This Day. 7th anniversary of Lac-Mégantic tragedy – The need to build a public authority that defends public not private interests

By Pierre Chénier

July 6, 2020 marked the seventh anniversary of the Lac-Mégantic tragedy, one of the worst train disasters in Canadian history. 

On the evening of July 5, 2013, a freight train comprised of five locomotives and 72 tanker cars, unsuited for the type of crude oil they carried, was left unattended in Nantes, in Quebec’s Eastern Townships. At around 1:00 am the train started to roll down the slope towards the town of Lac-Mégantic. Shortly after, 63 of the tanker cars derailed in downtown Lac-Mégantic, spilling their contents and causing a series of fires and explosions of catastrophic proportions.

The real interest of the United States and transnational corporations in Latin America and the Caribbean

What are the real interests of the U.S. and corporations in the region? Freedom, democracy, human rights? No. Their goal is to preserve imperialist domination of our natural resources| ENRIQUE MORENO GIMERANEZ

Our America is again suffering escalating aggression by U.S. imperialism and local oligarchies. The region is experiencing a sad reality involving dangerous turmoil and socio-political instability, promoted by Washington.

War of sanctions against Iran (III)

German Foreign Policy

The escalation of the conflict over Iran hampers the German government’s efforts to pursue an independent global policy, even contrary to U.S. interests. Following U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement [that] he would impose punitive measures on all countries planning to purchase Iranian oil, Teheran responded by declaring it may begin to enrich uranium again, if the partners of the nuclear agreement continue to breach their commitments and refuse to allow Iran to sell its goods freely.

What does the RCMP raid on Wet’suwet’en territory mean?

Photo | M. Toledano

Written by KAI NAGATA

January 8, 2018 — Thousands of people across Canada and around the world are watching and sharing updates online as RCMP officers dismantle a pipeline blockade on Wet’suwet’en territory in Northern BC.

A man was killed in a 1998 explosion at the Irving refinery; afterwards, a safety report made recommendations that would ‘prevent a similar occurrence,’ but 20 years later the refinery exploded again

By TIM BOUSQUET*

No consent – No pipeline! Canadian’s opposition to Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline project

Protesters block the gates of Kinder Morgan’s Burnaby Mountain facility, March 17, 2018.

For Your Information: Resistance at Standing Rock

• Background on Standing Rock Struggle
• Excerpts from Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Resolution Opposing Dakota Access Pipeline
• Violations of Federal Law in Pipeline Approval
• We Are Still Here. We Are Still Fighting for Our Lives on Our Own Land – LaDonna Brave Bull Allard, Standing Rock Sioux –
• We Are Protectors, Defending the Land And Water – Iyuskin American Horse, Canyon Ball, North Dakota –
• The Vicious Dogs of Manifest Destiny Resurface in North Dakota – Jacqueline Keeler –

US: Courageous defiance and resistance at Standing Rock

All Out for Actions in Solidarity with Standing Rock

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

The resistance by Indigenous peoples and supporters to the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) in Standing Rock, North Dakota, is intensifying in defiance of the use of state violence against them. The conflict shows the continued refusal of the U.S. ruling circles to provide solutions to conflicts with Indigenous peoples on a political nation-to-nation basis. Instead, they are repeating all the practices from the time of the Great Sioux War of 1876, also known as the Black Hills War, between the Lakota Sioux, the Northern Cheyenne and the government of the United States. The cause of the war was the desire of the U.S. government to obtain ownership of the Black Hills where gold had been discovered and settlers began to encroach on the land. Since that time, the Sioux and Cheyenne have refused to cede ownership to the U.S. The Battle of the Little Bighorn, also known as Custer’s last Stand, was one the battles of the war.

Energy East?

“Environmental groups have released a report saying the proposed Energy East pipeline would drive a huge increase in crude tanker traffic, jeopardizing the environment and marine life between New Brunswick and the U.S. Gulf Coast,” reports the Canadian Press:

The report, prepared by the U.S.-based Natural Resources Defence Council in partnership with groups such as Greenpeace and the Conservation Council of New Brunswick, says the pipeline would result in a 300 to 500 per cent increase in tankers delivering western crude to refineries in the southern United States.

[…]

Anthony Swift, a spokesman for the report, says the large number of crude tankers creates extraordinary threats to the U.S. East Coast and marine life in the Bay of Fundy.

The group has launched a petition calling for a moratorium on tankers carrying oilsands bitumen in U.S. waters.

The report can be found here.

International trade as a geopolitical weapon of the big powers

Discussion on the economy | K.C. ADAMS

The most powerful monopolies centred in the big powers control international trade. Free trade agreements allow them almost unrestricted access to most countries. The monopoly free traders oppose any opposition to their free access with stern measures, including blockades, sanctions, predatory war, imperialist financed and organized regime change, and other gross interference in the sovereign affairs of the people and their right to be.

Obama’s secret deals with Saudi Arabia and Qatar: Behind lower gas prices and the bombing of Syria and Eastern Ukraine

By ERICH ZEUSSE*

The following report reconstructs U.S. President Barack Obama’s foreign policy, on the basis of what I have deemed to be reliable news accounts of his Administration’s actions, not of its mere words.

This reconstruction is grounded in the linked-to news-sources, all of which I have investigated and verified — and some of which I wrote. The ones that I wrote are themselves sourced to the links within those reports, all of which I have, likewise, personally checked and verified. Consequently, the chain of verifications back to this reconstruction’s primary sources is available to any online reader, and every reader is encouraged to track back to its ultimate source any allegation that might appear to be at all questionable to him or her in the present article.

North American energy ministers meet in Washington: Further integration of ‘continental energy market’

By LOUIS LANG

THE energy ministers of the U.S., Mexico and Canada met in Washington, DC on December 15, to discuss the further integration of the “continental energy market.”

U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz, Mexican Secretary of Energy Pedro Joaquin Coldwell and Canadian Minister of Natural Resources Greg Rickford issued a joint statement. In it, they confirmed their commitment to implement the agreement to address the issue of energy as a “trilateral priority” arrived at in February 2014 at the North American leaders’ summit in Toluca, Mexico.

From energy war to currency war: America’s attack on the Russian ruble

By MAHDI DARIUS NAZEMROAYA*

A MULTI-SPECTUM WAR is being waged against Moscow by Washington. If there are any doubts about this, they should be put to rest. Geopolitics, science and technology, speculation, financial markets, information streams, large business conglomerates, intelligentsia, mass communication, social media, the internet, popular culture, news networks, international institutions, sanctions, audiences, public opinion, nationalism, different governmental bodies and agencies, identity politics, proxy wars, diplomacy, countervailing international alliances, major business agreements, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), human rights, prestige, military personnel, capital, and psychological tactics are all involved in this multi-spectrum war. On a daily basis this struggle can be seen playing out on the airwaves, in the war theatres in Ukraine and the Middle East, through the statements and accusations of diplomats, and in the economic sphere.

Oil prices and energy wars: The US empire of ‘frack’ versus Russia

Energy prices started to move downward in late-2014, when Saudi oil began to flood energy markets. Variations of two main schools of thought about this emerged. One school explained things purely on the basis of business interests whereas the other school viewed the drop in oil prices geopolitically.

Growth of ISIL – a planned decision: Syrian perspective

Those who have never been to Syria may find it hard to imagine that three years ago extremist groups, such as Al Qaeda and ISIL had no presence there. The idea of public beheadings on Syrian streets was unthinkable. MIMI AL LAHAM*

From the Jasmine city of Damascus (Dimashq) today (Click to enlarge)

It is easier still to forget, that only four years ago, Libya had the highest Human Development Index of any country in Africa, that there was no Al Qaeda or ISIL in Iraq a decade ago, and that Afghanistan was a secular modern developed country with a capital that three decades ago was named “the jewel of Asia.”

The secret stupid Saudi-US deal on Syria. Oil gas pipeline war

THE details are emerging of a new secret and quite stupid Saudi-US deal on Syria and the so-called IS. It involves oil and gas control of the entire region and the weakening of Russia and Iran by Saudi Arabian flooding the world market with cheap oil. Details were concluded in the September meeting by US Secretary of State John Kerry and the Saudi King. The unintended consequence will be to push Russia even faster to turn east to China and Eurasia.

Syrian army retakes strategic gas field; US airstrikes hit Syrian oil field

(Nov. 11) – Syrian army troops backed by pro-government fighters have recaptured a strategic gas field in the central militancy-stricken province of Homs.

Syrian state television, citing an unnamed military source, reported that Syrian forces retook control of Shaer gas field and its surrounding area on Thursday.

US destroying Syria’s oil infrastructure under guise of fighting ISIS

The US is considering bombing pipelines in Syria, which it claims is in an attempt to cut off the huge profits being made by ISIS from captured oilfields. MARAM SUSLI*

Destabilization – US weapon in energy war in Ukraine and the Middle East

Is the USA fueling crises as negotiation tactics? The US is doing its best to estrange the EU from Russia to get the upper hand in a free trade deal, and also, to manipulate European countries into buying America’s relatively more expensive natural gas.

By MAHDI DARIUS NAZEMROAYA*

The TTIP and Ukraine

(Oct. 8) – The Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is a Euro-Atlantic free trade agreement that is the subject of ongoing negotiations between the US and the EU. The deadline for finalizing the TTIP free trade agreement is in 2015. Its goal is to create what is referred to as the Trans-Atlantic Free Trade Area (TAFTA) and to cement the European Union with the United States as one supranational trading bloc.

Truth about Israel’s latest war on Gaza: the energy rush

Israel’s war on Gaza has little to do with missiles or rockets fired by Hamas; the fact is Israel is after the vast natural gas reserves in the tiny strip. The zionist thieves want to lay their grubby hands on it. Hamas is seen as an impediment to this grand larceny, hence the brutal war to eliminate the resistance movement.

By CATHERINE SHAKDAM

The US official Geological Survey estimates that from Gaza’s coast to southern Turkey the eastern Mediterranean holds 122 trillion cubic feet of gas, comparable to the reserves of Iraq.

London, crescent-online.net (July 21) – Israel has deployed its media machine, telling the world that it has “the right to defend itself“ against foreign aggression, arguing that no country should ever be made to tolerate systematic terror. Under international law such narrative holds no legal ground as Israel has been de facto occupying Gaza, rendering null and void the notion of Gaza as a foreign entity; little has been said of Israel’s real motives however.

To quickly settle Israel’s argument that it legally and morally can and should defend itself against any aggression coming from Gaza, it is important to understand that the Gaza strip is not under international law a sovereign state; it is occupied land, therefore Israel cannot declare war on the people of Gaza, rather it owes its people protection.

IDF’s Gaza assault is to control Palestinian gas, avert Israeli energy crisis

Israel’s defence minister has confirmed that military plans to “uproot Hamas“ are about dominating Gaza’s gas reserves, NAFEEZ AHMED writes in the London, UK Guardian.

The US official Geological Survey estimates that from Gaza’s coast to southern Turkey the eastern Mediterranean holds 122 trillion cubic feet of gas, comparable to the reserves of Iraq.

(9 July 2014 19.14 BST) – Yesterday, Israeli defence minister and former Israeli Defence Force (IDF) chief of staff Moshe Ya’alon announced that Operation Protective Edge marks the beginning of a protracted assault on Hamas. The operation “won’t end in just a few days,” he said, adding that “we are preparing to expand the operation by all means standing at our disposal so as to continue striking Hamas.”

Behind unfolding events in Nigeria: White House escalates interventionist plans

Click to enlarge.

By ABAYOMI AZIKIWE

Pan-African News Wire (May 13) – A video purportedly released by the armed Boko Haram sect based in northeastern Nigeria showed what was said to be school girls who have been held by the group for a month. The Boko Haram leader said that the young women could be released in exchange for the prisoners belonging to their organization being held by the Nigerian government.

Halifax International Security Forum: The network of subversion, annexation and war in the making – the ‘Halifax Canada Club’

By TONY SEED

This article is part of an ongoing investigation into the Halifax International Security Forum (HISF), which was formed in 2009 as a covert arm of the U.S. state that presents itself as an “independent” and “non-partisan” body with quasi-permanent status. It was originally published on November 21, 2013 and revised on April 15, 2014; November 17 and 21, 2014; and February 17, 2016. 

Topics at the 2014 HISF Forum include: “Pipeline Corridors: The Geopolical Role of Energy Infrastructure.” Given that one of the opening plenary sessions is titled “O Say, Can’t You see? The Indispensible Role of the Exceptional Superpower,” one must ask, what is behind this?

THE Halifax International Security Forum (HISF) aka the Halifax War Conference was formed in 2009 by the Washington-based German Marshall Fund and the Harper ruling clique as a parallel body to established agencies of the Canadian state such as the departments of foreign affairs and national defence. The U.S. board of directors of the HISF includes three members of the Council of Foreign Relations (CFR), the president of Freedom House, and two experienced agents with the National Endowment for Democracy, whose work in subversion throughout the world is nefarious and well-documented. The programmatic work of the CFR, which is also the “media partner” of the HISF, for the integration of Canada into the United States, has also been well exposed.

In 2007, the very same organizers of the Halifax forum had initiated the Kiev Security Forum, co-sponsored by Arseny Yatsenyuk’s Open Ukraine Foundation, as an instrument of the subversion of Ukraine with the known results: a previously obscure politician and banker came to power in February 2014 through a coup d’état, in which he was installed as prime minister of Ukraine. (This will be the subject of a forthcoming article. See “About the Princeton Project on National Security (2004-06)” below.)

This signifies that the HISF can no longer be analyzed solely s a platform for war criminals, or militarism, or from the implications of its warmongering agenda for the Middle East, Europe and the NATO bloc, or from localist concerns, to the exclusion of the danger posed by subversion and nation wrecking of Canada itself.

“Halifax Canada Club” – “a new public-private partnership”

One of the unstated aims of the HISF organizers is the direct mobilization of monopolies in Canada and their integration into the drive of the U.S. Empire for war and domination, a Union of North American Monopolies. This includes their ultimate integration into the foreign policy, military and security establishment of the state behind the backs of the Canadian people as a component part of the annexation of Canada. Along with the HISF itself, one of the instruments of this drive is the formation of the “Halifax Canada Cub” – a fifth column in the making. Whether it can actually be organized or not in this form remains to be seen. The resistance of the Canadian people and the political demand for an anti-war government cannot be easily dismissed.

Harper Throne Speech a sop to the resource monopolies and wrong direction for the country

Step up the work to oppose the anti-social offensive

By K.C. ADAMS

TML Daily – THE Harper Throne Speech pushes resource extraction as Canada’s strategy for prosperity. The government vows to do everything it can to assist the resource monopolies extract and ship as much resources as they can in the shortest possible time. It even generates panic on this issue suggesting, “The window for gaining access to new markets will not remain open indefinitely.” The government wants Canadians to believe that our very lives and security depend on resource extraction and rapidly transporting it to the far ends of the earth. Any hindrance to this is considered against the national interests and even national security.

Espionage: Harper Government turning Canada into rogue state

Governments Must Uphold Public Right, Not Monopoly Right! 

TML Weekly Information Project (Oct. 12) – THE HARPER GOVERNMENT is transforming Canada into a rogue state that goes around the world attacking sovereign nations militarily, economically and politically, overtly and covertly, as part of a hooligan gang of allies led by the U.S. Its actions are in defiance of the norms and laws governing international relations, precisely what it falsely accuses many other countries of doing. At every opportunity and in every venue at home and abroad the Harperites seek to divide people on any basis they can and incite conflict among peoples and nations in order to advance the narrow interests of the monopolies with which they are aligned, and block any organized opposition to imperialism and monopoly right.

Hugo Chávez, oil and Maine

The death of President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela not expected to immediately affect energy assistance program in Maine, which has benefited over 60,000 households as well as the Passamaquoddy, Penobscot, Mi’kmaq and Maliseet First Nations, tribal official says. A civilized and cultured response that stands in stark contrast to the response of Ottawa and Washington filled with hate and revenge against the Bolivarian leader as the “instigator” of all the obstacles that lie in the path of the U.S. imperialist striving for domination of the Americas and the world.

By Dawn Gagnon, BDN Staff

Millions of Venezuelans take to the streets to pay tribute to President Hugo Chávez, as his body is taken from the military hospital where he died to the National Military Academy to lie in state, March 6, 2013

INDIAN ISLAND, Maine (March 7) — The death Tuesday of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez is not expected to affect the Venezuelan-sponsored humanitarian program that has provided energy assistance to low-income Maine people since at least 2006, according to an official familiar with the program.

Among those who have benefited from the heating aid provided by Citgo Petroleum Corp. — the national petroleum company of Venezuela — are households throughout the state that are eligible for the state’s Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP, and members of Maine’s Penobscot, Passamaquoddy, Micmac and Maliseet tribes.

Graphic details. Massive waste of natural gas

CLICK ON PIX FOR LARGER VIEW

Daily Mail, UK – THIS incredible picture from space shows how the U.S. oil industry has boomed to such an extent that a gas field now burns as brightly as a major city.

The rapid increase in shale oil production means it is now often more profitable to “flare off” unwanted gas than to sell it.

As a result, one field in North Dakota, the state leading the energy revolution, is now burning off enough gas to power all the homes in Chicago and Washington D.C. combined.

MORE

Why Iraq? Oil and U.S. foreign policy

By ISAAC SANEY*

This essay is the text of the paper “Why Iraq?” given on January 29, 2003 to inaugurate the Halifax Political Forums held at Dalhousie University from January to May on the theme “Peace & Nations in the 21st Century: Understanding the Causes of War.” One hundred and three people attended, filling the lecture room to overflowing.

This eleven-part series was aimed at “meeting the widespread demand for analysis of the contemporary situation, combating the massive disinformation about the nature and causes of war, providing clarity, and a venue for discussion.”

Halifax Political Forums inaugurated, hall packed for ‘Why Iraq?’ lecture

THE Halifax Political Forums inaugurated its series of weekly public discussion on January 29 on the topic “Why Iraq? Oil? Weapons of Mass Destruction? U.S. Dictate?” The Series is organized on the overall theme, “Peace & Nations in the 21st Century: Understanding the Causes of War.”

“An estimated 200 million people died in two world wars and 500 regional wars in the 20th century alone,” said Tony Seed, editor and publisher of Shunpiking magazine, pincipal sponsor of the weekly series, as he inaugurated the forum on behalf of its steering committee.

“Yet today mankind is faced with new destructive conflicts and deepening economic and political crises. Who is responsible for the threats to global and regional peace? Is it really ‘outlaw regimes’, an ‘axis of evil’ or ‘failed states’ and nations? How can a genuine and lasting peace be achieved? Who will decide?

“This in-depth public series is aimed at meeting the widespread demand for analysis of the contemporary situation, combating the massive disinformation about the nature and causes of war, and to provide clarity and a weekly venue for discussion.