On behalf of Imam Sheharyar Shaikh and as one of the organizers for the debate between Imam Sheharyar Shaikh and Mr. Tarek Fatah, hosted by the North American Muslims Foundation (NAMF), I feel obliged to speak out against Tarek’s last-minute withdrawal from the debate.

In a desperate attempt to explain his actions, the Muslim Canadian Congress (MCC) has issued a press release replete with misinformation. Not surprisingly, Tarek has decided to hide behind the MCC by allowing them to speak on his behalf.

For the record, NAMF was never in direct contact with the MCC. Why would we be? Tarek resigned from the MCC in 2006. Furthermore, Tarek issued his challenge as an author promoting his new book, not as a MCC spokesman.

During our correspondences with Tarek, he never involved the MCC. In addition, numerous members of the MCC came to NAMF in an attempt to disrupt the event. Regardless, I would like to start with their allegation that there was “a hostile environment, with no moderator, restrictions on the media and the absence of any security”.
 

Imperialism is obviously not always conducted with the frightening roar and unmistakeable destruction of shock and awe. In such moments does the power and horror of imperialism become crystal clear. More often than not, though, imperialist power is projected less dramatically: diplomatic meddling, funding or tacitly supporting a compliant organization over a non-compliant one in a foreign country, trying to isolate “rogue states,” protecting domestic capital from meaningful oversights of its international activities, and so on.

This is certainly the case for a sub-superpower imperialist like Canada. Make no mistake, the Canadian government likes the shock and awe. The recent extension of Canada's participation in the bloody occupation of Afghanistan makes that clear. But Canada has become over the last 25 years one of the largest foreign investors in the Third World, most notably (though not exclusively) in Latin America and the Caribbean. In 2007, Canadian corporations made over $23-billion after tax from the resources and labour of the Third World. Canada has a definite stake in the subordination of this region, and this can't be accomplished by military force alone.

It behooves us, therefore, to keep a vigilant eye on the various actions taken by the Canadian government to advance Canada's interests in the world. Canada is by no means always successful, but even its less successful moments can be telling of what Canada's real interests abroad are and what many people in the Third World think of Canadian practice. In what follows I offer a brief autumn review of imperialist Canada.
 

It's time for the Prime Minister to take responsibility for the G20 fiasco - A room filled with police officers stare at pulsing screens; feeds from 85 cameras cover most of Toronto's downtown core. This was the command centre for the G20 Integrated Security Unit (there was another ISU command centre in Barrie). In charge was the RCMP Chief Supt. Alphonse MacNeil.

It may have been Toronto police on the streets, but the Feds ran the show. It had been that way from the start. It was the Prime Minister that insisted, over Toronto's objections, on holding the G20 at the Convention Centre. It was the ISU that wanted the Public Works Protection Act. [Toronto Police chief Bill] Blair is wearing it, but operational command was MacNeil's.

At some point over the weekend the Operational Commander of the Integrated Security Unit watched the action unfold and made two fateful decisions. The first was not to immediately move some of the thousands of available police officers into position to stop a hundred or so people from breaking store windows. More importantly, not to quickly stop the trashing of several police cars.

CSIS had decided there was no credible terrorism threat. The whole rationale for all the security was that a small segment of protesters would cause some property damage and might try to storm the security fence. Yet when the windows broke and police cars burned, for perhaps as long as an hour there were no police in sight.
 

'Democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts and murders itself. There never was a democracy that did not commit suicide.' - John Adams (1835-1826)

There is no question in my mind that I have lived long enough to see everything the nation once stood for in our own eyes and in the eyes of the world begin to disintegrate and fail.

John Adams, for those who slept through history class, was America’s second president, and one of the Founders who participated in the writing of our Constitution. If you worry about deals made behind closed doors, you are herewith reminded that the Constitution was written behind closed doors.

Though the room in Philadelphia had its share of lawyers, the man who presided over the process was a soldier and farmer called George Washington. Others included farmers, physicians, and even clergymen.

Life is funny. A year ago Barack Obama thought that he had a mandate to rule - not govern, but rule - as a totalitarian dictator. Now, it turns out the only mandate he can count on is dinner and a movie with Representative Bawney Fwank.

Oh, how the mighty have fallen. In the days leading up to Scott Brown’s amazing victory in Massachusetts, Obama, Pelosi, Reid, and the rest of their misbegotten ilk were publicly stating how they would ram socialized healthcare through Congress regardless of the election’s outcome. In the immediate hours following Brown’s sweep, they persisted in their tirades, following the arrogant path they have walked since January 20, 2010.

And then, it all changed. Acting as if the veil had been lifted from their eyes, leading liberals suddenly claimed an epiphany. Those folks who attended the tea parties and town meetings last summer – the ones the leftists labeled as radicals, terrorists, and Nazis – were no longer just a bunch of hick malcontents.

They were visionaries. The wishes of the electorate, which Obama and company had ignored as simply the drooling grunts of a bunch of stupid citizens, were transformed into the font of all wisdom.