Uncle Sam's got Fluffy by the balls

Justin Trudeau is a lame duck PM. Trailing the charmless weasel Pierre Poilievre by 20 points in the latest polls. Facing down an uprising among his own caucus. Why doesn’t he just go away? While Justin didn’t inherit his dear daddy’s charisma, brains, or political savvy, he did get a generous dollop of the famous Trudeau arrogance. That’s what keeps him from making the smart decision, both for himself and the country. In late 2023, in response to a steady stream of leaks out of CSIS about election interference by China (remember those Chinese police stations in major Canadian cities!), he struck the Foreign Interference Commission to get to the bottom of things, or at least make it look like he cared. Meanwhile, our esteemed ally the USA, has developed a major hate for India, the world’s most populous democracy. Why? Because when Uncle Sam told the Free World to sanction Russia to death in February 2022, India’s PM Modi blew him off. Modi needs to be taught a lesson. So right in the middle of those foreign interference hearings, which were going nowhere fast, our US allies leaked some nasty intel to CSIS about how Modi’s agents were deep into harassing and murdering Canadians! The “Canadians” they were harassing and murdering were the militant Sikh separatists who murdered PM Indira Ghandi and blew up that Air India flight back in 1985. India understandably labels them terrorists. Overnight, the inquiry into Chinese election interference became all about India! In the big picture, Sikhs are less than two percent of India’s population, so not a serious threat to Modi. But in Canada they represent a good chunk of our ethnic vote, enough that our politicians find it worthwhile to pander to them. Canada is home to the largest Sikh population outside India. There are ten times as many Sikhs in Canada than the US. The DC brain-trust figured they can use Canada to antagonize India… and here we are! Canada has for years been routinely cast as a NATO free rider for not meeting our military spending obligations. Desperate to curry favour in Washington, Justin saw turning on India as his least bad option. Hell of a jam to be in, but totally predictable when you refuse to pursue an independent foreign policy and instead commit to vassalage to Washington.

Canada unleashes new acronym in war on Russia and China

Scooch over, CSIS, CES, DND, and RCMP; there's a new sheriff in town.

Meet NSICOP.

I read up on this stuff with some frequency. Some would call it an "obsession." I'd never even heard of NSICOP until today.

But today they emerged from the shadows with this bombshell about how Russia and China are totally sort of maybe possibly messing with our democracy!

Yup, that's some serious shit alright! Thank God we've got NSICOP looking out for us!

In case you don't know, that stands for "National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians."

To be honest, I'm a little surprised that these folks have blown their cover by coming out on the CBC. I'm pretty sure there's gotta be a few Russia/China operatives reading our national propaganda outfit...


You don't imagine they could have done this on purpose, do you? Maybe they've been infiltrated by Russia/China?

When your national pride is contingent on killing a man two miles away, you're f*cked

Lots of hoo-ha and boo-ya and chest thumping in Canada today about that remarkable story of a Canadian sniper setting a new record for a long-distance kill.

So far, the only noteworthy political voice calling this gloating into question has been Angry Tom.

Must say I was pleased to see that the Globe and Mail saw fit to print several letters to Ed from folks appalled by the news coverage around this disgusting story.

One of those letters actually drew a line from this story to future Islamic terrorism in Canada. That's a letter-writer who'll be getting a visit from CSIS in short order.

Good luck to you, pal!

Take a deep whiff of Marco Mendicino

Smells a lot like the guy who saved us from the Toronto 18, don't it?

Ya, you remember the "Toronto 18."

Bunch of Muslim kids who were hustled into an imaginary "terrorist conspiracy" by Muslim informants who were paid millions... by Marco and his CSIS/RCMP homies.

That will forever be a stain on Canada's reputation,

So go ahead and vote for him.

Conspiracy Alert! CSIS snuffs former Canadian Spymaster to protect Harper!

No matter how you look at it, the tale of Arthur Porter going to his reward in a Panama prison is AAA headline material.

He was scheduled to be shipped back to Canada, was he not? And who knows what upheaval loose lips might have unleashed, mere months before Big Steve expects to be re-elected.

Thank God he has so conveniently expired in the nick of time!

Funny how this story doesn't seem to get much traction here in Canada...

Oh Jeez... maybe Arthur Porter really did have cancer?

Arthur Porter was, among many other things, Big Steve's hand-picked top civilian over-seer of Canada's  intelligence agency, CSIS.

That all went south in a hurry, and with virtually no comment by Canadian media, once Porter got entangled in the graft/bribery/corruption stink around the new Montreal Hospital.

In fact, Steve's boy didn't just get "entangled," he was pretty much the architect of the entire scandal.

In any other country, having your top spy overlord exposed as a fraud would generate endless headlines for a long time.

In Canada, the Bell-Postmedia-Rogers holy trinity who manage the news don't see anything newsworthy about Arthur and his banishment to the wilderness from the innermost circles of the Harper gang.

Anyway, you had a good run, Mr. Porter.

RIP

Syrian and Iraqi refugees can immigrate to Canada under new "Spy on ISIS, get a Visa" program

Seems that some would-be immigrants to Canada are being offered a new top secret program not listed on the Government of Canada's official immigration website.

Here's a catchy headline from a Turkish news site; Spy's statement reveals his links with Canada and ISIS. Seems the poor schmuck Mohammed al-Rashed was led to believe, by the Canadian embassy, that all he had to do was indulge in a little bit of people smuggling and a little bit of money laundering and a Canadian visa would be his! Instead, he's cooling his heels in an Istanbul jail.

I'm looking forward to hearing some hard-hitting questions on the matter in the House of Commons.

Bill C-51 will just drag Canada deeper into the world of state-sponsored terror

Interesting story afloat today about whether the foreign agent arrested in Turkey on suspicion of shepherding foreigners into the Islamic State might have links to CSIS, Canada's spy agency. For my money, the weasel-speak coming out of Ottawa as the Harperites deny these shocking allegations is less than reassuring.

The previous day saw a story in the Toronto Star detailing the collusion between CSIS and the FBI in their attempted set up of the so-called VIA Rail bombers, especially the third member of this "terror team," one Ahmed Abassi. Most of that story was made public by the Washington Post last summer. What should give Canadians pause is how closely not only CSIS, but virtually any federal government department, is willing to bend to the interests of Washington.

The FBI informant obviously had an unlimited budget available with which to entrap Abassi into a terror plot, and was allowed to freely operate in Canada by Canadian authorities across the security, immigration, and policing spectrum.

All of this happened without the benefit of Bill C-51, which will enhance the power of our security state.

To keep us safer, of course...

In reply to critics, the Harper gang points to the robust civilian oversight of out security apparatus.

Ya, right!

Here's the guy personally appointed by Big Steve to head up civilian oversight of CSIS from 2008 to 2011.

  

Arthur Porter; fraudster, quack, con-man, now cooling his heels in a Panamanian prison awaiting extradition to Canada.

That's what "robust civilian oversight" looks like to Stephen Harper.

Reassuring, eh?

The way I read it, under C-51, the next time this blog points out that Hamas is the democratically elected government of Gaza and Israel is morally obliged to negotiate with them, I could be found guilty of promoting terrorism. Hamas is on Ottawa's official list of terrorist entities, democracy be damned!

That's scary!

How CSIS could get Mohamed Fahmy out of that Cairo prison real fast *

* (If they were so inclined.)

There are hundreds of Egyptian students pursuing advanced studies at Canadian universities. CSIS knows who they are.

Most of them come from the elite of Egyptian society. Some of them come from the uber-elite with direct ties to the military leadership. CSIS knows who they are too.

So we play by Egyptian rules for a few days. Make a few arrests. Make a few phone calls;

"Hello dear parents of Egyptian student studying at U of T. I am very sorry to inform you that we have uncovered your son's very un-Islamic activities. As you may not realize, we take the viewing of certain images very seriously here in Canada, as you do in Egypt, Allah be praised! We are very terribly sorry for the burden of shame your little Abdul has brought on you...  but for a small favour we can make this story go away."

That should do it!

CIA screeners block Falling Downs

It had to be the CIA.

Well maybe not. Could have been Mossad. Or Shin Bet. Hell, maybe even CSIS if one of those other outfits  gave them a heads up.

The word on CSIS is they get most of their tips from reading the Globe and Mail.

But how else to explain this fact of life; I write a brief but cogent post about US troops vandalizing a mosque in Turkey, complete with a link to the Turkish news site where I found the story. While I didn't spell it out, that link makes it clear that the MOSQUE VANDALS DESECRATE KORAN.

Actually, now that I think about it, that should have been my headline.

Anyway, I've got this somewhat scoopy story, as in nobody in North America, mainstream or fringe, is on it yet, and nobody reads it.

I mean nobody.

But I write a post about my cats fighting for supremacy in the cat box and hundreds of people read it!

Obviously my CIA minders let that one through.

Canada cracks down on imaginary terror threats

Here's  what the law and order crowd think Canada is up against in the way of terror threats.

Freeman of the Land. Yup. Read the story. These guys carry guns to the grocery store and drive their vehicles without license plates.

I should point out at this juncture that PostMedia and The Vancouver Sun are generally considered serious news outlets.

So how they can justify publishing sensationalist fantasy like this is a bit of a puzzle. Perhaps because this is "insider" info that required a freedom of information request to get access to they think it has some legitimacy.

Let me assure the international reader that no one in Canada drives their vehicle without license plates, because everyone knows you will drive only so long as the first patrol car notices that you are driving without them, and then they will take your vehicle and, assuming that was your only transgression, you will be walking home.

If, on the other hand, you were driving your unregistered vehicle to the grocery store whilst wearing your unregistered handgun on your hip, you would be going straight to jail in any province or territory in Canada.

This tale of imaginary threats comes from CSIS, Canada's spy agency. They obviously have a vested interest in overstating exponentially any threats to law and order in the country, because that is what will ensure their budget next year and the year after.

And that plays straight into the hands of the Fantinos and the Toews and the rest of the out of touch ward-heelers that make up the Harper cabinet.

The reality is that Canada is by far one of the most peaceable nations on the planet. Even our most oppressed minority with by far the most grievances  (that would be the First Nations) refrain from picking up arms against the state.

As for the rest of their terror list; a smear job from beginning to end, and the only purpose in lumping the racist extremists in with the anti-globalists and the environmentalists is to expand the pool of potential terror threats.

The vast majority of Canadians can readily see through this facile nonsense.

Unfortunately, I'm not sure the same can be said for the Harper cabinet.

Falling Downs crippled by CIA cyber terror attack!

Holy jumpin' catfish, we were off the net for days!

And I think I know who is behind this.

Mossad!

Yup, the Likud party bosses gave the orders to shut down this aggravating purveyor of anti-Likud truth that is read by at least three or four Israelis every month...

Oh all right then... Maybe not.

The CIA!

Yes, the CIA is behind the cyber attack! And we have proof! The proof is that we have no proof! That is how they operate on the dark side. When there is no evidence whatsoever, it was obviously the CIA!

That is just one of the known knowns in the world 'o spooks. When every other plausible explanation defies comprehension, it was obviously the CIA...

Wait a minute... it could have been CSIS, Canada's own wannabee CIA!...

Nah...

They pretty much stick to sending Arab Canadians to Libya and Syria for "interrogation", and now that the Nations of Virtue have put paid, or almost paid to the evil dictators who run those countries, that's pretty much out.

Oh, wait a minute... the repair dude is here... what's that? The modem?...

Seems the connector plugging into the modem had a broken wire...

Nevermind then.

Canada's inept security establishment farms out threat assessments to private sector

Canadian taxpayers fork out well over half a billion dollars every year to fund CSIS,  the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.

What do we get for our money? Not enough, apparently. The story is out that the government recently retained London based Control Risk Group to get the real skinny on what threats to Canadian interests might be lurking out there.

Control Risk Group is in the business of advising its clients about what they might be up against when operating in dodgy business climates. They're big in Nigeria and Colombia, advising Big Oil and mining multi-nationals on what the odds are that their senior executives might be kidnapped. When they are, they can also help negotiate the ransom.

One would like to think that for an annual stipend of half a billion CSIS could figure out this stuff in-house. That would seem to be the bare minimum that a sovereign nation should expect from it's intelligence services. Makes you wonder just what they do with their annual budget.

Have meetings.

Strike committees. I hear there's a lot of action at the ad-hoc committee to select new office furniture.

Of course they also have to do their due-diligence on the private contractors who will provide the actual intel. That keeps an entire floor at CSIS HQ just hopping with busy-work.

Word is that the recent closure of the Iranian embassy was the result of some of this private sector intelligence.

Hmm... a private sector consultant with deep ties to Big Oil claims that diplomatic ties with Iran threaten Canadian security?

Seems to me there's way too much potential for multiple conflicts of interest in that scenario.