David Suzuki, Roger Waters, and Noam Chomsky all say...

...NO to Canada!

Sign the petition....

CANADA DOES NOT DESERVE A SEAT ON THE UN SECURITY COUNCIL

Despite its peaceful reputation, Canada is not acting as a benevolent player on the international stage.

Rather, Canada ranks among the twelve largest arms exporters and its weapons have fueled conflicts across the globe, including the devastating war in Yemen.

In a disappointing move, Canada refused to join 122 countries represented at the 2017 UN Conference to Negotiate a Legally Binding Instrument to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons, Leading Towards their Total Elimination.

Ottawa has also been an aggressive proponent of the nuclear-armed NATO alliance, and currently leads coalition missions in Latvia and Iraq.

Echoing Trump’s foreign policy, Canada has backed reactionary forces in the Americas. The Trudeau government has led efforts to unseat Venezuela’s UN-recognized government, while propping up repressive, corrupt and illegitimate governments in Haiti and Honduras. Canada also lent its support to the economic elites and Christian extremists who recently overthrew the democratically elected indigenous president of Bolivia.

In the Middle East, Canada has sided with Israel on almost every issue of importance. Since coming to power the Trudeau government has voted against more than fifty UN resolutions upholding Palestinian rights backed by the overwhelming majority of member states. The Canadian government has refused to abide by 2016 UN Security Council Resolution 2334, calling on member states to “distinguish, in their relevant dealings, between the territory of the State of Israel and the territories occupied in 1967.” On the contrary, Ottawa extends economic and trade assistance to Israel’s illegal settlement enterprise. Should it win a seat on the UNSC, Ottawa has stated that it will act as an “asset for Israel” on the Council.

Canadian mining companies are responsible for countless ecological and human rights abuses around the globe. Still, Ottawa defends the most controversial mining firms and refuses to restrict public support for companies responsible for abuses. The chair of the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights criticized the Trudeau government for refusing to rein in mining abuses while the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and hazardous substances and wastes has decried the “double standard” applied to Canadian mining practices domestically versus internationally.

Falling short of its responsibilities as a global citizen, Canada continues to oppose the Basel Ban Amendment on the export of waste from rich to poor countries, which became binding in late 2019 after ratification by 97 countries. Ottawa also failed to ratify the United Nations’ Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. Ottawa has refused to ratify more than 50 International Labour Organization conventions. In November 2019, Canada once again refused to back a widely supported UN resolution on “Combating glorification of Nazism, neo-Nazism and other practices that contribute to fuelling contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.”

Violating the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the Trudeau government sent militarized police into unceded Wet’suwet’en Nation territory to push through a pipeline. The UN Human Rights Committee recently documented various ways Canada is failing to live up to its obligations towards indigenous people under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Ignoring front-line victims, Ottawa refuses to keep Canada’s dirty oil in the ground. Canada is on pace to emit significantly more greenhouse gases than it agreed to in the 2015 Paris Agreement and previous climate accords. Already among the world’s highest per capita emitters, the Canadian government is subsidizing further growth of heavy emitting tar sands, at the expense of impoverished nations who’ve contributed little to the climate crisis but bear the brunt of its impacts.

The international community should not reward bad behaviour. Please vote against Canada’s bid for a seat on the UN Security Council.

SIGNATURES....... https://www.foreignpolicy.ca/petition

serious question. is this all you do all day? nothing better to do with your time, like riding a bike for once?

Posted by: Sethimus

serious question. is this all you do all day? nothing better to do with your time, like riding a bike for once?

He's the Trump of NSMB.

Posted by: Sethimus

serious question. is this all you do all day? nothing better to do with your time, like riding a bike for once?

Better watch out....

https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/02/07/a-fascist-coup-attempt-in-germany/

Posted by: tungsten

Better watch out....

https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/02/07/a-fascist-coup-attempt-in-germany/

Slacker.

.

While millions this week stared at Iowa and Washington with worried amazement, confusion or anger, Germany, too, had its own messy confusion – which turned into a frightening alarm signal!

For the very first time, a state government – in Thuringia – was able to achieve rule with the support of the far, far right Alternative for Germany (AfD), a party whose leaders are in a continuous flirt with Nazi phrases, Nazi goals and Nazi methods. Every other party has sworn up and down never ever to have anything to do with AfD! Although there were suspiciously contrary murmurs in some circles of the Christian Democrats (CDU, Merkel’s party), this pledge had been kept. Until Wednesday, February 5, 2020.

The events that day were astounding. Thuringia had not had a regular, stable government since its elections last October. The three-party coalition which ruled since 2014 (and since October on a temporary caretaker basis) was led by Bodo Ramelow of the LINKE (Left) party). It was the first and only state government ever led by the LINKE – together with the Social Democrats (SPD) and the Greens as junior partners and based on an ultra-shaky majority of one single vote in the legislature. The LINKE minister-president Bodo Ramelow, 63, a union leader who had moved to East Germany after unification. He proved to be not the radical Bolshevik fire-eater so many had almost hysterically warned about but rather a mild-mannered father-figure, always accompanied by his little terrier Attila, and with a somewhat leftish program. Last October his party defied East German trends and increased the LINKE share of the votes (to 31%) – and 29 seats (of a total 90). But both partners, the Greens and especially the SPD, had slumped – and now the three together had only 42 seats, instead of the one-seat majority now four seats short. And neither the CDU nor the equally right-wing, stoutly pro-capitalist Free Democrats (FDP) – misleadingly called the Liberals – was willing to join up with those blood-red “Honecker-followers”, no matter how mild (and even anti-GDR) Ramelow had become.

One other party had also gained votes in October – and that was the faschistic AfD. With 23.4% and 22 seats they were in second place, a result of East German disappointment, insecurity about the future, and well-founded feeling of being second-class citizens in united Germany – plus the hatred of foreigners infused by the rightists, with more than enough assistance from the oh-so-democratic mass media plus vicious campaigns in the social media.

But all the other parties had made that pledge – never ever with fascists! So there seemed only one way out. Ramelow would continue the three-way coalition as a minority government, dependent in every vote on every issue in the legislature on at least temporary support from a few CDU or FDP voters. A very shaky set-up indeed, but seemingly the only possibility. And everybody reckoned with it – or so it seemed.

But behind the scenes another scheme was being hatched out. The rules called for three secret votes. If, in the first two, no candidate won a full majority then, in a third vote, a plurality would suffice – simply more votes than anyone else. As expected Ramelow missed out in the first two. He expected to win out as the only candidate in the third vote (or possibly against a weaker AfD candidate). Then, suddenly, in jumped another counter-candidate, the almost unknown Thomas Kemmerich, 54, local head of the FDP, which had only barely crossed the necessary 5% hurdle to get seated at all. (It got about 5.0005 % – with a plus of 71 votes, many from his own family with its six sons and daughters plus in-laws). But in that secret ballot he not only got his own five-man caucus votes but those of all AfD members as well, who had obviously made a deal to drop their own hopeless candidate. Even together the two had only 26 delegates, however. It was the secret support by the CDU delegates which, defying all their party’s pledges, joined the AfD to give Kemmerich the needed success: 45 to 44.

Ramelow was out! And, like a thunderbolt from Hades, was the fact that the AfD, while probably not opfficially in the new government, would have veto power over its every decision. Far worse, the CDU, the biggest party in Germany – or its local affiliate – had broken the taboo on the fascists. The AfD leader in Berlin triumphed: ”It has finally become clear that there is a majority, not only on paper, against Left-Social Democrat-Green domination… away from de-industrialization, hatred of automobiles, climate hysteria as well as from gender gaga and antifa violence.”

It was thus in peaceful Thuringia, Germany’s “green lung”, with its handsome hilly forests and wonderful old castles and historic cities – Weimar, Eisenach, Erfurt, Jena – that the AfD had its first major success – and where it has long been most virulent. Its up-and-coming boss, Björn Höcke, is notorious for comments against Jews, Africans, the Left:

“Christianity and Judaism are an antagonism. That is why I cannot comprehend the term ‘Christian-Judeo Occident’”.

Or, denouncing the monument to Holocaust victims in Berlin, Höcke said: “We Germans, our people, are the only people in the world to plant a monument of shame in the center of their capital.”

“I don’t want Germany to have only a thousand-year past. I want Germany to also have a thousand-year future.” (It was Hitler who constantly spoke of his Thousand Year Reich!)

Looking forward to a future AfD rule, he said: “A few corrections and small reforms will not be sufficient, but German resoluteness will be guarantee that we will grasp things decisively and basically. When the change-over take place we Germans will not take half-way measures, the garbage dumps of modernism will then be removed.”

Making his plans even clearer, Höcke, when a TV moderator dared to disagree with him, responded: “I can assure you that this will have massive consequences… perhaps someday I will become an interesting personal and political personality in this country: It can happen. And then I wish you great success in your career.” Soon after he got up and walked out.

With the pledge by all other parties never to collaborate in any way with the AfD now broken by two of them, and its resultant taboo-break and gain of influence in Germany, other omens took on added significance: the leading cop in a Berlin borough seen lunching, chatting and driving off with a leader of a pro-Nazi gang which has been threatening anti-fascists, smearing Naz symbols on their homes, burning one of their cars. There was more news of pro-Nazi elements in the armed forces. Of down-pedaled connections or even collusion between serial murderers of immigrants and police agents supposedly observing them, with evidence locked away (for 120 years) by a top CDU leader. Of year-long attempts to cover up the burning to death of an African immigrant while shackled in a jail cell. Or the friendly relationship between the ex-head of the FBI-equivalent Constitutional Protection Agency with AfD leaders. Or current attempts to remove vital tax exemption from the Victims of Fascism-Anti-Fascist Union (VVN-BdA). All are causes for alarm in a country which, after Brexit, exercises a dominant role in European Union rearmament, military maneuvering and expansion, both within and outside NATO.

And some history buffs recall that the very first Nazi Party cabinet ministers were appointed in Thuringia – in 1931, two years before Hitler took over all of Germany.

I regret writing such a worrisome Bulletin. And there is also good news – a majority in Germany – and Thuringia – oppose such tendencies. Many are fighting back – vigorously in the field of climate change, against rent increases with a key new law in Berlin, plus a referendum now gaining strength to confiscate the worst of the giant real estate moguls. And many, especially young people, fighting back against the fascists. Which side will grow faster? I will have to put that question off to my next dispatch from Berlin.

LATE NOTE. The anger of so many people, demonstrating all over Germany, plus many politicians, even Angela Merkel, repudiating Thuringian members of her party, caused Kemmerich to step down after one day. He called for special new elections in Thuringia.

Posted by: tungsten

Posted by: Sethimus

serious question. is this all you do all day? nothing better to do with your time, like riding a bike for once?

Better watch out....

https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/02/07/a-fascist-coup-attempt-in-germany/

you advocating that political partys in germany work with nazi partys again? did you miss history class? or just plain closet nazi?

Posted by: Sethimus

Posted by: tungsten

Posted by: Sethimus

serious question. is this all you do all day? nothing better to do with your time, like riding a bike for once?

Better watch out....

https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/02/07/a-fascist-coup-attempt-in-germany/

you advocating that political partys in germany work with nazi partys again? did you miss history class? or just plain closet nazi?

I'm suggesting you all are backsliding, and need to be moare proactive in stamping out fascist tendencies in your body politic....

https://www.newyorkfed.org/medialibrary/media/research/staff_reports/sr921.pdf

Who cares?  Indonesia is currently on the security council and China, Russia and the US are all permanent members with veto power.  I also wish Trudeau would stop kissing Israel's ass, but Canada would still be better than most of the other countries on the security council and they would be just as impotent as the rest of the non-permanent members.

Posted by: chupacabra

Who cares?  Indonesia is currently on the security council and China, Russia and the US are all permanent members with veto power.  I also wish Trudeau would stop kissing Israel's ass, but Canada would still be better than most of the other countries on the security council and they would be just as impotent as the rest of the non-permanent members.

This.  As long as there are permanent members that have veto power on all resolutions, anything else is moot.

Cuba's the only country with enough moral standing to fill the seat.

Posted by: tungsten

Cuba's the only country with enough moral standing to fill the seat.

Sure.

Posted by: tungsten

Cuba's the only country with enough moral standing to fill the seat.

How can I even take that seriously? Moral standing. What generation are you from?

Posted by: FLATCH

How can I even take that seriously? Moral standing. 

Well, 

Isaac Saney teaches history at Dalhousie University and Saint Mary’s University, Halifax, Canada, He is co-chair and National Spokesperson of the Canadian Network On Cuba. He is currently putting the final touches on the book manuscript, Africa’s Children Return! Cuba, the War in Angola and the End of Apartheid.

He made a....

Submission to the United Nations Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review 

Here's an excerpt...

Cuba admirably fulfills its responsibilities under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The annual United Nations Human Development Report (HDR) attests to the success in this regard of the Cuban Revolution. These annual reports are recognized as the most comprehensive and extensive determination of the well being of the world’s peoples. Since its inception, the HDR has repeatedly confirmed the advances and progress of the Cuban Revolution. Cuba is firmly placed in the High Human Development category. Moreover, Cuba ranks 1st in terms of the relationship between economic means and capacity for human development. In other words, Cuba’s ranking in the Human Development Report outstrips its per capita world ranking. Thus, in the effective use of resources for human benefit, Cuba out-performs the much richer countries of the so-called “developed world. In short, Cuba is a country that effectively uses its very modest resources for the benefit of its citizens.

Also...

Cuba’s contributions to advancing and defending human rights extend beyond the geographical boundaries of the island nation. Since its inception, the Cuban Revolution has made – and continues to make – an invaluable contribution to the global struggle for human rights, justice, social development and human dignity. Cuba has established an unparalleled legacy of internationalism and humanitarianism, embodying the immortal words of José Martí: “Homeland is Humanity. Humanity is Homeland.” For example, Cuba played a crucial role in African national and anti-colonial liberation struggles (from Algeria to South Africa). In the struggle to defeat the racist apartheid regime in South Africa more than 2,000 Cubans gave their lives. This has not been – nor will ever be – forgotten by Africans. The late Nelson Mandela stated: “The Cuban people hold a special place in the hearts of the peoples of Africa. The Cuban internationalists have made a contribution to African independence, freedom and justice, unparalleled for its principled and selfless character…Cubans came to our region as doctors, teachers, soldiers, agricultural experts, but never as colonizers.”

You can read the rest here... https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/10/06/cuba-human-rights-and-self-determination/

All I’m saying is since when did being in the UN have anything to do with moral standards. There’s an old saying. 

If you can’t dazzle them with brilliance then baffle them with bullshit. 

I don’t have time to look it up, how many times has Cuba lost troops in the name of UN peace keeping. When looking for financial support to the UN Cuba doesn’t even make the list. Never mind the years they were lap dogs to the Russians.