Sandra Finley

2019-05-08 Letter to CBC, re interview, Tuberculosis “in northern Inuit communities”. Far away?

 Change, Tuberculosis  1 Response »
May 082019
 

Sent to CBC,  The Current,  re the first interview on May 8th (link not yet working).

“It’s not fair that TB is still in Canada.”  One Nunavut woman on life with the disease.

 

MY FEEDBACK TO THE CBC:

Jen Skerritt,Winnipeg Free Press, did a 6-part series on tuberculosis in 2009.

There are shocking statements and facts, for example in this one: (http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=4394).

I offer one excerpt, but urge you to read the article. Nothing has changed.

“In 1937, TB officials noted that overcrowded homes and poor living conditions on reserves contributed to the high rate of disease among First Nations. In 2009, as many as 18 people are crammed into three-bedroom houses at Lac Brochet.

The community recorded some of the highest TB rates in the world – more than 600 cases per 100,000, more than 100 times what it should be. By comparison, the national rate in Canada is five cases per 100,000. In developing countries such as Bangladesh, the rate is slightly below 400 cases per 100,000. . . .”

Canadians neglect other Canadians at their own peril. Disease organisms travel invisibly. Skerritt’s article reveals that we are kept largely in the dark. My experience (2005) with the disease (educated middle class urban white privileged, living a healthy life style) reinforces what Skerritt documents. The disease is not contained “in the North”, far from it.

We have a dysfunctional Health Canada; if they were doing their job, your guest would not have been on the radio.

We are a population that suffers from ignorance; we do not understand that we are an inextricable part of a larger whole. My experience is ample evidence: it is worth the while of all of us to pitch in and help as we may.

I read back in 2005 that 30% of the population walks around with the TB organism; I think it’s like the HIV organism. You can carry it all your life, your immune system if healthy, will hold it in check. It’s why societies have learned to be careful with dead bodies. The immune system is gone, organisms like tuberculosis can multiply in wild abandon in the fertile fields of the corpse.

Our malaise will not be cured by more drugs. The evidence is clear. I am old enough to remember the Tuberculosis van that came to every distant community in Saskatchewan (maybe not First Nations communities?). It was pre-emptive action to identify, isolate and care for the community and its members. My grandmother-in-law when a young Mother, lived for 2 years in a TB sanitorium, recovered and lived robustly to age 84. Tuberculosis “disappeared”, hence my disbelief when I was told I had TB, not yet contagious.

There is NO NEED to become afraid to breathe the air because we might contract TB . . . IF we would just get to work helping to look after fellow Canadians. The Government has known for 100 years about TB in First Nations communities. Big Pharma is influential in Health Canada and in our Universities. They “care” about profits. Our faith is misplaced if we think “things will change” under the current regime.   . . .  100 years, give me a break.

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For my own record:

From: Skerritt, Jen
Sent: February 21, 2012
To: Sandra Finley
Subject: RE: TB

Hi Sandra,

Thanks for your note. I haven’t covered health for more than a year, but I can tell you that the series prompted parliamentary hearings on TB, and the federal government pledged to create a new action plan on TB.

I just pulled up the latest TB stats (from Nov. 2011) and there were more than 100 reported cases in Manitoba between January and November last year.

I hope this helps answer your question !

Jen

– – – – – – – – – – – –

From: Sandra Finley
Sent: Sat 2/18/2012
To: Skerritt, Jen
Subject: RE: TB

Hello Jen Skerritt,

I believe I congratulated you back in 2009 when your series of articles on TB ran in the Wpg Free Press.

What was the outcome?   Did things get better?

A village in Guatemala might have TB  in its midst.   I was asked for my input.

I included postings of 3 of your articles because they make the case so well.  See appended.

Many thanks,

Sandra Finley

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APPENDED

Hi Pam,

IMPORTANT:  I am not a medical doctor.  Most allopathic doctors will disagree with me.  I am providing to you my own personal experience.  No doctor can argue with that.

I worked as a member of a 3-person team with the head of TB Control and with a naturpathic doctor.

ALSO IMPORTANT:  my case was diagnosed early in its development, before it became contagious.

Basicly:

  1. Dealt with things that, unbeknownst to me, were weakening my immune system.
  2. Took/did things to boost my immune system.

A quick message on “the cure”:

–          The community should not let itself get afraid and panicked.    Fear is a great stressor that will weaken their ability to regain health.  Everyone in their community will be healthier if they deal with this together.

FROM MY POINT-OF-VIEW, your friend is on the right path (resistant organisms).   But the non-drug approach is not straight-forward and not without pitfalls.

The community has alternatives:

  1. Use the drug protocols
  2. Be mindful of resistant organisms which means trying some non-drug approaches with some people
  3. Other ideas they may figure out themselves

In order for a non-drug approach to work – if it can work – –  there has to be a buy-in from the community – – for example, people need to agree to be quarantined if their case is contagious.

If the community chooses a non-drug approach,  they should know why they are NOT choosing the drug approach.

I would recommend that, as a first step, the community discuss the drug approach in detail – what they know.   Add to it the following, what I know, and other sources of info.

The second step would be to consider the non-drug approach  – – what they already know, coupled with what has worked for others.

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I had an active case of TB, diagnosed before it became contagious.  The old doctor who was head of TB Control in Saskatchewan at the time was agreeable (gave his encouragement) to trying a non-drug approach because the TB wasn’t yet contagious.  We had time.  If it didn’t work, I could still go on the drugs.

I was motivated to experiment, and as I discussed with the doctor :

For the reason you cite (development of resistant organisms) the drug approach to TB is not the best approach, the way I see things.  Nature’s organisms will always evolve so as to survive the current poison we use to kill them.  That is exactly what is happening – – the community you refer to in Guatemala is experiencing it.

This posting includes a list of countries where drug-resistant TB has evolved.   (By 2005)

2005-06-02 Health, Follow-up on: I have tuberculosis. Includes incidence and history.

The problem is that new drugs, in order to combat the disease have to become more and more toxic, parallel with the more virulent organism.   We arrive at a point where “the cure” is temporary  AND toxic to the point that it does great harm to the human patient, too.

Neither do I think it is rational to develop more and more expensive drugs, when the people afflicted by the disease are largely people with compromised immune systems BECAUSE OF poverty.   As the Canadian example illustrates so well – – tuberculosis has been an identified and serious problem in First Nations communities for more than a hundred years.  Alarms re-surface periodically through the years.  NOTHING changes, except that the risk for everyone increases.

People are foolish if they think the disease can be contained within distant communities, in local shelters for the homeless, addiction treatment centres,  and hospitals.   Which is, in fact, where TB is growing in Canada.   But we prefer “hush”, to dealing effectively with the disease, which means dealing with racism and poverty.

It assumes that we are incapable of developing some other way to combat the organism.

The TB programme does not serve the patient because the drugs do not address what is at the root of the health problem.  The drugs might provide a fix.  But in time, whatever is underlying (causing weakened immunity) is likely to manifest in some other form of ill health.   There is a good chance that the TB patient will have continuing health problems and a reduced life span.

Keep in mind that a significant percentage (30% is the number I’ve seen) of people walk around with the TB organism;  it is not a problem for them because their immune system keeps it in check.  Our insides are full of little creatures, some good, some not-so-good.

 

As mentioned, I worked as a team with an allopathic doctor, head of TB Control (regular check-ups) and a naturpathic doctor.

My case of TB demonstrates:  if we neglect poverty (where TB resides) we do it at our own peril.  TB is on the rise, it will spread to the not-poor.

Also, the drug-company efforts to find the “next cure” are immoral.  They use people in 3rd world countries to test their new concoctions.  The Government of Nigeria brought criminal charges against Pfizer for killing Nigerians who were used for drug testing.  The case was settled out-of-court.

Here is the information I have circulated (as of 2009) regarding tuberculosis.

http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=4372   2005-06-02  Health,  Follow-up on:  I have tuberculosis.  Includes incidence and history.

http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=4374    2005-06-23  Tuberculosis  –  TB patient jailed and other articles

http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=4381   2005-10-28  Related: pharmaceuticals in h2o supply, resistant organisms, myco toxins, Tuberculosis

http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=4369   2007-06-01  Tuberculosis story improbable ??  Also, Nigerian Government brings criminal charges against Pfizer.

http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=4394   2009-10-31  Tuberculosis explodes on northern reserves

http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=4397   2009-11-03  ‘Things are falling apart’, number of TB cases in Manitoba is on the rise, . . .

http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=4390   2009-11-07  Tuberculosis The Forgotten Disease – Part 6 – Winnipeg Free Press.htm

http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=1105.   2009-11-19   H1N1 (or nukes or gmo’s or energy) in the context of “Selling Out”: the larger issue. Immune systems. TB. Constant Gardener.

(For the last posting, see item #5.   Also  #6, the Nigerian case.   It includes reference to the book/movie “The Constant Gardener” which is all about Big Pharma’s interest in tuberculosis.)

 

THE QUESTION ?

The approach used was:  why didn’t my immune system deal with the TB organism?   (many healthy people carry the organism, it doesn’t become active)

/Sandra

– – – – – – – – – –

From: Pamela
Sent: February-13-12
To: Sandra Finley
Subject: TB

Hi Sandra;

. . .   A friend of mine is working with people in Guatemala and they are experiencing possibly an outbreak of Tuberculosis. I thought that you told me that you had TB once in your lungs and had treated it herbally? If so, can you tell me what you used? My friend would be very interested in this, as sometimes the people don’t use the medication properly and then the disease is drug resistant.

Thanks for your help!

Pam

2019-05-07 Census Lockheed Martin StatsCan: reply to Chris’ “I’d love to hear your take on the 2019 Census ‘Test’.…”. PLUS Profile of Federal Technocrat Anil Arora. (StatsCan, Health Canada (PHAC), Natural Resources, and NOW! Harvard U.

 Lockheed Martin, War Economy (includes Cdn Census & Trials)  1 Response »
May 072019
 

NOTE, Sept 2024 for Newcomers, re federal Anil Arora (not a Canadian in any sense):

Connections: 

Anil Arora  STATSCAN (equivalent of American Census Bureau,which not even Congressmen know is run by Lockheed Martin >>> <<< Lockheed Martin Corp  Military and SURVEILLANCE.

Anil Arora  at HEALTH CANADA  >>> <<< Lockheed Martin Corp administers the health data base for the Canadian Military     . . .  read on.  I can’t integrate all this for you.

  • The administrative state is a term used to describe the power that some government agencies have to write, judge, and enforce their own laws.
  • Anil Arora has come up through the Federal Bureaucracy (Cdn).  He has had  a couple stints at StatsCan
  • Lockheed Martin’s intended role at StatsCan (2000’s) was curtailed by Canadians spreading the word, resulting in huge and growing non-compliance with Censuses (2006, 2011, 2016, 2021 ) and Surveys (on-going building of files on individual Canadians, in-between censuses).
  • Lockheed Martin (war, technology, and surveillance) was left with back-door entry to the comprehensive data base on Canadians.
  • Lockheed provides “steerage” for the census operations (data banks) – – in the FVEY countries at a minimum.
  • Head officials at StatsCan work with, under “the steerage” of Lockheed Martin
  • Arora has been at Health Canada, Natural Resources Canada, and in Science and Policy Integration.
  • He was chair of the International Coalition of Medicines Regulatory Authorities – – the voluntary, executive-level entity of worldwide medicines regulatory authorities set up to provide strategic coordination, advocacy and leadership.  (Think of the assault on Supplements.)
  • It’s pretty well understood that the American Regulatory Authorities of Medicines are run by Big Pharma.    My documented experience leads to the same conclusion regarding the situation in Canada.
  • Anil Arora retired from the Federal Bureaucracy and now works for Harvard U:  https://www.hks.harvard.edu/faculty/anil-arora

More info embedded below.

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Chris writes:

I’d dearly love to hear your take on the 2019, just out, Census ‘Test’.  Again, another mandatory (or is it?) survey… or rather ‘test’ (?) A precursor to the yet to come 2021 all citizen Census. An attempt to see just how far they can push the types of questions they ask. This time they take aim at our gender, our sex, our religious beliefs, our mental state and yes, just for fun… our need for repairs required to our homes (You’ll have to ask them). All of which, in my simple mind combined or in part, amount to a lot of NONE OF THEIR DAMN BUSINESS!! I absolutely fail to see how any of that information can be useful in any capacity to accomplish that which they state in their opening paragraph on the Census Test itself. If you thought the 2016 Census was a hit to our freedoms under the charter then you have got to see this one. Absolute, pure, unadulterated voyeurism.

Sandra speaking:

NOTE 1:  you may have missed this posting.  It contains the link to the Globe&Mail article about StatsCan’s plan to demand the banking records of 500,000 Canadians.  As far as I know, outrage dissuaded them!

2018-11-16   the BLIND SPOT in Privacy Commissioner’s investigation of StatsCan (getting our personal data (like bank records) from the private sector)

 

NOTE 2:   The Census ‘Test’,  Chris’ question.   It’s new to me – – thanks to Chris for drawing it to attention, and providing the information:

Hi Sandra,  I’ve included a couple of links to view.

Besides the questions on this ‘test’ being what I consider irrelevant to any government function they are highly personal and can not legally be asked by anyone else (e.g. employers, etc…)  such as what sex I was at birth, my gender now, my religion, how much I think my home is worth if I sold today and what sort of repairs it currently needs, how many sick days I took off of work during a specified period and if I was paid for that time, my parents birth places (what if I don’t know?).

I’m horrified.  I really don’t want to answer anything on this ‘test’.  According to the second link provided below, they are calling this a survey.  Surveys, as I understand it, are not MANDATORY.  Yet I’m being told both by them by phone and on the first link provided – that this IS indeed a mandatory ‘test’.

I also call into question their selection process for the 250,000 homes they targeted (excellent choice of wording here because that’s exactly how I feel) as I ALWAYS get any so called random sampling test, survey, etc… that they come up with.  Add to this that I always get any long form (1 of 4 homes) as well.  I have not done anything with this test yet.  Not sure what I will do at the moment.

https://www.statcan.gc.ca/eng/survey/household/3901 

 https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2021/consultation/test2019/index-eng.cfm

Thanks for giving me a place to go where someone is actually listening to my concerns,  Chris

 

= = = = = = = = = =

MY TAKE

UPDATE Sept 2024):

A quick look at “the test” – – does it say that “the test” is not mandatory,  but it IS mandatory if you receive the “invitation” to supply the requested information?  I invite interpretation by others.

The second URL contains a link to the Statistics Act.   Section 7, copied below.  Look at the bold, highlighted “Marginal note:”.  Looks like the Chief Statistician became God.  I wonder how God liked it when even the Banks said “no” to the demand for the banking records of 500,000 people?

Chris – – in spite of the “Marginal note”, you still have a Charter Right to Privacy of Personal Information.   A bureaucrat does not have the power to take that away.   Constitutional Law requires that the Government apply to the Courts,  present arguments to satisfy the criteria set out in the Oakes Test, and get a Court Ruling that says  “We agree, StatsCan needs to have an over-ride of the Charter Right to Privacy of Personal Information.  If you don’t answer the questions, you will be prosecuted.”  StatsCan cannot take away the Charter Right of citizens, not without a Court Ruling.

The Statistics Act, Section 7:

Rules, instructions and requests for information

  • 7 (1) The Chief Statistician may prescribe the rules, instructions and, subject to subsection 21(1), requests for information that he or she considers necessary for conducting the work and business of Statistics Canada, the collecting, compiling and publishing of statistics and other information and the taking of any census authorized by this Act.

  • Marginal note:Clarification

    (2) For greater certainty, any rule, instruction or request for information prescribed under subsection (1) is not a regulation for the purposes of the Statutory Instruments Act.

  • R.S., 1985, c. S-19, s. 7;
  • 2017, c. 31, s. 5.
Previous Version

Marginal note:  Mandatory or voluntary requests for information

  • 8 (1) The Chief Statistician (God) shall determine whether a request for information is mandatory or voluntary, with the exception of the census of population and census of agriculture, both of which are mandatory.

The following integrates a larger picture that I think is important to see.   Follow one high-level bureaucrat, Anil Arora.   He moves from one Government Agency or Department to another – – implementing an agenda.  The agenda is international and corporate.   Arora is one of the quislings.

– – – – – –

You reminded me,  good grief!   . . . the “next Census” already peeps over the horizon.   It will be the FOURTH one since the beginning of our efforts.  I doubt that any one of us foresaw the longterm need for attention.   At the beginning we understood very little of what we know now.   We tackled the Government because it was not hard to understand, intuitively, that StatsCan was intent on taking us down a very dark road (discussed elsewhere on this blog).

Also unforeseen, the greatest amount of work has arisen from what StatsCan does IN BETWEEN censuses, the surveys.

Two important contribution we’ve been able to deliver to Canadians:

  1. solid documentation of the lies told by StatsCan.
  2. The vulnerability of our Charter Right to Privacy of Personal Information.   Citizens are the only ones who will fight to defend it.  It is not in the interests of (Lockheed Martin Corp) the military-industrial-government-surveillance economy, for Canadians to have, to OWN, the Charter Right to Privacy.

 

The second point (Charter Right) is addressed comprehensively in other postings.

I’ll elaborate on the first point, documentation of the lies and half-truths, and where that takes us.

  1. It begins with   (2010-01-17):   My trial is not selective prosecution – – ? Is the Government applying the law equally? StatsCan witness, Anil Arora, under oath says those who didn’t comply were referred for prosecution; only 64 people in all of Canada were charged!! – –  Whereas THOUSANDS  did not comply.

2.  Important parts of the “Credibility Gap” (StatsCan’s record on truthfulness) is summarized near the end of, “Does Lockheed Martin have a role in the 2016 Census?”.

The Nazis were masters of using lies to reassure people.  And they were masters of the Census as a tool of the terrorist state, ultimately for the extermination of millions of people.  (Ref:  Edwin Black’s  IBM and the Holocaust – – a very important and interesting record.).

I am also reminded – – “By Chance Alone,  A Remarkable True Story of Courage and Survival at Auschwitz  by Canadian Max Eisen, 2016.

Max was a 15-year old at Auschwitz.  His description makes real the use of the lies,  the role they play in the persuasion that reduces your wariness during the period when the subjugation is beginning.  During that time, the tyranny cannot risk a rebellion – – there are too many of you, they can be overthrown.  The lies disarm rebellion, long enough for the tyrants to reduce people to the point where their power to resist is obliterated.

As mentioned, Anil Arora was the StatsCan witness at my trial.   And I had a 45-minute telephone conversation with him at the time of the 2006 census-taking.   He had phoned to persuade me to fill in my census form.   I found his responses to my serious concerns lacking in substance.   He was a facile parrot for StatsCan and Lockheed Martin Corp, unable to hear or process what I was saying.  Ha ha!  He’s now (2024) a Harvard University Professor.  (I still have the recording of the conversation.)

The following may seem off-topic.   To me,  it is important to see Arora in the larger context, to understand better the operation of our Government.

Arora came from Health Canada to StatsCan where he performed under a couple of titles, including at one time “Director General” of StatsCan.  I first came across his name in Shiv Chopra’s “Health Canada, Rotten to the Core”.   Arora is a bureaucrat, not a long-trained statistician with long experience, as former heads of StatsCan had been.   He disappeared from StatsCan for a time after my trial.   And reappeared again, later, at StatsCan.   He did a stint in Natural Resources Canada, and in Science and Policy Integration.   I won’t comment on those assignments.

Arora is now back at Health Canada.   And I’m holding in my hand a brochure that calls on Canadians to fight back against what his sub-section of Health Canada is doing.  “These bureaucrats need to hear from you”.   The first one listed is Anil Arora.   According to NHPPA (Natural Health Products Protection Assoc),  Health Canada will move natural supplements to fall under the same regulations as chemical drugs, after the Federal Election in October (2019).

I phoned NHPPA:  why is Anil Arora listed on the brochure? 

A well-informed woman referred me to their website and a specific document.  In short,  the NHPPA has every reason to be challenging Health Canada on process, in my opinion.    (Just as StatsCan was challenged on their outrageous attempt to demand the banking data on 500,000 Canadians from the banks.)

Arora’s online Government bio is glowing.  The reason Arora is currently at Health Canada  – – –   leading a complex organization overseeing regulation of food, drug and health products for Canada – – –

might be explained by the last sentence from his “government/management” bio:   He also served as chair of the International Coalition of Medicines Regulatory Authorities.

(I wonder why the bio is not on a Health Canada URL?  maybe they have all the government “management” people in one silo?):   https://www.canada.ca/en/government/management/anil-arora.html

Excerpt, minus the accolades:

In 2010, Mr. Arora joined Natural Resources Canada as Assistant Deputy Minister of the Minerals and Metals Sector, and in 2013 was appointed Assistant Deputy Minister of Science and Policy Integration. He moved to Health Canada in 2014, becoming Assistant Deputy Minister of Health Products and Food Branch and leading a complex organization overseeing regulation of food, drug and health products for Canada. He also served as chair of the International Coalition of Medicines Regulatory Authorities.

RE:   He also served as chair of the International Coalition of Medicines Regulatory Authorities  (source URLs are appended)

It’s pretty well understood that the American Regulatory Authorities of Medicines are run by Big Pharma.    My documented experience leads to the same conclusion regarding the situation in Canada.

Arora chaired this (from the website):

voluntary, executive-level entity of worldwide medicines regulatory authorities set up to provide strategic coordination, advocacy and leadership  . . .

Website designed by Swissmedic and maintained by the Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency

The website design credits are the names of Government Regulatory Agencies in Switzerland and Japan, respectively.

I have no idea of their relationship with Big Pharma, whether they are bona fide regulators or not.  All I know is that Switzerland is where Cameco – Bruce Power (uranium-nuclear vertically-integrated)  set up a storefront shop to avoid paying taxes in Canada, literally BILLIONS of dollars in Canadian taxes.)

My direct experience of  Health Canada is with the PMRA (Pest Management Regulatory Agency).  I didn’t find it surprising to see “Rotten to the Core” in a book title.   I went to Ottawa years ago to meet with the then-head of the PMRA (Karen Dodds) and her second-in-command, Connie Moase, because I wanted to hear answers to my questions about the regulation of ag chemicals (pesticides) from the horse’s mouth.   I was appalled by their responses and remain so.   The public interest in health was not to be found.  Health Canada’s PMRA is run by and for corporate interests.   It’s why Canada continues to stonewall in the face of overwhelming evidence of the great harm being done by ag-chemicals for example.   The forecasted extinctions of insects and songbirds does not phase them, let alone the disease levels in humans, kids, and animals.

I think the evidence is clear:  it is not only the American Medicine Regulatory Authorities that are run by Corporations,  the Canadian ones are, too.   Anil Arora was chair of the International Coalition of Medicines Regulatory Authorities.

StatsCan?   Member of an international organization to harmonize census operations in various countries, under the steerage of Lockheed Martin Corp.   A revised Statistics Act gives the Chief Statistician the power to decide whether we will be prosecuted for personal information we fail to supply, if it is demanded.  Charter Right? . . . Resist,  Do Not Comply.

International Trade Deals with “Chapter 13” secret Tribunals to decide how much we are going to pay to satisfy corporate complaints that Canadian laws prevented  them from making the money they claim they can make in Canada?

Seems pretty clear.  Our own Laws are subservient.  There are people in Government whose job it is to (Anil Arora at Health Canada) -manage a complex organization overseeing regulation of food, drug and health products for Canada.  

He was not working on behalf of citizens at StatsCan.  Charter Rights be damned.  Revise the Statistics Act to ensure power and control is in the hands of the Chief Statistician.  Under “the steerage” of Lockheed Martin Corporation.

Chair of the International Coalition of Medicines Regulatory Authorities?  And what’s happening now under his management at Health Canada?  Dump what took years to accomplish in Canada.  In whose favour?  

Back to my experience:  you may imagine that I lent an ear and gratitude to Shiv Chopra,  one of three Health Canada whistle-blowers in the case of attempted bribery by Monsanto to get Bovine Growth Hormone registered in Canada.   I also happened to meet one of his fellow whistleblowers at a “Prevent Cancer NOW” workshop in Ottawa,  Michelle Brill-Edwards.   These are fine people who work in the public interest (Shiv is now deceased).

But Health Canada – – actually the corporations they serve – –  will not countenance those who dare to challenge and expose.  The attack campaigns against whistle-blowing scientists in Canada and in the U.S. has been worthy of a police state.  (Documented elsewhere on this blog.)

Elected Members-of-Parliament and Provincial Legislative Assemblies, working with the Canadian Senate are not “the Government”, in a number of cases.   As the documentation vis-à-vis StatsCan and the PMRA illustrates, lies and vague information are a large factor in the manipulation of the Canadian public.   Documentation regarding the petro-chemical industry shows the same reality.

Lies, half-truths, propaganda, vagueness, reassurances from the Government produce gullible people.  Easy prey.

Thank-you Chris, for connecting with us.  I hope “My Take” is a useful contribution to

decisions we need to make

about actions we will take.

Yes, some of us should focus on StatsCan.  By doing so, we are in solidarity with, and supporting the work being done by other Canadians vis-a-vis other manifestations of the same problem in the Government that is no longer our Government.

P.S.  I am having a good chuckle at StatsCan’s communications strategy for “the test” census.   You receive “an invitation” to participate.   I am reminded of the very funny phrase they came up with to describe the money they make from selling data – – it’s “respendable revenue“.   Hilarious!

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APPENDED

SOURCE URL’s for THE MEDICINES REGULATORY AUTHORITIES

https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/partners-networks/international-activities/multilateral-organisations-initiatives/international-coalition-medicines-regulatory-authorities

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is a member of the International Coalition of Medicines Regulatory Authorities (ICMRA). ICMRA is a voluntary, executive-level entity of worldwide medicines regulatory authorities set up to provide strategic coordination, advocacy and leadership.  Nov 20, 2014

http://www.icmra.info/drupal/   

The International Coalition of Medicines Regulatory Authorities (ICMRA) is a voluntary, executive-level, strategic coordinating, advocacy and leadership entity of regulatory authorities that work together to  . . .  (etc.  down to)

Website designed by Swissmedic and maintained by the Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency

Content as at May 7, 2019 is as recent as:

About Us

1 day 19 hours ago

Innovation

1 day 20 hours ago

    Strategic Initiatives

1 day 20 hours ago

Crisis Management

1 day 20 hours ago

Related activities’ official websites

1 day 20 hours ago

2019-04-28 How is it possible to talk about climate change in Canada, and not address corruption of our institutions, the petro-state, the deep state? Some corporate mapping. Billionaires, Tar sands, Mining, Banks and a University.

 Corporatocracy or Democracy or Administrative State or WHAT?, Corruption, Oil & Gas, Take back the University  No Responses »
May 062019
 

I put myself into a sleepless nite with the following.   High levels of corruption do not bode well for Canadians.

Your fault,  sending the Mt Polley, B.C. reminder my way!

I had not known that

Murray Edwards, principal of CNRL (Canadian Natural Resources Ltd (tarsands)

 is also the principal shareholder of

Imperial Metals,  owner of the Mt Polley Mine disaster.   A billionaire.

Significant contributor to the Christy Clark Liberals.

The U of S College of Commerce I attended is today the Edwards School of Business.

Same guy.

Edwards may be worth a billion plus on the asset side.  Take a look at the other side of the ledger.

2018-11-01  Alberta regulator privately estimates oilpatch’s financial liabilities are hundreds of billions more than what it told the public, National Observer

2017-10 Book, Oil’s Deep State, How the petroleum industry undermines democracy and stops action on global warming – in Alberta, and in Ottawa, by Kevin Taft

In 2016 Murray Edwards tripped off to London, UK because he isn’t going to pay all those taxes in Canada!

Real fine guy to have as a role model for students of commerce.   And there’s more to it than that.

The “mapping” below is limited to the U of Saskatchewan.   Nothing about the U of Alberta that probably also has a “Murray Edwards” imprint and perhaps a “McCreath” presence.    Nor did I look into possible CNRL + Edwards at the PTRC (Petroleum Technology Research Centre at the U of Regina).   No sense getting TOO buried in the mire!

= = = = = = = =

THE MAPPING

Sent: April 27, 2019
Subject: RE: New U of S Chancellor Grit McCreath

In case you want to go further down the rabbit hole:

Please alert me to any inaccuracies:

So we have:

  • GRIT McCreath, new Chancellor;  former member of Board of Governors; and member of Senate before that.
  • Grit’s husband, Scott McCreath, is the “Executive in Residence”  at the Edwards School of Business, U of Saskatchewan.

https://www.edwards.usask.ca/faculty/Scott%20McCreath/index.aspx

  • Murray Edwards,  Edwards School of Business benefactor,  is likely a friend of the McCreaths.   They are all originally from Sask, of the same era, and graduates of Sask educational institutions.  They are long term residents of Calgary.

Continuing with Scott McCreath:

(INSERT:  I wonder what “and is involved with Waskesiu” means?  Anything to do with The U of S (I don’t know current status) Art School at Emma Lake – – prime real estate that during “cuts” the University closed down?)

Biography

Scott McCreath and his BMO Nesbitt Burns group manage $1.2 billion of private client wealth.  He was Senior Vice President of Canadian Commercial Bank, and was Chairman of the Alberta Stock Exchange. He is a 17-time recipient of the Deane Nesbitt/Charles Burns Award, and in 2011 received the Brendan Wood TopGun designation as one of the world’s best financial services professionals.  He is active in community philanthropy, sits on the Dean’s Advisory Council (U of S, Edwards School of Business), and is involved with Waskesiu.  He is an alumnus of our College of Commerce (now the Edwards School . ..). 

Scott has a great history of giving generously of his time and contacts to the University of Saskatchewan, and his wife Grit (an alumnus of the College of Education) is a member of the University’s Board of Governors. Scott has been a fantastic supporter of the Dembroski Student-Managed Portfolio, and sits on its governance committee. 

Scott will be able to speak with great insight on the behavior of markets and of investors, the institutions of finance and public policy, and the keys to successful management of other people’s assets.  He is deeply committed to the success of the Edwards School of Business and wants his participation with us to add value to the School and enrich the lives of students.  

(The students work the markets with REAL money:  https://news.usask.ca/articles/colleges/2019/edwards-student-managed-fund-tops-2-million.php )

A picture of Grit and Scott:  https://remaimodern.org/join-and-support/donor-stories/grit-and-scott-mccreath

 

A few notes re Murray Edwards,  oil tycoon billionaire benefactor of the School of Business.  (He moved to London (tax advantages) but retains his Canadian citizenship.  He is Mr. Canadian Natural Resources.  Tar sands, oil pipelines AND Imperial Metals.  Well-known and abhorred in BC because of Mt Polley – – more on that below.  I don’t know how well-known is his funding (is that the right word?) of the Christy Clark Liberals.

RE  Scott McCreath and “his BMO Nesbitt Burns group”,  and son James:

https://nesbittburns.bmo.com/james.mccreath

NOTE:

  • No longer is it illegal for Canadian Banks to also offer investment and other services to their clients.
  • BMO Wealth Management  is BMO Nesbitt Burns.  (BMO took over once-independent investment company Nesbitt Burns. )
  • under the Bank of Montreal logo,  on the BMO Nesbitt Burns webpage,  under James McCreath is The McCreath Group. Father and son are both part of that.

Imperial Metal’s Mt Polley mine disaster in BC (2014) is an on-going, large, unresolved tragedy.  A wall of the large tailings pond broke, emptying into a creek that flows into Quesnel Lake.

The controlling shareholder of Imperial Metals is billionaire N. Murray Edwards. He donated half a million dollars in campaign contributions to the B.C. Liberal party since 2005 and helped organize a $1-million fundraiser for B.C. Premier Christy Clark’s re-election.[23]

Further re the McCreaths’ son, Andy (married to Grant Devine’s daughter)

(Grant Devine former Conservative premier of Sask.  Most corrupt administration in the history of the Province.  People went to jail.  Devine who was appointed to the U of S  Bof G by Brad Wall before he stepped down as Premier.  Wall had worked for cabinet ministers in the Devine Government.).

tinePublic Inc.  is Andy McCreath.   I have not looked at it recently;  it may be of the corporate  “integration” of the U.S. and Canada.  When I was looking into WHO were the rich guys in Canada that were raising millions upon millions for the Clinton Foundation:

EXCERPT from  2016-11-07 How Bill and Hillary raised and earned millions from Canada’s corporate elite, G&M

. . .   the fund-raising done by the Clinton’s in Canada.

At the bottom of the article:  the speeches they gave, who sponsored the speeches, and at what price.

tinePublic Inc., Andy McCreath, the very bottom URL.  Not that there is necessarily anything sinister  – –  it sounds like the McCreath kid is a hustler.  (His mother, Grit, is on the Board of Governors, U of S.)

A quick approximate count – – 9 of the Clinton speeches in Canada are courtesy of tinePublic or McCreath Communications  ( e.g.  Hillary, in Saskatoon, Jan. 21, 2015, fee $202,500)

Also  (the bottom of the article.)

The Power Within Inc.   hosted the lion’s share of the Clinton events – – I think about 24.   And consistently paid more than anyone else by a long shot,  to Bill Clinton:  US$525,000  in June 2008 being the most.   $350,000 another time, $300,000

According to the article, “… The Power Within is sponsored” by the TD Bank.

TD deputy chairman, mentioned in the article,  is Frank McKenna, (former Premier of N.B. – for 10 years)  who was Canada’s ambassador to Washington (but only for a year) when George W. Bush was president 

I wonder from where The Power gets its money.  And how Frank McKenna came by his.   He came from humble beginnings.

I dumped material into the posting “The Petro-State“.

There ‘s a video that points out the vulnerability of some Canadian banks – – they are HUGELY “invested”  (through loans) to the Oil and Gas sector in Alberta.  TD  has the largest exposure.  BMO is alongside.  (Murray Edwards (CNRL), Scott McCreath (BMO)?

2018-06-07 The Petro-State. Provincial Auditor Saskatchewan: abandoned oil & gas wells, $4 billion (Alberta $238 billion.) Revolving door: former premier Brad Wall now at Osler Law Firm (help for Kinder Morgan). Before that, Dwayne Lingenfelter (NDP Deputy Premier of Sask,) to Nexen.

 

2019-05-02 ‘ContraPoints’ Is Political Philosophy Made for YouTube (Natalie Wynn) – The Atlantic

 Change  No Responses »
May 052019
 

Young and amazing people – –  I can’t think of anyone in my generation who would be able to do what Natalie Wynn is doing.

Viewer discretion advised!   You, Mom will be offended by the language.

With thanks to erich who writes:

Interesting and powerful ally.  With a total of over 22 million views and half to two million viewers per new video Natalie Wynn is one of the very few progressive voices that is really heard in the internet jungle.

https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2019/01/contrapoints-political-philosophy-natalie-wynn-youtube/579532/ 

note her video on climate that this article uses as an example.  The amount and quality of information imparted while keeping attention with bits of Pythonesque burlesque really impresses me.  IMHO she gets more across, more effectively than Al Gore.  In a home-made 34 minute video.

the Vice article is also interesting

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/qvygkv/contrapoints-interview-2019-natalie-wynn 

Another concise but effective video exposing the gullibility of liberals in the face of demands for “free speech” by the far right:

https://youtu.be/GGTDhutW_us  lots of food for thought here.

Perhaps her most effective and deeply insightful video is subject of this New Yorker article

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/persons-of-interest/the-stylish-socialist-who-is-trying-to-save-youtube-from-alt-right-domination

There is real understanding here, even compassion, for some of the most pathetically hateful of our society’s jetsam

https://youtu.be/fD2briZ6fB0

Note to erich:

I had found “incels” (“involuntary celebates”) a source of despair.   How ever could we as a society hope to deal with such destructive distortions?   And how sad that people, the sons of mothers and dads, grandsons, communities, can come to these states-of-mind?

The universe sends us angels, to the rescue.  Wynn is one of them.   Bless her.   Her courage is something else – – I can only imagine a bit of the pain she must have experienced in her short 30-year lifetime,  from a few statements she offers to the incels.

It is remarkable that she even cares about the incels.  Your description,

There is real understanding here, even compassion, for some of the most pathetically hateful of our society’s jetsam

reminds me of prophets, dare I say, at risk of being crucified?!

You sent me hope.   As you point out – – a powerful ally.    /S

2019-05-01 Assange’s lawyer Jennifer Robinson; brief video clip, good. Plus teleSUR coverage.

 Julian Assange, Wikileaks, Chelsea (Bradley) Manning, Arjen Kamphuis  1 Response »
May 022019
 

The Globe&Mail posted the video clip by itself (it is  1 minute, 37 seconds).

Nice!  you are spared the biased reporting in Canadian mainstream media that makes me gag – –  the Vancouver Sun, just one example.

The video

  • starts with the Editor of Wikileaks, then goes to
  • lawyer Jennifter Robinson.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/video-wikileaks-founder-julian-assange-sentenced-to-50-weeks-in-british-jail/

Please let me know if the link goes down.   Thanks!

= = = = = = = = = = = =

FULL REPORTING OF THE EVENT,   by teleSUR

Assange Formally Denies Court His Consent for Extradition to US

  • Julian Assange

    Julian Assange’s supporters protest outside of Westminster Magistrates Court in London, Britain May 2, 2019. | Photo: Reuters

The U.S. accuses the Australian journalist of “conspiracy to infiltrate” cyber systems with the objective of accessing classified data.

The WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange formally denied before the Westminster Court of Magistrates in London his “consent” to an extradition request made by the United States, a country that wants to try the journalist over publishing leaks about its war crimes, corruption and human rights in Afghanistan and Iraq.

RELATED:
Assange Sentenced To 50 Weeks In Prison For Bail Breach

“I do not wish to surrender for extradition. I’m a journalist winning many, many awards and protecting many people,” said Assange who testified by video conference on Thursday from the Belmarsh maximum security prison, where he is imprisoned after having been condemned by another British court to 50 weeks of jail for violating his conditional freedom in 2012.

The U.S. asked London to surrender Assange, whom it accuses of “conspiracy to infiltrate” cyber systems with the objective of accessing classified data, a charge which could carry a sentence of up to five years in prison. On this regard, Ben Brandon, a lawyer representing the U.S. government, said to the Westminster Court that there is evidence of Assange’s acquiring confidential records.

Once the audience with the Westminster Magistrates finished, however, Julian Assange’s lawyer, Jennifer Robinson, alerted media about the real nature of the legal actions against her client.

“Julian Assange, 47 y.o, fears of having to face more serious charges in the U.S. than hacking.”

“Despite what you heard from the prosecutor in the courtroom today, this case is not about hacking,” Robinson said and explained that the case is about “a journalist and a publisher who had conversations with a source about accessing material, encouraged that source to provide material and spoke to that source about how to protect their identity. This is a protected activity that journalists engage in all the time.”

In addition, during a press conference outside the British court, WikiLeaks chief editor Kristinn Hrafnsson told journalists that Assange has spent 23 hours a day in his cell lately, which means he is going through “solitary” confinement.

“That’s unacceptable and that applies to most of the prisoners in that appalling facility. It is unacceptable that a publisher is spending time in that prison,” Hrafnsson denounced and stressed that “the fight has just begun, it will be a long one and a hard one, but we count on the general public to understand the importance of this case and we will fight until victory.”

Judge Michael Snow’s ruled that the current extradition case would be adjourned until May 30 for a procedural hearing. Later a new, more substantial hearing will be held on June 12.

The U.S. persecution of Julian Assange was launched under former President Barack Obama and aggressively pursued by President Donald Trump administration.

The Australian journalist has been accused of having conspired with former U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to intercept a Pentagon computer. The prosecution maintains that Assange helped Manning decode a secret code so that the analyst could filter classified cables through WikiLeaks.

After Ecuador’s President Lenin Moreno withdrew the journalist’s diplomatic asylum, Assange was forcibly detained by British agents on April 11 at the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he had stayed as a refugee since 2012.

The government of former President Rafael Correa protected the WikiLeaks journalist from being arrested and sent to Sweden to be interrogated for sexual abuse crimes there which he had repeatedly denied.

2019-04-15 Politics of Culture in US: ‘The Invisible Hand of the Market’? by Canadian Arnold August, teleSUR

 Culture and Ethics, Peace or Violence  No Responses »
May 022019
 

Although this article was published in the original Spanish version last March, now that Julian Assange is in prison the analysis in this piece on “freedom of expression” is even more valid.

There is a wide-open debate/polemic in Cuba regarding Decree 349 on culture and the drafting of the rules for its future application. The controversy is also stirring on the international scene, especially in North America, Europe and Latin America.

OPINION:
Cuban Referendum: Deception For Some, Confirmation For Others

There are those who are in favor of the new code. Others are critical, and indeed some of these are very critical, but they are participating in the Ministry of Culture-led consultation to draft the enabling regulations. There are others who are completely against the new legislation and its regulations, even while the consultations with people in the cultural field are still under way.

However, they are trying to influence the situation in Cuba and, as discussed below, this orientation is widely inspired by the U.S. The method employed is the usual disinformation campaign. It hopes to capitalize on preconceived notions such as the catch-all American “freedom of expression” mantra as applied to political systems in countries other than the U.S. This is nothing new, but there is a novel twist.

It is now applied to artistic endeavours. The campaign targets the sector of the Cuban society dedicated to culture, hoping to win over who those who critically support the new statute in order to create division among individuals involved in culture. Be that as it may, this article deals only with the extremist opponents to the legislation and regulations, both in Cuba and internationally, especially in the United States.

Careful reading of a wide, representative spectrum of opposition articles, social media posts and comments reveals a common point of reference. The U.S. Embassy in Havana tweeted in favour of “artistic freedom” with a very undiplomatic slogan: “No to Decree 349.” The U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs recently stated that the “Gov[ernmen]t of Cuba should celebrate, not restrain, the artistic expression of Cuban people.” Among the shades of “left,” “centrist” and openly right-wing hard-core opposition, including some academics, a common thread stands out.

The U.S. Takes the Moral High Road of Freedom of Artistic Expression – for Cuba
Whether in Cuba or the U.S., the fundamentalist opposition takes the moral high road of “freedom of artistic expression” for Cuba. However, they are viewing Cuba with U.S. blinders. They take it as a given that in the U.S., there is freedom of artistic expression (along with other types of expression) in the cultural realm. The logic goes that there are no cultural restrictions in the U.S. like the ones being brought in in Cuba.

Furthermore, according to these talking points, there is no Ministry of Culture in the U.S. that would control and guide cultural expressions in that country. The U.S.-centric outlook insinuates, either openly or covertly, that everyone in the U.S. is free to express their artistic talents. The United States is presented as the cultural model for the world, in the same way that it boasts about other features of its society, such as its economy and political process. Many people around the world, and in the U.S. itself, are all too familiar with the U.S. superiority complex. This built-in psyche finds its origins in the “chosen people” notion emerging from the very birth of the U.S. at the time of the Thirteen Colonies in the seventeenth century.

For someone who comes from the Global North and has direct experience of American mainstream artistic expression, such as music, it is obvious that what sells is what is promoted. If the elites can successfully market banality, sex, and violence, then so be it. Profit is the only criterion. Those very few artists who are willing and able (because of their physical appearance above all) to compete in this market are highly rewarded. They then pay back their sponsors by standing out explicitly or implicitly as the expressions of the American Dream come true. Furthermore, U.S.-style extreme individualism is paraded as a value to be worshipped, to which social and international concerns must be completely sacrificed. In sum, the fairy tale narrative pretends that anyone from the slums of America can make it.

However, this process is presented as being spontaneous, without the state’s involvement. It is supposedly the law of supply and demand as applied to the arts. The rationale of the “invisible hand” of capitalism determines what is appropriate in the artistic realm.
Can culture be considered just another commodity?

In the course of social media interaction during the December 8, 2018 Cuban TV Mesa Redonda program, Fernando Rojas, one of Cuba’s vice-ministers of culture, retweeted and commented on one of my tweets. He mentioned UNESCO’s Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions and the U.S. position counterposing this agreement to the free market.

“UNESCO Convention on Cultural Diversity: U.S. equated freedom of expression with the dictates of a “free market in art…”] Arnold August @Arnold_August: In capitalist countries such as the U.S. and Canada….]”

An investigation ensued, as I was not sufficiently familiar with this controversy. In 2000 in Paris, UNESCO adopted the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions. It stipulates that culture is not just another a commodity and recognizes the sovereign right of states to promote and protect their tangible and intangible cultural production, using the measures they deem appropriate. The convention allows states to protect their cultural creation. The U.S. opposed it, claiming to promote true cultural diversity by working for individual liberties, so that everyone has “cultural freedom” and can enjoy his own cultural expressions, not those imposed by governments. But the convention was adopted by a vote of 148 to 2. Guess which countries opposed it? The U.S. and Israel.

Should each country have the right to defend its own culture?   

Looking at this superficially, it may seem that that the U.S. government does not impose any norms on culture. Indeed, as “freedom of artistic expression” is assured only in the U.S. (and in Israel), according to this tale, once again the U.S. has the “burden” of exercising its role as the chosen people responsible for teaching everyone on the planet about culture, as it does for democracy and human rights. In fact, taking a page out of that literary classic the Bible (let’s give credit where credit is due), the U.S. has evolved as a “city set upon the hill” to which everyone in the world must look for guidance. Thus, goes the logic, it is all the other countries of the world, except for the U.S. and Israel, who are the violators of artistic freedom.

However, in opposing the Convention’s attempt to save artists’ creative activity from market values by emphasizing the government’s role as a protector of culture, the question arises as to the role played by the U.S. government in this sphere. By default, and by its own admission (as indicated above), in pleading for the supremacy of the market under the guise of “individual freedom” in Paris, one can conclude that the U.S. model imposes the capitalist market as the overriding norm for artists.

Thus, the U.S. government not only protects the market economy within its own country, but by opposing the sovereign right of other countries to form shields to defend a traditional, healthy culture, Washington’s position also constitutes a road map for the U.S. to extend its cultural tentacles into other countries. This is something that we in Canada are very aware of. UNESCO’s defense of sovereign the right to protect and promote cultural production was probably something that irked Washington in Paris in 2005.

Some history 

To better grasp the issue, a look at the underlying historical context is warranted. Culture, on a par with economic expansion and military and ideological warfare, is part of the U.S. imperialist goal of world domination, irrespective of who occupies the White House. Let us recall Frances Stoner Saunders’s groundbreaking book Who Paid the Piper: The CIA and the Cultural Cold War, first published in English in 1999, then in Spanish in 2001 under the title La CIA y la Guerra Fría Cultural. The book presents a detailed report on the methods whereby the CIA influenced a wide range of intellectuals and cultural organizations during the Cold War.

Since then, and in the wake of similar revelations occurring both before and after Saunders’s book, the U.S. has had to adopt a more subtle way to influence events. It has since funnelled support through front groups not openly tied to the CIA. For example, American journalist and U.S. democracy promotion expert Tracey Eaton, in his December 2018 report, wrote that “over the past three decades, the U.S. government has spent more than $1 billion for broadcasting to Cuba and for democracy programs on the island.”

Democracy promotion, free expression and individual rights are so all-inclusive that that they encompass the cultural issue, which is even listed as one of the goals of this funding. Furthermore, if one clicks on the links to the activities of the front groups, such as the one with the innocent-sounding title “Observa Cuba,” one finds this: “Artists stage four-day sit-down at Culture against 349.”

Now, this is not to say that all or most of the hard-line opponents to 349 are financially linked to the United States. That would be an unfair assertion. However, living just about in the belly of the beast, we know that one cannot have illusions about U.S. foreign policy. The situation is admittedly very complex. For example, one of the most prominent critics of 349, Silvio Rodríguez, drew a clean line of demarcation between critics such as himself, who are participating in drafting the regulations to the law, and the position of the U.S. Embassy and its acolytes.

“I do not believe that they care about Cuban artists. However, they do care about basing themselves on our possible errors in order to confuse. The ideological war is looking to be less and less in black and white.”

This situation calls for serious reflection and research before writing, while at the same time seeing the urgency and duty to deal with the disinformation campaign led by the West.

Thus, it was of great help to get the December 16, 2018 “Postcard from Cuba,” circulated by American journalist Karen Wald, who has five decades of experience with Cuba. She writes from Havana with regard to her initial investigation on the controversy over 349: “My guess is that some of what’s behind this [opposition to 349] may be the fact that lots of pseudo ‘artists’ of all kinds make up a strong component of what the U.S. extols as ‘dissidence’ here… Most of those ‘dissident artists’ reported in U.S. press aren’t even known here…”

It seems to me that Cuba not only has every right to defend its culture and the process that is involved in working out its policy, but also that if it does not, it will sink. According to Fidel Castro, culture is the nation’s shield, and is therefore the first thing that must be saved in order to guarantee the progress of the revolutionary process.

The manner in which the U.S. and the hard-line opponents in Cuba, the United States, Europe, and Latin America are zeroing in on 349 and the government officials involved is an indication that culture is indeed a shield to defend the Cuban Revolution. It is a sine qua non if the Revolution is to continue along the path it has followed for 60 years. The U.S. and its allies know full well that the preferred weapon for subverting the Revolution is the cultural war in the wide sense of the term, including ideological, political, and artistic aspects.

Thus, we can see the hollowness of the “invisible hand of the market.” Let us give the last word to Samir Amin, the outstanding Egyptian-French scholar, who recently passed away. He produced a long-standing analysis of how the state in capitalist countries, such as the U.S. far from letting the free market take its course, has a direct hand in its operation. We saw this with the U.S. position on the Convention on Cultural Diversity and we are seeing it again as the empire strives to punch holes in Cuba’s cultural shield. Amin wrote that, when necessary, the “visible fist” helps the “invisible hand” of the free market.

Arnold August is a Canadian journalist and lecturer, the author of Democracy in Cuba and the 1997–98 Elections, Cuba and Its Neighbours: Democracy in Motion and Cuba–U.S. Relations: Obama and Beyond. As a journalist, he collaborates with many websites in Latin America, Europe, North America and the Middle East, including teleSur.  Twitter and Facebook. His website is www.arnoldaugust.com.

2019-04-18 Jimmy Carter Lectures Trump: US Is ‘Most Warlike Nation in History of the World’, teleSUR

 Peace or Violence  No Responses »
May 022019
 
By:Brett Wilkins 
  • Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter makes remarks at a luncheon following a morning symposium for the 25th anniversary of the Camp David Peace Accords between Israel and Egypt.
    Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter makes remarks at a luncheon following a morning symposium for the 25th anniversary of the Camp David Peace Accords between Israel and Egypt. | Photo: Reuters

The former president says peaceful China “ahead of us in almost every way.”

The only U.S. president to complete his term without war, military attack or occupation has called the United States “the most warlike nation in the history of the world.”

RELATED:
US Marks Anniversary of Its Defeat at Bay of Pigs by Imposing New Sanctions Against Cuba

During his regular Sunday school lesson at Maranatha Baptist Church in his hometown of Plains, Georgia, Jimmy Carter revealed that he had recently spoken with President Donald Trump about China. Carter, 94, said Trump was worried about China’s growing economy and expressed concern that “China is getting ahead of us.”

Carter, who normalized diplomatic relations between Washington and Beijing in 1979, said he told Trump that much of China’s success was due to its peaceful foreign policy.

“Since 1979, do you know how many times China has been at war with anybody?” Carter asked. “None, and we have stayed at war.” While it is true that China’s last major war — an invasion of Vietnam — occurred in 1979, its People’s Liberation Army pounded border regions of Vietnam with artillery and its navy battled its Vietnamese counterpart in the 1980s. Since then, however, China has been at peace with its neighbors and the world.

Carter then said the U.S. has been at peace for only 16 of its 242 years as a nation. Counting wars, military attacks and military occupations, there have actually only been five years of peace in US history — 1976, the last year of the Gerald Ford administration and 1977-80, the entirety of Carter’s presidency. Carter then referred to the US as “the most warlike nation in the history of the world,” a result, he said, of the US forcing other countries to “adopt our American principles.”

China’s peace dividend has allowed and enhanced its economic growth, Carter said. “How many miles of high-speed railroad do we have in this country?” he asked. China has around 18,000 miles (29,000 km) of high speed rail lines while the US has “wasted, I think, $3 trillion” on military spending. According to a November 2018 study by Brown University’s Watson Institute of International and Public Affairs, the US has spent $5.9 trillion waging war in Iraq,

Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan and other nations since 2001.

“It’s more than you can imagine,” Carter said of U.S. war spending. “China has not wasted a single penny on war, and that’s why they’re ahead of us. In almost every way.”

“And I think the difference is if you take $3 trillion and put it in American infrastructure you’d probably have $2 trillion leftover,” Carter told his congregation. “We’d have high-speed railroad. We’d have bridges that aren’t collapsing, we’d have roads that are maintained properly. Our education system would be as good as that of say South Korea or Hong Kong.”

While there is a prevalent belief in the United States that the country almost always wages war for noble purposes and in defense of freedom, global public opinion and facts paint a very different picture. Most countries surveyed in a 2013 WIN/Gallup poll identified the United States as the greatest threat to world peace, and a 2017 Pew Research poll found that a record number of people in 30 surveyed nations viewed US power and influence as a “major threat.”

The U.S. has also invaded or bombed dozens of countries and supported nearly every single right-wing dictatorship in the world since the end of World War II. It has overthrown or attempted to overthrow dozens of foreign governments since 1949 and has actively sought to crush nearly every single people’s liberation movement over that same period. It has also meddled in scores of elections, in countries that are allies and adversaries alike.

Brett Wilkins is an independent journalist and activist based in San Francisco. His work, which covers issues of war and peace and human rights, is archived atwww.brettwilkins.com. 

2019-05-02 Maduro Marches With Army: The Future of Venezuela Is Peace, teleSUR

 Peace or Violence  No Responses »
May 022019
 
Canada is a full participant in U.S. foreign policy.
RELATED POSTING:
  • Venezuela

    Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduroleads soldiers at a military base in Caracas, Venezuela

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro marches with the military and thanks them for ‘demonstrating to the world … that the armed forces are as …united as ever.’

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro marched along with the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB) early Thursday morning thanking the military for remaining united in the front of Tuesday’s attempted coup and protecting the nation’s peace and democracy.

RELATED:
US Economic Bullying Devastates Venezuela: Illhan Omar Denounces

During his speech to the army, Maduro said, “The FANB has demonstrated to the world a historic lesson, that in Venezuela the armed forces are cohesive and united as ever, defeating attempted coup plotters who sell themselves to Washington’s dollars,” said the head of state.

The president added that right-wing sectors are trying to impose a government through the use of U.S.-backed weapons.

On Tuesday a small group of soldiers tried to trick others into participating in a failed coup attempted on the Maduro administration. At the time, Venezuela’s Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino described the situation as “an attempted coup d’état of very small proportion” on part of Guaido and his far-right allies where they “tricked a group of (military) men (into) hijacking national guard vehicles of our national guard to commit a terrorist act.”

At the time U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said his government “fully supports” what both the far-right and the U.S. have dubbed as “Operation Liberty”—a takeover of the Venezuelan government to install Juan Guaido as leader. Guaido, was nearly unknown within the country when he proclaimed himself interim president back in January. Despite strong backing from U.S. warhawks he continues to fail to take the reigns.

Maduro reiterated to the crowd of soldiers Thursday that the future of Venezuela is not war, but peace and unity. He told the group they are writing an admirable history where the world admires them for their ability to resist and defend the nation’s rule of law. The president tweeted: “In a military march together with our always dignified and faithful officials #FANB ¡Long live the homeland!”

RELATED:
Venezuela Coup Attempt Proved Repression is not a Gov’t Policy

The president said they are combatting imperialism and stressed that the “coup plotters must be stopped, today loyalty is put to the test.”

Defense Minister Padrino said that the military’s honor is far superior to the opposition’s that relies on terror and violence.

“We congratulate the FANB’s position to defeat the attempted coup and ratify our loyalty to the country and the constitution that our Supreme Commander taught us to defend to the teeth.”

During the failed coup, U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton tried again to threaten and bribe Padrino, Presidential Guard Commander Ivan Hernandez, and Supreme Justice President Maikel Moreno to support the overthrow by promising them special favors.

This was the march led by Pdte. @NicolasMaduro with the officers of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces in Fuerte Tiuna # 2May

“Your time is up. This is your last chance. Accept Interim President Guaido’s amnesty, protect the Constitution, and remove Maduro, and we will take you off our sanctions list. Stay with Maduro, and go down with the ship,” said Bolton Tuesday.

The president reminded the FANB Thursday about the several failed coup attempts on the Bolivarian government that began back in 2002 with President Hugo Chávez, and have always been defeated. “They have not been able or will be able to do away with us under any circumstances,” said Maduro.

As U.S. President Donald Trump and his administration continue to openly admit they are trying to take down another sovereign government, Trump said Wednesday of Venezuela: “We are doing everything that can be done before reaching the last step [military intervention]. There are people who want us to take the last step. But we have many options open.”

2019-04-16 Julian Assange Wins 2019 EU Journalism Award, teleSUR

 Julian Assange, Wikileaks, Chelsea (Bradley) Manning, Arjen Kamphuis  No Responses »
Apr 282019
 
  • WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was seen on the balcony of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London.

    WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was seen on the balcony of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. | Photo: Reuters

The award is given to individuals “uncovering the truth and exposing it to the public” and to honor those “intimidated and/or persecuted” for such actions.

Julian Assange has been awarded the 2019 European United Left-Nordic Green Left Award for Journalists, Whistleblowers and Defenders of the Right to Information, WikiLeaks informed Tuesday.

RELATED:
The Assange Arrest is a Warning From History

The award is given to individuals “uncovering the truth and exposing it to the public” and to honor “individuals or groups who have been intimidated and/or persecuted” for such actions. Thus recognizing Assange’s work through WikiLeaks.

The prize is sponsored by European left-wing parliamentarians, who devised it in 2018 in honor of assassinated Maltese journalist Daphne Galizia. Nobel Peace prize winner (1976), Mairead Maguire, received it on Assange’s behalf at an event in the European Parliament in France.

Assange is a multi-award winning journalist, with more than 15 international recognitions for his work. The most outstanding awards are the 2008 New Media Award from The Economist, 2010 Time Person of the Year (Reader’s Choice), 2009 Amnesty International UK Media Award, among others. Something his defense has repeatedly explained since by being a publisher and journalist, U.S. imprisonment would mean the violation of fundamental freedom of expression rights.

“The warning is explicit towards journalists. What happened to the founder and editor of WikiLeaks can happen to you in a newspaper, you in a TV studio, you on the radio, you running a podcast,” said award-winning journalist John Pilger writing in an op-ed for teleSUR.

On April 11, Assange’s even-year asylum was abruptly removed and then arrested by British police. Immediately the U.S. charged him with “computer hacking conspiracy,” over an allegation he conspired with former army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to break into a classified government computer.

Ecuador’s President Lenin Moreno even tried to minimize the actions by saying he was “miserable hacker.” Now his defense is fighting an extradition request to face the U.S. justice system, even though Ecuadorean officials have assured this will not happen.

2019-04-27 Ecuador Embassy Staff Contradicts Allegations Against Assange, teleSUR

 Julian Assange, Wikileaks, Chelsea (Bradley) Manning, Arjen Kamphuis  No Responses »
Apr 282019
 
  • Assange with Ecuador

    Assange with Ecuador’s former foreign minister.

“You have to attack and defame the personality if you don’t want the public opinion to support the brave one who challenged the most powerful nation on the planet.”

Ecuador’s president Lenin Moreno made a number of allegations against Julian Assange, including accusing the whistleblower of being disrespectful towards embassy staff. However, Ecuadors consul at the time has dispelled Moreno’s accusations, calling them a “smokescreen”.

Fidel Narvaez was the consul in London for 6 of the 7 years that Julian Assange stayed at the embassy, speaking to Russian outlet RT he said; “his alleged breach of asylum conditions” and altercations with diplomatic staff were a “smokescreen” and that “a couple of isolated incidents with security guards” was not improper conduct.

President Moreno accused Assange of violating terms in a number of ways including harassing guards, covering CCTV cameras, hacking security files. Most lewd of all, he accused Assange of smearing his feces on our embassy’s walls. All without corroboration, the only footage to emerge from his stay is a leaked CCTV video of the Wikileaks founder skateboarding in a small room.

Narvaez laments the focus on Assange’s supposed transgressions during his stay, saying; “I was very disappointed that the fundamental thing – which is the persecution of a journalist for … the crime of publishing truthful information about war crimes, corruption, mass surveillance – is not in the focus of international [media coverage],”  instead, mainstream media often focused on “day-to-day behavior of Assange in the Embassy and his relationship with Ecuador [authorities].”

The former consul also denounced Lenin Moreno’s earlier decision to cut off Assange’s internet connection, prior to his expulsion, commenting “a very, very gross violation of human rights of someone who was not serving a sentence, of somebody who was not a prisoner,” with that act, he argued that Ecuador was no longer a “protector”, but rather a “persecutor”.

Narvaez concluded by explaining how the personal attacks on Assange were part of strategy to silence the whistleblower, “You have to attack and defame the personality if you don’t want the public opinion to support the brave one who challenged the most powerful nation on the planet,”

Assange was first taken in under the leftist administration of former president Rafael Correa. However, Lenin Moreno’s government has shifted Ecuador’s economic and foreign policy, realigning the country’s geopolitical position towards the US. The country recently signed an IMF deal for a loan of over $4 billion in exchange for neoliberal reforms. Earlier in the week, it was also announced that US military personnel had arrived in the country for talks with the government. A reversal of Correa’s approach, that included expelling the US military base on the country’s coast, and ridding security and intelligence institutions of US presence.

 

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Ecuador Assange Lenin Moreno

RT, teleSUR
by teleSUR/ov/-nlg
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