The only thing scarier than thinking about what Donald Trump might do to our neighbours, is thinking what he might do to the planet. Because not only is he planning to torch it, by ending the war on climate change. His foreign policy plans are as dangerous and as crazy as he is.
Well we've always known that Stephen Harper has a long list of enemies, real or imagined. And we also know that he will do or say anything to pander to the right-wing Jewish vote. But this combination couldn't be more disgusting.
Last week I wrote that Stephen Harper's threat to use hate laws against Canadians who peacefully protest the actions of Israel's brutish Netanyahu regime, was the first shadow of a police state. Now Robert Fisk, the distinguished Middle East correspondent, has taken that criticism a step further. By calling Harper's blind support of Israel both crazy AND dangerous.
When I saw this photo during the hearings into Bill C-51 it sent a chill down my spine. Because that posse is a horrible combination of stupidity and brute force, it looks like something out of a police state, or Pinochet's Chile. And I knew those three amigos would lead us to a bad place. And sure enough, now that their totalitarian bill has cleared parliament, they're smiling like cats who just ate a bucket of mice. And threatening those who would peacefully protest against the policies of Benjamin Netanyahu's racist settler regime.
Benjamin Netanyahu may have won the Israeli election, by using fear and racism to get people to vote for him. Like his good buddy Stephen Harper is trying to do in Canada. But it is tuning out to be a pyrrhic victory. For while he may deny he is a racist.
Benjamin Netanyahu is as any decent person knows, a brutish right-wing demagogue, a racist, and a war criminal. And his victory in yesterday's Israeli election couldn't be more tragic. Or have left the Middle East and his own country more deeply wounded.
Whenever one of Stephen Harper's Con clowns leaves the country I shudder, reach for a paper bag to put over my head, and prepare for the worst. Because I know they will make fools out of themselves, and shame us once again in the eyes of the world. And in that regard John Baird's just concluded tour of the Middle East couldn't be a better example. For it was, in descending chronological order, pathetic, humiliating, and shameful.
He has always been his master's voice, Stephen Harper's most faithful stooge. A yapping Con pitbull, the absurd Minister of Religious Freedom, a gay Thatcherite in a government full of filthy homophobes. But these days nothing is more obscene than the way John Baird is pandering to the brutish settler regime of Benjamin Netanyahu, while attacking their long suffering victims the Palestinians.
The fuse has been burning ever since Benjamin Netanyahu set out to make Israel the nation-state of the Jewish people. A controversial bill that officially defines Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people has been approved by cabinet despite warnings that the move risks undermining the country’s democratic character. Opponents, including some cabinet ministers, said the new legislation defined reserved “national rights” for Jews only and not for its minorities, and rights groups condemned it as racist. It's an issue that is bitterly dividing Israelis, and Jews all over the world. But from Stephen Harper and his Con regime, who like to pose as Israel's best friends ever, there has been only silence.
It was an act of unspeakable barbarity. One that has been condemned by governments all over the world. The US and UN have condemned the shelling of a school housing displaced civilians in Gaza.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the attack, which killed 16, was "outrageous". "I condemn this attack in the strongest possible terms. It is outrageous. It is unjustifiable, and it demands accountability and justice.
"Nothing is more shameful than attacking sleeping children." And defended only by those who carried it out, and by the monstrous beast Stephen Harper.
It's taken me a few days to summon up the strength to write something, anything, about the horror in Gaza. I just couldn't bring myself to look at the images of this latest war. As rockets from Palestinian militants in Gaza continue to fly into Israel and Israel continues to strike hard at Gaza, the options for each side are hardening. Both sides are employing brinksmanship, carrying out their biggest raids yet this weekend and threatening much more to come. Not when I'm still recovering from the images of the last one...
When I saw this picture published tonight by the Con Ministry of Propaganda and Disinformation, I have to admit I was conflicted eh?
On the one hand I despise both Stephen Harper and Benjamin Netanyahu for being vicious Cons and demagogues, who would lead their countries to disaster, and the world to war. But on the other hand I can't deny that any man who would praise Harper for his "moral leadership," must be madly in love with Great Leader.
When I first heard that Stephen Harper was going to visit Israel, his spiritual homeland, at first I was amused. I figured it was just another excuse to escape the Senate scandal. And I couldn't wait to see him driving his getaway burro through the streets of Jerusalem. Trying to look like a Canadian Messiah. Instead of just a corrupt leader on the lam. But then when I saw how many people were going with him I was shocked.
His name was Maj. Paeta Hess-von Kruedener. He was a Canadian peacekeeper who was killed murdered by the Israeli military in 2006. Now the Canadian military, and the Harper government, are trying to cover-up how he died. The Defence Department has quietly removed from the Internet a report into the killing of a Canadian military officer by Israeli forces, a move the soldier’s widow says is linked to the Conservative government’s reluctance to criticize Israel for any wrongdoing.
Three days ago he was the mouth that roared. Lecturing U.N. delegates like some crazed televangelist, as if they were children. Blasting the Palestinians for daring to ask for humble observer status, claiming it was an "impediment to peace." But today after Israel delivered what the gentle Ban-Ki-moon described as an "almost fatal blow" to the peace process, John Baird was strangely subdued.
Oh no. How could I have been so wrong? This is no mere bromance, no sordid one or fifty-night stand. This the real thing. Harper tweeted on Saturday that he spoke to Netanyahu and that he "thanked Canada for its friendship and principled position this week at the UN." A love story so red hot it melts the boundaries of decency. Stretches the bonds of sadism. Blows its way from Ottawa rural Alberta to Jerusalem. And ejaculates in the face of reason.
I didn't think it was possible that John Baird could shame this country further. Make us look more like stooges, oddballs, or just plain weird eh? But somehow he managed.
It was the bloodiest day so far in the living nightmare that is Gaza. More rockets, more bombs, morehorrifying violence. First there were six ambulances, one after the other, unloading the bodies of men identified as militants, at least two of them decapitated. Then came three more, this time with children, dead and wounded. Another ambulance rushed in, then quickly sped back out.
Even the medics unloading the bodies grimaced.
The conflict between Israel and Gaza militant groups has claimed the lives of at least 23 children, according to the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, innocents cut down in a battle they barely understand. Hundreds more have been injured. And for those children who escape the physical toll of the war, there is a heavy psychological price to be paid.
Many are traumatised by what they see and hear, terrified of a relentless air campaign, and unable to process the violence and death that surrounds them. And as the horror continued, and diplomats struggled to restrain both sides, where was John Baird, our Minister of Foreign Affairs? Delivering this pathetic speech. Hamas is targeting innocent civilians with an onslaught of rockets. It’s a despicable act of terror, and yet, as Israel responds, as it has every right to, it is the target of condemnation.
Canada, however, stands by Israel’s side. I have never been prouder to be a member of Stephen Harper’s team; I have never felt a greater honour. For he cannot even restrain himself. He would sound giddy, even at a time like this one. He can't tell the difference between a diplomat and a cheerleader. And like every other Con he'd play politics with tragedy. Oh boy. Remember when we were known for our peacemaking skills? Remember when we were able to bring even the most bitter enemies together? Remember when we were proudly independent, not stooges of a belligerent foreign regime. How low have we fallen. Welcome to Con Canada. Welcome to poor Gaza...
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It couldn't be more horrible. Or more familiar. Bombs raining down again on a tiny enclave where more than half of its residents are children. Or more grotesque. The Hamas fanatics playing into the hands of the fanatical Netanyahu regime, by firing off rockets, with or without warheads.
The Netanyahu regime with its "surgical strikes," claiming the lives of more innocent victims.
When I watched the news tonight I felt like running down to the beach in my pyjamas, climbing the tallest sand dune, and screaming at the crescent moon. No...no...NOOOOO!!!!! Not that violence, not that horror, not Gaza. Again. Israel's aerial bombardment of Gaza has intensified after it authorised the call-up of 30,000 army reservists, amid reports of a possible ground offensive... At least 18 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed in Israeli airstrikes, including children, and three Israelis have been killed by Palestinian rocket fire into southern Israel. Not more rockets and bombs, not more dead children...
