statism watch

Related: Obama Using Oil Spill To Push Green Economy Agenda | Obama sets sights on Arctic oil and gas exploration

Paul Joseph Watson, PrisonPlanet.com
June 17, 2010

Former BP Chairman and current BP CEO both dumped stocks in weeks before disaster

BP was aware of cracks appearing in the Macondo well as far back as February, right around the time Goldman Sachs and BP Chairman Tony Hayward were busy dumping their stocks in the company on the eve of the explosion that led to the oil spill, according to information uncovered by congressional investigators.

The Mining and Mineral Services agency released documents to Bloomberg indicating that BP “was trying to seal cracks in the well about 40 miles (64 kilometers) off the Louisiana coast,” according to the report.

The fissures, which BP began to attempt to fix on February 13, could have played a role in the disaster, though this is a question still being explored by investigators. Improperly sealed, the cracks cause explosive natural gas to rush up the shaft.

“The company attempted a “cement squeeze,” which involves pumping cement to seal the fissures, according to a well activity report. Over the following week the company made repeated attempts to plug cracks that were draining expensive drilling fluid, known as “mud,” into the surrounding rocks,” states the report.

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That’s serious. You’re not helping, Iran, considering that any time we board one of your ships, that must of course be considered legitimate peeacekeeping activity – whereas if you board one of our ships, this is an act of international terrorism. Don’t like it? Want medical isotopes and a nuclear industry to back up your inadequate refining capacity? We may not have Saddam the known CIA asset and the Iraqi army to unleash against your border like last time, but Israel’s got these nukes, see? And we’ve got a public bathed in propaganda that’s itching for another televised war.

Related: Tucker Bilderberg 2010 Wrapup: Attack on Iran discussed, World Treasury Dept delayed | Iran has ‘fuel for 2 nukes’: UN report | Israel rejects UN call to come clean on nuclear program | MIddle East arms treaty a go despite US ‘deep regret’ over focus on Israeli nuclear arsenal | Disclosure of apartheid-era warhead negotiations with South Africa tip Israel’s nuclear hand | Obama starts massive US Air-Sea-Marine build-up opposite Iran | US claims Security Council backing for Iran sanctions | Iran brokers deal with Turkey for uranium enrichment | Dublin Trilateral attendees let slip need for world govt, war with Iran, Bilderberg oversight | UN-led uranium deal still on table: Iran | Robert Gates says White House lacks plan to deal with Iran nuclear threat | China sells petrol to Iran while talking at UN about sanctions | Nuclear summit urges anti-terror treaty | Enriched uranium going back to U.S.: PM | Iran unveils new uranium centrifuges | Barack Obama to limit use of US nuclear weapons | Russia claims breakthrough in historic nuclear reduction agreement with US | Israeli preparations for war with Iran troubling | Russia to push ahead on Iran missile deal | Iran could be making nuclear warhead, says new director of IAEA | US media omission: Iran calls for global nuclear disarmament | Obama threatens actions against Iran over nuclear program | UN sanctions urged over Iran’s uranium plans | Western powers voice scepticism over Iran uranium offer | U.S. deploys land and sea-based missile shield in the Gulf to deter attack from Iran | UK: Tony Blair attempts to shift focus to Iran as ‘global threat’ at Iraq war inquiry | Chomsky says Israel, ‘US military base’ | Russia has no evidence of Iran nuclear bomb-Putin | 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 | How the USA Gave North Korea The Bomb | Former CIA Officer — US Plans Nuclear Attack On Iran

Kurt Nimmo, PrisonPlanet.com
June 17, 2010

Iran’s parliament has warned it will respond in kind to inspection of its ships under a fourth round of sanctions imposed on the country by the UN Security Council. A new round of sanctions are being drafted by the United States and the European Union.

“We warn the US and certain adventurist countries that if they are tempted to inspect Iranian air and ship cargos, we will take tough action against their ships in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman,” said Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani on Wednesday. Larijani said any retaliatory move would be part of the country’s policy to defend national interests, according to the Fars News Agency.

Larijani said the Iranian parliament “calls on the government to not lessen the level of uranium enrichment below 20 percent since these countries have violated the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and refused to provide 20-percent enriched fuel for Tehran’s research reactor.”

Belgium’s Le Soir newspaper reported that European Union foreign ministers have agreed on a new package of EU sanctions against Iran. The new round of sanctions to be discussed at an EU summit on June 17 are in addition to sanctions imposed by the United Nations. Le Soir said the new EU sanctions will include a freeze on investment in Iran’s oil and gas sector and a ban on technology and equipment transfer.

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TASERs, sound cannons, face scanning, naked body scanners and microwave pain beams – what will they think of next?

Related: Portable heat ray weapon may end up in police hands | Microwave weapon will rain pain from the sky | US police could get ‘pain beam’ weapons | Army Orders Pain Ray Trucks; New Report Shows ‘Potential for Death’

Sharon Wienberger, AOL News
June 17, 2010

TAMPA, Fla. (June 17) — A controversial nonlethal weapon that uses microwave energy to create intense pain is being considered for use in Afghanistan, AOL News has learned.

An Air Force military officer and a civilian employee at the Air Force Research Laboratory told AOL News at an industry conference here that the Active Denial System, which heats the top layer of skin via millimeter waves, was in Afghanistan for testing. The sources were not able to offer details on how or whether the weapon was being used in combat.

The weapon is designed to shoot an invisible beam of energy at people, creating an intense burning sensation that forces them to flee. The Air Force has called it the “goodbye effect.” It has not been used before in military operations.

Defense Department representatives confirmed the weapon was being considered for use and did not deny it was in Afghanistan, but indicated it had not yet been used operationally.

“Consideration is under way for the appropriate employment of an Active Denial System,” Kelley Hughes, a representative for the Joint Nonlethal Weapons Directorate, wrote in an e-mail to AOL News.

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Spy blimps – coming soon to a major domestic event near you. Like the Indy race.

Related: FAA Experiments With Integrating Drones in Civil Airspace | Predator drones to begin flying Texas border patrol in a matter of months | Waterloo firm creates ‘flying robot spies from the skies’ for global law enforcement market | UK Police use spy drone for first domestic arrest — without airspace clearance | Future police: Meet the UK’s armed robot drones | UK police plan to use military-style spy drones | US Domestic Espionage Alert: Spy Drone Discovered | US Air Force confirms new ‘Beast of Kandahar’ drone | Clinton confronted by Pakistanis over attacks by aerial drones | UN: Drone attacks may violate international law | Kandahar spy blimp raises privacy concerns | US drone ’shot down over Somalia’ | Canada’s military peers into future, sees drone patrols, draft, insurgency | 250-Foot Long Hybrid Airship Will Spy Over Afghanistan Battlefields in 2011 | Sarnia resident plans ‘moon’ protest of US border spy balloon | Military spycraft patrols Ontario border from Fort Drum | Military spy blimp watched Indy race from on high | Homing chips are CIA’s latest weapon against ‘al-Qaida’ targets hiding in Pakistan’s tribal belt | CIA: Our Drones are Killing Terrorists. Promise | Pentagon plans blimp to spy from new heights | Remote-controlled planes could spy on British homes | Predator drones patrolling border irk Manitoba MLA | Report: CIA runs secret bases in Pakistan | U.S. set to launch Predator drones to monitor Manitoba border | Military Tech on the Home Front: Predator drones to begin surveillance of Canada-US border | Hoverdrone to be deployed to Iraq | Kids to Help Create Drones, ‘Fuzzy’ Line to Be Drawn between Military and Civil Spheres | Canadian military acquiring new helicopters, drones | Unmanned spy planes to police Britain | Austin police testing unmanned spy drones | Nunavut taken aback by military plan for drone patrols | U.S. to patrol Manitoba border with drone aircraft

Noah Schactman, Wired.com
June 17, 2010

God smiles when the Army spends a half-billion dollars on spy blimps the size of a football field.

I believe that’s the message Northrop Grumman is trying to convey in this illustration accompanying the company’s announcement of a $517 million, five-year contract to build three combat airships for the military.

The military already employs a fleet of blimps to look for enemies and relay communications. But none of them are as big, as high-flying, or as far-seeing as this Long Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicle, or LEMV. It’s supposed to float at 20,000 feet for up to three weeks at a time, snooping on absolutely everything below with a variety of sensors.

“Basically what we see it as is an unblinking eye,” LEMV project manager Marty Sargent tells Inside Defense.

Sargent figures it would take as many as 12 of the military’s advanced Reaper surveillance drones “to do the same mission that the LEMV would do.”

The first airship is supposed to be inflated around 10 months from now. Eight months later, the Army hopes to have the first LEMV flying over Afghanistan. On that day, the clouds will part, the sun will shine, and the cherubs will sing as the unblinking eye begins looking for Taliban.

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And they should anyone in Iceland care, precisely? So that they can yoke their currency to the collapsing Euro? Iceland stands as the canary in the coal mine of the new world order and if they don’t want to play ball with the regional system, well, they’re to be commended for their foresight. Go fish. As covered here, Icelanders were given the shaft by a group of international criminals that ran the Landsbanki ponzi scheme and proceeded to scurry off to London where they reportedly maintain operations. Objectively, the obligations owed by the Icelandic people to Europe on these grounds equal zero dollars. If your credit card gets stolen, should you be on the hook for he charges? There’s a term for this – fraud. European jurisdictions may want to question the Russian, ermn, ‘businessmen’, involved about where their money went instead.

Related: Iceland Unanimously Approves ‘Wikileaks Bill’ To Establish Free Speech Press Haven | Frustrated Icelanders vent rage by voting no in referendum | Icelanders to vote no on debt deal | Iceland stares into Icesave abyss | EU executive recommends fast-track membership for Iceland | No solution in dispute over Iceland deposits | Iceland sets date for Icesave vote | Iceland says IMF aid likely delayed | Iceland blocks central bank debt repayment deal | Icelandic parliament rolls over, votes for EU membership | Iceland to be fast-tracked into the EU | Iceland’s government collapses | In Iceland, the heat is on | Police fire pepper spray at Iceland protesters | Icelanders storm central bank in protest | Iceland inflation soars to 17.1% | 5 injured during protest in Iceland over economic meltdown

Ian Traynor
June 17, 2010

Iceland put on fast-track to join the EU but acrimony lingers over £2.3bn owed from Icesave collapse

Iceland was put on a fast track to join the European Union today, but the Cameron government served notice that it could block the country’s membership unless it settled the £2.3bn Britain says it is owed as a result of the country’s financial collapse two years ago.

European government chiefs at a Brussels summit decided that “accession negotiations should be opened” with Iceland. At British and Dutch insistence, however, the summit said that Iceland would have to address “existing obligations such as those identified by the European free trade area surveillance authority”, a reference to the fallout from the collapse of Icesave in 2008 that left 400,000 depositors in Britain and the Netherlands fearing for their savings.

The Icesave dispute generated acrimonious negotiations, with the terms for reimbursing the British and Dutch rejected first by Iceland’s president and then by the Icelandic public in a referendum.

Earlier this week, William Hague, the foreign secretary, made it plain that Britain could veto membership unless the dispute was settled. “Iceland will have to recognise its obligations,” he said. “We won’t block [opening negotiations], but we will want it clear at the start that Iceland meets its financial and legal obligations.”

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Oh my goodness… the judge is saying the police lied. The way some of the apologists for this kind of police behavior talk, you’d almost think Judge Braidwood should be forced to resign for impugning the holy name of the RCMP.

Related: Taser International allowed to challenge Braidwood report | RCMP gives cash settlement to Taser victim’s mother | RCMP plans dramatic changes to Taser policy | Scathing report concludes RCMP used TASERs prematurely in Vancouver airport death | Taser inquiry wraps up in Vancouver with legal squabbles | Canadian police adopt new TASER directive | RCMP actions ‘gratuitous, ‘violent,’ BC needs own police lawyer tells inquiry | Braidwood inquiry reopens, RCMP bickers over preplanned TASER use | TASER files court motion to quash Braidwood probe’s findings | Mounties have no choice but to comply with TASER ruling | Justice says changes needed in Taser use | Mounties discussed Tasing Dziekanski prior to altercation | Judge: B.C. taser probe can rule on Mountie misconduct issue | Mounties want to bar Taser inquiry from finding misconduct | RCMP spokesman told to hold off correcting false details of Dziekanski incident, inquiry hears | RCMP supervising officer contradicts earlier testimony in Dziekanski inquiry | RCMP to face no charges in case of TASERed Polish immigrant: Report | Mountie involved in fatal crash was supervisor at time of airport Taser death | Perjury: Is it different for cops? | Mounties censor Taser report | Witness blames RCMP, Vancouver airport for death of Tasered man

CBC News
June 17, 2010

Officers’ accounts called ‘patently unbelievable’

The final inquiry report on the death of Robert Dziekanski has concluded the RCMP were not justified in using a Taser against the Polish immigrant and that the officers later deliberately misrepresented their actions to investigators.

The long-awaited report, by retired B.C. Court of Appeal justice Thomas Braidwood, was released Friday in Vancouver.

Braidwood was commissioned by the B.C. government to investigate the actions of the four RCMP officers who confronted and subdued Dziekanski on Oct. 14, 2007, at Vancouver International Airport.

Braidwood said the four officers involved initially acted appropriately, but the senior corporal intervened in an inappropriately aggressive manner.

“I found that Mr. Dziekanski had been compliant and was not defiant or resistant, did not brandish the stapler, did not move towards any of the officers,” he said.

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Oxfam, the NGO behind this protest (“At The Table”) is, in the words of SourceWatch, “in cahoots with the World Bank”:

John Clark, an Oxfam economist, joined the World Bank, and a few of its principals have attended discussion groups hosted by the World Bank. The implications of these moves were spelled out by Anuradha Mittal, Food First!’s co-director: Oxfam’s report contradicts its own stated mission that ending poverty requires a global citizen’s movement for economic and social justice. We are disappointed that Oxfam, one of the NGO leaders on food security, has chosen to undermine the demands of social movements and think tanks in the South such as Via Campesina, MST, Third World Network, Focus on the Global South, and Africa Trade Network which have demanded that governments must uphold the rights of all people to food sovereignty and the right to food rather than industry-led export-oriented production.

That’s astroturfing, and they’re doing it right in front of you. It’s sad to see well meaning people manipulated by the powerful, considering it’s the globalizing institutions that will benefit from the new revenue streams that the largest banks will simply pass along to their customers. But hey, tax me! I’m Canadian.

Related: EU to push for global bank tax at G20 | US issues G20 travel alert for Toronto | Activists plan walkout and tent city to protest G8/G20 summits | G20 centre for protesters set to open | Banks to close 36 branches for Toronto G20 | Rights group files for injunction against G20 ‘sound cannon’ | Huntsville G8 will host 10 more countries, says PM | NGOs meet with G20 sherpas, press for ‘green economy’ and inclusive IMF | Toronto G20 weekend: Private security fast-tracked, traffic jams, heavy police presence, but no sonic weapons | G20 activists accuse CSIS of intimidation | G8/G20: Cell phones to be jammed as motorcades move through Huntsville, Toronto | G20: Eastern Avenue Protest Jail | G20 Security unbridled: Cops bring out artillery as civil rights observers preach vigilance | Construction begins on Toronto G20 security barrier | G20 media centre with fake lake to cost $1.9M | Toronto police show off G20 summit security | Mounties shun ‘sound cannons’ in urban settings ahead of G20 | 1,100 private security guards to work G8-G20 summits | Police detail G20 security zone | Toronto Police to take up to $100-million of G20 security funds | Toronto police buy four ’sound cannons’ for G20 | Toronto and Muskoka G8/20 Summit security costs hit $1.1B | The Toronto G20 Police State Crackdown | Toronto police agree to erase security zone pass info after G20 | Toronto banks review G20 security after Ottawa RBC fire | Condo behind security fence during G20 summit | Anarchists plan ‘militant’ protests at Toronto G20 | Toronto streets get 77 more surveillance cameras for G20 | Toronto G20 should address climate issues: Nicholas Stern, UN | Toronto labour, native protesters ready for G20 demonstrations | Toronto G20 protest area moved to Queens Park | Fighter jets buzz Toronto, Muskoka in G20 test runs | Downtown Toronto To Be Transformed Into Locked-Down Police State This Summer | All Toronto G20 protests will be directed to Trinity Bellwoods Park | Police State Canada 2010 and the G20 Summit | Protesters and police get ready to square off at G20 summit | Militarized police integrate with private security for G20 Toronto concourse drill | Small army to protect Toronto during G20 summit | Toronto braces for G20 logistics crunch | Hundreds of Toronto G20 delegates granted diplomatic immunity | 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 | For more, see the G20 Coverage page feature

CBC News
June 17, 2010

A man wearing a giant replica of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s head led G8 and G20 protesters through Toronto’s banking district on Thursday in a peaceful show of opposition to the summits’ $1-billion price tag.

At least 30 people, many of them in business attire, paraded near the intersection of King and Bay streets. They handed out fake $1-billion bills in what organizers called a tongue-in-cheek commentary on spending for the summits at a time when foreign aid is facing cuts.

The parade ended at Union Station, Toronto’s main train station, where protesters covered in an oil-like substance – actually chocolate – danced.

Police on bicycles monitored the protest, which was organized by At the Table Coalition, an umbrella group of non-profit groups.

The group is calling on Harper “to commit to the Robin Hood Tax, a 0.05 per cent Financial Transaction Tax on speculative trading that could raise billions each year for fighting climate change and poverty both at home and abroad,” the group said in a statement.

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It’s baaack… To recap briefly: any global bank levy would centralize economic control in the hands of the IMF, swell the power of global central banks and their affiliates – (eg; Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan) whose alumni populate the halls of the Federal Reserve and other central banks worldwide – and work to the detriment of smaller regional banks which are for the most part innocent of causing the financial crisis. Without the kind of political cover afforded by friends in higher places, they’re sitting ducks for merger and consolidation. If this happens, we won’t be sticking it to the banks, we’ll be capitulating to them. For more, see the G20 Coverage page feature.

Related: Tucker Bilderberg 2010 Wrapup: Attack on Iran discussed, World Treasury Dept delayed | G20 to delay tough bank tax regulations | Canada, EU at loggerheads over bank tax | European Central Bank chief: Bank of International Settlements to Rule the Global Economy | Harper calls for global economic governance, lauds G20 as ruling forum | US prepares to push for global capital rules | Flaherty wins delay in decision on global bank tax at interim G20 meeting | Bankers Prepare To Assault Americans With VAT, Transaction Taxes | Global bank tax urged by IMF | Flaherty stands firm against new bank tax | G20 sounds warning over lack of progress on global regulation | Banking reforms urgent, Harper says at G20 sherpas’ meeting | G20 ’sherpas’ meet with IMF, World Bank on Ottawa | Tories hand out $75 billion worth of ’spending restraint’ | Gordon Brown’s plan for global bank tax ‘a step closer’ | Global Bank Insurance Levy Wins Support over Transaction Tax at Davos | Harper urges G20 to follow economic accords | Bankers unite against Barack Obama and Gordon Brown in call for world regulation | IMF warns against retreat from stimulus spending | Banks find gaping loophole in Obama financial reforms | Obama talking tough with banks | EU urged to adopt bank supertax | Obama ponders bank transaction levy to recoup bailout shortfalls | No new stimulus, economy ’stabilized’: Harper | Explosive Leaked Emails Expose Treasury Secretary Geithner’s Deception in ‘Backdoor Bailout’ | Final Copenhagen Text Includes Global Transaction Tax | EU calls for tax on bank transactions | UK: Brown takes campaign for Tobin tax to Commonwealth | UK: Brown proposes global fund to kick-start Copenhagen climate change process | Flaherty, USA say no to global financial tax, yes to continued ’stimulus’ at G20 | Bernanke continues pressing for sweeping new powers for Fed | IMF chief wants global bank tax | G20 nations meet as protests flare on issue of international banking regulation | IMF approves $13bn gold sale to boost lending fund | China Set to Buy $50 Billion in IMF Notes | China calls anew for super-sovereign currency | No one talking about dumping dollar: China minister | China explores buying $50bn in IMF bonds | Chinese economists deem huge holding of US bonds “risky” as Geithner visits | A Bigger, Bolder Role Is Imagined For the IMF | UK PM reveals G20 plan to boost IMF by $1 trillion, hails new world order (again) | UN & IMF Back Agenda For Global Financial Dictatorship | IMF poised to print billions of dollars in ‘global quantitative easing’ | Gordon Brown seeks sweeping reforms to give IMF global ’surveillance role’ | IMF may need to “print money”, act as “world’s central bank” as crisis spreads | Globalists Exploit Financial Meltdown In Move Towards One World Currency | World needs new Bretton Woods, says Brown | IMF prescribes state regulation of ‘global financial order’ | Bilderberg Seeks Bank Centralization Agenda | Banks face “new world order,” consolidation: report

Jan Strupczewski, Reuters
June 17, 2010

European leaders prepared to go it alone on levies if no consensus adopted at next week’s summit in Toronto

Europe will call for imposing a transaction tax on financial institutions at the G20 summit next week as well as a levy on banks to help pay for the costs of the crisis that started in the banking sector.

Leaders of the 20 biggest developed and developing economies meet on June 26-27 in Toronto.

“In the G20 we will … propose to explore and to develop the introduction of a financial transaction tax,” European Union President Herman Van Rompuy told a news conference after a meeting of leaders of the 27 EU countries.

The EU will also push for a global levy on financial institutions.

“The EU should lead efforts to set a global approach for introducing a levy on financial institutions with a view to maintaining a worldwide level playing field and will strongly defend this position with its G20 partners,” EU leaders said in a statement after the meeting.

Even the Europeans have yet to decide the details of any levy, such as its size or how the money would be used. The European Commission and EU finance ministers will work out such details by October.

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Related: Strengthening NAFTA Ties and the Push Towards a Common Security Front | America would send troops to G8/G20 if required | Fighter jets buzz Toronto, Muskoka in G20 test runs | U.S. combat jets buzzing Ont. border city | Clinton’s Arctic comments cheer Inuit | Inuit group blasts Cannon over summit | Indigenous groups left out of Arctic leaders’ summit | A North American Security Perimeter Coming Into View | Canada warms to idea of a tougher ‘perimeter’ | Canada an ‘energy superpower’ in Arctic, Foreign Minister says | Arctic borders will be defended: MacKay | Arctic expert questions Canada’s northern strategy | Northwest Passage surveillance study halted | Sarnia resident plans ‘moon’ protest of US border spy balloon | Military spycraft patrols Ontario border from Fort Drum | Military’s ‘Polar Breeze’ cloaked in secrecy | Ignatieff on Obama visit: Crisis an opportunity for continental, global integration | Predator drones patrolling border irk Manitoba MLA | U.S. set to launch Predator drones to monitor Manitoba border | Harper plays down threat to Arctic sovereignty | New policy emphasizes U.S. interests in Northwest Passage | Military Tech on the Home Front: Predator drones to begin surveillance of Canada-US border | Surveillance on the Great Lakes: U.S. tightens security along border | UN Given Power to Mediate in Arctic Disputes | RCMP and US Coast Guard to integrate as Canada signs border pact with Homeland Security | Canada, U.S. agree to use each other’s troops in civil emergencies | U.S. Northern Command, Canada Command establish new bilateral Civil Assistance Plan | Nunavut taken aback by military plan for drone patrols | U.S. to patrol Manitoba border with drone aircraft | Nunavut taken aback by military plan for drone patrols | Remote-controlled aircraft would patrol Arctic: military

Chris Windeyer, Nunatsiaq News
June 17, 2010

IQALUIT, Nunavut – Operation Nanook, the Canadian Forces’ summer Arctic sovereignty exercise, moves north of the Arctic Circle for the first time this summer, and in a twist will include ships from the Danish and American navies, plus a ship and dive team from the United States Coast Guard.

The participation by the Dutch and Americans is notable for a Canadian sovereignty exercise, since Canada has lingering offshore boundary disputes with both Denmark and the U.S.

But Lt.-Cmdr. Albert Wong of Canada Command in Ottawa said the two countries are “our allies. Collaboration is part of what Canada does.”

Soldiers from all three branches of the Canadian Forces, plus Canadian Rangers, coast guard and other government personnel will descend on Pond Inlet, Resolute Bay and Grise Fiord, in Nunavut in the eastern Arctic, for a series of exercises from Aug. 6 to 29.

In addition to military exercises, Operation Nanook will feature a coast guard-led oil spill simulation in Lancaster Sound, north of Baffin Island.

Coast guard spokeswoman Carol Launderville said there will be no actual oil spilled. She said the exercise will consist of planning responses to oil spills and practising the deployment of containment booms.

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Toronto, haven of terror: The Toronto Police union is calling for Sid Ryan to resign after the labour leader suggested police may plant agents provocateurs among the G20 protesters to incite violence. Mike McCormack, president of the Toronto Police Association, denounced Ryan’s comments that police could use disguised agents to cause chaos in order to provoke a violent response from security forces as “irresponsible, inflammatory and idiotic.” Ryan said he laughed at McCormack’s comments. “Police have used agents provocateurs in the past and we think it’s a possibility they could be used here. I raised the spectre.” Of course Sid Ryan is in the right. The gong show continues…

Related: Activists plan walkout and tent city to protest G8/G20 summits | G20 centre for protesters set to open | Banks to close 36 branches for Toronto G20 | Rights group files for injunction against G20 ‘sound cannon’ | Huntsville G8 will host 10 more countries, says PM | NGOs meet with G20 sherpas, press for ‘green economy’ and inclusive IMF | Toronto G20 weekend: Private security fast-tracked, traffic jams, heavy police presence, but no sonic weapons | G20 activists accuse CSIS of intimidation | G8/G20: Cell phones to be jammed as motorcades move through Huntsville, Toronto | G20: Eastern Avenue Protest Jail | G20 Security unbridled: Cops bring out artillery as civil rights observers preach vigilance | Construction begins on Toronto G20 security barrier | G20 media centre with fake lake to cost $1.9M | Toronto police show off G20 summit security | Mounties shun ‘sound cannons’ in urban settings ahead of G20 | 1,100 private security guards to work G8-G20 summits | Police detail G20 security zone | Toronto Police to take up to $100-million of G20 security funds | Toronto police buy four ’sound cannons’ for G20 | Toronto and Muskoka G8/20 Summit security costs hit $1.1B | The Toronto G20 Police State Crackdown | Toronto police agree to erase security zone pass info after G20 | Toronto banks review G20 security after Ottawa RBC fire | Condo behind security fence during G20 summit | Anarchists plan ‘militant’ protests at Toronto G20 | Toronto streets get 77 more surveillance cameras for G20 | Toronto G20 should address climate issues: Nicholas Stern, UN | Toronto labour, native protesters ready for G20 demonstrations | Toronto G20 protest area moved to Queens Park | Fighter jets buzz Toronto, Muskoka in G20 test runs | Downtown Toronto To Be Transformed Into Locked-Down Police State This Summer | All Toronto G20 protests will be directed to Trinity Bellwoods Park | Police State Canada 2010 and the G20 Summit | Protesters and police get ready to square off at G20 summit | Militarized police integrate with private security for G20 Toronto concourse drill | Small army to protect Toronto during G20 summit | Toronto braces for G20 logistics crunch | Hundreds of Toronto G20 delegates granted diplomatic immunity | 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 | For more, see the G20 Coverage page feature

Jesse McLean, The Toronto Star
June 17, 2010

American tourist beware: Toronto has joined the U.S. State Department’s list of unsafe travel destinations, joining the ranks of gang-war-ravaged Jamaica and East Asia’s typhoon alley.

Washington issued the travel alert for Americans who live in Toronto or plan to visit the city during the G20, warning that the summit will draw large numbers of protesters.

“Even demonstrations that are meant to be peaceful can become violent and unpredictable. You should avoid them if at all possible,” the advisory said.

The alert also advises U.S. citizens to forego travelling in or through downtown Toronto during the summit, anticipating “significant traffic disruption.”

Toronto Mayor David Miller called the alert an “overreaction,” saying that while parts of downtown will be disrupted, other parts of the city will be unaffected by the June 26-27 summit.

Protests and rallies are expected to begin the week leading up to the summit.

On June 26, thousands are expected to turn out to the People First! march, but organizers have vowed that the event will be a peaceful, family affair. However, protest organizers have confirmed that numerous activists plan to splinter from the larger demonstration and continue a “militant” march to the security perimeter. [Ed. Note: Marching to the fence itself is not 'militant'.]

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