» Archive: February 2006

Death Squad Investigation: Iraq

Counterpunch: "Hundreds of Iraqis are being tortured to death or summarily executed every month in Baghdad alone by death squads working from the Ministry of the Interior, the United Nations' outgoing human rights chief in Iraq has revealed."

In other news, posting will resume on the usual semi-daily schedule starting today.

childishness of civilisations

Robert Fisk: "In Denmark, Fleming Rose, the "culture" editor of the pip-squeak newspaper which published these silly cartoons--last September, for heaven's sake--announces that we are witnessing a "clash of civilisations" between secular Western democracies and Islamic societies. This does prove, I suppose, that Danish journalists follow in the tradition of Hans Christian Anderson. Oh lordy, lordy. What we're witnessing is the childishness of civilisations."

Corporate Favourites

Chantal Hebert: "In fact, for a long time, corporate Canada did not feel a pressing need to look beyond Martin. It took Jean Chrétien's last year in office, complete with a high-profile feud with the White House on Iraq, to give new impetus to corporate efforts to force the two small-c conservative parties back together. Now Martin's matchmaking services are coming to an end and with corporate favourites for his succession already out of the running, a realignment is poised to take place."

A ringing endorsement

Lawrence Martin: "Mr. Ignatieff picked up the support of none other than Conrad Black this week. But he can't rekindle the magic of a Pierre Trudeau from the right."

NYTimes on Haiti

Just in case anyone missed it, the New York Times did a big piece on Haiti this week. Specifically: the role of the International Republican Institute in destabilizing the country, leading to the overthrow of the democratically elected government.

Stewart on Chavez

Jon Stewart claimed offhand that journalists are put in jail for four years in Venezuela for "criticizing" President Chavez the other day. Babble, the discussion forum over at Rabble.ca, is on the case.

The basic fact is that the majority of the press and television stations in Venezuela are owned by the country's elite, which are not very pleased with their president, leading to coverage that's all-anti-Chavez, all the time. At least according to all the accounts that I've read. To my knowledge, none of them are in jail.

What one can say is that there was a law that human rights watch drew attention to. The law was changed before being passed. So the worst you can say about Venezuela is that human rights groups have warned against the potential for abuse of press freedom.

If there were journalists in jail, it's a pretty fair bet we would have heard about it.

Dionmania!

CalgaryGrit: "It's shaping up a lot like 1968 and I think most Liberals liked the way that one ended. The fact that there are still over a dozen credible candidates out there shows that there's still some interest in the job. This could be just the chance for some fantastic candidates, lacking only name recognition, to show what they're made of."

Chantal Hebert: "If the Liberals are to move them past those episodes, they may have to look beyond Cauchon, perhaps to the brainy Stéphane Dion, to help them get there. If this is to be a Liberal year when talking heads matter more than political animals, a rare time when participating in the race could be as important as winning it, Dion would be a good fit for this campaign."

Andrew Coyne: "This is big. The knock on Dion has always been that he's radioactive to the province's political class, especially its media. If a commentator of Chantal's stature is taking his candidacy seriously, it may mean the times have caught up with the man."

Liberal Buzz

T-Star: "NDP candidate Sid Ryan, who lost in Oshawa, agreed with Nash and added the strategy actually ended up hurting him in an auto riding despite Hargrove's personal endorsement. 'It confused people,' Ryan said. 'I would go to many doorsteps where people would tell me, "but Buzz is saying vote Liberal." I had to spend time everywhere explaining this was not the case in Oshawa.'"

Low Pay

T-Star: "The growth of low-paying and part-time work is taking the shine off a 30-year low in Canada's unemployment rate, according to a CIBC World Markets report."