[Kzyxtalk] TODAY, NOVEMBER 3, ON KMEC

[sako4 at comcast.net]

TODAY, NOVEMBER 3, ON KMEC 

CANADA SUCKERED INTO OBAMA'S WAR: THE SHOOTING ON PARLIAMENT HILL 




Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said last week that the attack earlier this month on Parliament Hill “...will lead us to strengthen our resolve and redouble our efforts, and those of our national security agencies.” 




Indeed, the killing of the Canadian soldier in Ottawa was a tragic, criminal act, but the truth is we don’t know anything about the killer. He may not have had any real connection to ISIL. He may not have been a terrorist. He may have been just a deluded, troubled kid. A mentally ill kid. A kid with drug problems. 




Be that as it may, the Canadian and U.S. governments are already rushing to use the incident to instill fear and to justify further military aggression in Iraq and Syria. The vote to launch combat missions against ISIL in Iraq passed 157-134 in the Canadian House of Commons. 




There are a lot of myths about the Obama's latest war. And there's a backstory to the civil war in Syria. We will explore all this on KMEC, today, November, at 1:00 PM, Pacific Time. We broadcast at 105.1 FM in Ukiah, CA, and we stream live from the web at www.kmecradio.org . 




Our guests will be Shahid Mahmood and Beau Grosscup. Our host and producer is John Sakowicz. 




SHAHID MAHMOOD 




Mahmood, who lives in Toronto, was an editorial cartoonist for Dawn, a leading national newspaper in Pakistan. He is now internationally syndicated with the New York Times Syndicate. He just wrote a piece titled “Harper and Malala” (not yet published) which notes that on Wednesday, Harper was to have two events in Toronto with Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, but they were cancelled after the shooting. See: “Harper cancels Malala citizenship event in wake of shooting.” 




Says Mahmood: “Prime Minister Stephen Harper has dragged Canada into an asymmetrical war with ISIS. This only ensures future Canadian casualties — brought about from a misguided foreign policy. At Malala’s citizenship ceremony Prime Minister Harper was going to publicly commit over $100 million to the Global Partnership for Education — an organization that Malala supports. Prime Minister Harper postponed Malala’s ceremony in the wake of the shootings on Parliament Hill. This was a missed opportunity for making a powerful statement to radicalized fundamentalists worldwide.” See a recent interview with Malala on NBC.com in Philadelphia — “Peace Prize Winner Malala Yousafzai to Obama: Stop Arming the World” — in which she recounts speaking with President Obama: “I said instead of sending guns, send books. Instead of sending weapons, send teachers.” 




BEAU GROSSCUP 




Beau Grosscup is a semi-retired CSU Chico faculty member in the Department of Political Science. He teaches courses in International Relations (US Foreign Policy, Politics of Terrorism, Political Economy of Post-Industrial Societies). He is a much published author including "The Newest Explosions of Terrorism: Latest Sites of Terrorism in the 90s and Beyond" (New Horizon Press), now in its 4th edition, and "Strategic Terror: the politics and ethics of aerial bombardment (Zed Books, 2006)," an analysis of strategic bombing theory (Shock and Awe) that focuses on the current state terrorism of the 'bombing nations' (US, Britain, Israel and Russia). 




Grosscup holds a PH.D. in International Relations from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. His research is on contemporary terrorism (most recently Cluster Munitions and State Terror, MR Press) and militarization of North American society. 




He is a co-host of community radio (KZFR) The Peace and Social Justice Program, using political humor and class, gender and race analysis to inform listeners of the world in which we live. He is a frequent participant in various media including MSNBC, Pacifica Radio, Iranian Radio, Institute for Public Accuracy, NPR and Fox cable Bill O'Reilly Show. 




Students are mixed about Grosscup. Those comfortable with their understanding of the world or not interested in a variety of viewpoints find him arrogant, abrasive and threatening, much like the local newspaper who labelled him 'more dangerous than Saddam Hussein.' Those looking to be pushed intellectually and who recognize he cares as much, if not more, about their intellectual development than they do, appreciate him. 




Grosscup was a member of the Chico Peace and Justice Center board of directors, former president of the Chico chapter of the California Faculty Association, and the CSU faculty union. 




About the Canadian attack, Grosscup said: “These events are being labeled ‘Canada’s 9/11,’ which means that any debate over how to deal with terrorism is largely over in Canada. As in the U.S. after its 9/11, the Canadian political right (Harper et al) and the Canadian National Security State with strong ties to the U.S. NSS, now has the upper hand in the central democratic debate over balancing civil liberties and public safety. They obviously want to swing the pendulum even further toward the ‘security fix’ at the expense of individual rights in both Canada and, given U.S.-Canada geo-political ties, even further in the U.S. Meanwhile, further evidence that there is no ‘security fix’ to terrorism is abundant for all who want to see. 




Grosscup continued, "The same day the attack on the Canadian Parliament (said by U.S. security experts to be inadequately ‘secure’) occurred…another person compromised White House security just weeks after its security was ‘fixed’ once again. In both countries, neither government nor corporate media are encouraging Canadian or U.S. citizens to question this militarized approach to terrorism. Nor are Canadians being encouraged to ask the ‘why’ of these two latest attacks beyond ‘those crazy Muslims hate us for our freedoms.’ It’s as if ‘peace-loving’ Canada’s decision to wage a brutal war on Afghanistan and now ISIS has no connection to the ‘why’ of these attacks.” 





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