Imagine living in one of the world’s poorest countries which also happens to be one of the last ruled by an absolute monarch. Now imagine nine of that monarch’s thirteen wives chartering a private jet to take them on a shopping spree throughout Europe and the Middle East. I am, of course, talking about Swaziland, [...]

I hate to say it, but, Paris for President… Sure, someone wrote that for her, but you have to admit that her verbal execution was pretty flawless. Let’s be honest, in politics these days reading convincingly off of a telepromper constitutes 80% of your ability to lead. Hell, might as well be a hot chick in [...]

It’s as if it were simply publication errata, not the admission that innocent people had been killed – never mind the blatant lies involved… “The U.S. military said Sunday that the three people killed last month after U.S. soldiers shot at their car in one of the most secured areas of Iraq were civilians, not criminals [...]

It’s no secret that former President Jimmy Carter has his detractors. His more recent attempts to confront the problems plaguing Israeli - Palestinian relations have drawn scorn from many quarters, with many labeling him anti-Israeli. And now, during remarks made at the recent Hay-on-Wye festival, he has done what no American President has ever dared [...]

The world is, rather understandably, disconcerted by the inaction of Burma’s military junta with regards to their response to the devastation caused by Cyclone Nargis. As many of you are aware, the regime has been hindering international aid efforts, causing the humanitarian crisis to worsen. As it stands now, some 78,000 to 100,000 people have [...]

One minute you’re eating your oatmeal, the next minute you’re not. One minute you’re walking down the street, the next minute you’re just another statistic that the world doesn’t want to hear about because there are already far too many statistics. In a letter to James Madison in early 1787, Thomas Jefferson wrote - “I [...]

One has to ask the question – what would be the reaction of the Canadian people were they to discover that the United States was fed classified Canadian military information by a mole within our military establishment? Would Canadians be outraged? Would it consume national headlines? Would it lead to a significant policy shift with regards [...]

Recently it was discovered that the Pentagon worked to place various retired military commanders at the disposal of various news networks as ‘analysts’. Internal Pentagon documents repeatedly refer to such individuals as “message force multipliers” or “surrogates”, their role being to reinforce administration policy. It should also noted that the majority of them represent in [...]

In the documentary 11th Hour, former CIA Director James Woolsey, of all people, makes a very important point with regards to the correlation between consumerism and industrial opportunism and the ability to affect change in a very short period of time given what are traditionally viewed as ‘exceptional circumstances’. Woolsey’s point of reference was the transformation [...]

The war in Iraq is the most privatized conflict in American history. Some 180,000 civilians and paramilitaries work for firms contracted by the US government, a sum larger than that of the US military presence in the country. From Halliburton to Blackwater, the use of contractors has become so prevalent in Iraq that [...]