Progressing to Militarist State Status: Canada's Trudeau Dedicated to Expanded War Footing Spending

Canadian parliament reconvenes following formation of Liberal minority government

by Roger Jordan - WSWS

7 December 2019

The purpose of such progressive posturing was revealed this week by Trudeau’s performance at NATO’s 70th anniversary summit in London. Speaking alongside US President Donald Trump, Trudeau boasted that his government has already initiated a more than 70 percent hike in military spending by 2026, and plans to do more.

Canada’s House of Commons reconvened Thursday for the first time since the October 21 federal election, which resulted in a minority Liberal government.

Having lost over 30 seats from first term in office, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has made clear he will seek “common ground” with hard-right forces in the Conservative Party, while relying on his close partnership with the trade unions and support from the New Democrats (NDP) to give his minority government a “progressive” cover.

Media Sorts Worthy & Less So World Street Protests

With People in the Streets Worldwide, Media Focus Uniquely on Hong Kong

by Alan MacLeod - FAIR

December 6, 2019

2019 may be remembered as the year of the protest, as demonstrations are engulfing the world. From the Yellow Vests in France to demonstrations in Lebanon, Gaza, Chile, Ecuador and Haiti, sustained movements all over the planet have taken to the street demanding change. Yet US corporate media have been disproportionately interested in only one: the Hong Kong protests.

New York Times photo (11/17/19) of Hong Kong protesters with Molotov cocktail.

As FAIR argued previously (FAIR.org, 10/26/19), this disparity in coverage can largely be explained by understanding who is protesting and what they are protesting against.

The unrest in Hong Kong flared up in March in response to a proposed extradition treaty between the island city, the Chinese central government and Taiwan, which many residents feared would be used by Beijing authorities to arrest and persecute opponents of the Chinese state. Thus, the target of Hong Kong’s protesting is an official enemy of the US, hence the extent and favorability of the coverage.

Unlike protests against US client states,
the Hong Kong demonstrations were frequently
given the approving “pro-democracy” label (CNN, 8/30/19). 

Missing Links, Lost Connections: No Chain of Evidence Renders Skripal Poisoning Findings Moot

BRITISH DEFENCE MINISTRY DOCUMENT REVEALS SKRIPAL BLOOD EVIDENCE IS MISSING – FAKE CHAIN OF CUSTODY MAKES NOVICHOK EVIDENCE WORTHLESS

by John Helmer - Dancing with Bears

December 6, 2019

A British Ministry of Defence document, issued on March 12 but unnoticed since then, reports the ministry has searched its files and records of the blood sampling and testing for Novichok in the blood of Sergei and Yulia Skripal, but “failed to locate any information that provides the exact time that the samples were collected.” 

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is the parent organization for the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL), the UK’s chemical warfare centre at Porton Down. Porton Down, as the laboratory is usually known, is the source of British evidence that Novichok was detected in the bloodstreams of the two Skripals.

Two officials of the DSTL laboratory testified on oath in the London Court of Protection in March of 2018, one identifying himself to the court as a “Porton Down Chemical and Biological Analyst” and the other, a “Porton Down Scientific Adviser”. According to the court record published on March 22, 2018, “blood samples from Sergei Skripal and Yulia Skripal were analysed and the findings indicated exposure to a nerve agent or related compound. The samples tested positive for the presence of a Novichok class nerve agent or closely related agent.” The presiding judge, Justice David Williams, ruled that “tests carried out by Defence Science and Technology Laboratory at Porton Down concluded that they had been exposed to a nerve agent.”

National Health Service (NHS) hospital manuals, English nursing sources and biochemists all say it is impossible for patient blood samples to lack precise date and time data. The Skripal samples with these data are therefore missing, while the samples analyzed by Porton Down aren’t provably from the Skripals at all.

Uprising: Reporting from Chile, Colombia, and Bolivia

INTERVIEW: Andre Vltchek on Uprisings in Chile, Colombia and Bolivia

by Patrick Henningsen - 21st Century Wire

December 5, 2019 

Currently, South America is experience simultaneous uprisings, with potential instability and revolt happening in at least three countries presently. Where is it heading? Is Washington attempting to steer events in its favor?
 

Listen here

In EP 303 of SUNDAY WIRE show, host Patrick Henningsen speaks with intrepid correspondent and best-selling author of “Exposing the Lies of the Empire,” journalist Andre Vltchek, currently on the ground in South America covering incredible mass uprisings in Chile, Colombia, and Bolivia, as we analyze the new emerging US-led neocolonial strategy to divide and conquer the continent of South America. 

View a list of Andre’s available book titles here.

 

Donald Trump's Unbeareavable Presidency: 2020 Curtain Call Coming for a Show Grown Stale

What’s Wrong With the Republicans? Fruits of the Twin Roots of Evil: Slavery and Imperial Expansion

by Rebecca Gordon - TomDispatch

December 5, 2019 

On the Thursday of the second week of the House Intelligence Committee’s impeachment hearings, former U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara had a special guest on his weekly podcast, Carl Bernstein. It was Bernstein, with fellow Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward, whose reporting broke open the story of how the Committee to Re-elect the President burglarized Democratic Party headquarters at the Watergate office building in Washington, D.C.

That reporting and the impeachment hearings that followed eventually forced President Richard Nixon to resign in disgrace in 1974. Bharara wanted to hear about what differences Bernstein sees between the Nixon impeachment proceedings and Donald Trump’s today.

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Matthew J.L. Ehret, Ross Crockford, Janine Bandcroft December 5, 2019

This Week on GR

by C. L. Cook - Gorilla-Radio.com

December 5, 2019

Last month, Justin Trudeau announced his new cabinet, and primary among changes made was shifting Chrystia Freeland out of Foreign Affairs and into a newly created role as Deputy Prime Minister. Freeland's previous appointment was a curious one, given her history of impolitic outspokenness, but rewarding her disastrous tenure there with the shotgun seat of our national government is downright mysterious.

Matthew J. L. Ehret is a journalist, lecturer, author, and founder of the Canadian Patriot Review. His book titles include: 'The Time Has Come for Canada to Join the New Silk Road: A Blueprint for the 21st Century', 'The British Roots of the Deep State Exposed: A New Trans Pacific Alliance May Now Take Shape', and in three volumes, 'The Untold History of Canada'.


Listen. Hear.

Ehret's articles also appear at, among other places: Asia Times, The Duran, ZeroHedge, and Strategic Culture Foundation where I found his recent piece, 'Freeland's New Role As Deputy Prime Minister Puts Her in Second in Command...of the Titanic'.

Matthew J.L. Ehret in the first half.

And; when is enough too much? Yet another condo development at variance with Victoria's Official Community Plan has Fairfield residents up in arms. But, there's more to the story than a neighbourhood fighting City Hall. At the heart of community resistance to the proposed, (and council approved) Rhodo town homes at Hollywood Park lay the larger questions of civic planning, municipal governance, and just how much weight should global issues like climate change be allowed to exert on local decision making?

Ross Crockford is an award-winning journalist, editor, author, civic activist and co-founder of the watchdog website, JohnsonStreetBridge.org. His latest article for Focus Magazine, Density on Trial explores the neighbours who would rein in the Rhodo.

Ross is too the recipient of a Western Magazine Award for business writing, the Jack Webster Award of Distinction for investigative reporting, and a National Magazine Award for sports writing, and his book, 'Victoria: The Unknown City' is the alt. guidebook to both the seemly and less so sides of town both past and present.

Ross Crockford and Victoria's planning future seen through a glass densely in the second half.

And; Victoria-based activist and long-time Gorilla Radio contributor, Janine Bandcroft will be here at the bottom of the hour with the Left Coast Events Bulletin of some of the good things to be gotten up to in and around our town in the coming week. But first, Matthew J.L. Ehret and navigating icebergs with the Canadian ship of state's new second in command, Chrystia Freeland.

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, airing live every Thursday between 11-Noon Pacific Time. In Victoria at 101.9FM, and on the internet at: http://cfuv.ca.  He also serves as a contributing editor to the web news site, http://www.pacificfreepress.com. Check out the GR blog at: http://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.ca/

Passing: G. Simon Harak, a passionate voice for peace

Remembering G. Simon Harak — a powerful ally of all victims of war

by Philip J. Harak  - Waging Nonviolence

November 30, 2019

Co-founder of Voices in the Wilderness, G. Simon Harak was a celebrated teacher, passionate voice for peace and "priest for the people." 

On Nov. 3, 2019, G. Simon Harak, a Jesuit priest and passionate advocate for peace and justice, died peacefully in a Jesuit health care facility in Weston, Massachusetts. He had been suffering from a rare form of dementia for several years, with physical effects similar to ALS.

Nominated three times for the Nobel Peace Prize, Simon’s steadfast commitment to recognizing each person’s humanity and dignity made him a powerful ally for all people displaced and devastated by war, wounded by violence of all kinds, and marginalized or ostracized by society.

He and his twin sister, Adele, were born on April 15, 1948 in Derby, Connecticut, though for most of his adult life, Simon would celebrate his Catholic baptism in June as his “true birth date.”