Amid the gloom, doom, and terror, are people (and not only French) who set out to sail alone around the world in ridiculously powerful boats.
It's the best of the human spirit.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
The fabulous French sailors....
Amid the gloom, doom, and terror, are people (and not only French) who set out to sail alone around the world in ridiculously powerful boats.
It's the best of the human spirit.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Monday, January 12, 2009
"Foreign Aid"
Canada will spend $50 million to help repair Afghan dam: Oda
Quebec-based engineering firm SNC-Lavalin has been chosen by the government to repair the Dahla irrigation dam outside the city of Kandahar, Oda said.
When fixed, the dam — once the region's premier hydroelectric facility and irrigation regulator — is expected to irrigate 10,000 hectares of land and provide jobs for 10,000 seasonal workers.
"This is major project, and we're very, very pleased," Oda said during an announcement with the new governor of Kandahar, Tooryalai Wesa, at Canadian forward operating base Frontenac, which is within eyesight of the dam.
The repairs to the dam, which was built in the 1950s, should be completed by 2011, the year Canada is scheduled to end its military commitments in Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, back in Kabul....
KABUL, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Afghanistan will not be able to reach its goal of being free from landmines and unexploded bombs by March 2013 unless urgent funding is received, the United Nations said on Monday.
After nearly 30 years of war, Afghanistan is one of the most heavily mined countries in the world with more than 640 km square (247 square miles) of land still contaminated, the U.N. said.
Afghanistan signed the Ottawa Treaty in 2003, committing itself to ridding the country of all mines by March 2013. In a separate agreement with the international community, 70 percent of the country is to be cleared by March 2011.
"In order to reach these objectives ... over the next five years, based on our calculations, the programme needs another $500 million," Mohammad Haidar Reza, programme director for the U.N. mine clearing agency (UNMACA) told a news conference.
Exexutive summary: Canada has $50 million to funnel to a Quebec engineering company while the mine clearing progamme, as imagined by the Ottawa Treaty, is broke.
Reference:
John Perkins
Confessions Of An Economic Hit Man
Quebec-based engineering firm SNC-Lavalin has been chosen by the government to repair the Dahla irrigation dam outside the city of Kandahar, Oda said.
When fixed, the dam — once the region's premier hydroelectric facility and irrigation regulator — is expected to irrigate 10,000 hectares of land and provide jobs for 10,000 seasonal workers.
"This is major project, and we're very, very pleased," Oda said during an announcement with the new governor of Kandahar, Tooryalai Wesa, at Canadian forward operating base Frontenac, which is within eyesight of the dam.
The repairs to the dam, which was built in the 1950s, should be completed by 2011, the year Canada is scheduled to end its military commitments in Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, back in Kabul....
KABUL, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Afghanistan will not be able to reach its goal of being free from landmines and unexploded bombs by March 2013 unless urgent funding is received, the United Nations said on Monday.
After nearly 30 years of war, Afghanistan is one of the most heavily mined countries in the world with more than 640 km square (247 square miles) of land still contaminated, the U.N. said.
Afghanistan signed the Ottawa Treaty in 2003, committing itself to ridding the country of all mines by March 2013. In a separate agreement with the international community, 70 percent of the country is to be cleared by March 2011.
"In order to reach these objectives ... over the next five years, based on our calculations, the programme needs another $500 million," Mohammad Haidar Reza, programme director for the U.N. mine clearing agency (UNMACA) told a news conference.
Exexutive summary: Canada has $50 million to funnel to a Quebec engineering company while the mine clearing progamme, as imagined by the Ottawa Treaty, is broke.
Reference:
John Perkins
Confessions Of An Economic Hit Man
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Monday, January 5, 2009
Good News from the Middle East - Food
Many terrible events occur in the Middle East, not to mention south Asia. Food can counter these terrible events and save the world.
For many years I have attended an unpretentious restaurant near the Vancouver General Hospital. It was founded by a couple from Iraq: one a biochemist and the other a nuclear physicist. Both worked at the University of Baghdad. Why did they leave Iraq, one wonders. Continuing to be alive and sane is the obvious answer. Having fled to Canada and unable to find employment in their respective professions, they started a restaurant. It is extremely cool. The décor is basic. The legality is unlicensed. The food is fabulous.
I keep trying to break out of my monotonous routine, which is to order the chicken combo. Unfortunately I have failed, owing to the fabulosity of the combo, which consists of delicious chicken, excellent salad, rice, and two sauces. It is very healthy and I don’t understand why the whole concept isn’t being mass marketed as fast food with attitude. Every once in a while I get a little crazy and order the lamb combo or a falafel donair, and they’re all good, but I keep coming back to my regular order: if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.
In the terrible photos from Abu Ghraib posted by the New Yorker and substantiated by General Anthony Taguba, I can’t help but notice that there are no fat Iraqis. This contrasts sharply with the Halliburton Effect, where American soldiers gain weight due to unrestricted access to American food while living on American bases as “fobbits”. Hello? I’d like to see a “pyramid” of hooded naked men from the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Department of Defense, arranged by rank, and see how these would “stack up” against the existing photos from Iraq, or alternatively, to see a photo of a naked Dick Cheney being menaced by attack dogs. These are not images that leap easily to the mind, the mind already having been somewhat distorted by the reality of what has already occurred, and in particular the unpublished photos seen by Don Rumsfeld from Abu Ghraib, and unpublished photos from places like Bagram Air Base where Afghan taxi drivers were “pulpified”.
But getting back to food, the atmosphere at my restaurant, Falafel Magic, is marked by an array of Arabic speaking customers at the counter who are usually watching football – “soccer”– and commenting on the events at considerable volume. Most of these customers are doctors who work at my hospital. I definitely don’t want to bother them when they’re involved in something important. There was an Irish national team manager who said something like: “Football isn’t a matter of life and death; it’s far more important than that”.
I can only agree. As we turn to our respective food orders, barked out in Arabic, sirens scream on their way to the nearby Emergency Department, but these are clearly as distraction from what is really important: food and football.
In Canada of course, it’s hockey, ice hockey to the uneducated. I saw a patient the other day from Russia. He, like me, had watched the 1972 “summit series” between the USSR and Canada, a series narrowly won by Canada but which revealed to all the world that Canadians did not play the best hockey in the world by birthright, moral prerogative, or superior values such as freedom and democracy. In fact, it turned out that the USSR had cheated by practicing beforehand, not to mention adopting a rational approach to physical conditioning and team play. Although the result was a triumph for Canada, everyone knew it was the opposite: the cold water of reality was visited on Canadians from people who didn’t buy into the Canadian national mythology.
You also can’t cheat on food. Either you like it, or you don’t. Middle Eastern food has survived the test of time, and so it should. I mean, I’ve eaten Italian food in Bologna – which was wonderful – I’ve eaten Indian food in Vancouver – also wonderful – and I’ve had Swedish food in Sweden. I’ve also had Canadian prairie “fowl suppers” that have to be seen or experienced to be believed. At the Saskatchewan Pavilion at the World’s Fair in Vancouver in 1986, the associated restaurant that featured turkey dinners with Saskatoon pie for desert was so oversubscribed you couldn’t get in. The whole thing had to be continued after the fair was over.
All the world’s problems should be settled after dinner.+
For many years I have attended an unpretentious restaurant near the Vancouver General Hospital. It was founded by a couple from Iraq: one a biochemist and the other a nuclear physicist. Both worked at the University of Baghdad. Why did they leave Iraq, one wonders. Continuing to be alive and sane is the obvious answer. Having fled to Canada and unable to find employment in their respective professions, they started a restaurant. It is extremely cool. The décor is basic. The legality is unlicensed. The food is fabulous.
I keep trying to break out of my monotonous routine, which is to order the chicken combo. Unfortunately I have failed, owing to the fabulosity of the combo, which consists of delicious chicken, excellent salad, rice, and two sauces. It is very healthy and I don’t understand why the whole concept isn’t being mass marketed as fast food with attitude. Every once in a while I get a little crazy and order the lamb combo or a falafel donair, and they’re all good, but I keep coming back to my regular order: if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.
In the terrible photos from Abu Ghraib posted by the New Yorker and substantiated by General Anthony Taguba, I can’t help but notice that there are no fat Iraqis. This contrasts sharply with the Halliburton Effect, where American soldiers gain weight due to unrestricted access to American food while living on American bases as “fobbits”. Hello? I’d like to see a “pyramid” of hooded naked men from the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Department of Defense, arranged by rank, and see how these would “stack up” against the existing photos from Iraq, or alternatively, to see a photo of a naked Dick Cheney being menaced by attack dogs. These are not images that leap easily to the mind, the mind already having been somewhat distorted by the reality of what has already occurred, and in particular the unpublished photos seen by Don Rumsfeld from Abu Ghraib, and unpublished photos from places like Bagram Air Base where Afghan taxi drivers were “pulpified”.
But getting back to food, the atmosphere at my restaurant, Falafel Magic, is marked by an array of Arabic speaking customers at the counter who are usually watching football – “soccer”– and commenting on the events at considerable volume. Most of these customers are doctors who work at my hospital. I definitely don’t want to bother them when they’re involved in something important. There was an Irish national team manager who said something like: “Football isn’t a matter of life and death; it’s far more important than that”.
I can only agree. As we turn to our respective food orders, barked out in Arabic, sirens scream on their way to the nearby Emergency Department, but these are clearly as distraction from what is really important: food and football.
In Canada of course, it’s hockey, ice hockey to the uneducated. I saw a patient the other day from Russia. He, like me, had watched the 1972 “summit series” between the USSR and Canada, a series narrowly won by Canada but which revealed to all the world that Canadians did not play the best hockey in the world by birthright, moral prerogative, or superior values such as freedom and democracy. In fact, it turned out that the USSR had cheated by practicing beforehand, not to mention adopting a rational approach to physical conditioning and team play. Although the result was a triumph for Canada, everyone knew it was the opposite: the cold water of reality was visited on Canadians from people who didn’t buy into the Canadian national mythology.
You also can’t cheat on food. Either you like it, or you don’t. Middle Eastern food has survived the test of time, and so it should. I mean, I’ve eaten Italian food in Bologna – which was wonderful – I’ve eaten Indian food in Vancouver – also wonderful – and I’ve had Swedish food in Sweden. I’ve also had Canadian prairie “fowl suppers” that have to be seen or experienced to be believed. At the Saskatchewan Pavilion at the World’s Fair in Vancouver in 1986, the associated restaurant that featured turkey dinners with Saskatoon pie for desert was so oversubscribed you couldn’t get in. The whole thing had to be continued after the fair was over.
All the world’s problems should be settled after dinner.+
Saturday, January 3, 2009
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service - an oxymoronic career in Orwellian public relations
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service is recruiting photogenic models who demonstrate good clothes sense and can crouch attractively with laptops.
"Looking for a career at the forefront of national security? Choose a career with CSIS and join a place like no other.
"CSIS contributes to making Canada among the world's best countries in which to live. The importance of our mandate is reflected in a highly professional environment that values critical thinking and ethical practices. Our expertise in the use of leading-edge technologies helps to put us at the forefront of the world's security intelligence organizations. CSIS offers more than a job; it provides an environment where you can build a meaningful and rewarding career."
Meanwhile, in a unanimous 9-0 decision, The Supreme Court of Canada (2008 SCC 28), May 23, 2008, stated:
"The process in place at Guantanamo Bay at the time Canadian officials interviewed K and passed on the fruits of the interviews to U.S. officials has been found by the U.S. Supreme Court, with the benefit of a full factual record, to violate U.S. domestic law and international human rights obligations to which Canada subscribes. The comity concerns that would normally justify deference to foreign law do not apply in this case. Consequently, the Charter applies."
Two months later, CSIS fought back with public relations:
"Canadian Security Intelligence Service - 2003 Interviews with Omar Khadr - Media Coverage
Ottawa, July 21st, 2008
"Information relating to interviews of Omar Khadr by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service CSIS and the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) were recently released to Mr. Khadr’s legal counsel, following rulings by the Supreme Court of Canada in May 2008, and by the Federal Court of Canada in June 2008.
"Following the public release of this information by Mr. Khadr’s lawyers, there has been much national and international media coverage pertaining to these interviews. Much of this coverage has focussed on video footage of Service interviews conducted with Mr. Khadr in February 2003.
"Mr. Khadr was questioned by CSIS in 2003 about individuals - including those linked to the Al Qaeda organization - who may pose a threat to the security of Canada and its interests.
CSIS interviewed Mr. Khadr to collect threat-related information and intelligence and did not discuss consular issues with him, as this is not CSIS's role.
"During the recent media coverage of this issue, some factual errors have been reported by certain media outlets. Specifically, select media outlets have claimed that Mr. Khadr had been mistreated by U.S. authorities - including via sleep deprivation - prior to those 2003 interviews with CSIS. This is simply not accurate. In fact, it should be clear that CSIS had no information to substantiate claims that Mr. Khadr was being mistreated by U.S. authorities in conjunction with the CSIS interviews in 2003.
"Furthermore, the allegations which subsequently surfaced regarding sleep deprivation were in relation to a 2004 interview in Guantanamo Bay with Mr. Khadr, an interview in which CSIS was not a participant."
All of which misses the obvious unresolved problems:
1. Liaison was good enough with American "authorities" that CSIS could travel to Guanatamo, unless of course they got a holiday charter to Holguin, rented a car, and drove over.
2. The obvious mistreatment of prisoners was known to the FBI at the time, as documented by the American Civil Liberties Union there, or for that matter in Iraq and authorized by "Executive Order".
3. The proposition that CSIS "interviewed K[hadr] and passed on the fruits of the interviews to U.S. officials" (2008 SCC 28, see above), and yet were completely innocent of the treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo, is laughable. What did they talk about, baseball?
None of which changes the fact that international humanitarian law is binding on the Canadian government and its agents, and the fact that collusion in a war crime is a war crime in International Humanitarian Law, and in particular, the Nuremberg Principles:Principle VII
"Complicity in the commission of a crime against peace, a war crime, or a crime against humanity as set forth in Principles VI is a crime under international law."
Document from the ACLU website, highlighting added.
All of which is a complete surpise to CSIS.
"Looking for a career at the forefront of national security? Choose a career with CSIS and join a place like no other."CSIS contributes to making Canada among the world's best countries in which to live. The importance of our mandate is reflected in a highly professional environment that values critical thinking and ethical practices. Our expertise in the use of leading-edge technologies helps to put us at the forefront of the world's security intelligence organizations. CSIS offers more than a job; it provides an environment where you can build a meaningful and rewarding career."
Meanwhile, in a unanimous 9-0 decision, The Supreme Court of Canada (2008 SCC 28), May 23, 2008, stated:
"The process in place at Guantanamo Bay at the time Canadian officials interviewed K and passed on the fruits of the interviews to U.S. officials has been found by the U.S. Supreme Court, with the benefit of a full factual record, to violate U.S. domestic law and international human rights obligations to which Canada subscribes. The comity concerns that would normally justify deference to foreign law do not apply in this case. Consequently, the Charter applies."
Two months later, CSIS fought back with public relations:
"Canadian Security Intelligence Service - 2003 Interviews with Omar Khadr - Media Coverage
Ottawa, July 21st, 2008
"Information relating to interviews of Omar Khadr by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service CSIS and the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) were recently released to Mr. Khadr’s legal counsel, following rulings by the Supreme Court of Canada in May 2008, and by the Federal Court of Canada in June 2008.
"Following the public release of this information by Mr. Khadr’s lawyers, there has been much national and international media coverage pertaining to these interviews. Much of this coverage has focussed on video footage of Service interviews conducted with Mr. Khadr in February 2003.
"Mr. Khadr was questioned by CSIS in 2003 about individuals - including those linked to the Al Qaeda organization - who may pose a threat to the security of Canada and its interests.
CSIS interviewed Mr. Khadr to collect threat-related information and intelligence and did not discuss consular issues with him, as this is not CSIS's role.
"During the recent media coverage of this issue, some factual errors have been reported by certain media outlets. Specifically, select media outlets have claimed that Mr. Khadr had been mistreated by U.S. authorities - including via sleep deprivation - prior to those 2003 interviews with CSIS. This is simply not accurate. In fact, it should be clear that CSIS had no information to substantiate claims that Mr. Khadr was being mistreated by U.S. authorities in conjunction with the CSIS interviews in 2003.
"Furthermore, the allegations which subsequently surfaced regarding sleep deprivation were in relation to a 2004 interview in Guantanamo Bay with Mr. Khadr, an interview in which CSIS was not a participant."
All of which misses the obvious unresolved problems:
1. Liaison was good enough with American "authorities" that CSIS could travel to Guanatamo, unless of course they got a holiday charter to Holguin, rented a car, and drove over.
2. The obvious mistreatment of prisoners was known to the FBI at the time, as documented by the American Civil Liberties Union there, or for that matter in Iraq and authorized by "Executive Order".
3. The proposition that CSIS "interviewed K[hadr] and passed on the fruits of the interviews to U.S. officials" (2008 SCC 28, see above), and yet were completely innocent of the treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo, is laughable. What did they talk about, baseball?
None of which changes the fact that international humanitarian law is binding on the Canadian government and its agents, and the fact that collusion in a war crime is a war crime in International Humanitarian Law, and in particular, the Nuremberg Principles:Principle VII
"Complicity in the commission of a crime against peace, a war crime, or a crime against humanity as set forth in Principles VI is a crime under international law."
Document from the ACLU website, highlighting added.
All of which is a complete surpise to CSIS.
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