"Everyone keeps saying Rob's a conservative," Doug explains. "He's a huge, massive social liberal. He loves Obama. The headlines of the papers when he won? 'The White Obama.' "
Maybe it’s OK sometimes to “white” wash the “black” market so that drugs, guns and terror can remain accessible to the “white” suburban folks and punishment can be left to the broke and less-white folks or less politically connected. Not only that but this is a fantastic way to “cut” taxes by way of downloading the costs to the tax-payer through the crimes against society?
In other words, even though Rob Ford commits illegal acts and supports organized international criminal activity, being re-branded as a “White Obama” saves the tax-payers of certain areas of Toronto. One might wonder how much illegal activity the Toronto Police Services were really willing to allow Rob Ford to engage in. Not only that, but the bigger question, that has actually answered itself, may be if this is common practice, aka: status quo based upon quid pro quo.
Now one can fully appreciate the gravity that drugs and weapons are not exported to Windsor from Toronto and that they flow from the US through Detroit/Windsor to get to Toronto so that they may be redistributed, aka: trafficked, nationwide, via well organized criminal activity. As noted below, Project Traveller really made headlines because of its connection to Rob Ford and was dropped from the headlines like a scalding hot potato.
If the “Dixon’s” endorsement of the Harper Regime is not worth noting, nothing really is, eh?
Police believe gang hiding suspectBy The Windsor Star January 3, 2008
A fugitive murder suspect from Windsor who allegedly shot a man in the back has disappeared into an underground world of gangs and criminals who may be helping him hide from police, say investigators.
Police believe Mohamud Abukar Hagi has ties to a criminal street gang from Toronto called the Dixon True Bloods, which branched out to other cities after police cracked down on their territory.
TORONTO CRACKDOWN
That Toronto crackdown has Windsor police dealing with a growing number of gangbangers.
“They’ve branched off to Calgary and, obviously, Windsor,” Det. Const. Mike Williams, with the Toronto police guns and gangs unit, said of the Dixon Bloods. “We pushed them out.”
Mayor Ford’s Dangerous LiaisonsBailey Reid 09 Nov 2013
Mayor Rob Ford may or may not smoke crack. That is yet to be revealed- because he doesn’t quite remember. What we do know, however, is that spending time with the man happens to be very dangerous, particularly for racialized communities in Toronto.
There have been numerous calls for the mayor’s resignation in the last few days, but mainly over the horror of his potential drug addiction and the attendant argument that he is unable to govern the city, from a moral standpoint.
Quite frankly, I find this to be the least of anyone’s worries. Our collective dismay about Mayor Ford smoking crack has overshadowed a very important subtext to this video of the mayor of Canada’s largest and arguably most diverse city (“Diversity Our Strength,” to cite the city’s motto). A deeper investigation into the mayor’s feelings towards marginalized people makes the crack video even more distressing: does the mayor see communities of colour as the proverbial “whipping boy”?
Laughing at Rob Ford? The laugh may be on usBy Paula Simons, Edmonton Journal November 7, 2013
EDMONTON – In Toronto, they’re known as the Dixon Bloods. Or the Dixon City Bloods. Or the Dixon Goonies. Many — though not all — are Somali-Canadian.
According to Toronto police, the gang has been “networking with associates” in Edmonton since 2006.
Not so coincidentally, since 2006, more than 30 young Somali-Canadian men have been killed in Alberta, most in gang-related shootings and stabbings. About half those killings took place in Edmonton.
Det. Cory Buerger is a member of Edmonton’s gang unit, on secondment to ALERT, the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team.
For almost a decade, he’s tracked the rise of local drug gangs dominated by Somali-Canadians. All, he says, are tightly networked with Toronto groups.
“Dixon Blood members have been seen in Fort McMurray and Edmonton, but they’re not wearing their gang colours out here.”
Instead, he says, members in Alberta operate as free agents. They don’t stake out physical turf, as they have in Toronto. They’re mobile, customer-based, delivering drugs to their buyers. Buerger says the Bloods and their affiliates bring their drugs through Vancouver, but their guns from Ontario. Most are bought legally in the United States, then smuggled across the border near Windsor.
This June, after a year-long investigation, 17 Canadian police agencies, including the Edmonton Police Service and ALERT, executed a takedown of Dixon operations in Toronto, Windsor and Edmonton: Project Traveller.
Police made 44 arrests, and seized 42 guns and $3 million worth of narcotics, including cocaine, heroin, marijuana, LSD and crystal meth. Among those arrested was Edmonton’s Daud Hussein, 27.
Yet for all its scope, Project Traveller really made headlines because of its connection to Rob Ford.
Yikes, that’s gotta really hurt, eh? But seriously, we covered this earlier this morning and provided some historical educational material as well. BTW: Who actually takes anything published via Postmedia seriously anyway considering they will go to extreme lengths to censor, scrub and remove any and all truths about Dear Leader Harper and his misfit ReformaCon Regime. Oddly enough, we have been cataloging these Ministry of Truth tactics for several years and believe us when we say, it’s not just Postmedia News or the other so called “right-wing” propaganda outlets, CBC News and the so-called “left-wing” nuts are all the same. Protecting the fear-mongering, war-mongering third rate (at best) Despot is not only job number 1 and it’s the only job in town.
Before we review the latest tweetorama, before you cast your ballot and since the entire thread of tweets is MIA in the “other” articles, start looking at who else has jumped ship ’cause when “lawyers” jump ship, unlike media folks who need a story, it’s goin’ down swiftly and then be sure to check out our archives for lot’s of archived evidence of media manipulation and propaganda in action.
Be sure pay close attention to how many turncoat ReformaCons are lashing out against a CONSERVATIVE! Now, join in and let your views be heard ’round the world…
So anyway… I have resigned as editor of Editorials and Comment for the National Post, effective immediately. I will remain a columnist.
So anyway… I have resigned as editor of Editorials and Comment for the National Post, effective immediately. I will remain a columnist.
Remember, politics is a contact sport, like hockey, so please feel free to add quick contributions, observations and relevant information as a comment below!
Contact us if you would like to contribute to our collaborative efforts or would like to share/submit articles, data or additional content, feel free to add feedback, additional info, alternative contact details, related links, articles, anonymous submission, etc. as a comment below, via web-form, through social media outlets or email us directly and confidentially at: dumpharper [at] live [dot] ca
This site may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in an effort to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. and intend its use to be for education and instructional purposes only. Therefore, we believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond “fair use,” you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
Since so many “conservatives” and former supporters of the Harper Regime have either been tossed under the bus or simply jumped off the omnibus, let’s dig through our archives and take a trip down memory lane, since it appears as if the yellow journalists at Postmedia are still busy heavily censoring and restricting access to past articles that cast their ideologically driven despot Stephen Harper into the negative spotlight.
That being stated, please take a few moments to review the following op-ed(s) published in late November 2013 by former conservative communications consultant David Sachs in the Ottawa Citizen. It should be worth noting, and we have, the censored Ottawa Citizen version of the op-ed compared to the version published via the Times Colonist on 29 November 2013…
CENSORED Op-Ed: Stephen Harper puts Conservatives in a bind By David Sachs, Ottawa Citizen November 25, 2013
Op-Ed: Stephen Harper puts Conservatives in a bind
By David Sachs, Ottawa Citizen November 25, 2013
The conservative mindset understands that power tends to corrupt. How far will we let it corrupt us? I have been involved in party work for more than a decade and I call on other party members to demand answers, or resignation from our leader.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has long employed the cynical strategy of total denial when faced with controversy, disregarding the public’s right to the truth.
He knows the public will never follow the minutiae of events. As long as solidarity is maintained, Harper can ride out any storm by claiming it is just more partisan noise. Only we Conservatives have the power to break that solidarity, and take away Harper’s trump card. It’s time to demonstrate that Conservatives care about ethics and ultimately, checks on that corrupting influence of power.
Some of the prime minister’s key people have conspired to undermine Senate investigations, to influence a third-party financial audit and ultimately to pay off a senator, all, in tragic irony, to maintain an illusion of party ethics. The prime minister has, in the kindest interpretation, hidden the full truth.
Is that acceptable to you, as a Canadian and a Conservative?
As Conservatives, there is much Harper and his government have done to be proud of. But as more power is seized by the unelected members of Harper’s inner circle; as more of his key, chosen people turn out to be ethically unsound or worse, we must ask: how far will we let our own leader go?
Some Conservatives argue this tempest is all over a small amount of money. But if the prime minister’s key people are willing to go to such lengths over such a small issue, solely to maintain (how ironic) the façade of ethics, how far would they go over big issues? Does anyone trust this government to deal openly when facing major challenges?
We Conservatives have a rare opportunity. Our opponents are weak and divided. Our team is strong and experienced. If we force Harper to answer truthfully or resign, we gain back our ethical platform. We give a new leader a chance to run in the next election from the prime minister’s office. Even if we lose one election, we will likely face a short-term minority government with a flawed leader. In the big picture, this is the least risky time to change a faulty part.
If we do not act, we embolden Harper. We increase the risk of further ethical scandals. Make no mistake: if Harper continues like this, he will fall, and he will take our party down with it. It will be hard to win an election for a decade. We should control the process.
As a first action, our senators need to make themselves heard. They can break that façade of Conservative solidarity that Harper depends on. Here is a chance to show that they matter, and to take real action to reverse the slide of ethical responsibility we have seen under successive governments of various party stripes.
Ask what is democracy if an elected leader abuses all the levers of power? If he, or his people, manipulate independent branches of government (Senate, Parliamentary Budget Officer)? If he, or people acting on his behalf, abuse the electoral process (as in the allegations of electoral fraud), and then abuse the investigative process (the independent Deloitte audit)? If our leaders hide the truth as common practice?
Harper is no dictator. Call on Harper to speak the truth at last. If he can pull the party back from this slide, he can yet rescue his leadership. If not, he must go.
Harper is putting each of us Conservatives in an ethical bind, and we should resent him for this. We will never be united as a party, let alone as a country, when we are each so divided within ourselves. We need to make ourselves and our country right, and demand ethical, accountable government whatever its colours.
David Sachs: Stephen Harper puts Conservatives in a bind
David Sachs / Times Colonist
November 29, 2013 04:29 PM
The conservative mindset understands that power tends to corrupt. How far will we let it corrupt us?
I have been involved in party work for more than a decade and I call on other party members to demand answers or resignation from our leader.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has long employed the cynical strategy of total denial when faced with controversy, disregarding the public’s right to the truth.
He knows the public will never follow the minutiae of events. As long as solidarity is maintained, Harper can ride out any storm by claiming it is just more partisan noise. Only we Conservatives have the power to break that solidarity and take away Harper’s trump card.
It’s time to demonstrate that Conservatives care about ethics and, ultimately, checks on that corrupting influence of power.
Some of the prime minister’s key people have conspired to undermine Senate investigations, to influence a third-party financial audit and ultimately to pay off a senator, all, in tragic irony, to maintain an illusion of party ethics. The prime minister has, in the kindest interpretation, hidden the full truth.
Is that acceptable to Canadians and Conservatives?
As Conservatives, there is much Harper and his government have done to be proud of. But as more power is seized by the unelected members of Harper’s inner circle, as more of his key chosen people turn out to be ethically unsound or worse, we must ask: How far will we let our own leader go?
Some Conservatives argue this tempest is all over a small amount of money. But if the prime minister’s key people are willing to go to such lengths over such a small issue, solely to maintain the façade of ethics, how far would they go over big issues?
Does anyone trust this government to deal openly when facing major challenges?
We Conservatives have a rare opportunity. Our opponents are weak and divided. Our team is strong and experienced. If we force Harper to answer truthfully or resign, we gain back our ethical platform. We give a new leader a chance to run in the next election from the prime minister’s office.
Even if we lose one election, we will likely face a short-term minority government with a flawed leader. In the big picture, this is the least risky time to change a faulty part.
If we do not act, we embolden Harper. We increase the risk of further ethical scandals.
Make no mistake: if Harper continues like this, he will fall and he will take our party down with him. It will be hard to win an election for a decade. We should control the process.
As a first action, our senators need to make themselves heard. They can break that facade of Conservative solidarity that Harper depends on. Here is a chance to show that they matter and to take real action to reverse the slide of ethical responsibility we have seen under successive governments of various party stripes.
What is democracy if an elected leader abuses all the levers of power? If he or his people manipulate independent branches of government (Senate, Parliamentary Budget Officer)? If he or people acting on his behalf abuse the electoral process (as in the allegations of electoral fraud), and then abuse the investigative process (the independent Deloitte audit)? If our leaders hide the truth as common practice?
Harper is no dictator. We should call on him to speak the truth at last. If he can pull the party back from this slide, he can yet rescue his leadership. If not, he must go.
Harper is putting each of us Conservatives in an ethical bind, and we should resent him for this. We will never be united as a party, let alone as a country, when we are so divided within ourselves.
We need to make ourselves and our country right, and demand ethical, accountable government, whatever its colours.
Please note: As of this posting (Election Day 2015) both of the above (Ottawa Citizen) urls currently lead to an error page at the Ottawa Citizen propaganda outlet BUT the Time Colonist url is still active. While you ponder that, be sure to check out the following video explaining the Harper Regime’s “free trade” policy trade offs.
Remember, politics is a contact sport, like hockey, so please feel free to add quick contributions, observations and relevant information as a comment below!
Contact us if you would like to contribute to our collaborative efforts or would like to share/submit articles, data or additional content, feel free to add feedback, additional info, alternative contact details, related links, articles, anonymous submission, etc. as a comment below, via web-form, through social media outlets or email us directly and confidentially at: dumpharper [at] live [dot] ca
This site may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in an effort to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. and intend its use to be for education and instructional purposes only. Therefore, we believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond “fair use,” you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
Since it is early morning on the 42nd Election, 2015 Edition, we felt it may be in our best interest as a Nation to review an “Old Stock” educational film that explains the differences between Despotism and Democracy to encourage everyone to think really hard before traveling to the polls. We would like to especially deliver this to the “undecided” potential conservative voters that may, or may not, grasp the importance of placing their Country above the Harper Regime’s ideology. In other words, it may be worth considering the option of falling on your swords with dignity today with honour as opposed to casting your kids and grand-kids futures under the ReformaCon bus while falling under another’s sword in disgrace. Below you will find the video that we have uploaded via our ytube channel followed by the transcripts for those that may like to read along or have trouble viewing as it has been rumoured that this is being blocked in Canada. As always, we encourage sharing and commenting…
#Harper’s #DumpsterFire: #Despotism vs #Democracy (Explained in 1946) #cdnpoli #elxn42
Measures how a society ranks on a spectrum stretching from democracy to despotism. Explains how societies and nations can be measured by the degree that power is concentrated and respect for the individual is restricted. Where does your community, state and nation stand on these scales?
The companion Encyclopedia Britannica Film “Democracy” can be found here.
Run time: 11:00
Producer: Encyclopaedia Britannica Films
Audio/Visual:sound, B&W
Shotlist
Illustrates the thesis that all communities can be ranged on a scale running from democracy to despotism. The two chief characteristics of despotism — restricted respect and concentrated power — are defined and illustrated. Two of the conditions which have historically promoted the growth of despotism are explained and exemplified. These are a slanted economic distribution and a strict control of the agencies of communication.
The end of World War II gave impetus to the “one-worlder movement.” Sparked by the sense that nationalism engendered conflict, this movement for world government viewed nationhood as a relic made obsolete in an age of economic interdependence and rapid air transportation. The movement was marked by the release of films calling for world government, such as Man: One Family; We, the Peoples; Brotherhood of Man; and Our Shrinking World, and exposing the nature of fascist and authoritarian rule.
Despotism treats the idea of nationhood differently than most other educational films. It sees nations not as static entities but dynamically, moving towards democracy or despotism as conditions change. This outlook doesn’t mesh well with old cliches about patriotism and democracy, because it doesn’t necessarily see the American system as democracy’s highest achievement.
Despotism offers a number of indicators by which the degree of democracy or despotism in a society can be measured, using a sliding, thermometer-like animated scale. According to an article in The New York Times (March 16, 1946), an advisory board of educators debated for eighteen months (at seventy-five conferences) over the definition of the terms “democracy” and “despotism,” the titles of the two films released at the same time. Finally, a compromise was reached, resulting in the “respect scale” and the “power scale” that we see in Despotism.
So how does our own system measure up? The film becomes a little frightening as we consider where we stand with regard to indicators like economic distribution, concentration of land ownership, regressive taxation and centralized control of information. Draw your own conclusions.
[Despotism. An Erpi Classroom Film. Produced by Encyclopaedia Britannica Films, Inc. in collaboration with Harold D. Lasswell, Ph.D., Yale University. Copyright MCMXLV by Encyclopaedia Britannica Films Inc. All rights reserved. main titles graphic design art cards]
You can roughly locate any community in the world somewhere along a scale running all the way from democracy to despotism. One at the democracy end, another somewhere in the middle, and a third (inaudible). [rotating globes rulers animation graphs charts measurement quantification scales measures points pointers]
Let’s find out about despotism. This man makes it his job to study these things. “Well for one thing, avoid the comfortable idea that the mere form of government can of itself safeguard a nation against despotism. [maps charts wallcharts professors academics commentators authorities]
Germany under President Hindenburg was a republic. And yet in this republic an aggressive despotism took root and flourished under Adolf Hitler. [maps flags art cards swastikas animation James Brill narrators]
When a competent observer looks for signs of despotism in a community, he looks beyond fine words and noble phrases.” “. . . for which it stands, one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all.” [saluting flag pledge of allegiance flags hands over hearts lynchings hangings gallows capital punishment condemnation death murder ropes nooses]
“Many observers have found that two workable yardsticks help in discovering how near a community is to despotism. The respect scale and the power scale. [goal variables charts graphs posters pointing fingers]
A careful observer can use a respect scale to find how many citizens get an even break. As a community moves towards despotism, respect is restricted to fewer people. [shared fairness equality]
A community is low on a respect scale if common courtesy is withheld from large groups of people on account of their political attitudes; if people are rude to others because they think their wealth and position gives them that right, or because they don’t like a man’s race or his religion. [drugstores soda Palmer Pharmacy pharmacies prescriptions candy cosmetics Scarlet Stores pedestrians people walking sidewalks storm troopers goons fascists military uniforms SA men SS men brownshirts brown shirts Nazis Sam Browne belts leather boots spectators Good Germans Jewish people Jews anti-Semitism antisemitism racism prejudice bigotry private doors offices bosses employers management class chauvinism classism For a quiet, restful vacation. Camp Gentilhomme on the Lake. Reservation Blank.
Gentlemen: Enclosed please find $ — deposit for my party of: name, address, date of arrival, religion. We solicit Gentile patronage only. Are there any Hebrews in your party? Yes or no. I hereby swear that the above statements are true. Signed application blanks pencils pointing]
Equal opportunity for all citizens to develop useful skills is one basis for rating a community on a respect scale. The opportunity to develop useful skills is important but not enough. [schools colleges universities lawns trees graduates steps stairs mothers cap and gown mortarboards parental pride pictures snapshots photography parents diplomas]
The equally important opportunity to put skills to use is a further test on a respect scale. [newspapers jobs applications employment offices unemployment work lines employment agencies]
A power scale is another important yardstick of despotism. It gauges the citizen’s share in making the community’s decisions. Communities which concentrate decision making in a few hands rate low on a power scale and are moving towards despotism. Like France under the Bourbon kings, one of whom said, “The state – I am the state.” [shared concentrated political power democracy equestrian statues horses statuary public art]
Today democracy can ebb away in communities whose citizens allow power to become concentrated in the hands of bosses. “What I say goes. See, I’m the law around here. Ha ha ha.” [government buildings smoke fires political power Tammany Hall machines laughs laughing newspaper reporters press]
The test of despotic power is that it can disregard the will of the people. It rules without the consent of the governed. [Declaration of Independence July 4, 1776 booklets opening inserts printed pieces In Congress, the unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.]
Look beyond the legal formalities of an election in measuring a community on the power scale to see if the ballot is really free. [fascists Nazis elections voting booths rigged storm troopers soldiers terrorism voters crosses hats uniforms Sam Browne belts hats control]
If the citizens can vote only the way they are told, a community approaches despotism.
When legislatures become ceremonial assemblies only, and have no real control over lawmaking, their community rates low on a power scale. “Sieg Heil. Sieg Heil.” [Germany Third Reich Nazis Adolf Hitler swastikas ceremonies applause clapping newsreels salutes fascists fascism]
In a downright despotism, opposition is dangerous whether the despotism is official or whether it is unofficial. [signs fences concentration camps Camp 33 for Political Offenders political prisoners prisons prison camps hoods hanging nooses ropes executions deaths capital punishment condemned people murder flames fires burning crosses Ku Klux Klan terrorism hoods racism]
“The spread of respect and power in a community is influenced by certain conditions which many observers measure by means of the economic distribution and information scales.” [instrumental variables]
If a community’s economic distribution becomes slanted, its middle income groups grow smaller and despotism stands a better chance to gain a foothold. [balanced distribution of wealth money affluence poverty]
Where land is privately owned, one sign of a poorly balanced economy is the concentration of land ownership in the hands of a very small number of people.
When farmers lose their farms they lose their independence. This one can stay on, but not as his own boss any more. To the extent that this condition exists throughout a nation, the likelihood of despotism is increased. [couples men women John J. Shea v. Walter Leeds.
Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale. mortgages fingers pointing United States maps animation]
In communities which depend almost entirely on a single industry, such as a factory or mine, maintaining economic balance is a challenging problem. [company towns monopolies smokestacks factories animation]
If this condition exists over the nation as a whole, so that the control of jobs and business opportunities is in a few hands, despotism stands a good chance. Another sign of a poorly balanced economy is a taxation system that presses heaviest on those least able to pay. [animation money graphs wealth national revenue large incomes small incomes regressive taxation]
A larger part of a small income is spent on necessities such as food. Sales taxes on such necessities hit the small income harder. [pie charts pie graphs large income small income]
In the days of the salt tax, feudal despotisms were partly sustained by this and other (inaudible). [historical recreations Colonial North America taxation without representation]
A community rates low on an information scale when the press, radio, and other channels of communication are controlled by only a few people and when citizens have to accept what they are told. In communities of this kind, despotism stands a good chance. [uncontrolled media monopolies monopolization oligopolies Time Warner Disney ABC Capital Cities Westinghouse CBS NBC General Electric Fox News Corporation Turner CNN critical evaluation automatic acceptance]
See how a community trains its teachers. “Bear this in mind. Young people cannot be trusted to form their own opinions. This business about open-mindedness is nonsense. It’s a waste of time trying to teach students to think for themselves. It’s our job to tell ’em.” [lecturers mental discipline drill classrooms agreement nodding heads manufacturing consent consensus]
And when teachers put such training into practice, despotism stands a good chance. These children are being taught to accept uncritically whatever they are told. Questions are not encouraged. [students conformity conditioning brainwashing writing learning education]
“How can you ask such a question? Have you got a textbook?” “Yes Ma’am.” “Does it say here that our law courts are always just?” “Yes Ma’am.” “Then how dare you question the fact? Sit down.”
And so we aren’t surprised when – “But it must be true. I saw it in this book right here.”
And if books and newspapers and the radio are efficiently controlled, the people will read and accept exactly what the few in control want them to. Government censorship is one form of control. [Ministry of Propaganda plaques signs doors windows Internal Censorship censors rubber stamps passed by censor deletions blue pencils manuscripts]
A newspaper which breaks a government censorship rule can be suspended. It is also possible for newspapers and other forms of communication to be controlled by private interests. [The Daily Citizen press control proclamations This Newspaper is Suspended editors journalists newspaper offices Advertising Manager Mgr.]
“I thought I told you to kill that story. It’ll cost us a lot of advertising.” “If that story goes out, I quit.” “All right.” [firings]
What sort of community do you live in? Where would you place it on a democracy/despotism scale? To find out, you can rate it on a respect scale and a power scale. And to find out what way it is likely to go in the future, you can rate it on economic distribution and information scales. [cities wipes]
The lower your community rates on economic distribution and information scales, the lower it is likely to rate on respect and power scales and thus to approach despotism.
What happens in a single community is the problem of its own citizens, but it is also the problem of us all because as communities go, so goes the nation. [animation United States]
[Encyclopaedia Britannica Films Inc. Bring the World to the Classroom. end titles]
Politics, Political science, Democracy, Despotism, Dictatorship, Censorship, Newspapers, Rubber stamps, Freedom of the press, Communism, Germany (Nazi) Third Reich, Students, Teachers, Political Indoctrination, Propaganda, Mass communications, Animation Graphic design Cartoons, Animation Scales (sliding), Information (visual), Surrealism, Capitalism, Economics
Remember, politics is a contact sport, like hockey, so please feel free to add quick contributions, observations and relevant information as a comment below!
Contact us if you would like to contribute to our collaborative efforts or would like to share/submit articles, data or additional content, feel free to add feedback, additional info, alternative contact details, related links, articles, anonymous submission, etc. as a comment below, via web-form, through social media outlets or email us directly and confidentially at: dumpharper [at] live [dot] ca
This site may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in an effort to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. and intend its use to be for education and instructional purposes only. Therefore, we believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond “fair use,” you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
For this (hopefully last) installment of the “#Harper’s War(a) series we thought it might be a good idea to consider the actual costs vs benefit of the Harper’s ongoing far-right Economic Extraction Action Plan with regards to the current hybrid “Millennial” generation and next generation(s). At this stage in this game as the election draws near we must also ponder the mysteries within the “text” of the highly secret TPP that was “promised” to be released prior to election day but for rather lame “Go along, to get along” reasons, it will not be available.
The Harper Regime’s non-stop divisive Babylonian shell-game economics, fear-mongering, war profiteering, script regurgitation, hyperbolic rhetoric and it’s pandering for strategic voters to the extreme far-right minority segments for support is a very real and significant problem. They have purposely timed this coordinated operation to coincide with a very small Parliamentary calendar and will complete the far-right takeover with 3 successive blows. While all persist in the war-drumming and Bill C-51 distractions the delayed omnibus budget will go unchallenged, un-scrutinized and unnoticed. Since we know that there is no Parliament sitting until after the election, serious questions have and will continue to simply go unanswered and unaddressed. Win or lose, the Harper Regime wins in the end since if they lose, they won’t have to answer for a lot of issues that are bubbling over, the next group will yet if they do win, it’s full steam ahead until they ultimately lose control of the narrative, message and messengers. Unfortunately if they manage to steal a majority, it will propel us past the point of no return.
Before proceeding further down this rabbit hole, we should contemplate the shorter term consequences with regards to the safety and security of the younger generations, domestically. One thing that we are certain of is that each and every Government policing and security agency across the board are undergoing sweeping downsizing and compounding budget reductions. In other words, more budget cuts and downsizing measures are being implemented before any review of the cost/benefit analysis of past cuts to see where shortfalls have been discovered and persist to be problematic. With the massive and solitary refocus upon the minimalistic lone-wolf “terrorist” attack scenario, the already stressed system will deteriorate and downgrade the Police State’s collective ability to provide adequate resources for investigations into crimes that affect almost everyone, everyday. The trade off, we as a society are being forced to accept in the form of Bill C-51, is that all resources, real and imaginary, must be allocated to waging a war against an invisible needle-in-a-haystack boogeyman and not against those countless, easy to find, individuals engaging in organized crime, money laundering, Ponzie scheming, fraud, corruption, drug smuggling, gun running, child exploitation, human trafficking, gang warfare, armed robbery and the like. Since we must be made less-safe at all costs to be more-safe with future costs, all that will be needed in the future will be the stoke of a pen and an ever expanding list of “terrorists” can be determined and declared as necessary.
Even putting aside that all of the opaque enemies, boogieman and murky allies in these officially declared and unofficially undeclared ideological wars by the Harper Regime and their globalist comrades, aka: Bolsheviks, are between ultra-right entities fighting for dominance in their sphere of influence and then compound that with the way Bill C-51 is worded to declare the “official” far-right and ultra-right “enemies” and pay attention to the lack of certain “useful” far-right entities. Fast forward a bit and one may notice that in any foreign intervention scheme the Harper Regime’s choice is always in support of the furthest to the right of the embattled parties in the region with the most advantageous economic trade-route territories and better financed private mercenary armies. If we disregard any “left” opposition exists in any region, we can only presume that this Government sanctioned strategy in-itself creates an immediate far-right adversary within itself and is designed for almost immediate failure.
We also know that once any Party is beholden to an assortment of competing unholy fringe alliances for electoral convenience, ultra-far-right (or left) extremist segments can and will, easily coalesce, conspire and ultimately seize complete power and control over the government, economy and the military in one sweep. Isn’t this how the previously far-right Reform/Alliance coup transpired? First they acquired the party apparatus then they seized total control of the PMO and consolidated the powers within itself and the Treasury Ministry and Justice Ministry. Now we will bear witness to the evolution of extreme politics as the Liberal Party will transition further to the right to appeal to the former conservative base that oppose Harper and to piggyback on the politics of fear-mongering and war profiteering that made the “West” great. If recent history is to be proven correct, the best way to form a Party quickly is to coordinate, co-op and/or outright hijack one. In the above scenario, either way the vote goes, the “right” retains control of the Government apparatus with a solid plan b that on the surface seems palatable with the added bonus of redrawing the boundaries and redefining the “left” side of the spectrum.
Considering the generations that will pay for these wars, with their lives and limbs and odious unpayable debts by insulated older generations have zero voice, we must explore and understand the costs, ramifications and implications of an unfettered march to war policy for both the short term and long term. Having driven their carefully “controlled messages” this far into the collective psyche, the Harper Loyalists, propagandists and apologists can now begin probing even further towards the far-right extremes based upon zero facts, tin-foil hats and illogical fears by way of deception and subversive intimidation.
The oddly concealed and/or conveniently overlooked fact remains that these younger generations, with absolutely no voice, will be the bearers of the debts and actions of today’s political establishment. The veil is finally lifting and exposing the “invisible hand” of the economy and how many, if not most, of the publicly elected officials are beholden to the interests of the top 15% of the population. This may well be the ideal scenario, who knows, but even if it is there should be a system of checks and balances so that they do not go off the rail off into some ideological fantasy land. Contrary to the constant “…net new jobs…” mantra we hear repeated, consider real math and compare that to the actual number of newly work-aged employes into the workforce since the Harper Regime first came to power, their employment opportunities and their debt servitude.
The Harper Regime’s job creation results are truly pathetic and serve only the wants of a coddled 15% that will never serve in a war, nor suffer on any battlefield at the expense of the 85% majority. Compound that even further by looking at the age demographics of the actual hiring and associated pay scales, one will see that skewed in favour of the expanding 55+ segment as opposed to the expanding 25 and under segment. Once again, the beneficiaries will never have to serve in military services, but will be free to profit off such endeavours.
This seems to be the beginnings of the perfect generational storm as one generation seeks to reap the rewards of their labours, irregardless to their losses while the generations that will be necessary to fund these rewards remain jobless. This poses a problem since this age segment lost a significant portion of their savings, investments and pensions, aka: “wealth”, in the aftermath of the economic crisis and may never recover. This presumes that one will only have the freedom of choice to choose to be sent off to slaughter as cannon fodder abroad or exist within a rationed impoverishment at home. This also begs the question, how are such a select few able to initiate and instigate problems seeking solutions that they themselves never end up paying for, or adequately funding and/or administering, the long term solutions.
Pay close attention to the shell gaming by way of omnibus budgeteering only short gains profits and all real costs of their selectively interventionist backstopping practices are allowed to download the costs of their imposed austerity measures and military backed foreign financial adventurism, the lower 85% will continue to spiral downward and rapidly converge into a broader society with an overall lesser quality of life. Oddly enough, the data shows that within a zero-sum economic model, the top 15% are pretty much immune to the effects of deteriorating economy and due to the constraints and trade offs that accompany globalization schemes and economic integration agendas, the younger generations are constrained by the vary same global investors that discourage “public” investment necessary to properly educate our children and instead favour various privatization schemes. This financial downloading can be witnessed in real time with regards to health care, infrastructure, First Nations, Veterans and other public service cuts such as police, fire and other emergency first responder services.
We really can’t proceed without pondering the relativity of the abrupt resignation of John Baird, the shady foreign endeavours file, think Myanmar/Burma and Hillary Clinton’s email (treason) scandal, the pending Iraq/Syria and Beyond War Act, Bill C-51 and the delayed budget fit into this toxic mix. The combination of these three topics uncovers an entirely new perspective into how pervasive and powerful the anti-diplomatic, antagonistic, pro-war lobby has become and how any anti-war dissent will be stifled and suppressed with extreme prejudice and impunity.
Now, one must consider and compare how vigorously the Harper Regime fully endorsed, sanctioned and supported the Maidan, and set the stage for this tragically epic battle of the oligarchs civil war, in Ukraine with how vigorously, through legislation such as the Fair Elections Act and Bill C-51 or violence as in the case of the Toronto G8/G20 kettle filled crackdown, they are assuring that any popular demonstrations and/or uprising against their ideological rule, are fearfully discouraged and cannot happen in Ottawa or elsewhere. In this new norm, only Harper Loyalist’s and apologists will be afforded to any rights and/or freedoms such as speech, thought, association and/or assembly. The inconvenient truth is that all of these bits and chunks of power consolidation to the PMO and Treasury will be afforded to any/all future Governments.
It seems plausible that the fear-mongering, war drum beating and shell-game economics propaganda can easily neuter any opposition. It’s a major trump card and it is being played in much the same way as it was in the lead up to WW1. The pre-war propaganda that sets the stage campaign is in full gear as we speak.
First of all we should remember the timing of the “Arab Spring” and how the Libyan intervention, sprinkled with the “Assad Must Go” sideshow narrative, contaminated the 2011 election campaign that was fraught with several seedy and shady election shenanigans by outside market players beyond the legal jurisdiction of Canadian law enforcement agencies and the reach of Elections Canada. This deviously cleaver tactic conveniently led to major distractions with regards to the fundamental issues that lead up to the Election of 2011 and the ongoing epic failures of the Harper Regime at the time.
Remember, while some have slithered their way into the courts, the major issues with their governance and opacity were never resolved while their dirty deeds remain hidden and concealed from the public by the politicos and media alike for the most part. With cunningly shrewd manipulation of legislation and the subsequent consolidation of powers into the PMO and Treasury Ministry, their collective “documented” shenanigans will be sealed as classified far beyond the reach of the youth of today and tomorrow.
In other words, it is in their collective (15%) opinion, most of which invest and shelter their ill gotten “wealth” abroad, that after they themselves so greatly benefited from, and fully reaped the fruitful rewards of a rigged system, that very same system must be destroyed from the inside and out. This “controlled demolition” will hypothetically assure by way of distraction and diversion that their collective (15%) future prosperity, safety and security is assured at the expense of the remaining 85%, aka: serfs…
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This site may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in an effort to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. and intend its use to be for education and instructional purposes only. Therefore, we believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond “fair use,” you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
In this rare and under-seen February 2015 clip, Harper’s Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Chris Alexander blatantly sells moar fear, moar hate and moar war by blending subversive Bill C-51 innuendo, Syria, Iraq, Russia and Ukraine into a toxic propaganda stew while pandering to an Ukrainian Canadian audience for votes and donations.
If one were to pay close attention to the “selling” points and the followup interviews, no costs are ever projected nor discussed, yet this speech does expose the dark underbelly of the Harper Regime’s Trojan Horse Bill C-51 and how it’s rather opaque definition of “terrorism” and “terrorist” may be misused by special interests groups that have acquired undue influence with the Harper Regime.
If the un-calculable costs to Canadian and Ukrainian society are being ignored for the sake of ideological fear and hate based vote pandering. If ultra-nationalist rhetoric and fear mongering is not kept in check, will this acceptance of radicalization not in the end, doom us both?
The eerie feeling is emerging that pro-war advocates with interests abroad that support future “elected governments” will ultimately have a blank check to declare anti-war advocates or opposition parties as terrorist threats, at will.
At what point do we debate this “future” like reasonable adults?
Remember, politics is a contact sport, like hockey, so please feel free to add quick contributions, observations and relevant information as a comment below!
Contact us if you would like to contribute to our collaborative efforts or would like to share/submit articles, data or additional content, feel free to add feedback, additional info, alternative contact details, related links, articles, anonymous submission, etc. as a comment below, via web-form, through social media outlets or email us directly and confidentially at: dumpharper [at] live [dot] ca
This site may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in an effort to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. and intend its use to be for education and instructional purposes only. Therefore, we believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond “fair use,” you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
For this installment of the #Harper’s War(s) series, we would like to propose a couple of points to ponder about the broader implications of Bill C-51 as it relates to our “Allies” and especially the citizens of the other 5-Eyes intelligence alliance members, Australia, New Zealand, U.K and U.S., not to mention the jurisdictions of the NSA and the broad array of other international alphabet intelligence agencies within the expanded 9-Eyes and 14-Eyes intelligence community. Considering how creeped out the majority of Canadians are by being johnny-spied and infringed upon by the predatory Harper Regime, our “allies” should feel creeped out even more. Dominion of Harper’s All Seeing Eye
There must be something more sinister, colonist and imperialist “invisible hand” behind this mad rush to declare more opaque enemies and terrorists located on various blurry battlefields concentrated around trade corridors, energy sources while opening new markets and investment opportunities with military force. Since the pre-World War Next, or at least pre-Cold War 2.0, conditions are being sown, fertilized and fermented on multiple fronts, does Harper seek to be the supreme intelligence overlord and ultimately the overseer of ECHELON 2.0?
Since many of Canada’s Allies have various information and intelligence gathering operations, most of them have some level of real time oversight, not after the fact reviews and unchallenged secret tribunals. The fact that Harper’s Bill C-51 provides no additional oversight to watch over the watchers that share data with other watchers abroad. We can only presume that other “agencies” with arterial motives will attempt to infiltrate our own intelligence apparatuses through vulnerable Ministry/Department backdoors in order to circumvent their own restrictive domestic data and intelligence sharing regulations on mass surveillance and data collection of citizens.
In many ways it seems as if the Harper Regime has decided to be the grand all-seeing-eye, spymaster and records keeper within the right-wing utopian Global Governance Era. In these glorious propaganda filled globalization days where “governments” have embraced tax-cutting and war-mongering at the same time, while downplaying the decline of the domestic economy and outsourcing in order to nickle and dime away solutions in order to create more costly problems, we’ll pose a few questions worth pondering, if anything else…
Who will be watching the Government?
What prevention measures are in place to assure that our intelligence apparatuses are not infiltrated and hijacked by another, group, cabal, cartel, agency or government?
What measures are in place to assure undue search and unwarranted seizure of Canadians data by foreign agencies?
What happens when there is a conflict of interest or competing interests?
What happens when one partner agencies “terrorist” is another partner agencies “freedom fighter”?
What happens “if” another partner agency is found to be committing illegal activities within Canada that go against Canadian interests or violates the civil liberties and freedoms of Canadians?
What prevents multiple agencies from getting bogged down and wasting valuable resources and time engaged in overlapping operations, dis-information campaigns, psyops, spooks, stooges, honeypots, grooming, etc.?
What are the surveillance and preventative counter-measures that address blackmail and/or corruption, rouge advisors, agent provocateurs and/or compromised public officials?
When will robust cyber-security measures be implemented within Canada’s own National IT infrastructure to assure no exploits, vulnerabilities, data leakage or unauthorized access are available between the various Ministry’s portals?How will our personal and private data be protected from potential misuse and/or abuse by external intelligence agencies abroad?
How much will all of this secured infrastructure initially cost and how much will the annual maintenance costs be?
How will the national infrastructure that Canadians need to transact their daily affairs be fortified and secured from the blowback from this unprecedented expansion of secretive intelligence powers?
How will other intelligence agencies data be protected?
Will 5-9-14-Eyes and NATO members or our Allies be contributing to the costs of this shared infrastructure or will they just reap the rewards?
Who assures that all international laws are enforced?
Is the ultimate intent to create a “clearinghouse” for illegal covert supra-national co-intel operations?
High court to hear overseas spying case By Jim Bronskill, The Canadian Press – BC Local News
posted Feb 5, 2015 at 2:52 PM
updated Feb 6, 2015 at 5:07 AM http://www.vicnews.com/national/290997991.html
‘Foreign spy agencies spy on Canadians’A Canadian federal judge says the country’s intelligence agency has asked foreign security agencies to spy on Canadian nationals abroad. Press TV
Mon Dec 23, 2013 2:32AM http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/341427.html
Remember, politics is a contact sport, like hockey, so please feel free to add quick contributions, observations and relevant information as a comment below!
Contact us if you would like to contribute to our collaborative efforts or would like to share/submit articles, data or additional content, feel free to add feedback, additional info, alternative contact details, related links, articles, anonymous submission, etc. as a comment below, via web-form, through social media outlets or email us directly and confidentially at: dumpharper [at] live [dot] ca
This site may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in an effort to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. and intend its use to be for education and instructional purposes only. Therefore, we believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond “fair use,” you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
Much can be gleaned about the rise and tightening grip of the far-right globally if one dares to look outside the box that is framed by the media conglomerates. The repetition that the “media” is somehow a soapbox for the “left” has run it’s coarse as is evident with the rise of the far-right phenomenon that finds the media on board, full steam ahead. At best the media may be a few steps away from the ultra-far right but it is closer to the far-right than ever and is certainly going along to get along. One question may be, are they willingly going along or have they been secretely legislated?.
This mashup summary will be a somewhat long rant that will pose some seriously neglected questions, expose some uncomfortable gaps and potential connections and exploit some rather historical similarities. This summary may be updated but more than likely will branch off into further research. If anything it should prompt many to delve deeper into any of the issues that are connected.
We intend to additionally explore if we are actually in an “official” state of war that has been secretly declared. Is it possible for a War Measures Act to be secretly or subversively implemented? If so, how do we actually know if this is the case and who the “enemy” is? Or is this where “Harper’s Enemies Lists” somehow fits in? This may explain the virtually one-sided presentations across the various conflict zones and hot spots that emanate from the same handful of global conglomerates. That’s just the tip of the iceberg for a much bigger glacier.
How can an ideological war between the ultra-far-right and the far-right politically or a cultural/tribal/civil war pitting nationalists vs ultra-nationalists militarily, be fought simultaneously at home and abroad?
How far to the “right” must one travel and give up personally to acquire perceived safety and security provided by the oppressive Harper Regime over real life freedom and liberty in the pursuit of prosperity provided by democracy and credible market based capitalism?
How much further to the “right” will the Liberal Party creep and how far will the NDP choose to follow behind?
We only ponder this because some circles are harder to square than others. The further to the right you travel, you’ll notice that moar war and less freedom are on the agenda while the less war factions simply go along to get along for the most part.
We are also beginning to contemplate how the destabilization in Ukraine and Iraq are not being used as some sort of “incentive” to members within the E.U. with regards to expediting and completing the pending cross-Atlantic Free Trade Agreements. Cutting of access to Eurasian markets under the cover of sanctions against Russia seems like a good strategy as is the display of how quickly organized violence against any State can be launched. Add that with the secret TPP and it gets much clearer but we might have to ask Nigel Wright since he has his fingerprints all over the place. The Duffy scandal forces one to consider how much access and influence really had and how he used it to further his own financial portfolio.
How do all of these tie in with the SPP and Bill C-51?
Who are Harper’s advisors anyway and who advises them?
Are these the same type of ideological “foreign policy” advisors that the G.W. Bush Iraq team “employed” to cherry pick reams of intel for a needle in a haystack, pie in the sky, unsubstantiated documents/clauses to fabricate the conditions that justify immediate and massive military intervention?
“We the People” are certainly being groomed for a war of unimaginable scale and consequences, but it will be very, very good for some global investors. The “Police State” conditions are being arranged via the Trojan Horse Bill C-51 to “legally” stifle any/all anti-war and/or anti-austerity protests. There will be no Ottawa Maidan, period. If we were to boil it down to it’s murky base, we would notice that all of the current conflict zones that require liberation are concentrated along various pipelines, energy, transportation, shipping and rail corridors. When the long dust settles, new borders will be redrawn to consolidate and secure trade routes. The real problem is that no State can control what it’s oligarchs invest in or how they invest it, move it, offshore it or divest it. Another thing that is certain is that professional mercenary alliances and the black market only serve those that provide the necessities of war and are loyal only to those that can provide them financing and armaments.
The key fact is that through the various narratives being weaved about Bill C-51, it is a massive Trojan Horse with the anti-war movements in it’s sights. All of the others that will be caught up in this dragnet operation that fall on the “left” side of the political spectrum will be either considered a “bonus” or as acceptable collateral damage and cannon fodder. Keep in mind that fear, intimidation and propaganda plague all cultures/regions and are utilized by multiple overlapping players with their own ultimate agendas. while violent persecution attempts to solve dissent abroad, the “West” achieves this control of dissent easily by way of economic persecution. In either case, the “life” of the individual involved is lost, one by loss of blood, the other by loss of assets/income/credibility/career.
One of the key provisions of Bill C-51 that needs to be examined is the “language” about the censoring of the interwebz of “terrorist” propaganda. If we harken back to WWI and ponder the implications of how propaganda and censorship are used to sell wars and interventions, we need to ask ourselves one fundamentally important question, who decides this opaque definition. Then we need to ask ourselves, where, why and how opaque definition based declarations are decided. The logical follow up question would be who has the most to benefit from the proceeds of the declaration?
If we look at the deteriorating situation in Ukraine from beyond the lens of the AP/Reuters reports, we see a nation that is spiraling into chaos and various oligarchs have their own loyal “volunteer” battalions. Many estimates put these far-right extremist “anti-Russia” mercenary groups at approx 17, each with it’s own vision, mandate and source of funding. The same might be presumably said for the “pro-Russian” side as well. These would be players that are being employed to either secure business interests or expand land claims.
Some other interesting points to ponder may be related to the bursting of the Commodities Super Cycle during a highly concentrated, uncertain, oversupplied and illiquid global market based upon unsustainable debt.
Have we reached peak energy?
How low can the price of oil/energy go before the serviceable-debt bubble pops?
Are these wars being waged to assure that the flow of energy profitability increases in an otherwise oversupplied market?
Since no Central bank or amount of austerity can ever balance the costs of misguided military interventions and the effects of previous omnibus budgets yet to be felt, let’s review a small segment of what has transpired since debt based Harpernomics has replaced surplus based economics.
Even with the massive downloading of costs onto the Provinces without balancing the tax system and revenue sharing, the Federal Debt has exceeded $600 Billion, with debt servicing alone growing daily at a steady clip. Since those costs are immediately download to the Municipalities/etc. the costs to service existing debts becomes an issue that rapidly prevents proper infrastructure maintenance and upgrade investments.
Since Harpernomics has replaced economics with selective inflation based shell-game budgetary tricks to acquire a magical surplus of everything just before an election, the fact remains that job creation continues to lag far behind the amount necessary to accommodate new entries into the work force, wages are stagnant at best and according to the Harpernomicists themselves, the average hours worked per week is in a steady decline and is projected to continue the trend downward.
Will the drop in oil and commodities afford the Harper Regime the “right” to encourage wage reductions throughout the energy sector like they did to the non-outsourced manufacturing sector?
At what point does using a sliding scale for the hours worked considered “full time” for job numbers presented by the Harpernomicists become a purely mythical and unreliable set of digits to an actual number?
Other than the Harper Loyalists, Harpernomicists and apologists, who actually thinks that misguided war waging is free?
Even though the Harper Regime cannot provide a final figure for the Afghanistan intervention, the costs estimates thus far range between $20-30 billion CDN + uncountable collateral damages. The results of the intervention, other than the huge short term gains by military contractors, are far from conclusive. No matter how hard anyone tries or how many times it is invaded and/or occupied it, Afghanistan is going to be whatever it wants to be based upon their own best interests within boundaries on a map that they had no voice in drawing. In the overall case of the invasion, on paper it looked all good and noble and just, but not far under the surface the truth existed. The entire process was manipulated and intelligence was distorted so that one of the more sinister and nefarious minority groups were given authority over the majority. Surely a group will accept “aid” to gain their own syndicate a competitive advantage but there will always be shifting of the balance of power between tribal alliances as power is gained. This is not the first rodeo of this kind for Afghans and they know that any “foreign” presence will be short sights and short lived in the big picture and have pretty much decided where the boundaries lie between themselves. The greatly under-reported violence that we see now in Afghanistan is the end result of external military intervention and occupation that allowed certain tribes to immediately fill the vacuum and consolidate “legal” authority by force. Not only that but, the blowback from the flourishing Poppy boom and trade is already being felt globally and the negative effects will be long lasting across the board.
In much the same way the Afghanistan costs were budgeted, contrary to the initial “estimates” provided by the Harper Regime, the Libya intervention Harpernomiced out several times higher at approx. 1/2 billion + uncountable collateral damages that has resulted in a completely insecure failed state embroiled in a civil/tribal war intermixed with various mercenary groups seeking weapons and training. The fact that there were no attempts by Canada or other NATO Allies to secure cooperation with the remnants of the Libyan Military to secure the armories and military facilities is highly suspicious at best. Has anyone pondered the thought that maybe John Baird was communicating about Libya/Syria with Hillary Clinton via her unsecured private email server? What happens if those communications get leaked?
Who is ultimately paying for this high, long-term debt-servicing-cost agenda?
What is the motivation, and what are the true long term costs in blood, currency value and purchasing power, behind the fascinating objective of creating an “invisible” self-perpetuating unsustainable debt burden?
How can Harper promise that 2 wars, in Ukraine and Syria/Iraq, can be fought and funded on the backside of lower oil revenues, stagnant at best wages, massive looming job losses, deflationary housing market pressures and lower tax revenues.
As the debates surrounding war and electioneering take center stage, Bill C-51 and the “delayed” budget simmer away. One affects our assets and the other affects our liberties bad both are being looted by the pro-war insiders. This brings us to a rather oddly timing of the NATO meeting, the U.S. Presidential campaign bid that was declared by Canada’s own export, far-right winger Ted Cruz and the devious election tactics used by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to court, fear-monger and rally the farther-right elements to assure his grip on power. These “faces” present the sell-siders of apocalyptic evangelical wars in their respective domains and propose, foster and initiate discontent within and interventions abroad to protect opaque “national” interests. Ultimately, since Cruz has zero chance just based upon the amount of cash he has, we conclude that he is simply strategic investment in the global game of consensual election engineering and a political pawn that posed no threat to the U.S. status quo. His entry is a pre-election campaign aimed at intended to influence and engage Canadians to bolster far-right support for the Harper Party in the short term from beyond the realm and jurisdiction of Election Canada. Since Cruz is staunchly anti-Obama, pay attention to which slogans and taking points get highlighted, accentuated and repeated by whom, on this side of the border. Then pay closer attention to how the media in the U.S. respond to hostile rhetoric from the anti-Obama/pro-Bibi Harper Loyalists. Then pay attention to how the Liberals respond.
This combination sets the stage for Harper’s sell-side that supports NATO’s expansion into sovereign Syrian territory against “darker” ultra-far-right mercenaries for hire with the bonus prize of additional Ukraine territory to train “lighter” ultra-far-right mercenaries for hire that will eventually become a battle hardened menace to the E.U. and the West. Fear not, Harper’s Bill C-51 will protect us.
Is widespread war and discontent the Harper Regime’s reverse Soylent Green Solution for youth unemployment and lack of opportunity?
Are these strategic regions being justifiably destabilized in order to profitably reduce the stockpiles of Cold War era armaments and battle-harden the next generation of unaccountable and subcontract-able mercenary units?
What about the Yemen powder keg that is exploding and what about the current and ongoing collateral damages, dislocations and refugee crisis?
In one instance, international law isn’t relevant as Harper Loyalists proclaim that they are defending the autonomy of “Kurdistan” against a threatening “darker” ultra-far-right terrorist threat emanating from Syria that has no legal standing. One that, oddly enough, is fully armed with American equipment, hardware and armaments and has secured funding from several regional players with varied agendas. We need to remember that “Kurdistan” is a province within Iraq in what amounts to a breakaway region that has been planning and forming an independent State since at least 1991. It is rather obvious that the Sykes-Picot concept over and the position and/or agenda of the Kurds and that of the Iraq Government in Baghdad are not necessarily in sync. Their ultimate vision is the combination of the greater Kurdish regions that span across Turkey, Syria, Iran and Iraq or maybe the recreation of Assyria. This which would provide “space” for the Kurds to consolidate authority as well as provide regional protection for the remaining Christians and other targeted minorities. The only way for that to unfold would be if the primary players decided to seriously negotiate satisfactory representative regional agreements that settles the power/land dispute between the Sunni and Shiite populations in Iraq and Syria, below Kurdistan. These primary players would have to coordinate with Baghdad and Damascus and consider splitting off Sunni chunks into an independent state that lies between Syria and Iraq. With the hidden civil war in Iraq bubbling over and the chaos in Syria putting more pressure on the border, this seems like the most plausible end-goal as this strategically concentrated and central swath would be able to control the flow of resources and mercenaries between all of the surrounding nations and let the Sunni/Shiite and Islamaphobia battles ensue.
In another instance, in a quasi-mixed role reversal as far as international law is concerned, the autonomy of “Novorossiya” within the Ukraine is being denied to it’s inhabitants while they are being attacked by far-right mercenary groups funded international and regional players with diverging, converging and overlapping interests. Another odd twist with regards to interpretations and reinterpretations of international laws is in the way Crimean autonomy post 1991 has been interpreted
In a coinciding instance in Syria itself, much like the propaganda campaign to bomb freedom into Libya, an actual far-right terrorist threat was detected from a very small and problematic region and was identified as emanating from the same roots as the armed insurrection in Libya. In these cases, the media portrays these known terrorists as peaceful liberators and gives them a free pass to do their dirty deeds without question.
Then we have the Yemen civil war being reignited in what is a very strange play with regards to the loose application regarding international law, violating sovereignty and crossing borders. In this case, unlike Ukraine, the President that fled to safety abroad is given authority over the security situation. In some ways it almost seems as if there are some interesting energy power alliances behind the scenes that may be trying to isolate the House of Saud by drawing them into a trap in Syria or is the House of Saud is pursuing more calculated and nefarious deeds by isolating it’s own allies into convoluted quagmires with it’s adversaries and enemies.
Maybe Gaddafi was right, over the years he repeatedly told all of the Arab leaders that eventually they will all be deposed and replaced eventually, just like Saddam. It is probable that some of those leaders realized this threat existed, or quickly became aware with the prophetic demise of Gaddafi, and have been engaged in developing solid contingency plans for the stability of the most vital economic regions while destabilizing others in-between the regional economic hubs. This situation has the potential to close vital sea traffic between the Red Sea and Arabian Sea and if it accelerates quickly may well put the traffic thru the Persian Gulf at risk/mercy of counter measures since port and seaway blockades are typically dealt with with military means.
All of this will of coarse, allow the price of oil to rise. the problem is that the overall fuel savings did not provide any real measurable “spending the savings” injection into the economy. The price of fuel and energy went way up too fast and for far too long that it was a drain on the overall disposable income of everyone all along. We can now see what a negative effect the post economic crisis energy boom was really having. Considering actual inflation for necessities, Canadians have not seen any measurable savings in the retail, supply chain or transportation sectors due to the reduction in fuel costs, we know that any increases at the pumps, scales or meters will be felt hard by everyday Canadians.
The odd denominator is that even if we were still able to ignore the armed foreign factions, the peaceful anti-regime factions that were caught in the crossfire were all declared terrorists by some and/or liberators by others. Either way, with complete disregard to civilian casualties entire villages and communities are being bombed into ruins by their own government forces vs foreign funded mercenaries that are both engaged in scorched earth policies. Whomever keeps fighting for the most piles of rubble the longest, wins and eventual gains access to various economic aid and stimulus packages with the high interest portion of the debt shifted off as a Government obligation and the next to zero interest portion to the private interests
These facts along countless fronts and lines in-between sides and within context “paints” pretty much anyone and everyone as a hostile target, enemy and/or terrorist threat. It’s only a matter of time before someone/something of importance is downed and the tragedy and chaos that follows. It’s only a matter of time until some politico spouts off the wrong thing that lights the fuse.
Does any of this sound familiar? What about the “geographical” turf being disputed? Look at the “lines” and former boundaries of nations and empires after the tumultuous 1800’s that were drawn on paper pre-WWI. Look for connections to the competing oligarchs, moguls, robber-barons and profiteers that supported the pro-war expansionist parties and lobbies, some of the links still exist today. and then follow whomever eventually held/holds the war debts of the winners and losers for more insight.
As in the past, the financial structure will be recalculated based upon the final holdings of the competing oligarchs and the division of power that will have afforded themselves. With these “rights” they will reserve the “right” to redraw secure trade routes, “lines” and boundaries in order to forcibly open new markets for some and close them to others. As far as Iraq is concerned, Harper advocated, without question, the deceptive 2003 strategy and subsequent invasion and destabilization of Iraq. Harper Loyalists and apologists ideologically accepted the potential for collateral damage and to this day are committed to pursing an opaque end goal of Middle East liberation and democratization, by hook or by crook. The plan is several years behind and like ll government projects, grossly over-budget and rife with corruption.
Has anyone considered that the “national” interests in Libya that Harper sent the Military to protect were none other than those of Canada’s former spy watchdog, Arthur Porter and other SNC Lavelin insiders? The timing of it all behind the backdrop of the “Arab Spring” that followed the financial “crisis” is rather intriguing. War provides a very effective duck, dust and cover opportunity for those with the inside power to wage war to their own benefit. It is also rather revealing how deep the plot(s) really are and how many of Harper’s current and past advisers and insiders have run amuck or gone rogue.
Moving back a bit to Ted Cruz and the upcoming Harper campaign, let’s ponder a few facts/fictions. The first point is that, in case anyone has not noticed, the far-right Ted Cruz will never win, period, but his “views” on Iraq/Syria, NATO and Ukraine will provide a nice background for Harper’s campaign with it’s shared agenda of instigating hostilities and division and discrediting honest questions, dialog and diplomatic/political compromise. His entry will serve to rally and kettle the far-right fringe groups into more manageable small subgroups that can/will be pigeonholed within the current North American Conservative/Republican base. They will, at least in the short term, be given maximum exposure followed by a carefully controlled rhetoric that mimics the views of the far-right in Canada. This is important because these are the far-right fringe groups that have felt betrayed by the Harper Regime. This propaganda tactic cements them into the Conservative caucus and this empowerment and coverage gives the formerly fractured fringe groups a vast illusion that they will ultimately benefit if victory is achieved, which will further radicalize them. This of coarse, will only radicalize and encourage other far-right-wing anti-elements to thrive. This sets the stage for the able, mobile and nimble enemy of the future to be created and fostered in much the same way as how, what was framed initially as an al Qaeda offshoot, IS/ISIL/ISIS has mystically conquered the Middle East. Strip out the foreign fighters and interventionists and one might be surprised that “We the People” know how to live side by side for the most part and what our regional and national interests are based upon facts on the ground, not dreaming and pondering of right-wing thinktanks.
To truly this perspective one must, at least partially, appreciate how intricate these apparatuses are linked, since this pro-war vs anti-war propaganda phenomenon has often been repeated. One only needs to look back to the pre-WWI era though the various national lenses, media presentations and political rhetoric compared to the rush into the Afghanistan and Iraq quagmires and fiasco in Libya. Keep in mind that the declared military campaign was to be “over by Christmas” and lasted years beyond and effectively set the stage for the Stock Market Crash and WWII that set the stage for the Cold War, etc. Since most publications are/were heavily censored depending upon the “official” states of war in each of these cases, one does need to differentiate between the sell-side war players, the active-side war players and the instigating, agitating warmongering and escalation sided players. Combine those sides together and the un-holy trio radicalizes into an axis with the powers of the Wall Street insider syndicates behind them.
Is it possible to acquire a true cost vs benefit to overall society analysis that is not based upon the ideological zero-sum economy that transforms sovereign state wealth into publicly subsidized debt and then concentrates the usury proceeds to the upper percentile? When one considers the above it seems as if the governments of “sovereign on paper” Nations are really nothing more than fronts for various financial criminal cabals and those that require capital.
Until next time, we’ll leave you with the following press release that pretty much sums up the state of the “independent” and “free” press…
News Release Article from
Statement by Jean-Pierre Blais, Chairman and CEO of the CRTC, on journalistic independence
March 25, 2015 – Ottawa-Gatineau – Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC)
One of the pillars of Canada’s broadcasting system—and, in fact, of our country’s democracy—is that journalists are able to report news stories independently and without undue editorial interference. This principle, along with other fundamental journalistic values, is enshrined in the Code of Ethics that was developed by RTDNA Canada (The Association of Electronic Journalists).
Further to section 2(3) of the Broadcasting Act, the CRTC has been entrusted by Canadians, through Parliament, to defend the principles of fair comment, freedom of expression and journalistic independence.
That a regulated company does not like one of the CRTC’s rulings is one thing. The allegation, however, that the largest communication company in Canada is manipulating news coverage is disturbing. Holding a radio or television licence is a privilege that comes with important obligations that are in the public interest, especially in regards to high-quality news coverage and reporting.
An informed citizenry cannot be sacrificed for a company’s commercial interests. Canadians can only wonder how many times corporate interests may have been placed ahead of the fair and balanced news reporting they expect from their broadcasting system.
The RTNDA Code of Ethics is administered by the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council. Canada’s private broadcasters, including CTV, are members of this independent body and must adhere to its codes of conduct. Complaints about this matter should be directed to the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council for investigation.
We expect Canada’s broadcasters to live up to their responsibilities and adhere to a high standard in their news and information programs.
Media relations:
Tel.: 819-997-9403; Fax: 819-997-4245
General inquiries:
Tel.: 819-997-0313, TDD: 819-994-0423; Fax: 819-994-0218
Toll-free No.: 1-877-249-CRTC (2782)
TDD – Toll-free No.: 1-877-909-CRTC (2782) Ask a question or make a complaint
These documents are available in alternative format upon request.
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Just when we thought the Harper Regime’s fear-mongering and war-profiteering propaganda had no “legitimate” counter narratives thanks to gaslighting media conglomerates, yellow journalists and cowardly controlled Oppositions, Friday the 13th presented a couple of rather odd surprises from the most unusual sources. Thanks to an attempted censorship of an article/video published/uploaded 12Mar2015 by the Voice of America (VOA), an article that seemingly flew under the radar via Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) published 08Mar2015 and another under the radar article via ABC News published 11Mar2015, we can actually present some facts about the situation in Ukraine and Iraq/Syria that may come to a surprise to many but unsurprising to others. One may begin to wonder who “We the People” should really be afraid of, who the enemy actually is and who should be incarcerated for life.
Sadly, this tri-fecta is not really good for the actual People of Ukraine nor Iraq nor Syria or here, but you can be assured that the People of Ukraine and Iraq and Syria, and their respective regions, their collective peace, prosperity, safety and security, are feeling the full brunt of this wonton military adventurism and they certainly will not forget these omissions and facts. While our attention is being diverted every which way but loose, the Harper Regime and their foreign partners are taking full advantage of the ongoing distractions and fear-mongering while at the same time coordinating very similar draconian legislation, such as Bill C-51, to curtail the fundamental liberties of the collective citizenry and populous. Let’s face the facts, the Harper Regime is merely going along, to get along.
Below, we will present everyone with 3 articles that should concern everyone for multiple reasons. After you take the time to review them, ponder the wars that are being sold by way of deceptive propaganda techniques sand the flooding of vast regions with weapons and armaments. Then question the role that the “legitimate” media conglomerates playing to sell these foreign endevours as legitimate and necessary as well as the way that our elected politicians are turning a blind eye to certain facts to go along, to get along. Discuss them with your friends, political representatives and adversaries alike. Upon reflection, utilize some critical thinking skills and ask yourself and decide for yourself, Cui bono?
The first article is the most recent and the one that prompted this summary that should stir the debate about the situation in Ukraine, who is fighting who and why. The article/video from the VOA was censored within a day of being published for some odd reason. Since this one requires a bit of an introduction, we will present an embedded summary video, that may also be viewed via our ytube channel, followed by screengrabs of the pages and the content of the original article.
Censored VOA: In Eastern Ukraine, Civilian Casualties Push Men to Join Rebels #cdnpoli
Cached 12Mar2015 15:39:57 GMTRetrieved: 13Mar2015 Page Not Found
In Eastern Ukraine, Civilian Casualties Push Men to Join Rebels Published March 12, 2015
After months of fighting in eastern Ukraine, the presence of the Ukrainian military and the shelling of civilian neighborhoods seem to be pushing more men to join the rebellion. VOA spent a day with a group of new recruits undergoing weapons and explosives training. Patrick Wells reports from Donetsk.
This article should cause alarm bells to go off far and wide, considering the non-stop, wall to wall coverage of a single suspicious recently slain politician in Russia. Oddly the “international” community is loud with regards to one individual in Russia yet completely silent about several suspiciously dead individuals in Ukraine. Once again, Cui bono?
Suicide Or Homicide? In Ukraine, Old-Guard Officials Dying Mysteriously
Mykola Serhiyenko apparently shot himself dead with a hunting rifle.
By Marichka Naboka
March 08, 2015
This year Ukraine has seen a bizarre string of deaths involving high-ranking officials, including a ex-city mayor, a former railway executive, and the former head of the state body in charge of privatization.
A total of five officials died in a single 34-day period between January 28 and February 28. In each case, the deaths have been ruled probable suicides. But the victims’ political allegiances and job histories have led many in Ukraine to suspect that the men were in fact murdered:
January 26 — Mykola Serhiyenko, the former first deputy chief of the state-run Ukrainian Railways, died in his Kyiv home after apparently shooting himself with a registered hunting rifle.
Investigators said Serhiyenko, 57, was alone at the time of the tragedy, and that all of the flat’s doors and windows had been locked shut from the inside and showed no signs of tampering.
Serhiyenko, who worked with Ukrainian Railways from April 2010 to April 2014, had been appointed to the post by Mykola Azarov, the former prime minister under Viktor Yanukovych. Azarov and Yanukovych are both wanted by Interpol on charges including embezzlement and misappropriation.
Oleksiy Kolesnyk
January 29 — Oleksiy Kolesnyk, the former head of the Kharkiv regional government, died after apparently hanging himself.
Kolesnyk, 64, did not leave a suicide note, but media and investigators have hinted he may have killed himself, noting that his death took place on the birthday of his friend and fellow politician, former Kharkiv Governor and Party of Regions ideologue Yevhen Kushnaryov, who died in 2007 after being shot on a hunting expedition.
Kolesnyk began serving as chair of the Kharkiv Regional Council in 2002, but resigned prematurely in 2004.
Serhiy Walter
February 25 — The former mayor of the southeastern city of Melitopol, 57-year-old Serhiy Walter, reportedly hanged himself. A member of the Party of Regions who had served as the head of Melitopol since 2010, Walter had been dismissed from his post in 2013 and put on trial for abuse of power and ties to organized crime.
Walter was forced to attend some 145 hearings during his trial, with prosecutors calling for 14 years’ imprisonment. Throughout the proceedings, he insisted he was innocent. Walter was due to attend a new hearing on the day he died.
Oleksandr Bordyuh
February 26 — One day after Walter’s death, the body of the 47-year-old deputy chief of the Melitopol police, Oleksandr Bordyuh, was found in a garage. According to news reports, Bordyuh’s former boss was a lawyer involved in Walter’s trial.
Media reported that the cause of Bordyuh’s death was ruled a “hypertensive crisis,” or stroke — a term that police frequently use in instances of suicide. Additional details were not provided.
Mykhaylo Chechetov
February 28 — Mykhaylo Chechetov, the ex-deputy chairman of the Party of Regions faction in Ukraine’s parliament, died after jumping or falling out of the window of his 17th-story apartment.
The death came just days after Chechetov was arrested for fraud and abuse of office stemming from his two years at the helm of the powerful State Property Fund. (Chechetov posted bond to avoid being held in pretrial detention.)
Chechetov’s time at the property fund, from April 2003 to April 2005, marked one of the busiest periods of post-Soviet privatization, with the steel giant Kryvorizhstal among the cut-rate sales made during his tenure. The plant, notoriously, was sold to a group that included the son-in-law of former President Leonid Kuchma, Viktor Pinchuk, for just $850 million. (In October 2005, Viktor Yushchenko reversed the sale, reselling a 93-percent stake in the plant to Mittal Steel for $4.8 billion.)
Anton Herashchenko, a Popular Front lawmaker and adviser to the Interior Ministry, has speculated that Chechetov may have been driven to suicide by fellow old-guard members whose role in the deal stood to be exposed by his testimony. “It’s a shame we’ll never get to learn all of the interesting things we would have heard from Chechetov’s evidence,” he wrote on Facebook.
Chechetov isn’t the first head of the State Property Fund to die an unnatural death.
On August 27, 2014 the body of Valentina Semenyuk-Samsonenko was found dead of a gunshot wound to the head, with a gun lying nearby. She led the agency from April 2005 to December 2008. Her family told reporters they dismissed the possibility of suicide, saying that she had spoken fearfully of someone taking out a contract on her life.
The third death of an official tied to Ukraine’s privatization took place even earlier. In May 1997, the head of the Crimean branch of the State Property Fund, Oleksiy Holovizin, was killed in the entryway of his house.
Lawmaker Ihor Lutsenko, a member of the new government’s anticorruption committee, wrote in Ukrainska Pravda that eliminating Property Fund chiefs makes it almost impossible to reverse corrupt privatization sales, like that of Kryvorizhstal.
“Semenyuk and Chechetov won’t be saying anything,” he wrote. “And that will cost us, the citizens of Ukraine, tens of billions of dollars.”
The recent string of deaths comes 10 years after two more resonant cases that followed closely on the heels of the Orange Revolution. Heorhiy Kirpa, transport minister under Kuchma, was found dead in late December, 2004. His death came two days after the rerun of the second round of presidential elections that handed Yushchenko the win over Yanukovych.
The following March, Kuchma’s former interior minister, Yuriy Kravchenko, died one day after being called as a witness in the resurrected case of slain journalist Heorhiy Gongadze.
Both deaths were officially ruled suicides — even though, in Kravchenko’s case, it had taken two gunshots to kill him.
Written in Prague by Daisy Sindelar based on reporting in Kyiv by Marichka Naboka
Now this article is the most troubling since it not only affects the credibility of the military interventions, but it also poses the greatest threat to our soldiers that are being deployed. make no mistake, if ABC News decided to run this story, it has already been widely disseminated abroad by so called enemies and allies alike. This is where the Harper Regime has sent our special forces to “train” Iraqi soldiers/miltia and where they want to deploy even more in an offensive capacity. It may be time to question this misguided mission before more flag draped coffins begin to arrive home. Does anyone really believe that those foreign funded mercenaries or our so called allies in Iraq/Syria can tell the difference between an American and Canadian? Once again, Cui bono?
‘Dirty Brigades’: US-Trained Iraqi Forces Investigated for War Crimes Mar 11, 2015, 2:18 PM ET
By JAMES GORDON MEEK, BRIAN ROSS, RYM MOMTAZ and ALEX HOSENBALL
PHOTO: A bound and blindfolded detainee appears to be dropped – or possibly hung from the neck according to one analyst — from what looks like an Iraqi military base guard tower. The image was posted on Instagram.
A bound and blindfolded detainee appears to be dropped – or possibly hung from the neck according to one analyst — from what looks like an Iraqi military base guard tower. The image was posted on Instagram.
Obtained by ABC News
U.S.-trained and armed Iraqi military units, the key to the American strategy against ISIS, are under investigation for committing some of the same atrocities as the terror group, American and Iraqi officials told ABC News. Some Iraqi units have already been cut off from U.S. assistance over “credible” human rights violations, according to a senior military official on the Pentagon’s Joint Staff.
The investigation, being conducted by the Iraqi government, was launched after officials were confronted with numerous allegations of “war crimes,” based in part on dozens of ghastly videos and still photos that appear to show uniformed soldiers from some of Iraq’s most elite units and militia members massacring civilians, torturing and executing prisoners, and displaying severed heads.
The videos and photos are part of a trove of disturbing images that ABC News discovered has been circulating within the dark corners of Iraqi social media since last summer. In some U.S. military and Iraqi circles, the Iraqi units and militias under scrutiny are referred to as the “dirty brigades.”
“As the ISF [Iraqi Security Forces] and militias reclaim territory, their behavior must be above reproach or they risk being painted with the same brush as ISIL [ISIS] fighters,” said a statement to ABC News from the U.S. government. “If these allegations are confirmed, those found responsible must be held accountable.”
[In an image posted on Instagram, six black-uniformed men who appear to be Iraqi Special Operations Forces from the “Golden Brigades” surround an alleged ISIS suspect who has been dragged with a rope or cable tied to his foot.]
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, along with international human rights advocates and military experts, called the photos evidence of Iraqi “war crimes.”
“I guarantee you ultimately we get blamed for it whether we did it or not,” Leahy predicted.
Under what is known as the Leahy Law, the U.S. is required to cut off funds to any foreign military unit when there is “credible evidence” of human rights violations. In Iraq the responsibility of determination falls to the Department of Defense. In recent Senate testimony, Secretary of State John Kerry confirmed the Iraqi investigation had been ordered and said the Leahy Law applies to units operating alongside the many militias also fighting in Iraq against ISIS.
“I would say that involves the Leahy Law,” Leahy recently told ABC News after viewing the shocking imagery. “And I’d argue that we should be withholding money.”
According to the Pentagon, the U.S. already has. In a statement to ABC News, the Joint Staff official revealed that in the months since the U.S. began airstrikes and military assistance to Iraq last August, “We have withheld assistance from certain Iraqi units on the basis of credible information in the past. Due to the sensitive nature of our security assistance, we are unable to discuss specific units.”
In Washington today, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Martin Dempsey told lawmakers the U.S. military is keeping a close eye on the militias as well.
“What we are watching carefully is whether the militias — they call themselves the popular mobilization forces — whether when they recapture lost territory, whether they engage in acts of retribution and ethnic cleansing,” he said.
An Iraqi government spokesperson previously said while the dozens of photos could be ISIS propaganda, a full investigation was warranted.
“Yes, of course we will investigate these pictures,” the spokesperson, Gen. Saad Maan, said in an interview in Baghdad as he viewed a selection of images provided by ABC News.
“We don’t have anything to hide,” the general said. “We don’t have anything to be in, let’s say, in a black corner.”
[A bound and blindfolded detainee appears to be dropped – or possibly hung from the neck according to one analyst — from what looks like an Iraqi military base guard tower. The image was posted on Instagram.]
The Iraqi military is key to the U.S. strategy to fight ISIS and stop its atrocities, which have outraged the world. The U.S. is shipping almost $1 billion in weapons, as well as providing U.S. military trainers to instruct new Iraqi recruits. A special operations official in Baghdad, however, said it’s the government of Iraq that decides — not the Pentagon — which Iraqi units get U.S.-donated weapons, such as 43,000 M4 rifles and thousands of other light infantry weapons Congress approved for shipment in December. American troops are not known to be operating on the ground in combat in Iraq or Syria. No Americans are shown in the images or footage ABC News has found, nor have any Americans been implicated in any of the alleged atrocities.
Officials from Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International who reviewed the library of horrors assembled in the ABC News investigation said it is rare to see so much visual evidence of human rights abuses.
“Usually when forces commit such crimes they try to hide them. What we are seeing here is a brazen, proud display of these terrible crimes,” Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East Executive Director at Human Rights Watch, said in an interview as she and the group’s lead investigator in Iraq, Erin Evers, surveyed the carnage.
ABC News came upon the first such images last September, when a reporter following personal Instagram accounts of Iraqi counter-terrorism troops spotted a video of a handcuffed prisoner shot in the head by a man in camouflage — which more than 600 users “liked.” The English and Arabic captions by a self-identified member of the Iraqi security forces said, “We have arrested this terrorist yesterday and we killed him after completion of interrogation.”
A separate photo posted in September showed the severed head of a long-haired and bearded alleged ISIS fighter lashed to the grill of a U.S.-donated Humvee bearing an Iraqi Army license plate. A second related photo eventually surfaced of what appeared to be an Iraqi Army soldier holding up the same severed head next to the gun truck. Desecration of war dead and extrajudicial killings are violations of the Geneva Conventions.
“You don’t behead someone and place their head on the front of your Humvee. That’s unacceptable — because it’s a war crime. And it’s an atrocity,” retired U.S. Army Special Forces Lt. Col. James Gavrilis told ABC News.
As a senior officer in 5th Special Forces Group in Iraq a decade ago, Gavrilis was deeply involved in counterinsurgency during the U.S. war and creating Iraqi counter-terrorism units from Special Forces and special police teams.
“I think it’s horrible. I think this really shows a failure of our policy for Iraq,” Gavrilis said, confirming that the imagery looked authentic and too plentiful online to be faked.
“Both sides are committing war crimes,” he said. “This is widespread, it’s endemic.”
[A man wearing a uniform with a patch that appears to be from the Emergency Response Brigade steps on two severed heads in a photo posted on Instagram.]
In another video posted online in October, two unarmed civilians are shot to death after being questioned, and denying, whether they were part of ISIS. When the camera pans to one man with a gun, he appears to be wearing a uniform and shoulder patch of Iraqi Special Forces, with Iraqi Army officers also nearby observing the atrocity.
Fighters who appear to be a mix of militia and army appearing in a separate 78-second video circulating in January — including some wearing Iraqi flags and Iraqi Special Forces patches — take pictures of a captured teenaged boy who appears terrified. “Didn’t you just shoot?” demands one fighter. The handcuffed boy, shoved to the ground, insists, “No, no, I did not shoot a single bullet.”
The men argue over whether to kill him, some asking the others to calm down, but they shoot him to death anyway as the sound of mortars and gunfire nearby punctuate the crime. “This is to avenge the martyrs,” one man says.
“I’ve seen all sorts of horrible things over the years… but I have never seen anything this bad in my life,” said Ali Khedery, an American former diplomat in Baghdad who advised five U.S. ambassadors in the Iraqi capital and three generals overseeing Middle East operations at U.S. Central Command.
Khedery recently wrote in Foreign Policy about another video, where a man was beaten and machine gunned to death by a gang who appeared to be both militias and Iraqi Special Forces with U.S.-donated M4A1 rifles. He said the video slaughter of the Iraqis accused by their killers of smuggling weapons for ISIS was far worse, because Iraqi government troops were present.
“It was the shooting of unarmed men. This is a U.S.-backed government. They carried U.S. weapons,” he said.
U.S. and Iraqi authorities say they have been working to fully authenticate the content posted online on sites such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter connected to the Iraqi military. The uniforms and insignia of Iraqi Special Operations Forces under the command of Baghdad’s Counter-Terrorism Forces as well as special police and Emergency Response units from the Ministry of the Interior are clearly identifiable in many of the photos and videos, which include many severed heads and corpses dragged behind humvees.
Gen. Maan, the Iraqi government spokesperson, claimed the patches identifying Iraqi military units could be bought on Iraqi streets and that the gruesome images could be a clever ploy by ISIS to discredit the Iraqi military.
[The patches worn by the men in one of the photos posted to Instagram appear to match the patches of the Iraqi Emergency Response Brigade (E.R.B.), a counter-terrorism unit within the Ministry of Interior.]
“It does not look like ISIS propaganda at all,” Gavrilis said. “I don’t know how we could support them, if they are spearheading a lot on the front lines alongside these militias, and if they are conducting these kinds of atrocities as well… These Shi’a militias are just as barbaric as ISIS.”
Some militias take pride in their atrocities and appear to often be calling the shots on the battlefield, not the government forces, BloombergView columnist Eli Lake found when he recently visited the front lines north of Baghdad.
Officials said that the State Department’s human rights observers and military intelligence had viewed examples of Iraqi Security Forces posting atrocities on personal social media for over a year. But one knowledgeable U.S. official said that since ABC News began asking about the many disturbing images last fall, the atrocities allegations against Iraq’s fighting forces have grown “more severe” and the “very concerning” allegations are being raised at high levels in Baghdad.
The Pentagon spokesperson told ABC News the U.S. military has “discussed with Iraqi leaders the paramount importance of maintaining high standards of conduct and protecting civilian populations of all sects.”
“The actions of a small minority, if left unchecked, could do serious harm to the efforts of the Iraqi government,” the spokesperson said.
With several thousand American troops back in Iraq as trainers, the alleged atrocities by Iraqi troops puts U.S. military commanders in the unenviable position of having to sort out which units are clean or dirty, Gavrilis said.
[The severed head of an alleged ISIS fighter is being held up by a desert camouflage-uniformed individual in front of a Humvee in this image uploaded to Instagram. Patches on his uniform match those often worn by the Iraqi Army.]
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights last month released a report on Iraq that both condemned ISIS for its campaign of killings verging on genocide, but also criticized Iraqi Security Forces for military operations that “which may have amounted to war crimes.”
Last March, the State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor also issued its own damning report on Iraq, stating that government officials under then-Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki committed “extrajudicial killings” — meaning battlefield executions of ISIS suspects and killing individuals in custody without trial.
“Ministry of Interior officials tortured detainees to death, according to reports from multiple government officials and human rights organizations,” read the annual report. The Bureau explicitly fingered the Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Forces and Interior Ministry’s special police units — which the U.S. established, trained and armed from 2003-2011, and whose troops are seen in many of the atrocities images.
But the State report was issued before the U.S. began airstrikes in Iraq last August to assist security forces in successfully retaking the Mosul Dam, and long before President Obama deployed thousands of American infantrymen, special operations forces and enablers back into Iraq beginning last fall to assist the Iraqis in fighting ISIS. A new report is expected soon, officials said.
Now that the alleged war crimes of the U.S.-backed forces have become public, the Iraqi spokesman stressed that his government will not tolerate “bad behavior.”
Using the Arabic slang for ISIS, Gen. Maan said, “We do not allow any person to be a savage like Daesh.”
ABC News’ Divya Kumar, Cho Park, Rhonda Schwartz, Randy Kreider and Lee Ferran contributed to this report.
[A black uniformed individual holds the severed head of a purported Saudi ISIS fighter while standing on top of a black-painted Humvee. In the background, a man wears two patches signifying the Iraqi Interior Ministry’s Emergency Response Brigade.]
Remember, politics is a contact sport, like hockey, so please feel free to add quick contributions, observations and relevant information as a comment below!
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This site may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in an effort to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. and intend its use to be for education and instructional purposes only. Therefore, we believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond “fair use,” you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
With the hyper-accelerations and unprecedented fear-mongering campaign being waged upon “We the People” of Canada and our “Allies” with regards to the “terrorist” threat posed by IS/ISIL/ISIS. With the recent tragic friendly-fire death of a Canadian soldier, the reports that an Agent employed by a Canadian intelligence organization was involved in the delivery of the 3 U.K. schoolgirls into Syria and the media blackout by the Canadian media conglomerates regarding the very important Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing titled “The President’s Request for Authorization to Use Force Against ISIS: Military and Diplomatic Efforts” (AUMF), we feel it is necessary to republish an open letter by former U.S. Congressman Dennis Kucinich Members of Congress detailing 10 reasons to vote against the use of military force.
The reason this is of utmost importance is that the Harper Regime is hell-bent on furthering our military intervention and has thus far been less than transparent, actually rather deceptive and opaque, regarding our role in Iraq/Syria and beyond while the U.S. is proposing an initial 3 year open ended commitment. According to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, President Barack Obama’s proposed resolution authorizing the use of military force against the Islamic State contains no geographic limitations. The proposal allows attacks on “associated persons or forces” or any “closely related successor entity” to IS/ISIL/ISIS that is at war with the United States or its partners.
We may also presume why John Baird has decided to “quit” the game of geo-poltics, maybe there was too much blood on his hands and realized that the fix is in within the Harper Regime. Now this is extremely problematic considering the rush by the war-mongering Harper Regime to ram Bill C-51 through and the implications of these combined issues. Within a few days we have several “Allies” that are publicly stating views that counter the narrative of not only the Harper Regime, but our so called “free and independent” media conglomerates. Unlike the coordinated one-sided Ukraine/Russia propaganda campaign, this poses such an interesting and convoluted conundrum that even the AP and Reuters can’t seem to deliver a straight storyline. This is presumably, much like the dueling Israel/Iran narrative, due to the fact that their dueling narratives reach a much broader audience on both sides of the false left/right paradigm with the single solid connection that there are a small group of fear-mongering war-profiteering NeoCons within both “official” political Parties, whether they may be Liberal/Democrats or Conservative/Republicans. Below this open letter, we will embed the above mentioned video uploaded by former U.S. Congressman Dennis Kucinich along with another article titled “How Governments Twist Terrorism” since there seems to be no clear “definition” being presented by the Harper Regime with regards to Bill C-51 and the Harper Regime members of the Committee seem to have a serious problem asking questions of the witnesses and instead are presenting monologs to the witnesses.
Ten Reasons to Vote Against the Use of Military Force
Dear Colleague,
I was honored to serve in Congress for 16 years. During that time I provided information and helped to create debates over U.S. policies in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and other nations, defending the Article I, Section 8 responsibilities of Congress on matters of war and peace. Those of you who know me are aware that I avoid partisanship. I have challenged Republican and Democratic administrations alike.
Congress rightfully lacks confidence in this administration, given its bungling of a war against Libya and its general mishandling of international policy.
Why would Congress, as a co-equal branch of government, be so ready to give up its constitutional power to this president with an Authorization to Use Military Force (AUMF), which represents a wholesale appropriation of war power?
This could be one of the most important votes you will ever cast, so I want to share with you, collegially, information that I hope will be of use in your deliberations.
I present some thoughts for your consideration as you enter into a momentous, new debate over the authorization of military force, this time against the Islamic State.
This could be one of the most important votes you will ever cast, so I want to share with you, collegially, information that I hope will be of use in your deliberations.
Here are 10 reasons why Congress should not grant the president authority to use military force against the Islamic State, based on fact, consequences and the U.S. Constitution:
ISIS is not a threat to the U.S. homeland.
Writing in The American Conservative, Senior Editor Daniel Larison points out that the U.S. is taking on an unnecessary risk:
“… the U.S. mistakenly volunteers to address a regional security problem that poses no real threat to America, [while] its regional partners do as little as they can get away with, and in some cases stop doing even that in order to get the U.S. to take additional risks on their behalf.”
If the U.S. enters the fray, of course, regional partners will let us do the fighting.
There is no credible information available that indicates ISIS is a direct threat to the U.S. According to a Wall Street Journal article, “Lawmakers Told Islamic State Isn’t Terror Threat on U.S. Soil,” Congress has already been advised by U.S. counterterrorism officials that ISIS is not a threat to the U.S. homeland. Additionally, no new National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) has been produced alleging ISIS is a direct threat to America. However, an all-out U.S. war against ISIS could expose America to unnecessary threats, without any national security benefits.
The AUMF disingenuously calls for a “limited” war, while it is written to guarantee a permanent war, thus nullifying the power of the people’s representatives in Congress.
The framers of the U.S. Constitution were vitally concerned with the separation of powers, especially when it came to war. The power to declare war is vested in the Congress, in Article I, Section 8. The AUMF is written to enable the administration to conduct war, unilaterally, against any group, anywhere, at any time, over a period of three years, which opposing combatants will ignore.
If the administration succeeds in gaining approval for this particular AUMF, it will not have to return to Congress for approval as it takes its war from nation to nation. This is clearly contrary to the intent of the founders. It weakens Congress’ constitutional power (checks and balances) and undermines the Constitution.
The AUMF is a blank check and a fiscal black hole.
Since the AUMF sets the stage for a worldwide conflict, the cost of action will run into the hundreds of billions, if not trillions, of dollars, particularly if ground troops are involved in a war with religious overtones that go back 14 centuries. This war will inevitably require an emergency wartime supplemental appropriation and massive borrowing, adding to the $16 trillion U.S. deficit and weakening the U.S. economy internally while providing great wealth to war profiteers who are already draining America’s wealth.
Regional armies appear to be rising to their own defense; U.S. presence will escalate war.
At this very moment ISIS is finally under pressure from Iraqi forces and pro-government militias, without U.S. boots on the ground. Additionally, ISIS is said to be experiencing internal pressures and conflicts. The Washington Post points out: “The Islamic State is battling major offensives waged on at least three fronts — by Kurds in northern Syria, Kurds in northern Iraq and the combined force of Iraqi army and Shiite militia fighters advancing on the central Iraqi city of Tikrit.”
“…the risks of escalation are enormous. The biggest proponent of an American invasion is the Islamic State itself. The provocative videos, in which a black-hooded executioner addresses President Obama by name, are clearly made to draw America into the fight. An [U.S.] invasion would be a huge propaganda victory for jihadists worldwide … they all believe that the United States wants to embark on a modern-day Crusade and kill Muslims.” — Graeme Wood in the Atlantic Magazine, March 2015.
ISIS desperately needs to draw the U.S. in, to provide a rallying cry “against the foreign invader.” Why should America put our troops in harm’s way to provide this terrorist organization with new life, especially since armies in the region are stepping up to take the fight to ISIS?
In the AUMF, the president wants language that provides for U.S. ground forces to have “flexibility.” Read: “Boots on the ground!” If Congress passes the AUMF, it will have no say in the conduct of this war, except for appropriations.
The U.S. could get drawn into a worldwide religious war.
President Obama says, “We are not at war against Islam.” Congressional approval of the president’s request for the AUMF against the Islamic State will change that quickly. The AUMF will become a powerful recruiting tool for ISIS. How else will it be interpreted abroad, other than America at war with Islam? The U.S. could blunder into a complex, multidimensional conflict with explicit religious overtones, no matter what the president says.
ISIS wants to draw the U.S. into a religious war, to secure its role as the self-proclaimed defender of Islam against crusading foreign invaders.
Jihadis, anticipating a great war for Islam, have streamed into the region from all over the world to join ISIS ranks. An estimated 20,000 fighters from 90 nations have converged to fight alongside ISIS.
“This is a fight the Islamic State should be denied. And yet we should have learned that it is a bad idea to get into a ground war with people whose idea of victory is martyrdom.” — Richard Cohen in the Washington Post, Feb. 23, 2015.
ISIS and Al Qaeda are divided. US re-entry into war could unite them.
ISIS and Al Qaeda are in a deep rift. ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri differ on strategy, tactics, methods, religious interpretations and on Baghdadi’s establishment of a caliphate.
An all-out U.S. military attack against ISIS will force Al Qaeda into an alliance it does not want, to join ISIS in a “fight against Western invaders,” creating a united front much stronger and more deadly to America and her allies.
A Solution: Follow ISIS’ money, and shut it down.
Where is ISIS getting its money? Up to 100,000 ISIS fighters are funded by Gulf State donors, identified in the past as being from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait. Fully equipping and providing for one modern combat-ready soldier can cost $850,000 to $1,000,000 a year. ISIS’ army could be gaining $85 billion to $100 billion a year from various sources. We can either commit the U.S. military to another war, and the U.S. to further risk of impending attacks through the genesis of a new crusade, or we can fight this threat with intelligent power and high technology.
The administration must identify the specific sources of ISIS’ money, the individuals, the nations and the means of transfer, and shut them all down. It must sanction countries and individuals, tie up their bank accounts and commercial activities, freeze their assets and cancel their credit cards. Send platoons of accountants from the Treasury Department and the IRS into the fray, not platoons of U.S. soldiers. The U.S. must track oil sales, sales of antiquities and other valuables. Anyone involved in any transactions of any kind with ISIS must be identified and sanctioned.
Solution: Cyber response.
The U.S. has the ability to identify and disrupt terror networks using digital technology. The CIA, in a major reorganization, has just created a fifth directorate, the Directorate of Digital Innovation, in recognition that intelligent power means using the most technologically advanced tools available. For its part, the NSA, which has admitted gaps, is also strengthening its information collecting. If, as Clausewitz said, “War is the continuation of politics by other means,” in the 21st century we have other means to avoid a “boots on the ground” shooting war.
Endless wars enable Washington to ignore a domestic agenda.
It has been said that others attack us in order to destroy the way we live. Since 9/11, our own government has been responsible for shredding the Constitution through wars of choice and the imposition of a national security state with a permanent state of emergency.
The U.S. now spends about $1 trillion a year to “defend” America using lethal means. Yet the more money we spend, the greater the peril. Why? Meanwhile, at home, America’s middle class is falling apart, wages and benefits have dropped, retirement savings have vanished and Wall Street and war profiteers clean up. Americans, punished through unwarranted, massive surveillance, have forfeited constitutional rights and civil liberties. The right to privacy, which is protected by the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution, has been destroyed in the name of security.
The time has come for the U.S. to review the effects of interventionism.
ISIS grew out of U.S. interventions. Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Syria have disintegrated into chaos and violence. The price tag has been extraordinary in loss of human life and the cost of trillions of dollars. Bad judgments, misinformation and even lies have caused our nation to intervene, inspiring radical elements, stoking the fires of nationalism and engendering religious conflict. A great price has been paid and continues to be paid by our troops and their families.
This is the time for Congress and the administration to rethink the failed national security strategy, the failed doctrine of intervention, the failed “right to protect” doctrine and the abominable intrusion into the private lives of Americans.
Congress must refuse to give up its constitutional power under Article I, Section 8 and hold the executive branch in check on matters of war. It should defeat the AUMF and stop the administration from spreading war around the world.
Congress has a new opportunity to get control of runaway spending and keep America strong without wasting resources. In my early years in Congress, I was shocked to learn, from the inspector general to the Department of Defense, that DOD had over $1 trillion in accounts that could not be reconciled. According to the GAO, the Army “lost track of 56 airplanes, 32 tanks, and 36 Javelin missile command launch units.” The Constitution, Article I, Section 9, requires an accounting. With the national security budget at $1 trillion annually, and trillions spent for wars of choice, and a trillion unaccounted for, and countless billions in cost overruns, the question is who is defending the taxpayers?
The Authorization for the Use of Military Force provides a new opportunity for a much-needed debate over the direction of America, our priorities and the best way to protect our nation from harm. Thank you for considering my views.
Hi, Congressman Dennis Kucinich here. I just got off the phone with a very well-known talk show host from Cleveland, Mike Trivisonno, who told me about calls that he is getting from people who are concerned that there is an Al Qaeda flag flying over the courthouse in Benghazi in Libya. It was put there by the same group that we helped to oust the Gaddafi regime.
What is going on in America? On the one hand, we have soldiers dying in Afghanistan fighting Al Qaeda. On the other hand, we just helped a group of people take over Libya and the Al Qaeda flag is flying over their capital city headquarters.
What are we doing? It is time for America to get its story and its priorities straight about what we stand for as a nation. Its time to get out of all these wars and all of these conflicts where we think we can play both sides against the middle and it usually ends up with U.S. soldiers getting killed.
Its time to bring our troops home and take care of things here at home. As we approach Veteran’s Day 2011, we should really honor those who serve by having a foreign policy that is straight. That speaks directly to the concerns of the American people. That is mindful of the fact that we can’t tell the whole world what to do and we have an obligation to get our own house in order here at home and put people back to work.
How Governments Twist Terrorism By Philip Giraldi | March 12, 2015
States craft terror definitions and designations to absolve themselves and satisfy their constituencies.
The Washington Postreports that “terrorism trend lines are ‘worse than at any other point in history.’” But what is terrorism? It has frequently been pointed out that “terrorism” is a tactic, not an actual physical adversary, but it is less often noted that a simple definition of what constitutes terrorism is hardly universally accepted, while the designation itself is essentially political. The glib assertion that one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter fails to capture the distinction’s consequences as the terror label itself increasingly comes with a number of legal and practical liabilities attached. Describing an organization as terroristic in order to discredit it has itself become a tactic, and one that sometimes has only limited connections to what the group in question actually believes or does.
The bone of contention in defining terrorism is where to draw the line in terms of the use of violence in furtherance of a political objective. In practice, it is generally accepted that state players who employ violence do so within a social framework that confers legitimacy, while nonstate players who use political violence are ipso facto terrorists, or at least susceptible to being tagged with that label, which confers upon them both illegitimacy and a particularly abhorrent criminality. But some on the receiving end of such a Manichean distinction object, noting that the laws defining terror are themselves drawn up by the governments and international organizations, which inevitably give themselves a pass in terms of their own potential liability. They would argue that established regimes will inevitably conspire to label their enemies terrorists to marginalize both resistance movements and internal dissent in such a way as to diminish the credibility of the groups that are so targeted. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has recently been doing precisely that, and one might reasonably argue that government use of violence is often in practice indistinguishable from the actions of nonstate players.
Some common dictionary definitions of terrorism include engaging in “the systematic use of terror,” surely an indication of the inscrutability of an issue when the word must be used to define itself. The United Nations has been unsuccessfully negotiating a Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism since 2002 that would define terror as causing death or serious injury or destroying or damaging public or private property “to intimidate a population, or to compel a Government or an international organization to do or abstain from doing any act.” The United States Federal criminal code uses similar language, as does the Patriot Act, with the key elements being the use of violence or physical destruction to “intimidate or coerce” a civilian population or an existing government.
Governments are aware of what can be accomplished by invoking the word “terrorism.” The diplomacy-averse United States frequently hides behind the label, as it is prohibited by law from negotiating with groups so-labeled, and thereby avoids having to confront the possible legitimacy of what they represent. And it also justifies a uniformly violent response, which is invariably described as self-defense.
Fourteen years ago the “global war on terror” was used to justify wholesale American intervention in predominantly Muslim countries. A number of European countries, including France and Britain, have followed the example of the two Patriot Acts by introducing antiterrorism legislation that provides special police and intelligence service authorities that limit normal legal protections in terrorism cases. The broadly written laws have largely rendered the authorities immune from either regulation or prosecution, and governments in the West have generally been reluctant to allow any third-party inquiries into the related behavior of military and police forces. In the United States the state secret privilege, originally intended to prohibit the exposure of classified information in court, has been used to completely derail judicial proceedings relating to offenses allegedly committed by the government in terrorism cases.
And critics of the essentially hypocritical double standard used in defining terrorism certainly have a point. One might reasonably argue that the use of drones, in which “signature” targets are killed because they match a profile, fits comfortably within the definition of terrorism. During 2003-4, American Army and Marine forces in Fallujah sometimes shelled and bombed targets in the city indiscriminately and were certainly responsible for hundreds of civilian deaths. The Israeli Defense Forces killed thousands of civilians in two incursions into Gaza as well as several attacks on Lebanon. There was no declaration of war to justify the use of armed force in either case, and independent observers noted that many of the civilian casualties could have been avoided, normally a defining factor that makes an incident terror. Both Israel and the United States turned the tables on the situation by referring to their opponents and victims as “terrorists.” There has been no accountability for the deaths because it was two governments that carried out the killing.
In a world seemingly obsessed with terrorism it was inevitable that something like an anti-terrorism industry would grow dramatically. Every television and radio network has its own stable of pundits who pontificate on every violent incident, and there also are well-compensated freelancers, who describe themselves as experts, such as Evan Kohlmann and Steve Emerson. Emerson recently had to apologize after claiming that Birmingham, England had a number of no-go areas controlled by local Muslim extremists.
It should be no surprise that lawyers have now also gotten into the game. In 1996 Congress passed the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, which allows victims of terrorism to file civil suits in federal and state courts against sponsors or supporters of terrorism. Once you have a group or individual labeled as terrorist, or providing assistance to terrorists, there are a number of options you can pursue. The burgeoning antiterrorism industry appears to be in some ways linked to the increasing employment of Lawfare, which uses the legal system to wage war by alternative means, making it possible to obtain a favorable judgment and damages from the assets of a recognized terrorist organization. Such litigation benefits from favorable legislation in the United States that makes terrorism a worldwide crime subject to U.S. judicial review.
Recent court cases have involved both states that allegedly sponsor terrorism or actual organizations that are now parts of governments that either currently or at one time were perceived to be terrorists. Many of the groups targeted are enemies of Israel, and the Israeli Lawfare center Shurat HaDin is most active in pursuing such litigation. In a recent case in New York City, the Palestinian Authority was successfully sued by a group of Israelis and Americans over terrorist attacks that took place in Israel in 2002-4. If the appeal fails, the Palestinian Authority will be required to pay $1 billion in damages and will be bankrupted, with negative consequences for the United States, which has been seeking to create a viable government on the West Bank.
The U.S. Department of State identifies four countries as state sponsors of terrorism, making them prime targets for sanctions and other legal action. They are Cuba, Sudan, Syria and Iran. Cuba is an anomaly as it has not threatened anyone in decades but remains on the list due to the deep passions within America’s politically powerful Cuban Lobby. Sudan likewise should not be so designated, as even the U.S. government admits that it is cooperative on terrorism issues.
This leaves Syria and Iran, both of which are regarded as state sponsors of terrorism even though both are themselves victims of terrorist attacks carried out by groups supported by the United States. They are on the list because they harbor or cooperate with Hezbollah, Hamas, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. All three groups consider themselves to be resistance movements against the illegal Israeli occupation of Palestine, but Israel regards all three as terrorists, a view shared by the United States on the state department’s Foreign Terrorist Organization list. That viewpoint is not necessarily shared by many European governments, which regard the organizations as having evolved into legitimate political parties. There are also thousands of individuals and groups considered to be terroristic or criminal, collected by the U.S. Department of Justice on its Special Designated Nationals List. Individuals and organizations on the list have their assets blocked and are subject to other punitive action by the United States government.
Being designated by the Department of the Treasury or state does not necessarily mean that someone or some organization was actually involved in terrorism. The Texas-based Holy Land Foundation, an Islamic charity, was declared a terrorist organization in 2001. Its officers were convicted and imprisoned in a 2008 trial because the Treasury Department determined ex post facto that it had given money to Hamas before that group was itself named as a terrorist organization.
Inclusion on the State or Treasury lists can mean that there is solid evidence of wrongdoing, but it can also represent mere insinuations or a strong desire to see a group singled out for punishment. In any event, once a group or person is designated for a list, it is difficult to get off. Organizations that have not engaged in terrorist activity for many years remain on the list while other groups that are active escape censure. Recently, the Mujaheddin e Khalq (MEK), an Iranian terrorist group that killed six Americans in the 1970s, was removed from the list under political pressure from Congress and the media. Again, Israel was involved. MEK is an enemy of the current government in Tehran and is itself an important component of the Israeli intelligence effort against Iran, having been involved in the fabrication of information suggesting that Iran has an active nuclear weapons program as well as participating in the assassinations of Tehran’s scientists.
So what terrorism actually consists of very much depends on one’s perspective, rendering the word itself largely meaningless. But those who are listed as terrorists experience real consequences even accepting that the designation is both selectively applied and politicized. The United States and Israel in particular use the terrorism label to demonize opponents, drum up fear, and generate popular support for security policies that might otherwise be unpalatable. They also justify their own behavior by asserting that they occupy the moral high ground in the defense of the world against terror, a claim that certainly should be regarded with considerable skepticism.
Philip Giraldi, a former CIA officer, is executive director of the Council for the National Interest.
Remember, politics is a contact sport, like hockey, so please feel free to add quick contributions, observations and relevant information as a comment below!
Contact us if you would like to contribute to our collaborative efforts or would like to share/submit articles, data or additional content, feel free to add feedback, additional info, alternative contact details, related links, articles, anonymous submission, etc. as a comment below, via web-form, through social media outlets or email us directly and confidentially at: dumpharper [at] live [dot] ca
This site may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in an effort to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. and intend its use to be for education and instructional purposes only. Therefore, we believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond “fair use,” you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
In our previous brief summary, The Rise of the #NeoBolsheviks aka #NeoCons, we touched upon the various similarities between the Harper Regime and the Bolsheviks counter-revolution that violently seized power in Russia in 1917. For this brief summary we will pose a few questions and issues that seem to be missing from the current discourse, dissemination, conversation, reporting and debate about Bill C-51.
When will the Opposition and those opposed to the Orwellian and dystopian Bill C-51 mobilize in mass protests and how long will they remain committed?
Before we delve into the content, or lack thereof, we feel it is necessary to question the “Bread and Circuses” methods that are being utilized to “frame and mandate” the debate via the MSM and social media. The easiest way to present this is by utilizing our own CBC News coverage. At a later date we hop to present a summary that compiles the result of our in-depth analysis into how the CBC News and especially CBC’s Power and Politics, and to a lesser degree the Exchange, are nothing more than well organized and scripted “Limited Hangouts” that are engaging in a full spectrum “Gaslighting” operation against the citizenry that is being guided directly via the PMO. Not only are the hosts actively engaged but the supporting staff and reporters, guests, panelists, lobbyists and free-lance journalists are as well. This does nothing but cast a broad cloud of suspicion and call into question their own ethics and legitimacy. This harms our economy, society, peace, safety and security more than anything and everything else combined.
The short and simple overview is that the primary mandate is one that completely reinforces the PMO scripts and message about the geo-political and economic environment with a shrewd blend of “Yellow Journalism” and a tightly “Controlled Opposition” counter narrative when necessary, if at all. To observe this one only needs to inspect the language that is crafted within their coverage and articles and how “Sockpuppets” and carefully placed commentary divert the comments sections and social media discussions.
For the above to be addressed, we propose a few remedies that may open the debate and conversion. In our opinion, the collective Opposition and concerned backbenchers must, on behalf of all Canadians, demand a formal, immediate, open and transparent inquiry into how the PMO is utilizing tax-payer resources to contaminate and gaslight discussion and comment threads.
Who are those being employed and who is actually accountable for the scripts and narrative?
What are the costs vs benefits and implications vs opposition associated with these activities and what amount of resources are being utilized?
When will there be an initial investigation and/or formal inquiry.
Where are the message control operatives operating from, where are they being deployed?
Why is there no public and/or Parliamentary scrutiny and/or oversight and why has this issue been allowed to fly under the radar for so long?
How much is this actually costing, how can these practices be acceptable to anyone that is not in power and how will the results of any investigation be presented?
Moving forward to the Bill C-51 “Bread and Circuses” debate, keeping in mind that this is directly related and overlaps several narratives that converge the economy and security amongst others. These narratives are in full view and converging rather rapidly. We need to point out that this is by design and being controlled by a relatively small few that have the controlling stake within the Harper Regime itself, the segment that is completely protected from the implications and/or ramifications of Bill C-51 for various reasons.
Bill C-51, like all of the previous Omnibus Bills, many of which we have still not felt the ramifications of, is an extremely opaque, ill-conceived, bloated and convoluted piece of oppression. Just observe the smugness, arrogance, and self-absurdness of the Harper Regime and their Loyalists.
Who ultimately controls the fear-mongering narrative surrounding Bill C-51 and who ultimately benefits other than the Harper Regime, their special interest lobbies and their Loyalists?
What measures are in place to assure the legality the fear-mongering scripts, talking points, narrative and spin surrounding Bill C-51 by the Harper Regime, their special interest lobbies and their Loyalists?
When will the illegal terror propaganda being disseminated and propagated, fear-mongering scripts, talking points, narrative and spin surrounding Bill C-51 by the Harper Regime, their special interest lobbies and their Loyalists be investigated and prosecuted?
Where are the fear-mongering scripts, talking points, narrative and spin surrounding Bill C-51 by the Harper Regime, their special interest lobbies and their Loyalists being organized and are they legal?
Why are the scripts, talking points, narrative and spin by the Harper Regime, their special interest lobbies and their Loyalists surrounding Bill C-51 being endlessly regurgitated and why have the Opposition not formed, fostered, nutured and/or encouraged protests?
How are the the fear-mongering scripts, talking points, narrative and spin surrounding Bill C-51 being addressed and countered?
To move forward a bit, we also need to open the debate about expanding the powers of CSIS, especially intervention strategies, when they conflict with the RCMP and/or contaminate and/or corrupt active investigations by other law enforcement agencies. We know there are serious flaws with the U.S. with regards to the conflicting agendas of the NSA, CIA, FBI, etc. When one or more agencies are directing resources in what amounts to turf wars, which take precedence and who reimburses the resources that were wasted.
We already have serious backlogs and deficiencies within our own systems and entities. The most troubling stem from the lack of adequate funding, manpower and resources across the board. These deficiencies have bogged down investigation, burdened the courts and crated an extremely insecure environment. Considering the lack of security within the various Government controlled Ministerial databases and web portals, one must ponder how these can be adequately addressed without proper funding and oversight. In short, the entire “system” is insecure and that places all Canadians at risk.
Who will assure that the activities and expanded powers being proposed do not encourage a “spy vs spy” scenario playing out and who will assure the integrity of the investigations?
What provision will be utilized to assure that there are absolutely no conflicts of interest between CSIS interventions and RCMP investigations along with covert foreign intelligence operatives/agencies operations and what steps are being taken to assure that the expansive inter-Ministerial data sharing system is secured and invulnerable to exploits and back door attacks?
When will the public be allowed to address their concerns about the ramifications of entrapment and dragnet surveillance?
Where are the provisions that address the activities of foreign intelligence operatives and agencies that are actively conducting their own independent operations in Canada?
Why is the Harper Regime entitled to be given a blank check free pass to directly and indirectly seize complete control of Canada and the lives of Canadians at home and abroad?
How can CSIS and the RCMP assure Canadians that rogue agents within their own ranks or the ranks of Government are identified and eliminated as potential threats to our collective safety and security?
In addition to the above questions and concerns we need to be very mindful of the potential long term effects regarding Bill C-51 especially the budgetary implications. We presume that, based upon the previous failed budgets, that none of the programs and/or operations will be allocated adequately. This presumption is based upon several key components and the inadequate funding that are associated with the unbroken string of failed budgets by the Harper Regime and taking into consideration that the across the board austerity cuts have yet to actually fully be realized nor have they borne any positive results.
We realize that Bill C-51 is the most opaque, broad sweeping, dangerous and un-democratic Trojan Horse legislation ever proposed by the Harper Regime. We also realize that the language about “economic” security is even more opaque. What we take great issue with is the way in which the likes of the oppressive Regimes of Egypt, Ukraine, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE are glorified as proponents of liberty, freedom, democracy, peace, safety, security and prosperity with regards to the funding of ongoing terrorist activities in Europe, Eurasia, the Middle East and North Africa, while other less oppressive regimes are demonized, targeted and sanctioned.
Contrary to the published punditry, we realize that while the Harper Regime insists that the provisions contained within Bill C-51 is not a treat to legitimate forms of dissent and/or protests, past experiences and practices employing agent provocateurs by policing agents at the Montebello SPP Summit in 2007, the kettling, arrests and mass detention of “legal” protesters at the Toronto G8/G20 while suspected agent provocateurs went unattained, the various attacks and anti-protest legislation passed nationwide, but specifically against Quebec students and the storm trooping of the Occupy protests.
In other words, since the foreign funded bloodless coup d’état by Stephen Harper and his Reform/Alliance cabal over the past decade that brought them to power, virtually all forms of opposition, legitimate dissent and legal protests have either been co-opted, infiltrated by agent provocateurs, faced threats and intimidation, been financially sanctioned, silenced, censored, slandered and discredited.
Most of all and probably of utmost importance, protests to the actions and inactions of the Harper Regime have been either declared illegal, disallowed and/or severely limited by way of legislation and/or by-laws.
If we were to foresee “who” Bill C-51 is targeting. Based upon the militarism and foreign adventurism trend by the Harper Regime and their failed attempts to become actively involved and deploy forces into the 2003 GW Bush fraudulent WMD War upon Iraq that was blocked by “We the People”, anti-war advocates, activists and protesters are the intended targets. All of the others that are already on Harper’s Hit List are just gravy on the potatoes and frosting on the cake.
Now, keeping in mind that the Harper Regime actually sent officials to stand by those protesters at the Ukrainian Maidan and supported, advocated and encouraged the overthrow of an corrupt albeit elected Regime, not to mention their active involvement into the affairs of Libya and Syria, both of which are mired in foreign funded civil wars, that directly fostered the foreign funded “barbaric terrorists” of today, the only real questions that remain are really simple:
Who benefits from the Harper Regime’s opaque agenda and mandate?
What is the true agenda the Harper Regime’s Loyalist and supporters?
Where is this mass suppression and surveillance data accumulation by the the Harper Regime ultimately headed?
When will the will of “We the People” be heard and acknowledged by the Harper Regime?
Why does the Harper Regime fear and refuse to address questions and concerns?
How far will the Harper Regime go in their quest of full spectrum domination of Canada and Canadians?
Wake up, smell the coffee and face the cold hard facts, this may well be the last time Canadians will ever be able to protest anything that is not sanctioned by the Regime that controls the Parliament and Government of the day.
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Remember, politics is a contact sport, like hockey, so please feel free to add quick contributions, observations and relevant information as a comment below!
Contact us if you would like to contribute to our collaborative efforts or would like to share/submit articles, data or additional content, feel free to add feedback, additional info, alternative contact details, related links, articles, anonymous submission, etc. as a comment below, via web-form, through social media outlets or email us directly and confidentially at: dumpharper [at] live [dot] ca
This site may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in an effort to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. and intend its use to be for education and instructional purposes only. Therefore, we believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond “fair use,” you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
At certain points in time one must reflect upon the past in order to sort out the present as it trends into the future. In many ways this seems like an impossible task for even the most prolific academics and historians considering history is often typically distorted and “created” based upon past propaganda that contradicts current propaganda efforts. This is why we must go back a bit further in time for comparison to decipher and decode the facts and realities from the fictions and propaganda in order to reconstruct the actual facts and realities. Keep in mind that the shylocks, charlatans and snake-oil salesmen that control the past easily control and rewrite “history” on demand and ultimately control the present and intend to do so well into the future.
We assUme that our “free” and “independent” media plays an unbiased and transparent role in investigating, researching, presenting and publishing evidence based facts. The only constant fact about this assumption is that it is fundamentally flawed. The one simple and glaringly obvious fact is that our “free” and “independent” media presents information in a very hyper sensationalized, biased and opaque manner to gain and retain viewers, followers and subscribers. These distorted facts and opinions are then presented to the general public by our “free” and “independent” media conglomerates to serve the needs and requirements of their own investors, stake-holders and advertisers. In other words, they are “free” and “independent” to publish whatever provides the best return on investment, period. At the present time, as has occurred in the past, if it bleeds, it leads, because fears and wars sell “papers” and allows the ruling Party to fraudulently sell the “justification” loss of freedoms and liberties to an ill-informed populous.
We also, sometimes foolishly, assUme that our “elected” officials play an unbiased and transparent role when in fact they only present the information in an opaque manner that serve the needs of its own investors and ideological supporters in order to get “elected” by the less informed citizenry. In reality our “free” and “independent” media are simply the sell-side tools of the Harper Regime Loyalists that promote globalist intervention schemes. Instead of well researched facts to formulate and base our own opinions, “We the People” are simply given “Bread and Circuses” to distract from reality in order to further an opaque and hidden agenda that is based upon their fabricated realities. Simply put, the “free” and “independent” media are nothing more than the ultimate tools of war, at home and abroad and they are indeed controlled by munitions makers, armaments dealers, war profiteers and financial terrorists along with countless mercenaries, private militias and armies that engage in both quasi-legal, semi-legal and illegal terrorist activities.
The parallels between the past and present are astounding considering the fact that if either of these collective entities fails to remain transparent with the facts, they utterly fail the populous, not only today but well into the future. In other words, just as the victors of the past wrote their own version of history, todays political victors misguided, falsified talking points and regurgitated published propaganda become the historical fact well into the future as they are the only source of information. This may be refereed to as the “Big Lie” theory and is developed and nurtured via “sockpuppets”, “Limited Hangouts” and the “Gaslighting” effect.
While this is noticeable to a great degree across the MSM, to see this in action one only needs to parse the “articles” and comments on our own tax-payer funded CBC News website. Pay close attention to how the timing of the “UPDATES” coordinate with the arrival of sockpuppets and trolls and how the message is massaged on both ends by way of subversive propaganda techniques. On the one hand, there are several half truths presented with subtle innuendos, based upon hearsay, within the “articles” themselves at various points to appear well researched, honest, truthful and factual. On the other hand, important and relevant factual articles that have been investigated and researched, worthy of broad discussion and sharing, typically have the comments feature disabled. Most of the sensationalized and misrepresented articles are from outside sources, primarily Reuters and AP. These articles work two-fold, first and formost to drive a message that follows the Harper Regimes talking points and spin as close as possible and second as a click-bait distraction that keeps and/or pushes these well spun “articles” into the “Most Viewed” sections in order to drive out the more important topics.
For many the “title” of this entry and the reference to Bolshevism seems comparatively disjointed in the least or sensational at best. It poses a sort of conundrum and prompts further explanation, if at all possible. One may inquire as to how Stephen Harper and the Harper Regime Loyalists could be compared to the Bolsheviks circa 1917? Some might opine, isn’t that a stretch of the imagination? Others may ponder and obsess that Stephen Harper and the Harper Regime Loyalists are more akin to NeoNazis and fascists.
In order to delve a bit further we need to understand the difference between the Russian Revolution in the spring of 1917 that lead to the downfall of the Czar, coincidentally a cousin of the reigning Crown, and the violent Bolshevik Revolution that hijacked it within a few months time as summer transcended into autumn of 1917. One must keep in mind that the initial revolutionaries sough to create an elected Constitutional Republic much like that of France and the United States, not a theocratic oligarchy based upon subjects and/or serfdom led by empty promises and catchy sloganeering.
While the comparison to fascists seems more appropriate and fairly well traveled within the interwebz to many they really are two sides of the same coin that enable technically what amounts to total government control and oppression of all dissenting opinions total government control and oppression of all dissenting opinions. In broad terms, fascists typically aim to protect the interests and well being of the citizenry of the Sovereign State they represent, its own productivity, industries, public services, etc. to support a strong national economy founded upon a high quality education that leads to full employment. On the other side of the coin, bolsheviks prefer global domination and the concept of globalization where the interests of the Sovereign State become secondary to the global investor class of Carpetbaggers and Robber Barons hell bent on global domination at all costs. Sadly, as opposed to a multi-polar “win-win” economy, the uni-polar “zero-sum” economy transfers those costs to the citizenry while the profits are quickly offshored.
This seems like it is impossible since over the past century we have all been indoctrinated into believing a false left/right paradigm exists based upon the battle of the “…ists & …ism’s” factored within. This simple word play allows global investors to play the tried and true leftists vs rightists meme along with the persistent communists vs fascists theme. This easily allows the ultra small minority investor class, aka: regional/global oligarchs, complete control over the establishment main-stream media and anti-media conglomerates, dis-information aggregators, politicians, economists and politicos in order to “trickle down” and share in the spoils of excess, while the majority of the populous are burdened with the costs under the collective banner of “capitalists/capitalism” that serve no public or national interests anywhere.
This was fairly evident during the First Cold War propaganda campaign that cemented the sides by way of half truths, misrepresentation and factual manipulation that ultimately relied upon morphing German and Soviet propaganda intermixed with the Allies propaganda to confuse and indoctrinate the masses. The problem and stark reality is that none of the propaganda that was published and propagated in the various regional/global media outlets to “sell” these wars before and during the First and Second World Wars have ever been properly scrutinized and disseminated before it was shrewdly entrenched into the educational system as history class nor corrected before it took root into the collective psyche.
This conundrum has become even more evident now that we have hyper accelerated into the Second Cold War via the external geo-political/military meddling in the EU, the Ukraine, North Africa and the Middle East, not to mention the rest of Africa, Asia and South America. This begs the question of who benefits when the Regime in power actively seeks out, creates and encourages enemies at home and abroad? At what point does one acknowledge that the Regime in power may in fact, be the actual enemy of the State?
If one analyzes and digests the implications of the above, one can easily draw parallels to how the Harper Regime and it’s die hard Loyalists, aka: Reform Party, effectively hijacked a major political party in what amounts to a bloodless coup d’état. These Loyalists have formed under the collective banner of what amounts to fear-mongering, war-mongering NeoConservatives within the U.S. and Canada and draw upon a fraudulent form of flag waving nationalism that encourages misguided ultra-nationalists to, in many cases violently, force their agenda, lest one be labeled as “unpatriotic”, towards furthering extreme economic NeoLiberalism that ignites the flames for extremists and terrorists to thrive at home and abroad.
The inconvenient truth is that no matter how often the Harper Regime Loyalists proclaim and repeat their pre-scripted talking points, nothing is ever either just black or just white, there are an infinite number of shades of gray in-between. The Harper Regime and their Loyalists, under the guise of providing safety and security with their endless “Tough on Crime” rhetoric, undermines the safety and security of now only Canadians, at home and abroad, but the entire global community.
This should sound multiple alarm bells that something is rotten in Ottawa. The only question that really remains is will the collective Opposition, non-Reformers and Conservative backbenchers actually take the hard steps necessary to remove the stench and rot before more damage is done, or will they simply choose to await another fraudulent election shrouded within the fog of war and rhetoric as they did in 2011 when the Harper Regime, its Loyalists and apologists declared that Libya must be bombed back into the stone age and Syria’s Assad Must Go? The reality is that the previous NeoCon led schemes in Afghanistan and Iraq have led to the destabilization of the region and the more recent NeoCon instigated schemes in Libya, Syria and Ukraine have literally flooded 3 Continents with an endless supply of modern weaponry and uncontrollable chaos.
Do Canadians really “need” the Harper Regime to “protect” Canada from the various “terrorists” they themselves fostered and nurtured into existence? Keep in mind that the Harper Regime’s aggressive interventions in Libya and Syria alone have accounted for millions upon millions of displaced and impoverished families, hundreds of thousands of dead men, women and children of all ages and hundreds of billions of dollars in destroyed infrastructure, not to mention the countless lost historical sites and artifacts.
As a final point to ponder, has anyone really considered that Bill C51 is really designed to silence the anti-war, anti-foreign intervention advocates? Let’s face it, the genie is outta the bottle, Pandora’s box has been ripped wide open as the Harper Regime and their collective war-profiteering “Allies” at home and abroad have seemingly crossed the rubicon, passed the point of no return, and leading “We the People” into yet another multi-continental World War.
Cui bono?
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Remember, politics is a contact sport, like hockey, so please feel free to add quick contributions, observations and relevant information as a comment below!
Contact us if you would like to contribute to our collaborative efforts or would like to share/submit articles, data or additional content, feel free to add feedback, additional info, alternative contact details, related links, articles, anonymous submission, etc. as a comment below, via web-form, through social media outlets or email us directly and confidentially at: dumpharper [at] live [dot] ca
This site may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in an effort to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. and intend its use to be for education and instructional purposes only. Therefore, we believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond “fair use,” you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
Well friends and adversaries alike, it surely appears that the zero-sum gain manufactured crisis’ in Ukraine and Iraq/Syria are slowly pushing us towards another “World War” in an eerily similar fashion as the others. Since we have already well documented the media manipulation and propaganda being weaved and spun via the CBC, we feel that certain other “details” should be archived and published as well.
Before we move further, let’s review a few “other” pending issues that the Harper Regime, controlled Opposition and yellow journalists seem to be conveniently unaware of. The first items and questions that should be addressed are indeed related to the actual situation evolving in Ukraine and the “speech” that seems full of inconsistencies and mis-truths. Notice that there has been zero mentions about any actual investigation into the Maidan sniper incident and the actual investigation, or lack thereof, regarding the perpetrators and causes of the MH17 shoot down, only repeated memes that are based upon false speculations. The preliminary report is very light on details, yet the current narrative keeps repeating the same false narrative, that is not based upon any truths and/or facts. Guilty until proven innocent and lies in the face of truth is the new normal. Not only that, but there is no hope for the required gas supplies anytime soon, not directly nor reversely. As a matter of fact, even if the US and Canada can deliver any at all, it won’t be available until 2018 at best. What real capitalist wants to “sell” or provide any goods/services to a consumer that refuses to pay their previous debts?
While the billionaire oligarch Chocolate King, instead of digging into his vast fortunes, was being praised, honoured and clap-trapped, while begging, pleading and looking for yet another financial and military handout from Canadian and U.S, taxpayers, the Ukraine Rada (Parliament) was surrounded by rather violent Svoboda and Right Sector affiliated protesters. Those “protests” included the typical tire burning festival along with the usual democratic beating and intimidation of politicians and social media advocates. At the same time, the more powerful war party Prime Minister and Rada were busy rewriting the so called amendments that were being sold via the Harper Parliament under the guise of democracy. Not only that but they also introduced more anti-democratic legislation that all public sector workers would be forced to take a “loyalty” pledge to the Kiev Regime. Keep in mind that elections are supposed be be undertaken next month so why would they need to purge the ranks so quickly and stack the deck and silence dissent. One may think that there is another coup being planned but this time it’s a pre-emtive strike against Poroshenko while he is away selling a bad bill of goods abroad. The latest ceasefire meme was one of the greatest and grandest illusions thus far. The problem was that since the Kiev side and their “volunteer” battalions immediately violated it, the meme had to continue that it was “fragile” but still holding. Never mind the dozens of long range TOCHKA-U ballistic missiles being utilized by the Ukrainian forces, further assaults on civilian infrastructures and not so covert repositioning of advancing pro-Kiev groups, that somehow keep finding themselves in encircled within bubbling cauldrons. It really does begin to seem as if, from the relative safety of their geographic positions, certain special interests, lobbyists, munitions makers and oligarchs, including their politco proxies, will wage war ’till the last Ukrainian drop of blood is spilled. Or maybe, like the previous World Wars, the desired result is a brutal military dictatorship, that can be groomed into being the next target in this perpetual war economy.
If one were to ponder a bit more, it appears that a full scale coup to remove this entire Regime is being coordinated on many levels. The battle between the oligarchs that have controlled Ukraine since the Orange Revolution has only just begun and many have their own private mercenary battalions conducting various ATO operations, not to mention the many “volunteer” battalions that seek to purge the oligarchs and corrupt politicians completely. We also should not forget that the Right Sector and their allies are anti-imperialist, anti-colonialist and defiantly not pro-EU by any stretch of the imagination. Do not forget that they were actually the ones that violently took down the previous democratically elected Yanikovich Regime only last time they were armed with bats, clubs, molotov cocktails and small arms, this time they have heavy weapons and real war time training and experience. For those that claim that Putin is the modern day Hitler, keep in mind how well Hitler was received by the elites and their political proxies of the “West” and the parallels to Poroshenko’s receptions(s) today.
One must also consider the implications of several other anti-democratic strategies as well. The 25 May 2014 elections did not include the 40% or so Ukrainians in the East that were certainly suppressed by the initial stages of the so called ATO launched in April, a couple of political party’s were declared illegal, several media organizations were declared illegal and shut down. Then we must acknowledge the massive amount of refugees that have fled the region. Out of approx 1 million refugees reported, at least 90% have fled to the Russian Federation for some reason, while the other 10% fled to an increasingly unstable Western Ukraine where many have faced hostilities.
In this newly “democratic” Ukraine, the goal of purging any/all that do not agree with the pre-scripted narrative and/or hidden agenda seems to be par for the coarse that almost seems to mimic the strategy of the Harper Regime. In other words, anyone that disagrees with and/or questions them or there opaque agenda are deemed to be enemies. This is nothing more than a simple divide and conquer strategy concealed from the public by legislated secrecy. It is rather sad and even more troubling that the “prominent” Ukrainian diaspora are so willing to be duped once again and sacrifice their own. It’s almost like they have forgotten how their predecessors were forced into the horrific internment camps in Canada circa WW1 after their usefulness in propagating the march to war rhetoric had achieved the desired purpose which were conflicts that consumed their former homeland. This is the third time in a century that the same piece of geographic real estate has been utilized for the benefit of profiteers and carpetbaggers. All of which began by first imploding their own “capitalist” economies and accelerated by creating fictitious adversaries enemies that turned into real enemies eventually. These economic wars have all been based upon false speculations and propagandist narratives as a convenient cover, under the guise of economic sanctions, for their economic crimes against humanity.
Even if one were to dismiss any/all of the above, there are several other issues that need to be addressed. Let’s ponder why there has been so much focus upon this rather odd war-mongering blame game. Why is there no actual reporting by the yellow journalists or mentions by the controlled Opposition related to the realities about the utter failures of the Harper Regime’s “Economic Extraction Action Plan”, nor the over valued CDN Dollar, nor the free falling TSX, nor the collapsing commodities sector, nor the hyper inflated housing bubble, nor the record debt-to-income ratio, nor the shale gas bubble that is more akin to a vast Ponzi scheme. That does not even factor in the gross manipulation and deception by the pharmaceutical industry with the assistance of Health Canada and the cover provided by the Harper Regime. This also provides pretty a deep cover strategy for the complete disregard to the issues that face our Aboriginal, Indigenous and First Nations Peoples.
Since most of these issues directly affect everyone that is not fortunate enough to be in the top 10%-15%, they do seem to be more important to our National security and our society as a whole. If we are to even begin to look deeper into our own affairs, we may begin to see that the Harper Regime is working for some outside foreign interests at the expense of Canadians. Some refer to this type of opaque and deceptive governance as the Deep State. Once we consider that, we must realize that whether we are focused upon Ukraine/Russia, Iraq/Syria, Scotland/UK or any other diversions, we have not only lost one generation due to the gross mismanagement of government institutions that pander to global special interests and international corporate lobbyists, we are dooming yet another generation to poverty and despair.
Below you will find the 17 September 2014 “speech” (in 3 parts) by Petro Poroshenko’s to the clapping seals of Harper’s Parliament and the controlled Opposition, followed by a text transcript that was sent to us by one of our anonymous contributors. Below that for comparison study and research purposes, you will also find the “speech” that Poroshenko gave to the U.S. Congress on 18 September 2014 followed by transcripts that were sent to us by another anonymous contributor.
You will notice that the false narratives that have already been dis-proven and/or discredited are being re-injected as fact. This only goes to show that as long as a lie is repeated and regurgitated often enough, sooner or later it becomes accepted as truth by clapping seals that pose as politicians. It is also a bit odd that in these “speeches” Poroshenko uses the “war” term considerably and liberally that, if the rules of the IMF still apply, restrict them from issuing any loans, not to mention that they have wasted most of the previous cash and loans on their utterly failed ATO. Ukraine today, just like the rest of the G7 cabal, will never, ever, be able pay off their massive debts, no matter how much “austerity” is downloaded upon their society…
Andrew Scheer: I would now like to invite the right hon. Prime Minister to take the floor.
Stephen Harper: Monsieur le Président du Sénat, monsieur le Président de la Chambre des communes, honorables sénateurs et députés, distingués invités, mesdames et messieurs, ladies and gentlemen.
It is our great pleasure to welcome to Canada, to welcome to our Parliament today, the President of the Ukraine and his wife, Petro and Maryna Poroshenko.
Merci monsieur le président d’avoir quitté brièvement votre pays pour participer à cette séance conjointe de notre Parlement. Nous savons qu’il s’agit d’une période cruciale pour vous et pour l’Ukraine et nous apprécions grandement votre présence ici.
Mr. President, you will recall that in June I was in your parliament to witness you take the oath of office to “protect the sovereignty and independence of Ukraine”. I went to Kiev representing not only the Government of Canada, not only the 1.2 million Canadians of Ukrainian descent, I went to Kiev representing all Canadians from all regions, all walks of life, and all parties represented in this Parliament to demonstrate our unwavering support for your nation’s democratic future and for the independence of the Ukrainian people.
Monsieur le président, peu de temps s’est écoulé depuis le mois de juin. Cependant, seulement quatre mois plus tard, votre pays et notre monde ne sont plus les mêmes.
Mr. Putin’s soldiers and their proxies have expanded their penetration into Ukrainian territory. More members of Ukraine’s armed forces have been obliged to make the ultimate sacrifice. The world has witnessed the attack on flight MH17, a deplorable crime that took the lives of so many innocent people, including one Canadian.
Mr. President, what I told you in June has not changed.
Peu importe les difficultés que pourrait réserver l’avenir, peu importe les actions de ce qui menace la liberté de l’Ukraine, l’Ukraine ne sera jamais seule parce que l’Ukraine peut compter sur le Canada.
This commitment is almost as old as our country. It began in the late 19th century with the arrival in our west of tens of thousands of Ukrainian settlers fleeing tyranny and poverty there to help build a free and prosperous society here, but never surrendering the dream that their homeland would one day also share that freedom and prosperity.
It was expressed in the 1960s by Prime Minister Diefenbaker in his demand that Khrushchev grant open elections to “freedom-loving Ukrainians”.
Cette sympathie s’est à nouveau manifestée à la fin de la guerre froide lorsque le premier ministre Mulroney a fait du Canada le premier pays occidental à reconnaître une Ukraine nouvellement indépendante.
It was forcefully displayed again in this Parliament in 2008 when, led by our colleague James Bezan, we declared the Holodomor what it was: an act of genocide against the Ukrainian people.
Canadians have now served proudly as observers for seven successive Ukrainian elections and just last week I announced that when the Ukrainian people once again go to the polls exercising their hard-won democratic rights on October 26, Canadians will again be there in force.
Nous collaborerons avec nos alliés afin d’aider l’Ukraine par d’autres moyens.
We have, in large measure, terminated our engagement with Mr. Putin’s regime, suspending his Russia from the G7 and working to isolate it diplomatically.
We have enacted tough sanctions on business interests tied to Russia’s illegal occupation of Ukrainian territory. Just yesterday, Minister Baird announced additional measures.
Nous avons livré de l’équipement de protection et de l’équipement médical et logistique pour aider les courageux soldats ukrainiens à défendre leur pays et leur famille.
We are providing significant financial assistance. Canada is also giving humanitarian aid to help Ukrainians affected by the conflict, including additional funds announced today.
We have also deployed the Canadian Armed Forces as part of the reassurance mission to our NATO allies in Eastern Europe, and we have been unequivocal, Mr. President, in our support for the peace plan that you have been pursuing for the Ukrainian people.
At the same time let us be clear. Canada recognizes the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, all of Ukraine. Whether it takes five months or 50 years to liberate it we will never, ever recognize the illegal Russian occupation of Ukrainian territory.
Comme vous-même l’avez dit là-dessus, il ne peut y avoir aucun compromis. Le Canada restera ferme dans ses positions et continuera de dénoncer sans équivoque le manque de respect de M. Poutine pour les lois et nous continuerons avec nos alliés à répondre à l’agression russe.
Mr. President, in your inaugural address last June you said, and I quote, “Nobody will turn Ukrainians into the slaves of criminals or the servants of a colonial power. The world”, you said, “supports us”.
Monsieur le président, les pays libres et démocratiques du monde vous appuient.
We cannot let Mr. Putin’s dark and dangerous actions stand for they have global security implications and because, as I have said before, for Canadians, with our deep connections to the Ukrainian people, this is not to us just a matter of international law or political principle, this is a matter of kinship, this is a matter of family, this is personal and we will stand by you.
Monsieur le président, ce n’est pas en vain que des générations de patriotes ukrainiens ont lutté pour la liberté.
The Ukrainian people have the right, like all free countries, to seek their own future, to seek a European future of hope and never to return to the darkness of a Soviet past.
La population d’Ukraine veut avec raison ce dont nous profitons en Occident: la liberté, la démocratie, la justice, la prospérité.
Mr. President, freedom, democracy, justice, prosperity. These are not mere words, they are the very foundations of our country and they are the values that Canada champions around the world, not out of selfish ambition but because Canadians have always desired these things for all peoples.
Lorsque nous aidons d’autres peuples à préserver leur liberté, c’est notre propre liberté que nous assurons également.
Let me close, Mr. President, by commending you for showing leadership and courage and careful judgment in the face of ruthless and relentless intimidation and for tirelessly pursuing peace, independence and security for your people. Know that whatever lies ahead, Canada and Ukraine will continue to move forward together, confident that our shared dreams and aspirations are right, just and good.
I told you you would feel at home here.
Mesdames et messieurs, ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming a true friend of Canada, le président de l’Ukraine, the President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko.
Petro Poroshenko: It is very hard to give a speech in such an atmosphere, believe me. I have never felt anything like this.
Mr. Prime Minister, Speaker Kinsella, Speaker Scheer, hon. members of the Senate and the House of Commons, hon. members of the diplomatic community, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, dear friends, dear Ukrainians, it is a deeply felt honour to address this distinguished legislative body.
I must thank you, Mr. Prime Minister, for inviting me to come to Canada, Speaker Kinsella and Speaker Scheer, for giving me such an outstanding opportunity to address the Canadian Parliament. I see this as a tribute to my country and the Ukrainian people and an expression of the unique distinctive partnership which both of our nations enjoy.
C’est un grand honneur pour moi de tenir un discours dans le Parlement du Canada.
Let me also, just once, use the third official language of Canada: Ukrainian.
Thank you for this great honour, dear friends, dear compatriots, and dear Ukrainian community.
To be frank with you, I feel very much at home with you here today in a country that is very close to Ukraine, not in distance but through our hearts and through the common idea.
Indeed, Canada has become home for so many early Ukrainian settlers who came here more than a century ago. In 1892, a century before Canada was the first to recognize Ukraine’s independence, the first Ukrainian immigrants, Ivan Pylypiw and Wasyl Eleniak, arrived. They launched further numerous Ukrainians’ immigration to the Pacific coast, settling across the woods and prairies of Canada.
The Ukrainian community has easily integrated into Canadian society. It built railways and towns, schools and churches, heroically fought against the Nazis during World War II, contributed to the Canadian economy and culture. Later, the sons and daughters of farmers became prominent members of Canadian society, businessmen, artists, scientists, athletes and politicians.
One of them, Ramon Hnatyshyn, became a governor general of Canada. We always remember his name. The list is long and impressive: the premiers of Saskatchewan and Manitoba, Roy Romanow and Gary Filmon, Senators Raynell Andreychuk and David Tkachuk, James Bezan and William Kereluk, hockey superstars Terry Sawchuk and Wayne Gretzky, and also female astronaut, Dr. Roberta Bondar.
We have high praise for the great Ukrainian Canadian sculptor Leo Mol who crafted one of the best Taras Shevchenko monuments in the world in Washington, D.C. We always remember that. If I continue with the list, we will run out of time in this session, believe me.
Today, the Ukrainian Canadian community is over a million people. It is strong, and now it has been demonstrated that it is consolidated. It has preserved the language of their homeland, faith and traditions. Ukraine has always felt proud of Ukrainian Canadians and grateful for their lasting support.
On behalf of the Ukrainian people, I would like to thank you, dear brothers and sisters, for your help to Ukraine.
However, it is not only history that bonds us; it is also shared values that make Canada and Ukraine an integral part of the global family of democracies.
Today Ukraine pays a very high price for defending what we believe in: democracy and the freedom to choose our own future. For more than two decades we proudly stated that Ukraine gained its independence without shedding a single drop of blood. Now that is no longer true. Now we are engaged in a true battle for our independence. Now we are paying the real price.
Today Ukraine is bleeding for its independence and territorial integrity. The Governor General of Canada, Ramon Hnatyshyn, in his speech at the Ukrainian Parliament in 1992, just one year after Ukrainian independence, stated that we must not forget the suffering of the people that we are witnessing. That day he spoke to brave Ukrainian and Canadian soldiers who kept the peace across the world in zones of conflict and unrest. These words remain true now as never before.
Today thousands of brave Ukrainian men and women are sacrificing their lives for the right to live in the way they choose, on their land, under the blue and gold colours of the Ukrainian flag, colours that are so dear to many Canadian Ukrainians. In these dark days, we feel your strong support. Thank you very much for that.
It is in our time of need that we see our friends, and there is no other way to put it: Canada is a friend indeed.
As a commander-in-chief, as a Ukrainian, and as a father of soldiers, I thank Canada for each life that is being saved today in the Ukrainian Donbass by the helmets and bulletproof vests you gave us.
Once again I thank you, Mr. Prime Minister, and your government for your position. I thank the Canadian parliamentarians and senators, all Canadians, and fellow Ukrainians for standing tall and making your voices heard; for helping financially with technical assistance and non-lethal military aid; and for supporting us in international fora such as the UN, NATO, and the G7. This is very valuable for us.
I would like to use this great opportunity to thank all Canadian parliamentarians for their continued support of Ukraine and especially for the emergency debate in the House of Commons during the critical period of the Maidan revolution in human dignity. We heard your voice, and this voice was very important for us. Our great achievement and our victory happened because of your support.
Thank you very much indeed for the work of the House of Commons foreign affairs committee on Ukraine and for the election observation mission, which helped to ensure that the will of the Ukrainian people was respected. You sent 500 observers, the biggest mission ever to come to a presidential election to confirm that it was true, free, and fair. It helped us to establish a new authority in Ukraine. Thank you.
We are waiting for your October 26 mission on the parliamentary election because we are determined to demonstrate that this election will also be free and fair.
Thank you for the many visits by the parliamentary interns, and for your visit, Mr. Prime Minister, at the inaugural ceremony. In the same way that Canada recognized our independence, you recognized the results of the presidential election. That was crucially important for us. In difficult times, you are always with us.
Also, I want to thank the Minister of Foreign Affairs, John Baird, for his support of Ukraine, during the Maidan especially.
I have a long list of thanks, believe me. From my heart, thank you very much. We really feel the strong support of Canadians not only in difficult times, but I am sure when we have peace and we stop the war by integrated and coordinated efforts of all the nations of the world. Canada helps us to keep the world united and Canada can help us to demonstrate to the whole world its strong solidarity with Ukraine. Thank you very much, Canada.
Without this support provided by the Government of Canada, by all parliamentarians, and by the Ukrainian Canadian community under the leadership of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, it would be much harder for Ukraine to face the challenges of today. No other leaders or nations, I mean no one, with the possible exception of Poland, was so straightforward and earnest when sending a signal across the world to the Russians and the rest of the world that fighting a nation which is trying to chart its own path is just conceptually wrong.
It is arming rebels with advanced anti-aircraft missiles, providing them with operators, intelligence, and in-flight data. Those who were equipped, trained and financed by Russia executed a terror attack, shooting down the civilians on flight MH17, killing 298 innocent lives of the Netherlands, Malaysia, Australia, and many other nations, including Canadian citizen Andrei Anghel. I think that the war in eastern Ukraine is a war against terror, our common war. I have no doubt of that.
With your support and with the support of the global community, we will win this struggle and fulfill the dreams of many Ukrainians in our homeland and across the world. Ukraine will be strong and independent, a very important European nation.
Yesterday was one of the most important days in the history of Ukraine. Thee Verkhovna Rada ratified the European Union-Ukraine Association agreement. Do you know what my feeling was yesterday when I was standing in front of the Ukrainian parliament presenting this association agreement, coordinated and synchronized with the European parliament? It was that it was the last farewell from Ukraine to the Soviet Union. That was a Rubicon that Ukraine crossed and we never ever will turn back to our awful past.
I strongly believe that our values, our freedom, our democracy, our European future, including a membership perspective, is possible and reachable for the Ukrainian nation. Why? Because the Ukrainian nation has passed one of the most important tests during the last five months and maybe paid the highest price for being European. That is why we demand providing reform, defending democracy, defending freedom, from a membership perspective, in the European Union.
Implementation of the agreement will not only harmonize Ukraine’s trade and customs rules with European Union standards but will help my country draw closer to democratic norms and a market-oriented economy.
At the Wales NATO summit, I declared my country’s desire to move closer to NATO and to gain the status of a major non-NATO ally. I really count on your support on this.
All allies have strongly condemned Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, the illegal annexation of Crimea, and stand ready to support territorial integrity and sovereignty in Ukraine within the internationally recognized borders, as the Canadian government, the Canadian Prime Minister, and the Canadian people are strongly doing.
I am thankful to Canada. Your country was one of the strongest supporters of Ukraine at the summit and committed to provide more than $1 million to the NATO trust fund. It will help Ukraine build its command, control, communications, and computer capabilities.
Dear friends, let us look beyond the crisis and war. Let us think of how to enhance the special partnership between Ukraine and Canada. This is why I am here. I am convinced that we need to pay more attention to bilateral co-operation and such spheres as energy, trade, investment, information, air space, and many other technologies.
In co-operation with Canada, we hope to accomplish the ambitious project of consolidating Ukraine’s informational space by launching the telecommunications satellite built by a Canadian company. We will finally be able to provide all of our regions with reliable and trustworthy information and export telecommunications services. There should be more projects like this.
I hope that both negotiation teams have translated our firm signal, the Prime Minister’s and mine, and the next time we see each other we will have a Ukraine-Canada free trade agreement to sign.
Having said that, I cannot help but mention one particular program that played a significant role in enhancing our people-to-people contact. I am talking about the Canada-Ukraine parliamentary program. During the years of independence, CUPP has hosted over a thousand students from Ukraine who were able to work as interns right here in the Canadian Parliament and help us build Ukrainian democracy. Welcome back, dear colleagues.
I also want to thank the Canadian Parliament and the Ukrainian diaspora for helping us breed the new generation of new Ukrainian democratic and free leaders.
Mr. Prime Minister, I remember you mentioned that Canada is probably the most Ukrainian nation outside of Ukraine itself. You know what? This is absolutely true. Let me reciprocate. There are great European nations that stood as the source of the foundation of modern Canada. Canada has friends all over the globe, and the closest one is next to it. However, I doubt that you will find another nation that would say so sincerely what I say about you: Ukraine is probably the most Canadian nation after Canada itself.
Exactly this feeling I felt today during my meeting with many Canadians. Thank you for all of that.
Let me refer to the words of Winston Churchill, who truly loved your country and visited it seven times from 1900 to 1954. We recall him as a brave leader who confronted the Nazi aggression with courage.
In the summer of 1929, he wrote this from Canada to his wife: “Darling I am greatly attracted to this country.I am profoundly touched; & I intend to devote my strength to interpreting Canada to our people.”
I have the same feeling, believe me. Unfortunately, I will not write these words to my wife since she sits here with me today. I will simply tell her these words.
Please let me quote Churchill once again. He said: “I love coming to Canada. God bless your Country.”
Thank you very much indeed. Merci. Diakouyou. Slava Ukraini.
Noël A. Kinsella: Mr. Speaker, Your Excellency President Poroshenko, vitannya.
Prime Minister, honourable senators, members of the House of Commons, mesdames et messieurs, on behalf of all parliamentarians and all gathered here this afternoon I have the honour, Mr. President, to thank you for addressing this joint session of the Parliament of Canada. Your important words have been clear and stress that you are among friends.
We have taken note of the significant challenges currently facing the peoples of Ukraine. We thank you for your leadership and courage that you are bringing to securing peace, order and good government in your beautiful country.
Monsieur le président, monsieur le premier ministre, nous avons pris bonne note des importants défis auxquels sont confrontés les peuples de l’Ukraine à l’heure actuelle. Nous vous remercions, Votre Excellence, de votre leadership et de votre courage quand vous assurez la paix, l’ordre et une bonne gouvernance dans votre magnifique pays.
Canadians appreciate your leadership and fortitude as Ukraine addresses current challenges. We support your efforts to realize a successful resolution based on the solid foundation of human rights and democratic values.
Colleagues, Mr. President, Prime Minister, among the many images that adorn the chamber of the Senate of Canada is one of St. Andrew the Apostle, who is of course the Patron Saint of Ukraine. Indeed it was St. Andrew who prophesied in the year 55 A.D. that a great people would build a successful civilization along the banks of the River Dnipro. Notwithstanding the ebb and flow of the tides of history, the peoples of Ukraine continue to fulfill the prophecy of your patron saint.
Thank you, President Poroshenko, for sharing with us Your Excellency’s view of the road ahead. Please be assured of the solidarity of the peoples of Canada on your journey forward.
To Your Excellency and to the peoples of Ukraine we wish you godspeed. Thank you for your presence and address to the Parliament of Canada.
Andrew Scheer: Monsieur le président Poroshenko, monsieur le premier ministre, monsieur le Président du Sénat, collègues parlementaires, distingués invités, mesdames et messieurs,
Au nom de tous les députés et de toutes les personnes rassemblés ici, à la Chambre des communes, je souhaite la bienvenue au président Poroshenko et le remercie de prendre la parole devant nous, aujourd’hui.
It is a rare and special occurrence when heads of state or foreign dignitaries address a joint session of our Parliament and, even rarer still, to have a joint address during world events such as we are witnessing today. Your inspirational words are given even greater historical significance when we consider the current situation facing Ukraine.
As has already been mentioned, the links between our two great countries are well known and they run deep. Ukrainians have made their mark in many areas across Canada, from vibrant communities and our large cities to enclaves across the Prairies. Their contribution to Canada’s social fabric has been profound.
Les liens qui existent entre les citoyens de nos deux pays contribuent à nous rapprocher et ce qui renforce nos liens d’amitié, surtout depuis 1991, ce sont nos positions de principes communs envers la démocratie, les droits de la personne et la primauté du droit.
For those of us who were fortunate enough to be sitting as members of Parliament when His Excellency President Viktor Yushchenko addressed the chamber in May of 2008, we will recall that he observed that in the previous 90 years Ukraine had declared its independence six times. He said that he did not want the range of historic tragedies to be repeated in today’s history of Ukraine. What President Yushchenko then described in what may have been more abstract or theoretical terms has become all too real today.
Canadian parliamentarians have followed closely as recent events have unfolded in your country and have been inspired by the courage and perseverance that has been repeatedly demonstrated by Ukrainians in recent months. This Parliament has expressed its resolute support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and for the Ukrainian people and their determination to realize a free, democratic, peaceful and prosperous future.
While there are, no doubt, many challenges and uncertainties for your country and its people, one thing that is certain, however, is that this Parliament and Canadians across the country are watching closely and stand united in support of Ukraine.
Thank you; merci; slava Ukraini.
Petro Poroshenko address to Congress Full Speech Sept 18th 2014
Mr. Speaker, Majority Leader, members of the House, members of the Senate, ladies and gentlemen, it’s impossible to imagine what I’m feeling right now.
How symbolic is the unity of United States Congress and solidarity with Ukraine.
This is exactly which Ukraine now needs the most – unity and solidarity not only with the United States Congress, not only with the United States but with the whole world.
Let me thank you for your warmth and hospitality. Addressing both houses of the Congress is one of the highest political privileges.
Standing here, I’m grateful and fully aware that this honor goes not to me but to the people of Ukraine – those brave men and women who are today on the forefront of the global fight for democracy.
Forty-five of Ukrainian people now watching this speech and this session of the Congress and seeing me [are] absolutely sure about our solidarity and our joined common strength. And please allow me to speak on their behalf.
I will focus on the one thing that is at the core of Ukraine’s existence today – freedom.
There are moments in history when the freedom is more than just a political concept. At those moments, freedom become the ultimate choice which defines who you are as a person or as a nation.
Ukraine has lived this moment over the last 10 months and became a sign for the most heroic story for the last decade – a synonym for sacrifice, dedication, and an unbreakable will to live free.
The people of Ukraine stood up to the corrupt regime of Yanukovich. They stood their ground during this dramatic winter. More of you were together with us during the last winter, and I thank you for this very important for us gesture of solidarity.
The defenders of freedom were willing to sacrifice their life for the sake of better future. What is more amazing – they and we won.
Armed with only sticks and shields, they attacked by the special police and chased them away.
The victory gained on the Independence Square in Kiev known now to the whole world as the very international word – the Maidan – was a victory against police brutality, harassment by the state-controlled media, violence, intimidation.
There is nothing more impressive than seeing hundreds of thousands of peaceful people forcing out a violent dictator and changing the course of the history. Second time in our history.
Day after day, week after week, month after month, thousands upon thousands streamed into the streets of Kiev simply because their dignity didn’t allow them to remain passive and silent while their liberty were at stake.
The standoff at the Maidan lasted long three months. It culminated on February 20th and 21st when over 100 protesters in one day were shot by snipers. We call them “Heavenly Hundred”. We remember them as the true national heros, and we applaud their heroism.
Ladies and gentlemen, in February, when the world saw that no one could take away Ukraine’s freedom, an external aggressive decided to take away part of Ukrainian territory. The annexation of Crimea become one of the most cynical act of treachery in the modern history.
…Ukraine, which gave up the third largest nuclear potential in exchange for the security assurance, was stabbed in the back by one of the countries who gave her those assurance.
Allow me to remind you, 20 years ago – exactly 20 years – the Budapest Memorandum, Russia along with the United States, United Kingdom, France, and China vowed to provide for the inviolability of Ukraine’s state border and territorial sovereignty.
In reality, what we got from Russia was annexation and a war that has brought Ukraine to the brink of its survival.
The Soviet Union has collapsed too quickly, creating the illusion that this chapter in history was closed and that this story had come to the end.
But unfortunately, in mind of the people, it has not end. The imperialistic mindset is still there. Nostalgia for the Soviet Union and the dismissal for the settlement that ended the Cold War have been cultivated in the revisionist instincts.
In year 2008, Russia troops occupied Abkhazia and South Ossestia. They now have invaded Ukraine.
The right to protect ethnic Russians and even Russian speakers can and already has become a reason to fan the flames of war.
Besides Ukraine, Russian speakers are reside now in Moldova, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Baltic states, Poland, and even Germany – there’s a very big majority – Bulgaria.
Moldova, Georgia, Ukraine – who is next?
Many things including the effectiveness of the global non-proliferation system will be put under severe test and judge depending on the response of America, of the whole world to this very simple question. Even NATO allies are at risk.
…Two days after President Obama’s visit to Estonia, the day NATO Summit ended, the Estonian intelligence officer was abducted and accused of espionage.
The security assurance that was extended to Ukraine and then have failed to work, providing no agreements, treaties, containments can secure world order.
So what can bring the peace? And what can maintain it?
Common values. Cooperation. Interdependence. Leadership. And responsibility.
This is the things who can defend the global security.
So, I urge you not to let Ukraine stand alone in the face of this aggression.
And this is very important that the whole world will see this gesture of solidarity. Ukraine are not alone. We are together. We are united. And we’ll win because of our fighting – we’re fighting for freedom. It’s fighting for democracy. And I have absolutely no doubt that our victory will be very close.
I’m absolutely sure that United States made a commitment that it would stand behind Ukraine’s territorial integrity and we hope that it will live up to that promise.
Because it is very simple. Democracies must support each other. They must show solidarity in the face of aggression and adversity. Otherwise, they will be eliminated one by one.
The aggression against Ukraine has become one of the worst setback for the cause of democracy in the world in the years.
In just one move, the world has been thrown back in time to the reality of the territorial claims, zone of influence, criminal aggression, and annexation.
Can you imagine within two weeks Crimea was invaded and then annexed? Why? Because Ukraine simply were not prepared to this aggression. We were not prepared to face this…That was exactly at the time of the revolution of dignity and the use of this opportunity without any doubt
Post-war international system of checks and balances was effectively ruined. The world has plunged into the worst security crisis since US-USSR standoff 1962.
Today, we are witnessing another attempt dividing the world. Ukraine stands in the center of this attempt.
The outcome of today’s war will determine whether we will be forced to accept the reality of the dark term and beaten Europe as part of a new world order.
These Ukrainian army – imagine, these young boys under-equipped and often under appreciated by the world are the only thing that now stands between the reality of the peaceful coexistence and the nightmare of the…new Cold War.
Ukrainian soldiers, Ukrainian people, Ukrainian boys and girls now on the front for the freedom and democracy. They need your support.
The war that these young men are fighting today is not only Ukrainian war. Everybody should understand that. It is Europe’s and it is America’s war too. It is the war for the free world. For the free world.
Today, aggression against Ukraine is a threat to the global security everywhere – proxy war, terrorism, national radical and exodus movement, the erosion of national and international agreement, the blurring and even the raising of national identities. All these threats now challenge Europe. If they are not stopped now, they will cross European border and spread absolutely throughout the world.
To prevent this, thousands of Ukrainian soldiers are in the line of fire exactly right now when we have the so-called cease fire.
From the day we will start the cease fire, Ukrainian lost 17 lives of the Ukrainian soldiers. 67 are wounded. This is a cease fire. This is the price Ukraine now paid for the peace. Speaking in the United States Congress from this high beacon of freedom, I want to thank them for their sacrifice.
Thank you for the United States Congress, and I urge the world to recognize and endorse their fight. They need more political support throughout the world. They need more military equipment both lethal and non-lethal. Urgently need.
Please understand me correctly. Blankets, night vision goggles are also important. But one cannot win the war with blankets. Even more, we cannot keep the peace with blanket, and this is most important of our values, of our aid. Not to win the war but to keep the peace.
For keeping the peace, we should be strong enough and there is no any doubts that we will be strong because of you, because our solidarity, and because of the common very strong spirit of Ukrainian soldiers.
I thank all of those in America who realize and appreciate the historic importance of this fight.
Just like Israel, Ukraine has the right to defend her territory, and it will do so with all her courage, her heart, and dedication of her soul.
I urge America to help us and to rise and to be equal to its natural and manifest role. I urge America to lead the way.
Ukraine has a special bond with the United States. Today, Ukraine is taking shape as America’s natural and significant partner in the region.
This partnership is not circumstantial. It has not come because we find ourselves in the same boat. It came about because in the moment of the existential crisis Ukraine’s choice was the same as America. Very simple. Freedom, democracy, and the rule of law.
In a time of Euro skepticism and Russia’s open unprovoked hostility, Ukrainian citizens have been ready to give their lives to see Ukraine democratic and free. Circumstantial votes can change; nature of the people cannot.
It is the nature of the Ukrainian people to tolerate no dictators and to strive for their freedom no matter what.
Given today’s situation, Ukraine’s democracy will have to rely on their own strong army.
In the upcoming years, building a strong military will be another existential test for Ukrainian democracy.
I see in my utmost duty to rectify the damage done to the Ukrainian military and to give Ukraine a strong, modern army that we can be proud of.
I strongly encourage the United States to give Ukraine a special security and defense status, which reflects the highest level of interaction with non-NATO ally.
And I also ask that the United States be forceful and stand by its principle with respect to further sanctions against the aggressor.
Economic sanction are important for many reasons. They help to distinguish between good and evil. They help us to defend and stand the moral high ground and not to sink into the indifference, disgust, and pragmatism.
I understand that the wars of the last decade have been taken a heavily toll on the economy of the West. And I understand that Americans and American citizen and American taxpayer want peace not war. So do Ukrainian citizen and taxpayer.
However, there are moments in history, those importance cannot be measured solely on the percentage of the GDP gross.
The Ukrainian war is not only the war of the last decade that is purely about the values. Ukraine war is the war again for the freedom, democracy, European values, and the best evidence of that is the number of members of Ukrainian Parliament which ratified our Association Agreement with the European Union.
Our nation decide to be free and democratic. Another nation decide to punish Ukraine for this.
The world simply cannot allow this kind of behavior.
Values come first. This is the truth the world and the West will remind Ukraine over the last years. Now, it is Ukraine’s chance to remind the West this truth.
Allow me also to say this. There is no way at no price and under no condition that we will ever put with the Crimean occupation.
Ending the occupation and the annexation is not only an integral pre-condition to a full normalization of the relations between Ukraine and Russia, it is also the integral condition for the Crimea’s own prosperity and modernization.
Until this pre-condition is fulfilled, I urge America and the world to stand united in sending the signals to the aggressors of today and to the future that the policy and practice of annexation will never be tolerated.
And clearly, I’m not talking about the military solution of the Crimean problem. This will be dilemma for many years – a choice between two ways of life, two political, economic, and social system.
But I have no doubt that in the long run the system that offers the greater freedom will prevail. It always does.
Ladies of gentlemen, the last half year has been time of ultimate challenge for millions of Ukrainians. It was a time for heroism and sacrifice. Too many it become for their ultimate sacrifice.
Let me share with you three human stories that illustrate my point.
On March 3rd, when the occupation of Crimea just started there was one man in Crimean city of Simferopol who did the unthinkable. Where millions felt paralyzed and stunned at what was unfolding before their eyes, [incomprehensible name], 39-year-old father of three decided not to be silent. This brave son of the Crimean Tatar people ran a one-man protest in the front of the occupied city hall. He did nothing more than hold a sheet of paper that said “No to occupation”. A group of unknown people arrested him, transported him away in the plain sight of the thousands of witnesses, in front of the TV cameras. Two weeks later, he was found tortured and executed mafia style. Just the thought of this man’s final torment – I mean, it sends chills down my spine.
I ask myself, “What made this hero do what he did?” And I can find no other answer than he did for the freedom so his children would not face slavery like that neo-Stalinism dictatorship.
And I am convinced that in the years from now when Crimea occupation will belong to the past, the Crimean people will think about what he did and salute his braveness just as I do now.
I assure you that Ukraine will always stand together with the Crimean Tatar people. Those language, rights, culture are being trampled upon the right now as they were many years ago under the Soviet rule.
I urge America and the world not to be silent about these crimes. It is Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars who are being oppressed in Crimea right now. And it is a time for all the people of good will – to rephrase John Kennedy’s words from over 50 years ago – I am Crimean Tatar and there is nothing that would make me give up my freedom.
And let me also commemorate another Ukrainian hero – [incomprehensible name]. 42-years-old father of two. A member of the municipal parliament of east Ukrainian city of Volnovakha.
On April 15th, he confronted the separatists and the Russian special operations officers over the separatist flag that they were trying to hoist atop the local administration building…He was abducted and tortured. His last hours must have been unthinkable. His body was badly mutilated.
Today, I stand here in awe of this tragedy and of the courage and sacrifice of this man and of the courage and sacrifice of the millions of Ukrainians, from the bottom of my heart I deeply believe that there will be a time – and I’m sure very soon – when [incomprehensible name] Square will be named after [incomprehensible name] and when school children will bring flowers to his monument.
Ladies and gentlemen, make no mistake Europe’s and the world’s choice right now is not the choice between uni-polar or multi-polar order. Neither is it a choice between different kinds of civilization. It’s a choice very simple between the civilization and barbarism.
And while standing at this juncture before the great trial, the democratic pole cannot shrink or hesitate. We don’t want to see all the democratic accomplishment to the last decade to be erased and have been for nothing.
The free world must stand its ground. With America’s help, it will.
Yes, we live in a world that is mutually reliant and inter-connected. In this world, the aggression of one democratic nation is aggression against all of us. We fully understand that.
If anyone has doubts about this, if anyone was hoping to see the doubt while Ukrainian and Russian continued killing each other, this ended on July 18th when Russian missile launched by the Russian mercenary shot down civilian Boeing 777 of the Malaysian flight MH17.
298 innocent peaceful people – many of whom were flying on their vacation in the south – met their ultimate demise on the steps of Ukraine. Their cold-blooded killing, just like the barbarian treatments on their remains afterward, show that whoever fools Europe with uncontrolled weapons put millions of lives at risk for years, for decades.
This was an indisputable brutal act of terror. Unfortunately, it was this tragedy that gave a wake-up call to many in the world about the situation in Ukraine.
Long after wars end, the fear and hate linger on. How many more deaths will be caused by the handguns handed out with absolutely no control or accountability in those regions? How many innocent children will step on land mines so massively utilized by the separatists? How many lives will be ruined and so poisoned by the propaganda machine?
The act of pumping the region full of uncontrolled arms represent the policy of the state-funded terrorism, and it need to stop now.
The cynical downing of the Malaysian Boeing deliberated one most important thing: we are now at the forefront of the fight against terrorism, and we need to join our efforts to effectively respond to this challenge.
With this said, people throughout the world are asking the same question, “Are we on the eve of the new Cold War? Is the possibility of the new terrible, unimaginable European war there? Is what until recently seemed unthinkable now becoming a reality?”
Sadly, today the answer to all of these questions is yes.
However, we cannot and must not accept this as an inevitability.
As recently as in 2008, the President of Russia ran his election campaign under the slogan “Freedom is better than non-freedom”. And it was in Russia in year 2008.
And I’m sure that despite the Crimea annexation and ongoing aggression, millions of Russians still remember that slogan and take it seriously.
Please, let’s remind them. Let’s show them that the freedom is not the luxury as some try to convince them but necessity and the pre-condition for the true success of the nation. And I’m convinced that the people of Ukraine and the people of Russia have enough good will to give peace one last chance and prevail against this period of hate between our countries.
That’s why my presidency began with a peace plan and one-sided cease fire which will last long term base. Again, paying the very high price of the killing of Ukrainian soldiers, hitting Ukrainian planes, and hundreds wounded. We keep this cease fire long term base.
Unfortunately, this was not accepted by Russian authorities. That’s why we’re holding our fire now. That’s why two armies stand before each other without massively shedding each other’s blood. And if the thing work out right, they will not have to.
I’m in daily contact with the leaders of the world, including the leader of Russia. The dialogue is not easy, believe me. Over these last months too much good will was destroyed. Too much hate was generated, naturally and artificially. Too many people have died.
Based on that, I feel that there is growing mutual recognition that enough is enough and that the bloodshed must stop. The pandemic of hate must be localized and contained.
As a President, looking into the eyes of the mothers and wives of the dead soldiers and civilians, believe me, this is my hardest duty. No one can take it slightly; today it’s my burden and the burden of President Putin. As he lit a candle in Moscow church to remember those who perished in this war last week, I did the same in Kiev.
And from the bottom of the heart, I deeply profoundly wish that the church candles would be the only thing to burn in Ukraine from now.
Over the last months Ukrainians have shown that they have courage to stand up to the most powerful enemy. We will never obey or bend to the aggressor. We are ready to fight but we are people of peace and we extend the hand of peace to Russia and the to Russian-inspired separatists.
I am ready to do my utmost to avoid the further escalation and casualties. Even at this point when the war has already started feeding on itself, sooner or later, I’m absolutely sure peace will return to the Ukrainian homes.
And despite the insanity of this war, I’m convinced that the peace can be achieved sooner rather than later. And I’m ready to offer the separatists more rights than any part of Ukraine have ever had in the history of the nation. And I’m ready to discuss everything except one thing: Ukrainian independence, Ukrainian territorial integrity, Ukrainian sovereignty, Ukraine dismember.
And I’m confident if this war is about the rights and not about the geopolitical ambition, the solution must – and I’m sure – will be found.
Ladies and gentlemen, in 1991 independence came to Ukraine at a very low cost and peacefully. Yet, the more real this independence become, the higher grew its cost. Today the cost is as high as it gets.
While fighting this war, we’ll learn the value of independence and to recognize the true friends. And at no point we ever forget why we need independence. We need it to have a country worthy of the dreams of our ancestors. We need a state that would give its citizens a life of dignity, fairness, and equal opportunity.
To reach this goal, we would have to root out the things that drain Ukraine’s potential for such a long time and make for the two decades of independence and times for the lost opportunities.
We are painfully aware of this largely inherited from the era of Soviet Union decay: corruption, bureaucracy, and the self-preserving cynicisms of the political elites.
There is a saying that each people deserve the government it gets. Ukraine – two revolution within a single decade show that Ukraine as a people is better – much better – than Ukraine as a government. They show that Ukraine needs and deserves deep and profound modernization in absolutely all sphere, of the kind that brought economic success to Poland.
Given the kind of situation in and around Ukraine, the implementation of the comprehensive reform is not a matter of Ukraine succeeding but Ukraine surviving. Deeply aware of that, I give my voters the pledge; I will stick with it.
With the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement signed and ratified simultaneously in the Ukrainian and European Parliament, we have a clear path of reform before us. Never in the history of the European Union was there a document that was paid so dearly with such incredible human cost and sacrifice.
And this sacrifice – the memory of the hundreds dead and wounded will be one more reason – an incentive – to hold this unique chance to make Ukraine live up to its potential.
Ukraine need modern governments and non-corrupt public administration. Ukraine need to delegate more power to the local communities. Ukraine need to rely more on its strong, vibrant, and dynamic civil society. Ukraine is building a new model of managing its state and economic affairs where merit and hard work are duly rewarded. Ukraine need know how technology and new start-up to become better integrated to the global economy.
And for all of that, we need you – America’s help.
In particular, I ask the Congress to create a special fund to support the investment of American companies in Ukraine and to help us with the reform of our economy and our justice system.
And I assure you that all aid received from the West will be utilized by non-corrupt institution and that the new generation of officials will make sure that the funds are distributed effectively.
Ladies and gentlemen, we call our revolution – a revolution of dignity.
Human dignity was the driving force that brought people to the street. And this revolution must result in the education of dignity, economy of dignity, society of dignity. Human dignity, which makes Ukraine’s heart beat, and Ukraine’s mind look toward new and better version of itself. Human dignity is one thing we have to oppose to the barbarism of those attacking us.
It is one thing that we can set against the sea of lies in which highly sophisticated and well-funded machine of Russian propaganda is trying to drown the truth about Ukrainian democracy.
In the coming years, too many thing will depend on Ukrainian success. Believe me, too many things. And this success will be determined by Ukraine’s new leadership, by its new political generation, and by newly modernized society of Ukraine. Ukraine truly makes a difference.
By supporting Ukraine, you support new future of hero and the entire free world. By supporting Ukraine, you support a nation that has chosen freedom in the most cynical of the times.
In Ukraine, you don’t build a democracy. It’s already exist. You just defend it. And exactly this – what makes Ukraine unique, its struggle deeply and profoundly different from any other countries on the world…This is what make Ukraine the ultimate test for adherence to the idea of freedom.
Live free or die was one of the mottos of the American Revolutionary War. Live free or die was the spirit of the revolutionaries on the Maidan during the dramatic winter months of 2014 with the significant presence of the member of United States Congress, and we thank you for that. Live free or die are words of Ukrainian soldiers standing on line of freedom of this war. Live free must be the answer with which Ukraine comes out of this war. Live free must be the message Ukraine and America send to the world standing together in this time of enormous challenge.
Thank you.
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Remember, politics is a contact sport, like hockey, so please feel free to add quick contributions, observations and relevant information as a comment below!
Contact us if you would like to contribute to our collaborative efforts or would like to share/submit articles, data or additional content, feel free to add feedback, additional info, alternative contact details, related links, articles, anonymous submission, etc. as a comment below, via web-form, through social media outlets or email us directly and confidentially at: dumpharper [at] live [dot] ca
This site may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in an effort to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. and intend its use to be for education and instructional purposes only. Therefore, we believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond “fair use,” you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
For this Propaganda Challenge issued to the CBC, we’ll keep the intro rather short since most of it has been covered in previous summaries as well as our recently published Propaganda Challenge 7.
As mentioned previously, the Harper Regime has elected to dismiss pertinent facts with regards to who is fighting who and has instead decided to “fund” several oligarch funded “volunteer” battalions under the guise of “helping” the Kiev Regime. As of the drafting and publishing of this summary, the “cease-fire” that really never began has pretty much evaporated and the sadly the Civil War within Ukraine rages onward.
Once again, we would like to advise everyone that this has been a very hectic week and following along, archiving and preparing the summary results of these published “articles” has been very time consuming to say the least. For this reason we will continue to post a series of summaries over the next several hours as time permits, that will cover the corresponding days individually. Since we are obviously not “journalists” this info and data is being presented raw so that others may utilize and disseminate it further in a more professional way.
Not only is the Harper Regime attempting to sell us a war that we cannot afford, but Ukraine is drowning is debt, destruction and death. The IMF imposed austerity measures are beginning to take hold so the blame must be placed elsewhere to divert from the ongoing mass looting of the Ukrainian economy by the various oligarchs. Plus NATO is still demanding more “investment” into the Military Industrial Complex but on a “voluntary” basis as the rifts within itself become more apparent. The reckless and haphazard actions and inaction of Harper and the Regime, combined with the collective subversion of the media, is indeed a dangerous thing for any/all involved!
For this challenge we are going to focus on the propaganda of the day that was published on 03 September 2014 and like the others, this “article” was “updated” and edited several times to spin the narrative throughout the day at various times. it should be noted that the propaganda “article” of the day was one of the most edited and “updated” thus far with at least 14 different versions being archived.
As always, we will present the basic general info within a numbered list that will include the title, author, posted and last updated time-stamps, plus the shares, comments and url “wording” at the time of the page snapshots that follow the list. Please note that this really is the same article and once again was drastically changed and edited throughout the day as you can plainly see.
Also worth noting, as mentioned above, is the timing of the updates and how the entire context of the “reports” gets shifted throughout the based upon the images, titles and subtitle headers. This also affects what we see and hear via the CBC News Network and Radio along with local broadcasts throughout the day. Due to the complex nature of this particular “article” we are appealing to a wider collaborative effort to provide analysis.
Truth, accuracy and factual reporting for “We the People” seems to be deteriorating into the abyss and is essentially dead on arrival, period.
Ukraine crisis: Ceasefire regime agreement reached, Poroshenko says [archived v1] Russia denies claim, saying they are not directly involved in conflict The Associated Press Posted: Sep 03, 2014 2:39 AM ET Last Updated: Sep 03, 2014 7:56 AM ET
LIVE Ukraine crisis: Pro-Russian rebels reject ceasefire announcement [archived v2] Ukraine’s vague statement agreeing with Russian President Putin on ceasefire steps sowing confusion The Associated Press Posted: Sep 03, 2014 2:39 AM ET Last Updated: Sep 03, 2014 9:22 AM ET
UPDATED Ukraine crisis: Obama reiterates support for Ukraine ahead of NATO summit [archived v3] Pro-Russian rebels reject Ukraine’s ceasefire announcement The Associated Press Posted: Sep 03, 2014 2:39 AM ET Last Updated: Sep 03, 2014 9:37 AM ET
UPDATED Ukraine crisis: Obama lashes out at Russian ‘aggression’ ahead of NATO summit [archived v4] Pro-Russian rebels reject Ukraine’s ceasefire announcement The Associated Press Posted: Sep 03, 2014 2:39 AM ET Last Updated: Sep 03, 2014 10:34 AM ET
UPDATED Ukraine crisis: Obama lashes out at Russian ‘aggression’ ahead of NATO summit [archived v5] Pro-Russian rebels reject Ukraine’s ceasefire announcement The Associated Press Posted: Sep 03, 2014 2:39 AM ET Last Updated: Sep 03, 2014 10:59 AM ET
UPDATED Ukraine crisis: Obama lashes out at Russian ‘aggression’ ahead of NATO summit [archived v6] Pro-Russian rebels reject Ukraine’s ceasefire announcement The Associated Press Posted: Sep 03, 2014 2:39 AM ET Last Updated: Sep 03, 2014 11:17 AM ET
UPDATED Ukraine crisis: Obama lashes out at Russian ‘aggression’ ahead of NATO summit [archived v7] Pro-Russian rebels reject Ukraine’s ceasefire announcement The Associated Press Posted: Sep 03, 2014 2:39 AM ET Last Updated: Sep 03, 2014 12:48 PM ET
UPDATED Ukraine crisis: Obama lashes out at Russian ‘aggression’ ahead of NATO summit [archived v8] Pro-Russian rebels reject Ukraine’s ceasefire announcement The Associated Press Posted: Sep 03, 2014 2:39 AM ET Last Updated: Sep 03, 2014 1:04 PM ET
UPDATED Ukraine crisis: Obama lashes out at Russian ‘aggression’ ahead of NATO summit [archived v9] Pro-Russian rebels reject Ukraine’s ceasefire announcement The Associated Press Posted: Sep 03, 2014 2:39 AM ET Last Updated: Sep 03, 2014 3:26 PM ET
UPDATED Ukraine crisis: Putin, Poroshenko working on ceasefire [archived v10] Russian leader spells out seven-point plan, Western leaders express doubts The Associated Press Posted: Sep 03, 2014 2:39 AM ET Last Updated: Sep 03, 2014 4:57 PM ET
UPDATED Ukraine crisis: Putin, Poroshenko working on ceasefire [archived v11] Russian leader spells out seven-point plan, Western leaders express doubts The Associated Press Posted: Sep 03, 2014 2:39 AM ET Last Updated: Sep 03, 2014 5:59 PM ET
Ukraine crisis: Putin, Poroshenko working on ceasefire [archived v12] Russian leader spells out seven-point plan, Western leaders express doubts The Associated Press Posted: Sep 03, 2014 2:39 AM ET Last Updated: Sep 03, 2014 6:39 PM ET
Ukraine crisis: Putin, Poroshenko working on ceasefire [archived v13] Russian leader spells out seven-point plan, Western leaders express doubts The Associated Press Posted: Sep 03, 2014 2:39 AM ET Last Updated: Sep 03, 2014 7:30 PM ET
UPDATED Ukraine crisis: Putin, Poroshenko working on ceasefire [archived v14] Russian leader spells out seven-point plan, Western leaders express doubts The Associated Press Posted: Sep 03, 2014 2:39 AM ET Last Updated: Sep 03, 2014 11:13 PM ET
Very Brief Summary
Once again the “story” changes throughout the day which provides a high level of confusion amongst the masses, not only by way of the large amounts of online “updates” but in addition to the fact that the on-air broadcasts typically, but not always, reflect the updating and sometimes conflicting narratives. This is rather obvious when scrolling through the CBC’s comment thread.
Like many of the others we have presented, this single “article” seems to actually be what amounts to 3 separate articles morphed into one massive propaganda piece. If these presumed 3 articles were published independently, “We the People” may have had the opportunity to utilize our own critical thinking skills to come to our own independent conclusions instead of the conclusions that are prepared for us by the Harper Regime, its Loyalists and trolls in collusion with its globalist war-mongering factions.
Another thing that should be noted is that most of the ‘Related Articles” within the above “article” have been unraveled in our previous summaries.
Until next time, we’ll leave you with the following quote in the form of an info-graphic to ponder:
“All the war propaganda, all the screaming and lies and hatred, come invariably from people who are not fighting.”
~ George Orwell
To be continued…
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Remember, politics is a contact sport, like hockey, so please feel free to add quick contributions, observations and relevant information as a comment below!
Contact us if you would like to contribute to our collaborative efforts or would like to share/submit articles, data or additional content, feel free to add feedback, additional info, alternative contact details, related links, articles, anonymous submission, etc. as a comment below, via web-form, through social media outlets or email us directly and confidentially at: dumpharper [at] live [dot] ca
This site may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in an effort to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. and intend its use to be for education and instructional purposes only. Therefore, we believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond “fair use,” you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
Before we issue our latest CBC News Propaganda Challenge and before it gets bumped by the next several updates listed in the “Recent Posts“, we would like to present the latest article published yesterday by our long time contributor Bear Cat titled “Harper Party Spies“. We would also like to remind everyone to review our previous summaries as well. Since we have been requested to provide the actual content of the previous summaries, we’ll be do that throughout the day today.
Before we move forward we would like to advise everyone that this has been a very hectic week and following along, archiving and preparing the summary results of these “articles” has been very time consuming. For this reason we will be posting a series of summaries over the next several hours or so, that will cover the corresponding days individually. Since we are obviously not “journalists” this info and data is being presented raw so that others may utilize and disseminate it further in a more professional way.
One should also keep in mind that the “cease fire” was broken very early on by the latest shelling of civilian areas by the Ukrainian Armed Forces backed by attacks by the various oligarch funded militias on Saturday. This was something that was NOT reported via the CBC since the only “article” of the day mentioned that the cease fire was holding. It is also noteworthy that a lot of the info being propagated is coming directly from the “volunteer” oligarch funded Azov Battalion (see below), along with the other oligarch funded ultra-far-right militants that seem to be directing the mandate and narrative as opposed to Poroshenko’s Regime in Kiev that has absolutely zero control over the Civil War being fought in the East.
For this challenge we are going to focus on the propaganda of the day that was published on 02 September 2014 and like the others, this “article” was “updated” and edited several times to spin the narrative throughout the day at various times. While this may seem insignificant to a certain segment of those that have been following along as well as newcomers, one must keep in mind a few things that are more than relevant. Since Canada has 6 time zones and our summaries are utilizing the Eastern Time Zone, they should be considered and referenced along with the “updated” timestamps. To get everyone familiar with these time zones, below is the official chart posted via the National Research Council Canada:
Another thing that should be considered are the “comments” posted on the “articles” we are presenting along with the known trolls that seem to repeat the same narrative and spins throughout the day. At some point we’ll be putting together a summary of who the most prominent narrative spinning trolls are but it doesn’t take very long for anyone to notice who they are. It is also worth mentioning that judging by the various comments over the past week, many long time CBC commenters have mentioned that they have contacted the Ombudsman and CBC directly to address their concerns with regards to the odd way this “topic” is being reported. As of this time, none have received a reply from either.
We do realize that the CBC News has been spoon feeding us reports from 2 “wire” services but has also interconnected them within the same article in many instances, sometimes swapping one out for the other midstream. Not only that but they are utilizing these “reports” within their various broadcasts during the day and evening. The trouble with this game is that they can claim plausible deniability with regards to bias reporting. In addition, the uppers echelons and hierarchy within the CBC News can still claim to be a “free press” when in fact they are merely parroting what all of the others within the “West’s” war-mongering narrative are. This level of unprecedented subversive and dangerous media consolidation poses a big conundrum for “We the People” that rely on “freedom of the press” to hold our “elected” officials accountable.
How “free” is that “press” when they all republish the same narrative based upon unproven speculation from the same source(s)?
As always, we will present the basic general info within a numbered list that will include the title, author, posted and last updated time-stamps, plus the shares, comments and url “wording” at the time of the page snapshots that follow the list. Please note that this really is the same article and once again was drastically changed and edited throughout the day as you can plainly see.
Also worth noting, as mentioned above, is the timing of the updates and how the entire context of the “reports” gets shifted throughout the based upon the images, titles and subtitle headers. This also affects what we see and hear via the CBC News Network and Radio along with local broadcasts.
Truth, accuracy and factual reporting for “We the People” seems to be essentially dead on arrival, period.
There are pretty much 3 actual versions between the 10 versions archived. Versions 1 thru 3, versions 4 thru 7 and versions 8 thru 10 might be considered updated if published separately if we leave out the fact that even those titles and urls were systematically changed.
The most striking abuse and manipulation of the media within these 10 version of the same “article” can be noticed on Version #6 that was highly propagandized and repeated throughout the day and following days. Version 6 also sees an odd drop in the “shares” as well.
Below you will find the excerpt of the narrative correction that was published on 04 September 2014 that can be found behind the Wall Street Journal’s pay-wall. It would seem as if only those with “power and privilege” that don’t get their “news” from the MSM are allowed to view some form of the truth:
EU Moves to Temper Putin ‘Two Weeks to Kiev’ Row
EU Official Says Comments Were Made Public Out of Context
By Laurence Norman
Sept. 4, 2014 7:57 a.m. ET
BRUSSELS—The European Union moved to dampen the latest diplomatic row with Moscow, with a spokeswoman for the bloc saying that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s reported comments about sending forces into Kiev were “made public out of context.”
Italian newspaper La Repubblica was the first to report that European Commission President José Manuel Barroso had told fellow leaders at Saturday’s EU summit in Brussels that Mr….
It is always a good idea to know who the Harper Regime is “sponsoring” in Ukraine with OUR tax dollars. Don’t allow yourself to be fooled into thinking that it is the “People of Ukraine” when in fact it is not. It is in fact a select few oligarchs backed by violent extremist militias that do NOT answer to Kiev. While there are literally dozens of articles about the Azov Battalion throughout the MSM, below you’ll find the latest Wikipedia entry as it appeared on 07 September 2014 at 13:54:24 GMT.
Azov Battalion
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Azov Battalion (Ukrainian: Батальйон «Азов») is a paramilitary Territorial Defense Battalion of Ukraine[3][4] volunteer unit of the National Guard, operated by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine. Journalist Alec Luhn has described the unit as openly Neo-Nazi.[5] The Ministry has denied any link between the Battalion and Neo-Naziism.[6] The battalion is based in Mariupol in the Azov Sea coastal region.[7] The battalion’s commander is Andriy Biletsky (Ukrainian: Андрій Білецький), the head of the social-nationalist[8][9] political groups Social-National Assembly and Patriot of Ukraine.[1] The Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs special police company is led by Volodymyr Shpara (Ukrainian: Володимир Шпара), the leader of both the Vasylkiv’s Patriot of Ukraine and the Vasylkiv’s Right Sector organizations in the Kiev region.[10][11][12]
The battalion is also referred to as the “Men in Black,” and is one of a series of paramilitary forces that operate in Ukraine.[3] More than half of the battalion’s members are Russian-speaking eastern Ukrainians,[13] and its professional English-language social media pages, and far-right ideology, have attracted extremist fighters from other locations in Europe.[14]
[caption width="120"] Logo of the Azov Battalion.
Recent emblem with Wolfsangel and Black Sun
Flag of the Social National Assembly
History
Arsen Avakov, the new Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine after the overthrow of the Yanukovich government, issued on April 13, 2014 a decree authorizing creating the new paramilitary force from civilians up to 12,000.[15] Anton Heraschenko (Антон Геращенко), MVS, Avakov’s deputy, was tasked with overseeing the process of establishing of the new security force.[16]
The Azov Battalion was formed on May 5, 2014 during the 2014 pro-Russian conflict in Ukraine. Among the patrons of the battalion are a member of the Verkhovna Rada Oleh Lyashko, and an ultra-nationalist Dmytro Korchynsky.[16] The battalion started in Mariupol where it was involved in combat,[3] and was soon afterwards relocated to Berdyansk.[17]
On June 10, the battalion dismissed deputy commander Yaroslav Honchar and distanced themselves from him after he made criticizing statements of the ATO [Anti-terrorist operation].[18]
On 11 August, Azov battalion, backed by paratroopers, captured Marinka from pro-Russian rebels and entered the suburbs of Donetsk clashing with DPR fighters.[19]
In early September 2014, the Azov battalion was engaged in the defence of Mariupol.[20] Regarding the ceasefire agreed on 5 September, Biletskiy stated “If it was a tactical move there is nothing wrong with it… if it’s an attempt to reach an agreement concerning Ukrainian soil with separatists then obviously it’s a betrayal.”[21]
Organization
Key figures in the battalion include the commander and deputy, Andriy Biletsky and Ihor Mosiychuk.[1]
A 16 July 2014 report placed the Azov Battalian’s strength at 300.[1] An earlier report stated that on June 23 almost 600 volunteers, including women, took oaths to joined the “Donbass” and “Azov” battalions.[22] Recruits receive a salary of $360.[23]
The political party led by the battalion’s leader Biletsky calls for the expansion of Ukraine, the “struggle for the liberation of the entire White Race,” and seeks to “punish severely sexual perversions and any interracial contacts.”[1] Volunteer Mikael Skillt told the BBC that while the Battalion did include others sharing his views – those calling themselves national socialists or adorned with swastikas – not all agreed, and one member was even “a liberal.”[1]
Interviewed while engaged in military operations in eastern Ukraine, one member stated that the unit was on edge because they were “behind enemy lines” and opposed by “the police, the army and the people,” whom he said they did not trust.[3] According to London’s Sunday Times, the Azov Battalion was deployed against militants by the Ukrainian government because it feared its regular forces were infiltrated by Russian sympathizers.[3]
The Azov men use the symbol that resembles Wolfsangel (Wolf’s Hook) symbol on their banner and members of the battalion are open white supremacists, or anti-Semites.[14] The battalion commander Biletsky wrote that the historic mission of Ukrainian nation “is to lead the White Races of the world in a final crusade for their survival against the Semite-led Untermenschen.” A former member of the battalion also claims that only men with National Socialist views may join.[24]
Foreign membership
In mid-July 2014, the BBC reported that the battalion had recruited the former Swedish Army and Swedish Home Guard sniper Mikael Skillt.[1] Skillt, a Swedish white supremacist, joined the Azov Battalion for ideological reasons.[1] Anton Gerashenko denied this but did claim “foreign journalists, from Sweden, Spain and Italy, who have come to report on the heroic achievements of the fighters in their struggle against terrorism” were accompanying the unit.[1] Gerashenko insisted he had never heard of Mikael Skillt.[1] Asked about Skillt in a late-July interview with Swedish Radio, Gerashenko pointed out that it’s forbidden by law for foreign citizens to fight and asked for understanding that he’d “stay tight-lipped” about the topic.[25] Ukrainian political scientist Anton Shekhotsov told the Swedes that at this time four Swedish neo-Nazis were fighting with Azov, while the Swedish national police confirmed “several”.[25]
According to The Telegraph, the Azov Battalion’s extremist politics and professional English social media pages have attracted foreign fighters.[14] Azov’s leader, Biletsky, states that he has received recruits from Ireland, Italy, Greece and Scandinavia.[14]
According to French volunteers fighting for the insurgent side, Azov Battalion has a French instructor named Gaston Besson who tried to recruit them over the internet.[26]
The Russian and Ukrainian security expert at New York University, Mark Galeotti, has described groups like the Azov Battalion as magnets attracting violent, fringe elements from around and outside Ukraine, warning that they will continue to play an outsized role in Ukrainian affairs after the war.[14]
^ Newman, Dina (16 July 2014). “Ukraine conflict: ‘White power’ warrior from Sweden”. BBC News. “The Azov Battalion was formed and armed by Ukraine’s interior ministry. A ministerial adviser, Anton Gerashchenko, [was asked] if the battalion had any neo-Nazi links through the Social National Assembly. ‘The Social National Assembly is not a neo-Nazi organisation,’ he said. ‘It is a party of Ukrainian patriots….’”
^ Ishchenko, Volodymyr (21 Oct 2011). “Fighting Fences vs Fighting Monuments: Politics of Memory and Protest Mobilization in Ukraine”. Debatte: Journal of Contemporary Central and Eastern Europe (Routledge) 19 (1-2). doi:10.1080/0965156X.2011.611680. “Framing them as “just” Ukrainian patriots, forced to violate the law for a just cause, concealed their authoritarian and xenophobic ideas reflecting the tendency to ignore the problems of the rise of xenophobia (O‘l‡mqqm 197–214) and a splash of racist attacks in 2007–2008 (Kht‘veb 12). After the notorious death of Maksym Chaika in a fight with antifascists in Odessa in April 2009, Yushchenko unambiguously supported the far right interpretation of the accident claiming the victim to be “an activist of a patriotic civic association” consciously murdered by “pro-Russia militants” ignoring Chaika’s connections with rightist football hooligans and his membership in the “SICH” (“Glory and Honor”) organization, a participant in the Social-Nationalist Assembly (http://sna.in.ua/) together with the neo-Nazi group “Patriot of Ukraine.””
^ Volodymyr Batchayev; Oleg Martynenko, Association of Ukrainian monitors on observance of human rights, Ukrainian Law Enforcement, Yevhen Zakharov, Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group. “12. Protection against discrimination, racism and xenophobia”. ANNUAL HUMAN RIGHTS REPORTS • HUMAN RIGHTS IN UKRAINE 2009-2010. Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union. Retrieved 12 May 2014. “On the public request, the authorities stopped the musical festival «Traditions of Spirit» near Kyiv, scheduled for June 26–27, 2010, under the aegis of the radical «Social Nationalist Assembly» with the goal to promulgate among the youth the ideas of neo-Nazi and chauvinism. During the festival, the performances of ultra-right musical bands were planned («Sokyra Peruna», «Seitar», «Nachtigall», «White Lions»), who in the lyrics of their songs openly approve and show in romantic light the skinhead movement, promote Hitlerist aesthetics, and encourage to harass national minorities.”
Remember, politics is a contact sport, like hockey, so please feel free to add quick contributions, observations and relevant information as a comment below!
Contact us if you would like to contribute to our collaborative efforts or would like to share/submit articles, data or additional content, feel free to add feedback, additional info, alternative contact details, related links, articles, anonymous submission, etc. as a comment below, via web-form, through social media outlets or email us directly and confidentially at: dumpharper [at] live [dot] ca
This site may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in an effort to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. and intend its use to be for education and instructional purposes only. Therefore, we believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond “fair use,” you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
If anyone really wants to know what the real threats are to the National security of Canada and the World, we can provide a starting point. While this is NOT exclusive to the CBC News Network and crossed the entire spectrum of the MSM, we have focused upon them because they are the publicly funded broadcaster that is supposed to serve “We the People” of Canada.
For this short important update, we’ll save the additional commentary since it is pretty well covered in the following summaries. We are certain that you will agree that propagating a false narrative based upon political posturing, fear mongering, pure speculation, outright lies and deception, without any real data or proof is dubious and terribly tragic at best. The simple and sad fact is that this manufactured tragedy will only enrich a rather small minority of global oligarchs and capitalists at the expense of the vast majority of humanity. Feel free to take a gander at what we have compiled with respect to how the “Ukraine Crisis” has been covered and decide for yourselves…
Coming Soon: #CBC Propaganda Challenge 7: #Harper vs #cdnpoli vs #Ukraine vs #Russia vs #NATO
Better wake up Canada, before these clowns and charlatans lead us into an unnecessary war just to line their wallets with our blood!
Please note: A while ago we received a very good reply and critique via tw*tter to this post (see below). We really value and appreciate the constructive feedback and would like to thank sailsmart and also provide a short reply and request.
We do realize that the info needs to be presented in such a way as to make comparisons easier and it has been pointed out to us in the past. The problem we have is that besides the technical limits of the site itself, acquiring and assembling the necessary snapshots and contextual content is very time consuming. To make it a bit easier for the viewer/visitor, we have tried a couple of different methods so far but have yet to really hit the nail on the head as far as presentation goes. What we have decided is that it is vital to provide snapshots of the “articles” preceded by a bullet list that contains the title, author, timestamps, shares, comments (when enabled) along with the urls. In some cases we do attempt to provide additional commentary but for the most part, the titles and snapshots themselves provide a visual “picture” of the changes as they occur and speak for themselves. In addition, these “articles” that are being published via the CBC News site are sometimes a challenge to monitor and the amount of updates/edits can be overwhelming at times to say the least.
Taking the above into consideration, we would like to appeal to others that may have a little time they may be willing to invest and be interested is providing some assistance. This would be to our advantage since it would provide a much better alternative when submitting the info/complaint to the CBC, MP’s and the Ombudsmen.
As noted above, we could really use a better method of presentation that is more informative and easier for a viewer/visitor to compare the differences and share and are open to suggestions. Since we already have the basic info and full size images available, as well as archives of the content of the articles, all we really need is a bit of dissecting and summarizing and feel free to download the images if it makes it easier. This can be done either by utilizing the comment box below the summary posts themselves, by email or by web-form. If you would like the actual text and content of any of the article presented, it can be provided. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated and definitely welcomed by many.
Thanks Again! 🙂
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Remember, politics is a contact sport, like hockey, so please feel free to add quick contributions, observations and relevant information as a comment below!
Contact us if you would like to contribute to our collaborative efforts or would like to share/submit articles, data or additional content, feel free to add feedback, additional info, alternative contact details, related links, articles, anonymous submission, etc. as a comment below, via web-form, through social media outlets or email us directly and confidentially at: dumpharper [at] live [dot] ca
This site may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in an effort to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. and intend its use to be for education and instructional purposes only. Therefore, we believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond “fair use,” you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
This media manipulation situation is getting truly bizarre and it seems as if all hope may be lost regarding the journalistic integrity of our beloved CBC, at least as far as the manufactured crisis in Ukraine is concerned. This is troubling on several fronts but most of the brunt and burden is being shouldered by the People of Ukraine. One might think that since this steady escalation based upon speculation and rhetoric may well lead us all into another World War that would make the first two seem like a picnic, the media would attempt to be somewhat balanced.
One sided “reports” only serve as propaganda, plain and simple. One sided “reports” only serve a select minority of global investors. One sided “reports” only serve to deceive the majority on any and all sides. One sided “reports” usually destroy civilizations and economies for no justifiable reason. One sided “reports” are pure evil.
Have you ever heard the phrase similar to, there are 2 sides to every story and then there is the truth? If that is the case, then what can be learned from one side that is always shifting, dancing and dodging around alleged facts and proven fictions? How many times does a media outlet need to change the title of a “story” before they can get their “story” straight?
Yesterday we seen another day of a shifting narrative disguised as “Updates” once again and this is unjustifiable. Today, it seems like the media subversion is getting even worse since the CBC News has decided to not utilize the terms “NEW” and/or “UPDATED” in several instances thus far. Not only that but one “story” was changed 5 times before noon Eastern time, but that is another issue for another time. (please note that as of this time in this summary draft, the “article” has been updated again, and yet again for the 7th version as of 1:06pm EDT.)
While these constant edits and rewrites may not seem significant, keep in mind that we have several time zones combined with the broadcast and scrolls at the bottom of the CBC News Network plus CBC Radio reports. This is a really simple way to confuse a whole population. Not only that but when one considers that the Harper Regime has so many pro-Harper trolls being employed to ‘correct misinformation’ and control the flow of information at our expense. The sad reality is that “We the People” of Canada are footing both bills.
Not only is the Harper Regime attempting to sell us a war we cannot afford, but Ukraine is drowning is debt, destruction and death, plus NATO is demanding more “investment” into the Military Industrial Complex. The reckless and haphazard actions and inaction of Harper and the Regime, combined with the subversion of the media, is indeed a dangerous thing!
Moving forward to the task at hand, below you will find the propaganda of the day from yesterday 01 September 2014, courtesy of the CBC News. This expose has a slightly different twist as well. It seems as if the narrative shift required an update to the Reuters article itself that required it to be pulled down for a while completely, leaving the “Page not found” error message. Since we located the before and afters, we’ll post them below for a closer look. Not only was the “article” “updated” but a few of the words, sentences and paragraphs where changed.
As always, we will present the basic general info within a numbered list that will include the title, author, posted and last updated time-stamps, plus the shares, comments and url “wording” at the time of the page snapshots that follow the list.
Please note that this really is the same article and once again was drastically changed as you can plainly see. Also worth noting is the timing of the updates and how the entire context gets shifted based upon the titles. There are pretty much 3 actual versions between the 5 noted. Truth, accuracy and factual reporting seems to be essentially dead, period.
Ukraine crisis: Russia will defend economy from sanctions, Lavrov says [archived v1] Negotiators set to meet in Minsk to discuss possible ceasefire Thomson Reuters Posted: Sep 01, 2014 2:55 AM ET Last Updated: Sep 01, 2014 2:55 AM ET
UPDATED Ukraine crisis: Petro Poroshenko accuses Russia of ‘direct and open aggression’ [archived v2] Changes coming in Ukraine military top brass Thomson Reuters Posted: Sep 01, 2014 2:55 AM ET Last Updated: Sep 01, 2014 9:17 AM ET
UPDATED Ukraine crisis: Petro Poroshenko accuses Russia of ‘direct and open aggression’ [archived v3] Changes coming in Ukraine military top brass Thomson Reuters Posted: Sep 01, 2014 2:55 AM ET Last Updated: Sep 01, 2014 9:22 AM ET
Ukraine crisis: Separatists soften stance on independence [archived v4] Insurgents release platform at the start of Monday’s negotiations in Minsk The Associated Press Posted: Sep 01, 2014 2:55 AM ET Last Updated: Sep 01, 2014 1:50 PM ET
Ukraine crisis: Separatists soften stance on independence [archived v5] Insurgents release platform at the start of Monday’s negotiations in Minsk The Associated Press Posted: Sep 01, 2014 2:55 AM ET Last Updated: Sep 01, 2014 10:04 PM ET
Summary Observations
If you notice the credited “author” was changed in Version 4. This is not an “update” in any way as it is a selectively edited merging of several articles that only serves to massage the narrative. There really is no reason that it could not have been published separately. It should also be noted that even the last version did not accurately “report” many very pertinent facts from the days events, which were many, not to mention it did NOT accurately reflect what was actually stated by the Novorossiyan Leadership. Version 1 is a stand alone, Versions 2 and 3 are similar to each other, and Versions 4 and 5 are similar to each other.
In comparing the versions above and below, if you notice the time-stamps between CBC’s version 3 and version 4 coincided with the MIA version 1 from Reuters below. Note the entire title was completely swapped out via the CBC’s new version that was re-credited to the AP (Associated Propaganda) and was changed in in the Reuters version. This is what one may consider a “red” flag.
Ukraine accuses Russia of “undisguised aggression” as rebels advance By Pavel Polityuk and Polina Devitt KIEV/MOSCOW Mon Sep 1, 2014 3:05pm EDT
Ukraine accuses Russia of “undisguised aggression” as rebels advance By Pavel Polityuk and Polina Devitt KIEV/MOSCOW Mon Sep 1, 2014 3:05pm EDT
Above there are 2 (two) versions from the Reuters site captured via the g**gle cache. We included this segment for a couple of reasons, but primarily because the original “article” went missing and was returning a Page not found” error message. It was also referenced in countless comment threads and independent sites as well. If you notice, the second version was pretty heavily edited and there are several “word” changes along with several paragraph additions and subtractions that change the tone and context as well. The most noticeable difference between the 2 is the wording within the title itself from alleged ‘open aggression’ to “undisguised aggression”. So, which was it, open or undisguised. This wordplay is getting outta hand already!
Bonus Article: Harper is in Over His Head!
This is where it gets very interesting since Harper was blatantly posturing and pandering for the Ukrainian Diaspora’s vote while war-mongering and now finds himself in a jam. Considering his Regime has slashed our Armed Forces budgets so drastically and is delivering weapons and armaments stockpiles to other foreign endeavours such as Iraq, one may wonder how he will increase military spending that NATO is demanding and still balance the budget in order to make good on his election promises of tax cuts for his caucus. Not only that but it has become rather clear that our CAF are ill-prepared for anything for the most part.
NEW Stephen Harper takes big words, small stick to NATO summit Meeting in Wales this week puts spotlight on the gap between Canada’s words and deeds By Terry Milewski, CBC News Posted: Sep 01, 2014 3:50 PM ET Last Updated: Sep 01, 2014 3:50 PM ET
As mentioned within the intro, the articles published today may be the most blatant and misleading propaganda spins thus far. To be continued…
Further Research
For some additional background information that you might not otherwise be made aware of, here is very relevant and important press conference that you should definitely watch :
Press Conference – Formation of a state – 24 Aug 2014
This is a thorough press conference by Alexander V. Zakharchenko, Chairman of The Council of Ministers of The Donetsk National Republic. It touches upon a few key points regarding the war, its origins and what and whom Kiev is fighting.
The possibility of Federalization is also discarded as irrelevant as that ship had certainly sailed. This is a fight for independence now.
France Saker
Published on Aug 26, 2014
Subtitles in english, french, german
Transcription/Translation/Timecoding: Marina
English proofreading and editing: Erebus,Michael and Vaughan
Editing and Publishing: Augmented Ether
French Translation & Editing: Jean-Jacques
German Translation & Editing : Dagmar
Below you will find a few sources that will provide you the opportunity to view information from reliable alternative viewpoints that you never view from the CBC or any other Canadian MSM conglomerate, outlet or “wire” service provider.
Remember, politics is a contact sport, like hockey, so please feel free to add quick contributions, observations and relevant information as a comment below!
Contact us if you would like to contribute to our collaborative efforts or would like to share/submit articles, data or additional content, feel free to add feedback, additional info, alternative contact details, related links, articles, anonymous submission, etc. as a comment below, via web-form, through social media outlets or email us directly and confidentially at: dumpharper [at] live [dot] ca
This site may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in an effort to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. and intend its use to be for education and instructional purposes only. Therefore, we believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond “fair use,” you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
Well friends, it seems as if CBC News has either completely lost all credibility and gone “yellow” or the staffing and budget cuts are seriously preventing them from actually conducting investigative journalism at all. We are of coarse referring to the “coverage,” or lack thereof, regarding the “Crisis in Ukraine” as they call it. While there are a couple of rather rare occasions these days, the vast majority of any/all “reports” being published via the interwebz and/or broadcasted via the Network are works of speculative fiction. Not sure if the scripts they are given are prepared too far in advance or they just do NOT care about journalistic integrity or maybe they are being pressured to conceal pertinent facts.
For those first time visitors that may not have reviewed our previous summary exposes and for those casual and regular visitors, you will get a better idea of why we need to DumpHarper! This is part 5 of our “propaganda challenge” issued to to the CBC News, which is a follow up to our original dicovery and subsequent connection to the Harper Regime a couple of weeks later. The basic premise and objective is to point out how the CBC News is engaging directly with the Harper Regime and the Opposition in a rather dubious and deceptive subversive information manipulation campaign against “We the People” of Canada. One that will not only cost us hundreds of millions of dollars at the least, but may well cost unknown numbers of lives and limbs if it proceeds unchallenged.
Sadly, one does not even need to “choose” a side in this multi-pronged manufactured civil war to realize that something is just not right and something is definitely rotten. At last count we have noticed there are at least a half dozen sides battling it out in Eastern Ukraine from several factions. Not counting the various Nations States and their “covert” black-ops and destabilization teams, there are several groups of paid mercenaries, oligarch and capitalist funded paramilitary groups, several “volunteer” battalions blended in with the Ukrainian Military, Novorossiyan Armed Forces and of coarse the local populations attempting to salvage their home, businesses and communities. All of these combined equate to the equivalent of 2 (two) sides, Pro-Kiev and Anti-Kiev.
At this point it is rather hard to tell “who” Kiev actually represents, it certainly is not interested in well being of ordinary Ukrainians from either side of the West/East divide since they are conscripting those from the West to fight against those in the East. One thing that is certain is that the criminal banksters, speculative investors, Military Industrial Complex and Media Propaganda Complex is benefiting immensely from this tragedy.
Moving forward a bit, it should be noted that yesterdays propaganda piece did not have comments enabled for some reason or another and we speculated to why this occurred in yesterdays summary. We might ponder that this was due to it being a Sunday within a long weekend, but that does not jive considering other articles published did have comment threads open for discussion and/or debate. We can safely assUme that this is because there were a lot of fast moving developments that they did NOT want to be mentioned, nor discussed, publicly within the CBC Community. In other words, the entire Kiev and Harper Regime vote pandering narrative about the glorious ATO victories have seemingly vanished into the abyss. if any of the reports from independent observers are correct at all, Kiev has pretty much lost their manufactured war and are in full damage control mode. This observation is not really speculation at all, it is a simple fact. All one needs to do is traverse the Twittersphere, independent sources and social media to fill in the blanks of what is oddly missing from the following CBC “article” and the other MSM articles of the day. It should be duly noted that it seems as if this mornings article has attempted to fill in a couple of the holes,but we’ll delve into that one, and any other that may cross the “wire” later tonight or tomorrow depending on the “timing” of the last update(s).
Moving forward further to the point, this summary really has only one “article” to present, since there was only one directly related article published, and subsequently updated, as the day progressed yesterday. While there was another “related” article that does fill in some of the blanks, we’ll simply post that one further down so that you may came to your own conclusions. It should be noted that since the “article” we are presenting is the only one published and it was provided via a “wire” service (as usual), we took it upon ourselves to dig into the source and follow it around the interwebz to see how it was presented abroad as a comparison study of sorts. You might be surprised at the difference between the original, what we were presented and what was presented in other online publications.
As always, we will present the basic general info within a numbered list that will include the title, author, posted and last updated time-stamps plus the shares and url at the time of the page snapshots that follow the list. Please note that this really is the same article and was drastically changed as you can plainly see.
NEW Ukraine, Russia swap soldiers as Putin says only ‘political will’ in Kyiv can end crisis [archived v1] Thomson Reuters Posted: Aug 31, 2014 7:34 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 31, 2014 7:37 AM ET
Vladimir Putin calls for talks on ‘statehood’ in southeast Ukraine [archived v2] Statements seen as support for pro-Russia rebels’ bid for independence from Ukraine Thomson Reuters Posted: Aug 31, 2014 7:34 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 31, 2014 12:52 PM ET
Vladimir Putin calls for talks on ‘statehood’ in southeast Ukraine [archived v3] Statements seen as support for pro-Russia rebels’ bid for independence from Ukraine Thomson Reuters Posted: Aug 31, 2014 7:34 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 31, 2014 8:24 PM ET
Comparison Articles
Below you will find the original source article along with a few other articles that were republished. Notice how they differ from the version CBC news presented.
This is Google’s cache of http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/31/us-ukraine-crisis-prisoners-idUSKBN0GV06D20140831. It is a snapshot of the page as it appeared on 31 Aug 2014 12:56:15 GMT. The current page could have changed in the meantime. Russia and Ukraine trade soldiers at border: Russian news agencies By Mark Trevelyan MOSCOW Sun Aug 31, 2014 6:41am EDT
Russia and Ukraine Trade Soldiers at Border: Russian News Agencies By REUTERS AUG. 31, 2014, 3:48 A.M. E.D.T.
UPDATE 1-Russia and Ukraine trade soldiers at border – Russian news agencies 5 minutes ago by Thomson Reuters
Russia and Ukraine trade soldiers at border – Russian news agencies Reuters By By Mark Trevelyan | Reuters – 47 minutes ago
Captured Russian paratroopers return home in swap with Ukraine Posted on 31 August 2014 – 04:10pm Last updated on 31 August 2014 – 08:24pm
Captured Russian paratroopers return home in swap with Ukraine 31 Aug 2014
Stupidest Tweet of the Day
We felt the need to update this summary article after noticing this tw**t from Margaret Evans of the CBC especially after it was retw**ted by @CBCWorldReport. Not sure if they are really that stupid, but if they seem to have missed their own articles and reports over the past several months. Nice that she @ mentioned the Fogh of War. Maybe she will be nominated for the Captain Obvious award?
Since there is a very important meeting scheduled for today, here is very relevant and important press conference that you should definitely watch for some additional background information that you might not otherwise be made aware of:
Press Conference – Formation of a state – 24 Aug 2014
This is a thorough press conference by Alexander V. Zakharchenko, Chairman of The Council of Ministers of The Donetsk National Republic. It touches upon a few key points regarding the war, its origins and what and whom Kiev is fighting.
The possibility of Federalization is also discarded as irrelevant as that ship had certainly sailed. This is a fight for independence now.
France Saker
Published on Aug 26, 2014
Subtitles in english, french, german
Transcription/Translation/Timecoding: Marina
English proofreading and editing: Erebus,Michael and Vaughan
Editing and Publishing: Augmented Ether
French Translation & Editing: Jean-Jacques
German Translation & Editing : Dagmar
Below you will find a few sources that will provide you the opportunity to view information from reliable alternative viewpoints that you never view from the CBC or any other Canadian MSM conglomerate, outlet or “wire” service provider.
NEW NATO pushes for bigger crisis response brigade By Murray Brewster, The Canadian Press Posted: Aug 31, 2014 9:50 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 31, 2014 9:50 AM ET
To be continued…
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Remember, politics is a contact sport, like hockey, so please feel free to add quick contributions, observations and relevant information as a comment below!
Contact us if you would like to contribute to our collaborative efforts or would like to share/submit articles, data or additional content, feel free to add feedback, additional info, alternative contact details, related links, articles, anonymous submission, etc. as a comment below, via web-form, through social media outlets or email us directly and confidentially at: dumpharper [at] live [dot] ca
This site may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in an effort to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. and intend its use to be for education and instructional purposes only. Therefore, we believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond “fair use,” you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
While the madness never stops, the hysteria and false narrative and war-mongering propaganda rages onward at an ever slightly slower pace. These are indeed troubling times for not only the Harper Regime, but for the CBC News as well. As always, yesterday being the beginning of the weekend, the endless loop of disinfo and misinfo based on unconfirmed speculation is seemly repeated via the CBC News Network loop. Those budget cuts and staff reductions sure are working out well for the Harper Regime, not so much for “We the People” of Canada though or the poor souls that find themselves caught in the profit trap that is Ukraine.
It just goes to show ya, that the only thing that is necessary is to simply repeat the lie and never, ever let facts get in the way of a great propaganda campaign. The narrative has slightly shifted over the past couple of days though in a couple of ways, which were obvioulsy “capitalized” upon by the outdated and overrated NATO cabal and their Military Industrial Complex speculative investors. Sadly, we are being duped by these speculators and their globalist investors unlike any other time in the past century. This allows for the best of both worlds for a rather small percentage and the worst for the vast majority. The modus operandi of the Harper Regime’s hard shift to the far-right is becoming less opaque as the days progress and the very troubling thing is that the Opposition seems to be mezmerized into a controlled status in much the same way as they were when the Harper Regime “won” their majority during the “Arab Spring” narrative. Not only will the Harper Regime get the “free pass” that they so desperately need as far as their inability to balance a budget or lower the historic debt, that will take a generation or two to pay off, but they will also be able to lose track of umpteen billions of dollars along the way, all the while lining the pockets of their globalist offshore investors.
Let the mass psyops and looting begin!
We should begin this summary article with some very relevant news that never seen the light of day. We know why, but we really have an issue with the way the MSM and the CBC News Network in particular have deceived us by way of omission. Oddly enough the false narrative that has been built upon with regards to the latest (of who knows how many now, we lost count) “Russian Invasion” proclamation from the other day was actually corrected from within Ukraine itself. This confirmation was published by none other that the Svoboda Party via their site which is part of the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) propaganda site that is funded by the U.S. Government. Here is the g**gle translation of the press release dated 26 august 2014. After reviewing the following, you shall be able to appreciate the relevance to the snapshots of the “article” below from 30 August 2014 and connect the ridiculous false narratives that persist to poison our minds.
(Please note that the propaganda of the day (today) will be covered in another summary article later tonight or tomorrow. It should be duly noted that todays article(s) do NOT have comments enabled. We can only presume that based upon the comments as the day progressed yesterday into this morning before they were closed, the pro-Harper trolls lost control of the comment treads. Considering even some of Harper’s most adamant supporters shifted and began to question the narrative, this did not bode very well for the Harper Regime, NATO and Kiev narrative based upon speculations.)
August 26 Ukrainian authorities denied message about the invasion of Russian troops Posted 08/26/2014 23:11
On the Tip of National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) August 26 refuted reports about the Russian military invasion of the Ukraine. Speaking on the program “Freedom of Speech” on the channel ICTV, a representative of the National Security Council Andrei Lysenko said recently communicated with the border guards and the military – Russian tanks and troops in the Donetsk region has not been seen.
At the same time, according to Lysenko, there is evidence of the appearance of a column of about 100 pieces of military equipment in the area Gukovo Rostov region; her under surveillance.
Earlier Tuesday, a Ukrainian journalist Roman Bocskai said with reference to the border guards and soldiers of the volunteer forces of the invasion of Russian regular troops to Ukraine by the Taganrog – towards Novoazovsk. How to write in facebook Bocskai, troops, supported by about 30 tanks into the territory of Donetsk region already for 8 kilometers and took control of the six border villages; put up roadblocks, the Russian military does not hide insignia.
On Monday it was reported about the defeat of Ukrainian troops of the column of Russian military hardware, which tried to make a breakthrough on the same stretch of the border.
This deception by the Western MSM is to be expected considering the facts surrounding the false narrative about how the Ukrainian Military had pretty much completed their ATO (ethnic cleansing campaign) against the Russian speaking Ukrainians of Eastern Ukraine. This false narrative has been quite convincing to many in the “West” since anyone that speaks Russian must be from Russia proper, let’s just conveniently forget there are millions of Russian speaking Ukrainians. Surely they must be Kremlin agents and terrorists or the whole narrative falls flat.
btw: Has anyone noticed yet that there have been absolutely zero reports or published statements or interviews from the “other” side of this Kiev driven civil war code named the ATO? All we have to go by is the “word” of Poroshenko, Yat’s and the very incompetent Ukraine Defense Ministry. Oh yea, what ever happened to the (war crimes) investigation related to MH17? It seemed like the “lost” MH370 was in the news loop for days upon days upon days upon days, 24/7 to the tune of hundreds of millions of $$$.
Considering the population in the East is fighting for the right of self determination and political representation, one might ponder to question them about their rational and motives. Isn’t the right to self determination and political representation what a “democracy” is supposed to be founded upon? What about taxation without representation? Boston Tea Party anyone? American Revolution? Afghanistan? Iraq? Libya? Syria?
As for the military equipment, surely it could not have been acquired from numerous defeated brigades, defectors, those that surrendered or the many military outposts, bases and/or armories outside the control of Kiev. Nah, all of it, every last piece was certainly shipped in under the cloak of invisibility and hand delivered by Putin himself. If this is “technically” possible, we should really consider whether it is wise to keep poking that bear, eh? As for those thousands upon thousands of Russian invasion troops, surely none of those “terrorists” are locals defending what may be left of their homes and communities. Nah, all of them, each and every last one, most certainly appeared outta thin air, like Fiat Currency, under another cloak of invisibility by some Jedi trick performed by the master magician Putin himself. If this is “technically” possible, once again, we should really consider whether it is wise to keep poking that bear, eh? Geez, maybe we should all learn the Russian language before we get forcibly assimilated like the First Nations Peoples.
Before we proceed with the latest cache of “article” snapshots, it should be noted that there have been some rather troubling reports over the past 24-48 hours that seem to have missed the news cycle. Sadly, it would appear as if the Chocolate King Poroshenko’s war against the Russian speaking Ukrainians is costing thousands of poor soldiers their lives, not to mention the seriously under-reported thousands upon thousands of civilian casualties.
This mass deception by a small group of oligarchs with the backing of capitalists is just criminal. How many sons, fathers and husbands have to be sacrificed “fighting” against their own fellow Ukrainians? How many wives must be made widows? How many children deserve to lose their fathers? How many mothers need to lose their sons? These are Ukrainians killing Ukrainians here and they are being either lead of forced to the slaughter for the benefit of a few oligarchs. These are the very same oligarchs that they “thought” they deposed in order to take back their Country!
It is being reported that the losses alone today are just staggering. The only light that seems to be barely visible is that it appears as if Kiev is considering meeting and possibly, for the first time, engaging in some sort of dialog with the the representatives of the Novorussian officials tomorrow. Will this be too late to reconcile and more importantly will this be able to put that ultra-far-right genie back in the bottle?
Let’s move forward, shall we…
Once again we will proceed with a similar presentation as the previous summaries. First you will see a numbered list of general details, followed by the snapshots of the “article” as the updates were captured. We will cover a few articles in reverse chronological order dated 30 August 2014 and 29 August 2014.
Ukraine crisis: Why the U.S. avoids calling Russia’s actions an ‘invasion’ [archived v1] Canada can talk tough because expectations of action are lower By Mark Gollom, CBC News Posted: Aug 30, 2014 5:00 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 30, 2014 5:23 AM ET
Ukraine crisis: Why the U.S. avoids calling Russia’s actions an ‘invasion’ [archived v2] Canada can talk tough because expectations of action are lower By Mark Gollom, CBC News Posted: Aug 30, 2014 5:00 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 30, 2014 1:57 PM ET
UPDATED Ukraine crisis: EU poised to level new sanctions against Russia [archived v1] Poroshenko claims thousands of Russian troops operating in country’s east The Associated Press Posted: Aug 30, 2014 6:00 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 30, 2014 12:02 PM ET
Ukraine crisis: EU poised to level new sanctions against Russia [archived v2] Poroshenko claims thousands of Russian troops operating in country’s east The Associated Press Posted: Aug 30, 2014 6:00 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 30, 2014 1:58 PM ET
Ukraine and Russia ‘very close’ to war, [archived v3] President Petro Poroshenko says Kyiv claims thousands of Russian troops operating in country’s east The Associated Press Posted: Aug 30, 2014 6:00 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 30, 2014 3:58 PM ET
UPDATED Ukraine crisis: EU gives Russia ultimatum, threatens sanctions [archived v4] Kyiv claims thousands of Russian troops operating in country’s east The Associated Press Posted: Aug 30, 2014 6:00 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 30, 2014 7:11 PM ET
Ukraine crisis: EU threatens Russia with more sanctions [archived v5] Kyiv claims thousands of Russian troops operating in country’s east The Associated Press Posted: Aug 30, 2014 6:00 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 30, 2014 8:38 PM ET
NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen urges Canada to boost defence spending Alliance ‘not considering military options’ against Russia but wants to enhance co-operation with Ukraine By Janyce McGregor, CBC News Posted: Aug 29, 2014 4:13 PM ET Last Updated: Aug 29, 2014 5:32 PM ET
To be continued…
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Remember, politics is a contact sport, like hockey, so please feel free to add quick contributions, observations and relevant information as a comment below!
Contact us if you would like to contribute to our collaborative efforts or would like to share/submit articles, data or additional content, feel free to add feedback, additional info, alternative contact details, related links, articles, anonymous submission, etc. as a comment below, via web-form, through social media outlets or email us directly and confidentially at: dumpharper [at] live [dot] ca
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The propaganda piece of the day takes a real ugly and very noticeable twist and is probably the most obvious of all. Not only have the typical subtle things been “updated” such as the title, url wording and link, but the entire article has been pretty much rewritten from the top to the bottom. We were rather fortunate to catch a snapshot of the very first version, before the initial “update” this time.
While the choices being made by the upper echelon of the CBC News Network have been opaquely shrouded, their “modus operandi” is rather transparent. They are hell bent on justifying and hard selling an unnecessary war based on speculation and a false narrative along with all the armaments and munitions necessary, period. The one thing that “We the People” know is that they will never actually fight in any wars because they are cowards. Not only that but based upon the history of modern warfare, not only will their children, families and cohorts not fight in this war, they will indeed profit handsomely while remaining safe and secure.
Oddly enough, it now becomes crystal clear that the Kiev Regime is looking for a handout from our hard earned tax dollars and the Harper Regime will be more than willing to donate as much of our money as possible. Damn the costs, their Loyalists, caucus and constituents will never pay a dime, nor spill a single drop of their own blood. They are nothing more than vampire capitalists funding their vampire oligarch comrades ethnic cleansing campaigns across the globe.
How much ideological idiocy is enough already? Does the Harper Regime really think this is some kind of game or are they just insane? Who are they trying to impress and at what cost?
Moving forward to what the focus of this summary is all about. Below you will find a very simplify presentation as the previous summary articles. First you will see a numbered list of general details, followed by the snapshots of the “article” as the updates were captured. Like we stated above, a summary comparison is really not necessary, the pictures are worth a thousand words. All one needs to do is focus on the initial version and the last to see how the “story” was completely transformed. Please note that as of this draft there were 8 versions of this “article” prior to the publication of this summary post…
Ukraine crisis: Putin urges safe passage for surrounded government troops [archived v1] Statement comes after U.S. says Russia lying about role in escalating conflict The Associated Press Posted: Aug 29, 2014 3:25 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 29, 2014 3:27 AM ET
UPDATED Ukraine crisis: Rebels agree to give Ukrainian troops safe passage [archived v2] Ukrainian troops must first lay down arms, top rebel leader Alexander Zakharchenko says The Associated Press Posted: Aug 29, 2014 3:25 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 29, 2014 5:50 AM ET
UPDATED Ukraine crisis: Rebels agree to give Ukrainian troops safe passage [archived v3] Ukrainian troops must first lay down arms, top rebel leader Alexander Zakharchenko says The Associated Press Posted: Aug 29, 2014 3:25 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 29, 2014 6:40 AM ET
Ukraine crisis: Rebels agree to give Ukrainian troops safe passage [archived v4] Ukrainian troops must first lay down arms, top rebel leader Alexander Zakharchenko says The Associated Press Posted: Aug 29, 2014 3:25 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 29, 2014 7:46 AM ET
Ukraine crisis: Pro-Russia rebels control coastal town [archived v5] Rebels want to eventually push to major port city of Mariupol, leader in coastal town says The Associated Press Posted: Aug 29, 2014 3:25 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 29, 2014 10:02 AM ET
UPDATED Ukraine seeks NATO membership to gain Western military aid [archived v6] European foreign ministers meet, discuss further economic sanctions against Russia Thomson Reuters Posted: Aug 29, 2014 3:25 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 29, 2014 12:52 PM ET
UPDATED Ukraine seeks NATO membership to gain Western military aid [archived v7] European foreign ministers meet, discuss further economic sanctions against Russia Thomson Reuters Posted: Aug 29, 2014 3:25 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 29, 2014 3:39 PM ET
Ukraine seeks NATO membership to gain Western military aid [archived v8] European foreign ministers meet, discuss further economic sanctions against Russia Thomson Reuters Posted: Aug 29, 2014 3:25 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 29, 2014 3:50 PM ET
.
Brief Summary
Version 2 seen a change in the title as well as the url “wording” and link edit to reflect the changes. This seems like the most genuine “update” as it included the response from Alexander V. Zakharchenko, Chairman of The Council of Ministers of The Donetsk National Republic to Russian President Putin’s request.
Version 3 seen a sudden drop in the number of shares and the the diplomatic and positive tone shifted. The bottom segment “Obama rules out military action” was removed and replaced with “More economic sanctions considered”. This seems at odds with the previous “demands” that President Putin must do more to deescalate the situation.
Version 4 seen a rather odd image swap. The header photo was replaced with the caption “Servicemen sit atop an armoured vehicle as they drive east away from the Ukrainian border in Russia’s Rostov region.” that seems to speculate the they are Russian servicemen. BUT, the flag on top of the vehicle is clearly not a Russian Flag, nor the flag of the Federal State of Novorossiya. It seems like it is a white flag, which suggests that it may be Ukrainian troops traversing through the safe passage via the “humanitarian corridor” towards Russia.
Version 5 sees the title, url “wording” and link changed and the previously swapped image becoming an embedded video link with the caption “Putin calls for escape corridor for Ukraine troops 2:46”. The problem here is that the clip of the report from CBC News Network that is embedded features more NATO war-mongering propaganda based upon speculation. The “tone” is beginning to drift further into the propaganda abyss. Version 5 also seen a dramatic rise in the share count.
Version 6 seen the “article” being swapped from an AP (Associated Propaganda) piece to a Thomson Reuters credited piece as well as the title url “wording” and link edit. This is not the first time this has occurred during this manufactured crisis. It also seen a title change to proclaim the original goals all along of annexation and occupation by NATO. It also acknowledges what has been fairly evident to any independent researcher that Ukraine is definably loosing the battle to cleanse the East of the Russian speaking Ukrainians. It is also apparent that oligarchs that control the Kiev Regime have effectively looted the National Treasury and has exhausted whatever IMF funds it may have received up to now. Ukraine is flat broke and an utterly failed state at this point and is desperately looking for a handout by seeking NATO membership in order to gain free Western military aid and cash.
Versions 7 and 8 pretty much massage the narrative and presentation for general consumption to the ill-informed masses that have been spoon-fed non-stop false propaganda by the MSM for several months.
In summary, the false narrative and deceptive propaganda has reached a dangerous level, desperation has reared it’s ugly head and those that pushed for the putsch have reached the point of not return. Based upon the incompetence of the Kiev Regime and rush towards conflict as opposed to dialog, we should expect something rather stupid sooner rather than later. They will need to prepare for new opponents as the Right Sector, Azov Battalion and other ultra-far-right oligarch funded “volunteer” militia (mercenary) groups head West to Kiev. if lucky they may be able to stay in power long enough to rush through NATO legislation before the proposed election and/or General Winter storms in. Make no mistake as these groups have made no bones about it, they will not accept the EU nor any other outside forces to control or occupy their territory since their motto is Ukraine is for Ukrainians. It might be wise to keep an eye on the moves by the Svaboda/Svoboda Party since they have the most control, contrary to popular assumptions.
In closing, let’s just state one last observation, Harper is in over his head!
As an additional footnote, for those that may wonder why there are “so many” of our youths joining in the fighting in Syria with the likes of IS/ISIL/ISIS and who actually began the recruitment drive a few short years ago, take a gander at the following three articles. You’ll notice a seemingly forgotten yet often repeated proclamation by Harper’s own John Baird. Maybe these young men feel that it is their patriotic duty to serve and are simply following the mandate set by the Harper Regime and have headed the call to action?
Syria’s Assad ‘must go,’ Baird warns
By Edmonton Journal
March 5, 2012 dumpharper
Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird condemned the continued violence and aid impasse in Syria as heavy shelling continued in Homs over the weekend, saying that Canada is considering new measures to make clear that Syrian president Bashar Assad “must go.”
“The depravity and reprehensible acts of the Assad regime continue to sink to new lows. Assad and his regime are blocking humanitarian aid from getting to the Syrians who need it most, while making life miserable for countless others,” Baird said in a statement late Saturday.
“Canada is considering new measures to make clear that Assad must go. Change will happen. Syrians will have their day – and Canada stands with them in their calls for a better brighter future.”
The Red Cross delivered aid to areas around the battered Baba Amro district of the Syrian city of Homs on Sunday, but was blocked from entering the former rebel stronghold itself, three days after anti-government fighters fled a month-long siege.
In a further indication civilians were being caught up in the conflict, up to 2,000 Syrians fled into neighbouring Lebanon, the UN Refugee Agency said.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said it had been prevented from entering Baba Amro by Syrian ground forces despite receiving government permission, a move activists said was to prevent aid workers witnessing army “massacres.”
After a month of bombardment by President Bashar Assad’s forces, concerns mounted for freezing, hungry and wounded civilians in Homs, which on Saturday had come under renewed shelling by government troops, anti-Assad activists said.
UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon said on Friday he had received “grisly reports” troops were executing and torturing people in Homs after insurgents abandoned their positions.
Late last month, Canada issued a stern warning to those opposing As-sad’s regime that the protection of religious minorities and good relations with the country’s neighbours must be a priority for any post-Assad government.
The demand, delivered by Baird in Tunisia, highlights the complex nature of the uprising in Syria as Canada and its allies struggle with a response to the crisis.
Baird and foreign ministers from the U.S., Britain, Qatar and other western and Arab countries were in Tunis to discuss ways to end the violence that has killed as many as 8,000 Syrians, and to begin a transition to democracy.
The ministers, meeting for the first time as the Friends of Syria, called on the Assad regime to stop its attacks on civilian areas and let in humanitarian aid – including $1.5 million in assistance announced by Baird at the conference.
OTTAWA — Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird says the top priority in Syria needs to be ending the violence.
Baird spoke to reporters from Montreaux, Switzerland, where he is attending the Geneva 2 peace talks on Syria to try to find a political solution to the civil war that has raged for more than two years.
Canada’s top concerns include humanitarian access and “the number of extremists and radicals” entering Syria, Baird said.
Baird reaffirmed that Syrian President Bashar Al Assad must go, and said “Canada strongly believes that those who commit war crimes should be held to account.”
One day before the peace talks began, hundreds of thousands of brutal images allegedly depicting the torture and murder of thousands of civilians at the hands of the Assad regime were smuggled out of the country and released to the media.
Baird called the images “deeply disturbing, shocking” and “frightening.”
Baird is representing Canada at the peace talks, which are attended by 40 countries and groups including the Arab League and the UN.
More than 2.3 million refugees have fled Syria and roughly 9.3 million Syrians are in need of humanitarian aid.
Oxfam says “millions of lives are riding on this event, which offers the best chance of ending the violence and alleviating the suffering of the millions of Syrians caught up in the conflict.”
The aid group also urged the international community to agree to a “complete halt” of arms and ammunitions transfers to Syria.
Canada targets Assad family by stepping up sanctions against Syria
Agence France-Presse | March 30, 2012 | Last Updated: Mar 30 4:46 PM ET
More from Agence France-Presse
Syria president Bashar al-Assad’s family the target of Canadian sanctions
MONTREAL — Canada tightened the sanctions Friday on Syria, targeting President Bashar al-Assad’s wife, mother, sister and sister-in-law a week after the European Union made a similar move.
Stepping up its sanctions as fighting raged after an embattled Assad said he had accepted a peace plan to put an end to a year of violence that has left over 9,000 dead, Canada said it sought a “Syria that respects the fundamental rights of all its people.”
“Canada’s position is clear: Assad must go,” Foreign Minister John Baird said in a statement.
The four Assad relatives were among 12 people and two oil companies added to an existing Canadian blacklist now totaling 127 people and 41 entities.
Under Canada’s seventh round of Syria sanctions, those cited will be subject to an asset freeze and a prohibition on economic dealings.
“These latest sanctions target in particular those who profit from their association with the regime and those closest to Assad, including his wife Asma,” Baird said.
“Assad’s family may be kept shielded from the misery of the average Syrian, but they will not be immune from international will.”
A stylish Western-educated former investment banker, Syria’s British-born first lady was widely expected to give the regime a more human face and shatter the isolation of the secretive Assad family.
But she became the focus of sharp criticism this month when Britain’s Guardian newspaper released e-mails showing the ruling couple shopping for luxury goods as the country slid into bloody chaos.
Baird is due in Istanbul on Sunday for a Friends of Syria meeting to head off the crisis.
The United States earlier hit Syria’s Defense Minister Dawoud Rajiha as well as the army’s deputy chief of staff and the head of presidential security with sanctions, with the Treasury Department saying it would hold individuals accountable for the bloody crackdown.
The EU sanctions — the union’s 13th round in less than a year — were announced a week ago. EU foreign ministers reiterated a plea for Assad to “step aside to allow for a peaceful and democratic transition.
Remember, politics is a contact sport, like hockey, so please feel free to add quick contributions, observations and relevant information as a comment below!
Contact us if you would like to contribute to our collaborative efforts or would like to share/submit articles, data or additional content, feel free to add feedback, additional info, alternative contact details, related links, articles, anonymous submission, etc. as a comment below, via web-form, through social media outlets or email us directly and confidentially at: dumpharper [at] live [dot] ca
This site may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in an effort to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. and intend its use to be for education and instructional purposes only. Therefore, we believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond “fair use,” you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
We’re really not sure what to make of this strange sequence of “reporting” via the CBC News Network. While it may be a simple case of coincidence, based upon our research, documentation and archiving, it seems more likely and highly plausible that this was an intentional method of subversive media manipulation, deception and censorship. If true, this is far more troubling propaganda campaign than we could have imagined. It is becoming more and more obvious that “We the People” of Canada and the West are being forced upon a war-footing unlike any other.
For this summary we’ll try to keep it somewhat short and stick to the basic info that is available at this time. Please refer to our previous summaries for more details if you are so inclined. Keep in mind that we are also following along with another troubling and coordinated propaganda campaign that is being waged against us as we type this.
Please allow us to review the 9th version of yesterdays propaganda campaign mentioned above. for this we will include 3 snapshots, from before, during and after the live airing of yesterday (28 August 2014) evenings Power & Politics program. Below that we will provide 2 (two) clips from yesterday evenings Power & Politics broadcast.
Article Snapshots
Version 9 is the most strikingly different version and the timing is really suspicious. It is also a very stripped down version of the “article” of the day. We must consider why it was “updated” at 5:01pm ET, which coincided with the start of the “live” broadcast of Power & Politics, and then was updated again at 5:55pm ET, just prior to Power & Politics ending. Here is the text of the title, authors and last updated timestamps along with the share and comment counts and the “url wording” and links. Below that you may take a peek for yourselves at the snapshots. It is also noteworthy that the “article” was updated several times after version 10 (see this summary for more details)
Version 8 – Before
UPDATED Ukraine crisis: UN Security Council members express outrage as Russian tanks roll in
20,000 Russian troops remain in Russia, near Ukraine border
The Associated Press Posted: Aug 28, 2014 5:31 AM ET | Last Updated: Aug 28, 2014 4:27 PM ET
494 shares
2069 Comments
UPDATED Ukraine crisis: UN Security Council members express outrage as Russian tanks roll in [archived v8] 20,000 Russian troops remain in Russia, near Ukraine border The Associated Press Posted: Aug 28, 2014 5:31 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 28, 2014 4:27 PM ET
UPDATED Ukraine crisis: Obama rules out military action [archived v9] NATO produces satellite imagery of Russia’s operations inside Ukraine The Associated Press Posted: Aug 28, 2014 5:31 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 28, 2014 5:01 PM ET
UPDATED Ukraine crisis: Obama rules out military action [archived v10] NATO produces satellite imagery of Russia’s operations inside Ukraine The Associated Press Posted: Aug 28, 2014 5:31 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 28, 2014 5:55 PM ET
Video Clips
Below you will find 2 (two) clips from yesterday evenings broadcast of Power & Politics.
The first features Chris Hall interviewing both former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State David Kramer and the Atlantic Council’s Irena Chalupa as they discuss Russia’s incursion into Ukraine and their “take” on the impact of sanctions against Russia. Since the CBC Player is terrible and so many have issues viewing anything, we have uploaded the clips to our ytube for easy access and sharing regardless of your device, ISP, technologies, etc. in addition to providing the Closed Captioning [CC] options and so we could embed them here and others may elsewhere as well.
It is very noteworthy to understand that Irena Chalupa is/was an employee of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), which is directly linked to Radio Svaboda, the propaganda wing of Ukraine’s Svaboda/Svoboda Party, which is funded by the US Government and was the primary propaganda voice against the former Soviet Union and “communism” during the Cold War era. In other words, she is a paid propagandist, thus anything she says is written for her by special interests. (see the copypasta footnote below taken directly from Wikipedia this morning for info about RFE/RL and more info about Svaboda/Svoboda Party)
The second clip features Chris hall interviewing Ambassador Vadym Prystaiko of Ukraine regarding the ongoing crisis, from the Kiev Government’s perspective.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a broadcaster funded by the U.S. government that provides “news, information, and analysis” to countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Middle East “where the free flow of information is either banned by government authorities or not fully developed”.[3] RFE/RL is supervised by the Broadcasting Board of Governors, a bi-partisan federal agency overseeing all U.S. international broadcasting services.[4]
RFE/RL was headquartered at Englischer Garten in Munich, Germany, from 1949 to 1995. In 1995, the headquarters were moved to Prague in the Czech Republic. European operations have been significantly reduced since the end of the Cold War. In addition to the headquarters, the service maintains 20 local bureaus in countries throughout their broadcast region, as well as a corporate office in Washington, D.C. RFE/RL broadcasts in 28 languages[5] to 21 countries[6] including Armenia, Russia, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq.[7]
Early history
Radio Free Europe
Radio Free Europe was created and grew in its early years through the efforts of the National Committee for a Free Europe (NCFE), a US anti-communist organization that was formed in New York City in 1949. The committee was composed of an “A list” of powerful U.S. citizens including former ambassador and first NCFE chairman Joseph Grew; Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director Allen Dulles; Reader’s Digest owner Dewitt Wallace; former diplomat and the co-founder of Public Opinion Quarterly Dewitt Clinton Poole; and prominent New York investment banker Frank Altschul.[8]
Radio Free Europe received widespread public support from Eisenhower’s “Crusade for Freedom” campaign.[9] In 1950, over 16 million Americans signed Eisenhower’s ‘Freedom Scrolls’ on a publicity trip to over 20 U.S. cities and contributed $1,317,000 to the expansion of RFE.[10]
The NCFE’s anti-communist mission was to support the refugees and provide them with a useful outlet for their opinions and creativity while increasing exposure to the modern world.[11] The NCFE divided its program into three parts: exile relations, radio, and American contacts.[8] Although exile relations were initially its first priority, Radio Free Europe (RFE) became the NCFE’s greatest legacy.
The United States funded a long list of projects to counter the Communist appeal among intellectuals in Europe and the developing world.[12] RFE was developed out of a belief that the Cold War would eventually be fought by political rather than military means.[13] American policymakers such as George Kennan and John Foster Dulles acknowledged that the Cold War was essentially a war of ideas. The implementation of surrogate radio stations was a key part of the greater psychological war effort.[10]
RFE was modeled after Radio in the American Sector (RIAS) a U.S. government-sponsored radio service initially intended for Germans living in the American sector of Berlin (but more widely listened to in East Germany).[14] Staffed almost entirely by Germans with minimal U.S. supervision, the station provided free media to German listeners.
Newly constructed building of CIA Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in Prague-Hagibor.
In January 1950 the NCFE obtained a transmitter base at Lampertheim, West Germany and on July 4 of the same year RFE completed its first broadcast aimed at Czechoslovakia.[15] In late 1950, RFE began to assemble a full-fledged foreign broadcast staff, becoming more than a “mouthpiece for exiles”.[16] Teams of journalists were hired for each language service and an elaborate system of intelligence gathering provided up-to-date broadcast material. Most of this material came from a network of well-connected emigres and interviews with travelers and defectors. RFE did not use paid agents inside the Iron Curtain and based its bureaus in regions popular with exiles.[17] RFE also extensively monitored Communist bloc publications and radio services, creating an impressive body of information that would later serve as a resource for organizations across the world.[18]
In addition to its regular broadcasts, RFE spread anti-communist propaganda through a series of balloon operations codenamed Prospero, Veto, Focus, and Spotlight. “Using Balloons To Breach The Iron Curtain”, RFE/RL Off-Mic Blog From October 1951 to November 1956, the skies of Central Europe were filled with more than 350,000 balloons carrying over 300,000,000 leaflets, posters, books, and other printed matter.[10] The nature of the leaflets varied, and included messages of support and encouragement to citizens suffering under communist oppression, satirical criticisms of communist regimes and leaders, information about dissident movements and human rights campaigns, and messages expressing the solidarity of the American people with the residents of Eastern European nations. The project served as a publicity tool to solidify RFE’s reputation as an anti-communist broadcaster.[19]
Radio Liberty
Whereas Radio Free Europe targeted satellite countries, Radio Liberty targeted the Soviet Union.[20] Radio Liberty was formed by American Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia (Amcomlib) in 1951.[21] Originally named Radio Liberation, the station was renamed in 1959 after a policy statement emphasizing ‘liberalization’ rather than “liberation”.[22]
Radio Liberty began broadcasting from Lampertheim on March 1, 1953, gaining a substantial audience when it covered the death of Joseph Stalin four days later. In order to better service a greater geographic area, RFE supplemented its shortwave transmissions from Lampertheim with broadcasts from a transmitter base at Glória in 1951.[23] It also had a base at Oberwiesenfeld Airport on the outskirts of Munich,[24] employing several former Nazi agents who had been involved in the Ostministerium under Gerhard von Mende during World War II.[25] In 1955 Radio Liberty began airing programs to Russia’s eastern provinces from shortwave transmitters located on Taiwan,[26] while in 1959 Radio Liberty commenced broadcasts from a base at Platja de Pals, Spain.[27]
Radio Liberty expanded its audience by broadcasting programs in numerous non-Russian languages. By March, 1954 Radio Liberty was broadcasting six to seven hours daily in eleven languages.[28] By December 1954, Radio Liberty was broadcasting in 17 languages including Ukrainian, Belarusian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Tajik, Turkmen, Uzbek, Tatar-Bashkir, Armenian, Azeri, Georgian, and other languages of the Caucasus and Central Asia.[22]
Cold War years
Radio Free Europe
RFE played a critical role in Cold War era Eastern Europe. Unlike government censored programs, RFE publicized anti-Soviet protests and nationalist movements. Its audience increased substantially following the failed Berlin riots of 1953 and the highly publicized defection of Józef Światło.[29] Its Hungarian service’s coverage of Poland’s Poznań riots in 1956 arguably served as an inspiration for the Hungarian revolution.[30]
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty transmitter site, Biblis, Germany
Hungary
RFE’s Hungarian service was accused of precipitating the 1956 Hungarian revolution by giving its Hungarian listeners false hope of Western military assistance.[31] However, later investigations of RFE’s involvement in the Hungarian revolution cleared the organization of these accusations, while also urging more caution in its broadcasts.[32] RFE’s Broadcast Analysis Division was established to ensure that broadcasts were accurate and professional while maintaining the journalists’ autonomy.[33]
Others argue, alternatively, that Radio Free Europe’s broadcasts may also have precipitated the Soviet crackdown on Hungary on November 3–4, 1956. Inflammatory broadcasts by émigrés may have caused Soviet leaders to doubt Hungarian leader Imre Nagy’s managerial skills, fear the power vacuum in Hungary, and conclude that a second military invasion was necessary. Moreover, the early balloon and leaflet operations initiated by the National Committee for Free Europe during Nagy’s first term as Hungarian prime minister (1953–1955)—namely “Operation Focus”—arguably antagonized Nagy and spawned a stern neutralism (later, hostility) toward him among U.S. diplomats and RFE broadcasters during the crisis.[34][35]
Romania
RFE was seen as a serious threat by Romanian president Nicolae Ceaușescu. From the mid-1970s to his overthrow and execution in December 1989, Ceaușescu waged a vengeful war against the RFE/RL under the program “Ether”. Ether operations include physical attacks on other Romanian journalists working for RFE/RL, including the controversial circumstances surrounding the deaths of three directors of RFE/RL’s Romanian Service.[36]
1981 RFE/RL Munich bombing
On February 21, 1981, RFE/RL’s headquarters in Munich was struck by a massive bomb, causing $2 million in damage. Several employees were injured, but there were no fatalities. Stasi files opened after 1989 indicated that the bombing was carried out by a group under the direction of Ilich Ramírez Sánchez (AKA Carlos the Jackal), and paid for by Nicolae Ceaușescu, president of Romania.[37]
Czechoslovakia
Communist governments also sent agents to infiltrate RFE’s headquarters. Although some remained on staff for extended periods of time, government authorities discouraged their agents from interfering with broadcast activity, fearing that this could arouse suspicions and detract from their original purpose of gathering information on the radios’ activities. From 1965 to 1971 an agent of the Służba Bezpieczeństwa (Communist Poland’s security service) successfully infiltrated the station with an operative, Captain Andrzej Czechowicz. According to former Voice of America Polish service director Ted Lipien, “Czechowicz is perhaps the most well known communist-era Polish spy who was still an active agent while working at RFE in the late 1960s. Technically, he was not a journalist. As a historian by training, he worked in the RFE’s media analysis service in Munich. After more than five years, Czechowicz returned to Poland in 1971 and participated in programs aimed at embarrassing Radio Free Europe and the United States government.”[38]
Other espionage incidents also included a failed attempt by a Czechoslovak Intelligence Service (StB) agent in 1959 to poison the salt shakers in the organization’s cafeteria.[39]
In late 1960, an upheaval in the Czechoslovak service led to a number of dramatic changes in the organization’s structure. RFE’s New York headquarters could no longer effectively manage their Munich subsidiary, and as a result major management responsibilities were transferred to Munich, making RFE a European-based organization.[40]
Broadcasts were often banned in Eastern Europe and Communist authorities used sophisticated jamming techniques in an attempt to prevent citizens from listening to them.[41] Polish Solidarity leader Lech Wałęsa and Russian reformer Grigory Yavlinsky would later recall secretly listening to the broadcasts despite the heavy jamming.[42]
Jamming
During the Cold War, Radio Liberty gained a reputation as one of the most reliable sources of international and internal news in the Soviet Union. Radio Liberty’s audience expanded significantly during the Cold War, despite Soviet attempts to compete with Western media.
After failed attempts to out-compete Western media, the Soviet government turned its efforts towards blocking reception of Western programs. To limit access to foreign broadcasts, the Central Committee decreed that factories should remove all components allowing short wave reception from USSR made radio receivers. However, consumers easily found out that the necessary spare parts were available on the black market while electronics engineers opposing the idea would gladly convert radios back to being able to receive short wave transmissions.[43] The most aggressive and extensive form of reception obstruction was radio jamming.
Jamming was controlled by the KGB, which in turn reported to the Central Committee. Jamming was an expensive and arduous procedure, and its efficacy is still debated. In 1958, the Central Committee mentioned that the sum spent on jamming was greater than the sum spent on domestic and international broadcasting combined.[44] The Central Committee has admitted that circumventing jamming was both possible and practised in the Soviet Union. Due to limited resources, authorities prioritized jamming based on the location, language, time, and theme of Western transmissions.[45] Highly political programs in Russian, broadcast at prime time to urban centers, were perceived as the most dangerous. Seen as less politically threatening, Western music such as jazz was often transmitted unjammed.[46] The intensity of jamming fluctuated over time. During and after the Cuban missile crisis in late 1962, jamming was intensified. The Cuban crisis, however, was followed by a five-year period when the jamming of most foreign broadcasters ceased, only to intensify again with the Prague Spring in 1968. It ceased again in 1973, when Kissinger became secretary of state. Jamming was completely and irreversibly stopped only after Gorbachev came to power by a decree to that effect on 29 September 1986.[47]
United States
During the Cold War RFE was often criticized in the United States as not being sufficiently anti-communist. Although its non-governmental status spared it from full scale McCarthyist investigations, several RFE journalists including the director of the Czech service, Ferdinand Peroutka, were accused of being soft on Communism.[48] Fulton Lewis a U.S. radio commentator and fervent anti-communist was one of RFE’s sharpest critics throughout the 1950s. His critical broadcasts inspired other journalists to investigate the inner workings of the organization including its connection to the CIA. Eventually it was exposed as a CIA-front organization in the 1960s, and funding responsibility shifted to Congress.[49]
Funding
RFE/RL received funds from the CIA until 1972.[50] The CIA’s relationship with the radio stations began to break down in 1967, when Ramparts magazine published an exposé claiming that the CIA was channeling funds to civilian organizations. Further investigation into the CIA’s funding activities revealed its connection to both RFE and RL, sparking significant media outrage[51]
In 1971 the radio stations came under public spotlight once again when prominent U.S. Senator Clifford Case introduced Senate Bill 18, which would have removed funding for RFE and RL from the CIA’s budget, appropriated $30 million to pay for fiscal year 1972 activities, and required the State Department to temporarily oversee the radio stations.[52] This was only a temporary solution, however, as the State Department was reluctant to take on such a significant long-term responsibility.
In May 1972 President Richard Nixon appointed a special commission to deliberate RFE/RL’s future.[53] The commission proposed that funding come from the United States Congress and that a new organization, the Board for International Broadcasting (BIB) would simultaneously link the stations and the federal government, and serve as an editorial buffer between them.[54]
Although both radio stations initially received most of their funding from the CIA, RFE maintained a strong sense of autonomy. Under Cord Meyer, the CIA officer in charge of overseeing broadcast services from 1954 to 1971, the CIA took a position of minimal government interference in radio affairs and programming.[55]
The CIA stopped funding Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty in 1972.[52] In 1974 they came under the control of an organization called the Board for International Broadcasting (BIB). The BIB was designed to receive appropriations from Congress, give them to radio managements, and oversee the appropriation of funds.[56] In 1976, the two radios merged to form Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) and added the three Baltic language services to their repertoire.
The 1980s and the fall of communism
Funding for RFE/RL increased during the Reagan Administration. President Ronald Reagan, a fervent opponent of Communism, urged the stations to be more critical of the communist regimes. This presented a challenge to RFE/RL’s broadcast strategy, which had been very cautious since the controversy over its alleged role in the Hungarian Revolution.[57]
During the Mikhail Gorbachev era in the Soviet Union, the radios worked hand in hand with Glasnost and benefited significantly from the Soviet regime’s new openness. Gorbachev stopped the practice of jamming the radios’ broadcasts, and dissident politicians and officials could be freely interviewed by the radios for the first time without fearing persecution or imprisonment.[58] By 1990 Radio Liberty had become the most listened-to Western radio station broadcasting to the Soviet Union.[59]
Its coverage of the 1991 August coup enriched sparse domestic coverage of the event and drew in a wide audience from throughout the region.[60] The broadcasts allowed Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin to stay in touch with the Russian people during this turbulent period. Boris Yeltsin later expressed his gratitude through a presidential decree allowing Radio Liberty to open a permanent bureau in Moscow.[61]
RFE/RL also played a significant role in the 1989 Velvet Revolution, which brought an end to the communist regime in Czechoslovakia. Following the November 17 demonstrations and brutal crackdown by Czechoslovak riot police, RFE/RL’s Czechoslovak service reported that a student, Martin Šmid, had been killed during the clashes. Although the report later turned out to be false – Šmid was alive and well – the story is credited by many sources with inspiring Czechoslovak citizens to join the subsequent (larger) demonstrations which eventually brought down the communist government.
Upon hearing about the story, RFE/RL did not run it immediately, but attempted to find a second corroborating source for the story, as per official RFE/RL policy. While a second source was never found, RFE/RL eventually decided to run the story of Šmid’s death after it was reported by several major news organizations, including Reuters, the Associated Press, and the Voice of America.[62]
In addition, Pavel Pechacek, the director of RFE/RL’s Czechoslovak service at the time, was mistakenly granted a visa to enter the country by the Czechoslovak authorities prior to the demonstrations. He reported live from the demonstrations in Wenceslas Square, and was virtually the only reporter covering the events fully and openly in the Czech language for a Czech audience.[63]
On January 31, 2004, RFE/RL launched broadcasts to the former Yugoslavia in Serbo-Croatian (Serbian-Croatian-Bosnian-Montenegrin). In the late 1990s RFE/RL launched broadcast to Kosovo in Albanian and to Macedonia in Macedonian. In 1995, RFE/RL moved its headquarters from Munich to Prague. The Clinton Administration reduced funding significantly and placed the radios under the United States Information Agency’s oversight.[55]
RFE/RL ended broadcasts to Hungary in 1993 and stopped broadcasts to Poland in 1997. Broadcast to the Czech Republic proceed for three more years under the agreement with Czech Radio. In 2004 RFE/RL stopped broadcasting to Estonia, Latvia, Slovakia, Croatia, Montenegro, Bulgaria, and Romania.
After the fall of communism
RFE/RL states that its mission is to serve as a surrogate free press in countries where a free press is banned by the government or not fully established. It maintains 20 local bureaus, but governments criticised often attempt to obstruct the radios’ activities through a range of tactics, including extensive jamming, shutting down local re-broadcasting affiliates, or finding legal excuses to close down offices.[64] In many of these countries, RFE/RL and similar broadcasters provide more reliable domestic news than local sources.
RFE/RL says that its journalists and freelancers often risk their lives to broadcast information, and their safety has always been a major issue, with reporters frequently threatened and persecuted.[65] RFE/RL also faces a number of central security concerns including cyberterrorist attacks[66] and general terrorist threats.[67] After the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York, American and Czech authorities agreed to move RFE/RL’s Prague headquarters away from the city center in order to make it less vulnerable to terrorist attack.[68] On February 19, 2009, RFE/RL began broadcasting from its modern new headquarters east of the city center.[69]
1994–2008, RFE/RL used the former Federal Parliament building of the abolished Czechoslovakia in Prague New Town. For many years past 2001, security concrete barriers reduced capacity of the most frequented roads in Prague center.
RFE/RL says that it continues to struggle with authoritarian regimes for permission to broadcast freely within their countries. On January 1, 2009, Azerbaijan imposed a ban on all foreign media in the country, including RFE/RL.[70] Kyrgyzstan suspended broadcasts of Radio Azattyk, RFE/RL’s Kyrgyz language service, requesting that the government be able to pre-approve its programming. Other states such as Belarus, Iran, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan prohibit re-broadcasting to local stations, making programming difficult for average listeners to access.
In 2008 Afghan president Hamid Karzai urged his government to provide assistance to a rape victim after listening to her story on Radio Azadi, RFE/RL’s Afghan service.[71] According to REF/RL in 2009, Radio Azadi was the most popular radio station in Afghanistan, and Afghan listeners mailed hundreds of hand-written letters to the station each month.[72]
In September 2009 RFE/RL announced that it would begin new Pashto-language broadcasting to the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region.[73]
The following month RFE/RL introduced a daily, one-hour Russian-language, US backed propaganda outlet, broadcasting to the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. The program, called Ekho Kavkaza (Echo of the Caucasus), focused on local and international ‘news and current affairs, organized in coordination with RFE/RL’s Georgian Service.[74]
On January 15, 2010, RFE/RL began broadcasting to the Pashtun tribal areas of Pakistan in Pashto. The service, known as Radio Mashaal, was created in an attempt to counter the growing number of “pirate” Islamic extremist radio stations broadcasting in the border region between Pakistan and Afghanistan. These pirate stations broadcast pro-Taliban messages as well as fatwas (religious edicts) by radical, pro-Taliban clerics.[citation needed]
A reporter for RFE/RL’s Afghan Service interviews a citizen in Helmand, Afghanistan
Radio Mashaal says that it broadcasts local and international news with in-depth reports on terrorism, politics, women’s issues, and health care (with an emphasis on preventive medicine). The station broadcasts roundtable discussions and interviews with tribal leaders and local policymakers, in addition to regular call-in programs.[75]
Remember, politics is a contact sport, like hockey, so please feel free to add quick contributions, observations and relevant information as a comment below!
Contact us if you would like to contribute to our collaborative efforts or would like to share/submit articles, data or additional content, feel free to add feedback, additional info, alternative contact details, related links, articles, anonymous submission, etc. as a comment below, via web-form, through social media outlets or email us directly and confidentially at: dumpharper [at] live [dot] ca
This site may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in an effort to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. and intend its use to be for education and instructional purposes only. Therefore, we believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond “fair use,” you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
Well, it has now been 3 weeks since we first realized that there was something rotten within the CBC News website as well as the Harper Regime’s narrative itself and today it has been confirmed. For those that may require a bit of a back story, please feel free to review our summary posts dated 07 August 2014, 24 August 2014 and 27 August 2014.
If this weren’t so pressing and important we wouldn’t even bother to go to such lengths in exposing this media manipulation. The fact that our national broadcaster is playing along with this game, is very troubling. One might begin to consider that they are either colluding with war-mongers or are utterly corrupted to the core or simply incompetent. Then again, considering the CBC News Network and the crew at Power & Politics and The National are spinning this deceptive web as well, maybe it’s all three. If so, their rush to war based upon fear and speculation equates to 3 strikes and yer out!
We do acknowledge that this is a bit confusing to many and it is rather difficult to decipher, but all we can do is present our findings so that you may decide for yourselves. We also must acknowledge that they are relying upon “wire” services for their reporting as opposed to actually performing the task of independent journalism by way of due diligence. Maybe it’s the budget cuts imposed by the Harper Regime or maybe it’s just simple fear, who really knows for certain.
What we do know is that this brand of yellow journalism and irresponsible reporting based upon lies, deceit, fear and speculation is toxic to our Nation. We also know that this yellow journalism and irresponsible reporting based lies, deceit, upon fear and speculation is damaging our economy. We also know that this yellow journalism and irresponsible reporting based upon lies, deceit, fear and speculation is spawning the seeds of hate that breeds ignorance. We also know that this yellow journalism and irresponsible reporting based upon lies, deceit, fear and speculation is a form of psychological warfare against “We the People” of Canada. This MUST stop!
Below you will find a series of snapshots of 1 (one) article that was published on 28 August 2014 via the CBC News website and propagated via the CBC News Network preceded by a numbered list with the title, author, posted time-stamp, last updated time-stamp, number of shares, comment counts and links at the time of our snapshots. Pay close attention to the sometimes subtle and other times blatant edits that only serve to suit the false narrative in the aggressive rush to war based upon fear and speculation.
Moving forward, it is worth noting that this “article” was “updated” at least 14 times as of the drafting of this summary. Not only that, but it was one of the more “popular” propaganda pieces published today that was pushed on the main CBC News “Home” page, the “World” page, the “Business” page and the various sidebars with various titles and headers. It is also noteworthy that some of the “updates” were minor while others were major and others were almost complete rewritten. It does seem as if the CBC News propaganda tram has taken heed of our previous summary article exposing their shenanigans and has decided to tone down the title changes and instead focus upon the content itself. Not that it matters much though, we make sure to archive the text of the content as well but we sometimes save that for future use.
Before we proceed we would like to point out that sadly, the “updates” are always spaced apart in such a way that sharing and commenting becomes rather prohibitive when attempting to find any shred of truth or providing any type of scrutiny and/or constructive discourse, not only within the comment thread on the CBC site itself, but throughout the social media circuit and the greater blogosphere. Of coarse the only “individuals” that seemed to be in sync with the “updates” are the pro-Harper hasbara trolls and Loyalists that are fed the scripted narrative to push. These “individuals” are very noticeable and work in tandem with each other and they usually do not refer to the content within the article itself and simply repeat the same comments over and over again. As a short footnote, we are acquiring a list of the most prominent trolls along with archives of their posted comments and will be publishing these findings in the future, after we submit them to the Opposition and the Ombudsman.
(note: hover over the images to view a short description, click to view full size, right click to open in new window/tab or save)
UPDATED Russian tanks enter Ukraine, fire missiles at border post [archived v1] 20,000 Russian troops remain in Russia, near Ukraine border The Associated Press Posted: Aug 28, 2014 5:31 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 28, 2014 10:58 AM ET 60 shares 584 Comments
UPDATED Russian tanks enter Ukraine, fire missiles at border post [archived v2] 20,000 Russian troops remain in Russia, near Ukraine border The Associated Press Posted: Aug 28, 2014 5:31 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 28, 2014 11:56 AM ET
UPDATED Ukraine crisis: Russian tanks enter Ukraine, fire missiles at border post [archived v3] 20,000 Russian troops remain in Russia, near Ukraine border The Associated Press Posted: Aug 28, 2014 5:31 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 28, 2014 1:14 PM ET
LIVE Ukraine crisis: Russian tanks enter Ukraine, fire missiles at border post [archived v4] 20,000 Russian troops remain in Russia, near Ukraine border The Associated Press Posted: Aug 28, 2014 5:31 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 28, 2014 2:20 PM ET
LIVE Ukraine crisis: UN Security Council holds emergency meeting as Russian tanks roll in 20,000 Russian troops remain in Russia, near Ukraine border [archived v5] The Associated Press Posted: Aug 28, 2014 5:31 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 28, 2014 2:55 PM ET
LIVE Ukraine crisis: UN Security Council members express outrage as Russian tanks roll in [archived v6] 20,000 Russian troops remain in Russia, near Ukraine border The Associated Press Posted: Aug 28, 2014 5:31 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 28, 2014 3:28 PM ET
UPDATED Ukraine crisis: UN Security Council members express outrage as Russian tanks roll in [archived v7] 20,000 Russian troops remain in Russia, near Ukraine border The Associated Press Posted: Aug 28, 2014 5:31 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 28, 2014 4:01 PM ET
UPDATED Ukraine crisis: UN Security Council members express outrage as Russian tanks roll in [archived v8] 20,000 Russian troops remain in Russia, near Ukraine border The Associated Press Posted: Aug 28, 2014 5:31 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 28, 2014 4:27 PM ET
UPDATED Ukraine crisis: Obama rules out military action [archived v9] NATO produces satellite imagery of Russia’s operations inside Ukraine The Associated Press Posted: Aug 28, 2014 5:31 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 28, 2014 5:01 PM ET
UPDATED Ukraine crisis: Obama rules out military action [archived v10] NATO produces satellite imagery of Russia’s operations inside Ukraine The Associated Press Posted: Aug 28, 2014 5:31 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 28, 2014 5:55 PM ET
UPDATED Ukraine crisis: Obama rules out military action [archived v11] NATO produces satellite imagery of Russia’s operations inside Ukraine The Associated Press Posted: Aug 28, 2014 5:31 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 28, 2014 6:59 PM ET
UPDATED Ukraine crisis: Obama rules out military action [archived v12] NATO produces satellite imagery of Russia’s operations inside Ukraine The Associated Press Posted: Aug 28, 2014 5:31 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 28, 2014 7:31 PM ET
UPDATED Ukraine crisis: Obama rules out military action [archived v13] NATO produces satellite imagery of Russia’s operations inside Ukraine The Associated Press Posted: Aug 28, 2014 5:31 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 28, 2014 8:06 PM ET
UPDATED Ukraine crisis: Obama rules out military action [archived v14] NATO produces satellite imagery of Russia’s operations inside Ukraine The Associated Press Posted: Aug 28, 2014 5:31 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 28, 2014 8:36 PM ET
Brief Summary
Versions 1 and 2 contain the direct link to Petro Poroshenko’s statement titleed “Ukrainian president’s statement [http://www.president.gov.ua/en/news/31102.html]” within the left “External Links” sidebar.
In Version 3 the top photo was swapped to link to a video titled “Russian tanks enter Ukraine, fire missiles at border post 1:58” and the first title and url wording change was implemented. The “link” from Poroshenko’s statement was also completely removed in Version 3 and all subsequent versions. It was replaced by the “See satellite imagery released by NATO [http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/photos_112112.htm]” link within the left “External Links” sidebar.
Version 5 seen a title change and url wording swap along with some major changes to the text content including snippets from the UN Security Council meeting into the “articles” well before it was concluded.
Version 6 seen another title change and url wording swap as well as more changes to the text content with more snippets from the UNSC meeting. Version 6 also introduced the “Russian stock markets dived” meme but failed to mention the sinking stock markets of the West. Of coarse U.S. Ambassador Samantha Powers’ statements made it into several paragraphs.
Version 9 is the most striking and the timing is really suspicious as it is a very stripped down version of the “article” and considering it was “updated” at 5:01pm ET, which coincided with the start of the “live” broadcast of Power & Politics, and then was updated again at 5:55pm ET, just before Power & Politics ended. It was also noted that Obama stated he spoke with German Chancellor Angela Merkel about the situation and stopped short of calling it an invasion. Obama also stated that military action from the West is not on the table.
Version 10 seen another title change and url wording swap plus added some of the text portions from the previous versions and included a new “crisis map” of the region along with the response from the Harper Regime’s John Baird as well as the new header “Russia must stop lying” based upon the grandiose statement by Samantha Powers.
The rest of the versions pretty much massaged the content and stripped out a lot to streamline and suit the narrative.
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Remember, politics is a contact sport, like hockey, so please feel free to add quick contributions, observations and relevant information as a comment below!
Contact us if you would like to contribute to our collaborative efforts or would like to share/submit articles, data or additional content, feel free to add feedback, additional info, alternative contact details, related links, articles, anonymous submission, etc. as a comment below, via web-form, through social media outlets or email us directly and confidentially at: dumpharper [at] live [dot] ca
This site may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in an effort to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. and intend its use to be for education and instructional purposes only. Therefore, we believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond “fair use,” you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
Almost 3 (three) weeks ago, 07 August 2014 to be exact, we noticed something strange occurring with the “articles” that were being published and presented by our national broadcaster, the CBC News Network, who happens to be “celebrating” their 25th birthday.
The article we published seemed to draw some mixed responses, from outrage to disgust to suspicions about our motivations, especially from Harper Regime Loyalists and our critics that seem to favour the status quo. In addition, for those that “trust” the CBC News Network and the MSM for the most part, the very thought of the supposed “free press” being biased and/or compromised by special interests is beyond the pale.
It is for the reasons mentioned above that we decided to dig a bit deeper and diligently follow along as events unfolded as more “articles” were published and more reports were broadcasted. Surely we could have picked just about any topic, yet we chose to stick to one that is of utmost importance, in our opinion anyway, since it is one that may lead us into a catastrophic war of unprecedented proportions. For some additional information about how false propaganda and outright lies can lead “We the People” down this perilous road and how easy it is to be unwittingly led astray by those within the power structures, we recommend a couple of CBC documentaries, The Lies That Led To War and The Spies Who Fooled the World.
After some valuable feedback and critique we realized that our last summary article was a bit hard to digest and compare the carefully crafted edits for many, since it was primarily word based and lacked a strong visual component. So to present this case, we will provide a series of image galleries, since a picture is worth a thousand words.
Before we proceed, it should be noted that in addition to the false and misleading propaganda component we will present, we would like you to pay close attention to the “timing” of the “updates” plus the title and sub-title edits plus the url “wording” changes plus the share counts and then consider how our multiple timezones may fit into the bigger deception strategy being deployed as well as the number of comments at each point. Be sure to pay attention to the changing “authors” as well and ponder how more than one wire service can be swapped out midstream. Another noteworthy factor is connected to how trolls and hasbara operatives “work” the comment sections of the MSM and Alternative outlets which is extremely relevant to more than one issue that the Harper Regime firmly and unconditionally stands behind.
Also worth serious consideration are the “sources” of the propaganda and their “sources” along with the non-stop accusations that are based upon unsubstantiated and unproven speculations as opposed to any real facts. Some of this was recently covered in our last article and video presentation.
FYI: To those within the CBC, this “challenge” is being offered to you because we love you and would prefer that you would reflect upon the damage you are inflicting upon yourselves as you are simply playing right into the Harper Regime’s bloody hands. They have made no bones about their desire to gut your funding and privatize your remains for pennies on the dollar. If there is one shred of journalist integrity left within your organization, please do the right thing and stop peddling pre-canned propaganda, we’ll do the rest.
UPDATED Shelling rocks Novoazovsk in southeastern Ukraine [archived v1] 10 Russian soldiers reported captured near eastern border: Kyiv The Associated Press Posted: Aug 26, 2014 5:52 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 26, 2014 7:39 AM ET
UPDATED Shelling rocks Novoazovsk in southeastern Ukraine [archived v2] 10 Russian soldiers reported captured near eastern border: Kyiv The Associated Press Posted: Aug 26, 2014 5:52 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 26, 2014 8:26 AM ET
UPDATED Ukraine crisis: Putin, Poroshenko meet in Minsk amid border violence [archived v3] Shelling rocks southeastern Ukraine town of Novoazovsk The Associated Press Posted: Aug 26, 2014 5:52 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 26, 2014 10:19 AM ET
Ukraine crisis: Putin, Poroshenko meet in Minsk amid border violence [archived v4] Shelling rocks southeastern Ukraine town of Novoazovsk The Associated Press Posted: Aug 26, 2014 5:52 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 26, 2014 12:12 PM ET
UPDATED Ukraine crisis: Poroshenko says ‘roadmap’ to ceasefire with Russia possible [archived v5] Shelling rocks southeastern Ukraine town of Novoazovsk Thomson Reuters Posted: Aug 26, 2014 5:52 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 26, 2014 6:00 PM ET
Ukraine crisis: Poroshenko says ‘roadmap’ to ceasefire with Russia possible [archived v6] Putin disavows Russian involvement in talks with rebels Thomson Reuters Posted: Aug 26, 2014 5:52 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 26, 2014 10:29 PM ET
Ukraine crisis: Russia plans to second aid convoy to eastern Ukraine [archived v1] Thomson Reuters Posted: Aug 25, 2014 6:15 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 25, 2014 6:15 AM ET
UPDATED Ukraine crisis: Russian tanks crossed border, Kyiv alleges [archived v2] The Associated Press Posted: Aug 25, 2014 6:15 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 25, 2014 11:25 AM ET
UPDATED Ukraine crisis: Russian tanks crossed border, Kyiv alleges [archived v3] The Associated Press Posted: Aug 25, 2014 6:15 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 25, 2014 12:47 PM ET
Ukraine crisis: Ukraine will hold a parliamentary election on Oct. 26 [archived v4] The Associated Press Posted: Aug 25, 2014 6:15 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 25, 2014 3:18 PM ET
Ukraine crisis: Ukraine to hold parliamentary election Oct. 26 [archived v5] The Associated Press Posted: Aug 25, 2014 6:15 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 25, 2014 5:10 PM ET
Ukraine crisis: Ukraine to hold parliamentary election Oct. 26 [archived v6] The Associated Press Posted: Aug 25, 2014 6:15 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 25, 2014 5:33 PM ET
Ukraine crisis: Ukraine to hold parliamentary election Oct. 26 [archived v7] The Associated Press Posted: Aug 25, 2014 6:15 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 25, 2014 7:16 PM ET
NEW Ukrainian president marks independence day with $3B US defence spending boost [archived v1] The Associated Press Posted: Aug 24, 2014 9:21 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 24, 2014 9:21 AM ET
NEW Ukrainian president marks independence day with $3B US defence spending boost [archived v2] The Associated Press Posted: Aug 24, 2014 9:21 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 24, 2014 1:25 PM ET
Ukraine’s independence day marked by rival shows of force [archived v3] Thomson Reuters Posted: Aug 24, 2014 9:21 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 24, 2014 2:41 PM ET
COMING UP LIVE Ukraine crisis: Russian aid convoy crosses border without Kyiv OK [archived v1] Russia said it was no longer prepared to tolerate any delays The Associated Press Posted: Aug 22, 2014 4:25 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 22, 2014 12:05 PM ET
UPDATED Russia denies aid convoy in Ukraine is to arm rebels [archived v2] Russia unilaterally decides to cross border, saying it tolerated enough delays The Associated Press Posted: Aug 22, 2014 4:25 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 22, 2014 1:52 PM ET
U.S. condemns Russian aid convoy into Ukraine, threatens more sanctions [archived v3] Russia unilaterally decides to cross border, saying it tolerated enough delays The Associated Press Posted: Aug 22, 2014 4:25 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 22, 2014 3:08 PM ET
U.S. condemns Russian aid convoy into Ukraine, threatens more sanctions [archived v4] Russia unilaterally decides to cross border, saying it tolerated enough delays The Associated Press Posted: Aug 22, 2014 4:25 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 22, 2014 4:13 PM ET
UPDATED U.S. condemns Russian aid convoy into Ukraine, threatens more sanctions [archived v5] Russia unilaterally decides to cross border, saying it tolerated enough delays The Associated Press Posted: Aug 22, 2014 4:25 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 22, 2014 5:11 PM ET
UPDATED U.S. condemns Russian aid convoy into Ukraine, threatens more sanctions [archived v6] Meanwhile, “there was no unanimity of views” during UN emergency consultations The Associated Press Posted: Aug 22, 2014 4:25 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 22, 2014 7:21 PM ET
U.S. condemns Russian aid convoy into Ukraine, threatens more sanctions [archived v7] UN emergency consultations reveal “no unanimity of views” The Associated Press Posted: Aug 22, 2014 4:25 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 22, 2014 8:28 PM ET
U.S. condemns Russian aid convoy into Ukraine, threatens more sanctions [archived v8] UN emergency consultations reveal “no unanimity of views” The Associated Press Posted: Aug 22, 2014 4:25 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 22, 2014 10:29 PM ET
UPDATED Ukraine artillery destroys part of Russian armoured column [archived v1] ‘Part of it no longer exists’ Ukrainian military spokesman says of column The Associated Press Posted: Aug 15, 2014 2:14 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 15, 2014 11:55 AM ET
UPDATED Ukraine says its artillery destroyed part of Russian armoured column [archived v2] ‘Part of it no longer exists,’ Ukrainian military spokesman says of armoured convoy Thomson Reuters Posted: Aug 15, 2014 2:14 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 15, 2014 1:12 PM ET
UPDATED Ukraine says it destroyed Russian military vehicles crossing border [archived v3] Moscow stoutly denies reported incursion The Associated Press Posted: Aug 15, 2014 2:14 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 15, 2014 2:50 PM ET
UPDATED Ukraine says it destroyed Russian military vehicles crossing border [archived v4] Moscow denies report, while Merkel presses Putin The Associated Press Posted: Aug 15, 2014 2:14 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 15, 2014 4:52 PM ET
Ukraine says it destroyed Russian military vehicles crossing border [archived v5] Moscow denies report, while Merkel presses Putin The Associated Press Posted: Aug 15, 2014 2:14 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 15, 2014 5:02 PM ET
Ukraine says it destroyed Russian military vehicles crossing border [archived v6] Moscow denies report, while Merkel presses Putin The Associated Press Posted: Aug 15, 2014 2:14 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 15, 2014 10:43 PM ET
UPDATED Ukraine rebel leader open to a ceasefire [archived v1] Unconfirmed reports indicate Ukrainian forces gaining in eastern region The Associated Press Posted: Aug 09, 2014 12:52 PM ET Last Updated: Aug 09, 2014 2:10 PM ET
Ukraine crisis: Rebel leader open to a ceasefire as forces advance [archived v2] Artillery reverberates across Donetsk, home to nearly 1 million before 300,000 fled the conflict The Associated Press Posted: Aug 09, 2014 12:52 PM ET Last Updated: Aug 09, 2014 5:35 PM ET
Ukraine crisis: Rebel leader open to a ceasefire as forces advance [archived v3] Artillery reverberates across Donetsk, home to nearly 1 million before 300,000 fled the conflict The Associated Press Posted: Aug 09, 2014 12:52 PM ET Last Updated: Aug 09, 2014 7:43 PM ET
Russia bans food imports from Canada, other countries for 1 year [archived v1] Ban covers meat, fish, milk, fruit, vegetables from Canada, the U.S., EU The Canadian Press Posted: Aug 07, 2014 5:31 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 07, 2014 9:53 AM ET
Russia sanctions show Putin’s ‘short-sighted desperation,’ Canada says [archived v2] Ban covers meat, fish, milk, fruit, vegetables from Canada, the U.S., EU CBC News Posted: Aug 07, 2014 5:31 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 07, 2014 2:56 PM ET
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Remember, politics is a contact sport, like hockey, so please feel free to add quick contributions, observations and relevant information as a comment below!
Contact us if you would like to contribute to our collaborative efforts or would like to share/submit articles, data or additional content, feel free to add feedback, additional info, alternative contact details, related links, articles, anonymous submission, etc. as a comment below, via web-form, through social media outlets or email us directly and confidentially at: dumpharper [at] live [dot] ca
This site may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in an effort to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. and intend its use to be for education and instructional purposes only. Therefore, we believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond “fair use,” you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
Yesterday, (23Aug2014), the “muted” 23rd Ukrainian Independence Day “celebration” was held in Toronto’s Centennial Park. Instead of the usual AP (Associated Propaganda) reports, CBC’s Shannon Martin covered the event and rather remarkably decided to take a peek behind the Maidan’s Veil for all to see.
What is most surprising about this report was what was hidden in plain sight for all to see. While it was not blatantly obvious, several key facts emerged that should be rather concerning to everyone. Oddly enough, this is the same “see no evil” strategy that was employed as the violence in Kiev erupted this past winter.
The dissected clip above is presented in 2 (two) parts and will open a Pandora’s Box that may not surprise some and be rather uncomfortable to others, especially those that have been led astray by the relentless and blatant false propaganda that we have been fed by the MSM over the past several months.
This 2 minute clip envelopes some of the more nefarious participants within the civil war that plagues Ukraine and ties them directly to the Harper Regime itself.
Once one considers the ramifications and implications of how little Harper’s Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Chris Alexander actually knows or wants to know about the world in which we inhabit, things get very troubling.
His disconcerting words and tone alone are bad enough, but his contempt with regards to the question are mind boggling to say the least considering the answers only lie a few metres away.
Make no mistake, this “man” is not fit to be an M.P. let alone a Minister with such an important portfolio. He is either psychologically damaged, completely corrupted, incompetent or ignorant to reality or exists in some alternative reality that puts vote pandering and political posturing above human lives.
How and why should we trust this “man” to make decisions that not only affect our society as a whole, but our National security as well.
To summarize, the first portion is the same clip as the second portion. The only difference is that in the second with the exception we take a closer look over the shoulder of Harper’s Minister Alexander when asked to “comment” about Right Sector Canada being in attendance. The “red” circles say the rest…
Please note that this is a “draft” summary article that will be updated with more information and relevant details over the next few days. Please consider offering additional content as a comment below or by contacting us via web-form, email or social media. See below for some backgrounders about the Right Sector and pass it on to Harper, Alexander, the Opposition and the Press!
Update: There was actually an article published on the CBC’s French Radio-Canada site that has recently been forwarded to us. The g**gle translated article is below, followed by the text of the original. If someone could verify and or edit the translation, it would be greatly appreciated. 🙂
Sunday, August 24, 2014 4 h 35
The Ukrainian community celebrated the National Day of Ukraine in Toronto Saturday. Besides the families singing and dancing, there were also men in the uniform of a soldier of the Canadian branch of the Ukrainian paramilitary group, Right Sector.
Photo: Stéphane Blais
A paramilitary group in the celebrations of the National Day of Ukraine in Toronto
The Ukrainian community celebrated the National Day of Ukraine in Toronto Saturday. Besides the families singing and dancing, there were also men in the uniform of a soldier of the Canadian branch of the Ukrainian paramilitary group, Right Sector.
A specialist from the Ukraine, Dominique Arel says that “some of them if not a neo-Nazi far-right ideology. It’s a minority, but a very vocal minority. ”
In front of his stand, the group solicits donations. The coordinator of the Canadian branch, Petro Shkilnyk says that many Ukrainian members do not have weapons, so the money raised is used in particular in their purchase.
Premier of Ontario, Kathleen Wynne, Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, candidate for mayor Olivia Chow and John Tory and the federal Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, Chris Alexander, participated in the celebrations the Ukrainian community.
When he was asked what he thinks to participate as an event where a group asks for money in order to buy weapons, Chris Alexander replied that he did not know and asked another question: “Are you doing the same interviews with Canadian companies doing business with the government of Russia? We must ask them. ”
The Prime Minister Kathleen Wynne for his part, was not available to speak to media.
Dimanche 24 août 2014 4 h 35
La communauté ukrainienne a célébré la Fête nationale de l’Ukraine à Toronto samedi. À côté des familles qui chantaient et dansaient, il y avait aussi des hommes en uniforme de soldat de la branche canadienne du groupe de paramilitaire ukrainien, Right Sector.
Photo : Stéphane Blais
Un groupe paramilitaire aux célébrations de la Fête nationale de l’Ukraine à Toronto
La communauté ukrainienne a célébré la Fête nationale de l’Ukraine à Toronto samedi. À côté des familles qui chantaient et dansaient, il y avait aussi des hommes en uniforme de soldat de la branche canadienne du groupe de paramilitaire ukrainien, Right Sector.
Un spécialiste de l’Ukraine, Dominique Arel, explique que « certains d’entre eux ont une idéologie d’extrême droite, sinon néonazie. C’est une minorité, mais une minorité très active ».
Devant son stand, le groupe sollicite des dons. Le coordonnateur de la branche canadienne, Petro Shkilnyk, explique que plusieurs des membres ukrainiens n’ont pas d’armes, alors l’argent amassé sert notamment, à leur en acheter.
La première ministre de l’Ontario, Kathleen Wynne, le maire de Toronto, Rob Ford, des candidats à la mairie Olivia Chow et John Tory ainsi que le ministre fédéral de la Citoyenneté et de l’Immigration, Chris Alexander, ont participé aux célébrations de la communauté ukrainienne.
Lorsqu’il lui a été demandé ce qu’il pense de participer un événement où un tel groupe demande de l’argent dans le but d’acheter des armes, Chris Alexander a répondu qu’il n’est pas au courant et a posé une autre question : « Est-ce que vous êtes en train de faire les mêmes entrevues auprès de compagnies canadiennes qui font affaire avec le gouvernement de la Russie ? Il faut leur poser la question ».
La première ministre Kathleen Wynne de son côté, n’était pas disponible pour parler aux médias.
Interpol International Red Notice: Dmitry Yarosh Wanted: Public Incitement to Terrorist and Extremist Activities If you have any information please contact Your national or local police General Secretariat of INTERPOL This extract of the Red Notice has been approved for public dissemination http://www.interpol.int/notice/search/wanted/2014-16549
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We regret to inform our fellow Canadians and the rest of the World that our publicly funded broadcaster has seemingly and purposely selectively edited 2 (two) articles today with regards to the ongoing crisis in Ukraine. This should be of great concern to everyone considering the implications and are calling on the RCMP to immediately conduct an investigation into this matter of National security. In addition, we would like the CBC Ombudsman, CRTC and any independent body to also launch an investigation so that those responsible may be immediately be held accountable.
This war-mongering propaganda campaign MUST stop and someone needs to be behind bars. This is not limited to those within the CBC, but also those that may be involved from the PMO as well as the Harper Regime’s Conservative Party of Canada along with any/all Opposition Members that may have knowledge of this travesty. Not only is this detrimental to the freedom of our press corp, but it is extremely damaging to our economy and the psychological well being of our citizenry.
Propaganda + Cold Wars + Free Trade = Trade Wars = Economic Wars = Currency Wars = Energy Wars = Real Hot Wars
This war against “We the People” of Canada MUST stop and we are issuing a cease and desist ultimatum. If the Opposition cannot stand by us, than they can and must stand down. We are NOT going to war for a bunch of neocon/neolib corporate globalists nor are we willing to pay the costs associated with this war you seek to start in our name. You may feel free to send your sons and daughters to fight your imaginary boogeyman and you may feel free to pay the financial costs as well, period.
Below you will find copypasta’s of what we have uncovered thus far along with a brief summary of each. Please note that these articles from the AP are really nothing more than Associated Propaganda and we have noticed and been tracking the selective editing of the AP articles published via the CBC for quite some time. These are not simply “updates”, they are narrative adjustments meant to cause confusion and conflict between viewers, readers, social media users, other independent researchers, bloggers and media the access them at different times of the day/night.
Article 1
UPDATED
Ukraine conflict: Shelling in rebel-held city kills 4
Fighting between government and pro-Russian separatists inches ever closer to the city centre
The Associated Press Posted: Aug 07, 2014 7:17 AM ET
Last Updated: Aug 07, 2014 10:17 AM ET
Sustained shelling in the main rebel stronghold in eastern Ukraine struck residential buildings and a hospital, killing at least four people and wounding 10 others, officials said, as government forces pressed forward in their campaign to rout the separatists.
Mortar fire struck the Vishnevskiy Hospital in Donetsk on Thursday morning, killing one and wounding five others, Donetsk city council spokesman Maxim Rovensky told The Associated Press.
“There was a sudden explosion,” witness Dr. Anna Kravtsova said. “A mortar round flew through the window.”
The shelling, which destroyed an array of equipment in the dentistry unit, also hit three nearby apartment buildings.
It followed a night of shelling in another neighbourhood as the fighting between the government and pro-Russian separatists is inching ever closer to the city centre. The mayor’s office said in a statement posted on its website that three people had been killed, five wounded and several residential buildings destroyed during those attacks.
The government denies it uses artillery against residential areas, but that claim has come under substantial strain in the face of mounting evidence to the contrary.
Pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine have been fighting the Kyiv government since April. Ukraine and Western countries have accused Moscow of backing the mutiny with weapons and soldiers, a claim the Russian government has repeatedly denied.
The West has also accused Russia of most likely providing the insurgents with surface-to-air missiles that may have been used to shoot down a Malaysia Airlines passenger jet over rebel-held territory on July 17, killing all 298 people on board.
Clashes in Kyiv
Clashes erupted in central Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, as city authorities sought to clear away the remnants of a tent colony erected by demonstrators involved in the street uprising against pro-Russia President Viktor Yanukovych. At the time, protesters were angry about endemic corruption and wanted closer ties with the European Union.
In scenes reminiscent of that revolt, which climaxed with Yanukovych’s ouster in February, demonstrators set alight tires in their face-off against a volunteer battalion overseeing the clean-up operation.
In eastern Ukraine, government troops have made tentative progress in their strategy to retake Donetsk and other towns and cities. Armed forces have refrained from pitched urban battles, and instead favoured pushing back their opponents with artillery fire. It has led to a growing number of civilian casualties.
Vishnevskiy Hospital, one of the city’s larger medical treatment facilities, is around four kilometres from the main square. It has been used to provide treatment to civilian victims of the ongoing conflict.
“The hospital became a nightmare. This is absurd,” said 37-year old patient Dmitry Kozhur. “We came here to keep living, but now we are risking death.”
Kozhur said he now wants to join the 300,000 people that the mayor’s office says have already abandoned the once 1 million-person strong city.
As AP reporters were leaving the hospital, they heard the sound of four rounds of artillery being fired from a nearby neighbourhood under rebel control. Although it wasn’t immediately possible to confirm the sequence of events, it appeared that the shells that hit the hospital may have been a response to rebel fire.
‘New quality and quantity of arms’
Neighbours of a house struck by rockets Wednesday said their homes were also near a position used by rebel artillery forces.
Special forces detain an activist during a clash in Kyiv’s Independence Square on Thursday. (Efrem Lukatsky/Associated Press)
As the rebels struggle to push back Kyiv’s forces, fears of Russian intervention have grown. Western leaders have accused Russia of massing troops on the border with Ukraine and supplying rebels with weapons..
“We’ve noted with concern a new quality and quantity of arms and equipment flowing across the border from Russia into Ukraine, reports of shelling across the border as well as further attacks by illegal armed groups on targets in eastern Ukraine,” said Sebastien Brabant, a spokesman for the EU’s foreign policy chief.
Russia has always denied such claims.
The Ukrainian army strategy has focused on driving a wedge between Donetsk and the other main stronghold of Luhansk. Efforts to seal off the border with Russia have been thwarted as border troops come under sustained and heavy rocket fire. Ukraine says a lot of those attacks have been carried out by Russian troops, which Moscow also fervently denies.
Article 1 was “updated” and the title as well as the “wording” associated with the url was changed. In addition this update actually swapped out some images and also removed the image of the crackdown at Maidan in Kiev that is included in the above version. It may also be noteworth that there were only 8 comments when we first reviewed the article above and only 11 when we relocated it, as it was removed from the main World News page and noticed the edits and updates.
UPDATED
Ukraine conflict: Russia must ‘step back from the brink,’ NATO chief says
Shelling in rebel-held city kills 4
The Associated Press
Posted: Aug 07, 2014 7:17 AM ET
Last Updated: Aug 07, 2014 11:26 AM ET
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen on Thursday called on Russia to pull its troops back from the border with Ukraine and “step back from the brink.”
Rasmussen, speaking in Kyiv after NATO said on Wednesday that Russia had amassed 20,000 troops near the border and could be planning a ground invasion of its neighbour, said Russia “should not use peace-keeping as an excuse for war-making.”
The downing of a Malaysian airliner on July 17 was a tragic consequence of Russia’s “reckless” policy of supporting the separatists and seeking to de-stabilize Ukraine, he said.
Meanwhile, sustained shelling in the main rebel stronghold in eastern Ukraine struck residential buildings and a hospital, killing at least four people and wounding 10 others, officials said, as government forces pressed forward in their campaign to rout the separatists.
Mortar fire struck the Vishnevskiy Hospital in Donetsk on Thursday morning, killing one and wounding five others, Donetsk city council spokesman Maxim Rovensky told The Associated Press.
“There was a sudden explosion,” witness Dr. Anna Kravtsova said. “A mortar round flew through the window.”
UKRAINE-CRISIS/KIEV
A protester sits in front of burning barricades during clashes with pro-government forces at Independence Square in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv. The latest violence in the country’s east has killed at least four and wounded ten. (Konstantin Chernichkin/Reuters)
The shelling, which destroyed an array of equipment in the dentistry unit, also hit three nearby apartment buildings.
It followed a night of shelling in another neighbourhood as the fighting between the government and pro-Russian separatists is inching ever closer to the city centre. The mayor’s office said in a statement posted on its website that three people had been killed, five wounded and several residential buildings destroyed during those attacks.
The government denies it uses artillery against residential areas, but that claim has come under substantial strain in the face of mounting evidence to the contrary.
Pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine have been fighting the Kyiv government since April. Ukraine and Western countries have accused Moscow of backing the mutiny with weapons and soldiers, a claim the Russian government has repeatedly denied.
The West has also accused Russia of most likely providing the insurgents with surface-to-air missiles that may have been used to shoot down a Malaysia Airlines passenger jet over rebel-held territory on July 17, killing all 298 people on board.
Clashes in Kyiv
Clashes erupted in central Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, as city authorities sought to clear away the remnants of a tent colony erected by demonstrators involved in the street uprising against pro-Russia President Viktor Yanukovych. At the time, protesters were angry about endemic corruption and wanted closer ties with the European Union.
In scenes reminiscent of that revolt, which climaxed with Yanukovych’s ouster in February, demonstrators set alight tires in their face-off against a volunteer battalion overseeing the clean-up operation.
In eastern Ukraine, government troops have made tentative progress in their strategy to retake Donetsk and other towns and cities. Armed forces have refrained from pitched urban battles, and instead favoured pushing back their opponents with artillery fire. It has led to a growing number of civilian casualties.
‘The hospital became a nightmare … We came here to keep living, but now we are risking death.’ – Dmitry Kozhur, patient at Vishnevskiy Hospital
Vishnevskiy Hospital, one of the city’s larger medical treatment facilities, is around four kilometres from the main square. It has been used to provide treatment to civilian victims of the ongoing conflict.
“The hospital became a nightmare. This is absurd,” said 37-year old patient Dmitry Kozhur. “We came here to keep living, but now we are risking death.”
Kozhur said he now wants to join the 300,000 people that the mayor’s office says have already abandoned the once 1 million-person strong city.
As AP reporters were leaving the hospital, they heard the sound of four rounds of artillery being fired from a nearby neighbourhood under rebel control. Although it wasn’t immediately possible to confirm the sequence of events, it appeared that the shells that hit the hospital may have been a response to rebel fire.
‘New quality and quantity of arms’
Neighbours of a house struck by rockets Wednesday said their homes were also near a position used by rebel artillery forces.
UKRAINE-CRISIS/
A Ukrainian serviceman uses a pair of binoculars as he guards a checkpoint in the Donetsk region. A mortar hit a large hospital in Donetsk Thursday. (Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters)
As the rebels struggle to push back Kyiv’s forces, fears of Russian intervention have grown. Western leaders have accused Russia of massing troops on the border with Ukraine and supplying rebels with weapons..
“We’ve noted with concern a new quality and quantity of arms and equipment flowing across the border from Russia into Ukraine, reports of shelling across the border as well as further attacks by illegal armed groups on targets in eastern Ukraine,” said Sebastien Brabant, a spokesman for the EU’s foreign policy chief.
It is also worth noting that the article below was edited as well midway through the day. This is proof positive that this “story” is being consistently spun in order to confuse the citizens. Propaganda 101 states that it is not wise to edit article in such a way, not only does this cause doubt to how independent the “free press” is, but it discredits any and all reports from said “free” press.
Updated: 9:50 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 7, 2014 | Posted: 9:49 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 7, 2014 Shelling in rebel-held Ukrainian city kills 4
By YURAS KARMANAU
The Associated Press
DONETSK, Ukraine —
Sustained shelling in the main rebel stronghold in eastern Ukraine struck residential buildings and a hospital, killing at least four people and wounding 10 others, officials said, as government forces pressed forward in their campaign to rout the separatists.
Mortar fire struck the Vishnevskiy Hospital in Donetsk on Thursday morning, killing one and wounding five others, Donetsk city council spokesman Maxim Rovensky told The Associated Press.
“There was a sudden explosion,” witness Dr. Anna Kravtsova said. “A mortar round flew through the window.”
The shelling, which destroyed an array of equipment in the dentistry unit, also hit three nearby apartment buildings.
It followed a night of shelling in another neighborhood as the fighting between the government and pro-Russian separatists is inching ever closer to the city center. The mayor’s office said in a statement posted on its website that three people had been killed, five wounded and several residential buildings destroyed during those attacks.
The government denies it uses artillery against residential areas, but that claim has come under substantial strain in the face of mounting evidence to the contrary.
Pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine have been fighting the Kiev government since April. Ukraine and Western countries have accused Moscow of backing the mutiny with weapons and soldiers, a claim the Russian government has repeatedly denied.
The West has also accused Russia of most likely providing the insurgents with surface-to-air missiles that may have been used to shoot down a Malaysia Airlines passenger jet over rebel-held territory on July 17, killing all 298 people on board.
Clashes erupted in central Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, as city authorities sought to clear away the remnants of a tent colony erected by demonstrators involved in the street uprising against pro-Russia President Viktor Yanukovych. At the time, protesters were angry about endemic corruption and wanted closer ties with the European Union.
In scenes reminiscent of that revolt, which climaxed with Yanukovych’s ouster in February, demonstrators set alight tires in their face-off against a volunteer battalion overseeing the clean-up operation.
In eastern Ukraine, government troops have made tentative progress in their strategy to retake Donetsk and other towns and cities. Armed forces have refrained from pitched urban battles, and instead favored pushing back their opponents with artillery fire. It has led to a growing number of civilians casualties.
Vishnevskiy Hospital, one of the city’s larger medical treatment facilities, is around 4 kilometers (less than 3 miles) from the main square. It has been used to provide treatment to civilian victims of the ongoing conflict.
“The hospital became a nightmare. This is absurd,” said 37-year old patient Dmitry Kozhur. “We came here to keep living, but now we are risking death.”
Kozhur said he now wants to join the 300,000 people that the mayor’s office says have already abandoned the once 1 million-person strong city.
As AP reporters were leaving the hospital, they heard the sound of four rounds of artillery being fired from a nearby neighborhood under rebel control. Although it wasn’t immediately possible to confirm the sequence of events, it appeared that the shells that hit the hospital may have been a response to rebel fire.
Neighbors of a house struck by rockets Wednesday said their homes were also near a position used by rebel artillery forces.
As the rebels struggle to push back Kiev’s forces, fears of Russian intervention have grown. Western leaders have accused Russia of massing troops on the border with Ukraine and supplying rebels with weapons..
“We’ve noted with concern a new quality and quantity of arms and equipment flowing across the border from Russia into Ukraine, reports of shelling across the border as well as further attacks by illegal armed groups on targets in eastern Ukraine,” said Sebastien Brabant, a spokesman for the EU’s foreign policy chief.
Russia has always denied such claims
The Ukrainian army strategy has focused on driving a wedge between Donetsk and the other main stronghold of Luhansk. Efforts to seal off the border with Russia have been thwarted as border troops come under sustained and heavy rocket fire. Ukraine says a lot of those attacks have been carried out by Russian troops, which Moscow also fervently denies.
In Kiev, demonstrators confronted city workers clearing a main square of long-standing barricades in a standoff that turned violent. A group of men set light to fuel-drenched tires and remonstrated with armed men from a pro-government battalion charged with protecting clean-up workers.
Dark plumes of acrid smoke from burning rubber rose above Independence Square as workers in high-visibility vests worked fast to dismantle barricades surrounding the main stage.
The square and surrounding streets were the site of huge winter protests that led to Yanukovych’s ouster. Despite the election in May of a successor — 48-year old billionaire confectionery tycoon Petro Poroshenko — many said they would continue to squat on the square to ensure the new authorities lived up to their promise to usher in an era of transparent and accountable rule.
Many Kiev residents have fumed over the months-long sit-in, however, complaining that it severely disrupts traffic and blights the city’s main thoroughfare.
City authorities have been negotiating with the protesters to clear the square since a new mayor was elected, but have met strong resistance from the several hundred demonstrators still camped out there.
While many barricades were removed Thursday, numerous tents remain in place.
___
Peter Leonard reported from Kiev. Juergen Baetz contributed to this report from Brussels.
The text and title of this version of the AP article was also changed and adjusted to the false propaganda narrative.
Updated: 2:04 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 7, 2014 | Posted: 2:03 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 7, 2014 NATO pledges support to conflict-wracked Ukraine
By PETER LEONARD
The Associated Press
KIEV, Ukraine —
NATO’s chief defied mounting Russian belligerence Thursday with a pledge to provide assistance to Ukraine, which is battling to quash an insurgency being waged by pro-Russia rebels in the country’s east.
The show of support from Anders Fogh Rasmussen comes as government troops increasingly focus their push to claw back rebel-held territory on the stronghold of Donetsk. Ukraine appears to be ratcheting up the urgency of its onslaught against the backdrop of an alleged escalation of Russian troop presence on the border.
“In response to Russia’s aggression, NATO is working even more closely with Ukraine to reform its armed forces and defense institutions,” Rasmussen said during a visit to the Ukrainian capital, Kiev.
In a sign of sagging morale among rebel forces, separatist authorities issued a desperate plea for assistance Thursday, complaining in a statement that a “critical situation has developed with the militia’s food, uniform and ammunition supplies.”
In Donetsk, sustained shelling struck residential buildings and a hospital, killing at least four people and wounding 10 others, local officials said.
Mortar fire struck the Vishnevskiy Hospital on Thursday morning, killing one and wounding five others, Donetsk city council spokesman Maxim Rovensky told The Associated Press.
“There was a sudden explosion,” witness Dr. Anna Kravtsova said. “A mortar round flew through the window.”
The shelling, which destroyed an array of equipment in the dentistry unit, also hit three nearby apartment buildings.
It followed a night of shelling in another neighborhood as the fighting between the government and pro-Russian separatists is inching ever closer to the city center. The mayor’s office said in a statement posted on its website that three people had been killed, five wounded and several residential buildings destroyed during those attacks.
The government denies it uses artillery against residential areas, but that claim has come under substantial strain in the face of mounting evidence to the contrary.
Pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine have been fighting the Kiev government since April. Ukraine and Western countries have accused Moscow of backing the mutiny with weapons and soldiers. The West accused Russia of most likely providing the insurgents with surface-to-air missiles that may have been used to shoot down a Malaysia Airlines passenger jet over rebel-held territory on July 17, killing all 298 people on board.
The Russian government has repeatedly denied all those charges.
More recently, Moscow has drawn accusations it is attempting to sow more instability with an intimidating show of force by dispatching what NATO estimates is 20,000 troops to Ukraine’s eastern border. That deployment has led many to speculate Russia may pursue an incursion under the guise of restoring stability to eastern Ukraine.
“I call on Russia to step back from the brink. Step back from the border. Do not use peacekeeping as an excuse for war-making,” Rasmussen said.
While stopping short of committing to direct assistance in Ukraine’s ongoing conflict, Rasmussen said that NATO would intensify its cooperation with Ukraine on defense planning and reform.
Hours before Rasmussen’s arrival, clashes erupted in central Kiev as city authorities sought to clear away the remnants of a tent colony erected by demonstrators involved in the street uprising against pro-Russia President Viktor Yanukovych. At the time, protesters were angry about endemic corruption and wanted closer ties with the European Union.
In scenes reminiscent of that revolt, which climaxed with Yanukovych’s ouster in February, demonstrators set alight tires in their face-off against a volunteer battalion overseeing the clean-up operation.
In eastern Ukraine, government troops have made tentative progress in their strategy to retake Donetsk and other towns and cities. Armed forces have refrained from pitched urban battles, and instead favored pushing back their opponents with artillery fire. It has led to a growing number of civilians casualties.
Vishnevskiy Hospital, one of the city’s larger medical treatment facilities, is around 4 kilometers (less than 3 miles) from the main square. It has been used to provide treatment to civilian victims of the ongoing conflict.
“The hospital became a nightmare. This is absurd,” said 37-year old patient Dmitry Kozhur. “We came here to keep living, but now we are risking death.”
Kozhur said he now wants to join the 300,000 people that the mayor’s office says have already abandoned the once 1 million-person strong city.
As AP reporters were leaving the hospital, they heard the sound of four rounds of artillery being fired from a nearby neighborhood under rebel control. Although it wasn’t immediately possible to confirm the sequence of events, it appeared that the shells that hit the hospital may have been a response to rebel fire.
Neighbors of a house struck by rockets Wednesday said their homes were also near a position used by rebel artillery forces.
The Ukrainian military’s strategy has focused on driving a wedge between Donetsk and the other main stronghold of Luhansk. Efforts to seal off the border with Russia have been thwarted as border troops come under sustained and heavy rocket fire. Ukraine says a lot of those attacks have been carried out by Russian troops, which Moscow also fervently denies.
___
Karmanau reported from Donetsk, Ukraine. Juergen Baetz contributed to this report from Brussels.
Below are two versions of another article published and edited today by the CBC that have seemingly been scrubbed to avoid mentioning the violent crackdown in Kiev today as well as title and url “wording” changes like Article 1 above. Since it was a little more subtle, other than adding irrelevant Harper Regime Minister photo-op vote pandering dribblings, and done behind the scenes within the slideshow scripts, we’ll present both for further review of the text portion. Of special concern is the image swaps (where the text 1 of 13 is located in the article) which are explained further down. The most noteworthy is image 1, the removal of the violent crackdown in Kiev. Please note that this article is a combo of files from the AP (Associated Propaganda) as well as Reuters in cahoots with The Canadian Press.
Russia bans food imports from Canada, other countries for 1 year
Ban covers meat, fish, milk, fruit, vegetables from Canada, the U.S., EU
The Canadian Press Posted: Aug 07, 2014 5:31 AM ET
Last Updated: Aug 07, 2014 9:53 AM ET
Russia is responding to fresh sanctions from Canada, the U.S. and other countries with a ban on food imports for a year.
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev says the ban covers Canada, the U.S. the European Union, Australia, Norway and covers:
Meat.
Fish.
Milk and milk products.
Fruit and vegetables.
The move announced Thursday was taken on orders from President Vladimir Putin in response to sanctions imposed over the crisis in Ukraine. The ban will cost Western farmers billions of dollars but also isolates Russian consumers from world trade to a degree unseen since Soviet days.
Russia’s sanctions will mostly affect Canada’s pork industry. Canada’s agricultural exports to Russia amounted to $563 million in 2012, according to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, and most of them were frozen pork.
Canada on Wednesday slapped new sanctions and travel bans on several top Russian and Ukrainian politicians and groups with ties to Putin’s government. Those sanctions, imposed in co-ordination with the U.S. and the EU, came amid reports Russia is massing thousands of troops along the Ukrainian border.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has frequently said Russia’s occupation of the Crimean Peninsula and provocative military activity in eastern Ukraine is a “grave concern” to Canada and the world.
Harper said Canada is prepared to take further actions if Putin’s government continues its military aggression.
Russian economy already showing effects
The announcement saw Russian bond yields rise to their highest levels in years and Moscow’s already reeling share prices extend a sell-off.
Agriculture Minister Nikolai Fyodorov acknowledged that the measures would cause a short-term spike in inflation, but said he did not see a danger in the medium or long term. He said Russia would compensate with more imports of products from other suppliers such as Brazilian meat and New Zealand cheese.
Russia Sanctions
A woman shops at a supermarket in downtown Moscow on Thursday. Russia’s new sanctions were made in response to sanctions imposed on Russia by the West over the crisis in Ukraine. (Ivan Sekretarev/Associated Press)
Russia depends heavily on imported foodstuffs — most of it from the West — particularly in the largest and most prosperous cities such as Moscow. In 2013 the EU’s agricultural exports to Russia totalled $15.8 billion US, while the U.S. Department of Agriculture says food and agricultural imports from the U.S. amounted to $1.3 billion.
Medvedev argued that the ban would give Russian farmers, who have struggled to compete with Western products, a good chance to increase their market share.
But experts said that local producers will find it hard to fill the gap left by the ban, as the nation’s agricultural sector has continued to suffer from poor efficiency and shortage of funds.
While the government claimed it will move quickly to replace Western imports by importing more food from Latin America, Turkey and ex-Soviet nations to avoid empty shelves and price hikes, analysts predicted that it will further speed up inflation.
Moscow will be hit hard
The damage to consumers inflicted by the ban will be felt particularly hard in big cities like Moscow, where imported food fills an estimated 60-70 per cent of the market.
Russians have relished imported food since the fall of the Soviet Union, when year-round supplies of fresh fruit and vegetables arrived and ubiquitous cheap American frozen chicken quarters became known as “Bush’s legs” after the then president.
Medvedev said Russia is also considering banning Western carriers from flying over Russia on flights to and from Asia — a move that would significantly swell costs and increase flight time. He said a decision on that hasn’t been made yet.
Protesters hold a Molotov cocktail during clashes with pro-government forces at Independence Square in Kyiv on Thursday. Tensions flared in the square, the scene of street protests that toppled a Moscow-backed president in February, when protesters still camped there clashed with city workers who tried to clear away their tents.
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Russia may also introduce restrictions regarding imports of planes, navy vessels and cars, Medvedev said, but added that the government will realistically assess its own production potential.
Medvedev made it clear that Russia hopes that the sanctions will make the West revise its policy and stop trying to pressure Russia with sanctions.
“We didn’t want such developments, and I sincerely hope that our partners will put a pragmatic economic approach above bad policy considerations,” he said, adding that the ban could be lifted earlier if the West shows a “constructive approach.”
If the West doesn’t change course, Russia may follow up by introducing restrictions regarding imports of planes, navy vessels, cars and other industrial products, Medvedev warned, but added that the government will move carefully.
“The government understands how important such co-operation is, and naturally, we have a realistic assessment of our own capacities,” he said.
EU Commission spokesman Frederic Vincent voiced regret about the ban. He said the commission still has to assess the potential impact, and reserves “the right to take action as appropriate.”
This article was a little more subtly edited as the day progressed. While we are still sifting through the text, the most noteworthy edit was to the slideshow (13 of 13) contained towards the end. The first 2 images were swapped out, one was related to the violent crackdown in Kiev and the other was of the situation in the hospital (see below for the urls and captions).
Russia sanctions show Putin’s ‘short-sighted desperation,’ Canada says
Ban covers meat, fish, milk, fruit, vegetables from Canada, the U.S., EU
CBC News Posted: Aug 07, 2014 5:31 AM ET
Last Updated: Aug 07, 2014 2:56 PM ET
Canada will not be intimidated by Russia’s ban on its food imports, Industry Minister James Moore said Thursday, warning that the sanctions will hurt Russian consumers more than Canadians.
“We will certainly look at the impact of these sanctions on the Canadian economy, but they will in no way cause us to have any hesitation in the principled position we’ve taken in opposing [Russian President] Vladimir Putin’s regime,” Moore said during a news conference in Montreal.
Russia responded Thursday to fresh sanctions from Canada, the U.S. and other countries with a ban on food imports for a year. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev announced that the ban includes Canada, the U.S. the European Union, Australia, Norway and others. Banned items include:
Meat.
Fish.
Milk and dairy products.
Fruit and vegetables.
Moore said the sanctions show the importance of expanding free trade, including the Harper government’s drive toward a free-trade deal with the European Union.
Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz made similar comments in a statement Thursday, criticizing Putin’s “short-sighted desperation.”
“Our government will continue to put Canada’s national interests first, but we cannot allow business interests alone to dictate our foreign policy,” Ritz said.
Industry Minister James Moore
Industry Minister James Moore said Canada won’t back down in the face of sanctions from Russia. (Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)
Russia’s move was taken on orders from Putin in response to sanctions imposed over the crisis in Ukraine. The ban will cost farmers in North America, Europe and Australia billions of dollars but also isolates Russian consumers from world trade to a degree unseen since Soviet days.
Canada had on Wednesday slapped new sanctions and travel bans on several top Russian and Ukrainian politicians and groups with ties to Putin’s government. Those sanctions, imposed in co-ordination with the U.S. and the EU, came amid reports Russia is massing thousands of troops along the Ukrainian border.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has frequently said Russia’s occupation of the Crimean Peninsula and provocative military activity in eastern Ukraine is a “grave concern” to Canada and the world.
Russia’s sanctions will mostly affect Canada’s pork industry. Canada’s agricultural exports to Russia amounted to $563 million in 2012, though Jim Laws of the Canadian Meat Council said that number dropped to $260 million last year.
Laws told CBC News Network pork producers will start to feel the effects right away, with up to 1,000 container loads of pork on ships bound for Russia.
Laws was optimistic that much of the meat could be re-directed to other countries or back to Canada, but said that the redirection alone would cost the industry “quite a bit of money.”
“We’re fortunate that we have many markets for pork around the world. Last year, we sold some $3.2 billion worth of pork to over 120 different countries. Russia, however, was the fourth most important market” behind U.S., Japan and China, he said.
Geoff Irvine, head of the Lobster Council of Canada, said the Russian sanctions are “not good for Canada.”
“For lobster, Russia is a small but potentially good market. The biggest impact on seafood in Canada will be on northern shrimp, and maybe cheaper fish like Pacific hake and herring.”
Russia depends heavily on imports
Russian stock indexes initially fell by about 1.5 per cent on the news before recovering most of the losses a few hours later.
Agriculture Minister Nikolai Fyodorov acknowledged that the measures would cause a short-term spike in inflation, but said he did not see a danger in the medium or long term. He said Russia would compensate with more imports of products from other suppliers such as Brazilian meat and New Zealand cheese.
Russia depends heavily on imported foodstuffs — most of it from the West — particularly in the largest and most prosperous cities such as Moscow. In 2013, the EU’s agricultural exports to Russia totalled $15.8 billion US, while the U.S. Department of Agriculture says food and agricultural imports from the U.S. amounted to $1.3 billion.
Russia Sanctions
A woman shops at a supermarket in downtown Moscow on Thursday. Russia’s new sanctions were made in response to sanctions imposed on Russia by the West over the crisis in Ukraine. (Ivan Sekretarev/Associated Press)
Medvedev argued that the ban would give Russian farmers, who have struggled to compete with Western products, a good chance to increase their market share.
But experts said that local producers will find it hard to fill the gap left by the ban, as the nation’s agricultural sector has continued to suffer from poor efficiency and shortage of funds.
While the government claimed it will move quickly to replace Western imports by importing more food from Latin America, Turkey and ex-Soviet nations to avoid empty shelves and price hikes, analysts predicted that it will further speed up inflation.
Chris Weafer, an analyst at Macro Advisory in Moscow, said the ban will likely speed up inflation and further cloud an already grim economic outlook. “Along with higher interest rates, higher food costs will mean that households have less money to spend and that will depress the economy,” he said.
Market watchers said consumers in the expensive food segment will suffer the most, losing access to goods like French cheeses and Parma ham, but others will also eventually feel the brunt as food variety will shrink and inflationary pressures increase. With retail chains stocked up for months ahead, the ban will take time to hurt, however.
The measure led to sardonic comments across Russian online media and liberal blogs, bringing reminiscences of empty store shelves during the Soviet times, but there was no immediate indication of consumers trying to stock up.
Moscow will be hit hard
The damage to consumers inflicted by the ban will be felt particularly hard in big cities like Moscow, where imported food fills an estimated 60-70 per cent of the market.
Russians have relished imported food since the fall of the Soviet Union, when year-round supplies of fresh fruit and vegetables arrived and ubiquitous cheap American frozen chicken quarters became known as “Bush’s legs” after the then president.
Medvedev said Russia is also considering banning Western carriers from flying over Russia on flights to and from Asia — a move that would significantly swell costs and increase flight time. He said a decision on that hasn’t been made yet.
A Ukrainian army sapper shows reporters an IED that pro-Russian separatists allegedly left behind during their retreat at a checkpoint outside the eastern Ukrainian village of Nikishyne on Aug. 1.
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Russia may also introduce restrictions regarding imports of planes, navy vessels and cars, Medvedev said, but added that the government will realistically assess its own production potential.
Medvedev made it clear that Russia hopes that the sanctions will make the West revise its policy and stop trying to pressure Russia with sanctions.
“We didn’t want such developments, and I sincerely hope that our partners will put a pragmatic economic approach above bad policy considerations,” he said, adding that the ban could be lifted earlier if the West shows a “constructive approach.”
EU Commission spokesman Frederic Vincent voiced regret about the ban. He said the commission still has to assess the potential impact, and reserves “the right to take action as appropriate.”
With files from The Canadian Press, The Associated Press and Reuters
Below are the original images that were in the slideshow. oddly enough they implicate the Kiev Regime. the first is from the violent crackdown that seems to be covered under a media blackout, while the second implicated the Kiev Regime’s ongoing aerial assault, bombardment and onslaught against Ukrainians in Donetsk.
Protesters hold a Molotov cocktail during clashes with pro-government forces at Independence Square in Kyiv on Thursday. Tensions flared in the square, the scene of street protests that toppled a Moscow-backed president in February, when protesters still camped there clashed with city workers who tried to clear away their tents
Local residents cry and hug each other as they sit in a hospital basement being used as a bomb shelter after shelling, in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, on Aug. 7. Fighting in the rebel stronghold of Donetsk claimed more civilian casualties, bringing new calls from Russian nationalists for President Vladimir Putin to send in the army
People emerge the morning of Aug. 6 to inspect the rubble of damaged buildings following what was described as a airstrike by Ukrainian forces in Donetsk on Wednesday. NATO says it fears Russia is poised to invade under the pretext of humanitarian aid
A Ukrainian soldier mans a checkpoint in the eastern city of Debaltseve on Aug. 6. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday slapped a one-year ban and restriction on food and agricultural product imports from nations that have imposed sanctions on Russia over its defiant stance on Ukraine
People emerge the morning of Aug. 6 to inspect the rubble of damaged buildings following what was described as a airstrike by Ukrainian forces in Donetsk on Wednesday. NATO says it fears Russia is poised to invade under the pretext of humanitarian aid
Armed pro-Russian separatists stand guard at a checkpoint in the settlement of Yasynuvata, outside Donetsk, on Aug. 5. NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said in an emailed statement that the treaty organization was concerned Moscow could use the pretext of peacekeeping as an excuse to send troops into eastern Ukraine
Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko, second from left, meets with heads of security and force services in Kyiv on Aug. 6. Kyiv denies launching an artillery barrage and air raids against residential neighbourhoods in Donestsk and accuses the rebels of firing at civilian areas, claims that Human Rights Watch and others have questioned
A man removes debris from a ruined building on the outskirts of the eastern Ukrainian town of Slovyansk on Aug. 6
Ukrainian servicemen on board an armoured vehicle patrol the eastern Ukrainian town of Kramatorsk on Aug. 5. Airstrikes and artillery fire between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian troops in the region have brought the shadow of war closer than ever to the urban core of some of the east’s larger cities
Ukrainian servicemen fire artillery rounds against pro-Russian separatists near Pervomaisk, in the Luhansk region, on Aug. 2
A Ukrainian army sapper shows reporters an IED that pro-Russian separatists allegedly left behind during their retreat at a checkpoint outside the eastern Ukrainian village of Nikishyne on Aug. 1
Article 2 Image Swaps
Below are the 2 new replacements for images 1 and 2 that were edited midway through the day.
Boys play a game of war in the eastern Ukrainian town of Kramatorsk on Aug. 7, 2014. Russia responded Thursday to fresh sanctions from Canada, the U.S. and other countries with a ban on food imports for a year. The ban includes food stuffs like milk, fish, meat and vegetables.
Smoke billows from the flaming debris of a crashed Ukrainian fighter jet near the village of Zhdanivka, some 40 km northeast of the rebel stronghold of Donetsk, on Thursday. The the Sukhoi warplane was blasted out of the air while flying low over rebel-held territory in eastern Ukraine, An AFP crew reported, with the parachute of at least one pilot opening up in the clear blue sky.
Suspiciously Missing image
The image below seems to be intended as a thumbnail related to the violent crackdown against protesters in Kiev as it is also located in the alternative Associated propaganda article presented above.
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Logo of the Azov Battalion.
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![Ukraine crisis: EU threatens Russia with more sanctions [archived v5] Kyiv claims thousands of Russian troops operating in country's east The Associated Press Posted: Aug 30, 2014 6:00 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 30, 2014 8:38 PM ET](https://dumpharper.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/ukraine-crisis-eu-gives-russia-ultimatum-threatens-sanctions-1-2751305-article_5.jpg "Ukraine crisis: EU threatens Russia with more sanctions [archived v5]")
![Ukraine crisis: Putin urges safe passage for surrounded government troops [archived v1] Statement comes after U.S. says Russia lying about role in escalating conflict The Associated Press Posted: Aug 29, 2014 3:25 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 29, 2014 3:27 AM ET](https://dumpharper.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/ukraine-crisis-putin-urges-safe-passage-for-surrounded-government-troops-1-2750162-article_1.jpg "Ukraine crisis: Putin urges safe passage for surrounded government troops [archived v1]")
![UPDATED Ukraine crisis: Rebels agree to give Ukrainian troops safe passage [archived v2] Ukrainian troops must first lay down arms, top rebel leader Alexander Zakharchenko says The Associated Press Posted: Aug 29, 2014 3:25 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 29, 2014 5:50 AM ET](https://dumpharper.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/ukraine-crisis-rebels-agree-to-give-ukrainian-troops-safe-passage-1-2750162-article_2.jpg "UPDATED Ukraine crisis: Rebels agree to give Ukrainian troops safe passage [archived v2]")
![UPDATED Ukraine crisis: Rebels agree to give Ukrainian troops safe passage [archived v3] Ukrainian troops must first lay down arms, top rebel leader Alexander Zakharchenko says The Associated Press Posted: Aug 29, 2014 3:25 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 29, 2014 6:40 AM ET](https://dumpharper.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/ukraine-crisis-rebels-agree-to-give-ukrainian-troops-safe-passage-1-2750162-article_3.jpg "UPDATED Ukraine crisis: Rebels agree to give Ukrainian troops safe passage [archived v3]")
![Ukraine crisis: Rebels agree to give Ukrainian troops safe passage [archived v4] Ukrainian troops must first lay down arms, top rebel leader Alexander Zakharchenko says The Associated Press Posted: Aug 29, 2014 3:25 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 29, 2014 7:46 AM ET](https://dumpharper.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/ukraine-crisis-rebels-agree-to-give-ukrainian-troops-safe-passage-1-2750162-article_4.jpg "Ukraine crisis: Rebels agree to give Ukrainian troops safe passage [archived v4]")
![Ukraine crisis: Pro-Russia rebels control coastal town [archived v5] Rebels want to eventually push to major port city of Mariupol, leader in coastal town says The Associated Press Posted: Aug 29, 2014 3:25 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 29, 2014 10:02 AM ET](https://dumpharper.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/ukraine-crisis-pro-russia-rebels-control-coastal-town-1-2750162-article_5.jpg "Ukraine crisis: Pro-Russia rebels control coastal town [archived v5] Rebels want to eventually push to major port city of Mariupol, leader in coastal town says The Associated Press Posted: Aug 29, 2014 3:25 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 29, 2014 10:02 AM ET")
![UPDATED Ukraine seeks NATO membership to gain Western military aid [archived v6] European foreign ministers meet, discuss further economic sanctions against Russia Thomson Reuters Posted: Aug 29, 2014 3:25 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 29, 2014 12:52 PM ET](https://dumpharper.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/ukraine-seeks-nato-membership-to-gain-western-military-aid-1-2750162-article_6.jpg "UPDATED Ukraine seeks NATO membership to gain Western military aid [archived v6]")
![UPDATED Ukraine seeks NATO membership to gain Western military aid [archived v7] European foreign ministers meet, discuss further economic sanctions against Russia Thomson Reuters Posted: Aug 29, 2014 3:25 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 29, 2014 3:39 PM ET](https://dumpharper.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/ukraine-seeks-nato-membership-to-gain-western-military-aid-1-2750162-article_7.jpg "UPDATED Ukraine seeks NATO membership to gain Western military aid [archived v7]")
![Ukraine seeks NATO membership to gain Western military aid [archived v8] European foreign ministers meet, discuss further economic sanctions against Russia Thomson Reuters Posted: Aug 29, 2014 3:25 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 29, 2014 3:50 PM ET](https://dumpharper.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/ukraine-seeks-nato-membership-to-gain-western-military-aid-1-2750162-article_8.jpg "Ukraine seeks NATO membership to gain Western military aid [archived v8]")
![UPDATED Ukraine crisis: UN Security Council members express outrage as Russian tanks roll in [archived v8] 20,000 Russian troops remain in Russia, near Ukraine border The Associated Press Posted: Aug 28, 2014 5:31 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 28, 2014 4:27 PM ET](https://dumpharper.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/ukraine-crisis-un-security-council-members-express-outrage-as-russian-tanks-roll-in-1-2749066-article_08.jpg "UPDATED Ukraine crisis: UN Security Council members express outrage as Russian tanks roll in [archived v8]")
![UPDATED Ukraine crisis: Obama rules out military action [archived v9] NATO produces satellite imagery of Russia's operations inside Ukraine The Associated Press Posted: Aug 28, 2014 5:31 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 28, 2014 5:01 PM ET](https://dumpharper.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/ukraine-crisis-obama-rules-out-military-action-1-2749066-article_09.jpg "UPDATED Ukraine crisis: Obama rules out military action [archived v9]")
![UPDATED Ukraine crisis: Obama rules out military action [archived v10] NATO produces satellite imagery of Russia's operations inside Ukraine The Associated Press Posted: Aug 28, 2014 5:31 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 28, 2014 5:55 PM ET](https://dumpharper.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/ukraine-crisis-obama-rules-out-military-action-1-2749066-article_10.jpg "UPDATED Ukraine crisis: Obama rules out military action [archived v10]")
![UPDATED Russian tanks enter Ukraine, fire missiles at border post [archived v1] 20,000 Russian troops remain in Russia, near Ukraine border The Associated Press Posted: Aug 28, 2014 5:31 AM ET | Last Updated: Aug 28, 2014 10:58 AM ET 60 shares 584 Comments](https://dumpharper.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/russian-tanks-enter-ukraine-fire-missiles-at-border-post-1-2749066-article_01.jpg "UPDATED Russian tanks enter Ukraine, fire missiles at border post [archived v1]")
![UPDATED Russian tanks enter Ukraine, fire missiles at border post [archived v2] 20,000 Russian troops remain in Russia, near Ukraine border The Associated Press Posted: Aug 28, 2014 5:31 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 28, 2014 11:56 AM ET](https://dumpharper.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/russian-tanks-enter-ukraine-fire-missiles-at-border-post-1-2749066-article_02.jpg "UPDATED Russian tanks enter Ukraine, fire missiles at border post [archived v2]")
![UPDATED Ukraine crisis: Russian tanks enter Ukraine, fire missiles at border post [archived v3] 20,000 Russian troops remain in Russia, near Ukraine border The Associated Press Posted: Aug 28, 2014 5:31 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 28, 2014 1:14 PM ET](https://dumpharper.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/ukraine-crisis-russian-tanks-enter-ukraine-fire-missiles-at-border-post-1-2749066-article_03.jpg "UPDATED Ukraine crisis: Russian tanks enter Ukraine, fire missiles at border post [archived v3]")
![LIVE Ukraine crisis: Russian tanks enter Ukraine, fire missiles at border post [archived v4]](https://dumpharper.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/ukraine-crisis-russian-tanks-enter-ukraine-fire-missiles-at-border-post-1-2749066-article_04.jpg "LIVE Ukraine crisis: Russian tanks enter Ukraine, fire missiles at border post [archived v4]")
![LIVE Ukraine crisis: UN Security Council holds emergency meeting as Russian tanks roll in 20,000 Russian troops remain in Russia, near Ukraine border [archived v5] The Associated Press Posted: Aug 28, 2014 5:31 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 28, 2014 2:55 PM ET](https://dumpharper.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/ukraine-crisis-un-security-council-holds-emergency-meeting-as-russian-tanks-roll-in-1-2749066-article_05.jpg "LIVE Ukraine crisis: UN Security Council holds emergency meeting as Russian tanks roll in 20,000 Russian troops remain in Russia, near Ukraine border [archived v5]")
![LIVE Ukraine crisis: UN Security Council members express outrage as Russian tanks roll in [archived v6] 20,000 Russian troops remain in Russia, near Ukraine border The Associated Press Posted: Aug 28, 2014 5:31 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 28, 2014 3:28 PM ET](https://dumpharper.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/ukraine-crisis-un-security-council-members-express-outrage-as-russian-tanks-roll-in-1-2749066-article_06.jpg "LIVE Ukraine crisis: UN Security Council members express outrage as Russian tanks roll in [archived v6]")
![UPDATED Ukraine crisis: UN Security Council members express outrage as Russian tanks roll in [archived v7] 20,000 Russian troops remain in Russia, near Ukraine border The Associated Press Posted: Aug 28, 2014 5:31 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 28, 2014 4:01 PM ET](https://dumpharper.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/ukraine-crisis-un-security-council-members-express-outrage-as-russian-tanks-roll-in-1-2749066-article_07.jpg "UPDATED Ukraine crisis: UN Security Council members express outrage as Russian tanks roll in [archived v7]")
![UPDATED Ukraine crisis: Obama rules out military action [archived v11] NATO produces satellite imagery of Russia's operations inside Ukraine The Associated Press Posted: Aug 28, 2014 5:31 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 28, 2014 6:59 PM ET](https://dumpharper.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/ukraine-crisis-obama-rules-out-military-action-1-2749066-article_11.jpg "UPDATED Ukraine crisis: Obama rules out military action [archived v11]")
![UPDATED Ukraine crisis: Obama rules out military action [archived v12] NATO produces satellite imagery of Russia's operations inside Ukraine The Associated Press Posted: Aug 28, 2014 5:31 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 28, 2014 7:31 PM ET](https://dumpharper.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/ukraine-crisis-obama-rules-out-military-action-1-2749066-article_12.jpg "UPDATED Ukraine crisis: Obama rules out military action [archived v12]")
![UPDATED Ukraine crisis: Obama rules out military action [archived v13] NATO produces satellite imagery of Russia's operations inside Ukraine The Associated Press Posted: Aug 28, 2014 5:31 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 28, 2014 8:06 PM ET](https://dumpharper.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/ukraine-crisis-obama-rules-out-military-action-1-2749066-article_13.jpg "UPDATED Ukraine crisis: Obama rules out military action [archived v13]")
![UPDATED Ukraine crisis: Obama rules out military action [archived v14] NATO produces satellite imagery of Russia's operations inside Ukraine The Associated Press Posted: Aug 28, 2014 5:31 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 28, 2014 8:36 PM ET](https://dumpharper.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/ukraine-crisis-obama-rules-out-military-action-1-2749066-article_14.jpg "UPDATED Ukraine crisis: Obama rules out military action [archived v14]")
![UPDATED Shelling rocks Novoazovsk in southeastern Ukraine [archived v1] 10 Russian soldiers reported captured near eastern border: Kyiv The Associated Press Posted: Aug 26, 2014 5:52 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 26, 2014 7:39 AM ET](https://dumpharper.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/shelling-rocks-novoazovsk-in-southeastern-ukraine-1-2746851-article_1.jpg "UPDATED Shelling rocks Novoazovsk in southeastern Ukraine [archived v1]")
![UPDATED Shelling rocks Novoazovsk in southeastern Ukraine [archived v2]](https://dumpharper.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/shelling-rocks-novoazovsk-in-southeastern-ukraine-1-2746851-article_2.jpg "UPDATED Shelling rocks Novoazovsk in southeastern Ukraine [archived v2]")
![UPDATED Ukraine crisis: Putin, Poroshenko meet in Minsk amid border violence [archived v3] Shelling rocks southeastern Ukraine town of Novoazovsk The Associated Press Posted: Aug 26, 2014 5:52 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 26, 2014 10:19 AM ET](https://dumpharper.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/ukraine-crisis-putin-poroshenko-meet-in-minsk-amid-border-violence-1-2746851-article_3.jpg "UPDATED Ukraine crisis: Putin, Poroshenko meet in Minsk amid border violence [archived v3]")
![Ukraine crisis: Putin, Poroshenko meet in Minsk amid border violence [archived v4] Shelling rocks southeastern Ukraine town of Novoazovsk The Associated Press Posted: Aug 26, 2014 5:52 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 26, 2014 12:12 PM ET](https://dumpharper.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/ukraine-crisis-putin-poroshenko-meet-in-minsk-amid-border-violence-1-2746851-article_4.jpg "Ukraine crisis: Putin, Poroshenko meet in Minsk amid border violence [archived v4]")
![UPDATED Ukraine crisis: Poroshenko says 'roadmap' to ceasefire with Russia possible [archived v5] Shelling rocks southeastern Ukraine town of Novoazovsk Thomson Reuters Posted: Aug 26, 2014 5:52 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 26, 2014 6:00 PM ET](https://dumpharper.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/ukraine-crisis-poroshenko-says-roadmap-to-ceasefire-with-russia-possible-1-2746851-article_5.jpg "UPDATED Ukraine crisis: Poroshenko says 'roadmap' to ceasefire with Russia possible [archived v5]")
![Ukraine crisis: Poroshenko says 'roadmap' to ceasefire with Russia possible [archived v6] Putin disavows Russian involvement in talks with rebels Thomson Reuters Posted: Aug 26, 2014 5:52 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 26, 2014 10:29 PM ET](https://dumpharper.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/ukraine-crisis-poroshenko-says-roadmap-to-ceasefire-with-russia-possible-1-2746851-article_6.jpg "Ukraine crisis: Poroshenko says 'roadmap' to ceasefire with Russia possible [archived v6]")
![Ukraine crisis: Russia plans to second aid convoy to eastern Ukraine [archived v1] Thomson Reuters Posted: Aug 25, 2014 6:15 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 25, 2014 6:15 AM ET](https://dumpharper.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/ukraine-crisis-russia-plans-to-second-aid-convoy-to-eastern-ukraine-1-2745705-article_1.jpg "Ukraine crisis: Russia plans to second aid convoy to eastern Ukraine [archived v1]")
![UPDATED Ukraine crisis: Russian tanks crossed border, Kyiv alleges [archived v3] Petro Poroshenko to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday The Associated Press Posted: Aug 25, 2014 6:15 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 25, 2014 12:47 PM ET](https://dumpharper.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/ukraine-crisis-russian-tanks-crossed-border-kyiv-alleges-1-2745705-article_3.jpg "UPDATED Ukraine crisis: Russian tanks crossed border, Kyiv alleges [archived v3]")
![Ukraine crisis: Ukraine will hold a parliamentary election on Oct. 26 [archived v4] The Associated Press Posted: Aug 25, 2014 6:15 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 25, 2014 3:18 PM ET](https://dumpharper.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/ukraine-crisis-ukraine-will-hold-a-parliamentary-election-on-oct-26-1-2745705-article_4.jpg "Ukraine crisis: Ukraine will hold a parliamentary election on Oct. 26 [archived v4]")
![Ukraine crisis: Ukraine to hold parliamentary election Oct. 26 [archived v5] The Associated Press Posted: Aug 25, 2014 6:15 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 25, 2014 5:10 PM ET](https://dumpharper.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/ukraine-crisis-ukraine-will-hold-a-parliamentary-election-on-oct-26-1-2745705-article_5.jpg "Ukraine crisis: Ukraine to hold parliamentary election Oct. 26 [archived v5]")
![Ukraine crisis: Ukraine to hold parliamentary election Oct. 26 [archived v6] The Associated Press Posted: Aug 25, 2014 6:15 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 25, 2014 5:33 PM ET](https://dumpharper.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/ukraine-crisis-ukraine-will-hold-a-parliamentary-election-on-oct-26-1-2745705-article_6.jpg "Ukraine crisis: Ukraine to hold parliamentary election Oct. 26 [archived v6]")
![Ukraine crisis: Ukraine to hold parliamentary election Oct. 26 [archived v7] Posted: Aug 25, 2014 6:15 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 25, 2014 7:16 PM ET](https://dumpharper.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/ukraine-crisis-ukraine-will-hold-a-parliamentary-election-on-oct-26-1-2745705-article_7.jpg "Ukraine crisis: Ukraine to hold parliamentary election Oct. 26 [archived v7]")
![NEW Ukrainian president marks independence day with $3B US defence spending boost [archived v1] The Associated Press Posted: Aug 24, 2014 9:21 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 24, 2014 9:21 AM ET](https://dumpharper.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/ukrainian-president-marks-independence-day-with-3b-us-defence-spending-boost-1-2745261-article_1.jpg "NEW Ukrainian president marks independence day with $3B US defence spending boost [archived v1]")
![NEW Ukrainian president marks independence day with $3B US defence spending boost [archived v2] The Associated Press Posted: Aug 24, 2014 9:21 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 24, 2014 1:25 PM ET](https://dumpharper.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/ukrainian-president-marks-independence-day-with-3b-us-defence-spending-boost-1-2745261-article_2.jpg "NEW Ukrainian president marks independence day with $3B US defence spending boost [archived v2]")
![Ukraine's independence day marked by rival shows of force [archived v3] Thomson Reuters Posted: Aug 24, 2014 9:21 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 24, 2014 2:41 PM ET](https://dumpharper.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/ukraine-s-independence-day-marked-by-rival-shows-of-force-1-2745261-article_3.jpg "Ukraine's independence day marked by rival shows of force [archived v3]")
![Russian aid convoy leaves Ukraine [archived v1] The Associated Press Posted: Aug 23, 2014 6:43 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 23, 2014 8:31 AM ET](https://dumpharper.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/russian-aid-convoy-leaves-ukraine-1-2744837-article_1.jpg "Russian aid convoy leaves Ukraine [archived v1]")
![Russian aid convoy leaves Ukraine [archived v2] The Associated Press Posted: Aug 23, 2014 6:43 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 23, 2014 8:31 AM ET](https://dumpharper.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/russian-aid-convoy-leaves-ukraine-1-2744837-article_2.jpg "Russian aid convoy leaves Ukraine [archived v2]")
![Russian aid convoy leaves Ukraine [archived v4] The Associated Press Posted: Aug 23, 2014 6:43 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 23, 2014 2:56 PM ET](https://dumpharper.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/russian-aid-convoy-leaves-ukraine-1-2744837-article_4.jpg "Russian aid convoy leaves Ukraine [archived v4]")
![COMING UP LIVE Ukraine crisis: Russian aid convoy crosses border without Kyiv OK [archived v1] Russia said it was no longer prepared to tolerate any delays The Associated Press Posted: Aug 22, 2014 4:25 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 22, 2014 12:05 PM ET](https://dumpharper.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/ukraine-crisis-russian-aid-convoy-crosses-border-without-kyiv-ok-1-2743706-article_1.jpg "COMING UP LIVE Ukraine crisis: Russian aid convoy crosses border without Kyiv OK [archived v1]")
![UPDATED Russia denies aid convoy in Ukraine is to arm rebels [archived v2] Russia unilaterally decides to cross border, saying it tolerated enough delays The Associated Press Posted: Aug 22, 2014 4:25 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 22, 2014 1:52 PM ET](https://dumpharper.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/russia-denies-aid-convoy-in-ukraine-is-to-arm-rebels-1-2743706-article_2.jpg "UPDATED Russia denies aid convoy in Ukraine is to arm rebels [archived v2]")
![U.S. condemns Russian aid convoy into Ukraine, threatens more sanctions [archived v3] Russia unilaterally decides to cross border, saying it tolerated enough delays The Associated Press Posted: Aug 22, 2014 4:25 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 22, 2014 3:08 PM ET](https://dumpharper.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/u-s-condemns-russian-aid-convoy-into-ukraine-threatens-more-sanctions-1-2743706-article_3.jpg "U.S. condemns Russian aid convoy into Ukraine, threatens more sanctions [archived v3]")
![U.S. condemns Russian aid convoy into Ukraine, threatens more sanctions [archived v4] Russia unilaterally decides to cross border, saying it tolerated enough delays The Associated Press Posted: Aug 22, 2014 4:25 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 22, 2014 4:13 PM ET](https://dumpharper.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/u-s-condemns-russian-aid-convoy-into-ukraine-threatens-more-sanctions-1-2743706-article_4.jpg "U.S. condemns Russian aid convoy into Ukraine, threatens more sanctions [archived v4]")
![UPDATED U.S. condemns Russian aid convoy into Ukraine, threatens more sanctions [archived v5]](https://dumpharper.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/u-s-condemns-russian-aid-convoy-into-ukraine-threatens-more-sanctions-1-2743706-article_5.jpg "UPDATED U.S. condemns Russian aid convoy into Ukraine, threatens more sanctions [archived v5]")
![UPDATED U.S. condemns Russian aid convoy into Ukraine, threatens more sanctions [archived v6] Meanwhile, “there was no unanimity of views” during UN emergency consultations The Associated Press Posted: Aug 22, 2014 4:25 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 22, 2014 7:21 PM ET](https://dumpharper.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/u-s-condemns-russian-aid-convoy-into-ukraine-threatens-more-sanctions-1-2743706-article_6.jpg "UPDATED U.S. condemns Russian aid convoy into Ukraine, threatens more sanctions [archived v6]")
![U.S. condemns Russian aid convoy into Ukraine, threatens more sanctions [archived v7] UN emergency consultations reveal “no unanimity of views” The Associated Press Posted: Aug 22, 2014 4:25 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 22, 2014 8:28 PM ET](https://dumpharper.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/u-s-condemns-russian-aid-convoy-into-ukraine-threatens-more-sanctions-1-2743706-article_7.jpg "U.S. condemns Russian aid convoy into Ukraine, threatens more sanctions [archived v7]")
![U.S. condemns Russian aid convoy into Ukraine, threatens more sanctions [archived v8] UN emergency consultations reveal “no unanimity of views” The Associated Press Posted: Aug 22, 2014 4:25 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 22, 2014 10:29 PM ET](https://dumpharper.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/u-s-condemns-russian-aid-convoy-into-ukraine-threatens-more-sanctions-1-2743706-article_8.jpg "U.S. condemns Russian aid convoy into Ukraine, threatens more sanctions [archived v8]")
![UPDATED Ukraine artillery destroys part of Russian armoured column [archived v1] 'Part of it no longer exists' Ukrainian military spokesman says of column The Associated Press Posted: Aug 15, 2014 2:14 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 15, 2014 11:55 AM ET](https://dumpharper.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/ukraine-artillery-destroys-part-of-russian-armoured-column-1-2737240_article_11.jpg "UPDATED Ukraine artillery destroys part of Russian armoured column [archived v1]")
![UPDATED Ukraine says its artillery destroyed part of Russian armoured column [archived v2] 'Part of it no longer exists,' Ukrainian military spokesman says of armoured convoy Thomson Reuters Posted: Aug 15, 2014 2:14 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 15, 2014 1:12 PM ET](https://dumpharper.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/ukraine-says-its-artillery-destroyed-part-of-russian-armoured-column-1-2737240_article_21.jpg "UPDATED Ukraine says its artillery destroyed part of Russian armoured column [archived v2]")
![UPDATED Ukraine says it destroyed Russian military vehicles crossing border [archived v3] Moscow stoutly denies reported incursion The Associated Press Posted: Aug 15, 2014 2:14 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 15, 2014 2:50 PM ET](https://dumpharper.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/ukraine-says-it-destroyed-russian-military-vehicles-crossing-border-1-2737240_article_31.jpg "UPDATED Ukraine says it destroyed Russian military vehicles crossing border [archived v3]")
![Ukraine says it destroyed Russian military vehicles crossing border [archived v5] Moscow denies report, while Merkel presses Putin The Associated Press Posted: Aug 15, 2014 2:14 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 15, 2014 5:02 PM ET](https://dumpharper.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/ukraine-says-it-destroyed-russian-military-vehicles-crossing-border-1-2737240_article_51.jpg "Ukraine says it destroyed Russian military vehicles crossing border [archived v5]")
![Ukraine says it destroyed Russian military vehicles crossing border [archived v6] Moscow denies report, while Merkel presses Putin The Associated Press Posted: Aug 15, 2014 2:14 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 15, 2014 10:43 PM ET](https://dumpharper.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/ukraine-says-it-destroyed-russian-military-vehicles-crossing-border-1-2737240_article_6.jpg "Ukraine says it destroyed Russian military vehicles crossing border [archived v6]")
![UPDATED Ukraine rebel leader open to a ceasefire [archived v1] Unconfirmed reports indicate Ukrainian forces gaining in eastern region The Associated Press Posted: Aug 09, 2014 12:52 PM ET Last Updated: Aug 09, 2014 2:10 PM ET](https://dumpharper.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/ukraine-rebel-leader-open-to-a-ceasefire-1-2732170_article_1.jpg "UPDATED Ukraine rebel leader open to a ceasefire [archived v1]")
![Ukraine crisis: Rebel leader open to a ceasefire as forces advance [archived v2] Artillery reverberates across Donetsk, home to nearly 1 million before 300,000 fled the conflict The Associated Press Posted: Aug 09, 2014 12:52 PM ET Last Updated: Aug 09, 2014 5:35 PM ET](https://dumpharper.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/ukraine-crisis-rebel-leader-open-to-a-ceasefire-as-forces-advance-1-2732170_article_2.jpg "Ukraine crisis: Rebel leader open to a ceasefire as forces advance [archived v2]")
![Ukraine crisis: Rebel leader open to a ceasefire as forces advance [archived v3] Artillery reverberates across Donetsk, home to nearly 1 million before 300,000 fled the conflict The Associated Press Posted: Aug 09, 2014 12:52 PM ET Last Updated: Aug 09, 2014 7:43 PM ET](https://dumpharper.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/ukraine-crisis-rebel-leader-open-to-a-ceasefire-as-forces-advance-1-2732170_article_3.jpg "Ukraine crisis: Rebel leader open to a ceasefire as forces advance [archived v3]")
![Russia bans food imports from Canada, other countries for 1 year [archived v1] Ban covers meat, fish, milk, fruit, vegetables from Canada, the U.S., EU The Canadian Press Posted: Aug 07, 2014 5:31 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 07, 2014 9:53 AM ET](https://dumpharper.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/russia-bans-food-imports-from-canada-other-countries-for-1-year-1-2729821-article_1.jpg "Russia bans food imports from Canada, other countries for 1 year [archived v1]")
Dump Harper! 
