War Is Peace-keeping

To misquote Orwell.

When is WAR not WAR?

When it is part of a convoluted argument by Progressives For War, (PFW) in order to justify their mistaken allegiance to the Canadian State and its military actions. In this case in both Afghanistan and Haiti. These are NOT WAR's according to the PFW.

This is the argument posed by Skippy the Amazing Wonderdog, and cross posted at the Torch . Skippy sez, and pardon me while I quote him extensively in order to address his argument;

This is not really the case in Afghanistan. The enemy Canadian soldiers face -- or do not face, in fact -- is not organized in any military sense, does not occupy terrain, and cannot be defeated through firepower alone. Calling this a "war" is an attempt to manipulate perception by emphasizing combat operations.

The Taliban certainly are an organized military as they were also the Government and State of Afghanistan and as such can be considered the Government in exile. There are also Warlords, gee that title might hint at their involvement with 'war', who rule a variety of provinces. There is Al-Qaida which was an army in Afghanistan, and of course there are various armed tribal groups spread through out the Tribal districts between the Afghanistan and Pakistan border. All of these are organized Mujahadin armies. Even if they use Guerrilla tactics.

Does it matter what we call it? Yes, it matters a great deal, at least as far as public opinion is concerned. Canadians seem happy to support "peacekeeping," but they aren't so keen on seeing Canadian troops deployed in a "combat role." But what does that really mean?

Peacekeeping which is currently being trashed by the Right and the PFW,is also being dismissed as an outmoded idea by the Conservative government and its spokespersons. Peacekeeping by definition is:

• Deploy to prevent the outbreak of conflict or the spill-over of conflict across borders;
• Stabilize conflict situations after a cease fire, to create an environment for the parties to reach a lasting peace agreement;
• Assist in implementing comprehensive peace agreements;
• Lead states or territories through a transition to stable government, based on democratic principles, good governance and economic development.

What we are not doing in Kandahar is peacekeeping. We are in combat to pacify the province of Kandahar and its surrounding region in order to create the conditions for peacekeeping.

There was plenty of support for a "combat role" in the Balkans, where one side of the civil war had been demonized.

True, especially when the war against Serbia was declared the first Humanitarian War by Clinton. However there were many of us opposed to that war, including some who now support the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Jingoism and nationalism in this case was replaced with bleeding heart liberalism, the poor suffering Albanians in Kosovo vs. the nasty demonic Serbs. However as that war was conducted and Serb civilians were targeted, the humanitarian gave way to the usual conduct of war. And suddenly it was clear that this was an Imperialist War as all wars are.

Nobody seemed to notice at first that our operation in Somalia was not "peacekeeping," and Canadians initially supported that ill-fated deployment. There would have been little objection to sending troops into Rwanda to stop the genocide by force.

In fact Somalia was a peace keeping mission from the beginning . The failure which led to scandal and national shame, a national inquiry found that the mission was ill conceived from the begining, was that Canadian military leadership failed to define it as a Peacekeeping mission rather than a combat mission. Canadians were led to believe that Somalia was a peacekeeping mission, but with the American involvement it quickly degenerated into another oil war, with the consequences of being a failure for the UN and a disaster for Canadian Forces.

Rwanda on the other had was the result of Imperialist disdain and interference. In this case the interference of France and Belgium, the former colonial masters in that region of Africa, it was their refusal to allow the UN in, and their support of the Hutu subaltern leadership that led to the disaster. The failure of American Imperialism in Somalia, their first defeat in battle since Viet Nam, led them to abandon Rwanda.

There would be, on the other hand, a strong objection to deploying Canadian troops in a "combat role" to overthrow a government -- in other words, to "war" as we usually understand it

Really then what was the coup that Canada supported militarily in Haiti two years ago? Canada led the joint American, French, UN troops in a combat operation to overthrow a duly elected government? And we are still there. Despite the most recent election. These are combat operations, war by any other name.

And in Haiti's case we led those operations, because of Quebec's close relationship with Haiti. In fact as I have written here, it is because both Canada and Quebec view Haiti as our 'neo-colony'. See Gildan Sweat Shop Success Story


So let's ask an expert on War, Carl Phillip Gottfriedvon Clausewitz as to his definition of it;

War therefore is an act of violence to compel our opponent to fulfil our will.

Violence arms itself with the inventions of Art and Science in order to contend against violence. Self-imposed restrictions, almost imperceptible and hardly worth mentioning, termed usages of International Law, accompany it without essentially impairing its power. Violence, that is to say physical force (for there is no moral force without the conception of states and law), is therefore the means; the compulsory submission of the enemy to our will is the ultimate object. In order to attain this object fully, the enemy must be disarmed; and this is, correctly speaking, the real aim of hostilities in theory. It takes the place of the final object, and puts it aside in a manner as something not properly belonging to war.

So yes folks this is a war we are in. And yes we should be opposed to this war.

Those PFW who say this is not war are merely deluding themselves, or like Skippy the Wonderdog barking at the moon.



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Stephen Chretien

Stageleft makes some interesting observations on Chantel Herberts latest column in the Toronto Star comparing, gasp, Stephen Harper to Jean Chretien. Similarities: Harper and Chretien

I personally think a picture tells the story. It's all about the finger.

For two years, Martin navigated with his finger stuck on the pulse of public opinion.

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Price Fixing Booze

This is happening in Alberta home of Free Enterprize.

Drink prices rising?
Alberta is eyeing a minimum price for booze in bars and restaurants in a bid to stop customers from pounding back drinks and pounding on each other.The province is considering the floor price following concerns raised by bar owners, police and municipalities, Gaming Minister Gordon Graydon said Monday."Once upon a time, long ago, Alberta did have minimum drink prices. It would be going back to that policy," he said. He said the issue will be explored at a round-table discussion in Calgary later this month.

So much for the "Free market" in booze. Once upon a time we also had unionized liquor stores run by the province.

It is of course alright to privatize the liquor stores , despite the loss of monies it created, but now the business folks want the State to regulate per shot prices.

Once again proving that the capitalist state exists to do what business wants, not what the supposedly sacred "market " wants. Guaranteed prices means a guaranteed profit, and lessens competition between bars and lounges. Hey isn't that price fixing by any other name? Why of course it is.

Next time you hear the refrain about the need for government to get out of business or how the free market creates competition, remember this. Business hates a free market, it wants an assured market, it wants the state to guarantee its business. Protectionism is ok to these guys until they become a monopoly and then they want markets to open up to them.

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The King is Dead Long Live the King

King Ralph has announced, finally, that he is retiring October 2007, as he said he would during the last election.

This allows him to stop being made a fool of on April 1 when the Party of Calgary (PC's) gathers for its annual meeting and leadership review.

The knives are out and ever the populist Klein thwarted the embarassment of not having the parties support, which he demanded earlier this year when he challenged them to support him or else.

Alberta is now being governed by the Retirement Party, after Premier Ralph Klein confirmed he plans to step down as head of the Conservative dynasty -- but not for 19 long and aimless months.

And while his announcement not means that the leadership race which has been occuring in the back rooms will not become official till November of 2007, the infighting and backstabbing will make the Chretien and Martin struggles in the Liberals look like a fight in a sandbox.

Jim Dinning, who some consider the front-runner among six leadership hopefuls, said "there's still some confusion" about when the official leadership race will begin."If the date is October 2007, does the race start now or does the race start then?" Dinning said in an interview.

As I have noted before this is a struggle between the Calgary Capitalist Class which are classic liberals and the right wing social conservative rump in the party.

Ah there is no joy in mudville with this announcement, it merely delays the inevitable. The King is in his counting house, mad as a hatter. He is following his own agenda despite his party, his caucus or his MLA's. He is saving his own ass at the expense of his party.

More articles on King Ralph.

Tories risk taking same trip over a cliff as Socreds

That means the Conservatives won't have a new leader in place until February 2008 -- which gives the party little time to rebuild before the next provincial election is held, likely the same year.

Disaffected Tories are afraid Klein is giving himself too much time to say goodbye and the new leader too little time to say hello.

For them, 19 months is more than enough time for Klein's distracted, at times grumpy, leadership style to drive more supporters away from the party, and to drive the party over the same cliff that claimed the Alberta Social Credit Party and the federal Progressive Conservative Party under Brian Mulroney.

The grumblers are a paranoid lot and they're overstating their worst-case scenario. But they'll be voting at the party's convention and the only way they'd give Klein a ringing endorsement to stay is if he announces he's leaving -- soon.

Klein might still win the leadership vote by a comfortable margin, but then what?

How can he govern for the next 19 months?

He is such a lame duck he'll need crutches to get around for the next year.

Klein to step down next year
Globe and Mail - 4 hours ago
EDMONTON -- Ralph Klein, the country's most colourful and longest-serving Premier, ended years of speculation yesterday by finally announcing his official retirement date: October of 2007.
Klein says he'll quit in October 2007 Toronto Star
Klein locks in retirement date CBC.ca
Canada.com - CTV.ca - Calgary Sun - Edmonton Journal (subscription) - all 47 related »

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Democracy is Ok Abroad

King Stephen the Harpocrite assured the puppet regime in Afghanistan that Canada is behind our Military Mission there, for now. Because he will NOT allow any debate on the issue. Of course when it comes to extending the deployment next year well that's another story.


So while the cheerleaders on the right and the PFW (Progressives for War) applaud our troops fighting for democracy in Afghanistan, at home it is being denied to us.

New Democratic Party Leader Jack Layton said it would not look good for Canada's Prime Minister to deny MPs a vote on a military mission aimed at encouraging democracy. "We think it would be ironic that we're defending democracy in another country but not permitting a fundamental democratic process in our own," he said.

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