U.S. to pull 30,000 troops from Afghanistan by summer 2012
By macleans.ca - Thursday, June 23, 2011 - 0 Comments
Obama says significant progress has been made in decade-long war
U.S. President Barack Obama announced in a televised address on Wednesday that he will accelerate the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan, with 10,000 set to leave this year. By next summer, 20,000 more troops will be pulled out of the war-torn country. In his address, Obama said the U.S. and its NATO allies have made significant progress in its fight against al-Qaeda and the Taliban. He didn’t rule out the possibility of attaining peace with the Taliban, but emphasized that the group of Islamic radicals must renounce violence in order for negotiations to be successful. After the accelerated troop withdrawal, there will still be 70,000 American troops in Afghanistan. Obama recognized that Americans are growing tired of the decade-long war, and said the U.S. will hand over security operations to the Afghan Army and police by 2014. More than 1,500 Americans have died and 12,000 wounded in Afghanistan since the U.S. invaded in 2001. The war costs US$10 billion a month.
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Toronto mayor to skip Pride
By macleans.ca - Thursday, June 23, 2011 at 12:27 PM - 0 Comments
Rob Ford first mayor in more than a decade to pass on parade
Mayor Rob Ford will not take part in the Toronto’s annual Pride Parade over the Canada Day long weekend. The mayor will instead spend the national holiday weekend in cottage country with his family, breaking a more than decade-long tradition of mayors marching in the parade. Critics called his decision a missed opportunity, given that in the past he has made comments considered homophobic, including “if you’re not doing needles and you’re not gay, you won’t get AIDS, probably.” Leaders in Toronto’s gay community say the mayor’s decision to skip the celebration that draws about half a million people to the city’s streets sends the wrong message.
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Dutch politician acquitted of hate speech
By macleans.ca - Thursday, June 23, 2011 at 12:23 PM - 0 Comments
Court rules Geert Wilders’ anti-Islam statements part of national debate over immigration policy
A Dutch court acquitted politician Geert Wilders of inciting hatred against Muslims on Thursday. The judge ruled that the right-wing politician’s comments, which included comparing Islam with Nazism and calling for a ban on the Quran, were within the limits of legitimate political debate. The Amsterdam court also said a direct link couldn’t be established between his statements and increased discrimination against Dutch Muslims. Wilders, who is one of the most powerful and popular politicians in the Netherlands, called the acquittal “a victory for freedom of expression in the Netherlands.”
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Afghan detainee records imply Tory spin
By macleans.ca - Thursday, June 23, 2011 at 12:18 PM - 0 Comments
Documents reveal federal officials worried about accuracy of Conservatives’ position on Afghan jail conditions
Secret documents reveal Canadian officials were concerned that the actual treatment of Afghan detainees did not match what the Conservatives said was happening in Kandahar jails. An adviser with the Afghanistan Task Force wrote a memo to former foreign affairs minister Lawrence Cannon in 2007 warning of the impending release of detainee documents. “[…]The assembled material may seem to suggest that Government of Canada messaging on the detainee issues for the last 12 months has been out of sync with reporting from the field,” the memo said. The documents are part of a 4,000-page release of Afghan detainee records. The documents had been released previously, but were heavily censored. Even though less information has been redacted, the papers still don’t offer many more clues as to whether government officials knew the Canadian military was passing on detainees to Afghan officials to be tortured.
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Marois says remaining caucus members committed to PQ
By macleans.ca - Thursday, June 23, 2011 at 11:59 AM - 0 Comments
Embattled Parti Québécois leader asks MNAs to declare loyalty
Parti Québécois leader Pauline Marois says she can count on the loyalty of those who remain in her caucus after asking each of her MNAs to pledge allegiance to her and the party. “I asked [the remaining caucus members] if they adhered to the party program, if they would stay in the PQ and that they would be by my side,” she said. “They all said yes.” The PQ has been beset with defections over the past month, with five MNAs departing to sit as independents. A sixth was expelled over corruption allegations. The hemorrhaging, along with a rash of public criticism of Marois by former sovereigntist leaders like Jacques Parizeau and Gilles Duceppe, has raised questions about the future of both Marois and the party.
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Famous Chinese artist Ai Weiwei released from prison
By macleans.ca - Thursday, June 23, 2011 at 11:54 AM - 0 Comments
Spent 81 days in prison for “economic crimes”
Internationally renowned artist Ai Weiwei has been released from prison in China after 81 days in detention. Perhaps best known for helping to design the famous Bird’s Nest stadium built for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Ai is also an outspoken activist in China. His disappearance on April 3 sparked an international outcry. Chinese authorities say they were investigating him for “economic crimes,” and that he has been released “because of his good attitude in confessing to his crimes.” Ai told reporters over the phone that he is “fine” and happy to be back with his family. Human rights activists say Ai’s arrest was purely political. Several other artists and dissidents have been arrested in recent months as part of what many say is one of China’s most severe crackdowns on dissent in decades.
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Reading the documents: DFAIT 10
By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, June 23, 2011 at 11:45 AM - 0 Comments
The documents tabled today can be viewed in their entirety here. Herein, a series of posts on some of the noteworthy files and disclosures contained therein.
Included in yesterday’s release is a file marked DFAIT 10. Dated from November 2007, it is a memo to the Foreign Affairs Minister (Lawrence Cannon at the time) about the impending release of government documents as part of the legal case brought by Amnesty International and the BC Civil Liberties Association. Specifically, the memo attempts to address what will be disclosed as a result and what “communications considerations” should be undertaken.
The evidence contained in the documents was summarized for the minister as follows (the unredacted portion reprinted here in square brackets).
The material to be released is extensive. Cumulatively the documents leave one with the impression of [flawed Afghan judicial system and of detention facilities that fall well below UN standards]. In addition, the assembled material may seem to suggest that Government of Canada messaging on the detainees issues for the last twelve months has been out of sync with reporting from the field (DND, CSC and DFAIT). This will present significant political and communications challenges.
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Winklevii drop Facebook appeal
By macleans.ca - Thursday, June 23, 2011 at 11:39 AM - 0 Comments
Accept 2008 ruling that gives them US$65M
The Winklevoss twins, made famous by the 2010 film “The Social Network,” have decided to drop their appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court of a ruling upholding their multi-million dollar settlement with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss accused Zuckerberg of stealing the idea for Facebook from them when they were students at Harvard in 2004. In a statement filed in a California court Wednesday, the Winklevii, as they are collectively known, indicated they had decided to accept a 2008 ruling giving them US$65 million. Analysts predict the social networking site could be worth more than US$100 billion on the stock market.
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Respected advisory firm backs LSE-TMX merger
By macleans.ca - Thursday, June 23, 2011 at 11:18 AM - 0 Comments
ISS urges shareholders to reject rival Maple Group bid for Toronto Stock Exchange
Advisory firm ISS is urging Toronto Stock Exchange shareholders to vote in favour of the proposed merger with the London Stock Exchange. The firm said there is little incentive for shareholders to accept the rival bid being advanced by Maple Group, a consortium of Canadian banks and pension funds who say control of the TMX should remain in Canada. “We recommend shareholders take the bird in hand and vote for the proposed merger-of-equals with the LSE,” the firm was quoted as saying by Reuters. ISS also said the merger with LSE would give the TMX a better competitive position in the global economy. Shareholders will vote on whether to accept the LSE merger bid on June 30.
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Tortured math
By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, June 23, 2011 at 10:35 AM - 0 Comments
When Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird turned up at the podium yesterday afternoon, he announced as follows.
Just now, on behalf of the Government of Canada, I tabled documents relating to Canadian-transferred Taliban prisoners reviewed as part of the Ad Hoc Committee process in the last Parliament. This concludes that process which has cost Canadian taxpayers over $12 million.
As it turns out, the cost for the parliamentary review—in which documents were reviewed by an ad hoc committee of MPs and a panel of former judges—was something closer to $4.5 million.
Baird said the process cost $12 million, but a government official later admitted that amount includes the cost of producing and redacting documents for two proceedings at the Military Police Complaints Commission. The commission spent months conducting hearings on a complaint by Amnesty International. The cost to find and redact documents was $10 million, of which $7.5 million is due to the commission hearings, Baird spokesman Chris Day wrote in an email. ”The remaining $2 [million] relate to remuneration and disbursements associated with the work of the panel,” he wrote.
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Standing up for asbestos
By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, June 23, 2011 at 9:54 AM - 0 Comments
The Canadian delegation interjected yesterday to object to the inclusion of asbestos in the Rotterdam Convention.
At a summit in Switzerland, Canada’s delegation ended days of silence and speculation by opposing the inclusion of asbestos on a UN treaty called the Rotterdam Convention. “Yes, I can confirm they intervened in the chemicals contact group meeting this afternoon and opposed listing,” Michael Stanley-Jones of the UN Environment Program said in an email.
Vietnam, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan also opposed the listing.
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The early reviews
By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, June 23, 2011 at 8:51 AM - 0 Comments
The Canadian Press reviews some of what was disclosed in yesterday’s document release.
— Various 2007 reports filed by Canadian officials in Afghanistan who interviewed detainees transferred by Canadian Forces noted allegations of beatings, sleep deprivation and verbal abuse;
— Human rights observers were denied access at least five times that year to Kandahar facilities run by the notorious National Directorate of Security
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Reading the documents
By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, June 22, 2011 at 11:24 PM - 0 Comments
The documents tabled today can be viewed in their entirety here. Some of these memos appear to have been made public previously, but starting here, a series of posts on some of the noteworthy files and disclosures contained therein.Files POA 0424 through POA 0437—see the second batch of files—appear to contain memos drafted by Richard Colvin between June 2, 2006 and April 20, 2007. These are memos would have been filed before the Globe and Mail’s first major story on the handling of detainees was published on April 23, 2007.
The panel of arbiters has unredacted references to Governor Asadullah Khalid in POA 0433 and POA 0434. (References to Governor Khalid are also revealed in POA 0148, dated April 28, 2007.)
In POA 0437, a reference to “suspicions of maltreatment by the NDS” has been disclosed.
POA 0439 through POA 0464 contain memos that followed the Globe’s report. References to Governor Khalid have been unredacted in POA 0454 and POA 0455.
POA 0465 is Mr. Colvin’s final report on the conclusion of his 18 months in Afghanistan.
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Canadians Will Watch Canadian Shows
By Jaime Weinman - Wednesday, June 22, 2011 at 7:22 PM - 0 Comments
Just a quick note that Combat Hospital, the latest in the line of Canadian shows that are also summer replacement series on U.S. networks, got almost 2 million Canadian viewers for its premiere last night. How the viewership will hold up is another question (the reviews have been mixed), but the evidence is pretty clear that Canadians will watch a Canadian-made series if it’s promoted right.
It does seem like a U.S. simulcast helps with promotion. Even though these shows don’t get a huge amount of build-up in the States, the U.S. partnership increases the build-up they get over here. And perhaps the U.S. simulcasting (or in the case of Flashpoint, U.S. whenever-the-network-feels-like-it-casting) increases the chance that it might get an extra promotional boost even after the premiere. These shows aren’t dependent on the U.S. connection for their viewers. But the connection may increase the chance that networks will do, in terms of promotion and scheduling, what arguably should be done for all Canadian shows.
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‘The likelihood was very high’
By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, June 22, 2011 at 6:42 PM - 0 Comments
Stephane Dion, the Liberal MP on the ad hoc committee, offers his take on what he saw in the documents.
Canadian troops had always acted professionally, Dion said, but the government had failed to track the detainees it was transferring. When it finally did send inspectors to check on the detainees, the inspections were inadequate — at times even erratic, he said. ”They were not sufficient to really protect these hundreds of people,” Dion said.
Most concerning to him was the fact that Canadian officials kept transferring troops to Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security despite having concerns about its reputation for abuse. ”It is very troubling that there is a case — not many cases but one case — where an individual has been arrested by us and . . . transferred to NDS for future questioning,” Dion said. “I checked to find out what we may know of this individual and I found out . . . (that) the interrogation by the NDS, gave an allegation by this individual of abuse — that he has been slapped in the face many times and threatened to be killed. Elsewhere, we find out that the Canadian officials confirm that we do not check how the NDS do its questioning,” the former Liberal leader added.
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The detainee documents: it’s not about who respects our soldiers
By John Geddes - Wednesday, June 22, 2011 at 5:38 PM - 0 Comments
On the release today of many thousands of pages of documents related to the Afghan detainees issue, Defence Minister Peter MacKay took a moment to lash out at the Conservatives’ partisan adversaries.
“Opposition parties have tried to sensationalize and politicize this whole issue to their own advantage each and every time they had the opportunity to do so,” MacKay said. “I’m very proud of our military, and they are worthy of much more from the opposition parties.”
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The documents
By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, June 22, 2011 at 5:09 PM - 0 Comments
The 4,000 pages of detainee documents have now been released to reporters.
The first batch (99 files via Scribd) is available here.
The second batch (274 files via Google Docs) is available here.
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‘This concludes the work of the ad hoc committee’
By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, June 22, 2011 at 4:13 PM - 0 Comments
The official release from Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird on the tabling of documents related to the transfer of detainees in Afghanistan. In speaking with reporters as well he left the distinct impression that the government is not interested in reinstating the review process.
“The documents tabled today show what our government has been telling Canadians all along,” said Minister Baird. “Canada is committed to upholding our international obligations, including the handling and transfer of Taliban prisoners in full accordance with our international obligations.”
All of the documents that were prioritized by the ad hoc committee of parliamentarians and sent to the Panel of Arbiters for decisions on redactions have now been released … After 12 months and over $12 million, no credible allegations against Canadian Armed Forces members or Canadian officials were found. The vast majority of redactions were left intact by the Panel of Arbiters. This concludes the process.
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Canadian NATO commander urges against ceasefire in Libya
By macleans.ca - Wednesday, June 22, 2011 at 3:58 PM - 0 Comments
Bouchard says Gadhafi regime would re-build forces and attack again
Lieutenant-General Charles Bouchard, the Canadian in command of the NATO operation in Libya, urged NATO politicians against a potential ceasefire, arguing that halting military operations in the region to administer aid would only result in more violence. Bouchard believes that if NATO ceases air strikes—as Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini insists it should—the Gadhafi regime will use the offensive lull to recuperate and re-build its forces before striking again. Frattini, however, is not alone. Recent civilian deaths caused by a failed NATO airstrike have made several politicians, including members of the Arab League, cynical about the mission’s future.
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Canada refuses UN recommendation to list asbestos as dangerous
By macleans.ca - Wednesday, June 22, 2011 at 2:58 PM - 0 Comments
Ukraine and India would support the motion
Canada announced its objection on Wednesday to a recent UN recommendation that chrysotile asbestos—one of Quebec’s main exports—be listed on Annex III of the United Nations’ Rotterdam Convention. Such a move would force Canada to inform other countries of the mineral’s danger prior to exportation. Chrysotile asbestos is a carcinogen, mined heavily in Quebec. It has been deemed cancer-causing by both the Canadian Cancer Society and the Canadian Medical Association, who have urged the federal government to heed the UN’s recommendation and consent to the listing. Ukraine and India are two countries among a growing consensus of UN members who would like the mineral to be fall under the cautionary listing.
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Public funeral to be held for Betty Fox
By macleans.ca - Wednesday, June 22, 2011 at 2:50 PM - 0 Comments
Service will be held on Saturday in Port Coquitlam, B.C.
A public funeral will be held for Betty Fox, mother to Terry Fox and a cancer activist, who died last Friday at the age of 73 in Chilliwack, B.C. The funeral will be held at Trinity United Church in Port Coquitlam on Saturday, June 25. Terry Fox, Betty’s second-eldest son, passed away from cancer in 1981 after pledging to run across Canada and raise money to fight his disease. Betty continued his work, leading her own runs and founding a cancer research institute. The Fox family anticipates a large turnout to the funeral and asks that guests RSVP if they wish to attend.
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Bank of Canada cautions Canadian households on loans
By macleans.ca - Wednesday, June 22, 2011 at 2:40 PM - 0 Comments
Risk to economy and financial system have risen in last six months, policymakers say
Although Canada’s banking sector is still relatively safe, Bank of Canada policymakers say risks to the economy and financial system have increased over the past six months. The central bank said the European debt crisis, unbalanced recovery of the global economy and debt-ridden consumers are to blame for the increase. Bank of Canada officials worry that if interest rates rise or there’s another fall in the jobs market, Canadian households won’t be able to control their debt. Governor Mark Carney and his rate-setting panel warned borrowers and banks to be careful about taking on or giving out loans.
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Life in prison for Bahrain activists
By macleans.ca - Wednesday, June 22, 2011 at 2:34 PM - 0 Comments
Dissidents jailed for plotting coup
A special military court in Bahrain handed down life sentences on Wednesday to eight Shiite activists accused of plotting a coup to overthrow the Gulf Arab state’s Sunni monarchy. Thirteen other activists received jail terms of up to 15 years. Seven of the 21 sentences were given in absentia. During the trial, witnesses in Manama say police fired tear gas to stop protesters from convening in a central part of the city, in one of the country’s first demonstrations in months. Human rights organizations have called the arrests and convictions politically driven, as the men are well-known opposition figures.
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Dissident republicans shoot photographer, police say
By macleans.ca - Wednesday, June 22, 2011 at 2:24 PM - 0 Comments
Reports call east Belfast violence worst in a decade
Dissident republicans are responsible for the shooting of a Press Association photographer during violence in east Belfast on Tuesday, police say. The photographer underwent surgery for a gunshot wound to his leg on Wednesday. He was one of three people who suffered injuries in the midst of the barrage of bombs, missiles and fireworks thrown at police lines for the second night in a row. Local reports call the violence the worst the area has seen in a decade. Police say between 350 and 400 people were involved in the riots, and blame a loyalist paramilitary group, the Belfast Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), for instigating the violence.
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Government to release Afghan detainee documents
By macleans.ca - Wednesday, June 22, 2011 at 1:56 PM - 0 Comments
After months of delays and reviews, Tories reportedly set to make records public
The Conservative government may be preparing to release thousands of documents that detail the controversial handling of Afghan detainees, potentially revealing the extent to which the Tories were aware of their mistreatment, the CBC reports. The issue has dogged the Conservatives since December 2009, when it sparked a parliamentary crisis after the government repeatedly refused to disclose the documents to opposition MPs. In July 2010, a committee was eventually formed to review the documents. The Conservatives had previously argued the documents couldn’t be released because of national security concerns. A source from the Foreign Affairs department told CBC News on Wednesday the government was preparing to release the documents.
