Best of the Web

CD’s Best of the Web is a weekly feature that compile links to some of the best progressive analysis on the web, curated by the Canadian Dimension collective.

  • Obama and Health Care Reform for August 19, 2009

    Compiled by Ben Wood | August 19th 2009 | USA Politics and Foreign Policy

    Judging by the amount of rhetoric emanating from all levels of media this week, it would seem Obama’s health care plan that was a cornerstone of his election platform in the fall is going to fail. And what’s worse, very few people can go beyond the hyperbole to make a decent argument for or against reform. The most outrageous was the clamoring of the “death squads” in ‘socialized’ health care that decide who lives and who dies.

    A brief overview of Obama’s recent health care struggle:

    This article outs (via Open Secrets) Senators who have received money tied to the health insurance industry. Certainly, an important consideration when you have a Democratic majority in a House that has trouble passing the health care plan that championed Obama’s election platform. Though as the article points out, the list “is not presented to suggest that any of the congressional members have been ‘bought’ by the health insurance industry. But what flesh-and-bone human being would not at least be influenced by such largesse?”

    And as usual in American politics, the coverage slowly walks away from serious attempts to reform health care, real discussions of alternatives, or comparative studies with other countries, and more and more this issue becomes a test to see if Obama fits the President’s shoes.

    The outrage directed at Obama from both Democrats and Republicans, left and right, is curious, if anything. There are those who have internalized his campaign of hope and change, as if these ideals can only surface and spread via Obama alone. We are the sheep and Obama the shepherd, as far as this group is concerned.

    There are others, though skeptical of naïve Obama worshippers, certainly do wish he has a more successful term — or at least month (it’s been a rough 8 years) — than Dubya. Not just for their personal enjoyment, but for the whole country. And maybe, and this might be a stretch, to shift international public opinion on the United States.

    I think these people would side with William Pfaff in his recent piece on Truthdig, who blames the American public: seniors who are convinced Medicare is not a government program, but rather “delivered through the benevolence of hospitals and doctor, or by divine providence”; or those citizens who stubbornly believe the “American system is superior to all others on Earth…If not, why does everyone in the world want to come to live in the United States?”

    And then there is David Michael Green who sees Obama’s commitment to bipartisanism as nothing more than “total capitulation” to “the folks who have such small minorities in Congress that they can’t even muster forty percent of Senate votes to block consideration of legislation by filibuster”.

  • NDP Identity Crisis for August 5, 2009

    Compiled by Ben Wood | August 5th 2009 | Canadian Politics, Economy and Foreign Policy

    Today, Canadian news media sources are all mentioning the possible name change for Canada’s New Democratic Party. There is, however, a lack of thorough discussion about what this means for the party that remains in the background of federal politics. Among the more serious questions being asked are whether talks about a name change will prompt debates about the party’s mandate and target audience.

    The NDP convention will feature a speaker from the Obama presidential campaign; many within the party support this. They feel the party needs effective strategies to engage with younger voters who don’t identify with any of the federal parties. Lawrence Martin discusses this and believes a name change is the first step in the right direction.

    One of the proposed names is to drop the ‘new’ and become, simply, the Democratic Party — another connection to the Democratic Party of America. Maybe it is true the NDP are trying to mimic the Obama sensation as much as they can? Though Obama’s campaign was successful, Barry Weisleder argues the NDP should distance themselves from the American democrats.

    Corvin Russell, on his rabble.ca blog, points out the lack of any racial or gender diversity on the program for the NDP convention.

  • War Zones for August 3rd 2009

    Compiled by Matthew Brett | August 3rd 2009 | War Zones

    Afghanistan

    The situation in Afghanistan continues to deteriorate leading up to the Aug. 20 elections. Amidst a rising civilian and military death toll, the election campaign is taking on farcical proportions. Assassinations of political elites have become a regular occurrence, and many of the people running in the election are former war criminals themselves, including Karzai’s vice-presidential candidate, Mohammad Qasim Fahim. Canadian brigadier general Jon Vance told Le Devoir last week that Canada has failed its mission. It remains unclear what role Canada will play after 2011.

    Israel-Palestine

    As Obama presses to have “natural growth” settlements curbed, the New York Times reported this Monday that Palestinians are being illegally evicted from their homes. A member of the British Consulate is reported as being “appalled” by the evictions and the UN special Middle East coordinator described them as “totally unacceptable actions by Israel.”

    On ZNet this week, Ali Abunimah suggests that a one-state solution is likely the best way forward. “As George Mitchell surely knows from his experience in Northern Ireland, when two national communities lay claim to the same land and one dominates the other by force, partition only changes the contours of the conflict.”

    Honduras

    Canadian defence minister Peter MacKay is pondering whether or not to cut funding for a handful of Honduran soldiers trained by the Canadian Forces while ousted president Manuel Zelaya has been refused the right to return to his country. Roberto Micheletti, the illegitimate and internationally unrecognized president who overthrew Zelaya in a coup, seems quite comfortable that Western powers will not be to stern on him, and a resolution to the situation seems highly unlikely in the near future. Meanwhile, the situation in Honduras itself continues to deteriorate.

    For some very informative context on the coup:

    Others

    On other global war fronts, Obama appears to be abandoning his approach of mutual respect for Iran as details emerge of U.S. proposals to cut Iran’s gasoline imports if nuclear talks are rejected. As Noam Chomsky points out, the very discussion of Iran’s nuclear ambitions in the face of massive U.S. and Israeli armaments—not to mention the major military occupations led by these states—is a clear indication of the extent of American propaganda efforts. That is to say, how can the U.S. justify itself in deepening sanctions against Iran while it busily occupies Iraq and pursues an agenda in the Israel-Palestine conflict in clear violation of international law?

    Other developments merit attention, including the Venezuela-Colombia stand-off, military operations in Pakistan’s Swat valley and the country’s Supreme Court decision to charge Musharraf’s imposition of emergency rule in 2007 as unconstitutional. Developments in Kenya, Nigeria and Zimbabwe also merit attention.

  • Abousfian Abdelrazik for July 24, 2009

    Compiled by Ben Wood | July 24th 2009 | Human Rights

    Abousfian Abdelrazik has finally returned to Canada after being stranded in Sudan for close to 6 years, but the story is far from over. Despite being cleared of any charges by Sudan, CSIS and the RCMP and denying, under oath, any involvement or associations with terrorist groups he is still on the UN 1276 list.

    In This Toronto Star article Abdelrazik says he was tortured by Sudanese officials and was told by a CSIS agent that “Sudan will be your Guantanamo.”

    The Globe has published the heavily redacted CSIS documents detailing correspondence between Canadian and Sudanese officials. These documents reveal that Sudan wanted a ‘permanent solution’ to the imprisonment of Abdelrazik. CSIS did not seem to take this threat too seriously.

    Abdelrazik’s ordeal has been described by many as ‘Kafkaesque’: from being arrested without explanation to being granted permission by the Canadian government to return home while remaining on the UN ‘no-fly’ list. Rick Salutin requests a very un-Kafkaesque conclusion: an explanation.

    A great resource on Abdelrazik’s story including a timeline, updates, government files and ways to get involved:

  • Canadiana for July 10, 2009

    Compiled by Andrea Levy | July 10th 2009

    Harper and the Honduran coup

    Ottawa was strikingly dilatory in denouncing the military coup in Honduras. In fact, by all appearances the Harper government tacitly supports the ousting of President Jose Manuel Zelaya. On Rabble, Yves Engler, author of the recently published Black Book of Canadian Foreign Policy, discusses the Zelaya government’s involvement in the move towards a left-leaning front of Latin American nations as another factor in the Harper government’s antipathy.

    A different kind of civics lesson

    Capital is determined to make working people bear the brunt of the economic crisis they did not create. But amid all the concessions being successfully extracted from organized labour, there is also resistance, as exemplified by the strike of municipal workers in Toronto. Greg Albo and Herman Rosenfeld offer some in-depth analysis in The Bullet:

    And James Laxer devotes a recent Rabble blog to the subject:

    The road to recovery

    While the idol of economic growth appears increasingly to have clay feet, especially in light of the catastrophic ecological crisis, many progressive voices remain committed to growth, albeit in a different guise from the bankrupt neo-liberal model. In a recent contribution to the Relentlessly Progressive Economics blog, Andrew Jackson argues for public investment in such areas as urban infrastructure and alternative energy as the only viable stimulus to economic recovery:

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Rick Salutin, playwright and columnist, Toronto Star

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