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Coup D’Etat in Haiti

It was nine years ago, on February 29, 2004 that the democratically elected President of Haiti, Jean-Bertrand Aristide was removed from his Presidential Palace by US forces, assisted by Canada and France. In his place an unelected government was installed by the international community.

Thousands of UN ‘peace-keepers’ were assigned to Haiti to protect and enforce the authority of this new government. Many representatives of the Haitian government were jailed. The government of Gerard Latortue,installed at the behest of international forces, cracked down hard on the poverty-stricken population, particularly in the slums of Cité Soleil and Bel Air in Port-au-Prince. Thousands of deaths were estimated to have resulted. [1]

It is critical to understand this background and the subsequent erosion of domestic institutions and government agencies if one is to understand the current human security issues threatening this small Caribbean island country.

It is especially important for Canadians to acquaint themselves with this history. Canadians generally have a positive opinion of their country and role in the world. They are inclined to believe Canada’s role in Haiti has been generally beneficent. Such inaccurate perceptions are aided and abetted by compliant politicians, governing and in opposition, and by a silent media.

Roger Annis has been a long-time activist with the Canada-Haiti Action group, an organization that has been at the forefront of raising awareness about Canada’s true role in Haiti. The Global Research Hour spoke to him while he was in Winnipeg to discuss the nine year old coup, Canada’s role in the coup and other ways the Canadian government and Canadian NGOs and development agencies have undermined Haitian democracy and human rights. Annis also draws parallels between Canada’s treatment of Haitians, and its treatment of its own Indigenous population.

Tar Sands Alberta: The Bitumen Cliff

While opposition to the so-called ‘tar sands’ in Northern Alberta in Canada is generally framed as an environment versus economics debate, a new study from the Polaris Institute and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives seems to point to an argument that surprisingly reveals the (black) gold rush for bitumen in Western Canada actually putting the Canadian economy at a tremendous disadvantage. Carleton University Graduate student and report co-author Brendan Hayley speaks to the Global Research News Hour about Canada’s Bitumen Cliff.

America’s first African American President: An Obstacle to the Quest for Positive Change and Racial Equality

In this exclusive Black History Month interview for the Global Research News Hour, former Georgia Congresswoman and US Presidential Candidate Cynthia McKinney talks about how America’s first African American President has been an obstacle rather than an asset in the quest for positive change and racial equality, and about what needs to be done to make substantive rather than cosmetic changes in the US political life.

Suppressing 9/11 Truth in the Mainstream Media, Demonizing the Messenger

“It’s easy to take an issue like the 9/11 truth movement and demonize it…that happened in the election of 2008. Even though at the time it was a rising tide and growing numbers of people… had actually rejected the official explanation and were actively looking at the evidence hoping to find out what really happened, even though that was happening, the Conservatives in that election chose to demonize those folks, and I guess I appeared to be one of them because I was willing to talk about it with respect.”

-Lesley Hughes

During the Canadian federal election of 2008, Lesley Hughes, overnight, went from the Liberal Party’s star candidate to a political liability.

An article Hughes wrote in 2002 entitled “Get the Truth” offered readers a contrarian viewpoint on the war in Afghanistan as retaliation for 9/11.

The anonymous blogger Black Rod, unearthed the article, conflated it into an anti-Semitic 9/11 conspiracy theory, and circulated it throughout the on-line community and the mainstream press.

Liberal leader Stephan Dion, under pressure from B’Nai Brith, the Canadian Jewish Congress, and his political opponents, not to mention uncomfortable media scrutiny, removed the candidacy of Ms. Hughes without ever confronting her about it directly.

Hughes, humiliated, dropped off the media radar screen and spent the subsequent few months licking her wounds. She finally found herself a lawyer and launched a defamation suit against the above-named groups, as well as Conservative candidate Peter Kent, the entities she saw as most responsible for this disastrous blow to her reputation.

In December of last year, at the end of a four year ordeal, Hughes was finally cleared of all charges of anti-Semitism.

Who is Lesley Hughes?

Hughes is much more than the “earnest middle-aged mother and community activist” described by National Post columnist and author Jonathan Kay in his 9/11 Truth hit-piece “Among the Truthers.”

Lesley Hughes is a Winnipeg-based broadcast and print journalist.

In the province of Manitoba, she became a house-hold name as co-host of the popular morning program Information Radio, a CBC show she helmed for more than ten years.

Her prowess as an interviewer earned her the distinction of sitting in briefly for CBC icon Peter Gzowski on the nationally broadcast Morningside, earning her praise from executive producer Patsey Pehleman for being “fresh and different.”

Over the course of a career that has spanned more than three decades, Lesley has interviewed a multitude of global movers and shakers, including former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, humanitarian Mother Theresa, South African President Nelson Mandela, dissident intellectual Noam Chomsky, French President Francois Mitterand, and playwright Tennessee Williams to name just a few.

She has since contributed articles to major newspapers. She covered the 1992 Earth Summit from Rio de Janeiro in Brazil for the Globe and Mail. She reported from the World Poverty Summit in Copenhagen, and the Information Summit in Geneva. She has authored book reviews for the Winnipeg Free Press. She continues to write the back column for the distinguished Canadian organ of progressive political thought known as Canadian Dimension Magazine.

Hughes has had her work carried by Radio Denmark, Radio Antilles and the Grenadian Voice.

Hughes has been a media trainer, instructing students at the University of Winnipeg. She was designated as the University of Manitoba’s Outstanding Alumnus for Distinguished Achievement, named one of Canada’s top three columnists for a weekly community newspaper by the Canadian Community Newspaper Association, and honoured Manitoba’s Woman of the Year in Communications and Best Interviewer (Radio) by Winnipeg ACTRA among other accolades.

The recent court ruling has affirmed what informed people, supporters and detractors alike, know all too well. Lesley Hughes has not an anti-Semitic bone in her body!

Lesley Hughes, regardless of what one might think of her politics, is an inspirational, compassionate, hard-working, brilliant and breath-takingly decent human being. It is a sad commentary on the times we live in that she could be brought down from her well-earned pedestal in Canadian life, simply for…well…doing her job as a journalist.

In this exclusive interview for the Global Research News Hour, Lesley Hughes from the living room of her Winnipeg home explains how she was affected personally and professionally by the allegations, her take on the corrosive effect of anonymous blogging on journalism, and about how attacks on 9/11 skeptics signals a new kind of McCarthyism.

She also introduces her upcoming memoir, “Hit and Run: My Brilliant Life in Canadian Politics.”

Also featured in this one hour programme is an interview with Richard Sanders of the Coalition Opposed to the Arms Trade, (coat.ncf.ca) about how Canadian Pension Plan investments are aiding and abetting Israeli War Crimes. We also hear an assessment of the recent Israeli elections by Chicago based writer and broadcaster Stephen Lendman.

On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the Iraq War, the Global Research News Hour interviews Richard Sanders of the Coalition Opposed to the Arms Trade (COAT) about the myth of Canada’s non-involvement in Iraq.

There is a follow-up interview with former UN Humanitarian Coordinator Hans Von Sponeck about the deterioration of the social conditions in Iraq from before the 1991 Gulf War to the present and the potential for redress against these and future war crimes.

The Legacy of Hugo Chavez and The Korean Powder Keg

-President Hugo Chavez, from his February 2, 1999 inauguration speech. [1]

Hugo Chavez (28 July 1954 – 5 March 2013)

One of the most beloved and inspirational leftist figures on the world stage passed away on March 5.

During his four terms and fourteen years as president of Venezuela, Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías distinguished himself as a Latin American leader in the tradition of Simon Bolivar.

After nationalizing oil fields run by US based oil giants ConocoPhillips and Exxon Mobil Corp, Chavez was able to utilize the proceeds to subsidize primary health clinics and food markets in poor neighbourhoods. According to the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America, poverty in the country dropped from 48.6 percent in 2002 to 29.5 percent in 2011. [2] Amendments to the Venezuelan constitution included 116 articles focusing on the protection of human rights, including protections of women and indigenous peoples, and the right of the public to education, health care and food. [3]

Chavez’s personal popularity with the Venezuelan people helped him frustrate a coup attempt in April 2002 and then a management lock-out of the oil industry several months later. In addition, he formulated critical ties with the President of Cuba, Fidel Castro, as well as with the socialist governments of Ecuador, Bolivia, and Nicaragua.

More than that, Chavez proved himself to be a consistent thorn in the side of US hegemony in the region. The US has a long history of supporting Latin American governments that rule in the interest of US-backed oil, agri-business and other industrial enterprises. Governing in the interests of the people is not usually good for business.

North Korea

The Western media has reported frequently in recent weeks on the behaviour of the North Korean government and has portrayed leader Kim Jung-un as being ‘bellicose’ and aggressive’. The impoverished country has in recent months launched a satellite into orbit and conducted a third nuclear test. They have even threatened in recent days to launch a pre-emptive nuclear attack against the US.

References

1 JONES, BART (2007). Hugo! The Hugo Chávez Story from Mud Hut to Perpetual Revolution. Hanover, New Hampshire: Steerforth Press. ISBN 978-1-58642-135-9.

2 Charlie Devereux & Raymond Colitt. March 7, 2013. Venezuelans’ Quality of Life Improved in UN Index Under Chavez. Bloomberg.

3 “Bolivarian Constitution of Venezuela”. Embassy of Venezuela in the US. 2000.

Outlawing Natural Health, The Fracking Bubble, The Life and Death of Hugo Chavez

Imagine a middle-aged couple starting a simple business. They provide herbs or vitamins or some other innocuous product to the public. Let’s suppose they also promote the health benefits of taking this product.

Under current laws, the couple could find themselves the target of a sting operation in which an armed RCMP SWAT team might swoop down on their residence, bust their door down, stick guns in the occupants’ faces and force them to sit on a couch for eleven hours while the agents search for contraband.

According to constitutional lawyer Rocco Galati, not only could this happen, it has happened! In Canada!

The offensive legislation in question relates to an Act that governs so-called Natural Health Products. Dietary supplements, vitamins, herbs, foods and any other such natural item have proven to be far less dangerous than most over the counter prescription medications. These are now being targeted by Health Canada as a potential health hazard.

Galati is mounting a legal challenge against Health Canada. He tells the Global Research News Hour why the legislation on the books is insidious and unconstitutional and needs to be changed.

The Fracking Bubble

According to Deborah Rodgers of Energy Policy Forum, the current boom in shale oil and gas is not only unsustainable and environmentally contentious, it is built on unreliable estimates and projections. In this interview she explains the critical difference between reserve estimates and resource estimates, and why Wall Street is deriving profits from what appears to be a bubble akin to the Sub Prime Mortgage bubble which burst in 2008.

The Death of Chavez

Millions around the world are mourning the death of Bolivarian leader Hugo Chavez who died of cancer on Tuesday March 5 at the age of 58. Chavez defied US imperial aims including a coup attempt in 2002. He has since been a thorn in the side of both the Bush and the Obama administrations.

As the Venezuelan people grieve and admirers around the world pay homage, the Global Research News Hour brings in frequent guest and Chavez admirer Stephen Lendman to examine Chavez’s impact on international geo-politics. We also discuss the possibility that the Venezuelan President may have been the victim of a US assassination attempt!

Investigative Journalist and former LAPD officer Mike Ruppert explains the significance of the Chris Dorner story in the framework of the power of the US Police State.

Richard Gage and Peter Drew discuss an upcoming Court case in the UK that could signal a breakthrough for the 9/11 Truth movement.

Former Georgia Congress Woman and Presidential candidate Cynthia McKMinney talks about her background in the context of Big Money corruption and control of the US political framework, Part one of two.

Ten Years after former Secretary of State Colin Powell made the case for war against Iraq in front of the UN Security Council, we examine the evidence of war crimes perpetrated by both the George W Bush administration and the Barrack Obama Administration. And we also hear from Iraq War veteran and US army deserter Joshua Key about finding sanctuary in Conservative Canada.

Ten Years after former Secretary of State Colin Powell made the case for war against Iraq in front of the UN Security Council, we examine the evidence of war crimes perpetrated by both the George W Bush administration and the Barrack Obama Administration. And we also hear from Iraq War veteran and US army deserter Joshua Key about finding sanctuary in Conservative Canada.

First, a conversation with Winnipeg based journalist Lesley Hughes. A journalist who ran for the Liberal Party of Canada as one of their star candidates in the 2008 election was turfed and smeared as an anti-semitic conspiracy theorist. This was after an old article of hers came to light seriously questioning the official story of the September 11 terrorist attacks. Later on, Richard Sanders of the Coalition Opposed to the Arms Trade shares his research about the extent to which Canadians unwillingly and unknowingly benefit from pension funds invested in the Israeli military and security appartus. We end the show with Stephen Lendman explaining the dangerous result of the last Israeli elections.

This installment of the Global Research News Hour features Author and academic Jared

Ball on Obama's record in power and how it violates rather than realizes Martin Luther King's

dream. We also hear Michel Chossudovsky analyse the situation in Mali and how it speaks

of a campaign by the US to recolonize former French colonies.