Z Nightly Commentaries
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Recent Z Nightly Commentaries
Engler: Canadian Mining
Apr 27, 2009
Three weeks ago, the Harper government rejected a proposal to make diplomatic and financial support for resource companies operating overseas contingent upon socially responsible conduct. Under popular pressure, the Mining Association of Canada agreed to 27 recommendations put forward at a 2007 civil society roundtable urging government to better monitor and address human rights and environmental effects of Canadian companies operating abroad.
Engler: Canada & Europe
Apr 13, 2009
At the end of February Stephen Harper referred to Russia as "aggressive." In a throwback to the Cold War, two weeks ago Defense Minister Peter MacKay added that Ottawa will respond to Russian flights in the Arctic by flying Canadian fighter jets near Russian airspace. Recent declarations from the Harper government are the latest installment in a 90-year-old struggle with Russia that should be opposed by most Canadians. Since the end of the Cold War Ottawa has actively pushed against Russian influence in Eastern Europe. Federal government documents uncovered by Canwest in July 2007 explained that Ottawa was trying to be "a visible and effective partner of the United States in Russia, Ukraine and zones of instability in Eastern Europe."
Engler: Myths for Profit
Mar 28, 2009
A major obstacle for anyone organizing to "right" a Canadian foreign policy "wrong" is the widely held notion that this country acts benevolently on the world stage. "Myths for Profit," a recently released documentary written and directed by Amy Miller, challenges this assumption head-on.
Engler: Canada & LA
Mar 18, 2009
During the first half of the 20th century, Toronto-based Brazilian Traction (or Brascan) dominated the Brazilian economy. At its high point in the 1940s, the company employed nearly 50,000 Brazilians.
Engler: Haiti
Feb 28, 2009
From the grips of the most barbaric form of plantation economy sprung probably the greatest example of liberation in the history of humanity. The 1791-1804 Haitian Revolution was simultaneously a struggle against slavery, colonialism and white supremacy. Defeating the French, British and Spanish empires, it led to freedom for all people regardless of color, decades before this idea found traction in Europe or North America.
Engler: Canada is Israel
Feb 13, 2009
The Harper government publicly supported Israel's brutal assault on Gaza and voted alone at the UN Human Rights Committee in defense of Israel's actions. Now Canada has taken over Israeli diplomacy. Literally.
Engler: Canada in Africa
Jan 31, 2009
In mid December, Robert Fowler, a career Canadian diplomat who is currently the UN Secretary General's Special Envoy to Niger, and his aide Louis Guay, an official at Foreign Affairs, were abducted in Niger. They were kidnapped not long after visiting a mine operated by Montréal-based SEMAFO (Société d'exploitation minière-Afrique de l'Ouest). The president and CEO of SEMAFO, Benoit La Salle, told the National Post: "Louis [Guay] called me and said he was going down there on a UN mission and that he heard the mine was a Canadian success and he wanted to report this back to Canada."
Edwards: BBC & Gaza
Jan 28, 2009
Numerous members of the public have written to us expressing their bewilderment at the violence of Israel's 22-day attack on Gaza killing upwards of 1,400 people and wounding 5,500. To many witnessing the onslaught on their TV screens (especially Al Jazeera) this appeared to be an act of state sadism.
Edwards: Gaza Pt. 2
Jan 17, 2009
An Eye For An Eyelash: The Gaza Massacre - Part 2
Edwards: Gaza Pt. 1
Jan 16, 2009
An Eye For An Eyelash: The Gaza Massacre - Part 1
Engler: Canada & Israel
Jan 15, 2009
The Canadian Left has taken a major step forward in opposition to Zionism. On Saturday Montréal held probably the largest pro-Palestinian demonstration in Canadian history. Despite some ridiculous media reports, I estimate that there were between 12,000 and 17,000 (possibly as many as 25,000) people marching through the streets of downtown. "Jews, Christians, Muslims, anglos, francos, grandmothers and children walked together yesterday in the bitter cold to call for an immediate ceasefire in [Gaza]," noted the Montréal Gazette. The march was endorsed and organized by all three major Québec unions and most of the province's social groups.
Engler: Canada in Afghanistan
Jan 08, 2009
Are highly secretive Canadian Joint Task Force 2 commandos assassinating Afghanis during night raids?
Engler: Peru
Nov 05, 2008
Canadian resource companies are under fire in Peru. On October 21, Cesar Zuniga, the president of the Achuar indigenous group FENAP, told a local radio: "We, as indigenous people, reject the Canadian company Talisman. We do not want them working in our territory. We want the Peruvian state to respect us, and the armed forces to stop helping the company."
Edwards: Haiti & New Orleans
Sep 28, 2008
The figure of 1,000 dead in Haiti compares with eight dead reported for Louisiana. And yet a media database search (September 15) showed that the words 'New Orleans' and 'hurricane' appeared in 265 UK newspaper articles over the last three weeks. Over the same period, the words 'Haiti' and 'hurricane' appeared in 113 articles. There were 67 mentions of Haiti's 'floods'.
Engler: Canada & Iran
Sep 13, 2008
In early July, a National Post reporter on board a Canadian naval vessel explained: "The usual tense games were played this weekend as this Canadian warship responsible for refueling and replenishing a coalition task force in the Indian Ocean passed in a heavy haze through one of the world's most dangerous flashpoints. Iranian radio operators trying to hail the [Canadian vessel] Protecteur were interrupted by Omanis who firmly told their neighbours not speak to the Canadians who were making an 'innocent passage' through Omani territorial waters."
Engler: Canada & Congo
Sep 01, 2008
The mainstream media's hypocrisy during the Olympics would have been funny if it weren't so ignorance-producing.
Edwards: Selling The Fireball
Jun 29, 2008
When George Bush arrived in Britain last week as part of his "farewell tour", the real reasons for the visit were buried well out of sight. The tour was not, as the Guardian suggested, a mere "continental au revoir". The purpose was to coerce Gordon Brown into raising troop levels in Afghanistan and to support toughened sanctions on Iran. Bush said pressure on Iran was necessary to "solve this problem diplomatically", but warned: "Iranians must understand, however, that all options are on the table."
Engler: Canadian Aid
May 09, 2008
Canadian foreign aid has been widely derided as ineffective. But that's simply not true. Commentators have just been looking in the wrong places. Canadian aid has been highly effective at transforming taxes into profits for major Canadian corporations. And it's also played a significant role in keeping the world safe for the U.S. led corporate oligarchy.
Edwards: National Journal Smears Lancet
Jan 27, 2008
Last year, we described how mainstream climate sceptics had queued up to praise film-maker Martin Durkin's now infamous documentary, The Great Global Warming Swindle. The Daily Mail, the Daily Telegraph, and their counterparts in the United States, used the film to heap scorn on the scientific consensus that climate change is a grave and rapidly evolving threat. In the event, the film itself turned out to be a swindle, one denounced by climate scientists far and wide - its media supporters quietly moved on.
May 15, 2009
On Sunday military forces trained by the Canadian Special Operational Regiment subdued a hijacker who took command of a Halifax-based CanJet plane at an airport partly run by Vancouver Airport Services. While Canadian companies and institutions played a major role in these events this drama did not take place in Canada. It happened in Montego Bay.