Volume 19 No. 1
First in a Series: US, NATO – Militarism Out of Control!
February 2012
Countdown to War with Iran Must be Halted Global pressure can end years of nuclear brinkmanship `
REGINA – The above headline leads the February 17, 2012 editorial in the Sydney Morning Herald which continues by saying, “The standoff over Iran’s nuclear program is close to spiraling out of control. Israel which sees Iran as the worst threat to its existence, has canvassed the attitudes of US military and intelligence leaders to a military strike. Israel is reportedly ready to attack Iran as early as April. On Wednesday, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda urged visiting Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak not to take such “extremely dangerous” action. That is an understatement; a military strike carries huge risks.” Pepe Escobar author of Globalistan: How the Globalized World is Dissolving into Liquid War (Nimble Books, 2007) reports in the February 20th edition of Asia Times (The Roving Eye – Fear and Loathing in the American [Persian – Ed.] Gulf, “in roughly one month, no less than three US aircraft carriers and their strike groups will be sloshing around the American Gulf, the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea: the USS Abraham Lincoln, USS Carl Vinson and USS Enterprise, plus good ol’ French nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle. … Apart from this naval hajj of US aircraft carrier groups, the 40 year-old USS Ponce is being retrofitted into a special ops amphibious hub – to be dispatched to the American Gulf.” Escobar continues by saying DEBKA-Net which is known for its connections to Israeli intelligence, claims that 50,000 US troops are being flown from Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean to the US island bases of Socotra (380 km southeast of Yemen) and Camp Justice in Masirah (70 km south of the Strait of Hormuz in Oman). This deployment is above the extra 15,000 US troops recently deployed to NATO – cont’d on page 2 From daily commentary in the mass media to ongoing comments made by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird proclaiming that “Iran is the world’s greatest threat,” events in the Middle East (first Libya, now Syria and next Iran) point to a monumental situation arising there which has the potential to bring nuclear-armed Russia and China into the conflict thereby provoking a Third World War. The Regina Peace Council does not say so lightly. Rather, based on a broad spectrum of observations by veteran peace activists, journalists and academics including those in the World Peace Council, we inform our readers of the real situation facing humanity and urge everyone to become personally active to halt and reverse the disastrous agenda of the Harper government to include Canada in US efforts to, in military terms, maintain “full spectrum dominance.” [Editor]
Volume 19 No. 1
Saskatchewan Peace News………………………………… February 2012
American stance will alter the geopolitical landscape in America’s favour and perpetuate American dominance.
NATO – cont’d from page 1 Kuwait. The massive joint
Israeli-US “Austere Challenge” war games testing the missile defence systems of both countries which were cancelled earlier this year are now rescheduled for October, less than one month before the US presidential election.
During his Asia-Pacific tour at the end of 2011, US President Obama heralded this militarized agenda by saying that the US is a Pacific power and will place increased effort in maintaining its presence (i.e., military) in the region.
Reporting February 15th in the Regina Leader-Post, Lee Berthiame, Postmedia News, quotes Iranian expert Trita Parsi, head of the Washington-based National American Council, who was speaking at the University of Ottawa, as saying Prime Minister Stephen Harper is inciting “hysteria” by claiming that Iran is the world’s greatest threat. “All this does is that it increases the likelihood that all the remaining options are confrontational options. And I don’t think that is to the benefit of anyone, including the Israelis or the Canadians.” Contradicting statements made by Harper to justify the vilifying of Iran, Parsi said Iranian leaders are neither irrational nor suicidal. “On the contrary, you have a government that is deadset on its survival”, he said.
Michel Chossudovsky and Finian Cunningham, Bahrain-based Middle East and East Africa Correspondent for Global Research, explain that “the launching of an outright war was using nuclear warheads against Iran … has been on the drawing board of the Pentagon since 2005” (The Globalization of War The “Military Roadmap” to World War III – December 2011).
Award-winning author, Professor of Economics (Emeritus) at the University of Ottawa, founder and Director of the Centre for Research of Globalization (Global Research), and contributor to the Encyclopedia Britannica, Michel Chossudovsky in a January 16th article in Global Research (War Plan Iran – Dispelling the Lies, Telling the Truth about Western Aggression in the Persian Gulf) states that “the year 2012 may become known as a watershed for humanity [my emphasis – Ed.] – the year when mankind was precipitated into a global conflagration involving nuclear weapons. The signs are indeed grimly ominous as formidable military forces converge on the Persian Gulf in the long-running standoff between the United States and Iran.”
Map of TAPI Natural Gas Pipeline
Russia and China are fully aware that a war with Iran is a prelude to a broader scale war. Chossudovsky and Cunningham report that in a recent statement the Russian government has warned that the US and NATO “should Iran get drawn into any political or military hardships, this will be a direct threat to our national security.”
The conquest of Iran and control of its oil and natural gas resources (about 10% of entire world reserves) is the driving force behind America’s military agenda. This agenda is perhaps not so much for its own use, but to curb and contain the industrial, economic and military growth of China. The Turkmenistan-AfghanistanPakistan-India (TAPI) natural gas pipeline is about to receive the go-ahead in direct opposition to American efforts to bring natural gas from Turkmenistan to Azerbaijan, Turkey and then westward to Europe. Iran will also supply gas (IPI) to this project (see map).
Stepping Stones On the Way to Iran Countries weakened and divided by civil strife, economic collapse and social chaos are less able to provide effective resistance to occupation. Ongoing hostilities provide the testing ground for new weapons and their control systems (e.g. theatre ballistic missile defence). As a bonus, there is an instant profit to the military-industrial complex (e.g. $150,000 155mm M77 Howitzer shells used by Canada to kill Taliban in Afghanistan) and the mushrooming of domestic war
Zbignew Brzezinski, advisor to US President Barack Obama, has publicly stated that Iran, not Syria, is the real strategic prize for America. A US-friendly regime in Tehran rather than one with an independent or anti-
NATO – cont’d on page 3 2
Volume 19 No. 1
Saskatchewan Peace News………………………………… February 2012
NATO – Militarism Out of Control (and what to do about it) cross-Canada tour meet
Dave Mckee President, Canadian Peace Congress
Elected at the Congress’s renewal convention in 2008 and reconfirmed last November, Dave is a longstanding peace activist, trade unionist, member of the Toronto Association for Peace for Peace and Solidarity (TAPS), and former steering committee member of the Canadian Peace Alliance. Dave is also an executive member of the World Peace Council and attends international meetings as priorities allow. Dave’s wife, Colleen Burke, is a member of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom and is also a member of the Congress executive.
Date: Monday, March 5, 2012 Place: Regina City Hall Darlene Hincks Room Time: 7:30 pm to 9:00 pm
Everyone Welcome! NATO – cont’d from page 2
HMCS Charlottetown let through an intercepted ship carrying arms to the Libyan rebels. This action and others by the 20 NATO warships in the Mediterranean resulted in hundreds of tonnes of ammunitions reaching Gaddafi’s opponents. Using the Canadian government as facilitator, Waterloo-based Aeryon Scout MicroUnmanned Aerial Vehicle and Ottawa-based Zariba Security Corporation delivered a $100,000 suit-case sized drone to the Libyan rebel’s Transitional National Council (TNC) in Misrata, sailing through NATO’s blockade from Malta without problems.
budgets (e.g. $735 billion 10-year military budget of the Harper government). Libya – NATO (including Canada) Taking Sides From an ostensibly non-partisan, humanitarian role sanctioned by the United Nations Security Council, NATO’s intervention in Libya has mutated into a violation of international law that involves regimechange and occurrences of war crimes. It is widely accepted that the Libyan rebels would not have come to power if it weren’t for NATO’s bombing.
Epilogue: BBC News reported on February 17th (first Anniversary of the start of the uprising that overthrew Gaddafi) that the situation in Libya is worsening. Outside the control of the TNC, militias vie for control of strategic positions within Tripoli and other parts of the country arbitrarily arresting and imprisoning those suspected of supporting Gaddafi.
Canada was actively involved at all levels. Canadian Lt. Gen. Charles Bouchard led the NATO intervention. David Pugliese, Postmedia News, reported on February 18th in the Ottawa Citizen that during his first major international trip abroad Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird visited Canadian aircrews in Italy and signed “Free Libya. Democracy.” on a Canadian bomb destined for Libya. In February 2011, Senators Hugh Segal and Romeo Dallaire urged the Canadian government to build a coalition for “rapid engagement” against Gaddafi. According to Pugliese, while enforcing arms embargo of Libya sanctioned by the UNSC, the Canadian warship
In January, TunisFocie (also Pravda and Telesur) reported US troops at the Mitga military base near Tripoli and at other locations: Brega, Ras Lanouf NATO – cont’d on page 4 3
Volume 19 No. 1
Saskatchewan Peace News………………………………… February 2012
“technical advisors”, they were supporting rebel communications and organizing the supply of weapons and ammunition, mostly from Turkey. Coordinating sites had been established in four areas of Homs: Khaldiya, Bab Amr, Bab Derib, and Rastan. Elite Forces UK on January 5th reported that British and French Special Forces were training members of the Free Syrian Army from a base in Turkey. British M16 operatives and UKSF (SAS/SBS) personnel were training rebels in urban warfare.
NATO – cont’d from page 3
and Sirte. Troops and mercenaries were setting up mobile camps and equipment around oilfields and refineries. Belying NATO’s claim of minimal “collateral damage”, Hamuda Hassan, Reuters, reports in the February 21st edition of the Regina Leader-Post, that Misrata was bombed “beyond recognition” and it will be a tough job rebuilding the city of 300,000 people.
The US is also putting diplomatic pressure on the Syrian government. On February 7th the American government withdrew is Ambassador Robert S. Ford and his staff from its embassy in Damascus. Readers may recall that the US re-opened its embassy in Damascus in late January 2011 at the height of the protest movement in Egypt. According to Michel Chossudovsky, this “bears a direct relationship to the onset of the recent protest movement in mid-March.” (The Pentagon’s “Salvador Option”: The Deployment of Death Squads in Iraq and Syria – August 16, 2011). Fluent in both Arabic and Turkish, Robert S. Ford worked directly under John Negroponte (US Ambassador to Honduras from 1981 to 1985) who played a key role in supporting and supervising the Contra mercenaries whose attacks claimed the lives of some 50,000 Nicaraguans. While in Baghdad, Negroponte described Robert S. Ford as “one of those very tireless people … who didn’t mind putting on his flak jacket and helmet and going out of the Green Zone to meet contacts.”
Syria – NATO’s Next Humanitarian War From the onset of the protest movement which started last year in southern Syria on March 17th, Western media coverage has presented events as being part of the broader pro-democracy “Arab Spring” movement. What is hidden is the involvement of armed terrorist groups primarily from neighbouring countries and supported by the US, EU and the Arab League monarchies. Syria is no “model society” in regard to civil rights and freedom of expression. The ruling Baath Party is enshrined in the current constitution. Nonetheless, Syria is the only remaining independent secular state in the Arab world. Its populist base integrates Muslims, Christians and Druze. As a result, President Bashar Al Assad has considerabe popular support. Reporting on the situation in Syria since March 2011, Michel Chossudovsky observes that the so-called peaceful protests were in fact not so peaceful. Numerous reports have been filed which cite police officers being killed, public buildings being burned and the housing areas of servicemen being attacked.
Lee Berthiaume, Postmedia News, reported in the February 21st edition of the Regina Leader-Post that the Canadian government is coming under increasing pressure to pull-out Ambassador Glenn Davidson after withdrawing several diplomats on January 31st. So far, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird has refused to do so. Upwards of 4,700 Canadians – the majority with dual citizenship – are presently in Syria. Arab League – Tool of Western Powers Formed in 1945 to “defend the independence and sovereignty” of its members, the League of Arab States (Arab League) has gone from supporting Arab independence and sovereignty to being a mouthpiece of Arab monarchies: Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, and Sultanate of Oman. Ironically the Arab League is now supporting actions which if successful will lead to a founding member of
Armed Members of Syrian Muslim Brotherhood Jisr-al-Choughour (AFN – June 16, 2011)
On February 8th, Global Research reported that according to DEBKA-Net both British and Qatari Special Forces had been dispatched to Syria. As
NATO – cont’d on page 5 4
Volume 19 No. 1
Saskatchewan Peace News………………………………… February 2012
Political Reconciliation Too Late?
NATO –cont’d from page 4
the League (i.e., Syria) becoming subservient to Western interests.
Soon after meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov earlier this month, Syrian President Bashar al Assad ordered a referendum on a new construction to be held on February 26th. The new constitution would create a multi-party system and place two, seven-year terms limits on the presidency. Lavrov supported the referendum call by saying, “a new constitution to end one-party rule in Syria is a step forward. … It is coming late unfortunately but better late than never.” US White House Press Secretary Jay Caney called the referendum “laughable”. (Globe and Mail – February 15,, 2012)
The Arab monarchs of the Arab League have never forgiven Gamal Abdel Nasser and his Pan-Arab, secular followers (including Muammar Gaddafi and Saddam Hussein) for overthrowing or threatening their rule. Also, billions of their wealth will disappear if the US “petro-dollar” loses its monopoly in oil markets and collapses. It is quid pro quo: the US gets the oil and geopolitical advantage over China and Russia while the League’s Arab monarchies maintain power (forget democracy) and their immense wealth.
Syria’s Allies Speak Bluntly
Islamic Fundamentalists – Pawns of the West
DEBKA-Net reported that the February 7th talks between Syrian President Assad and Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov centred on the presence of British and Qatari Special Forces in Homs. The Turkish Weekly observed that Lavrov speaking sarcastically about Russia’s veto at the UNSC, said, “We have missed an opportunity to allow armed units which are fighting against the government forces to take control of cities and villages.” (Lavrov Says Syrians Should Decide Assad’s Fate – February 9th). After the weekend trip to Damascus by Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zhai Jun, BBC News on February 20th quoted The People’s Daily, organ of the Chinese Communist Party, as saying, “If Western countries continue to fully support Syria’s opposition, then in the end a large-scale civil war will erupt and there will be no way to thus avoid the possibility of foreign armed intervention.”
With each passing day, it is becoming clearer that Islamic fundamentalists played a key role in the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in Libya. David Pugliese in the February 18th edition of the Ottawa Sun reports that before NATO’s intervention into Libya, President Idriss Deby Itno warned that “al-Qaida’s North African branch, known as AQIM [al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb] – Ed.] was playing an active role in the uprising. Similar claims had already been made by Gadhafi, who said the rebellion had been organized by AQIM and his old enemies the LIFG [Libya Islamic Fighting Group – Ed.], who have vowed to overthrow the colonel and return the country to traditional Muslim values, including Sharia law.” Some Canadian military officers joked privately that NATO’s jets were the “alQaida’s air force.” Pugliese points out that various LIFG operatives came to the forefront of the Libyan rebellion with the most noteworthy being Abdel Hakim Belhadj who is currently military commander of Tripoli. Belhadj received his military training at a CIA-sponsored guerilla camp in Afghanistan. Later in 2004, the CIA arrested Belhadj in Bangkok as a terrorist. He was interrogated and transferred to Libya where he was imprisoned by Gaddafi. Pursuant to Resolution 1822, the United Nations Security Council officially listed the LIFG as a terrorist organization.
On February 20th, Aljazeera said that two Iranian navy ships had docked in western Syria. The article remarked that Iran “is no longer just voicing its support, but taking concrete measures.” In Conclusion There is ample evidence that the conflicts in and around Libya, Syria and Iran are part of a US policy (supported by its EU, NATO and Arab League allies) of “regime change” whose ultimate goal is to ensure continued American dominance in world affairs.
Michel Chossudovsky reports that the Libyan model of rebel forces is being applied to Syria where “Islamist fighters” are integrated with NATO Special Forces. An LIFG brigade from Libya has been dispatched to Syrai where is is involved in terrorist attacks. (Syria: NATO’s Next “Humanitarian War” – February 19, 2012)
The TAPI and IPI natural gas pipelines will assist in ending traditional hostilities and consolidating regional interests which lie outside of the American orbit or control. Time is not on America’s side. Peaceful and mutual understanding - not empire - is the solution. □ Peter Gehl - February 22 5
Volume 19 No. 1
Saskatchewan Peace News………………………………… February 2012
6
Volume 19 No. 1
Saskatchewan Peace News………………………………… February 2012
Imperialist Powers Threaten Peace in Middle East ATHENS - The World Peace Council voices publicly its concern with the serious threats of imperialism to peace in the Middle East, which becomes once more a theatre of its ambitions as well as its internal competitions.
We defend the elimination of all existing nuclear weapons, starting with those of the big powers; the creation of a nuclear free zone in the Middle East, fulfilling the resolutions of the last Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT) review. However, it is upon the sovereign rights of the individual nations to develop nuclear energy for civilian purposes, more so the signatories of the NPT.
A few months after the aggression by imperialism and its war machine NATO, against the Libyan people and territory, the major imperialist powers orchestrate new belligerent adventures in the Middle East.
The opting for weapon diplomacy, with air craft carriers, has grievous consequences, intensifying the conflicts in this already tense Middle East region. We support the genuine and peaceful social, political and economic demands of the Syrian people but we state once again that no power has the right to decide for another people or nation. Mankind cannot tolerate foreign interference into the internal disputes of a people. The sovereignty of a country is the sole responsibility of each people.
The United States of America and European Union, accompanied by Israel and the Gulf monarchies, plan moves, create pretexts, generate internal interference, set on destabilizing the countries in the region that do not fit into their plans and interests. Their current targets are Syria and Iran. The general plan is NATO's "Great Middle East" aiming at the control of energy resources and pipelines as well as markets for the multinational corporations and spheres of influence.
We support the struggle of the Palestinian people to achieve their independent state within the borders of June 4th 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital, solving the issue of Palestinian refugees on the basis of the resolution 194 of UN, stopping all settlement activities in the Palestinian territories, releasing all the Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons, ending the unjust siege of Gaza strip from Israeli side, as well as the right of the Palestinian state to be a full member of the United Nations.
In Syria they repeat the methods used against Libya: sabotaging infrastructure, backing terrorist acts, infiltrating mercenaries and smuggling weapons into the country. The objective is to create instability and chaos, in order to justify foreign intervention. USA and EU use front men in the region, the Gulf monarchies, to impose sanctions through the Arab League along with the government of Turkey who harbours the socalled opposition in order to bring the matter of Syria to the Security Council, an antechamber for military action.
We call on the attention of the world, of the forces that defend peace, sovereignty and self determination to these serious events. In doing so we express our solidarity with the Syrian and Iranian peoples, victims of sordid actions of destabilization, and at the same time condemn this criminal aggressions.
The Arab League resolutions constitute interference into Syria's internal affairs. They violate the rules of this regional entity and further discredit it. Another major source of concern is the deployment of large number of US troops into the Persian Gulf region, and Israel's provocation against Iran. The unilateral measures of embargoes and economic sanctions, put forth by the US and the EU violate repeatedly the UN Charter.
The democratic, anti-imperialist, peace loving forces of the world should break the silence and denounce the treacherous campaigns of imperialism that pave the way to this new aggression.
We take note of the imperialist powers complicit silence towards the selective murder of Iranian scientists by Israel's secret service, with evident US approval. Crimes against science are crimes against humanity.
We make this call at the moment that the World Peace Council is preparing to hold its World Assembly in Nepal. We commit ourselves to continue the struggle and mobilize forces worldwide in order to create the bases for a new stage of anti-imperialist struggle, in the defense of peace, solidarity and the self-determination of peoples.
We express our support to the complex struggle of the Iranian people for peace, democracy and social justice and reject any interference in the internal affairs of Iran under any pretext. We state once more the inalienable right of every nation to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.
We are confident that with the peoples struggle peace will prevail!□ World Peace Council – February 7
7
Volume 19 No. 1
Saskatchewan Peace News………………………………… February 2012
8
Volume 19 No. 1
Saskatchewan Peace News………………………………… February 2012
Act To Prevent War Against Iran and Syria The following is based on an article by Darrell Rankin published in People’s Voice on February 16th. Darrell is chair of the Manitoba Peace Council and a member of the Canadian Peace Congress executive. WINNIPEG – The Middle East is the epicenter of the militarization of relations between China and Russia on one side and NATO’s imperialist, or advanced capitalist countries, on the other. In the last century, imperialism plunged the world twice into war and it is getting ready for round three. The arms race is growing particularly in the Middle East ($50 billion US arms sale to Saudi Arabia – the largest in world history) and the battle lines are getting clearer.
After all, the US succeeded in Iraq and very quickly in Libya. No one else has the high quality of weapons, trained troops and leadership. We should recall Hitler’s expectation that Britain would surrender after a drastic bombing campaign. It was unrealistic and the Nazis had to conclude that Britain would surrender only if it were fully occupied. Western imperialist countries should draw the obvious conclusion that a war of “regime change” will not be easy and will involve lengthy occupations. The West will have to pay a large military, economic and political price. The stakes for people in Syria and Iran are incredibly higher.
Smaller wars of regime change and occupation in Syria and Iran will increase the potential of a new global war. Positions are hardening. So far, China and Russia have vetoed any UN Security Council resolution that my trigger military action. However, that may not be enough. It may be only a matter of weeks or months before imperialism targets Syria and Iran.
War Spells Danger and Ruin to People of all Lands We need to realize that the current capitalist crisis is placing civil rights and democracy on the chopping block. The list of current wars and domestic “security measures” are a path to a new world order to corporate fascism (a.k.a. Benito Mussolini). Under dictatorship, it is easier to impose the full burden of capitalism’s crisis in workers, farmers, professionals and owners to small businesses. Popular and revolutionary movements whose aim is to solve unemployment, famine and climate change are crushed. The spread of war in the Middle East is the greatest enemy of the Arab Spring revolutions and the aspirations of people in this region for genuine democracy and freedom.
Imperialism is the Source of the War Danger Protecting civilians is a monstrous argument for starving, bombing and invading a country. So what is really behind imperialism’s rising bloodlust? Arrogance cannot fully explain imperialism’s growing dependence on its enormous military potential. The answer to this question is that capitalism is in deep trouble and its most reactionary, right-wing forces are preparing to use a war to wipe out all resistance at home and abroad.
As always, war creates fantastic profits for military industrialists and the bankers financing war expenditures and government deficits.
If we are to believe our corporate media, the US military will enjoy early and sudden success in a limited war. Prevent – cont’d on page 10
Remember!
Making Peace Vigil every Thursday at noon - SCARTH STREET MALL
Enclosed please find donation
Name:
in the amount of $
Address:
in support of SASKATCHEWAN PEACE NEWS Email: (Saskatchewan Peace News is now published electronically and available at: www.canadianpeacecongress.ca) 9
Volume 19 No. 1
Saskatchewan Peace News………………………………… February 2012
Atieh Halaseh
Prevent – cont’d from page 9 Build the Anti-War and Popular Movements
(1943 – 2011)
Governments throughout the capitalist world are acting like they are immune to public opinion.
With great sadness, we announce the passing of Atieh on July 31, 2011 at the age of 67 years. He will be missed by all who knew him.
To avoid war and solve the general crisis of capitalism, the labour movement, civil society and all people must act now to prevent imperialist aggression, Waiting for a war to start is the wrong approach. It will too late. The war dynamic will have been initiated.
Atieh joined the Regina Peace Council soon after arriving in Regina in 1970. Atieh became an integral part of Council’s activities, being its treasurer at the time of his untimely death. Atieh was personable, outgoing and always with a joke or amusing story. He had the gift of being welcome and appreciated by all who met him.
The anti-war movement must overcome its current crisis. According to Michel Chossudovsky, many civil society organizations are misinformed, manipulated or co-opted. A large segment of “progressive” opinion is supportive NATO’s Responsibility to Protect (R2P) “humanitarian” propaganda to such an extent that war plans are “rubberstamped.” (Globalization of War – December 2011)
A person could be excused for not realizing the more serious and politically knowledgeable side of Atieh. Atieh kept abreast of world events and supported progressive platforms throughout the world. He was an active member of the New Democratic Party. Atieh was keenly aware of the history and reality in his homeland (Jordan) and the Middle East. He realized that violence and wars are used by the powerful for profit and maintaining power. Always present a peace rallies and progressive events, Atieh enjoyed participating in Saturday afternoon political discussions.
The parties of the Socialist International including the New Democratic Party (NDP) of Canada are making a monumental mistake by lining up to support aggression against Syria and Iran. The NDP has said virtually nothing about the looming war danger. Former Reform/Conservative MP Monte Solberg studied the NDP’s position and wrote last fall in the November 13th edition of the Toronto Sun that the “Iran problem didn’t merit a single mention” in the party’s statements, speeches and media releases. Asked to comment on the Canadian government’s decision to send a warship to the Mediterranean for possible use against Syria, the NDP foreign affairs critic said, “I don’t have a strong opinion about that” and urged “tougher pressure” on the Syrian government.
Although Atieh didn’t speak often of his past, when he did, you could easily tell how proud he was of his heritage and family. We in Regina were lucky to have had Atieh settle in our community. Committed to internationalism and human progress, Atieh made a measurable contribution to the strength and unity of the Regina Peace Council. He will truly be missed. □ Regina Peace Council
Candidates in the current race for the leadership of the NDP should be asked to establish and clarify their positions on the issue of foreign intervention against Syria and Iran.
War can be prevented if we all work together to “rise like lions, after slumber, in unvanquishable numbers”, as Percy Bysshe Shelley says his work The Mask of Anarchy.□
Saskatchewan Peace News is published quarterly by the Regina Peace Council and edited by Peter Gehl. The Council endeavours to provide residents of Saskatchewan and others with timely and informative articles which we feel have significant importance to peace in our community, country and beyond. The Regina Peace Council was originally formed in 1949 and has a long history of action for peace. The Council is a member of the Canadian Peace Congress which is affiliated to the World Peace Council. Publication of the Saskatchewan Peace News depends on the volunteer labour and financial support of our members and supporters. Contributions are always welcome as well as comments and suggestions from you – our readers. The Regina Peace Council accepts articles concerning the struggle for peace for publication, subject to approval by our editorial board. Please consider making a donation and becoming a member of the Regina Peace Council. We meet monthly except for July and August. For further information, please write to: The Regina Peace Council, 46 Williston Drive, REGINA, SK, S4X 1C4; or phone 949-1222 or 347-7693; or email to peace.council@accesscomm.ca.
10