By Frank Koeksal

Recently, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper met with President Obama in Washington DC to discuss ways an agreement could be forged between the two countries to expedite trade and tourism across one of the largest boarders in the word. On the surface, this ides appears reasonable until one realizes that the lead to this meeting was kept out of the public eye. The reason for this may come from what we have heard from the meeting itself, mainly that information about Canadians will be shared and kept by various US security administrations. During the joint press conference with Mr. Harper and Mr. Obama the question of sovereignty came up, and although Mr. Harper seemed uncomfortable with the question, Mr, Obama was more forthright. Mr. Obama was clear that any deal with Canada would happen only when US security interest were addressed and implemented to the satisfaction of the US. This does not sound like a two way dialogue, more like a drill down.

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By Rady Ananda

By a vote of 178 to 98, on February 9th, Canada's House of Commons defeated Bill C-474, an Act that would have required an analysis of potential harm to export markets before permitting the commercialization of any new genetically engineered seed. Organic farmers now fear the collapse of the wheat and alfalfa markets, since Canada's export markets reject biotech food.

Jack Layton, MP (Toronto-Danforth) and leader of Canada's New Democrats, expressed his disappointment in an email promising to "continue to take every opportunity to pressure the government to initiate a public debate around genetic engineering and to use a precautionary approach to this important issue."

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By By Michael Collins

(Washington, DC) Two critical forces behind the Egyptian Revolution are missing from the front pages, or any pages, of the corporate media. They are the critical role of Egypt's union movement and the universal desire of all people to live in peace, freedom and dignity. Rarely mentioned are the grievances of Egypt's workers and their struggle to unionize. As a result, we've missed the connection between the struggle to unionize and the right to assemble.

The Egyptian people were poised for a mass celebration following what was supposed to be a farewell speech by former President Hosni Mubarak. For seventeen days, Egyptians massed in Cairo's Tahrir Square. There were protests in Alexandria, Port Suez, and other cities. The G-20 sates have been tentative in their support for the full set of demands by protesters and the broader Egyptian public. For example, President Barack Obama said Mubarak needed a, "credible, concrete and unequivocal path to democracy." What does a "path to democracy" look like? How long does it take to walk the path? Egypt's military leaders may have acted already.

Mubarak's contact with reality was extremely weak. He didn't get the message from the Egypt's Supreme Council of military leaders. Aljazeera reported that the council promised, "measures and arrangements … to safeguard the nation, its achievements and the ambitions of its great people." The news service concluded that a military coup had likely taken place already based on the announcement that the council will be in session indefinitely.

What role did the union movement play and how was that connected to the right to assemble and other fundamental human rights?

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By Timothy V. Gatto

It’s very telling that the United States will not give any indication that actually makes any kind of statement on the Egyptian revolution and where America stands on the subject. It’s apparent that the U.S. doesn’t want to show it’s hand until all of the variables have been taken into account and the people of Egypt have finally accepted an alternative to the rule of Mubarak’s regime…at least not in public anyway. We have no real idea of what is happening in the background. It’s quite possible that elements in the U.S. government have clear goals as to what they want to wash out of the current stalemate in Cairo.

The fact that the U.S. isn’t taking sides publically is really very disappointing but not unexpected. If this administration openly sided with the protestors and the uprising was crushed and the regime survived (with or without Mubarak) it would be very difficult to explain why we sided with the opposition when Egypt and its current regime is supposedly our ally. Yet it places Obama in a precarious position if the popular uprising succeeds and we now have to negotiate with a new regime that we failed to support. This is what the British call “a bit of a sticky wicket”.

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Gilad Atzmon

Ynet reported today that US Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said during a House Intelligence Committee hearing Thursday that Egypt’s branch of the Muslim Brotherhood movement was "a very heterogeneous group, largely secular, which has eschewed violence and has decried al-Qaeda as a perversion of Islam."

Clapper, who heads the organization commanding 16 American intelligence and investigation agencies, told the committee that the Muslim Brotherhood "have pursued social ends, a betterment of the political order in Egypt, et cetera….. There is no overarching agenda, particularly in pursuit of violence, at least internationally.”

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by Stephen Lendman

Several previous articles discussed his right to return, accessed through the following links:

http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2011/01/let-aristide-return.html

http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2011/02/haiti-update-electoral-runoff-and.html

http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2011/02/grassroots-support-for-aristides-return.html

Since forcibly exiled on February 29, 2004, Washington and Haiti denied his right to return, though affirmed in Haiti's Constitution and international law.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states:

Article 9: "No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile."

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by Stephen Lendman

Despite Palestinian Authority (PA) officials banning anti-Mubarak demonstrations, hundreds rallied in support. On February 5, Jerusalem Post writer Khaled Abu Toameh headlined, "100s demonstrate in Ramallah in support of Egyptians," saying:

Marching in Ramallah with Egyptian flags, they publicly supported them "(f)or the first time since the beginning of the(ir( uprising...." Another Ramallah demonstration followed as well as a Bethlehem one.

Toameh's February 2 article was in stark contrast headlined, "PA launches pro-Mubarak demonstration in Ramallah," denouncing Mohamed ElBaradei as a "CIA agent."

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By Gaither Stewart- A Personal Testimony

(Rome) When as a young man I moved to Italy it was an act of love for this Mediterranean land where lemon trees bloom. The original attraction for me however was not only the Bel Paese, as Italians like to call this truly beautiful peninsula jutting out southwards into the Mediterranean Sea and nearly reaching Tunisia. I also wanted the whole Mar Nostrum, the sea around which our Western civilization developed; I set for myself the secret goal of knowing all the lands surrounding the great sea. The attraction I felt was perhaps the same allure for the succession of peoples and civilizations, which have sought to both control and unite this beautiful and unique world. Though my original love for Italy has faded and waned in the vulgarity of contemporary Italy, not so the magical lure of the Mediterranean World as such.

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Salim Nazzal

As with all bankrupt companies their owners resort to selling off their contents at cheap prices in order to alleviate the losses and damage. The USA is doing this now with it’s so called Arab Allies. The USA stated recently that it wants a peaceful transition of power; this is a clear message to Mubarak to go.

This time America has acted more” wisely” than it did under the Tunisian uprising when it supported Ben Ali against the Tunisian revolution .And definitely much wiser than it did during the Iranian revolution, when it stood against the nation of Iran. But in the end it abandoned the Shah who didn’t beg them restoring his power, nor even for a Palace, but for a grave to rest in.

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By Kevin Zeese

The unrelenting narrative from the corporate media – that Obama must mend fences with American business – is disconnected from the reality of Obama’s policies and appointments. It is inconsistent with the rise in the stock market, the record profits and the hordes of cash big business are sitting on.

There is no question that small businesses are still being choked by the unavailability of credit and that the lack of job creation is preventing a real economic recovery, but the businesses Obama spoke to when he visited the Chamber of Commerce are not in that category. In recent years, the national Chamber has evolved into a spokesperson for transnational corporations, not Main Street America’s businesses. They have pushed U.S. job killing policies that send jobs overseas so transnational corporations can reap the biggest profits from the cheapest labor.

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