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On drugs and democracy

Aug 082012

Criminalizing drugs costs lives and undercuts democracy.

Inge Fryklund for Foreign Policy in Focus

The UN Office of Drug Control (UNODC) has thoroughly documented the violence, crime, and corruption linked with the worldwide heroin and opium trade. The US news media report every day on the mayhem and corruption of government officials caused by the drug wars in Mexico, Colombia, and other points south of our border. In Afghanistan, the Taliban tax the opium trade and protect poppy farmers from eradication, fueling the insurgency and our 11-year war.

McGuinty to teachers: don’t even think about striking

Aug 082012

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Ontario premier threatens pre-emptive back-to-work law.

by Thomas Walkom

In the dead heat of early August, the air is heavy with languor. Even the bees take it easy.

The new school year still seems years away. Contract negotiators for Ontario's school boards — as well as their teaching union counterparts — slumber peacefully in their hammocks.

Assad’s Russian defenders

Jul 272012

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Supporting Syria seems unnecessary — and unwise.

by Gwynne Dyer

The United Nations Stabilization Mission in Syria has suspended its peace mission. "The observers will not be conducting patrols and will stay in their locations until further notice," said the commander of the 300-strong multinational observer force, Norwegian Major-General Robert Mood.

Backtracking on Great Bear Rainforest

Jul 272012

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Pipeline plan makes Harperites excoriate deal they applauded five years ago.

by Sandra Garossino

…In an open letter to Canadians in January, Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver came out swinging against "environmental and other radical groups", singling out "jet-setting celebrities" that seek to influence Canadian policy and public opinion on resource extraction and development projects such as the proposed Enbridge pipeline. Not to be outdone, Public Safety Minister Vic Toews proposed putting environmentalists on Canada's terrorist watch, while Environment Minister Peter Kent publicly accused American charitable foundations of laundering fortunes through Canadian environmental NGOs.

Quebec students protest again

Jul 242012

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Court ruling on Loi 78 fails to deter demonstrators.

from Agence France Presse

MONTREAL, July 23, 2012 — About 15,000 Canadian students protested in Montreal on Sunday against rising tuition costs, with an eye toward rallying supporters against Quebec Premier Jean Charest in expected provincial polls. The protest at first was declared illegal under a controversial law enacted in the province to quell months of demonstrations over the tuition issue, as organizers did not make public their planned itinerary, but went ahead.

Yanick Gregoire, the vice president of one of the three main Quebec student groups, the FEUQ, said the protesters planned to head to Charest's offices in Montreal to denounce the fact that the tuition crisis "has not been settled."…

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Berlusconi’s return: making his own laws

Jul 242012

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The billionaire could make a comeback, despite past deeds.

by Gwynne Dyer

Abraham Lincoln was right: You can fool all the people some of the time, and you can fool some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.

Unfortunately, his dictum is irrelevant to modern Italian politics. In a democratic country with a number of different parties, like Italy, you only have to fool about one-third of the people all the time to get and keep political power.

Gun control has wide support in US

Jul 242012

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Media wrong; public opinion polls are quite clear.

by Matt Gertz

In the wake of last week's tragic mass shooting in Aurora, CO, some in the media are distorting public opinion and election results to predict that the events will not have an impact on the debate over gun violence prevention. In fact, polls indicate public support for a broad range of stronger gun restrictions, including the reinstatement of the assault weapons ban, which may have prevented the legal purchase of one of the alleged shooter's guns. …

Fukushima disaster was “man-made”

Jul 112012

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Japanese parliamentary investigation finds safety features inadequate.

The Fukushima nuclear disaster was the result of "man-made" failures before and after last year's earthquake, according to a report from an independent parliamentary investigation. The breakdowns involved regulators working with the plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. to avoid implementing safety measures as well as a government lacking commitment to protect the public, the Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation Commission said in the report.

The oil sanctions against Iran

Jul 112012

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There are cynics among us who would argue that the European Union's oil sanctions against Iran, which went into full effect on July 1, are a double triumph for Israel's Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

If you assume that the real reason for his apparent hysteria over the alleged threat of Iranian nuclear weapons is to divert international attention from illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, then his strategy has been a spectacular success. The main reason that Israel's allies are imposing these sanctions is to head off an Israeli military strike against Iran that would destabilize the entire region — and in the meantime, nobody is talking about the Palestinians.

LIBOR: crime of the century

Jul 112012

Hot headlines

Hundreds of trillions of dollars manipulated.

by Robert Scheer

Forget Bernie Madoff and Enron's Ken Lay — they were mere amateurs in financial crime. The current Libor interest rate scandal, involving hundreds of trillions in international derivatives trade, shows how the really big boys play. And these guys will most likely not do the time because their kind rewrites the law before committing the crime.

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