Canadian Defense Minister Peter MacKay has been in hot water as of late for falling short by about $10 Billion in his quotes for acquiring what many believe are unnecessary and ill-suited F-35 fighter planes.
And now, in what seems to be a consistent theme from the Harper government, MacKay has been caught in another lie, yet again. (more…)
The world is improving faster than ever before, speeding us all towards a brighter future. Yet, for us to go from here to there, enough of us will have to abandon certain perspectives and internalize new ones. That being said, here’s 3 key scripts that need to be flipped: (more…)
The invasion of Libya and murder of Gaddafi has been touted by many as the future of warfare. Why use expensive invasions and occupations when you can just drop bombs from the safety of the sky?
Well, the war may be fought by-proxy with jets and remote controlled drones, but the same atrocities remain, even if they happen to be further out of sight. There is no such thing as a clean war.
Confirming this is an in-depth report released by several Middle East Human Rights groups, presenting extensive evidence of war crimes carried out in Libya by the United States and NATO. The coalition stands accused of targeting civilian sites, including schools, government buildings, food warehouses, and private homes.
The report also shows evidence of systematic murder, torture, expulsion and abuse of suspected Gaddafi loyalists by the NATO-backed “rebel” forces of the National Transitional Council (NTC). It describes the forced expulsion of the mostly black-skinned peoples and the ongoing persecution of sub-Saharan migrant workers by forces allied to the NTC and its transitional government.
Investigators also discovered evidence of savage and repeated beatings of prisoners held without trial or charges, the summary execution of pro-Gaddafi fighters, along with witness reports of “indiscriminate and retaliatory murders, including the ‘slaughter’ (i.e., throat slitting) of former combatants.”
What’s that you say? America and NATO shouldn’t be held liable for what the rebels were doing? Of course they should! US-NATO gave the rebels carte blanche, and are therefore just as culpable for the heinous acts committed under their wing.
The lie we were sold, and what the UN mandated, was an operation to protect civilians. But, as estimated by the NTC themselves, the war took 50,000 lives and injured another 50,000 people. And now, with escalating infighting between rival NTC factions, the door is open for full-scale civil war across Libya.
So much for improving security. The only thing US and NATO secured in Libya is control over its natural resources, which were divvied up long before Gaddafi was dragged out of a hole and shot.
Don’t be fooled again. The next time the United States or NATO want to ‘help’ some other nation for whatever cockamamie reason they come up with, rest assured that unspeakable atrocities will be committed for the true motive behind war – furthering corporate interests around the globe.
(You don’t have to go gently into that good night, but you do have to go.)
Libya’s evil tyrant Muammar al-Gaddafi is dead, killed by a mob of angry Libyans after his convoy was demolished by NATO bombs.
A milestone achievement. A clear sign the troops can come back home. A chance for the Libyans to begin a better life. They could certainly use a democracy-in-a-box right now.
But let’s be clear about one thing:
The death of Gaddafi and the Libyan intervention were NOT part of the Arab Spring.
The fall of Libya’s repressive regime came via western powers – Canada, US, France – who divvied up the spoils of war well before Gaddafi was killed.
And therein lies the problem, and why Libya’s revolution differs from the rest of the uprisings. You simply cannot bomb freedom into a society. It just doesn’t work that way.
An open and free society has to spawn within, from an organic movement driven by the very masses whose voices are neglected by tyrants. Otherwise you could just end up swapping one corrupt government for another.
This great awakening we’ve all be taking part of – that which will bring peace and prosperity to our planet – it won’t come from bombs, guns and killing. Instead, it will arise from hope, community, and a shared belief in brighter possibilities.
While I wish nothing but the best for Libyans in this time of transition, with their new found ‘freedom’ being bought and paid for by outside interests, whatever democracy emerges will likely contain the same corporatist corruption faced here in the West.
In Egypt, Syria, Libya, Bahrain and many other nations, civilians are being violently subjugated by their governments. The western media will sometimes report on these quashed uprisings, but a pressing question usually remains unasked – where do these tyrants get their modern weaponry?
For the most part, the tools of dissident suppression – rifles, tanks, bombs and gunships – aren’t being made domestically. Instead, they’re being imported from any of the world’s international arms dealers, most of whom will transact with anyone that has the cash.
Of course, corner any of the corporations that build these weapons, or any of the politicians who deal with despots, and it is unlikely they will admit any wrongdoings. I mean, come on, who could possibly have conceived that an armor plated vehicle with bulletproof tires and a mounted Gatling gun might be used for human rights violations.
But why would you expect anything other than crooks and cronies running the arms business? When there is billions of dollars changing hands, you just know it’s going to attract all kinds of scumbags.
And that brings us to a simple solution to this problem. In fact, this idea has so much potential that it wouldn’t just prevent the Defense Industry from arming tyrants, it would actually eliminate one of the primary reasons we even have war on earth.
Enough building it up. Here’s the proposal:
A 100% tax on all profits earned from manufacturing the weapons of war.
BLAM! Take that, Military Industrial Complex. You can design and sell all the weapons you want, but don’t expect any more lucrative deals. Now we’ll see if “building democracy”, “fighting terrorists”, and “protecting civilians” is really all that important to the war-mongers when there’s far fewer profits to be made.
Libya’s Rebel Commander Abdel Hakim Belhaj – the one who led the Gaddafi-ousting coup in Tripoli – has something of a questionable reputation. If he weren’t the head of the NATO-backed rebellion, he’d likely sit on one of America’s terrorist watch lists.
The former head of a jihad organization with ties to al Qaeda and the Taliban, Belhaj recently told the NY Times that he was tortured and imprisoned for 6 years by the CIA. Whoops! Well, no hard feelings, right?
Still, Belhaj’s bombshell pales compared to that dropped by Former US Congressman Walter Fauntroy, who claims to have witnessed NATO forces storming small villages late at night, beheading and butchering the residents in a campaign of fear.
These allegations surfaced yesterday, and the story has all but dematerialized, which makes it seem unfounded. Maybe Congressman Fauntroy is just getting his affairs in order before releasing the video he shot.
Now, don’t get me wrong here. I’m positive the vast majority filling the ranks of NATO – and the military in general – are very good people. But NATO is just another face of the Military Industrial Complex. And this makes it something to be mistrusted and heavily scrutinized.
Consistently, wars are sold to the public for one reason or another – to protect civilians, to defeat terrorists, to ensure freedom – but they always end up being about money and power.
See, there’s tons of money in manufacturing the tools of war, and there’s plenty more moola to rebuild nations, so that’s reason enough for some business people to want to stir up the pot.
But armed conflict goes deeper.
For one, multinational corporations get to divvy up the juicy resources from the vanquished nations. They can also use the opportunity to privatize anything useful from the public commons. On top of this, the successful invaders get to pick the new leaders, like this Belhaj goon, who could end up selling out their own people to foreign interests.
Hey! Here’s an idea! Why not open up the war machine to transparency?
If what the defense industry people are doing is so entirely just, then let everyone see what happens in a war zone. Show us how much it’s costing, and what is being done on a day to day basis. Film the atrocities, and see if the public can stomach what is being done in their name.
No? Can’t do it? Well then, the whole stinking thing is a RACKET!!!
NATO got the UN’s green light to bomb the shit out of Libya back in March, under the pretense of ‘protecting civilians.’ Since then, the campaign evolved into full blown regime change as intervening forces opted to lend support to one band of armed thugs instead of another.
Now that the old guard has fallen, the real driving force behind NATO’s invasion becomes clear. With the deck being reshuffled, the countries who lent support to Libya’s ‘liberation’ have been scrambling to ensure they get dealt a better hand.
Recently, allegations have surfaced that members from the NTC – the group of rebels who overthrew Gaddafi – promised France 35% of Libya’s oil exports if they lent military support for their coup. And that was all the way back in April.
But like Chris Nineham from the Stop the War Coalition says in this video, the NTC hasn’t won any election. All they did was get enough muscle behind them to oust the dictator, which is pretty much how the guy being kicked out got to power in the first place.
The Libyan people haven’t seen new freedom yet. So far, all NATO has done is swap one crooked empire for another, all the while securing their own permanence for years to come.
But don’t you just know that’s been their primary goal all along.
Sure, whenever nations go to war, defense contractors alone can rake in billions every year. But since you’re going to do all the fighting and killing anyway, you may as well use your military muscle to install puppet regimes and shore up juicy corporate contracts. You’ll get more bang for your buck that way.
Tripoli has fallen and Gaddafi is MIA. No doubt jubilation has overtaken the country, and rightfully so. But the brave Libyan freedom fighters weren’t alone in their celebrations.
Under the cover of darkness, a highly trained special ops team moved in to secure the Libyan Central Bank, liberating it of its precious treasure – 144 Tons of gold!
And this huge score couldn’t have come at a better time for the world’s gold cartel.
See, global gold handlers have been scrambling to gather up the 350+ Tons of precious metal needed to repay Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, who recalled his nation’s golden treasure just this week.
So now mega money institutions like JP Morgan and Barclays, who are on the hook for the bricks and bullion, can breathe a little bit easier knowing at least some of their obligation will be covered quite handily.
Of course, the bit about special ops is pure speculation. Almost as speculative as assuming Libya’s lucrative oil contracts with China will soon dry up in favor of other countries, like France and the United States, which helped ‘liberate’ the North African nation.
Libyan rebels have taken the capital city of Tripoli and arrested two of Gaddafi’s sons. Reports are claiming Gaddafi has fled the nation.
What fantastic timing! NATO can claim responsibility for the regime change – even though they went there to ‘protect civilians’ – showing the world what can happen if and when they’re given permission to move on to Syria. (The term ‘move on’ is used here loosely, as NATO forces will likely remain in Libya for years.)
Forget waiting to see what comes of the regime change. Who cares if Libya’s new government is as corrupt as the last. Tunisia,Egypt – they’re both flourishing democracies now, right?
Let’s just go guns blazing, or rather, bombs dropping, into Syria. Why bother even considering alternatives when there are lives to be saved by killing people?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJurKRtY2o4
Dennis Kucinich took the floor this week, once again saying something we don’t hear enough of in the political realm. Namely, that wars transfer billions of dollars from taxpayers into the coffers of the cronies from the Military Industrial Complex.
We don’t need more war in our world.
Remote controlled planes dropping bombs on people in Yemen, Somalia and Libya are not making the world safer. The 10 year excursion in Afghanistan did not bring stability or democracy to the region.
It is time to stand up and speak out against war. Enough is enough. There is a better way forward.
