Crime bill changes expected to be made in Senate
Liberal changes rejected at committee resurfaced as government amendments at report stage
CBC News
December 1, 2011
The Conservatives aren’t interested in recalling the justice committee to reform its omnibus crime bill and will likely try and do it in the Senate, Liberal MP Irwin Cotler said Thursday.
Cotler said he spoke to Justice Minister Rob Nicholson, Public Safety Minister Vic Toews and House leader Peter Van Loan on Wednesday about what steps to take next following the government’s failed attempt to amend the Safe Streets and Communities Act on Tuesday.
He said three options were discussed: introducing the amendments later as separate piece of legislation; introducing the amendments in the Senate; reconvening the committee to deal with the bill again.
“That third option, they told me, was not on the table,” Cotler said. “I left yesterday understanding from the House leader … that they were going to move it in the Senate,” he said. Cotler said that option isn’t preferable because it shows disrespect for House of Commons procedure, but he said the legislation does need the amendments.
‘Iran & Syria will never yield to painful sanctions’ (video)
RT
December 1, 2011
The US Senate has unanimously approved sanctions on Iran’s central bank, despite warnings the move could disrupt markets across the globe. The measure still needs the approval of the House of Representatives and President Barack Obama in order to come into effect. This follows hot on the heels of the EU, which extended its sanction, increasing pressure on the country it accuses of pursuing nuclear weapons. That’s as the United States said it is committed to take steps to freeze Iranian Central Bank assets – delivering a hard blow to the country’s economy. The announcement comes days after an attack on the British Embassy in Tehran, which prompted the U.K. to withdraw its diplomats and close Iran’s mission in London. International lawyer and political activist Franklin Lamb says sanctions will bring down neither neither Syrian nor Iranian regimes.
Next Propaganda Phase: UN Says Syria Tortures Children
by Kurt Nimmo
Infowars.com
November 25, 2011
In order to send in the bombers and introduce the sort of carnage in Syria the US and NATO inflicted on Libya, the propaganda war needs to be dialed up. Allegations of child abuse usually do the trick. Journalists call it “the hook.”
Prior to the first invasion of Iraq in 1991, the Congressional Human Rights Caucus held a hearing on Capitol Hill showcasing Iraqi human rights abuses. The media event allowed a 15-year old Kuwaiti girl known as Nayirah to claim Saddam’s invaders threw babies out of incubators at the al-Addan hospital in Kuwait City.
It turns out the girl was a member of the Kuwaiti Royal Family. Her father was Saud Nasir al-Sabah, the Kuwaiti ambassador to the United States. The testimony was a lie cooked up by Hill & Knowlton, a public relations group. Despite this, the lie was repeated over and over again. Bush Senior told the story. It was recited as fact in congressional testimony, on TV and radio talk shows, and at the UN Security Council.
On Friday, a United Nations human rights panel “expressed alarm” at reports claiming Syrian security forces are torturing children.
The Committee Against Torture said it had received “numerous, consistent and substantiated reports” of widespread abuse in the country, MSNBC reports today. The chair of the panel, Claudio Grossman, told reporters in Geneva that the reports referring to the abuse of children were of “particular concern.”
It was less of a concern when George W. Bush’s legal adviser, John Yoo, argued there is no law that could prevent the president from ordering the torture of a child.
Syria’s neighbor, Israel, has detained and tortured Palestinian children at the infamous al-Jalame Interrogation and Detention Center near Haifa, but the United Nations is not talking about sanctions against the country. The Arab League is not issuing ultimatums and neocons and presidential candidates are not talking about attacking Israel.
The United Nations report is a prized piece of propaganda released at precisely the right time. It will be mentioned repeatedly by the establishment media in the weeks ahead as the stage is set for an attack on Syria. Like the Nayirah and baby incubator lie, there will be little effort to find out if Syrian security forces are indeed torturing children.
Public Relations Campaign for Military Intervention in Syria Begins (video)
Kurt Nimmo
Infowars.com
November 24, 2011
- French foreign minister Alain Juppé
France’s foreign minister, Alain Juppé, has raised the prospect of Syrian intervention. After a meeting in Paris with Burhan Ghalioun of the Syrian national council, Juppé said “humanitarian corridors or humanitarian zones” should be established to protect civilians from the alleged abuses of the al-Assad regime.
The effort mirrors an earlier one in Libya. In February, the Libyan League, the National Endowment for Democracy (established to do the dirty work of the CIA abroad) and various NGOs petitioned the United Nations to suspend Libya from the UN Human Rights Council. The effort was based on unsubstantiated reports of human rights abuses made by Soliman Bouchuiguir, director of the Swiss-based Libyan League for Human Rights.
“Bouchuiguir provided the UN with lurid tales of Gaddafi’s ‘scorched earth policy’ and his militia’s ‘massive attacks against civilians.’ These acts are ‘crimes against humanity,’ he testified to the UN. On May 31, Bouchuiguir’s NGO reported a staggering 18,000 murdered, 46,000 wounded, 28,000 missing, 1,600 rapes, and 150,000 refugees at the hands of the Gaddafi regime, writes Daniel McAdams.
McAdams notes that Bouchuiguir got his figures from the National Transitional Council, in other words the NATO contrived rebels that included al-Qaeda.
“It was this petition and Bouchuiguir’s claims that were the basis for everything that was to come, culminating in the NATO destruction of Libya and today’s bloody murder of Gaddafi and his entourage,” writes McAdams. “The United Nations did not investigate Bouchuiguir’s claims before they were used by the UN Security Council to bolster their efforts to pass UN Security Council Resolution 1973, opening the door to NATO bombs!”
In French filmmaker Julien Teil’s documentary “The Humanitarian War in Libya: There is no Evidence,” Bouchuiguir is asked repeatedly for evidence of humanitarian crimes perpetuated by Gaddafi in Libya. He eventually admits “there is no evidence.”
The fingerprints of the CIA and western intelligence were all over the move to oust Gaddafi. In March, CIA collaborator Khalifa Haftar was appointed chief commander of the al-Qaeda rebels. Prior to this, Haftar was a member of the CIA sponsored National Salvation Front, the principle anti-Gaddafi operating in Libya in the late 1980s.
Similar events are now unfolding in Syria. Journalist and historian Webster Tarpley reported from Damascus this week and said that the CIA, Mossad and MI6 are orchestrating much of the violence in Syria (see Tarpley’s interview with Alex Jones below).
“What average Syrians of all ethnic groups say about this is that they are being shot at by snipers. People complained that there are terrorist snipers who are shooting at civilians, blind terrorism simply for the purpose of destabilizing the country. I would not call this civil war – it is a very misleading term. What you are dealing with here are death squads, you are dealing with terror commandos; this is a typical CIA method. In this case it’s a joint production of CIA, MI6, Mossad, it’s got money coming from Saudi Arabia, The United Arab Emirates and Qatar,” Tarpley told RT.
Alain Juppé’s comment will now be amplified by the establishment media and there will be a call for “international action,” in short a repeat of the process that undermined Gaddafi in Libya. Juppé said the Syrian national council has become “the legitimate interlocutor with whom we will continue to work.”
The Syrian national council is supported by the Muslim Brotherhood, an organization infiltrated by British intelligence and used to counter Arab nationalism. The Muslim Brotherhood supported the al-Qaeda rebels in Libya and is now working with the NATO installed government to turn the country into another impoverished Arab vassal state indebted to the IMF and the bankers. The process will be repeated in Syria.
Canada and Mexico to Join U.S. in NAFTA of the Pacific
By Dana Gabriel
BE YOUR OWN LEADER
November 28, 2011
At the recent APEC meetings, Canada and Mexico announced their interest in joining the U.S., along with other countries already engaged in negotiations to establish what has been referred to as the NAFTA of the Pacific.
The leaders of the nine countries that are part of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) met at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Hawaii and agreed on the broad outlines of a free trade agreement. The current members include the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore, Brunei, Peru and Chile. The TPP has been hailed as a, “landmark, 21st-century trade agreement, setting a new standard for global trade and incorporating next-generation issues.” Key features of the TPP are that it would provide comprehensive market access and be a fully regional agreement designed to facilitate the development of production and supply chains. Various working groups have been discussing issues such as financial services, government procurement, intellectual property, investment, rules of origin, telecommunications and trade remedies. The next round of talks will take place in December and there are hopes of concluding negotiations before the end of 2012. Apart from Canada and Mexico, Japan has also expressed interest in being part of the TPP. The door is also open for other countries to join which is why many consider it to be a building block for an Asia-Pacific free trade zone.
Following the APEC forum, President Barack Obama held a bilateral meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Originally, it was scheduled to be a North American Leaders Summit, but Mexican President Felipe Calderon could not attend due to the death of Interior Minister Francisco Blake Mora. According to a Readout by the Press Secretary, the leaders look forward to a rescheduled trilateral summit. During his meeting with Prime Minister Harper, President Obama, “noted the important progress being made on the Beyond the Border and Regulatory Cooperation initiatives.” He invited Harper to Washington in early December where an action plan that would work towards a North American security perimeter could finally be released. Both leaders also discussed the announcement by the State Department to seek additional information regarding the Keystone XL Pipeline project. A final ruling on the pipeline which would carry oil from western Canada to the gulf coast of Texas will not be made until after the November 2012 presidential election. The move has prompted Canada to further diversify its trade ties and shift its focus on the Asia-Pacific region.
New Documents Expose Police Spying at G20 (video)
Global Research TV
December 1, 2011
TRANSCRIPT AND SOURCES: http://www.corbettreport.com/?p=3351
Documents released under the Access to Information Act in Canada earlier this month reveal what Canadian activists have long known: that a massive RCMP-led intelligence dragnet worked for 18 months to infiltrate, surveil, and ultimately arrest activists across the country for their participation in Vancouver Olympic and Toronto G20 activism.
Funny Money, Syria Psiphon, DeCONtamination – New World Next Week (video)
New World Next Week
December 1, 2011
