It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Friday, December 09, 2022
2022 World Cup: Croatia Eliminates Brazil
Brazil was knocked out of the 2022 World Cup after losing to Croatia on Friday.
Brazil’s team of superstars have been left ruing what might have been, forced to flex every sinew of stoicism after a heartbreaking World Cup quarter-final loss on penalties to Croatia which left them sobbing on the turf.
Minutes from the semi-finals after Neymar had smashed the ball into the roof of the net at the end of a sublime move in extra-time, they allowed Croatia substitute Bruno Petkovic to fire home to level.
With Croatian keeper Dominik Livakovic rightly named man of the match for a gargantuan performance on Friday, penalties were the last thing five-times champions Brazil wanted.
And so it proved as Livakovic saved the first penalty from Rodrygo before Marquinhos slammed a post to seal the favourites’ fate.
“It’s difficult. You have to lift your head,” Brazil captain Thiago Silva said.
“I’m very proud of the boys and what we’ve done, but unfortunately, it’s part of football.
When we lose something important that we had as a goal, it hurts a lot.
“But now it’s time to try to lift my head and carry on. There’s no other alternative. I’m a guy that every time I fall, I get up.”
Midfielder Casemiro, who scored for the five-times champions in the shootout, said: “We are sad, we are sure that everyone in the group gave their best.
“We were upset by the way it happened. It was in our hands, and it slipped away,” he added, before reflecting philosophically: “Now it’s time to keep calm and life must go on.”
With two Brazil penalty misses, Neymar never got to take a spot kick, but coach Tite defended the decision to put Neymar fifth.
“The fifth is the decisive one,” he told reporters. “There is more pressure, and the players who are better prepared should take this one.”
Tite, who had previously said he was stepping down at the end of this tournament, railed at suggestions the Brazilians had been disorganised, telling one reporter: “Disorganised? It is because of you, not because of me.
“I do not agree we were disorganised. We put high pressure at the front and tried to retain the game with Pedro.
“I respect the result. These things happen sometimes in football,” he added, before defending his decision to return to the changing room and not stay on the pitch with his distraught players as they cried in the arena.
“When we also won different matches I did not stay on the field of play. Have you seen me celebrating in other instances?
“That’s not my style. The players know how proud I am of their performance.
“Time will tell what my legacy is.”
‘Thank you for making me feel less alone’: Journalist Rana Ayyub after winning press freedom award
‘I can’t tell you how isolating it is, to be living in my own country like a criminal,’ Ayyub said on receiving the John Aubuchon Press Freedom Award.
Sam Bankman-Fried has given mixed signals on his intentions to testify at a December 13 US Senate hearing into the collapse of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange.
Bakman-Fried (aka SBF) initially snubbed the request from the Senate Banking Committee by failing to respond by the December 8 deadline for the hearing.
But taking to Twitter today, SBF had a slight change of tone.
“I still do not have access to much of my data -- professional or personal, so there is a limit to what I will be able to say, and I won't be as helpful as I'd like. But as the committee still thinks it would be useful, I am willing to testify on the 13th,” said SBF.
He continued: “I will try to be helpful during the hearing, and to shed what light I can on FTX US's solvency and American customers, pathways that could return value to users internationally, what I think led to the crash, My own failings.”
SBF’s Tweets ended with his patented form of self-flagellation, stating: “I had thought of myself as a model CEO, who wouldn't become lazy or disconnected. Which made it that much more destructive when I did.”
His change of heart may have been in response to comments made by chairwoman Maxine Waters of the House Committee on Financial Services, who Tweeted that “a subpoena is definitely on the table”.
Although US prosecutors have launched an investigation into market manipulation at FTX, no arrest warrant has been issued at this point, so he probably will not be met with handcuffs on touching US soil.
The Crypto Scandal Is Missing a Secret Ingredient
The crypto industry contributed to both parties and got what it wanted. With no partisan benefit, will anyone in Congress complain?
Former CEO of FTX Sam Bankman-Fried testifies during a hearing before the House Financial Services Committee Dec. 8, 2021. Bankman-Fried said he’d sent about the same amount of money to Republicans as Democrats. | Alex Wong/Getty Images
To most people, the implosion of the cryptocurrency marketplace FTX seems like an emblematic 21st century imbroglio, replete with indecipherable technological and financial jargon. But to Washington good-government advocates watching the political fallout this month, it also points to something that feels distinctly retro: A bipartisan Beltway scandal.
Writ large, the Washington aspect involves the speed with which the crypto industry managed to insinuate itself at the nexus of money and power across the political spectrum just as the government was grappling with how to regulate this confounding new industry.
Writ small, it involves a March letter from eight members of Congress to Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler sharply criticizing the organization’s ongoing investigation of blockchain and cryptocurrency firms. The legislators, most of whom had gotten significant contributions from crypto players, essentially called on the feds to back off.
“Federal agencies must be good stewards of the public’s time, and not overwhelm them with unnecessary or duplicative requests for information,” the letter scolded, warning against bureaucratic buttinskis who might “stifle innovation.” The letter, written when the likes of Sam Bankman-Fried were riding high, somehow didn’t suggest that watching out for fraud or protecting the broader financial system might also be worthwhile endeavors.
Listen to POLITICO Tech’s multi-part podcast series on cybercrime below, and find the whole series here.
It’s a neat bit of populist labeling. What’s notable about the Blockchain Eight, though, is that four of them are Democrats and four are Republicans. Like the Keating Five at the center of the infamous 1989 savings and loan scandal, the group is bipartisan: The letter’s signatories included Republicans Tom Emmer, Warren Davidson, Byron Donalds and Ted Budd, as well as Democrats Darren Soto, Jake Auchincloss, Josh Gottheimer and Ritchie Torres.
“It’s cross ideological,” says Aaron Scherb, who keeps an eye on Congress for Common Cause, the good-government watchdog group. “All sorts of crypto players throw their money around, to progressive causes, conservative causes.”
“There’s a big bipartisan element there, which certainly can’t be said” of most other recent legislative furors, says Robert Maguire, the research director for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which filed a campaign-finance complaint against Bankman-Fried yesterday.
To be clear, no one is accusing the eight of breaking the law. Rather, they’re under fire for advocating dubious government actions that benefit a deep-pocketed industry whose public reputation has just gone sideways. It’s about grossness, not criminality. (They’ve denied that they were trying to get the feds to back off.)
“The whole FTX fiasco is nothing but the latest example of how a particular firm, but really an industry, uses all the levers of the influence industry to basically hijack the agenda and put its narrow self-interest on the top and subordinating the public interest at the same time,” says Dennis Kelleher of the advocacy organization Better Markets.
In the grand scheme of things, one measly letter is not the biggest deal. But, Kelleher says, the bipartisan nature of the Blockchain Eight — and crypto’s legislative fans more generally — is actually a big deal. “The point of those letters, and by the way, the unreported phone calls that almost always accompany such letters, is not to get a particular response. It’s to bully regulators in the hope that they will back off, because of the political pressure and the political scrutiny, particularly when it’s bipartisan.”
Whatever effect the authorship of that March letter did or didn’t have on the SEC, the bipartisan cast of crypto’s legislative support has likely had a major impact on another Beltway institution: Washington’s scandal-industrial complex.
An optimist might think that at this time of constant political warfare, a good, old-fashioned both-sides-do-it scandal is just what an exhausted country needs — a chance to sing kumbaya and remind ourselves that, however much we may disagree about issues, avarice is an enemy we can all fight together.
But the political maneuvering over crypto during the past few weeks suggests that the modern capital’s polarized political-media ecosystem can’t do much with a potential scandal if there’s no partisan advantage to drive it.
Partisanship, it turns out, is the secret ingredient that turns a mere outrage into the sort of scandal that has a name and a cast of characters and a chance to drive Capitol Hill news cycles, wreck careers, or mint media stars. A Democratic administration’s disastrous gun-tracing program. A Republican president’s attempt to create foreign trouble for a domestic rival. A disproportionately GOP group of senators accused of trading on advance Covid information. The degrees of outrageousness vary. But it takes nothing away from them to note that all were hyped up by people with an obvious partisan interest in throwing tomatoes at the other side.
By contrast, what are the incentives for current pols to hyperventilate for the cameras about the letter to Gensler? Hakeem Jeffries could take to the floor to demand grave consequences for these perpetrators of financial-industry impunity. But he’d be hitting four prominent figures in his own caucus. A back-bench Republican could make a name for herself by calling for resignation or censure or some other unlikely, over-the-top punishment. But she’d be calling out her own party’s incoming majority whip, Emmer, and sliming a member who’s since been elected as a GOP Senator, Budd.
Instead of knifing colleagues as a way of riding the crypto meltdown to political fame, ambitious members seem to be giving FTX-adjacent colleagues cover. As POLITICO’s Lisa Kashinsky reported in Massachusetts Playbook this week, Assistant House Speaker Katherine Clark told “Meet the Press” that she won’t be demanding that fellow Democrats return contributions from Bankman-Fried, providing cover to her fellow Massachusetts legislator Auchincloss, a recipient of $5,800 from the FTX leader and thousands more from other figures at the company.
(In an MSNBC interview, Auchincloss denied that the signatories were asking the SEC to back off.)
In a political system that is more ideologically sorted than ever, even the subject of a scandal or pseudo-scandals hints at its partisan impact. Of course a scandal over solar-panel subsidies — like Solyndra, which briefly occupied GOP attention during the Obama years — is going to hit Democrats. Likewise, of course a scandal over an energy-trading concern, like Enron in the Bush years, is going to be used against Republicans. But in the case of crypto, the money arrived before the partisan valence did, leaving Washington flummoxed.
Which is why the political system is spending a great deal of energy trying to fix a partisan overlay atop the industry, or at least atop its most high-profile disaster. As it happens, there is a pretty obvious target: Bankman-Fried has been an enormous funder of Democrats and left-leaning causes. In the year and a half before FTX blew up, he donated almost $40 million to campaigns and PACs, nearly all of it in support of Democrats. He had pledged to drop $1 billion ahead of the 2024 election. Sure enough, some pols quickly returned the donations, including former Rep. Beto O’Rourke, whose unsuccessful Texas gubernatorial campaign got $1 million. But many more did not.
And it doesn’t take much digging to see that FTX money landed in a lot of Republican coffers, too. Bankman-Fried’s partner Ryan Salame’s $23 million went largely to conservative causes. In an interview with a crypto reporter last month, Bankman-Fried said he’d sent about the same amount of money to Republicans as Democrats, but had funneled it as dark money because, as the Guardian reported, “reporters freak the fuck out if you donate to Republicans. They’re all super liberal, and I didn’t want to have that fight.”
Bankman-Fried’s outsize persona — combined with our cultural fascination with alleged fraudsters — has still made FTX a huge story, one that has included plenty of strong reporting about the crypto kingpin’s courtship of Washington. But without the organized chorus of voices calling for heads to roll, it’s harder to make sense of the outrage and what it should lead to. Even the $3 million Capitol Hill townhouse a Bankman-Fried nonprofit had purchased to throw lavish parties for Washington players, according to a sweeping Insider story, had a Democratic night and a Republican night.
Ultimately, the incoherence has real implications for regular people. After all, crypto’s wooing of Washington involved a tangible question before Congress: Which part of the government should keep tabs on the industry? Should it be the larger, more aggressive SEC? Or the smaller Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which skeptics think could be more easily captured by industry (and several of whose veterans have gone to work for crypto)? Bankman-Fried and other crypto bigshots very much wanted the latter.
Absolutely nothing that’s happened suggests that goal has been derailed. A Bankman-Fried backed bill to codify the CFTC’s role, consponsored by Democratic Senators Debbie Stabenow and Republican colleague John Boozman, remains before the Senate. At a hearing last week that examined the FTX bankruptcy, Stabenow pushed back against the notion that the bill would cut the SEC out of the picture. But the scandal had not scuttled the effort. Nor has it wiped out another bill, from Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand and Republican Cynthia Lummis, would also give CFTC more sway and is also viewed skeptically by crypto critics.
It’s tough to imagine that happening if one party — it almost doesn’t matter which one — had decided to weaponize FTX for political advantage.
“There’s definitely been a disappointing response in terms of, like, you’re still seeing Gillibrand trying to push her bill,” says the Revolving Door Project’s Jeff Hauser, whose organization has tracked the flow of public servants into the industry. “No one’s showing any shame.”
Ironically, thanks to the ongoing evolution of the two parties, there is a scenario where elements of both could join together to do just that. Among Democrats, notables like Elizabeth Warren have predicted economic doom as a result of crypto. My colleague Zachary Warmbrodt reported back in March about tensions between her group of mostly older, left-leaning Democratic crypto skeptics and younger Democratic colleagues like the letter signatories. And emerging elements of the GOP have also turned against the casino-ification of the economy. At the hearing last week, Kansas Senator Roger Marshall, a conservative who voted against certifying the 2020 election, came out swinging against crypto.
When I asked him about the issue, Oren Cass of American Compass, a think tank devoted to reforming markets from the right, put his feelings thusly: “Free markets aren’t enough — public policy must prevent senseless financialization of the economy and ensure that our markets are productive ones.”
But right now, the absence of partisan advantage still makes it feel like a car with no gas in the tank.
It’s a notable difference from the bipartisan fallout from the Keating Five, the group of senators accused of intervening improperly in the regulation of a politically connected savings and loan. Bartlett Naylor of Public Citizen, who was an investigator with the Senate Banking Committee at the time, said the shame felt by John McCain about his role pushed him toward a reformist political stance. “Among the positive byproducts of the Keating Five scandal is that John McCain went from your standard bad Republican on banking to one of the outstanding reform guys on banking,” he says. “He saw Jesus.”
For their part, members of the Blockchain Eight don’t seem to be acting as if their warmth towards the industry is a political liability that requires a visit with the almighty. In a letter this week to the U.S. Comptroller General, Torres sharply criticized the SEC…for not watchdogging hard enough. “If the SEC had done the due diligence of thoroughly investigating the financials of FTX, there would have been a greater likelihood of exposing the crypto exchange for what it truly is: a house of cars built on monopoly money printed out of thin air,” he wrote.
MINING IS NOT GREEN
Ottawa's critical mineral strategy calls for faster project approvals
Story by David Thurton
Canada will need to speed up regulatory decisions on critical mineral projects if it wants to become a global leader in battery manufacturing, electric vehicles, wind turbines and solar panels, says a new national strategy being released today.
Ore is hauled from the Kennecott's Bingham Canyon Copper
"Simply put, there is no green energy transition without critical minerals," the federal government's latest critical minerals strategy says.
"[The government of Canada] recognizes that to meet our ambitious climate and economic objectives to transition to a net-zero economy, additional mechanisms must be in place to expedite and facilitate strategic critical mineral projects from investment and funding opportunities, through regulatory approvals and development, to production."
Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson unveiled the strategy in Vancouver on Friday.
Minerals like lithium, graphite, nickel, cobalt and copper are critical ingredients for electric vehicle, computer chip and weapons manufacturing. With demand for low- and no-emissions technology expected to skyrocket as the world moves to a post-carbon economy, Friday's strategy foreshadows shortages of these critical materials — or what it calls "non-like-minded countries" weaponizing access to precious minerals.
Although China isn't mentioned by name in Natural Resources Canada's strategy, some observers have warned that Beijing could cut off access to critical minerals to foster its own high-tech industries. Currently, China controls most of the world's critical mineral processing.
To counter Beijing's supremacy in this field, Canada, the U.S. and its allies have committed to boosting extraction, processing, manufacturing and recycling of critical minerals Increasing extraction will mean more Canadian mines. But before any new mining project can proceed, it must undergo a rigorous environmental review and permitting process — sometimes more than once.
The new strategy document recognizes that faster environmental reviews and regulatory oversight are needed to meet the challenge — and that Canada's current patchwork of project review processes isn't up to the task.
"For major development projects where both federal and provincial impact or environmental assessments are required," says the strategy document, "the Government of Canada is committed to meeting the objective of 'one project, one assessment.'"
Aside from making sure projects cross the finish line, the strategy calls for "meaningful participation" by Indigenous communities in decisions on project development and the benefits that flow from it. It also recognizes that the government is going to have to make significant investments in transportation and electricity infrastructure to access these critical minerals.
"New infrastructure investments aimed at unlocking new mineral projects in resource-rich regions — including roads, rail, and ports — are needed to help Canada's mining industry provide the minerals and metals required to reach net zero by 2050," says the document. The strategy also signals Canada wants to work with international allies to develop a tracing process to identify trade in so-called "conflict minerals." Such a standard, it says, could "prevent products from conflict, child labour and environmentally poor operations from entering the supply chains."
The strategy doesn't come with any new money. But in the last budget, the federal government committed up to $3.8 billion over eight years to pursuing a critical minerals strategy — including a 30 per cent critical mineral exploration tax.
That same budget also earmarked money for working with provinces and territories to help developers navigate the regulatory process, especially in the North.
In October, Wilkinson and Innovation Minister François-Philippe Champagne announced that the federal government would prevent foreign state-owned enterprises from owning and participating in Canada's critical mineral sector.
Shortly after that announcement, the Canadian government ordered three Chinese resource companies to sell their interests in Canadian critical minerals. The government introduced amendments Wednesday to modernize the Investment Canada Act.
Alberta overhauls Police Act, creates new watchdog, ministerial powers
Story by Matthew Black • Yesterday
The Alberta Police Act is being overhauled for the first time in decades, with the province introducing a series of changes to how policing is organized and officers investigated.
Some of the biggest revisions outlined in Bill 6 — the Police Amendment Act — include granting the province the power to appoint members to local police commissions, expanding the authority of Alberta’s police watchdog and creating new civilian government bodies to oversee police.
Public Safety and Emergency Services Minister Mike Ellis introduced the bill for first reading in the legislature Thursday afternoon.
“Updating the Police Act isn’t only about reflecting the needs of Alberta today, but ensuring that we have a blueprint that will serve our province into the future,” he told reporters earlier in the day.
The act governs the operations of municipal police services and last underwent a full-scale update in 1988, prompting calls for an overhaul from community and policing leaders who said it didn’t meet the needs of modern policing.
Justice Minister Tyler Shandro called it “chronically ignored” in an interview with Postmedia in September. The changes follow years of consultations that started in 2018 under Rachel Notley’s NDP government.
Opposition justice critic Irfan Sabir characterized the bill as being “very thin on details” and called for more details on costs to be released.
“Without adequate funding for our justice system and proper checks and balances to prevent the UCP’s political interference, this legislation is meaningless and will not improve trust in our law enforcement.”
‘An independent body’
The government says the bill limits the practice of police investigating police through the creation of a new independent watchdog agency, the Police Review Commission. It would have the authority to investigate and conduct hearings into complaints against police.
The existing police watchdog — the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) — will be transitioned under the new agency’s structure.
ASIRT’s authority would also be expanded to include investigating peace officers in situations involving serious injury or death, something currently done by police.
“This is going to be an independent body,” Ellis said.
He said the province is negotiating with the RCMP in an effort to ensure Mounties would also fall under the jurisdiction of the new commission.
Related video: Alberta justice minister calls on head of RCMP to resign (cbc.ca)
In a release, Edmonton police Chief Dale McFee welcomed the new agency, saying he “hope(s) this new direction will provide an additional layer of public transparency and assurance.”
Ellis said he didn’t have a specific number for the budget of the new agency.
Funding is expected to be split between local police services and the province but the exact division of costs has yet to be worked out. ASIRT’S executive director resigned in November of last year after complaining of file backlogs, funding shortfalls and staffing issues.
‘Seat at the table’
The act would also grant the new power for a minister to appoint multiple members to local police commissions, the arm’s-length bodies that oversee local police services. Currently, municipal councillors appoint members to their individual police commissions.
The number of commissioners the province can appoint will vary based on the size of each commission, but is not expected to exceed one-quarter of an individual commission’s members.
Ellis said the new powers ensured ”there’s a seat at the table” for the province with municipalities and police commissions, claiming the change had “good support” from mayors.
The bill will also allow the minister to intervene in activities of stand-alone police services on request to address disputes.
“Unfortunately, somebody has to come in and be a bit of an … arbitrator,” Ellis said.
Edmonton Mayor Amarjeet Sohi has been among the critics of the current Police Act. His office said he was unavailable for comment on Thursday.
Sabir the new ministerial powers go too far.
“It is a disturbing step towards the politicization of policing from a government that has a record of political interference in law enforcement and the administration of justice.” ‘No decisions’ on provincial police
The bill also creates a new province-wide governing body as well as a series of new formal civilian bodies in Alberta communities policed by the RCMP.
Ellis said the new agencies would give Albertans more say in local policing and provide oversight in a way similar to that of a police commission.
“Giving these communities a more formal role in setting priorities and goals will ensure police are more in tune with their needs,” the minister said.
The new bodies will be created in municipalities with populations exceeding 15,000, and regional zones will be set up for areas with fewer residents.
“Currently, we have some folks within rural Alberta that may not feel as though they’re being listened to by the RCMP and it’s just the feedback that we’ve gotten,” Ellis said.
The bill also calls for police to work with partner agencies in their communities to develop community safety, diversity and inclusion plans, something many have already done.
Ellis said the new legislation did not represent a step towards establishing an Alberta provincial police force.
“No decisions have been made regarding the service.”
Alberta NDP says premier's rejection of federal authority lays separation groundwork
Yesterday 5:00 p.m.
EDMONTON — Alberta’s NDP Opposition leader says Premier Danielle Smith's comments rejecting the legitimacy of the federal government betray her unspoken plan to lay the groundwork for eventual separation.
Rachel Notley cited Smith’s comments to the house just before members passed her sovereignty bill earlier Thursday, in which Smith rejected the federal government’s overarching authority. “It's not like Ottawa is a national government,'' Smith told the house at 12:30 a.m. Thursday.
UH YES IT IS "The way our country works is that we are a federation of sovereign, independent jurisdictions. WRONG THIS IS THE AMERICAN STATES CONFEDERACY IDEOLOGY
ALBERTA AND SASKATCHEWAN WERE GRANTED PROVINCIAL POWERS FROM THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
They are one of those signatories to the Constitution and the rest of us, as signatories to the Constitution, have a right to exercise our sovereign powers in our own areas of jurisdiction.”
Notley, speaking to reporters, said, “At 12:30 last night when she thought nobody was listening, the veil was lifted and Danielle Smith’s interest in genuinely pursuing initial steps toward separation were revealed. “(They) demonstrate that her view is actually that which is aligned with these fringe separatist wannabes like folks who drafted the Free Alberta Strategy.
“Those comments are utterly chaos-inducing.”
Free Alberta Strategy was a 2021 policy paper drafted in part by Smith’s current top adviser Rob Anderson.
The authors of the paper argue that federal laws, policies and overreach are mortally wounding Alberta's development.
They urge a two-track strategy to assert greater autonomy for Alberta within Confederation, while simultaneously laying the policy and administrative groundwork to transition Alberta to separation and sovereignty should negotiations fail.
AND OF COURSE WITH MANY AMERICANS IN SOUTHERN ALBERTA WE KNOW WHERE A SEPERATE ALBERTA WILL GO
The strategy was the genesis for Smith’s controversial sovereignty bill that stipulates the Alberta legislature, rather than the courts, can pass judgment on what is constitutional when it comes to provincial jurisdiction.
The bill also grants cabinet the power to direct municipalities, city police forces, health regions and schools to resist implementing federal laws.
During question period, Smith rejected accusations the bill is a separatist Trojan Horse, noting its intent is contained in the title.
“The name of the bill is Alberta Sovereignty Within a United Canada Act,” said Smith.
“The (act) has nothing to do with leaving the country. It has everything to do with resetting the relationship (with the federal government).”
Related video: Alberta passes Sovereignty Act, strips out sweeping powers for cabinet (cbc.ca)
Political scientist Jared Wesley said it appears constitutional chaos and baiting the federal government are the actual aims.
“When you start to deny the legitimacy of the federal government, that is part of the worrying trend that ties all of this to the convoy movement and the separatists,” said Wesley, with the University of Alberta.
“Albertans need to know those comments are inappropriate and misleading at best and sparking a national unity crisis at worst. Sooner or later, someone’s going to believe her.”
Wesley added that there is a sentiment among a small group of people in Alberta, including the premier, who "are just tired of losing and don’t want to play the game anymore," he said.
“The sad thing is that that game is democracy and the rule book is the Constitution, and they’re just ignoring all of it now."
Political scientist Duane Bratt said Smith was not describing Canadian federalism.
“She is confusing the European Union with Canada,” said Bratt, with Mount Royal University in Calgary. “Canada is not made up of sovereign provinces. We share sovereignty between orders of government.”
Political scientist Lori William, also with Mount Royal University, said the comment “betrays a profound lack of understanding of Canada, of federalism, of what powers belong to the federal and provincial governments.”
During question period, Smith waved away Opposition demands that she refer the bill to Alberta’s Court of Appeal to determine if it is onside with the Constitution.
Smith told the house that Justice Minister Tyler Shandro, a lawyer, wrote the bill and that the government received independent advice from constitutional lawyers to ensure it was not offside.
“The constitutionality of this bill is not in question,” Smith said.
The bill was introduced by Smith a week ago as centrepiece legislation to pursue a more confrontational approach with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government on a range of issues deemed to be overreach in provincial areas of responsibility.
It was a short, brutish ride for the bill.
Smith’s government, due to a public outcry, had to bring in an amendment just days after introducing the bill to reverse a provision that gave it ongoing emergency-type powers to unilaterally rewrite laws while bypassing the legislature.
Alberta’s First Nations chiefs have condemned the bill as trampling their treaty rights and Smith’s Indigenous relations minister has said more consultation should have been done.
Smith told the house she met with Indigenous leaders just hours earlier to discuss concerns and shared goals. She rejected the assertion the bill doesn’t respect treaty rights.
“There is no impact on treaty and First Nations’ rights. That’s the truth,” she said.
Law professor Martin Olszynski said the bill remains problematic because it must be clear the courts have the final say on interpreting the Constitution in order to stabilize the checks and balances of a democratic system.
He said Smith’s bill threatens that, perhaps putting judges in the awkward position of having to decide whether they are the ones to make those decisions.
“Can that judge exercise their judicial function without being affected by that very politicized context?” said Olszynski, with the University of Calgary.
“It essentially politicizes the judicial process.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 8, 2022.
Dean Bennett, The Canadian Press
Turkey Obtains “No U.S. Green Light” For Operation In NE Syria – U.S. Official
Thursday December 8th, 2022 by NORTH PRESS (Kurdish agency)
The U.S. Senior Representative to northeast Syria, Nikolas Granger, stressed his country’s strong opposition to any military action, according to North Press.
(NORTH PRESS)
The U.S. has not granted Turkey any green light for recent attacks or future “land incursion” against northeast Syria, the U.S. Senior Representative to northeast Syria, Nikolas Granger, said on Tuesday. Granger, in a press briefing via zoom app, stressed his country’s strong opposition to any military action, including “a land incursion” in the region that would threaten the “shared goal” to fight Islamic State Organization (ISIS). “I want to make it clear that there has been no green light from the United States for any of the attacks we have seen … over the recent weeks, or for any future military activity,” Kurdistan 24 cited Granger as saying. When asked about the US efforts in mediatizing intra-Kurdish talks, he said that the US is “facilitating dialogue” among Kurdish actors as well as between the Kurds and other components towards stability in the area, according to Kurdistan 24. He stressed the importance of having an “open space” for all political actors to engage fully in the political process. He expressed his country’s vision that northeast Syria, known as Rojava, is a part of the entire future of Syria, adding that Syrians should decide about the future of their country. On Nov. 25, Granger called for “immediate de-escalation,” adding that such an escalation threatens “civilians and US personnel.” He expressed “deep concern and sincere condolences for the loss of civilian life” in the recent escalation, which is “unacceptably dangerous.” Areas in north and northeastern Syria, since Nov. 20, have been witnessing Turkish military escalation, targeting wide-scale areas via warplanes, drones and shells, the issue that caused massive damage to infrastructures and the loss of dozens of civilians and military personnel.
Expanding US patrols The U.S. prepares to resume full ground operations alongside Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in areas in northern Syria, a step that officials saw on Tuesday may inflame relations with Turkey more. The Washington Post cited US officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, as saying such a move may risk further inflaming US-Turkish relations. US commanders restricted such movements after the recent Turkish attacks on the areas held by SDF, which Turkey blames for the Istanbul bombing on November 13. Col. Joe Buccino, U.S. CENTCOM spokesman, was quoted by the Washington Post as saying, “We are concerned with any action that may jeopardize the hard-fought gains made in security and stability in Syria.” “We’re concerned for the security of the SDF…in a place where we’ve withdrawn most troops,” Buccino added. The SDF are important for the process of defeating ISIS, as they oversee al-Hal Camp that shelters the families of ISIS who live in squalid conditions, unable to return to their home countries, according to Buccino. The Washington Post said, citing Bradley Bowman, a foreign policy and military analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington, that without the SDF, ISIS would likely still hold broad swaths of territory or that the US military would have suffered thousands of casualties attempting to root the militants out on its own.
Turkey’s Factions in Northern Syria Recruit Children Again into their Ranks
Thursday December 8th, 2022 by ATHR PRESS (Pro-government newspaper)
Ankara's factions have recruited at least 40 children this year and placed them in training camps, according to Athr Press.
A human rights organization working in the areas of northern Syria outside Syrian state control confirmed that the Liberation and Construction Movement factions of the National Army, which is supported by Turkey, continues to recruit children. The organization has documented 17 children who were recruited and used in combat missions.
The organization based its report, released on Wednesday, on data concerning 17 children recruited into the Liberation and Construction Movement, as well as testimonies from the families of some of the children and factional leaders.
The organization pointed out that Ahrar al-Sharqiya, Division 20, and Jaish al-Sharqiya have added 800 new fighters to their ranks since the beginning of this year. Amongst these ranks, the percentage of child soldiers is estimated at about 40 percent.
The report indicated that the faction manipulated the children’s personal data while also pointing to the role of the children’s parents in submitting false identification papers. The report found that these identities were obtained from the civil registry centers of local councils in the region.
Since the beginning of this year, Ankara’s factions have recruited at least 40 children and placed them in training camps alongside new adult recruits. Ankara’s factions deny that they are recruiting children into their ranks.
The statement said that children under the age of 18 should not be recruited or volunteered for service in the National Army and that children already involved should be immediately demobilized.
This article was edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
Recap: Suweida Revolts Against Syrian Regime
Friday December 9th, 2022 by THE SYRIAN OBSERVER
The regime is violently repressing the uprising in southern Syria.
(NORTH PRESS)
Suweida has been witnessing a state of unrest since Sunday morning when a peaceful protest against difficult economic conditions was repressed with fire.
Death Toll Rises
The pro-opposition Syria TV says that two people were killed in the protests and four others were injured, with shooting continuing near the governorate building and the police headquarters building in the center of Sweida city, with regime elements stationed on the roofs of buildings.
The Ministry of Interior in the Syrian regime’s government described the protesters in the city of Suweida as “outlaws,” accusing them of indiscriminately shooting and storming the Suweida governorate building by force. Meanwhile, local media reported on regime forces shooting at protesters and killing and wounding several of them.
The regime’s Interior Ministry claimed in a statement published on Facebook that “a group of outlaws, some of them carrying personal weapons, blocked the road with burning tires next to the gallows roundabout in Sweida province at 11:30 a.m.”
Suweida Residents Want Project Similar to SDF?
The pro-government Athr Press has reported that experts indicate that some groups in the governorate are pursuing a project similar to the Autonomous Administration’s project in eastern Syria.
In its statement, the Autonomous Administration criticized the policies of the Syrian state, which respond to the difficult socio-economic conditions in the country. It called on the Syrian authorities to find solutions to these problems, warning that it should otherwise expect “demonstrations” similar to what happened in Suweida.
Opposition Supports
The Syrian Opposition Coalition reported that the President of the SOC, Salem al-Meslet, stressed that the people’s chants in Suweida province demanding the overthrow of the regime represent a message from every Syrian citizen to the world that the Assad regime is illegitimate and does not represent the Syrian people whatsoever.
In comments he published on Twitter, Meslet called on the international community to stop ignoring Syria, seek to achieve the demands of the Syrian people, and hold the Assad regime accountable for its crimes.
Residents Kick Out Russian Military Delegation
The opposition Shaam Network reported that a group of residents in the town of Thaala, located in the western countryside of Suweida, have driven out a Russian military delegation. The expulsion followed the deployment of Russia’s soldiers in the town on Tuesday, where they maintained a provocative presence. The governorate had previously witnessed similar incidents in the town of Mazra’a, the city of Shahba and the village of Al-Jeneina, in which local residents have also driven out Russian patrols.
The Suweida 24 website reported that two military vehicles of the Russian forces entered the town of Thaala in rural Suweida. The vehicles had travelled from Daraa and were accompanied by a Syrian military intelligence patrol. The delegation stopped at the Thaala municipality building, where Russian soldiers disembarked and deployed near the building with their weapons.
Intelligence Threatens Leader, Vows to Burn Suweida
The opposition Baladi News has reported that the regime’s intelligence services have threatened Laith al-Balous, commander of the Men of Dignity forces, that it will burn Suweida in response to the forces’ demonstrations against the regime.
“Laith Balous received a direct and sectarian threat, by the head of the Air Force Intelligence Department in Syria, Major General Ghassan Ismail, as a result of the governorate’s demonstrations against the regime,” reported the Suwayda ANS network.
According to the network, Ismail threatened to burn Suweida in retaliation against young men who demonstrated against the regime. He threatened Balous directly because he had appeared in photos standing next to the demonstrators.
Pedersen Calls for Political Solution
UN Special Envoy of the Secretary-General, Geir Pedersen, stressed that his visit to Damascus is a continuation of the deep and ongoing dialogue with the Syrian government. In a special statement to Al-Watan after his meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants, Dr. Faisal al-Mekdad, he said: I submitted a report to the UN Security Council last Tuesday regarding the reality on the Syrian ground and made a presentation on the possibilities of military escalation in northern Syria. We asked all parties to calm down, reduce escalation and restore calm to Syria. I think that this is an important message as what Syria really needs is not escalation, but peace and a political process.
Suweida Residents Drive out Russian Military Delegation that Provoked them
Wednesday December 7th, 2022 by SHAAM NETWORK (Pro-government newspaper)
The expulsion followed the deployment of Russia’s soldiers in Thalaa on Tuesday, where they maintained a provocative presence, according to Shaam Network.
Local media sources in Suweida reported that a group of residents in the town of Thala, located in the western countryside of Suweida, have driven out a Russian military delegation. The expulsion followed the deployment of Russia’s soldiers in the town on Tuesday, where they maintained a provocative presence. The governorate had previously witnessed similar incidents in the town of Mazra’a, the city of Shahba and the village of Al-Jeneina, in which local residents have also driven out Russian patrols.
The Suweida 24 website reported that two military vehicles of the Russian forces entered the town of Thaala in rural Suweida. The vehicles had travelled from Daraa and were accompanied by a Syrian military intelligence patrol. The delegation stopped at the Thaala municipality building, where Russian soldiers disembarked and deployed near the building with their weapons.
The website added that a group of local residents gathered near the municipality building. They shouted at the Russian soldiers, describing them as occupiers, and asked them to leave the town immediately. And this is what eventually happened, as the delegation withdrew from the town without escalating the situation.
The mayor of Thaala told local residents that the delegation came only to inquire about the recent events in Suweida. One of the townspeople who drove out the delegation said that it was provocative for the Russian soldiers to deploy with their weapons in the streets of the town. “I believe that they are occupiers. They should not be permitted in our country and on our streets with their weapons, parading with such arrogance,” the source said.
Link Between Suweida Unrest and Autonomous Administration in Eastern Syria
Tuesday December 6th, 2022 by ATHR PRESS (Pro-government newspaper)
The SDC called on the Syrian authorities to find solutions to socioeconomic problems, according to Syria TV,
On Monday, the Autonomous Administration issued a statement expressing its support for the Suweida protests. Meanwhile, experts indicate that some groups in the governorate are pursuing a project similar to the Autonomous Administration’s project in eastern Syria.
In its statement, the Autonomous Administration criticized the policies of the Syrian state, which respond to the difficult socio-economic conditions in the country. It called on the Syrian authorities to find solutions to these problems, warning that it should otherwise expect “demonstrations” similar to what happened in Suweida.
The link between the unrest in Suweida and the Autonomous Administration is not new, as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced an offer for ISIS to exchange kidnapped Suweida residents for ISIS detainees held by the SDF. The offer came the night before ISIS’s attack on Suweida and its abduction of several civilians at the time.
According to information obtained by “Athr Press” from confidential sources, the SDF requested the release of two young women detained by one of the security authorities in Damascus in exchange for the release of journalist Muhammad al-Saghir. Saghir has been detained by the SDF for over two years. According to the sources, the SDF is demanding the release of “two girls who work for the SDF and were caught in Suweida while promoting the Autonomous Administration’s project, by encouraging the Druze to declare autonomy in their regions.”
Meslet: Protests in Suweida Confirm Assad Regime is Illegitimate
Tuesday December 6th, 2022 by SOC MEDIA DEPARTMENT (Opposition website)
Meslet stressed that chants in Suweida demanding the overthrow of the regime are a message from every Syrian citizen to the world, according to the SOC Media Department.
The President of the Syrian Opposition Coalition (SOC), Salem al-Meslet, stressed that the people’s chants in Suweida province demanding the overthrow of the regime represent a message from every Syrian citizen to the world that the Assad regime is illegitimate and does not represent the Syrian people whatsoever.
In comments he published on Twitter, Meslet called on the international community to stop ignoring Syria, seek to achieve the demands of the Syrian people, and hold the Assad regime accountable for its crimes.
Suweida province on Sunday witnessed mass anti-regime protests, with demonstrators gathering outside the mayor’s office and chanting, “the people want the downfall of the regime,” They also denounced the deteriorating living conditions and the regime’s failure to secure the people’s needs, especially fuel, electricity, and basic services and commodities.
Local activists said demonstrators stormed the governor’s office in central Suweida, while footage circulated on social media showed a demonstrator climbing the governorate building and tearing down a photograph of Bashar al-Assad.
Demonstrators clashed with regime forces stationed in the nearby police command headquarters, who opened live fire at them, killing two protestors and injuring dozens more.
This article was edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
