[Images] Visions of the Gigaproject

Clear Water Media and White Pine Pictures have made a documentary film about the Tar Sands called Tar Sands: The Selling of Alberta. In their press release they offered some photos, which I am posting here with the captions they provided. This film offers yet more proof that we've got to stop this environmental and social disaster as soon as possible!

File Name: Stig in Helicopter
STIG BERGSETH
Fort McMurray, AB CANADA 2007
“Stig Bergseth, Senior VP of Statoil, in helicopter looking at a North Sea natural gas platform”
Photo Credit: Daron Donahue
White Pine Pictures/ Clearwater Media

File Name: Wihbey in NY
PAUL MICHAEL WIHBEY
New York, USA 2007
“Paul Michael Wihbey (President of GWEST Associates) addresses a group of investors re: global energy insecurity and the Alberta tar sands”
Photo Credit: Randy Tomiuk
White Pine Pictures/ Clearwater Media

File Name: Rudyck fitting pipe
ANDY RUDYCK (R)
Fort McMurray, AB CANADA 2007
“Andy Rudyck fitting pipe”
Photo Credit: Niobe Thompson
White Pine Pictures/ Clearwater Media

File Name: Keng w Syncrude
DR. KENG CHUNG
Fort McMurray, AB CANADA 2007
“Dr. Chung, Professor at the China University of Petroleum, standing in front of the Syncrude upgrader and a Syncrude tailings pond”
Photo Credit: Daron Donahue
White Pine Pictures/ Clearwater Media

[Appeal] The Bullies of the World

What do Turkey, Israel and Colombia have in common?

Well for one, these countries (geographically speaking) are absolutely beautiful, and they all contain an incredibly rich civilizational history. I have been to both Israel and Colombia, and I can honestly say that the extremely warm and caring cultures I was welcomed with made my visits to those countries wonderful.

However, these countries also have this in common: They all made news this week for sending their troops across the border into neighbouring countries, with the intention of assassinating members of rebel forces. And they all succeeded:

• Just last week, Turkish forces entered Northern Iraq in a midnight raid. In the ensuing days they killed over 100 people, whom the government claims were Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) rebels, and they destroyed PKK bases. See one of the explanatory stories here.
• Just a few days ago, Israel launched yet another incursion into the Palestinian territories, again with the intention of assassinating members of Hamas. In these few days the Israeli forces have killed over 100 people, most of whom are likely innocent civilians. See the news story here.
  
• And just yesterday Colombian troops entered Ecuadorian territory and assassinated one of the FARC's rebel leaders, Raul Reyes. See the story here.

This kind of action by states is immoral, it is illegal, and these governments should be held accountable. We, the people of this world, should not accept this type of behaviour from any country. It merely exacerbates conflicts, and most likely serves to increase the support for rebel factions.

Those violent factions within the PKK, Hamas, and the FARC are all fighting for their causes in the wrong way - armed struggle is the way of the past. This century should see people's struggles for social justice taking place in the form of peaceful, (truly) democratic movements which seize state power in the most legitimate way - by garnering support from everyday people and civil society, by demonstration that their cause is the most just. And these causes are just: Kurds should have autonomy for their peoples, Palestinians should have a sovereign state and should be compensated for a half century of death and destruction, and Colombian communists should be able to participate in national politics without restrictions. But armed insurrection, kidnappings, rocket attacks - that kind of armed response is only feeding the cycle of violence.

The three countries above also have something else in common: They are historically amongst the top receivers of American military aid. Between 1980 and 1999, Turkey received $11.5 Billion worth of military equipment from the US, not to mention the more than $6 Billion the country received in grants and direct loans during the same period. In 2007 alone Colombia received $584 million in military and police aid from the United Sates, and in the last five years the county has received $3.45 Billion dollars in military aid (and this does not count the hundreds of millions of dollars in other forms of aid). And Israel... conservative estimates indicate that it received $2.28 Billion in military aid from the US in 2006 alone. And, since 1949 the US had handed over nearly $100 Billion in aid to that country.

Is this a coincidence? No. The US publicly uses measured "diplomatic language" with these countries when they use their American-funded militaries to launch illegal raids into other countries. You'll hear Condi Rice saying something like "We caution Israel to use restraint", "We call on Turkey to complete its mission in a timely manner and withdraw its troops". This kind of diplomatic bullshit is tacitly allowing countries like this to break international law!

The United States, by virtue of arming these countries to the teeth, by virtue of giving them nothing more than a little slap on the wrist for such actions, by virtue of providing a horrible example of a powerful state which shows absolute contempt and disregard for international laws and conventions - by virtue of these facts the United States is complicit. In other words, when Israel sends secret agents into Beirut to kill a member of Hamas, when Turkey bombs entire areas of Northern Iraq, and when the Colombian military displaces hundreds of peasants and make villages "disappear" - the United States should also be held accountable.

Shame on you, you bullies of the world!

[Facts & Figures] Jailed State

This just in: A recent study by The Pew Center found that 1 out of every 100 American adults is behind bars. That's 1 percent of the population - in jail! At this rate, the typical American high school has 7 future inmates walking through its halls - scribbling their names on their desks during math class (based on the national average high school size of 752 students).

Even more interesting is that the same study found that the crime rate has not really changed significantly over the last twenty years - yet back in the 1980s the incarceration rate was much lower. So the conclusion is that sentences have been getting harsher, and low to no risk offenders are being punished for their petty crimes with jail sentences.

This, in my opinion, is crazy. People who commit petty crimes, like stealing bikes and televisions with the intention of selling them to try to make enough money to survive, are not the kind of people we should be putting in prison. They are the people who need a hand of help. We should be giving jobs to them, and we should offer them free education and any other health and social services while they're at it. We should find ways to integrate these people into their communities, find a place for them in society. If they are rehabilitated in this way, if they can identify their social purpose and the way their community relies on them, I doubt they would resort to petty crime. What do you think?

The study gets a bit more detailed: The USA has the highest rate of incarceration in the world - by a long shot. In fact, the United States imprisons far more of its own citizens than other so-called "authoritarian" states - including Russia, China, and the "rogue state" of Iran, a member of the "Axis of Evil". I repeat - the United States imprisons more of its own members of society than countries in the Axis of Evil, which are said to be countries that are not "free". While the USA is at a 0.075% incarceration rate (for its entire populous), Iran is at a rate of 0.022%. I bid you: look at these facts and then try to convince me that the US is not a secret member of the Axis of Evil. I wonder sometimes.

If you are reading this, and you are an American male between the ages of 20 and 34, you better watch out: There is a 3.3% chance that you're reading this from behind bars. But if you're an American male between the ages of 20 and 34 and you have darker skin color, there is an 11% chance that you are reading this from your prison cell. These stats offer yet another indicator of blatant racism that still characterizes American society.