Freedom Convoy Unmasked: The Attempted Overthrow of Canada

Opinion by Darren Clarke, February 17, 2022 (photo courtesy WikiCommons)

 leftfieldlark  February 17, 2022  opinion

“When the US radical right is going after Canada nobody is safe. When I say democracy is fragile I mean it. We shall survive this onslaught but only if we don’t remain silent bystanders. Stand up for our friend Canada and let your voice be heard.”

Bruce Heyman, former US Ambassador to Canada (February 16, 2022)

As of yesterday you had to be asking yourself- If Canadian Premiers have all largely announced the removal of mandates and Covid protections why is Ottawa still occupied? The answer is because protesting mandates was only a cover used to manufacture consent for something more insidious. The overthrow of the government and the will of the majority. To understand how it has come to pass that Canadian self-determination is being threatened we have to talk about some things.

We need to talk about the evidence that there are forces, foreign and domestic, that are looking to destabilize and undermine Canadian sovereignty. We need to talk about how yesterday provided more evidence of how determined and well financed those forces are. We need to talk about the fact the Ottawa occupation was organized to provoke violence in our streets as a means to bring about a change in government. We need to talk about Tyler Russell.

We need to talk about Tyler Russell for three reasons, first, because he’s a member of the protest and a wholly representative one at that, second, on his Canada First Youtube channel he tells us precisely why he wants violence to happen in Ottawa, third, because of a video of a phone call he posted on February 11th which he claims is a call from Ontario Premier Doug Ford.

We also need to note that when Conservative leader Candice Bergen advocated her party support these protests in order to hurt the Prime Minister politically, she was supporting the designs of a mindset Canadian Conservatives have long cultivated via their various social media sources. The mindset of people like Tyler Russell.

Who is Tyler Russell? antihate.ca devoted an article to Russell and his Canada First outfit in 2021, noting a speech he gave on Parliament Hill, Canada Day 2020, “In his speech that day, Russell laid out his vision for a right-wing nationalist Canada First movement, citing Canadian white nationalist Faith Goldy and Nick Fuentes, the young leader of the “Groypers.” a movement and a further re-branding of the neo-Nazi alt-right, as sources of inspiration.” antihate.ca infiltrated Russell’s chatrooms to provide examples of violent rhetoric, racism, misogyny and general evidence of all the things that make up your every day, run of the mill, psychopath (and if you feel that’s excessive check out the antihate.ca article or any of Russell’s Youtube videos).

Russell’s Instagram page features a few pictures that strike at the heart of the moment Canada finds itself in. The first is a picture of Russell in Ottawa, at the protests, in front of a sign featuring an abundance of trolling, slogans like, “Trudeau is a Terrorist.” The second picture is more telling of the deeper threat to Canadian sovereignty.

This second picture is of the youthful Russell in a suit, a red tie and a red hat that reads, “Canada First.” Russell and a male counterpart stand side by side, arms around each other smiling for the camera. Russell’s partner in embrace sports a blue, “America First,” hat. Russell’s smile, like his counterparts, is the smile of a man who thinks he is being entirely original while dressed in someone else’s uniform. This picture of a Canadian unguardedly embracing an American persona seems entirely appropriate for the latest news in the ongoing uprisings across Canada against the Federal government. The undue influence foreign media is having on the larger narrative of the Ottawa occupation.

Canada First is of course a derivative of America First. America First is a Donald Trump campaign slogan maintained to propagate support for a ruling class Sarah Kendzior called, “A transnational crime syndicate masquerading as a government.” A government that looked to chop up the nation and sell it off for parts. In case you don’t know, Canada has lots of great parts to sell off, particularly in terms of its’ natural resources and public health care sector.

In this context, the picture of Canada First and America First, arm and arm, makes the copy-cat posing a caricature of a caricature. The vision of that embrace, of Russell’s hubris, channels the crescendoing of the long held American desire to realize their Manifest Destiny, the American capitalist class’s belief that they were ordained by God to devour, well, everything.

Of course the insatiable desires of unchecked capitalism devoured America first. So much so that as the Trump crime syndicate illustrated, America is more a concept than a place at this point. It’s the most effective swindle on the planet for those in pursuit of furthering wealth inequity. The torch for America’s current version of Manifest Destiny is carried by global carpetbaggers, or, as Kendzior put it, “an alliance of autocrats,” looking to further their disproportionate wealth at the expense of the quality of life of everybody else. That’s why the main outlets for portraying the Freedom Convoy at this point are Russian State media and Fox News. Oligarchs and Plutocrats. The modern day, self-ordained, royalty of Russia and the United States.

The larger goal for the American and Russian coverage is simple- To undermine Canadian sovereignty.  When Tyler Russell spoke in a January 27th Youtube video about the possibility of violence at the occupation it was with glee. He wants that. He wants our government to have to physically engage with a protest that is wall to wall Canadian flags. It’s all optics baby. In his mind, in the occupation’s mind, it is the means to bring down the government.

I began writing about the convoy on February 2nd with a piece entitled- Freedom Convoy Unmasked: Who and What the Convoy Represents. Updating the blog as events continued to unfold, the concerns I expressed initially have all come to fruition. Namely, that a protest organized largely by white nationalists, fuelled by various Conservative propaganda sources, radicalized by global, radical, right wing groups, funded and provided public relations support by foreign actors, emboldened by police forces bending to their internal authoritarian leanings, was in fact a tool designed to undermine Canadian sovereignty and the will of the majority of Canadians. 

Each point of what is essentially a flow chart for undermining the self-determination of Canada is supported by a preponderance of evidence–

• That the protest was organized by the likes of Pat King, Tamara Lich and James Bauder who either embody or are linked to separatists, racists and white nationalists is demonstrable.

• That Canada has been deeply infiltrated by right wing extremism (and at this point is significant point of origin for extremism) is well documented.

• That the Conservative party of Canada, via the likes of Ontario Proud/Canada Proud founder Jeff Ballingall, has cultivated an angry mob of meme-fuelled hate over Justin Trudeau’s time in power.

• That the current leadership of the Conservative party has actively looked to prolong the occupation, embolden occupiers and get as many photo ops with protestors as possible is well documented- up to and including, pictures.

• That the RCMP and Ottawa Police have provided numerous examples of both passively and actively supporting the protest.

• That the United States has invested heavily in funding the attempt to topple a democratically elected Canadian government. An example of that investment being that Americans provided 41.7% of 10.7 million dollars raised by an online funding site for the convoy.

• That Fox News and Russian State TV are by far the leading providers of online content portraying the occupation.

How Tyler Russell caught my attention yesterday was via a February 11, 2022, (the day #snowmobilegate was trending on Twitter) video he shared on Twitter that Russell claims is from Doug Ford. Is it Doug Ford? I don’t know. The order of events the speaker on the phone promises has played out since and yeah, the voice sounds like him, “We’re pulling these passports, we’re going to get back to normal, and ah.. you know…I can’t give you an exact date but it will be very soon… okay… I’m going to be speaking over the next few days, Friday I’m going to be putting out a statement, Monday I will be giving dates…”

You can make what you want of the video but it’s compelling to consider given the news yesterday of Ford’s ex-Chief of Staff Dean French being the intermediary in talks between the City of Ottawa and the convoy organizers. The casual relationship between a Ford associate and protest organizers that are looking to overthrow a democratic government is disturbing. Particularly disturbing given that yesterday one of the convoy organizers, Pat King, who you may remember from his statement at an earlier juncture of the convoy, “The only way this is going to be solved is with bullets,” once again took to social media to post a video exposing his dangerous perspective, this time threatening the police, “In the end, just following orders is not going to be a good legal defence… just following orders is not going to be your saving grace when you’re standing on the other side of that witness box.”

This latest evidence of Conservative Premiers sympathetic, often cozy, relationship with protestors, highlights how intertwined the Conservative Party and the Convoy they created are. That some of that evidence of this relationship would come from someone who openly hates Justin Trudeau brings us to the Prime Minister. It brings us to why this kind of coordinated effort to undermine the will of the majority of Canadians would take place.

Justin Trudeau has proven himself as Prime Minister to be a social progressive and an economic centrist. The last part isn’t far enough right for Canadian and foreign financial elites who find the Conservative Party a more amenable partner for transnational looting, the first part, being a social progressive, is the tool used to inflame those with nationalistic/racist tendencies to protest against him. Few are under the illusion the Prime Minister is a perfect leader or person however the circumstances have conspired to create a context within which he is the the final line of defence for so much of which so many Canadians hold dear about our greater community. And he has handled a challenging situation, a flood of domestic and foreign opposition, really well. 

I don’t know how we got to a place where Justin Trudeau is firmly placed as the last, best, chance for all that many hold dear about Canada, but here we are. 

While Conservative parties have gamed a system that largely features two centrist/left wing parties versus one hard right wing party, Canadian sovereignty has been undermined in favour of transnational interests. All that remains left for them to conquer is the Federal government. Going into this third term as Prime Minister despite an uneven playing field swamped by American Hedge Fund media and rabid Conservative social media sources, patience has obviously worn thin to break down this final, most important, hurdle in gutting Canada. 

Which brings us to this moment in Canadian history featuring a Conservative party that has brought Canada to a State of Emergency by design. Featuring a convoy that has brought Ottawa to the cusp of heightened violence by design.

This is a transnational coup designed to install Conservatives into the Federal government in order allow for the looting and selling off of Canada in pieces. This is an attack on Canadian sovereignty, especially every thread of the fabric of Canada that elevates the average person’s standard of living and provides vulnerable human beings, those within our borders, and those that seek to immigrate here, with basic protections and human rights. 

That’s what is at stake right now. The heart of Canada. It appears the Prime Minister has recognized this, the only question is whether enough Canadians will realize that the person with their arm around us, smiling, doesn’t want to be our friend but rather our master.  

HAWAII WATER POLLUTION
How shuttering Red Hill could make fueling the fleet more complex

By Geoff Ziezulewicz
Mar 29, 2022

In this Dec. 23, 2021, photo Rear Adm. John Korka, commander of Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command, leads Navy and civilian water quality recovery experts through the tunnels of the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility, near Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. (MCS1 Luke McCall/Navy via AP)

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s announcement this month that the Defense Department would defuel and close down the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, was a step toward ending a months-long ordeal in which thousands of military families saw fuel leak into their tap water.

But while the Pentagon’s shuttering of Red Hill seeks to end the water crisis, it also raises questions about how a Navy increasingly focused on war in the West Pacific will fuel the fleet.

The 20 Red Hill tanks were built into a mountain ridge in 1943, and the 25-story-high containers can collectively hold a quarter-million gallons of fuel.

They also sit 100 feet above an aquifer that hundreds of thousands of Oahu residents rely upon for water.

Officials have blamed the fuel leak that has affected more than 9,000 Army, Navy and Air Force households on an “operator error” in November.

RELATED

Pentagon to shut down leaking fuel tank facility in Hawaii

The tanks at the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility had leaked into a drinking water well and contaminated water at Pearl Harbor homes and offices.

By Lolita C. Baldor, The Associated Press and Karen Jowers

Austin’s March 7 statement announcing the closure notes that the military is already moving toward more distributed refueling options, and that a centralized fuel hub like Red Hill “makes a lot less sense now” than it did 79 years ago.

“The distributed and dynamic nature of our force posture in the Indo-Pacific, the sophisticated threats we face, and the technology available to us demand an equally advanced and resilient fueling capability,” Austin said. “To a large degree, we already avail ourselves of dispersed fueling at sea and ashore, permanent and rotational. We will now expand and accelerate that strategic distribution.”

To be sure, there are plenty of Defense Logistics Agency fuel points and options for gassing up from Japan to Singapore and Australia, according to Bradley Martin, a retired Navy surface warfare officer and current director of the RAND Corporation’s National Security Supply Chain Institute.

But should a war break out, all those links in the refueling chain will be targeted, and Red Hill is a well-fortified and hard-to-replace position for storing massive amounts of fuel.

“It’s going to complicate how the joint force would deal with a contingency,” Martin said. “They’ll have to come up with some sort of alternative to keep the supply of fuel going in the event a war should start. That’s going to be difficult.”

Austin has given Navy and Defense Logistics Agency leadership until May 31 to come up with a plan for “safe and expeditious defueling” of Red Hill, to be completed in a year.

RELATED

Navy cites ‘operator error’ in fuel spill linked to families’ tainted water
The crisis has affected more than 9,000 Navy, Army and Air Force households at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam and the Army’s Aliamanu Military Reservation and Red Hill communities, which are on the Navy water system.

By Karen Jowers

While the Pentagon will likely assess putting more fuel afloat via continuously underway tankers to resupply the West Pacific, Martin said he thinks the options for another mass fuel storage site in Hawaii will be “fairly limited.”

“There are aboveground tanks, those will be helpful for storage on a day-to-day basis, but when we start worrying about things being attacked, that’s going to probably be something we’d rather not deal with,” he said. “It’s all going to make the war in the Western Pacific, should it occur, more complicated.”

Building another Red Hill-type facility in Hawaii is likely out of the question because of costs and environmental studies that could take a generation to resolve, said Martin, who called the shuttering of Red Hill “inevitable.”

“You can’t dump fuel into the drinking water of a major city and expect there not to be consequences,” he said. “Now that is has happened, they’re going to have to figure out a way to deal with it.”

The United States dodged a bullet when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, because they did not strike the aboveground fuel storage there, and that’s why building Red Hill underground was of such importance back then, according to Mark Cancian, a retired Marine Corps colonel and senior advisor with the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

“If the Japanese had gone after the fuel farm, it would have made operations in the Pacific much more difficult,” Cancian said.


RELATED

Military families ‘exhausted’ two months into water crisis in Hawaii
Residents of the affected communities are weighed down by the uncertainty of when they'll be able to return to their homes and how safe their homes will be, their long-term health concerns and just the daily grind.
By Karen Jowers

Cancian questioned the efficacy of having a bunch of afloat fuel tankers bobbing in the Pacific should war with China break out, but he added that there’s already “a broad recognition” that supply lines in general would be vulnerable in such a situation.

While the November fuel leak remains under investigation, Red Hill may also offer the Pentagon and Navy a tough lesson about the perils of putting off infrastructure maintenance.

“That type of maintenance is typically an easy thing to defer, because you don’t necessarily see the disaster until it happens,” Martin said. “A quick look at the Navy’s budget execution will tell you that base operating support, that type of stuff, has been underfunded and we’re seeing the consequences.”

The Sierra Club alleges that the Red Hill facility has suffered at least 73 leaks since it was built, though the Navy denies this, the Honolulu Civil Beat reported in December.

The Hawaii Department of Health recommended that the Navy implement groundwater monitoring wells and leak detection systems back in 2008, and 27,000 gallons of fuel escaped from one tank in 2014, Honolulu Civil Beat reported.

“If things aren’t correctly maintained, eventually they’re going to fail in a way that is unfortunate and is going to create a crisis,” Martin said. “And that’s sort of what happened here.”

RELATED

Toxic water consumes daily lives of many Hawaii military families, with no end in sight
Nothing can alleviate 'the complete mental load that we’re all bearing right now.'
By Karen Jowers

Defense officials are asking for a $1 billion fund for expenses related to the fuel-tainted water in Hawaii — from continuing needs of military families, to draining the fuel storage tanks and more cleanup as part of the Fiscal Year 2023 budget request released this week.

The new “Red Hill Recovery Fund” ask is in addition to the $1 billion that Congress has already provided to deal with the effects of the fuel leak DoD Comptroller Michael J. McCord, said during a Monday press briefing.

McCord said the $1 billion investment represents the commitment by Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin “to do the right thing by our military families and our neighbors in Hawaii.”

About Geoff Ziezulewicz
Geoff is a senior staff reporter for Military Times, focusing on the Navy. He covered Iraq and Afghanistan extensively and was most recently a reporter at the Chicago Tribune. He welcomes any and all kinds of tips at geoffz@militarytimes.com

APRIL FOOLS TOO

 

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 CAPITALI$M WITH CHINESE CHARACTERISTICS

China Shadow Banks Snap Up Property to Rescue Own Investments

Bloomberg News, Bloomberg News

Apartments at China Evergrande Group's Life in Venice real estate and tourism development in Qidong, Jiangsu province, China, on Tuesday, Sept. 21, 2021. Evergrande slid deeper in equity and credit markets Tuesday, fueling concerns about broader contagion after S&P Global Ratings said the developer is on the brink of default. Photographer: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg , Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- China’s shadow banks are emerging as unlikely white knights for embattled property firms by becoming mini-developers themselves.

Trust companies including MinMetals Trust Co. and Zhongrong Trust Co. have bought stakes in at least 10 real estate projects this year, betting that the unfinished homes will eventually yield cash to pay off some of the $280 billion in property-backed funds sold by trusts to investors.

The push by these lenders to get into the real estate business offers some relief for investors and developers in the wake of China’s property collapse that has rattled global markets and led to more than a dozen defaults. The moves free up cash to help real estate firms tackle some of their $3.4 trillion in liabilities.

The shadow banks are doing these deals now, knowing creditors may have limited room to negotiate payments or deals with developers like China Evergrande Group once restructuring plans are announced, according to one trust executive.

“Taking up property projects during an enduring downturn is more about saving themselves,” said Zhu Yiming, a property analyst at China Real Estate Information Corp., referring to the trusts. Rather than await credit improvement, “it’s better for trusts to regain the initiative through getting a controlling stake.”

China Evergrande, the country’s most-indebted developer that’s at the center of the property crisis, is among firms unloading housing projects. The Shenzhen-based company sold stakes in at least seven housing developments to three trust firms. Pricing details weren’t disclosed, though Evergrande said it recovered its initial capital contribution of 2 billion yuan ($300 million) and settled trust liabilities of 7 billion yuan with the sales.

State-owned AVIC Trust, the second-largest trust lender to Evergrande as of June 2020, took control of two residential projects from Evergrande in March. They include Sunny Peninsula, a stalled seaside development in Guangzhou slated to house 5,000 families. Logan Group Co., which was cut deeper into junk this month, and Zhenro Properties Group Ltd. are among other developers selling projects to trusts.

Evergrande said in an investor call last week that transferring some investments and deferring housing operations has become a “new model” of cooperation with trust companies. MinMetals Trust said adding development stakes is the “optimal option” of dissolving Evergrande debt risk, while helping get the projects back on track.

Here are some recent deals:

Local governments are pushing creditors, including trusts, to help distressed developers like Evergrande offload stakes in projects and find strategic investors to raise cash, according to people familiar with the matter. The most pressing concern for authorities is to ensure housing construction, and many trusts are considering taking additional stakes in Evergrande projects, said the people, who declined to be identified discussing private matters.

The trust industry has plenty at stake in the ongoing property woes. The shadow banks have more than $3 trillion outstanding in high-yield products sold to wealthy individuals, including about $280 billion backed by developers like Evergrande. Evergrande defaulted in December, and is headed for one of the largest debt restructurings ever in China. Its bonds due in 2025 trade at about 13 cents on the dollar.

China’s crackdown on borrowing combined with a slowdown in the housing market contributed to a surge in missed payments on these investment vehicles. Defaults on property-linked funds jumped to 92 billion yuan last year, accounting for more than 60% of the total, according to research provider Use Trust. That sparked protests in several cities as buyers demanded repayment on what were supposed to be safe, short-term investments. 

Though the developers are ultimately on the hook for these products, trusts are trying to make investors whole since they pitched the securities to investors in many cases.

“In theory, it’s individual buyers of trust products who should bear the loss of missed repayments,” said Lan Wang, an analyst at Moody’s Investors Service. “But in reality, sometimes trust firms still need to compensate investors, especially if their sales behavior was inappropriate.”

Pressure is mounting. About 352 billion yuan of property-related trust products mature by September, according to Moody’s. Growing concerns over developers may limit the trusts’ ability to refinance these products.

“The moves by trust firms to take over property projects may help dissolve risks on real estate lending,” said Shuai Guorang, a researcher at Use Trust. “But they also bear risks, given the property market hasn’t bottomed out.”

©2022 Bloomberg L.P.

US watchdog proposes new disclosure requirements for SPACs

The move is part of a broader crackdown on SPACs after a frenzy of deals in 2020 and early 2021 sparked concerns that some investors are getting a raw deal.

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission has stepped up oversight of SPACs amid worries of inadequate disclosures and lofty revenue projections 

[File: Al Drago/Bloomberg]

Published On 30 Mar 2022

Wall Street’s watchdog on Wednesday unveiled a draft new rule to enhance blank-cheque company investor disclosures and to strip them of a legal protection critics argue has allowed the shell companies to issue overly optimistic earnings projections.

The move by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is part of a broader crackdown on special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) after a frenzy of deals in 2020 and early 2021 sparked concerns that some investors are getting a raw deal.

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Wall Street’s biggest gold rush of recent years, SPACs are shell companies that raise funds through a listing to acquire a private company and take it public, allowing the target to sidestep the stiffer regulatory scrutiny of a traditional initial public offering (IPO).

The SEC proposal, which is subject to consultation, broadly aims to close that loophole by offering SPAC investors protections similar to those they would receive during the IPO process, the SEC said.

“Today’s proposal, if adopted, would represent a sea change to the rules applicable to SPACs,” John Ablan, a partner at law firm Mayer Brown who advises companies on deals including IPOs, wrote in an email. “The SEC is clearly focused on creating incentives … to undertake the same amount of due diligence that would be done in a traditional IPO.”

The rule would require SPACs to disclose more details about their sponsors, their compensation, conflicts of interest and share dilution.

It would also enhance disclosures about the target takeover, known as the “de-SPAC,” more information, including the sponsor’s view on whether the deal is fair to investors and whether the proposed transaction has been vetted by third parties. Such disclosures would have to be issued at least 20 days prior to any solicited votes on the acquisition.

“Companies raising money from the public should provide full and fair disclosure at the time investors are making their crucial decisions to invest,” SEC Chair Gary Gensler said.

The rule would also strip SPACs of a liability-safe harbour for forward-looking statements, such as earnings projections.

The SEC has stepped up oversight of SPACs amid worries of inadequate disclosures and lofty revenue projections. Reuters news reported last year that the SEC was considering new guidance to rein in SPACs’ growth projections.

SPAC sponsors say the projections are important for investors, especially when targets are unprofitable startups, but investor advocates say they are frequently wildly optimistic or misleading but have been shielded by the legal safe harbour.

Improving disclosures “might not necessarily spell the death of SPACs, but I hope that better disclosures push them to evolve into less costly and more sensible forms,” said Michael Ohlrogge, a New York University law professor who has criticised SPACs for not being upfront with investors about their full costs.

If SPACs do not meet certain conditions they may have to register as investment companies, subjecting them to a slew of other rules, the SEC said.

Those conditions include: maintaining assets in certain forms, entering into a deal with a target within 18 months of the SPAC IPO, closing the transaction within 24 months and ensuring that the newly merged company engages primarily in the same business as the target.

Gatekeepers who facilitate the deals, such as auditors, lawyers and underwriters, should also be held responsible for their work before and after the SPAC listing, Gensler added.

The US SPAC market experienced a wild ride in 2021, with an explosion in deals during the first half of the year that quickly cooled off in the second half. All told, 604 SPACs raised $144bn in 2021, according to data from Renaissance Capital.

SOURCE: REUTERS

Kellogg’s workers win big raises, better benefits after striking

From Amazon to Starbucks, United States companies are seeing a revival in the power of worker unions and collective bargaining.

Workers at the Kellogg Company plant that makes Cheez-Its will receive 6 percent raises in the first year of their new contract, 5 percent raises the following year and 4.5 percent raises and a $500 bonus in the third year [File: Josh Funk/AP ]

Published On 30 Mar 2022

Several hundred workers at a Kellogg’s plant that makes Cheez-Its won a new contract that delivers more than 15 percent wage increases over three years after 1,400 workers at the company’s cereal plants went on strike for nearly three months in late 2021.

The wage and benefits improvements that 570 workers at the Kellogg’s plant secured this week are the largest that have been seen by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU), it said Wednesday.

United States companies are struggling to fill the more than 11 million job openings across the country that represent nearly two openings for everyone unemployed, and workers are demanding more after keeping plants operating throughout the coronavirus pandemic.

Job openings hovered at a near-record high for the second consecutive month in February, the US Department of Labor reported this week.

“This contract is further evidence of the power of a union voice and collective bargaining,” said RWDSU President Stuart Appelbaum.

Kellogg’s, which is based in Battle Creek, Michigan in the US, didn’t immediately comment Wednesday on the contract it offered its workers in Kansas City, Kansas.

Besides the strike at Kellogg’s plants in Nebraska, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Tennessee last fall, workers also walked out last year at a Frito-Lay plant in Topeka, Kansas, and at five Nabisco plants nationwide. And meatpacking workers have been winning significant raises when their contracts come up at plants across the country.

Unions in other industries, including one that represents more than 10,000 John Deere workers, also went on strike last year. The John Deere workers received 10 percent raises and improved benefits after going on strike for a month.

Workers have also voted to unionise at more than a half dozen Starbucks stores across the country and unions are trying to organise at roughly 140 other stores nationwide. And Amazon is trying to stave off unions at two of its warehouses in New York and Alabama, where ballots are in the process of being counted now.

Experts say the ongoing labour shortages have given unions more leverage than they have had in decades during contract talks.

A spokeswoman for the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union that represents the Kellogg’s cereal plant workers said that strike and the others across the industry in the past year have helped it secure significant gains for workers at other companies.

The Cheez-Its workers will receive 6 percent raises in the first year of their new contract, 5 percent raises the following year and 4.5 percent raises and a $500 bonus in the third year. The workers will also see improved health and pension benefits with no increase in their health insurance premiums. And new hires will move up to higher pay rates more quickly

“These wage increases will help us better provide for our families and improve the quality of our lives,” said Larry Smith, who leads the local union at the Kellogg’s plant.

SOURCE: AP

Canada unveils multibillion-dollar plan to cut carbon emissions

Environmentalists welcome emissions reduction plan, but say it will be vital to ‘hold politicians’ feet to the fire’.

Last year, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government set a new target of slashing carbon emissions by 40 to 45 percent below 2005 levels by 2030 [File: Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo]

Published On 29 Mar 2022

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has unveiled a $7.3bn (9.1 billion Canadian dollars) plan to help the country meet its carbon emissions target, including significant reductions in the oil-and-gas sector.

Speaking in Vancouver on Tuesday, Trudeau linked Europe’s effort to move away from Russian oil and natural gas after the country’s invasion of Ukraine to a broader, global push towards renewable energy.

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“The leaders I spoke with in Europe over the past few weeks were clear: They don’t just want to end their dependence on Russian oil and gas, they want to accelerate the energy transformation to clean and green power,” Trudeau told reporters.

“The whole world is focusing on clean energy,” he said, “and Canada cannot afford not to do that.”

The plan announced on Tuesday includes a $2.3bn (2.9 billion Canadian dollars) investment in zero-emission vehicles and related infrastructure, as well as $800m (one billion Canadian dollars) to “green” Canadian homes and buildings.

The government also says it will work closely with provinces and territories to develop an approach to cap oil-and-gas sector emissions to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 and reduce oil-and-gas methane emissions by at least 75 percent by 2030.

Trudeau has been hailed as a climate leader internationally, pledging to cut Canada’s emissions and invest in cleaner energy. But his Liberal government has been slammed for backing the expansion of oil pipelines and other energy projects that critics have said would worsen the climate crisis.

Last year, the Liberals set a new target of slashing carbon emissions by 40 to 45 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. But an independent parliamentary watchdog concluded that Ottawa had not done enough to reach that goal, after poring over decades of government climate actions that yielded an increase in emissions.

Environment Commissioner Jerry DeMarco said in November that Canada was ranked the “worst performer” among the G7 industrialised nations in cutting emissions.

While Canada represents about 1.6 percent of global CO2 emissions, it is among the top 10 largest emitters globally and one of the highest emitters per capita.

Trudeau’s new emissions reduction plan comes just days after his government last week announced it would raise oil and gas exports this year by up to 300,000 barrels per day – an increase of about 5 percent.

The move, Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said last Thursday, aimed to help Canada’s allies respond to “an energy security crisis” caused by Russia’s continuing invasion of Ukraine.

Canada, home to the tar sands of northern Alberta, is the fourth-largest oil producer in the world after Russia, Saudi Arabia and the US, and for weeks, pro-oil Canadian politicians have called for the expansion of fossil fuel projects in response to the Ukraine crisis.

On Tuesday, environmentalists welcomed Ottawa’s plan, but said they would be watching its implementation closely.

“The government’s new plan marks the first time that the oil and gas sector is being asked to significantly reduce emissions, even if it still isn’t enough and is more focused on public funding of risky techno-fixes than the proven solution of transitioning to clean energy,” Keith Stewart, senior energy strategist at Greenpeace Canada, said in a statement.

“Given three decades of successful oil industry lobbying against implementation of past climate plans, it is vital that people hold all politicians’ feet to the fire to make sure they force industry to do its fair share. We need real action this time.”

Canada’s West Coast Environmental Law Association also said the plan does not show “a complete path” to the reductions promised, but was a good step that provides more accountability to ensure the government meets its commitments.

“Canada has failed to meet every single climate target it has set for itself,” Anna Johnston, a staff lawyer with the group, said in a statement. “Hopefully, we stay on track, and even increase our ambition to the 60 percent reduction needed for us to do our global fair share.”




SOURCE: AFP, AL JAZEERA

LME Is ‘Open for Business’ Amid Calls to Sanction Russian Metal

 James Attwood and Yvonne Yue Li, Bloomberg News

Traders on the trading floor of the open outcry pit at the London Metal Exchange Ltd. (LME) in London, U.K., on Monday, Sept. 6, 2021. After 18 months away, brokers returned Monday to the red leather couches of the London Metal Exchange’s floor, where they set benchmark prices of metals such as copper and aluminum by screaming orders at one another. Photographer: Jason Alden/Bloomberg , Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- The London Metal Exchange has no plans to ban Russian metal from its platforms on the grounds that governments are responsible for setting any sanctions, according to a senior exchange official.

The LME is “open for business,” Adrian Farnham, chief executive officer of the LME’s clearing house, who has been tapped to head the exchange on an interim basis, told the CRU World Copper Conference in Santiago. “Our view is that it’s up to governments to set sanctions. We don’t think it’s our role to go ahead.”

Still, the bourse is listening to some in the industry who support sanctions amid an ongoing debate, he said.

Commodities from wheat to oil to nickel and aluminum have been caught up in market turmoil in the wake of Russia’s attack on Ukraine. Aluminum and nickel haven’t been targeted by sanctions, but if the LME were to take action, such a ban could have a seismic impact in markets for those metals.

The exchange’s copper committee, which only plays an advisory role at the LME, recommended banning new supplies of Russian metal from the bourse, according to people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg News reported in mid-March. 

The exchange said at the time it doesn’t plan to take any action that goes beyond the scope of the Russian sanctions.

Nickel Tumult

The LME is working to shore up confidence in the bourse amid tumult in nickel. The exchange halted nickel trading and canceled nearly $4 billion in transactions earlier this month after prices spiked by 250% in two days, as it sought to protect its brokers from huge margin calls owed by Tsingshan Holding Group and other short position holders.

After a haphazard effort to restart trading, nickel has spent much of the past fortnight locked at the upper or lower limit of a new daily price cap designed to rein in the unprecedented volatility.

Nickel trading on the LME is “back functioning again” in the wake of the historic short squeeze, Farnham said, acknowledging that it’s taking time for people to regain confidence.  

LME remains open to further measures after introducing price bands and over-the-counter reporting, he added. 

SYRIA  GRAVE ROBBERS

Searching for antiques | “National Army” factions continue excavating two archaeological sites in Afrin

On Mar 31, 2022

Aleppo province: SOHR activists have reported that factions of the “National Army” continue excavating and searching for antiques in Beir Al-Athary hill, which is located southern to Shirkan village in Al-Ma’batly district, where the hill was subjected to sabotage by heavy machineries affecting most of the hill’s low side and its surroundings in search for buried treasures.

Moreover, the archaeological Juwaik hill was subjected to excavations by heavy machineries destroying its archaeological layers, in addition to the uprooting of dozens of nearby fruitful olive trees, where the excavations affected nearly (7000) square meters on the Acropolis and the extension to the vicinity of the high hill.

On March 20, SOHR activists reported that Turkish-backed factions continued excavating and bulldozing Tarnada hill for four years, since they controlled Afrin.
The archaeological hill is located near Afrin river south eastern of Afrin, and is registered under the Syrian Antiquities Directorate.
It is worth noting that the hill was subjected to systematic bulldozing by bulldozers and heavy machines, before the eyes of Turkish forces deployed near the hill.
Moreover, the bulldozing operations affected the base of the hill and caused destruction of archaeological layers, in search for treasures and buried archaeological findings.
This came as a part of the series of violations by Turkish-backed factions in “Olive Branch” area in Afrin.