The New Yorker has something of a literate puff piece on Hillary Clinton qua politician. Here's a little insight into the mechanics of being a Democrat (or Liberal, or politician, really):

After the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a group of black students on campus were threatening a hunger strike if the Wellesley administration did not address their demands. It was the kind of situation in which, as a classmate recalled, “Hillary would step in and organize an outlet that would be acceptable on the Wellesley campus.

Legendary Haitian organizer, grandmother, folksinger and former political prisoner Annette "So Ann" Auguste was in Montreal this week. Cafe Toc Toc was packed last night for her appearance there, where Dominion contributor Isabel Macdonald's short documentary film, "Our Arms do Not Kill," an investigation into the role of the UN military occupation of Haiti, was also shown, and members of Kalmunity performed.

The Montreal Mirror covered So Ann's visit in their last issue. In a press conference on Monday, So Ann said that Canada was to blame for her imprisonment without trial. During her 800+ days in jail, Paul Martin visited Haiti and claimed that "there are no political prisoners in Haiti", and CIDA provided funding for NCHR and other organizations that took the lead in building bogus cases against So Ann and hundreds of other political prisoners. Many remain imprisoned.

Today's Ottawa Citizen cover story about JTF2 contains a few nuggets of information:

The government wants the country's special forces units to be able to work more closely with similar units in the United States when reacting to incidents that potentially threaten North America. Canada's special forces will also play more of a role in training foreign militaries.

Emphasis added. JTF2's operations are completely secret, however, so there's no way of knowing who they're training, unless the government deigns to reveal it.

Peter Cizek explains why: Scouring Scum and Tar from the Bottom of the Pit.

An indepth look at the "gigaprojects" rocking the North, and the web of NGOs tied up in corporate/ money who thus far have largely failed to respond to what Cizek calls an "environmental holocaust."

Back in BC just in time to welcome a pack of gold-silver-nickel-copper toting criminals in suits to the Vancouver for the Association for Mineral Exploration conference, known as Roundup 2007, which will take place from 29 Jan to 01 Feb at the Westin Bayshore.

The list of sponsors is a veritable who's who in the international mining world. I am working on a list with notes to leaflet with, for the moment, I'll pick just one: Ivanhoe Mines Ltd.

Quote of choice: "If we can force Ivanhoe out of Mongolia, that signifies that we are a democratic nation. If we can’t, we will become the next Burma" -S.Ganbaatar, Ulan Baator, 2006.

The Globe's Business section reports that the new CRTC chief is "pro-consumer". No word about his stance on human beings or their ownership of the airwaves.

In a long backgrounder, Bloomberg notes that Bono is a tax-dodging capitalist.

Diana Johnstone wonders if the International Criminal Court is a worthwhile endeavour, in Counterpunch. Is the ICC capable of finding anyone innocent? Johnstone argues that it's not set up for that purpose. That, and the small matter that the "justice" meted out by the court is selectively applied.

The überculture kids are videoblogging from their tour with the Waltown film, which is taking them from Victoria to Whitehorse to Saint John's.

The press has repeated, ad nauseum, that the Serbian Radical Party, which won a plurality of seats in yesterday's election, is "ultra-nationalist", and in a few cases "far right". Unfortunately, there's almost no information about their positions or policies, other than they're against European integration and the extradition of General Ratko Mladic to the Hague.

On the second point, it's hard to argue with them. If one wishes to enforce international law, the way to do it is not to set up a US-funded kangaroo court that refuses outright to try war criminals on both sides. That's not justice, that's a farce. Enforcing international law is a great idea; enforcing it selectively just means it's not law and it's not international. And it's hard to get excited about non-international non-law.

Credit to the BBC for not only not using (at least in that article) the term "ultranationalist" to deride the Serbian Radical Party, which appears to be on its way to winning the elections (but probably not the government) in Serbia today, as many outlets undoubtedly will. The BBC gets extra points for alluding to the small fact that NATO dropped 20,000 tonnes of bombs on the country might have an effect on whether the majority of Serbs are willing to sacrifice their well-being to join the EU.

A former Israeli Justice Minister, now the chair of a national holocaust memorial, had some fairly harsh words for the West Bank settlers. He compared the situation of the Palestinians to that of the Jewish diaspora in Europe before WWII:

"It was not crematoria or pogroms that made our life in the diaspora bitter before they began to kill us, but persecution, harassment, stone-throwing, damage to livelihood, intimidation, spitting and scorn," he said. "I was afraid to go to school, because of the little anti-Semites who used to lay in ambush on the way and beat us up. How is that different from a Palestinian child in Hebron?"

In today's Globe, Bruce Konviser hits all the major notes of Globe and Mail foreign coverage: unspecified "pro-western reforms" are good, "nationalism" is "destabilizing", and why should any facts get in the way of us reporting that story once again.

I forgot the most important one: history doesn't exist, and if it does, it doesn't matter.

(For a long, fascinating, historical take on whether Serbia should join the EU, check out this essay of sorts by John Bosnitch)

Poya, a member of No One Is Illegal Montreal, is in Iran, and recently sent back a rather interesting report about life there and the country's political situation.

The Associated Press and AFP are reporting that four workers are dead and twenty-five injured in a major construction accident.

What none of the agencies (so far, that I've seen) are saying is that an accident this bad was pretty much inevitable, given the sub-human treatment of migrant workers who are building Dubai, and the incredibly strenuous conditions and long hours they are forced to work.

This Reuters story starts by saying...

Villagers in Shebaa were grateful to Hezbollah guerrillas for forcing out Israel. Now, some say Nasrallah's image has been damaged by the campaign he is leading against a government which they support.

...but ends by saying that "some" are religious leaders who are probably getting paid to oppose Hezbollah:

In Shebaa, some Sunni clerics and other local leaders have started criticizing Hezbollah, villagers said. "They are trying to impose sectarianism under financial incentives or ideological pressure," Ali said. "Frankly, it's political money."

Another interesting interview on the Autonomy & Solidarity website.

This is a very interesting interview done by CBC with Barbara McDougall who is representing the Canadian government at the negotiating table. She says some quite positive things about Six Nations and also critiques the people in Caledonia who are stirring up trouble...

I just came across some great interviews with people from Six Nations. I found Janie Jamison's words particularly kick-ass.

Mark Mackinnon sent in the highlighted article excerpt in response to the ongoing discussion about Mark MacKinnon's coverage in Lebanon.

For his remarks, read the discussion.

* * *

From "Hezbollah protestors rally against government," by Mark MacKinnon.

Published in The Globe and Mail on Dec. 2, 2006.

(snip)
The demonstrators accused the government, which has supported international calls for Hezbollah to surrender its weapons, of being run by the U.S. embassy. "Down with Feltman's government!" was a popular chant, referring to Jeffery Feltman, the U.S. ambassador.