–CUPE has voted to support an immediate pullout of Canadian troops from Afghanistan. Once again CUPE has established itself as one of the most progressive and enlightened unions in the country when it comes to international issues.

–The Left seem to be reacting quite strongly to the CAW-Magna deal. Buzz fell out with the organized left a while back with his support for the Liberals, his attacks on the NDP, and his attacks on the internal democratic running of the union. However, I do not think that he is ever going to be able to move past this.

–What the CAW leadership is pulling with their `agreement’ with Magna is an affront to the organized working people of this country. The rank and file of the CAW deserve better from their leadership.

–We must fight this.

–Another response to the poll.

–An analysis of the recent poll of Afghan attitudes towards Canada.

–More money for war, killing, and imperialist projects… It means that we take money from working Canadians and spend it harming workers in the rest of the world. Seems like something that is not in the interests of the majority of us.

–A new party of the people is born.

–The fact that the Conservatives and Liberals were able to pass such legislation in the first place says something about the sensibilities of our so-called elected leaders.

–That is a polite way of stating it.

–We continue.

“The tragedy of Pakistan is that the People’s Party of Bhutto and its rivals offer no real alternatives to the policies currently being pursued. The State Department notion of Bhutto perched on Musharraf’s shoulder parrotting pro-Washington homilies was always ridiculous. Now there are doubts as to whether she will even reach the General’s shoulder.”

The need for the anti-war left in Israel to organise itself has never been greater.

“[T]he point of most of these attacks is to personally discredit anyone who would criticize Israel — and to taint them with the smear of “controversy” — rather than to engage them in a genuine debate.”

“After her election to the Senate, she became the first New York senator on the armed services committee, where she revealed her hawkish tendencies by supporting the invasion of Iraq. Although she now favours a withdrawal of US troops, her position on Iran is among the most warlike of all the candidates – Democrat or Republican … This week, she said that, if elected president, she would not rule out military strikes to destroy Tehran’s nuclear weapons facilities.”

This is incredible, the return of an utterly corrupt and self-exiled former Prime Minister will not lead to narrowing the democratic-deficit in Pakistan. Instead, it seems as though her return will have the opposite effect, via the soon to be declared ’state of emergency and national security laws’.

“[T]he trial judge, said: “A serious allegation has been made that a picture has been manipulated so as to mislead.”"

Uncovering a cover-up … and an increasingly autocratic state.

I am not sure how Bhutto’s return will affect the lack of democracy in Pakistan, but it appears to have had a positive impact on the country’s financial sector:

“Bhutto’s return pleased investors in the Karachi Stock Exchange, whose main index has risen 47 percent this year.”

An online petition urging the Prime Minister and the leaders of the opposition to end Canada’s combat involvement in Afghanistan.

“Ceasefire.ca is a project of the Rideau Institute on International Affairs, a public policy research and advocacy group based in Ottawa. Ceasefire.ca is the institute’s main public outreach and advocacy arm.”

“A Vancouver woman has been barred from living in Canada with her husband, partly because he is Muslim and she was born Christian, CBC News has learned … Selena Paskalidis married Sadaqat Hussain, of Pakistan, last year. Canada has denied him entry to Canada, citing concerns because the two “differ in culture and religion.”"

How bizarre.

“[T]he Israeli Army hasn’t charged a single case of abuse or murder by soldiers of Palestinians in proper court.”

“America sees Ethiopia as its principal Horn of Africa ally in the “war on terror”. The US gave tacit approval for Ethiopia’s Christmas invasion of Somalia which ousted the Union of Islamic Courts … It also provided logistical and technical support for the operation and continues to help co-ordinate a response to the insurgency in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, which seeks to destabilise the transitional government, propped up by Ethiopia … The US provides some $283m (£140m) in military and humanitarian aid to Ethiopia and has trained its military – one of the largest and strongest in Africa.”