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Congratulations, Canada: Now the world is talking about your Prime Minister's "racist" rhetoric


PressProgress
Tue, 13 Oct 2015 12:07 UTC
Niqab cartoon
© Steve Nease
This last month has been devastating for Canada's international reputation - from 1-800 hotlines to snitch on your neighbours to screening refugees based on their religion to policing how a handful of women dress, it doesn't square with what most Canadians have in mind when they think: mutual-respect.

When Americans start turning their heads away from train wrecks like Donald Trump or Sarah Palin and ask what's "going on up in Canada?" it might be a sign we've got an image problem.

Here are 7 international news stories that underline just how far off course Stephen Harper's divisive rhetoric has taken all of us:
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Stormtrooper

Something to hide? US refuses to meet Russian delegation for coordinating anti-terrorist actions in Syria


RT
Wed, 14 Oct 2015 10:26 UTC
Lavrov
© Vladimir Fedorenko / RIA Novosti
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov during the Government Hour at a State Duma plenary session.
Washington has refused to receive a Russian military delegation, headed by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, to discuss coordinated action on the fight against terrorism in Syria, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said.

"We have proposed to Americans what President Vladimir Putin informed the public about yesterday, namely, to send a delegation of military experts to Moscow to agree on a whole number of joint steps, afterwards we would be ready to send a high delegation led by Prime Minister Medvedev to Washington," Lavrov told the Russian Parliament on Thursday.

"Today we were told that they will not be able to send a delegation to Moscow. At the same time, they are unable to receive our delegation in Washington," he added. The top Russian diplomat also said that when Moscow invited partners to join the Baghdad-based anti-terrorism center it got an unconstructive response.

"We invited our other partners to take part in activities of the information center so that everyone could see the full picture, so that everyone is on the same page to avoid any misunderstanding. The response was unconstructive. They said why in Iraq? It is not safe there. We explained that according to our estimates, this center can operate in quite favorable conditions. But if there is a wish to coordinate actions in some other place, we are ready for this," Lavrov said.

Comment: In 2003 the Bush administration said the 'cakewalk war' in Iraq would last six weeks. 12 years has passed since then and the US has still not been able to make Iraq safe for a meeting? It speaks volumes about the Empire's real goal: US engineering and support of terrorism.

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Light Saber

Lavrov exposes US mush for brains: Unclear what exactly they were doing in Syria - why their results were so insignificant


RT
Wed, 14 Oct 2015 03:07 UTC
Image
© Maxim Shemetov / Reuters
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov
The Russian Foreign Ministry has questioned the effectiveness of the US-led year-long air campaign in Syria, saying it's unclear "why the results of so many combat sorties are so insignificant." Failing to curb ISIS, the US has now "adjusted" its program.

"We have very few specifics which could explain what the US is exactly doing in Syria and why the results of so many combat sorties are so insignificant,"Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told Russian channel NTV. "With, as far as I know, 25,000 sorties they [US-led air campaign] could have smashed the entire [country of] Syria into smithereens," the minister noted.
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Clock

First democratic debate gives Clinton and Sanders most airtime by far

Barbara Sprunt
NPR
Tue, 13 Oct 2015 05:07 UTC
Image
With only five candidates on stage Tuesday night, the presidential candidates had plenty of time to speak compared with the more crowded GOP debates — but it wasn't equal time.

During the two-hour-long debate, each candidate was to have one minute to answer a direct question. If the candidate is brought up in someone else's answer, he or she had 30 seconds for rebuttal. Those were the rules, but in reality moderator Anderson Cooper had discretion to allow more time for an answer, and had said said he's not afraid to go after any statements that don't ring true.

NPR ran its stopwatch Tuesday to track which candidate spoke the longest (as we did for the last debate, during which Trump spoke the longest by far).

Comment: By the numbers, it would seem that Sanders and Clinton are being presented as the front-runners. Whether by design, or happenstance, these candidates got the most time on screen.

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Light Saber

Snowden's best offer from the U.S.: "They've said they won't torture me..."

Simon Black
Sovereign Man
Tue, 06 Oct 2015 02:42 UTC
Edward Snowden
© Desconocido
Just in case anyone still foolishly believes that there's a shred of decency left in the 'justice' system in the Land of the Free, I would humbly present exhibit A: Edward Snowden.

In a recent interview with the BBC, Edward Snowden disclosed that he has offered numerous times to the US government to return to the United States, face trial, and if necessary, spend time in prison.

It hasn't mattered that hundreds of thousands of people have signed petitions asking President Obama to pardon Mr. Snowden.

Those petitions have been totally ignored.

So Snowden is preparing to return and face trial, negotiating terms with Uncle Sam to ensure that he's treated fairly.

As he told the BBC, "So far they've said they won't torture me. Which is a start, I think. But we haven't gotten further than that."

It's a sad reflection on the values of a country that someone who blows the whistle on the government committing egregious crimes and violating its own constitution has to flee to Russia in order to escape oppression.

It's even worse that the government in the Land of the Free rescinded his passport.

But it's utterly shocking that any negotiation about his return has to start by taking TORTURE off the table.

The fact that torture even has to be mentioned is utterly pathetic. And it pretty much tells you everything you need to know about justice in America... and what happens if you dare cross the government.

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Attention

EU president states the obvious: "We can't go on" fighting Russia


Russia Insider
Tue, 13 Oct 2015 02:27 UTC
EU president

EU President Jean-Claude Junke: Finally his own man?
The EU chief says Europe can no longer afford to have a policy dictated by the United States

Huge reversal: the EU seeks a normal relationship with Russia. It seems that the EU is being greatly affected by the actions of Vladimir Putin in Syria: suddenly the EU President Jean-Claude Junker is saying that the EU must not let the US dictate their relationship with Russia. He has demanded a normalization of relations - and indirectly, the end of sanctions.

The EU Commission President advocated a relaxation in the conflict with Russia. "We have to achieve a sustainable relationship with Russia. It's not sexy, but has to be done. We can't go on like this anymore", he said on Thursday in Passau. It isn't necessary to achieve overall understanding, but a sensible conversational basis. "The Russians are a proud people", the country has "a role to play", said Junker: "One must not remove them from the bigger picture, otherwise they'll call again, very quickly, as we have seen already." He criticized US President Barack Obama, for having downgraded Russia to a "regional power". "Russia needs to be treated correctly", the Luxemburgian explained. "We can not have our relationship towards Russia dictated by Washington. It's simply not on."

Comment: Washington is losing more of its grip on Europe. How long till it slips away completely?

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Bad Guys

Psychologists who designed CIA torture program are being sued by Guantanamo survivors


RT
Wed, 14 Oct 2015 17:53 UTC
Image
© Brendan McDermid / Reuters
The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit on behalf of three former Guantanamo detainees against two psychologists responsible for creating and overseeing the CIA's torture program at the US naval base in Cuba.

From 2001 to 2010, psychologists James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen took in almost $85 million in CIA contracts to create interrogation techniques to be used on terror suspects Guantanamo Bay detention camp. They now face a federal lawsuit for their role in convincing the CIA to subject the prisoners to "enhanced interrogation techniques" such as waterboarding, bodily contortions and sleep deprivation. The psychologists' contract continued until 2009, when President Obama signed an executive order that ended the enhanced interrogation program.

Comment: More on Guantanamo:

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Георгиевская ленточка

Russia's critics can't get seem to get their facts organized on Syria

Michael Averko
Strategic Culture Foundation
Fri, 09 Oct 2015 02:10 UTC
russia thanks
Were it not a serious issue, the righteous criticism of Russian action in Syria would've had a comedic attribute.

Last week's exchange between Fox News host Sean Hannity and Republican US presidential candidate Donald Trump, saw Hannity parrot some provincially inaccurate comments about Russian action in Syria and how America has been passive in opposing the Kremlin. (Hannity comes across as showing no interest in assessing things from a mainstream Russian perspective. He's by no means alone on that particular.) In that discussion, Trump astutely noted the suspect manner among the anti-Syrian government forces that have received a degree of support from the West. Trump's comparatively reasoned approach on Syria isn't without dispute.

Along with Trump, US President Barack Obama's characterization of Russia risking a "quagmire", ignores the reasonably stated Kremlin intentions. Moscow is essentially providing air support for the Syrian government ground forces and nothing more for the moment. It's doubtful that Russian ground forces will get involved with combat in Syria. Russian public opinion seems generally non-supportive of that move.
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Георгиевская ленточка

Russian embassy in Syria shelled during support rally for Assad, Putin


CBS News
Tue, 13 Oct 2015 01:41 UTC
support for Putin Assad
© Louai Beshara/AFP/Getty Images


Several hundred people, holding up portraits of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his Russian counterpart Valdimir Putin (L), gather near the Russian embassy in Damascus on October 13, 2015, to express their support for Moscow's air war in Syria, just before two rockets struck the embassy compound sparking panic among the crowd.
Insurgents fired two shells at the Russian embassy in the Syrian capital on Tuesday as hundreds of pro-government supporters gathered outside the compound to thank Moscow for its intervention in the Syria civil war.

An Associated Press reporter was outside the embassy when the first shell slammed into the compound in central Damascus and smoke billowed from inside. As people started running away, another shell hit the area. No one was harmed in the shelling.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov condemned the attack, saying "this is obviously a terrorist act intended to, probably, frighten supporters of the war against terror and to not allow them to prevail in the fight with extremism."

An official with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent said no one was hurt in the shelling. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said the second shell hit about 200 yards from the embassy compound.

Rebels in the capital's suburbs have targeted the embassy in the past, and it was not clear if Tuesday's attack targeted the rally

Insurgents have vowed to fight Russian forces after Moscow began launching airstrikes in Syria late last month. Russia has been one of Assad's strongest supporters since the start of the uprising in 2011. The civil war has killed more than 250,000 people and displaced half of Syria's population.
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Cardboard Box

Defense system manufacturer says if MH17 was downed by outdated BUK missile then it was fired from Kiev-controlled area


RT
Tue, 13 Oct 2015 11:59 UTC
Image
© Almaz-Antey
Two full-scale experiments by the Almaz-Antey defense company aimed at recreating the MH17 crash conclude the missile that downed the flight was an old BUK model fired from a Ukraine-controlled area, contesting the preliminary theory by Dutch investigators.

Two detonations of Buk missiles near aluminum panels and the cockpits of decommissioned Ilyushin Il-86 passenger airliners in July and October have produced what the company calls conclusive results.

In the course of the international investigation, "the company was provided with three T-shaped strike elements, which looked like 9M38M1 [model] strike elements, which caused specialists to make their conclusion on the missile type in June," said Almaz Antey's CEO.

Comment: Actually the "if" in the possibility that MH17 was brought down by a BUK missile is rather important because there is other strong evidence that points to the high probability of it being shot down by Kiev's military aircraft.

A must read:

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