It’s been four months since Russia launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine. While Canadians generally consider Moscow’s actions brutal and illegal, few recognize Ottawa’s role in helping precipitate and prolong the deadly conflict. After Viktor Yanukovych’s Party of Regions passed a bill favoring Ukrainian neutrality in 2010, Ottawa worked to subvert the elected president. During the three-month long... Continue Reading →
An independent Canadian foreign policy is possible
Do circumstances compel Canada to be imperialistic? I have repeatedly been asked some variation of the question “can Canada have a non-aggressive or non-imperialist foreign policy?” At an abstract level the answer is obviously yes. But is that true in practice? What people likely mean when they ask the question is won’t Washington punish... Continue Reading →
Irvings ask for subsidy to complete cost-plus Navy contract
Irving Shipbuilding is currently seeking a $300 million government subsidy to upgrade its shipyard in order to build warships the company has already won a contract to build. One would have thought to win a huge contract to build ships, a company would need a shipyard capable of building them without needing further subsidy but... Continue Reading →
Ottawa sides with unpopular government against Ecuador protesters
Once again Canada’s government is choosing to defend an unpopular neoliberal government against a popular uprising. The Trudeau government is hostile to popular protests roiling Ecuador. Ottawa worries that a regional ally might fall and that Canadian mining companies’ interests will be harmed. On June 13 the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE) launched... Continue Reading →
Troops on the ground prove Canada is at war with Russia
Canada is at war with Russia. But the government doesn’t want to talk about it. On Saturday the New York Times reported that Canadian special forces are part of a NATO network providing weapons and training to Ukrainian forces. The elite troops are also in the country gathering intelligence on Russian operations. The Department... Continue Reading →
‘Antisemitism’ envoy embarrasses Ottawa again
Irwin Cotler has long been an aggressive proponent of Israeli apartheid. But the crass nature of his anti-Palestinian activism may be thwarting the efficacy of his position as Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism, which is designed to not-so subtlety protect Israel from criticism. On Monday I discovered that Cotler is scheduled... Continue Reading →
Canada to spend billions on NORAD so US can rule world
The Liberals are intent on funneling ever more of our collective resources to bolster the US Empire, spending lavishly to “modernize” Canada’s chief bi-national military accord. On Monday Defence Minister Anita Anand announced the government would spend $4.9 billion to upgrade the North American Aerospace Defense Command. The federal government said it will... Continue Reading →
Another nail in coffin for Trudeau’s Latin American strategy
Gustavo Petro’s election victory in Colombia is a major blow to Justin Trudeau’s bid to bolster pro-empire/corporate governments in the hemisphere. Sunday’s presidential vote strengthens the socialistic, regional integrationist forces Ottawa has sought to undercut. An ex-rebel fighter, Petro is widely considered Colombia’s first ever left-wing leader. While the senator and former mayor of... Continue Reading →
Mr. Trudeau, tell us how you decide which invasions count
In a world of vast injustice, one cannot expect a government’s foreign policy to be principled or consistent. But there should at least be some limit to hypocrisy. On June 16 Justin Trudeau spoke with Rwandan president Paul Kagame about this week’s Commonwealth Summit in Kigali. Half the government’s readout about the discussion was devoted... Continue Reading →
Public supporters of Israel should expect to be criticized
Liberal MP Ya’ara Saks is claiming to have been the victim of “hate” when young people yelled “stop supporting killing of Palestinians”. The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center Canada and B’nai B’rith, as well as NDP MPs, amplified her hypocritical claims on Twitter. A self-described “unapologetic Zionist”, Saks recently... Continue Reading →
Intellectual prostitutes call critics foreign agents, useful idiots
A military funded academic, working at a school launched by Condoleezza Rice, claims leftist journalists engage in Russian disinformation. His report doesn’t provide any evidence or refute anyone’s argument, but the mainstream media laps it up. On Thursday the University of Calgary School of Public Policy released “Disinformation and Russia-Ukrainian war on Canadian social media”.... Continue Reading →
Ugly Canadian mines new depths
The Justin Trudeau government threw its diplomatic weight behind Canada’s most controversial mining company in the country where it’s committed its worst abuses. Canadian officials threatened to cut off aid to Tanzania and justified Barrick Gold’s killings, according to newly released internal government documents. Barrick Gold’s African subsidiary, Acacia Mining, was embroiled in a... Continue Reading →
Educating journalists about Canada’s propaganda system an eyeopener
“Propaganda is to a democracy what the bludgeon is to a totalitarian state.” Noam Chomsky Propaganda isn’t a euphemism for how the other side controls information. Nor is it simply about jailing journalists or shuttering media outlets. A serious discussion of the matter must look at the broader forces shaping information dissemination and suppression.... Continue Reading →
Hard to know the truth when war propaganda is everywhere
The Canadian government’s financing of rape investigations in Ukraine warrants healthy skepticism. A similar initiative in Libya was used to justify violence. Canadian officials have repeatedly criticized Russian soldiers for raping Ukrainians. Last week a Global headline noted “Ukrainian sexual assault victims need reproductive health care, Sajjan says” while a few days earlier Ottawa put... Continue Reading →
NDP policy on Palestine much improved
Over the past year the NDP’s Palestine policy has dramatically improved. It could portend a decisive break from the social democratic party’s anti-Palestinian history. Recently NDP foreign affairs critic Heather McPherson sent a letter to foreign affairs minister Melanie Joly on “Canada’s position on Israel–Palestine”. The accompanying tweet read: “The NDP will fight for the... Continue Reading →
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