How can we take it back?

[ImaginaryBloke]

Thursday, October 13, 2016
Common Dreams
Sanders, Other Senators Urge Obama to Halt DAPL for 'Imperative' Review
"If there is one profound lesson that Indigenous people have taught us, it is that all of us as human beings are part of nature. We will not survive if we continue to destroy nature."
Nadia Prupis, staff writer

"The pipeline's construction is not only a violation of tribal treaty rights, but has the potential to cause more damage to sacred land," the letter reads. (Photo: Lorie Shaull/flickr/cc)

Five U.S. lawmakers, including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), on Thursday published an open letter (pdf) urging President Barack Obama to order an environmental and cultural review of the Dakota Access Pipeline before construction can continue, calling it an imperative measure for Indigenous rights and the climate.

"We are writing to respectfully request that you direct the Army Corps of Engineers to require a full environmental impact statement for the Lake Oahe crossing of the Dakota Access Pipeline that includes meaningful tribal consultation," the letter reads. In addition to Sanders, it was signed by Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), and Edward Markey (D-Mass.).

"Over the past several weeks, hundreds of Native American tribes have mobilized in unprecedented solidarity to draw attention to the pipeline's encroachment on sacred lands. Nationally, there has been a groundswell of opposition to the project," the letter continues. "The pipeline's construction is not only a violation of tribal treaty rights, but has the potential to cause more damage to sacred land. Until there has been full and meaningful tribal consultation, all pipeline permits and easements should be revoked or denied."

[...]


http://commondreams.org/news/2016/1...nators-urge-obama-halt-dapl-imperative-review

Sounds good to me.

Keep going strong, Bernie.

 

[ImaginaryBloke]

Friday, October 14, 2016
Common Dreams
Sen. Warren Urges Obama to Fire 'Unapologetic' SEC Chief for 'Brazen Conduct'
Under Mary Jo White's leadership, SEC has gone off course from its central mission, Warren writes in scathing letter
Nadia Prupis, staff writer

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has long criticized SEC chief Mary Jo White for her anti-transparency stance. (Photo: Senate Democrats/flickr/cc)

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) on Friday called on President Barack Obama to remove one of his top hand-picked financial regulators, saying the current chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had driven the agency off its course.

In a 12-page letter (pdf) to Obama, Warren took aim at SEC chief Mary Jo White, a Republican-leaning Independent who has refused to work on a rule that would enforce transparency in corporate political donations. The Massachusetts senator wrote that White has consistently engaged in "extraordinary, ongoing efforts to undermine the agency's central mission" since her appointment in 2013, and urged Obama to use unilateral authority to oust her and tap a more qualified SEC member.

[...]

http://commondreams.org/news/2016/1...ma-fire-unapologetic-sec-chief-brazen-conduct


Let us hope that Old Elizabeth Warren is back. We saw the New Warren making all sorts of statements to join the Hillary bus in the election campaign.

 

[Littlelissa]

The American psychopathic mindset would not care if the mine were to collapse and swallow the entire town

The Psychopathic society and the Psychopathic individual show the same dynamic of evil. Freely exploiting that which is conjured by others.(Exploiting what belongs to others).

 

[ImaginaryBloke]

Published on
Friday, October 14, 2016
by
Common Dreams
Monsanto Faces People's Tribunal for Crimes Against Planet and Humanity
Mock trial at The Hague calls on International Criminal Court to take real action against biotech behemoth

by
Nika Knight, staff writer


8 Comments

"Monsanto's history reads like a text-book case of impunity, benefiting transnational corporations and their executives, whose activities contribute to climate and biosphere crises and threaten the safety of the planet," said IFOAM-Organics International president Andre Leu. (Photo: djandywdotcom/flickr/cc)

The people are taking Monsanto to court.

An international tribunal is being staged in front of The Hague this weekend to highlight the human rights violations and ecological devastation wreaked by the GMO and chemical giant around the world, as well as to draw attention to the failure of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to bring such corporate criminals to justice.

#MonsantoTribunal Tweets
The three-day "moral trial," arranged by an international coalition of rights and environmental groups, begins Friday.

People's assemblies at the Hague and around the globe will draw attention to the unprecedented trial.

"This tribunal might not be legally binding, but it will highlight the urgent need for similar legal mechanisms to hold corporations accountable for the damage they cause in the pursuit of profit," said Global Justice Now food campaigner Heidi Chow in a statement.

The tribunal comes as Monsanto comes closer to merging with chemical giant Bayer, to form the largest GMO and pesticide company in the world.

Monsanto has attempted to dismiss the trial as a "stunt." But activists say it is a "test of international law," as the Guardian reports, and argue that Monsanto's ongoing crimes must be brought to light.

[...]

http://commondreams.org/news/2016/1...s-tribunal-crimes-against-planet-and-humanity

Monsteranto is on TV. You cannot hide.

I remember reading that the Yakuza, the Japanese mafia, extort money from companies by threatening to ask sensitive questions on their annual meeting where annual financial results are presented. Tree huggers should do the same, except not engage in money or threats. Companies encounter public embarrassment that way.

 

[ImaginaryBloke]

Sorry, I never saw or received a notification for this and just now saw it by chance while browsing around. Thanks for thinking of me

From now on, I will start making a bunch of notifications in random threads just to annoy you.

 

[ImaginaryBloke]

Saturday, October 15, 2016
Common Dreams
Filmmaker Faces 45 Years in Prison for Reporting on Dakota Access Protests
"They threw the book at Deia for being a journalist."
Nika Knight, staff writer

Deia Schlosberg accepting an Emmy in 2014. (Photo: Danny Moloshok/AP)

In an ominous sign for press freedom, documentary filmmaker and journalist Deia Schlosberg was arrested and charged with felonies carrying a whopping maximum sentence of up to 45 years in prison—simply for reporting on the ongoing Indigenous protests against fossil fuel infrastructure.

Schlosberg was arrested in Walhalla, North Dakota on Tuesday for filming activists shutting down a tar sands pipeline, part of a nationwide solidarity action organized on behalf of those battling the Dakota Access Pipeline.

"The actions of the North Dakota Police force are not just a violation of the climate, but a violation of the constitution."
—Josh Fox, Gasland filmmaker

The filmmaker was held without access to a lawyer for 48 hours, her colleague Josh Fox wrote in the Nation, and her footage was confiscated by the police.

Schlosberg was then charged Friday with three felonies, the Huffington Post reported: "conspiracy to theft of property, conspiracy to theft of services and conspiracy to tampering with or damaging a public service. Together, the charges carry 45 years in maximum prison sentences."

"They have in my view violated the First Amendment," Fox told the Huffington Post, referring to the state's Pembina County Sheriff's Department. “It’s fucking scary, it knocks the wind of your sails, it throws you for a loop. They threw the book at Deia for being a journalist."

NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden observed that Schlosberg faces more years in prison than he does for leaking secret documents about the NSA's mass surveillance program in 2013:


This reporter is being prosecuted for covering the North Dakota oil protests. For reference, I face a mere 30 years. https://t.co/GzMbwCVV40

— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) October 14, 2016

"Deia isn't alone," observed Fox in an op-ed in the Nation. "The arrest of journalists, filmmakers, and others witnessing and reporting on citizen protests against fossil-fuel infrastructure amid climate change is part of a worrisome and growing pattern."

[...]

http://commondreams.org/news/2016/1...years-prison-reporting-dakota-access-protests


When and where were Fox journalists harassed or arrested by police, if that has ever happened?

"Thx" for the attention from corporate media BTW.

 

[ImaginaryBloke]

The trade agreement TTIP is seemingly on life support now. There has been so much effort to organize demonstrations and to sign petitions in EU countries that some national parliaments/governments are rejecting the trade treaty. The French government wants to stop future negotiations and the German minister of finance Sigmar Gabriel thinks that it is beyond repair. (http://www.faz.net/aktuell/wirtscha...ll-ttip-komplett-neu-verhandeln-14450702.html)

The German supreme court in Karlsruhe is tomorrow, 13th of October, deciding if CETA is unconstitutional to the German constitution. In case of yes, it will be difficult to repair it. More than 100,00 people signed a petition against it. (http://www.faz.net/aktuell/wirtscha...reihandelsabkommen-in-karlsruhe-14477344.html)

TISA is the last remaining trade agreement that involves the EU. I do not know much what is happening there at the moment. In the Pacific, you have the TPP.

The German supreme court fell flat to political demands to approve of the new trade agreements. Some parts of the CETA that concern "investment protection" (ISDS?), international sea traffic and employment standards require the approval of individual member states. The German government is not allowed to make use of those parts before they have been ratified by all EU member states. Another condition is that Germany must be able to leave the trade agreement if the supreme court (or also the German parliament, I suspect) decide to so. That is the verdict. (http://www.faz.net/aktuell/wirtscha...und-befuerworter-sind-zufrieden-14480019.html).

Only 17 percent of the German public supports TTIP (https://www.welt.de/debatte/komment...pas-Eliten-fehlt-der-Mumm-zum-Freihandel.html). 90 percent of Austria's Social Democratic Party (SPÖ), which is one party of the current cabinet, say no to CETA and Vienna does not want to continue the TTIP negotiations at all (http://www.faz.net/aktuell/wirtscha...on-oesterreichs-spoe-gegen-ceta-14443989.html).

The regional parliament of Wallonia, the French speaking region of Belgium, voted recently to no to CETA. This threatens to derail the entire trade agreement. All EU member states must approve of any trade agreement and in Belgium, the approval of each language minority - French, Walloons and Germans - is required. http://www.faz.net/aktuell/wirtscha...n-belgien-verweigert-zustimmung-14481092.html


This Canadian article puts it rather nicely:

As noted in this blog, the Parliament of Wallonia passed a resolution in April opposing the ratification of CETA. Paul Magnette, the Minister-President of Wallonia, has stated, "As long as we do not have all the guarantees [of the future dispute settlement body and other red lines laid down by the Walloon Parliament], it will not be possible for us to ratify such a text, and it is not possible to give full powers to the Minister of Foreign Affairs" to sign the Canada-EU agreement.

The resolution also called on the Walloon government to: refuse any provisional implementation of CETA, wait until all national ratification procedures have been completed, give priority to a state to state dispute settlement mechanism based on existing public courts, and ensure that all trade agreements are in compliance with fourteen red lines (which CETA does not currently meet).

And as noted in this blog, the Brussels Times reported this past July, "[The Parliament of the Brussels-Capital Region] will not give its green light to ratifying the present version of CETA... The parliament will not change its mind as long as several conditions remain unmet." Those conditions included demands for: a human rights clause, a generic legally enforceable clause to guarantee compliance with the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, a clause on using so-called “positive lists” in the sphere of liberalization of services (that would exclude general interest services), and social and environmental clauses within public procurement.

http://canadians.org/blog/will-wallonia-and-brussels-capital-region-sink-ceta-october-18


Slovenia, Bulgaria and Romania are also having doubt about CETA:

Also yesterday, the Slovenian news agency reported, "Slovenia was one of the five EU member states which still harbour concerns over the joint interpretative declaration on the CETA free trade agreement between the EU and Canada at Wednesday's meeting of EU member state ambassadors in Brussels." In late-September, the news agency also reported, "Slovenia harbours concerns about the provisions on the exploitation of water resources in the proposed free trade agreement between the EU and Canada, CETA, shows a government document obtained by the STA."

And in May, EurActiv reported, "Bulgaria and Romania will find it very difficult to ratify [CETA] because of the refusal by Ottawa to lift the visa requirement for their nationals, and have proposed the accord be postponed. Ottawa has not delivered on its promise to solve the issue, contained in the statement of the 2014 EU-Canada summit."

http://canadians.org/blog/six-european-union-member-states-still-undecided-ceta


There is concern about the impact of TPP on indigeous communities in New Zealand and Canada:

In February of this year, the United Nations Special Rapporteur for Indigenous Rights Victoria Tauli-Corpuz said the TPP threatens Indigenous rights.

Telesur reports, "According to Tauli-Corpuz, the major issue with the TPP is 'the clause of non-discrimination between a local and an international investor [which] grants more rights to transnational firms, often at the expense of indigenous rights'. This is a crucial issue, she argued, as most of the remaining natural resources available on earth are located on indigenous lands — because protecting them is part of the indigenous culture, or because they are located on remote lands."

When Canadian trade minister Chrystia Freeland travelled to Auckland to sign the TPP on February 4, a media release from Indigenous peoples in New Zealand stated, "Tangata whenua [a Māori term for the indigenous peoples of New Zealand] are strongly opposed to the signing of the [TPP]... The New Zealand government has by-passed indigenous involvement at every level. This complete lack of consultation also contravenes the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and this government has no right to sign this trade deal without our free, prior and informed consent. Similar free trade agreements have had a devastating impact on the rights and lives of Indigenous peoples around the world. Indigenous peoples have been criminalised and rights to their lands and resource have been ignored."

The Council of Canadians has called on the Trudeau government to hold consultations on the TPP with Indigenous peoples in Canada. We believe in a nation-to-nation relationship with First Nations peoples based on recognition of their right to full, prior and informed consent. That includes full consultation and consent to "free trade" agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership that impact on their rights as nations and peoples.

http://canadians.org/blog/nwt-chapter-holds-forum-tpp-and-indigenous-rights

 

[ImaginaryBloke]

Monday, October 17, 2016
Common Dreams
Court Rules UK Mass Spying Was Unlawfully Conducted for Nearly Two Decades
Decision called 'long overdue indictment' of government's bulk collection of citizens' private information
Jon Queally, staff writer

A government legal panel said both the collection and holding of personal data breached the British people’s right to privacy. (Photograph: Andrew Bret Wallis/Getty Images)

In what rights campaigners heralded as a "significant" reproach to government overreach, a British court which oversees the nation's intelligence and clandestine services ruled Monday that mass surveillance by agencies—including the bulk collection of private data from unwitting citizens and residents—was unlawfully conducted for nearly two decades.

Called the Investigatory Powers Tribunal, the panel of judges which provides legal oversight and hears challenges submitted against the country's Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), as well as the clandestine services known as M15 and M16, said the surveillance regime was "without adequate safeguards or supervision" during secret spying operations over the course of 17 years, from 1998 to 2015. As the Guardian reports:

The tribunal said the regime governing the collection of bulk communications data (BCD) – the who, where, when and what of personal phone and web communications – failed to comply with article 8 protecting the right to privacy of the European convention of human rights (ECHR) between 1998, when it started, and 4 November 2015, when it was made public.

It added that the retention of of bulk personal datasets (BPD) – which might include medical and tax records, individual biographical details, commercial and financial activities, communications and travel data – also failed to comply with article 8 for the decade it was in operation until it was public acknowledged in March 2015.

Privacy International, a surveillance watchdog group which brought the challenge to the tribunal in the summer of 2015, called the tribunal's ruling "one of the most significant indictments of the secret use of the Government’s mass surveillance powers since Edward Snowden first began exposing the extent of US and UK spying in 2013."

Further explaining the implications of the ruling, Millie Graham Wood, a legal officer at Privacy International, added: "Today’s judgment is a long overdue indictment of UK surveillance agencies riding roughshod over our democracy and secretly spying on a massive scale. There are huge risks associated with the use of bulk communications data. It facilitates the almost instantaneous cataloguing of entire populations’ personal data. It is unacceptable that it is only through litigation by a charity that we have learnt the extent of these powers and how they are used. The public and Parliament deserve an explanation as to why everyone’s data was collected for over a decade without oversight in place and confirmation that unlawfully obtained personal data will be destroyed."

Though the ruling was welcomed as a rebuke to the spying regime, it was not a striking blow to all methods which groups like Privacy International find problematic.

"While the tribunal found that the mass collection of data lacked adequate oversight," reports The Intercept's Ryan Gallagher, "it did not rule that the surveillance itself was illegal. The judgment found in favor of the government on that front, stating that the use of the Telecommunications Act to harvest the bulk datasets was lawful."

Along with other groups, Privacy International has also filed a challenge to the U.K. bulk surveillance with the Europe Court of Human Rights. That case remains pending.

http://commondreams.org/news/2016/1...g-was-unlawfully-conducted-nearly-two-decades


Governments in many countries are still collecting data in vast amounts. We need to safeguard that collection of data is stopped and that storage/backup of such data is destroyed.

Thanks to Wikileaks, this relationship is no longer one-sided. Now, we also know things about them, how they think and how they operate.

I am sure that Privacy International has more cases that feel like volcano tabasco to the psychopaths in power.

 

[Wyote]

I remember back in 2008 reading a lot about the issues in the middle east. Nobody was really talking about Syria at that point. But "conspiracists" were talking about Syria a lot. A whole lot. Syria was and is a linchpin holding things together. A last stand of sorts, for peace and democracy. It was laid out in so many terms that if the US ever invaded Syria, this meant an end game of sorts. I am so defeated by the current news of what's been happening with Russia and Syria. I feel so utterly helpless at this point. The evils have won. It is game over. Put your arms out and get ready for the microchip enslavement society. We are going to destroy the Earth. Happily. It is over. No take backs. Just bury your heads in gender division, race division, political divsion. Everyone forgot a basic tactic of tyrants. Divide and conquer.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran-Iraq-Syria_pipeline

 

[ImaginaryBloke]

The German supreme court fell flat to political demands to approve of the new trade agreements. Some parts of the CETA that concern "investment protection" (ISDS?), international sea traffic and employment standards require the approval of individual member states. The German government is not allowed to make use of those parts before they have been ratified by all EU member states. Another condition is that Germany must be able to leave the trade agreement if the supreme court (or also the German parliament, I suspect) decide to so. That is the verdict. (http://www.faz.net/aktuell/wirtscha...und-befuerworter-sind-zufrieden-14480019.html).

Only 17 percent of the German public supports TTIP (https://www.welt.de/debatte/komment...pas-Eliten-fehlt-der-Mumm-zum-Freihandel.html). 90 percent of Austria's Social Democratic Party (SPÖ), which is one party of the current cabinet, say no to CETA and Vienna does not want to continue the TTIP negotiations at all (http://www.faz.net/aktuell/wirtscha...on-oesterreichs-spoe-gegen-ceta-14443989.html).

The regional parliament of Wallonia, the French speaking region of Belgium, voted recently to no to CETA. This threatens to derail the entire trade agreement. All EU member states must approve of any trade agreement and in Belgium, the approval of each language minority - French, Walloons and Germans - is required. http://www.faz.net/aktuell/wirtscha...n-belgien-verweigert-zustimmung-14481092.html


This Canadian article puts it rather nicely:

As noted in this blog, the Parliament of Wallonia passed a resolution in April opposing the ratification of CETA. Paul Magnette, the Minister-President of Wallonia, has stated, "As long as we do not have all the guarantees [of the future dispute settlement body and other red lines laid down by the Walloon Parliament], it will not be possible for us to ratify such a text, and it is not possible to give full powers to the Minister of Foreign Affairs" to sign the Canada-EU agreement.

The resolution also called on the Walloon government to: refuse any provisional implementation of CETA, wait until all national ratification procedures have been completed, give priority to a state to state dispute settlement mechanism based on existing public courts, and ensure that all trade agreements are in compliance with fourteen red lines (which CETA does not currently meet).

And as noted in this blog, the Brussels Times reported this past July, "[The Parliament of the Brussels-Capital Region] will not give its green light to ratifying the present version of CETA... The parliament will not change its mind as long as several conditions remain unmet." Those conditions included demands for: a human rights clause, a generic legally enforceable clause to guarantee compliance with the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, a clause on using so-called “positive lists” in the sphere of liberalization of services (that would exclude general interest services), and social and environmental clauses within public procurement.

http://canadians.org/blog/will-wallonia-and-brussels-capital-region-sink-ceta-october-18


Slovenia, Bulgaria and Romania are also having doubt about CETA:

Also yesterday, the Slovenian news agency reported, "Slovenia was one of the five EU member states which still harbour concerns over the joint interpretative declaration on the CETA free trade agreement between the EU and Canada at Wednesday's meeting of EU member state ambassadors in Brussels." In late-September, the news agency also reported, "Slovenia harbours concerns about the provisions on the exploitation of water resources in the proposed free trade agreement between the EU and Canada, CETA, shows a government document obtained by the STA."

And in May, EurActiv reported, "Bulgaria and Romania will find it very difficult to ratify [CETA] because of the refusal by Ottawa to lift the visa requirement for their nationals, and have proposed the accord be postponed. Ottawa has not delivered on its promise to solve the issue, contained in the statement of the 2014 EU-Canada summit."

http://canadians.org/blog/six-european-union-member-states-still-undecided-ceta


There is concern about the impact of TPP on indigeous communities in New Zealand and Canada:

In February of this year, the United Nations Special Rapporteur for Indigenous Rights Victoria Tauli-Corpuz said the TPP threatens Indigenous rights.

Telesur reports, "According to Tauli-Corpuz, the major issue with the TPP is 'the clause of non-discrimination between a local and an international investor [which] grants more rights to transnational firms, often at the expense of indigenous rights'. This is a crucial issue, she argued, as most of the remaining natural resources available on earth are located on indigenous lands — because protecting them is part of the indigenous culture, or because they are located on remote lands."

When Canadian trade minister Chrystia Freeland travelled to Auckland to sign the TPP on February 4, a media release from Indigenous peoples in New Zealand stated, "Tangata whenua [a Māori term for the indigenous peoples of New Zealand] are strongly opposed to the signing of the [TPP]... The New Zealand government has by-passed indigenous involvement at every level. This complete lack of consultation also contravenes the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and this government has no right to sign this trade deal without our free, prior and informed consent. Similar free trade agreements have had a devastating impact on the rights and lives of Indigenous peoples around the world. Indigenous peoples have been criminalised and rights to their lands and resource have been ignored."

The Council of Canadians has called on the Trudeau government to hold consultations on the TPP with Indigenous peoples in Canada. We believe in a nation-to-nation relationship with First Nations peoples based on recognition of their right to full, prior and informed consent. That includes full consultation and consent to "free trade" agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership that impact on their rights as nations and peoples.

http://canadians.org/blog/nwt-chapter-holds-forum-tpp-and-indigenous-rights

What I mean to say here is that the parliaments of individual countries are having a say on the trade agreements TTIP, CETA and TISA, and that is making a difference. I do not know whether that means all three, but I hope so. Originally, it was planned that only the EU Parliament in Brussels would vote on it. International corporations have a lot of influence and a lot of lobbyists there. Now, the trade agreements are subject to local scrutiny. Though the treaty remains officially secret even for legislators, parts of it are public thanks to Wikileaks.

There is a parallel to this in the US. Constitutional amendments require the agreements of the states and Congress and that, compared to regular federal legislation in Washington, requires a much greater support amongst legislators.

 

[ImaginaryBloke]

Tuesday, October 18, 2016
Common Dreams
'Massive Body Blow' for CETA as EU Trade Ministers Postpone Vote
"CETA is hitting the rocks because it is bad trade deal that only favors corporations," says Paul de Clerck of Friends of the Earth Europe
Deirdre Fulton, staff writer

Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Paris, Warsaw, and Madrid on Saturday to protest the EU-Canada trade deal known as CETA. Protesters in Poland are pictured here. (Photo: Reuters)

The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between the E.U. and Canada suffered yet another setback on Tuesday, as EU trade ministers postponed a decision on the trade deal due in large part to objections from Belgium's southern region of Wallonia.

The Associated Press reports that "Wallonia fears that its farmers will be priced out of the market with cheap Canadian produce and that many of the labor standards they fought for will be swept away."

Furthermore, AP added: "Many Walloons say the CETA deal with Canada will be a precursor for a similar deal with the United States, the so-called [TransAtlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, or TTIP], which they fear will cut even further into their livelihoods and consumer and environmental standards."

As recently as last week, Wallonia's parliament voted to reject CETA—inviting what the region's Minister President Paul Magnette described as "barely disguised threats" from corporate and political entities supporting the deal.

And as the Council of Canadians pointed out, "it's not only Wallonia opposing CETA. German Vice-Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel notes that Romania still has questions (regarding visa-free travel for its citizens to Canada). And it's possible that there might be other European Union countries, including Bulgaria and Slovenia, that are also reluctant [to] sign CETA."

Campaigners rejoiced as the trade deal—which has galvanized protests throughout Europe and Canada, including one on Tuesday outside the trade ministers' meeting—faltered.

"Never before in history has a trade deal experience[d] such difficulties in the EU council. Today CETA suffered a massive body blow and is now in perilous danger of joining TTIP on the scrapheap of failed corporate power grabs," said Guy Taylor, trade campaigner at Global Justice Now.

"CETA is hitting the rocks because it is [a] bad trade deal that only favors corporations," added Paul de Clerck, economic justice program coordinator at Friends of the Earth Europe. "The Walloon government's persistence in backing public concerns is exemplary and we strongly support its refusal to sign CETA. We need a new trade policy for Europe that takes people's concerns into account and contributes to a more sustainable and equitable world."

Still, officials remained optimistic that the deal will be signed when Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau flies to Europe next week.

According to the AP:

EU Foreign Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said there was still time to overcome Belgian objections right up to "when the prime minister needs to book his tickets from Canada."

"We are not really there yet," she said. "But there is still time."

In turn, Taylor noted that CETA "isn't dead yet and we will be stepping up the campaign to protect our public services, our environment, and our democracy from this toxic deal."

And the Council of Canadians said it was "calling on the Canadian government and European Union member state governments to cancel the summit still scheduled to take place in Brussels on October 27. We are also calling on the Canadian government, EU officials and transnational corporations to stop their intense pressure on Wallonia to sign CETA and to listen to widely-held public concerns about the deal."

Follow the developments and protests under the hashtag #StopCETA:

Tweets about #StopCETA lang:en

http://commondreams.org/news/2016/10/18/massive-body-blow-ceta-eu-trade-ministers-postpone-vote


I remember reading in the NYT about the Canadian federal election 2015. The main parties were the Liberals lead by Justin Trudeau, the Conservatives (Stephen Harper) and NDP (Thomas Mulcair). It turned then that Justin Trudeau, though liberal by identification, was in favour of the emerging trade agreements. The NDP was against it. This debate was similar to Bernie Sanders vs Hillary Clinton. It is interesting to note that NDP was leading in the polls for a while before the election and might have won it. If so, Canada would not be negotiating for the trade agreements now.

 

[ImaginaryBloke]

Tuesday, October 18, 2016
Common Dreams
Norwegian Youth Taking Government to Court Over 'Unconstitutional' Arctic Drilling
Expansion of Arctic oil drilling after ratification of the Paris climate agreement is labeled a 'dangerous act of hypocrisy'
Lauren McCauley, staff writer

Norway's largest youth-led organization, Nature and Youth, is the first to challenge the constitution's environmental clause in court. (Photo: Natur Og Ungdom)

Taking a page from young people in the United States and elsewhere who are standing up for their right to healthy environment, Norwegian youth on Monday filed suit against their country's government for expanding Arctic oil drilling despite increasingly dire warnings about the impact such activity is having on the planet's climate.

The plaintiffs, which include Greenpeace Norway and the nation's largest youth-led organization, Nature and Youth, are arguing that Norway has violated citizens' and future generations' constitutional right to a healthy environment, citing Article 112 of Norway's Constitution:

Every person has the right to an environment that is conducive to health and to a natural environment whose productivity and diversity are maintained. Natural resources shall be managed on the basis of comprehensive long-term considerations which will safeguard this right for future generations as well. The authorities of the state shall take measures for the implementation of these principles.

This marks the first time that environmental clause is being tested in court.

Ingrid Skjoldvær from Nature and Youth said that the Norwegian government "has an obligation to keep its climate promises," which include both those made in the Paris climate agreement as well as the constitutional right to "a healthy environment for ours and future generations."

[...]

http://commondreams.org/news/2016/1...t-court-over-unconstitutional-arctic-drilling


Great that young people are taking responsibility of their country. They are novel indeed in their attempt to bring about change.

Heja Norge!!!

 

[ImaginaryBloke]

EU-Canada trade deal still delayed by Belgian regional parliament
Paul Magnette, head of the Belgian region of Wallonia, refuses to sign off on Ceta and says a visit from Justin Trudeau would seem like ‘a confrontation’


Belgium’s head of government for Wallonia, Paul Magnette, attends a meeting on Ceta in Namur, Belgium, on Tuesday. Photograph: Nicolas Lambert/AFP/Getty Images
AFP in Brussels

Wednesday 19 October 2016 17.27 BST Last modified on Wednesday 19 October 2016 17.36 BST

The head of the Belgian region of Wallonia is still refusing to sign off on a EU-Canada trade accord and asked that a visit by the Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, be delayed.

Paul Magnette, the head of government of Wallonia, spoke a day after he received an ultimatum of Friday to allow Belgium’s federal government to endorse the huge trade deal, known as Ceta.

“We cannot sign by Friday. That is not reasonable,” a combative Magnette told RTBF radio after EU ministers asked he reverse course in time for a discussion on trade by European leaders set for Friday.

“I think that it is reasonable to delay indefinitely the meeting [with Trudeau set for 27 October] because it’s better to avoid what would seem like a confrontation,” Magnette added.

“It’s not because the Canadians are our friends that we must accept everything,” said Magnette.

[...]

Magnette has drawn big support from opponents to Ceta, including Greenpeace and Foodwatch, that see the Canada deal as a Trojan horse for a far more ambitious trade accord between the EU and US, known as TTIP.

Both deals threaten environmental and consumer protection and offer big benefits to multinationals, the groups say.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/oct/19/eu-canada-free-trade-deal-delayed-belgium-ceta


It is stupid to think that CETA would somehow be beneficial to Canadians or Europeans. Canadians are a friends of EU citizens. But we should not be deceived to believe that a trade agreement with Canada is good for EU citizens. It surely is good for Canadian companies. But let us stop the buck there. When they speak of Canada and its companies, it refers to the 1% of Canada, the economic elite that is dominated by psychopathic thinking. Not everyone of the 1% is a psychopath though, let us make that clear.

The reverse holds too: what is good for EU and its companies, is not good for Canadians.

 

[ImaginaryBloke]

Friday, October 23, 2015
Global Justice Now
NAFTA's ISDS: Why Canada Is One of the Most Sued Countries in the World
Maude Barlow

'As a result of NAFTA’s ISDS challenges, Canada is now the most sued developed country in the world,' explains Barlow. (Image: Flickr/with overlay)

NAFTA, the free trade deal between Canada, the USA and Mexico that came into effect in 1994, was the first trade deal among developed countries to include an investor-state provision. It grants investors of the continent the right to sue one another’s governments without first pursuing legal action through the country’s legal system. Before NAFTA, ISDS provisions were only negotiated between developed and undeveloped countries.

As a result of NAFTA’s ISDS challenges, Canada is now the most sued developed country in the world. Canada has been sued more times than either the U.S. or Mexico. Of the 77 known NAFTA investor-state claims, 35 have been against Canada, 22 have targeted Mexico and 20 have targeted the US. The US government has won 11 of its cases and never lost a NAFTA investor-state case or paid any compensation to Canadian or Mexican companies.

This is evidence that even though trade agreements appear to treat all parties equally, the more powerful countries are usually more immune to trade challenges.

Canada has paid American corporations more than $200 million (approximately €135 million) in the seven cases it has lost and foreign investors are now seeking over $6 billion (approximately
€4 billion) from the Canadian government in new cases. Even defending cases that may not be successful is expensive. Canada has spent over $65 million (approximately €45 million) defending itself from NAFTA challenges to date.

The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives reports that almost two-thirds of claims against Canada involved challenges to environmental protection or resources management that allegedly interfered with the profit of American corporations.

Cases include:

• Ethyl, a U.S. chemical corporation, successfully challenged a Canadian ban on imports of its gasoline that contained MMT, an additive that is a suspected neurotoxin. The Canadian government repealed the ban and paid the company $13 million (approximately €8.8 million) for its loss of revenue.
• S.D. Myers, a U.S. waste disposal firm, challenged a similar ban on the export of toxic PCB waste. Canada paid the company over $6 million (approximately €4 million).
• A NAFTA panel ordered the Canadian government to pay Exxon-Mobil, the world’s largest oil and gas company, $17.3 million (approximately €11.6 million) when the company challenged government guidelines that investors in offshore exploration in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador – where the company is heavily involved – must invest in local research and development.
• New Jersey-based Bilcon Construction is demanding $300,000 (approximately €200,000) in damages from the Canadian government after winning a NAFTA challenge when its plan to build a massive quarry and marine terminal in an environmentally sensitive area of Nova Scotia and ship basalt aggregate through the Bay of Fundy, site of the highest tides in the world, was rejected by an environmental assessment panel.
• Chemical giant Dow AgroSciences used NAFTA to force the province of Quebec, after it banned 2,4-D, a pesticide that the Natural Resources Defence Council says has been linked in many studies to cancer and cell damage, to publicly acknowledge that the chemical does not pose an “unacceptable risk” to human health, a position the government had previously held.
• The Canadian government paid American pulp and paper giant AbitibiBowater $130 million (approximately €88 million) after the company successfully used NAFTA to claim compensation for the “water and timber rights” it left behind when it abandoned its operations in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador after 100 years, leaving the workers with unpaid pensions. This challenge is particularly disturbing because it gives a foreign investor the right to claim compensation for the actual resources it used while operating in another jurisdiction.
• Mesa Power Group, an energy company owned by Texas billionaire T. Boone Pickens, is claiming $775 million (approximately €523 million) in a challenge to the province of Ontario’s Green Energy Act, which gives preferential access to local wind farm operators.
• Lone Pine, a Canadian energy company, is suing the Canadian government through its American affiliate for $250 million (approximately €152 million) because the province of Quebec introduced a temporary moratorium on all fracking activities under the St. Lawrence River until further studies are completed. This challenge is concerning because it involves a domestic company using a foreign subsidiary to sue its own government.
• Eli Lilly, a U.S. pharmaceutical giant, is suing Canada for $500 million (approximately €337 million) after three levels of courts in Canada denied it a patent extension on one of its products. This case is particularly disturbing because it challenges Canadian laws as interpreted by Canadian courts and represents a new frontier for ISDS challenges

These, and other examples show that trade and investment agreements such as NAFTA give transnational corporations incredible new rights to impose their will on governments. But they are probably just the tip of the iceberg because many new laws or changes to laws never come to light because of the “chill effect” of prior restraint. The Canadian government adopted a new policy soon after NAFTA was adopted whereby all new laws and any changes to existing laws have to be vetted by trade experts to ensure they are not challengeable under ISDS rules.

http://www.commondreams.org/views/2015/10/23/naftas-isds-why-canada-one-most-sued-countries-world


Really sorry that Canada is becoming a banana republic. In most cases, Canada was sued. That is strange. Both Mexico and the USA have larger populations and USA a much larger economy.

When I read the list of cases, it seems that companies are happy to sue even if they are causing environmental damage.

And we do not want lobbyists to be legislators. That opens up the door to corruption. In the USA, shady "think" tanks that are funded by billionaires are writing laws.

 

[ImaginaryBloke]

Brazilian politician who led Rousseff impeachment arrested on corruption charges
Eduardo Cunha, former lower house speaker who was expelled from office, being investigated for allegedly taking bribes to liberate funds from state bank


Eduardo Cunha is also accused of taking up to $37m in bribes as part of the Lavo Jato investigation. Photograph: Eraldo Peres/AP
Matt Sandy in Rio de Janeiro

Wednesday 19 October 2016 18.30 BST Last modified on Wednesday 19 October 2016 18.52 BST
Eduardo Cunha, the Brazilian politician who orchestrated the impeachment of the country’s first female president, Dilma Rousseff, has been arrested on corruption charges.

Federal police detained the former speaker of the lower house in Brasilia on Wednesday and executed a search warrant at his home in Rio de Janeiro.

Compared by some to Frank Underwood from House of Cards, Cunha also has been accused of taking up to 116.5m reais ($37m) in bribes as part of the Operation Car Wash investigation into mammoth corruption at state oil giant Petrobras.

The arrest was ordered by federal judge Sergio Moro, who has gained celebrity in Brazil by leading that probe, which has ensnared dozens of leading politicians.

Moro has been investigating Cunha for months but could only arrest him after he was expelled from the chamber of deputies last month, and lost his parliamentary immunity.

[...]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/oct/19/eduardo-cunha-arrested-corruption-charges-brazil


Cunha was indicted in Operação Lava Jato (operation car wash), the scandal involving the state-owned oil company Petrobras.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eduardo_Cunha


This guy, Eduardo Cunha, has been investigated for crime before.

The Scottish author Thomas Carlyle once wrote a book called Sartor Resartus, "The Tailor Retailored". How about The Investigator Reinvestigated?

 

[ImaginaryBloke]

Thursday, October 20, 2016
Common Dreams
As Election Day Nears, Military Hawks Circle to Promote New Wave of War
A slew of bipartisan reports are hoping to push the former secretary of state to increased military action in the Middle East, particularly Syria
Lauren McCauley, staff writer

Washington Post reporter Greg Jaffe suggests that the views of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton are much more popular among the foreign policy elite that those of President Barack Obama. (Photo: Carolyn Kaster/AP)

Though the hawkish stance of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has been too often ignored this election season, new reporting on Thursday highlights how her presumed win in November will likely usher in a more aggressive, bipartisan foreign policy in the Middle East and beyond.

"The Republicans and Democrats who make up the foreign policy elite are laying the groundwork for a more assertive American foreign policy via a flurry of reports shaped by officials who are likely to play senior roles in a potential Clinton White House," the Washington Post's White House correspondent Greg Jaffe reports.

One such study, published Wednesday by the Center for American Progress (CAP)—which is run by president Neera Tanden, policy director for Clinton's presidential campaign—recommends the next administration step up its "military engagement" amid a more "proactive and long-term approach to the Middle East."

[...]

http://commondreams.org/news/2016/1...rs-military-hawks-circle-promote-new-wave-war


Imagine them having a meeting. After six cups of coffee, all the alpha males and females will be fighting over who going is to invade the bathroom first.

 

[ImaginaryBloke]

EU trade deal with Canada collapses as Belgium refuses to sign
Ceta trade pact left in limbo after opposition from Belgian regional parliaments


The Belgian prime minister Charles Michel said his country was not ready to sign EU-Canada trade pact. Photograph: Laurie Dieffembacq/Belga/Rex/Shutterstock
Jennifer Rankin

Monday 24 October 2016 17.27 BST Last modified on Monday 24 October 2016 17.42 BST


The European Union’s hopes of signing a free-trade agreement with Canada this week appear to have gone up in smoke, after Belgium announced it could not sign the treaty because of opposition from regional parliaments.

The collapse of the talks highlights the pitfalls that may await the British government when it seeks to negotiate a trade deal with the EU after Brexit.

The Belgian prime minister, Charles Michel, announced on Monday that Belgium was not ready to sign the EU-Canada trade pact, following emergency talks between the country’s federal and regional leaders.

The Belgian stalemate means Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, is expected to postpone a trip to Brussels this Thursday, when he was due to sign the treaty. Officials are assessing how the trade pact can be revived, but next steps remained unclear.

[...]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...h-canada-collapses-as-belgium-refuses-to-sign


CETA is still alive but slowly inching closer to its demise. Now, somebody just needs to pull the plug of the life support to make it game over.

Well done, Wallonia.

EU vs "Free" Trade aka Rigged Trade: 2-0

TTIP and CETA are down. TISA is the only competitor left.

 

[ImaginaryBloke]

Mark Ruffalo Delivers Mobile Solar Trailers to Standing Rock Camps in Preparation for Harsh Winter
Jay Syrmopoulos October 30, 2016





Cannon Ball, ND – In a show of kindness and solidarity with the Standing Rock Sioux, actor Mark Ruffalo and Native Renewables founder Wahleah Johns presented Sioux tribal elders with mobile trailers equipped with solar collection arrays. The trailers provide a clean energy source for the protest encampment where over 500 Native American tribes have taken a stand against the Dakota Access Pipeline in the largest gathering of American Indians in modern history.

“This pipeline is a black snake that traverses four states and 200 waterways with fracked Bakken oil,” said Ruffalo, co-founder of The Solutions Project, a venture that works to transition society to clean and renewable energy.

“We know from experience that pipelines leak, explode, pollute and poison land and water. But it doesn’t have to be that way.”

The solar trailers will allow for medical tents and numerous other critical facilities to be powered with clean energy, and represent exactly the healthy/abundant future of energy for which the Standing Rock Sioux are currently fighting.

[...]

http://thefreethoughtproject.com/mark-ruffalo-delivers-solar-standing-rock/
http://thefreethoughtproject.com/mark-ruffalo-delivers-solar-standing-rock/

Indians are so nostalgic. The public perception is some kind of ancient wisdom. But clearly, they are up for modern technology if it is beneficial.

Corporations are a figment of imagination, they are not people. Water is life.

 

[ImaginaryBloke]

'Anonymous' Threatens North Dakota Governor After Pipeline Employees Caught Infiltrating Protests To Incite Violence

by Tyler Durden
Oct 30, 2016 9:00 PM

You know the Dakota Access Pipeline protests are working when oil interests start resorting to underhanded tricks to paint water protectors in a negative light. TheAntiMedia.org's Nick Bernabe reports that, as the fight against the pipeline grows in North Dakota and around the country, dirty tricks are being deployed in an apparent attempt to delegitimize the opposition.

Dakota Access Employee Tries to Incite Violence, Sheriff’s Department Makes False Report That He Was Shot by Protesters
Mother Jones journalist Wes Enzinna, who was at the protests, says he witnessed a Dakota Access LLC employee try to infiltrate the Dakota Access Pipeline protests:

“An armed security agent employed by the company behind the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline was arrested Thursday after he was caught entering the camp of activists protesting near the Standing Rock Indian Reservation in southern North Dakota. After a car chase and a standoff during which he allegedly pointed his assault rifle at a local Sioux teenager, the man, whose ID indicated he was an employee of Dakota Access LLC, was arrested and handed over to the FBI.”

According to an official statement from the tribe, the man fired several shots from his gun before being peacefully apprehended by tribal police. Witnesses at the scene say he pointed his gun at several protesters. The man was clearly trying to provoke violence that could later be used to demonize protesters who have so far remained peaceful.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-...or-after-pipeline-employees-caught-infiltrati



It is not clear what Anonymous would do in this case. If there is evidence of corruption, then publishing that would serve the public good.

Here is the supposed infiltrator:

The evidence that the company Dakota Access LLC owns the car:

The police has superior weaponry:

 

[ImaginaryBloke]

Tuesday, November 01, 2016
Common Dreams
In Historic First, ICC Preparing to Investigate US War Crimes in Afghanistan
Foreign Policy reports that the International Criminal Court is poised to formally investigate U.S. actions for the first time in its history
Nika Knight, staff writer

The remains of the Médecins Sans Frontières hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, six months after it was attacked in a U.S. airstrike. (Photo: Reuters)

The International Criminal Court (ICC) is preparing to initiate a full investigation into potential war crimes in Afghanistan, including those committed by U.S. military personnel, Foreign Policy exclusively reported Tuesday.

The magazine writes:

Multiple sources have indicated that the chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, will seek to initiate an investigation in the coming weeks, likely after the U.S. presidential election but before the end of the year. U.S. officials visited The Hague recently to discuss the potential investigation and to express concerns about its scope.

"Is the prosecutor concerned enough about the accusations of discrimination levied against the ICC that she's willing to go after U.S. clients and U.S. officials?"
—Phyllis Bennis, Institute for Policy Studies

A formal investigation of U.S. activities would be the first in the history of the ICC, to which the U.S. is not a party. But because Afghanistan is a member, an investigation is "certainly possible," Phyllis Bennis of the Institute for Policy Studies told Common Dreams. "Afghanistan joined the ICC in 2003, so all actions after that time are subject to ICC jurisdiction," Bennis said.

[...]

http://commondreams.org/news/2016/1...eparing-investigate-us-war-crimes-afghanistan


This will be interesting. On the outside, the US hates foreign interference. But this should not dwarf the larger picture such as the intervention in the war itself is a violation of international law.