Wednesday, January 28, 2015

When They Cower In Abject Fear


                                               http://www.mirror.co.uk/

Tomorrow, we're told, the Harper government will introduce its new anti-terror legislation. Recent events have proved to be the undoing of the Harperian economy. So a diversion is in order. If they won't vote on your economic record, perhaps they'll vote for you out of fear. And if they do that, Clive Doucet and Joe Ingram write, the terrorists will have won:

The terrorists understand the power of the front page and are using it with apparent success – forcing their anger, rejection and violence to the top of the news, week after week, month after month. They want to provoke a “clash of civilizations.”

And Mr. Harper and his supporters appear to be walking right into their trap.
While no one disputes the need to deal effectively with terrorism and its causes, how we do so and the public resources we spend on them need to be proportional to their real importance for Canadians and for the world at large. The term “war on terror” was coined during the George W. Bush administration; his Presidency is long gone, his “mission accomplished” in Iraq. And terrorist actions have been multiplying ever since.

The "war on terror" response has only made things worse. But it focuses voters on the enemy without -- not the enemy within. And then enemy within is focused on destroying the state at home:

The glaring weakness of Mr. Harper’s decade of oil-first economic policies has been vividly exposed. Despite the warnings of some of the globe’s leading economists about the perils of the so-called “resource curse” (ie. an excessive reliance on a single commodity) the Harper government has failed to strategically diversify the structure of Canada’s economy. It has been as if we are blind to the longer term trends and to the particular threat reliance on fossil fuels has for the planet and to our economy. It’s only taken a few months for Alberta’s robust extraction economy to collapse and suddenly a national ‘balanced’ budget – even after years of unprecedented cuts to all public services – is receding into the distance.

Democracies depend on coherent, sustained and remembered public debate around complex issues such as – is there an alternative to oil? What is the best science telling us about climate change? And how can we best react to it? The Germans, for example, have just moved their economy into being powered 50 per cent by non-fossil fuels.

Last we checked, Germany had the strongest economy in Europe and they have no domestically produced oil. And the Danes are not far behind.

But the last thing the Harperites want is a debate about the wisdom of transforming Canada into an energy super power. So cue the alarm bells. Scare the hell out of them. And, when they cower in abject fear, you can get away with anything.


7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Harper lied. Obama said he did no such thing as, request Harper to take a role in the ISIS war. Many think Harper was an abysmal failure in Wales, he forced his way into this war with ISIS, to try and redeem himself.

Harper is the worst terrorist, Canada has ever had. He dragged us into this war, to save his own miserable hide.

Owen Gray said...

He's trying desperately to get Canadians to look the other way, Anon.

If they pay attention to what he's done, he'll lose the next election.

Unknown said...

NATO members are terrorists Daniele Ganser a Swiss historian proved it for his university thesis. He interviewed hundreds across Europe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdXCNThYBwE

I know for a fact that US led NATO bombing runs target Hospitals waterworks power plants city halls government buildings and a ton of civilians.

Welcome to George Orwell,s 1984...

Who are the real terrorists now?

Harper-cons ass-licking the USA.

Owen Gray said...

Unfortunately, when George W. Bush convinced NATO to invade Iraq, he did great damage to that organization, Mogs.

Unknown said...

Um NATO was sick long before Bush if you read Ganser's work. It was a front [NATO] to attack the left from right wing radicals much like the Harper-con government. Harper feels emboldened by his membership in NATO even though he is a coward. The closet incident proves that. He acts like a chicken strutting his stuff in front of a fox Putin. Putin is ex-KGB he knows geo politics and that Harper is a chicken shit fool.

Owen Gray said...

I suspect Putin had Harper's number long ago, Mogs.

Unknown said...

I forgot to mention NATO also targets schools with their bombing runs...

Not so nice bullies they the Harper-cons would kick sand in our eyes if they found us on a secluded beach go figure.