canada under fire

The appeal for the permanent forum came as Canada came under scrutiny at the UN this week for not having signed the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The document recognizes the rights of indigenous people to their own culture, institutions and spiritual traditions.

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You. Have. Been. Warned.

Related: Canada’s brewing debt storm | Is Japan hurtling toward a debt crisis? | Chinese facing debt time bomb | Is China actually bankrupt? | Britain grapples with debt of Greek proportions | Citibank Controversy Puts Dubious FDIC Guarantee Back In The Spotlight | 702 U.S. banks in danger: FDIC | Canadian household debt hits record high | Stimulating our way into debt crises | Will Greece set off ‘global debt bomb’? | The US budget: Barack Obama’s $3.8 trillion red ink blueprint | EU cautions Greece about its deficit | Consumer debt loads are the new concern | No solution in dispute over Iceland deposits | IMF warns against retreat from stimulus spending | Why Did the ‘Stimulus’ Fail to Help the US Economy? | Could Greece drag down Europe? | Record surge in UK inflation | ‘Significant chance’ of second financial crisis, warns World Economic Forum | Iceland says IMF aid likely delayed | Iceland blocks central bank debt repayment deal | Canadians struggling to dig out of debt | Can’t say if federal stimulus is working: watchdog | UAE markets dive on Dubai debt woes | Dubai’s ‘big pyramid scheme’ grounded by debt load | A world awash in debt | U.S. banking troubles far from over | Ottawa on track for largest-ever deficit | U.S. markets fall on Dubai crisis | 1 in 10 Americans delinquent in paying mortgage | Personal bankruptcies still soaring | Credit card debt balloons | US credit shrinks at Great Depression rate prompting fears of double-dip recession | Canada’s $1-trillion debt baby | Credit delinquencies up 24% in June | More US Bank Failures and The Coming Deposit Insurance Bailout | Credit delinquencies up 24% in June | Bank of Canada declares recession over | Budget officer ‘can’t tell’ if stimulus plan working | More Canadians in arrears on credit payments | Canadian households $1.3-trillion in debt | Credit companies seek to avoid regulation, create global debit system | Canadian credit card delinquencies rising | All maxed out? Budget measures would improve credit access | Iceland’s government collapses | Iceland inflation soars to 17.1% | 5 injured during protest in Iceland over economic meltdown | Now the consumer crunch: falling credit limits, rising interest rates | Bank of Canada adds $8B to credit markets | $25B credit backstop for banks ‘not a bailout’: Harper

Tony Wong, The Toronto Star
April 27, 2010

Canadian investors should prepare for the possible impact of a housing downturn on the economy, says a new report.

“Home prices are rising again across Canada, which is a relief to many but a worry to those wishing to buy,” according to a study by investment house Edward Jones released Tuesday. “Our main concern is that prices have risen faster than economic fundamentals warrant, and could decline.”

This is the second report in a week expressing concern over what analysts say are overly heated market conditions in the housing market.

Last Friday, prominent Bay St. economist David Rosenberg predicted a 20 per cent decline in average Canadian house prices.

The average resale price of a home rose by 19.3 per cent in 2009 to $337,410, despite higher unemployment and the start of economic recovery, said Edward Jones.

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By the twisted standard that Canadian anti-terror law set in the wake of 9/11, Shaikh is just as guilty of ‘terror’ as the rest of the Toronto 18, since ‘mens rea’, the test of ‘guilty mind’ or intent is no longer required – mere membership in a ‘terrorist group’ is enough. And since the state sets these groups up with the help of people like Shaikh, he’s really the more culpable party. This case has been subdivided and stretched out as long as possible for purely political purposes by CSIS, the RCMP, and their political masters – who are the ones that should really be on trial.Recall the cases of Abdelrazik, Khadr, Almrei, Arar, etc etc. See any pattern there?

Related: Toronto 18 trial hears of ‘jihadi flavour’ paintball | ‘Toronto 18′ man planned widespread terror attacks, jury hears | Bomb plotter blames police in Toronto 18 case | ‘Toronto 18′ accused involved in bomb plot through RCMP agent, defence says | Toronto 18 member pleads no contest in preparation for entrapment defence | The Toronto 18 Publication Ban: Silence affects the core of justice | Toronto 18 ‘mastermind’ gets life sentence | Walkom: Mole crucial to terror trial | Toronto 18 ringleader says he’s sorry | ‘Toronto 18′ suspect wanted to profit from bombings: witness | ‘Toronto 18′leader pleads guilty | Crown appeals Toronto bomb plotter’s sentence | The making of a homegrown terrorist | Links to ‘Al-Qaeda’, Pakistani training camps linger after ‘Toronto 18′ member imprisoned | ‘Toronto 18′ member handed 14-year sentence | 2-year term sought in Toronto ‘terror plot’ | Toronto 18 ‘terror’ accused signs confession, media retreads tales of planned chaos | Toronto 18 member pleads in bomb plot | RCMP mole in Toronto 18 case says he felt ‘bad’ in terror sting | Toronto 18 Terror case: RCMP agent Shaikh was instigator who broke law: defence | American Intelligence Contractors Leak Canadian Toronto 18 ‘Terror Training’ Video to Web | Third Mole Surfacing in Toronto Terror Trial? | RCMP informant says accused in militant plot was naive | Paid CSIS Informant Says Public Not Upset Enough about Toronto ‘Terror’ Plot | Latest Toronto 18 ‘Terror’ Wiretaps Confirm Youths Goaded by Reservist, Paid Police Informant | Toronto ‘Terrorists’ Agree on Decapitation Plot, Fail to Open Tuna Tin | Many Question if Toronto “Terrorists” Were Led by Informants as Case Weakens | Crown presents evidence in Toronto terror suspect trial | Terror case begins to emit ripe aroma | Canada’s anti-terror law unconstitutional, defence says | Toronto’s Terrorism Case: For the Families, Fear and Bewilderment | CSIS informant admits cocaine, marijuana use during investigation | Terror trial proceedings troubling | Alleged Toronto terror plot included two police agents | Toronto Terrorist Ringleader Has Military Connections | Canadian ‘Terror Plot’ Begins To Unravel | Police arrest terrorist suspects in Toronto

CBC News
April 27, 2010

The government’s star witness in the trial of three terrorism suspects was grilled by a defence lawyer in a Brampton, Ont., courtroom on Tuesday.

Mubin Shaikh’s testimony is a key part of the government’s case against the men, who are accused of plotting terror attacks against the Parliament buildings in Ottawa and other targets in Ontario.

Fahim Ahmad, 25, Asad Ansari, 25, and Steven Chand, 29, are facing charges of participating in a terrorist group that came to be known as the Toronto 18. Each has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Ahmad is also charged with instructing people to carry out activities for a terrorist group and a weapons offence. Chand also faces a charge of counselling to commit fraud over $5,000 for the benefit of a terrorist group.

On Tuesday, defence lawyer Dennis Edney concluded his cross-examination of Shaikh, who worked as an undercover agent to infiltrate the alleged terrorist group.

Shaikh had testified that he trained the others to use a 9-mm handgun at the winter camp in Washago, Ont., attended by co-accused Ahmad, Chand and Ansari.

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Looks like one of Harper’s trial balloons has finally popped. You can’t get away with everything through sheer bloodymindedness and the authoritarian assertion of power. This pushback should have come a lot earlier, but it’s good to see it finally happening.

Related: Censors threaten detainee hearings | Military Police begin Afghan detainee torture investigative hearings, reporters barred | Tories table thousands more censored Afghan files | MacKay knew of Afghan detainee concerns: diplomat | 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’

Susan Delacourt, Toronto Star
April 27, 2010

OTTAWA– In an epic battle over who’s the boss in Canada, Parliament has scored an important victory over Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s minority government.

And all parties in the House of Commons now have two weeks to prove that they can get along and make that Parliament work, thanks to an historic ruling by Commons Speaker Peter Milliken.

If they don’t, the Conservative government could stand charged with contempt of Parliament and the supreme law of the land.

Liberal MP Derek Lee (Scarborough-Rouge River), the veteran parliamentarian who set this dispute in motion, is relieved and happy and said Canadians should be too.

“The supremacy of their Parliament in holding their government to account has been confirmed by the Speaker. We didn’t invent anything here today. We just dusted it off, gave it a spin and it worked; it’s going to work,” Lee said. “We’ve got two weeks to hammer something out on the detail and I’m very happy. These opportunities to benchmark some of these powers don’t come up very often; like once every 50 or 100 years.”

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Hopefully Mr. Watts can now sue for the extortion money back in a civil suit. He shouldn’t have had to pay a cent of this. Want to know why, refer to the commentary on prior posts in this thread. In any case, this journal is glad his personal dystopian nightmare is over.

Flashback: Canadian sci-fi author, assaulted at border, convicted of ‘non-compliance’ | Dr Peter Watts, Canadian science fiction writer, beaten and arrested at US border | Border guards are now Olympic thought police — Amy Goodman detained | Privacy watchdog OKs ‘naked’ airport scanners | Laptops fair game for border searches | US Border Guards to Expand Use of X-Ray Body Scanners | Border guards resorting to force more often | Border agents handcuff, interrogate Winnipeg couple | Mohawk protesters block Ontario bridge over arming of border guards | Akwesasne natives protest armed border guards, border crossing closed in retaliation | New border rules create ‘invisible Berlin Wall’: mayor | New US border technology directed at insidious threat: Canadians | Clinton defends new border restrictions | Ontario’s high-tech driver’s licences pose privacy risk: watchdog | Moratorium sought on RFID driver’s licenses | ‘Say please’ at U. S. border nets pepper spray | Predator drones patrolling border irk Manitoba MLA | Surveillance on the Great Lakes: U.S. tightens security along border | RFID passport security defeated in minutes | U.S. border agents given power to seize travellers’ laptops, cellphones | American Border Officers Want to Fingerprint Canadians at SPP Bridge | U.S. to collect DNA at border | North American ID card in the works through SPP

The Globe and Mail
April 27, 2010

52-year-old accused of refusing to comply during inspection by U.S. customs officers

Related: UK: As rumours swell that the government staged 7/7, victims’ relatives call for a proper inquiry | Obama Administration Shuts Down 9/11 Families Lawsuit | ‘If I didn’t confess to 7/7 bombings MI5 officers would rape my wife,’ claims torture victim | How MI5 blackmails British Muslims | Trio not guilty of helping 7/7 London bombers | Former MI5 chief: UK Ministers ‘using fear of terror’ to restrict civil rights | Pakistan lauds arrest of 7/7 militants on US tip, Britain denies suspect’s involvement | Prosecutors weigh options after hung jury in 7/7 UK terror trial

BBC News
April 27, 2010

MI5 deceived MPs by claiming London’s 7/7 bombers had not been identified before the attacks, a court has heard.

In May 2006 the Parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) said security agencies had not identified the men.

But a second ISC report in 2009 said MI5 held records relating to ringleader Mohammad Sidique Khan, the court heard.

The claims were made at a hearing to decide the format of inquests into the deaths of those killed in 2005.

Khan and three other suicide bombers killed themselves and 52 innocent people when they detonated their devices on three Tube trains and one bus.

The coroner, Lady Justice Hallett, is holding a three-day hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice in London to decide what form the inquests – expected to start in October – should take.

Lawyers for the families of those who died argue that they should include a broad-ranging investigation of whether the authorities could have prevented the attacks.

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Some of the comments on this story at the source are illuminating, take this example: “I would expect nothing less of a totalitarian dictatorial communist regime that practices oppression and indentured slavery on a daily basis”. Obviously, they haven’t received the memo. The US, the UK and Canada want Internet firms to inform on clients here under the pretext of the terror or copyright infringement, as well. But really, it’s just to impose state control on the flow of information. China’s just a couple of years ahead of the curve on this. So get your Mao shirts out of the hamper, hipsters, and get ready for the global info regime.

Related: Net produces new generation of human rights activists in China | China insider sees revolution brewing | China launches interview requirement, licensing for personal websites | China tells web companies to obey controls | Google Considers Leaving China If China Will Not Allow Uncensored Search | Eyewitness Recounts Forced Organ Removal in China | Prominent Chinese reformer on trial for subversion | China Imposes New Internet Controls | China launches ’strike hard’ crackdown in Xinjiang | China executes Tibetan protesters | China’s crackdown for patriotism on 60th anniversary | Chinese pupils told to love nation | Chinese dissident saved by Canada details horror | Urumqi Massacre: The repressive reality behind China’s modern mask | Pro-rights ‘Charter 08′ Manifesto author could face prison in China | Police pounce on 20th Tiananmen anniversary | Tiananmen Square: briefly, anything seemed possible | China begins internet ‘blackout’ ahead of Tiananmen anniversary | Tibet’s best friend? China, of course | China executes two men, ‘guilty’ of killing 17 police before Olympics | Monks taken for ‘re-education’ before Tibet uprising anniversary | Chinese Learn Limits of Online Freedom as the Filter Tightens | Beijing strikes at Charter 08 dissidents | China restarts online crackdown | Psychiatric treatment used to ’silence’ Chinese critics | Beijing peasants bullied, beaten off of family farms by state-developer blocs | China names 8 alleged Olympic terrorists | Doubt Arises in Account of pre-Olympic ‘Uighur’ Attack in China | Rounded up into torture camps: the ‘undesirables’ China doesn’t want you to see | Pentagon Front Groups Release Laughable Olympics “Terror” Video | Long history of Tibet, China, and British interference means all sides guilty of abuses | Beijing Taxis Are Bugged ‘For Driver Safety’ | Journalists beaten for reporting on separatist attacks in China | Chinese citizens dutifully file protest applications in Beijing, suffer detention | Bombs explode, Washington-based Intelcenter releases yet another terror video, China cracks down on transport security | Mass Arrests as Beijing Prepares for Olympics | Chinese riot in Shenzen over rape, murder, subsequent police coverup | China creates mobile execution vans, organ theft suspected

The Associated Press
April 27, 2010

China is poised to pass a law requiring telecommunications and internet companies to report any revelation of state secrets, potentially forcing businesses to collaborate with the country’s vast security apparatus that stifles political dissent.

The move to make communications companies monitor and inform on clients’ activities, reported Tuesday by state media, comes as China continues tightening controls on the internet and telecommunications services. It also follows a spat over censorship that prompted search giant Google to move its Chinese site to Hong Kong last month.

A draft law submitted to China’s top legislature for review obliges telecoms operators and Internet service providers to help police and state security departments in investigations about leaks of state secrets, the state-run China Daily newspaper said.

In China, state secrets have been so broadly defined that virtually anything – maps, GPS coordinates, even economic statistics – could fall under the category, and officials sometimes use the classification as a way to avoid disclosing information.

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