Canada’s Iraq war mission extended

Since September 11, 2001, Canada has consistently been expanding its foreign military and police presence in Central and West Asia under U.S. and NATO command. While openly participating in the invasion of Afghanistan, the Chrétien Liberal government would not provide troops for the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, despite having done so during the previous U.S. invasions of Iraq. The Trudeau government has now taken up the challenge to provide an air of legitimacy for Canada’s ongoing military actions in Iraq and their expansion. On June 29, the Trudeau government announced that its mission in Iraq would be extended for two more years and that the mission would be “adjusted.” This is a far cry from its election claim that it would end Canada’s combat mission in Iraq, giving the impression that it was against foreign military escalation. Shortly after being elected, the Trudeau government launched a new mission in the Middle East, focusing on Iraq and neighbouring countries such as Jordan and Lebanon.

Advertisements

Word. Cuba will never accept any preconditions or impositions

Speech by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Cuba, Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, during the 72nd Session of the United Nations General Assembly, September 22, 201

STATEMENT BY H.E. Mr. BRUNO RODRÍGUEZ PARRILLA, MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF THE REPUBLIC OF CUBA, AT THE SEVENTY SECOND SESSION OF THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY. NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 22, 2017.

Mr. President:

Mr. Secretary General;

Allow me to reiterate to you Cuba’s, support to your work at the helm of the United Nations and as a guarantor and advocate of international peace.

Heads of State and Government;

Distinguished delegates;

I would like to express my deep condolences to the relatives of the deceased and the victims of hurricanes Irma and Maria, as well as our disposition to increase our cooperation, to the extent of our modest possibilities, with the brother peoples and governments of Dominica and Antigua and Barbuda, small Caribbean islands which suffered a terrible devastation; with the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Saint Martin, Sint Maarten, Virgin Islands and Anguilla.

Fitting replies to US president

Jorge Arreaza, Foreign Minister of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, replied to Trump’s speech at a September 19 press conference: “The United States Government is in complete violation of all the principles of the UN Charter.” Venezuela is a country of peace and no country can or has the right to violate Venezuela’s sovereignty, he said. “We do not accept threats from President Trump, we are a people of peace and what we want are relations of mutual respect, not only with the United States, but with all the countries of the world,” he added.

US president threatens fire and brimstone at UN and Trudeau postures as world’s great white hope

This week on September 19 General Debate began at the 72nd Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York and will continue until September 25. At the General Assembly, Heads of State or government, or their representatives, address the United Nations stating their priorities for themselves, the world and the UN itself.

A low point, exhibiting for all to see the deep crisis in which the U.S. is mired, was the performance of its President Donald Trump. His vehement rhetoric promising fire and brimstone to all non-believers in the U.S. democracy shows how desperate the United States has become because it cannot command that the world fix its economic and all-sided crisis. The more it declares that it is the indispensable nation, the more all others become aware of the need to make sure they are not dispensed with.

Hurricane Irma: Support the Canadian Campaign for Cuban Relief and Reconstruction

Massive flooding in Cuba’s capital Havana in wake of the powerful Hurricane Irma. Across Cuba, people are working hard to enact a speedy recovery.

I wish to urge all readers to respond to this call for aid to assist Cuba by contributing whatever you can. Canadians have a special place in their hearts for Cuba, yet the media is largely blocking out any objective information either on the effect of Hurricane Irma or on the response by the Cuban people and their government – both to prepare in advance and now to recover and reconstruct. A one hour program broadcast by CBC’s The National that I watched literally devoted but one minute out of the 60 to Cuba. Prof Susan Babbit put it more poignantly, “Cuba was there in the CBC newscasts about Florida. It was the country under the satellite image, under the ‘lingering’ eye of category five Irma. For hours, that awful image was in the background as the CBC anchor kept returning to Florida’s need for gas.”

It seems that the corollary is that what little “aid” has been promised by the Canadian government is not according to humanitarian need but an agenda according to a hierarchy; for example, the Canadian Forces are flying aid from France to French colonies, as well as to British colonies. Let us show the real heart of Canada and friendship with the people of Cuba as with other lands by responding to this timely appeal!

---

By Isaac Saney, National Spokesperson, Canadian Network on Cuba

Hurricane Irma menaced and devastated the eastern and northern Caribbean, striking Cuba from September 8-10, resulting in significant and widespread damage. Accompanied by massive flooding, its sweeping destruction encompassed housing, communications, infrastructure, agricultural equipment, crops, and community buildings.

While we are confident that the Cuban people will overcome any challenges posed by Hurricane Irma, Cuba will nevertheless have to expend considerable resources, both immediate and long term, in order to overcome the havoc wreaked by Hurricane Irma.

To assist Cuba in its immense efforts of recovery and reconstruction, the Canadian Network On Cuba (CNC) is launching the Hurricane Irma Relief & Reconstruction for Cuba Campaign.

Six questions about Hurricane Irma, climate change and Harvey

As global temperatures rise, warmer oceans are expected to fuel stronger hurricanes, with disastrous consequences | SABRINA SHANKMAN*

For the first time since 2010 three hurricanes were active in the Atlantic at the same time, and a rare case of multiple Atlantic hurricanes threatening land at the same time | NASA/NOAA GOES Project

A third of the way into the 2017 Atlantic hurricane season, NOAA [the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration of the U.S. Commerce Department] looked at the ocean and air temperatures and issued an ominous new forecast: the region would likely experience “an above normal hurricane season” that “could be extremely active,” with more named storms than previously expected — 14 to 19 this season — and two to five major hurricanes.

Trump unable to unite military bureaucracy: growing conflicts among rulers increase civil war danger

One of the jobs of the presidency is to preserve the union, which requires uniting the military bureaucracy. This bureaucracy, which has grown to massive proportions, is part of the state machinery that exists from one president to the next. It is the state and its monopoly on use of force that ensures continuity and rule by the rich, while government changes from one election to the next. In current conditions, where the existing institutions for governance – for example, Congress, political parties, elections – are dysfunctional and no longer serve to resolve conflicts, this problem of preserving the union and uniting the bureaucracy becomes increasingly difficult.