For your information: About the Halifax International Security Forum

Haligonians rally against threats of war against Syria, September 7, 2013

THE Halifax War Conference, aka the Halifax International Security Forum, held its first meeting in November 2009. The conference was part and parcel of the NATO aggressive military alliance to reconfigure itself with a “new security doctrine” to replace that of “humanitarian intervention” introduced during the 1999 aggression against Yugoslavia and the first absorption into NATO of states of the former Soviet bloc.

In a statement issued to oppose the first conference in 2009, CPC(M-L) pointed out:

“The demand for this ‘new doctrine’ is impelled by the crisis of NATO itself. After eight years of occupation of Afghanistan under the pretext of opposing terrorism, NATO has been unable to quell the important resistance of the Afghan people. The people of Afghanistan refuse to accept NATO’s ‘international security assistance’ and the peoples of NATO’s member countries have not been convinced of the nobility of the war or NATO’s present course and its raison d’être.”

The current website of the Halifax War Conference describes its history as follows:

“With the generous support of the Canadian government, the Halifax International Security Forum was founded in 2009 as a program within the German Marshall Fund of the United States. The first Halifax Forum put Halifax, Nova Scotia on the map as the natural meeting place in North America for informed leaders from the military, government, business, academia and the media. The second conference in November 2010 confirmed Halifax International Security Forum’s prominent place on the international calendar by attracting leaders from 44 countries.

“Now an independent organization, Halifax International Security Forum continues to be funded by a generous grant from the government of Canada. In 2011, Halifax was proud to welcome Foreign Affairs as its Media Partner. The 2013 Forum will again highlight the most pressing issues for international security decision-makers and feature participants from some 50 countries.”

As CPC(M-L) pointed out in 2009,

“The German Marshall Fund, founded by a grant from Germany in 1972 to commemorate assistance provided to it by the Marshall Plan, is actively involved in NATO’s attempts to redefine itself and expand its global reach. The conference website describes the role of the fund as follows: ‘GMF is known for its innovative convening, including Brussels Forum, its annual flagship event, and its NATO Summit Conferences at Istanbul, Riga, and Bucharest […]’’’

Thus, the purported independence of the War Conference proclaimed by its 2013 website is meant to fool the gullible. Far from it, the conference is meant to serve the interests of the monopolies and the U.S. imperialists and their aggressive alliance NATO.

As for using Halifax as the venue for the War Conference, the Nova Scotia Committee of CPC(M-L) pointed out in 2009:

“The organizing of the Forum is directly linked to promotion of the Atlantic Gateway, a project designed to facilitate rapid transport and military links between South Asia, the Middle East and the U.S. It is thus no accident that this ‘security forum’ is to be held in the port of Halifax, headquarters of Maritime Command and the most important NATO military base in the North Atlantic.”

As TML pointed out at the time of the second Halifax War Conference in 2010:

“It is not by accident that a conference that is inextricably part of NATO is being imposed on Halifax. Halifax and its harbour have long held strategic significance for the imperialists and their monopoly interests. It is one of the largest natural harbours in the world and is North America’s easternmost port of call with transcontinental rail connections.”

While the War Conference holds its proceedings in Halifax, the organization is actually headquartered in Washington, DC. This underscores the integration of Canada into the U.S. military apparatus and that the U.S. imperialists and their Canadian quislings consider Halifax to be their colonial military outpost within the annexed territory of Canada.

All Out to Oppose the Halifax War Conference!
Saturday, November 23 – 1:00 pm

Halifax Peace & Freedom Park (formerly Cornwallis Park), Hollis & South Sts. 
Organized by: No Harbour For War • Endorsed by: Halifax Peace Coalition, CUPW,
NSPIRG, Food Not Bombs and others
For information: noharbourforwar@hotmail.com

Agenda of the 2013 War Conference

A November 5 press release from the War Conference states in part:

“The Honourable Rob Nicholson, Canadian Minister of National Defence, will host American Secretary of Defense, Chuck Hagel, at the fifth annual Halifax International Security Forum. Secretary Hagel is delivering the opening remarks at the Forum […]

“Secretary Hagel and Minister Nicholson will be joined by more than two dozen international Ministers, as well as military leaders and security experts from over 50 countries. The Halifax International Security Forum brings together 300 individuals annually who are on the ground facing consequential local threats, writers who challenge and influence the world’s thinking on security, and decision-makers who make the tough choices. […]

“The 2013 Halifax International Security Forum features eight on-the-record sessions and 28 off-the-record sessions. The on-the-record panels focus on the following subjects:

– The West Today: Calculated Power or Complete Paralysis?
– Bloody Autocracy, Religious Kleptocracy, Unstable Democracy: In Search of Better Choices for the Middle East (and Beyond)
– If Democracies Won’t, Alternatives Will: Reviving Global Responsibility
– From India to the Americas: The Trials and Tribulations of a New Pacific Order
– Robot Wars: The Technology Strikes Back
– Arctic Encounters: Hot Commodities, Cold War
– Free Radicals (With Return Tickets): Boston, Nairobi, and the Future of Terrorism
– WMD: Whose Moral Dilemma?”

A draft agenda released October 2 lists the following Small Group Sessions (Off-the-Record):

– Afghanistan 2014: Withdrawal Symptoms
– African Security: Where is the Next Mali?
– Climate Change as Background Music?
– Is Cyber Offense the Best Cyber Defense?
– Dangerous Liaisons: Relying on Corrupt Allies
– @DigitalDiplomacy #Really?
– Drone: On
– Egypt: Mummified Democracy
– Global Energy Security
– Guns and Butter: Development as Defense?
– Europe’s East: Promise Fulfilled or Promise Denied
– Impotent or Important: Europe’s Role in Global Security
– Iran: New Face, Old Regime?
– Japan’s Abe, Abe’s Japan
– Leading Latins: Up and Coming in the Western Hemisphere
– Middle East Peace: More Process or Real Prospects?
– Merkel’s Germany
– Multilateralism Today: Who Are the Cooks? Where is the Kitchen?
– North Korea: What Do We Know?
– Nuke-Free or Nuke-Full? Disarmament vs. Proliferation
– Pakistan and the West: Friends Without Benefits?
– Russia: Bear With Us (Or Against Us)
– Peaking China: The Shrinking Rise
– “Siri, How Do I Save the World?”: Technology in a Crisis
– Space: Big Enough for All of Us?
– Syria, Syria
– Trade as a Weapon: The Art of Economic Statecraft
– Turkey at 90: The Future of the Secular Republic
– What Future for Deterrence?
– Yes We Scan: Privacy and/or Security in a Democracy

TML Weekly Information Project, November 16. 2013, No. 45