statism watch

We’ve repatriated the constitution. It’s well past time we had a Canadian head of state rather than being beholden – even if only symbolically – to an authoritarian institution like monarchy. Kings and Queens, historically, are hereditary dictators and fawning over royalty is a perversion of everything the idea of a free nation stands for.

Related: Canada’s royal link has rusted out

The Canadian Press
June 28, 2010

Support highest in Atlantic Canada

As the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh start their nine-day Canadian tour, a new poll suggests Canadians are feeling rather listless about the visit and the monarchy in general.

The Canadian Press Harris-Decima survey of just over 1,000 Canadians found that 45 per cent of respondents didn’t know they were coming, while almost half – 48 per cent – agreed when asked if they consider the monarchy “a relic of our colonial past that has no place in Canada today.”

As well, 44 per cent said they would support a referendum on whether Canada should keep the monarchy, with 58 per cent of Quebec respondents leading the call for a national question.

The telephone poll was conducted between June 17 and June 20. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.1 per cent, 19 times out of 20.

Tom Freda, director of Citizens for a Canadian Republic, said the poll confirms Canadians are apathetic when it comes to royal visits and the role of the Queen.

(more…)

Related: Canada’s Dhala Dam development project hobbled by connections to Karzai security firm | Afghan president’s half-brother denies corruption | Afghan leader’s corrupt brother paid by CIA, U.S. officials say | Afghanistan Drug Raid Snares Border Police Commander | Afghanistan’s Hidden Heroin Addicts | Canadian troops could soon target Afghan drug trade: top soldier | Reports reveal concerns over drug use among Canadian military | NATO to let troops fight Afghan drug lords | Karzai’s kin linked to heroin trafficking | Afghani Narco-state Continues to Blossom under Puppet President

Greg Miller, Ernesto Londoño, The Washington Post
June 27, 2010

Prosecutors ordered to cross names off case files, disregard evidence

Top officials in President Hamid Karzai’s government have repeatedly derailed corruption investigations of politically connected Afghans, according to U.S. officials who have provided Afghanistan’s authorities with wiretapping technology and other assistance in efforts to crack down on endemic graft.

In recent months, the U.S. officials said, Afghan prosecutors and investigators have been ordered to cross names off case files, prevent senior officials from being placed under arrest and disregard evidence against executives of a major financial firm suspected of helping the nation’s elite move millions of dollars overseas.

As a result, U.S. advisers sent to Kabul by the Justice Department, the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration have come to see Afghanistan’s corruption problem in increasingly stark terms.

“Above a certain level, people are being very well protected,” said a senior U.S. official involved in the investigations.

Karzai spokesman Waheed Omar denied investigations had been derailed. “There is no case, no instance, in which the palace or anyone from the palace has interfered with a case,” he said.

(more…)

Related: Obama calls for bank tax as next step in Wall Street reform | IMF report advises G20 to make spending cuts top priority | G8 wraps with money for maternal NGOs and words for Iran, N. Korea | G8 Summit: Leaders divided over tackling national deficits

CBC News
June 26, 2010

‘Strong consensus’ for deficit cuts, Harper says ahead of summit

Prime Minister Stephen Harper officially greeted leaders of the G20 nations inside a heavily fortified enclave in downtown Toronto at the start of the organization’s summit.

The prime minister and his wife, Laureen, greeted the G20 leaders and their spouses at a reception at the famed Royal York Hotel on Saturday evening. A working dinner followed.

The event seemed far from the chaos just blocks away outside the barricaded security zone, where protesters earlier set fire to police vehicles and smashed storefront windows, despite a $1-billion security tab and thousands of police at the ready.

The fragile global economic recovery is expected to top the agenda of the G20 summit, with world leaders split on when to end stimulus funds and slash deficits.

Harper, as host of the summit, is expected to urge the more developed countries to commit to halving their deficits within three years as a way of restoring investor confidence after the recent turmoil caused by the Greek debt crisis.

(more…)

So we’ll mark Soros down as still belonging firmly to the stimulus (more free money for banks) camp. He’s being a little uncharitable considering the cost of bailing out the Mediterranean states has fallen largely on German shoulders. But then, he stands to clean up if the Euro falls, which is why this ongoing sermon is so suspect.

Related: Soros Sees ‘Act II’ of Financial Crisis, Blames ‘Market Fundamentalism’ Again | Soros warns Europe of disintegration | Man who broke the Bank of England, George Soros, ‘at centre of hedge funds plot to cash in on fall of the euro’ | Davos 2010: George Soros warns gold is now the ‘ultimate bubble’, calls for IMF to handle climate fund | George Soros Calls for World Currency and “New World Architecture” | Soros: China Will Lead New World Order | Soros points out regulated markets fail to operate on market fundamentals, calls for more regulation

Reuters
June 23, 2010

Billionaire investor says the country is dragging its neighbours into deflation

German’s budget savings policy risks destroying the European project and a collapse of the euro cannot be ruled out, billionaire investor George Soros said in a newspaper interview released on Wednesday.

“German policy is a danger for Europe, it could destroy the European project,” he told German weekly Die Zeit.

Mr. Soros, who earned $1-billion in 1992 by betting against the British pound, added that he “could not rule out a collapse of the euro.”

“If the Germans don’t change their policy, their exit from the currency union would be helpful for the rest of Europe,” he said.

Chancellor Angela Merkel unveiled plans earlier this month for €80-billion ($107-billion) in budget cuts over the next four years — a package she hopes will bring Germany’s structural deficit within European Union limits by 2013.

“Right now the Germans are dragging their neighbours into deflation, which threatens a long phase of stagnation. And that leads to nationalism, social unrest and xenophobia. Democracy itself could be at risk,” Mr. Soros said.

(more…)

Okay, fair enough Mr. Strong. Let’s have a look at that fine, nuanced, sophicticated distinction between government and governance that we plebes can’t possibly grasp. Just for you. From the Merriam-Webster online:

gov·er·nance (n.) \ˈgÉ™-vÉ™r-nÉ™n(t)s\
See government

Perhaps, next, we should look up doublespeak. Or doublethink, for those who buy his line. Who’s he kidding? The EU was sold as being merely a system of economic cooperation as well. While the UN and international relations wonks use the term ‘governance’ in a wider context to apply to “corporate governance, international governance, national governance and local governance”, there is no real daylight between the two, unless the intention is to imply states are to be run as corporations. Which, on further reflection, is probably not too far from the truth. Nice try smearing everyone who disagrees with you as ‘right wing’, though. Tell us another story, Mr. Strong.

Related: Canada commits $400M to climate change fund | Britain pushes for new climate talks; IMF and global taxes to figure into wealth redistribution scheme | 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

Leo Hickman, The Guardian
June 23, 2010

What I do want, says the man self-labelled ‘the planet’s leading environmentalist’, is for nations to co-operate fully on issues they cannot deal with alone

Maurice Strong, the founding executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme and self-proclaimed “world’s leading environmentalist”, has hit back at his critics in a rare interview with the Guardian.

Responding to internet speculation and repeated attacks by prominent rightwing climate sceptics that he is using the climate change issue to establish a global government, the 81-year-old Canadian, who organised both the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment in 1972 and the Rio Earth Summit in 1992, said his only motivation was to alert the world that mankind’s current actions are environmentally unsustainable.

“I’ve always made it clear that I do not believe that global government is either necessary or feasible,” said Strong, who was a key official at the UN for decades until his retirement in 2005.

“What I do believe is that we need a system of global governance through which nations can co-operate and deal with issues they cannot deal with alone. Maybe that statement is too sophisticated for some, but it shouldn’t be.”

(more…)

Whilst we’re talking about global steering committees, a term Martin has used to describe his vision for the G20, we should bring up the fact that Martin has been an attendee at the Bilderberg group as well. That’s a connection this article should have made, but missed. Refer also to this article by Terence Corcoran which links to a study outlining some of the genetic connections between The League of Nations and Canadian globalist academics. Now there’s a thesis topic for some aspirant at the Munk schools. (We’ve done half your research, ssshh, don’t tell anyone). This future scholar may also want to take note of the fact that Larry Summers had a pivotal role to play in the deregulation of derivatives in the Clinton administration – a move which contributed materially to the CDS derivative-driven credit crisis of 2008 and the billions of bailout funds funnelled to the banks. He’s a former head of the World Bank. And now as head of the National Economic Council, he’s one of Obama’s lead economic advisors. Oh, we’re in good hands.

Related: Paul Martin prescribes international regulatory body for ailing fiat economies | Press for Truth confronts Paul Martin on Bilderberg and the SPP | Paul Martin calls for ‘global solution’ | Paul Martin promoting a new League of Nations on the road | For more on the G20, see the G20 Coverage page feature.

John Ibbitson and Tara Perkins, The Globe and Mail
June 18, 2010

Paul Martin sat in Lawrence Summers’ spacious office in the Greek-columned U.S. Treasury building in Washington, searching in vain for a piece of paper. With none in sight, the two men grabbed a brown manila envelope, put it on the table between them, and began sketching the framework of a new world order.

It was April 27, 1999. For the past five years, the global economy had shuddered under a string of massive debt defaults — first in Mexico, and then in Southeast Asia and Russia.

In each case, Western leaders and bankers responded by prescribing harsh fixes, throwing one developing economy after another into recession.

As crisis followed crisis, Mr. Martin, then Canada’s finance minister, became convinced that major developing nations had to be given a voice — not just an ultimatum — when it came to discussing their place in the global economy. But in the capitals of Europe and the corridors of Washington, the answer was always the same: It’s our club, and there are no vacancies.

Or at least it was the same answer until that April day when Mr. Martin visited Mr. Summers, then Bill Clinton’s nominee for treasury secretary, to press his case. He argued that they couldn’t keep imposing solutions on developing countries. The G7 had to be expanded — at least at the finance-ministers’ level.

Mr. Summers quickly agreed. But that was the simple part. Much thornier was the issue of who would be admitted to the club.

(more…)

Hospitality is a wonderful thing – when it’s a private and not a public expense. It’s quite puzzling to this journal, as it surely is to many Canadians, why the leadership of all these other nations are now being invited along. We know that there has been some police training offered to the Jamaicans, and there’s a highly questionable free trade pact with Columbia – less than 1% of Canada’s trade – but really, could we not accomodate state visits in some other forum than the evidently bloated G8/G20? And what is Canada’s interest in these other nations?

Related: 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

Tonda MacCharles, The Toronto Star
June 14, 2010

The expanding G8 adds up to a G20 in Huntsville, while Toronto’s G20 will be a G33 or 34.

OTTAWA — The G what? What the….?

The G8 summit in Huntsville — which is the Group of Seven large industrialized nations plus Russia which joined in 1997 — was already a mathematical puzzle. The European Union participates and so really, it was a G9 from the get-go.

Actually, it’s G10, because the EU sends two representatives, the heads of the European Commission and the European Council.

So if you’re counting, it was to be Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the two EU guys (yes, they are guys), meeting in Huntsville.

But these have become the ever-expanding summits.

On Sunday, Harper quietly announced that he has invited 10 more guests to the G8 (G10) meeting; seven African countries (Algeria, Ethiopia, Egypt, Malawi, Nigeria, Senegal, and South Africa) and three more counterparts from the Americas (Colombia, Jamaica and Haiti) which will attend a “special session” at the G8 Summit in the Muskokas.

First, the G8 or should we say, the G10, leaders will meet alone. Then they hold an “outreach” session with the seven invited African leaders. G10+7=G17. After that, they will be joined by the Colombian, Jamaican and Haitian leaders for another “outreach” session. G17+ 3 = G20. The “outreach” group’s leaders will not bring big entourages or even stay for dinner. And they’re not all invited to the G20 in Toronto.

But suddenly, it’s a G20 in a place Harper deemed too small to handle the G20.

(more…)

Related: Tucker Bilderberg 2010 Wrapup: Attack on Iran discussed, World Treasury Dept delayed | Bilderberg 2010: Don’t call it a pow-wow! | BC Premier Campbell mingles with world elite at private meeting | Former Nato Secretary-General Admits Bilderberg Sets Global Policy | Bilderberg Wants Americans Disarmed And Dependent On Government | Bilderberg 2010 Participant List Released | Bilderberg Agenda Revealed: Globalists In Crisis, Supportive Of Attack On Iran | Bilderberg 2010: Why the protesters are your very best friend | Bilderberg 2010: The security lockdown begins | Secretive Bilderberg Club ready for protests | Dublin Trilateral attendees let slip need for world govt, war with Iran, Bilderberg oversight | Tucker: Bilderberg To Meet in Spain, Prolong Global Financial Recession For Another Year

Charlie Skelton, The Guardian
June 14, 2010

A huge agenda of global issues was crammed into four days of ‘secret’ meetings by a mysterious group of power brokers. But who elected them and why are we paying for them?

Weary and bramble-scratched, elated by the press coverage, and sick of riot vans and lukewarm Spanish omelette baguettes, we return from Bilderberg 2010 with the following thoughts uppermost in our tired mind:

- ‘Global cooling’ is on the cards

Check out the agenda for Bilderberg 2010: “Financial reform, security, cyber technology, energy, Pakistan, Afghanistan, world food problem, global cooling, social networking, medical science, EU-US relations.” That list is a window into your future. Don’t think for one minute that it isn’t. And don’t ignore it, because it isn’t ignoring you.

I love how “social networking” must fry the Bilderbergian mind. On the one hand, as Zuckerberg of Facebook says, privacy is no longer a social norm so it’s okay to milk the networking sites for information, social trends and dissident thinking; however, you can’t stop the people from arranging a meet-up to discuss internet censorship or the rights and wrongs of “global cooling”. Speaking of which, Bill Gates (Bilderberg 2010) is funding “cloud whitening” technology; trials start soon. Global dimming isn’t just something that happens every time Big Brother starts. On the basis of this agenda, I think we can expect a lot of statements about cutting-edge cloud-technology trials in the next 12 months. If it works in Dubai, it can work in Britain too…

- You can’t keep a good story down

If I had to pick the point when Bilderberg finally broke through into mainstream news, it would be when the BBC News Blog published a round-up of Bilderberg reports. Twelve months ago, this would have been barely conceivable. This year, Kissinger must be spitting chips.

(more…)

Related: Bilderberg 2010: Don’t call it a pow-wow! | BC Premier Campbell mingles with world elite at private meeting | Former Nato Secretary-General Admits Bilderberg Sets Global Policy | Bilderberg Wants Americans Disarmed And Dependent On Government | Bilderberg 2010 Participant List Released | Bilderberg Agenda Revealed: Globalists In Crisis, Supportive Of Attack On Iran | Bilderberg 2010: Why the protesters are your very best friend | Bilderberg 2010: The security lockdown begins | Secretive Bilderberg Club ready for protests | Dublin Trilateral attendees let slip need for world govt, war with Iran, Bilderberg oversight | Tucker: Bilderberg To Meet in Spain, Prolong Global Financial Recession For Another Year

James P. Tucker, Jr., American Free Press
June 10, 2010

Global Cabal Weakened, But Won’t Give Up NWO Dream

Bilderberg boys were so depressed as they gathered at the Dolce luxury hotel in Sitges, Spain June 3 that “many important people are not showing up,” because “they always find out and we get into trouble at home,” said one, echoing the sentiments of all.

Still, they hope to inflict much evil on the world. An unprecedented but fruitless effort to hide the Bilderberg meeting this year was conducting the Group of 20 (G-20) economic meeting in Busan, South Korea.

Always before, like clockwork, the Bilderberg group would meet on the same continent as the G-20: Europe or North America. This, too, proved futile. Bilderberg was greeted with a hostile press and public.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner was conspicuous at G-20. The meeting ended Saturday. But, with a 12-hour time difference, Korea’s Saturday ended in plenty of time for Geithner to join his Bilderberg buddies.

Bilderberg had bad news out of the G-20 meeting. Not only was G-20 pessimistic about survival of the euro, it gave up on establishing a global bank tax following complaints from Canada, Australia, Brazil and India. Both the international currency and international bank tax are crucial to Bilderberg’s plan to establish a world “Treasury Department.”

(more…)

Related: BC Premier Campbell mingles with world elite at private meeting | Former Nato Secretary-General Admits Bilderberg Sets Global Policy | Bilderberg Wants Americans Disarmed And Dependent On Government | Bilderberg 2010 Participant List Released | Bilderberg Agenda Revealed: Globalists In Crisis, Supportive Of Attack On Iran | Bilderberg 2010: Why the protesters are your very best friend | Bilderberg 2010: The security lockdown begins | Secretive Bilderberg Club ready for protests | Dublin Trilateral attendees let slip need for world govt, war with Iran, Bilderberg oversight | Tucker: Bilderberg To Meet in Spain, Prolong Global Financial Recession For Another Year

Charlie Skelton, The Guardian
June 9, 2010

So far at Bilderberg 2010, Charlie Skelton has clocked Queen Beatrix and Henry Kissinger. Not bad considering the Spanish police’s €10m anti-media operation

A man under a hedge stretches, blinks, curses the pointy pebble under his hip, and down goes his finger on the shutter.

CLICK…

Robert Zoellick, head of the World Bank, a former managing director of Goldman Sachs.

CLICK…

Paul Volcker, former chairman of the US federal reserve, current chairman of Obama’s economic recovery advisory board.

CLICK…

Josef Ackermann, chairman of Deutsche Bank.

CLICK…

Peter Voser, CEO of Royal Dutch Shell.

CLICK…

Dr Henry Alfred Kissinger.

The photos we’ve seen from this year’s conference, which we’re showcasing in our big hitters Bilderberg Power Gallery , have been very revealing. You can see from the body language who runs Bilderberg. There’s been a lot of power sloshing round the Dolce Sitges Hotel this past week, a lot of wealth, a lot of influence, but you can sense the ÃÅ“berpower when it shows up.

(more…)