Iraq Election Broadcast And Forecasts

Radioactive 3 Comments

Passing along an Iraq election broadcast, via INDC; entitled “Heroes of Iraq”. (There’s also a transcript at the link.)
Milblogger “Adventures of Chester” looks at predictions by George Friedman (Stratfor) for post-election Iraq and the implications for the “insurgency”;

The Shia understand they cannot simply remain in a defensive mode. They have been passive in the run-up to the election, but after the election their credibility as the government of Irraq will depend on how they deal with the guerrillas. They must either suppress the guerrillas or negotiate a deal with them. Since a deal is hard to imagine at this time, they will have to act to suppress them. If they don’t, the government will either be destroyed by the insurgents, or Iraq will split into two or three countries, an evolution unacceptable to the Shia or to Iran.
Therefore, the Shia will fight. The Shiite leadership has made it clear it wants the United States to remain in Iraq for the time being. This does not mean it wants a long-term American presence. It means it wants US forces to carry the main battle against the Sunnis on its behalf. In the same way that al-Sistani wanted the Americans to deal with Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr during the An Najaf affair, he wants the Americans to carry the main burden now.
The United States is prepared to carry a burden, but it is not prepared to single-handedly deal with the Sunnis any longer. The Shi hav substantial armed militias. It is these forces — not the failed Iraqi army the US has tried to invent — that will be the mainstay of the regime. The Shia don’t want this force ground up because it is the guarantor of their security. The United States is not going to protect the regime without these forces engaged.
At this point, something interesting happens. The Shia have a greater vested interest in the viability of this government than even the Americans. The Americans can leave. The Shia aren’t going anywhere. For the first time, the United States has a potential ally with capabilities and motivation. Most important, it is an ally that is not blind on the ground. Its intelligence capability is not perfct among the Sunnis, but it is better than what the Americans have.

Chester considers the capabilities and challenges of incorporating existing and disbanded militias, and the implications for Syria – “if the Iraqis have good intelligence of Syria’s involvement, harboring, or support of the terrorist insurgency, it is entirely possible that the Iraqis will tell the US that Iraq will do something about Syria with or without the Americans . . .”.

She Feels They’re Pane

Insufferable Twits 8 Comments

Helen Smith-McIntyre, chair of the Saskatoon Police Service Committee on Diversity, has called for the scrapping of a police aptitude test that discriminates against visible minorities, who have higher than usual failure rates. Smith-McIntyre took the test and “passed” – if one discounts that she didn’t complete it within the allowed time.
The half-hour test measures grammar, spelling and reading comprehension.

Naming The Enemy

Terrorism No Comments

Diana West tells it like it is;

I found it wickedly ironic that around the time the Website Islam Online claimed Fox television decided “to remove some stereotypical aspects about American Muslims” from its terrorism series “24” — whose hero, after defusing the terrorist threat from Bosnia, South America, Germany, and corporate America, now battles honest-to-goodness Muslim terrorists — real-life news broke about the vicious murders of a Coptic Christian family whose bound and gagged bodies, slit throats and stab wounds on a Coptic cross tattoo immediately raised fears that the crime may have been Islamic in nature, a slaying of “infidels” — in Jersey City.

Out Migration: A Solution

Gopher News 16 Comments

Long day at the shop. Overnight a foot of snow had drifted in over the inch of ice that froze to every road surface during a lovely rain we had a couple of days ago. Driving to town was no picnic. Neither was the drive home.

t_drive.jpg
(click for full size)

Airbrushing is “automaton” work. There’s not a lot of thought required, and so the mind tends to wander – similar to the phenomenon that occurs when on a long drive with an open can of solvent in the car.

masks.jpg

And today, as I buzzed and brushed along on the masks, I began to think about things. Just things at random, as I am wont to do. Sparked, perhaps, by the knowledge that the masks were Edmonton bound, I began pondering the most serious problem facing the province of Saskatchewan today – the inability to attract young people who are highly educated, and have an entrepreneurial spirit.
Suddenly, it came to me – a solution. As brilliant ideas often are, it was breathtakingly simple. It’s so damned simple I can’t believe no one has proposed this before.
Our province has an brand identity problem. The name “Saskatchewan”, while unique and memorable (if not pronouncable), is burdened by negative imagery. A simple word association experiment illustrates the problem … “Saskatchewan … taxes .. socialists … Tommy Douglas .. not dead enough … roadkill … bad roads … blizzards … wind … drought … grasshoppers …”
It doesn’t help that we’re on the shelf right next to a province that’s got a Red Hot Rating in every consumer report.
Let’s face it – Alberta is our number two problem. It’s easy to move from Saskatchewan to Alberta. No hills to climb or rivers to ford. Those Albertans are clever. They use gasoline pumps as bread crumbs – the further west you drive, the lower the fuel prices.
Time to face facts. As fond as we are of it, the name’s got to go. There’s simply too much baggage, too much bad press. But what do we replace it with? Cuba’s taken.
Here’s where my idea really started to pick up speed. Picture this scene if you will – a nice millionaire family is brainstorming for a place to move, work, invest and make even more money, and they go “Hey, why not Alberta! They have oil, conservatives, no sales tax.. ”
Why not indeed! And so they get a map of Canada, seeking fertile ground to put down new roots…
map2.jpg
I can hear the pennies dropping…
True, we might get a higher than average representation of dyslexics, but on the balance, I think it could work. Absurd? Perhaps. Revolutionary? Certainly.
Too stupid?
Well, funny you ask. In Saskatchewan, there’s really no such thing! In fact, the Calvert government has taken a stance that when it comes to building the economy of this province, no idea is too stupid to consider.
Alberta. Albreta. Alberta. Albreta.. See? It sounds better all the time.

Blogging, Journalism & Credibility

Blogging No Comments

Jeff Jarvis live blogged his Harvard workshop entitled Blogging, Journalism & Credibility. Pretty good observations from a wide variety of participants from both big media and the blogosphere. An exerpt I liked;

: Jay Rosen is presenting his paper. He said the “war should be over between bloggers and journalists, the cartoon dialogue… Even though it makes for good feature stories and great blog posts, bloggers vs. journalists doesn’t help us much.” He said the tension between them will go on and its necessary and inevitable. But the tsunami story makes it “obvious that blogs have a role in journalism.”
Dave Winer said this morning that I was Jay’s Frankenstein. Jay said it’s the opposite. Jay’s right. He has made me think about media (read: my life) in new ways.
After summarizing his paper, he quotes Rebecca Blood saying that part of the reason for conflict is that blogging and journalism are in a “shared media space.” That is the reason the war is over because no one is leaving that space.
Jay is making a point he made on Brian Lehrer’s show a few weeks ago: that this not about the “media” but about the “press” and the press is now owned by the people. That is the real shift of power. “They have to share the press with the public.”
Isn’t that precisely the problem with CBS? Dan et al could not bear to share the press with the public. But the public demanded it. The public won that battle.

The rest is here
via OTB.
Related, Reynolds quotes Lileks:

“I’d say it’s a throwback to the old newspapers, the days when partisan slants covered everything from the play story to the radio listings, but this is different. The link changes everything. When someone derides or exalts a piece, the link lets you examine the thing itself without interference. TV can’t do that. Radio can’t do that. Newspapers and magazines don’t have the space. My time on the internet resembles eight hours at a coffeeshop stocked with every periodical in the world – if someone says “I read something stupid” or “there was this wonderful piece in the Atlantic” then conversation stops while you read the piece and make up your own mind.

Postcards From Kabul, Jan.20

Military 3 Comments

More photos from a friend serving in Afghanistan.

Had an email from a friend that mentioned they did not see any women in my pictures. Yes there are women there. The men are the ones that run the market and do most of the ‘shopping/bartering’, but not all of it. Most women were a blue berka there. I was told the color is for the region in which they live. Blue was Kabul, green Kandahar, and there was also an orange.

girls.jpg
A group of young girls. There are more photos at at this directory.

Hypocrisy Doesn’t Get Better Than This

Embrace Hollywood 3 Comments

“Democrats need to embrace Hollywood because this is where they need to come to learn how to tell a story.” – Michael Moore*

Filmmaker Michael Moore’s bodyguard was arrested for carrying an unlicensed weapon in New York’s JFK airport Wednesday night..
Police took Patrick Burke, who says Moore employs him, into custody after he declared he was carrying a firearm at a ticket counter. Burke is licensed to carry a firearm in Florida and California, but not in New York. Burke was taken to Queens central booking and could potentially be charged with a felony for the incident.
Moore’s 2003 Oscar-winning film “Bowling for Columbine” criticizes what Moore calls America’s “culture of fear” and its obsession with guns. – Foxnews

update – the story has been updated. It appears that Mr. Burke was a former Moore bodyguard.

Nibbled To Death By Ducks

Blogging 28 Comments

It’s been quite a “Spectorcle” at the Shotgun group blog – the past month’s incidents best summarized by Bob Tarantino at Let It Bleed.

On December 18, Spector posted this piece, entitled “Political Escapism–Further Thoughts”, which opened with this: “I suppose you could call Kathy Shaidle’s last posting ‘Canadian content.'” Somewhat bizarrely, it ended with this: “Kathy, perhaps it’s your position on abortion that has taken you out of the Canadian political arena. It would be great if you didn’t try so so hard to take others with you. We need them here.” Quite what abortion had to do with anything was a bit unclear. Nonetheless, thirty-one comments were spawned, including the beginnings of a strangely ad hominen battle between Spector and Shaidle.
[…]
Then things got really weird.
On January 3, 2005, Spector posted this piece, entitled “Jaeger on Judges”. This seemed slightly bizarre, as Kevin Jaeger hadn’t previously been heavily involved in the festivities, nor, to the best of anyone’s knowledge, had Kevin ever written the things which Spector’s post appeared to attribute to Kevin. Sixty-three comments followed.
Jaeger responded with this post, querying on what basis Spector was attributing the positions to him.
At that moment, things went from weird to abso-freakin’-lutely bizarre.

I think my only significant contribution to that dustup was a suggestion to Norm that debate might evolve more productively if he would observe “standard blog etiquette” and include links to the quotes he was attributing to others. Norm did not agree;

“As to your interpretation of blog protocol, the exchange in question is archived on this site and easily available if you care to intervene on the substance of this exchange.
“I’m sure Kevin recalls what he wrote a few weeks ago. If you don’t, do the grunt work yourself.”

Well then!
Things settled down somewhat and were relatively calm – due in no small part to several top tier bloggers throwing up their hands in exasperation and walking way – until yesterday. It all began with my post criticizing one NYT writer Sarah Boxer, entitled “The Myth of ‘Responsible’ Journalism”.
Now, perhaps “Sarah Boxer” is a pseudonym�Norm Spector uses for Arts pieces in the New York Times. Or maybe he moonlights as an editor there. If so, I can understand why my comments might strike a nerve. Sharing in the comments, he offered;

“Kate, Relax. The New York Times hasn’t even noticed your blog, much less criticized it. … still hoping that Canadian bloggers will notch some achievements…. to date, Canadian bloggers are in the dumpster down in the basement. … I know why the media stay away from those stories; I guess bloggers do because it takes too much real work …

Now, I thought those odd criticisms to direct to a group of mostly unpaid amateurs of varying interests. I became curious about that “research” and “fact checking” that these professional journalists are so renowned for. I asked , “Norm, do you actually read blogs? If you do, what is your usual daily list of reads? Who’s on your secondary list? Those are serious questions. I ask, because so many of your comments and criticisms of “Canadian bloggers” seem based on false premises and misconception.”
His response;

“I read very few Canadian blogs; the other day, I took apart a Kinsella posting, for example.
“I look at others when traffic is directed to me from sites and I’m curious why. For example, yesterday there were a few hits from Kathy Shaidle’s site.
“Don’t read US blogs, but look at a few when I see an interesting link in Taranto, or Slate or whatever.”

With that, a mystery is solved – the mystery as to why he has no respect for standard linking and quoting etiquette, why he clings to a misconception that Shotgun bloggers have as a primary goal the election of a Conservative government, why he seems not to have noticed that the majority of Canadian bloggers do not consider themselves to be journalists at all. For all intents and purposes, he doesn’t read blogs.
Holding himself to the highest standards of modern investigative journalism, Norm’s admitted lack of research is thus no barrier to criticizing our “failures” as party supporters and investigative journalists. I guess we should have known all along.
The comments thread rose to a shining Spectorly pinnacle;

When you’re in a position to bring down a Canadian Dan Rather, or to break open the Canadian angle on oil for food,let me know. Until then, I’m not interested, nor are my readers. [emphasis mine]

Well, that had all the sting of being told my pizza joint is losing fried chicken customers.
I guess I can take a little of the blame. I should have disclosed more about the nature of SDA and saved him the trouble of that unperformed “grunt work”. I might have offered that a blog with categories devoted to “roadkill” and “penis news”, that blows up Toronto Star columists in animated gifs, isn’t in the business of breaking open hard news angles – and saved him the flight of fanciful arrogance, presuming to speak for “his” readers. (Though, I will allow the possibility that his familiarity with his readerhip’s interests may stem from it being largely confined to family and friends.)
My motivation in dragging out this blogger laundry? The verbal tug-of-war between new media bloggers and this particular dead tree journalist at the Shotgun does a very nice job of illustrating the highly personal nature of the animosity of what some call “legacy media” towards the internet in general, and the blogosphere in particular. On that level, it’s really worth slogging through the ad hominens to see the phenomenon unfold in the first person. (And who am I kidding? The ad hominems are the best part.)
On another level, the protests, the insults and dismissiveness of the Dan Rathers, the Jonathon Kleins and the Norm Spectors conjure up a visual — one of lone, frustrated, raging dinosaurs, their bites blunted by age, skin sagging on massive frames, the ground shifting under their feet — wondering where all those damned nibbling ducks are coming from.
They must soon choose to make the effort to evolve and adapt. Or not.
Norm, I truly hope you have it in you.

Lights! Camera! Compassion!

Insufferable Twits 7 Comments

Garth Pritchard is in Sri Lanka, with the DART team. He writes in the Toronto Sun;

IT WAS a circus when Prime Minister Paul Martin visited the disaster area of Kalumai in Sri Lanka this week for a photo opportunity. His people from Ottawa, including the RCMP, were pushing people out of the way, grabbing at cameras, and trampling over graves on the beach in order to photograph the PM.
An RCMP guy tried to interfere with my camera, but one of our soldiers intervened.
A couple of women from the PM’s office were running around yelling at people.
It got out of hand. It was crazy.
The whole visit was a photo opportunity — with cameras set up for the PM in designated spots: Martin on the beach looking out to sea, Martin amid the wreckage, Martin with a homeless kid, Martin taking a token drink of water produced by the DART (Disaster Assistance Response Team) water purifier.
He met with the Canadian commander, Lt. Col. Mike Voith, and a small medical team but didn’t visit the camp of the 200 Canadian military people here for tsunami victims.
Martin’s handlers wanted no one but their people taking photos. The padre was even shoved out of the way.

90 minutes later, he was gone.

Little Red Corporation Meets The Big Bad Fox

Media 4 Comments

Rachel Marsden;

The CBC is freaking out with the arrival of Fox. So much so that they’re frantically working on a documentary about the Fox News Canadian invasion, in which they will tell Canadians what to think. Given that Fox News is now in direct competition with the CBC for whatever remnants of an audience the CBC has left, this has about as much credibility as Ford doing a documentary about General Motors, telling you that GM cars suck.

True to form, CBC was busy getting their ducks in a row before interviewing Marsden for the “documentary”.

The crack journalistic staff at the CBC is apparently fond of conducting its esteemed “research” on Internet chat boards. Just this week, I was forwarded an e-mail sent behind my back, by the CBC, to United Press International – for whom I write – asking them about some “research” that the CBC correspondent happened to come across on the prestigious Internet.
After refuting the claim and having a good laugh about it, I tried my hand at “researching” the way a CBC reporter would: Just for kicks, I randomly typed the CBC journalist’s name, John Kerry’s name, and the word “naked” into a Google search and came up with some rather interesting hits on chat boards. Maybe I should e-mail his employer to enquire about my “research,” too?

Sounds about right.

Postcards From Kabul, Jan. 19

Military 6 Comments

This lesson is about IED or UXO. As you know the military has a million acronyms and abbreviations for things. Unfortunately I do not remember the exact wording for these, but it has to do with explosive devices.
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When we first arrived at camp, we had a AAG briefing. Another abbreviation that escapes me at the moment, but it was basically a briefing on what to do and not to do while there. One part of the briefing was devoted to mines. I know there are a lot in the area, but I honestly did not know how many until I left the camp. There are mines and unexploded shells/casings everywhere. Yes and lots of ‘accidents’. Lots of locals with only one leg or missing fingers/hand. We were told, that the locals scavage everything. So if we saw say an old tank or vehicle in one piece, not to go near it, as it was likely booby trapped.
There is a picture of mine clearers. They have been hired to move across areas of fields and remove or detonate the ammo.
Another of the pictures shows you white/red rocks. At first when clearing areas, they put up wooden signs to explain the state of the area. Of course the locals being the scavangers they are, the wood signs disappeared. So another way had to be found. Since rocks are in abundance they used painted rocks. The rocks are white and red. You can walk between white rocks, but the red side means the area has not been cleared or there are mines there.

(links fixed now).

Reader Tips

Reader Tips 1 Comment

Catching up on a few of the links sent my way that I haven’t had time to do justice to:
How much longer will it be, before the critical mass of Middle East immigrants tips the electoral scales just enough to have the Government of Canada delist al-Qa’ida as a terrorist organization? It’s certainly worked for the Tamil Tigers. Why let a few unfortunate mistakes (like the invention of the suicide bomb, 60,000 dead and assassination of two heads of state) get between you and a quarter million Liberal-voting constituents?
In an attempt to fact check my post about the new and yet-to-become-airborne A380, J.M. Heinrichs does not offer how many lawnchairs will fit in the hold of this Russian taxi.
You can’t keep a good blogger down. Welcome back, Rasky.
And now for something completely different. First, turn up the volume.

Hazlet, NJ Beheading Case Solved

stuff 2 Comments

The mystery of a coincidental beheading victim found 30 miles from the murdered New Jersey family has been solved.

According to Nuss, Persieck decapitated himself by using three separate ropes, tying one end of each around a light post in the back parking lot of the theater located on the northbound side of Route 35, and the other around his neck.
Once the ropes were secure, Persieck got into his 2004 Ford Explorer and started to drive. His head was found approximately 100 feet from his body, Nuss said.
“There were no skid marks, so we don�t believe that he was going at a high rate of speed. He had about a 40-foot run-up so we figure at best he was doing 30 mph at the moment of decapitation,” Nuss said.
The vehicle coasted to a stop about 200 feet later, after it hopped a curb and hit a small tree. Nuss said that it was evident after talking to family members and discovering other supporting materials, that it was a suicide.
“Apparently, he [Persieck] had been having problems recently in his life. He left six pages of notes in the vehicle, which we found afterward,” Nuss said. “The kids who found the victim were definitely shaken up.”

You don’t say.

The Myth Of “Responsible” Journalism

Media 8 Comments

It’s little wonder that “pajama” bloggers respond with a reflexive sneer when “professional journalism” criticizes our work as “irresponsible”, “lacking accountablity” – when no less than The New York Times publishes crap with the potential of causing the deaths of innocents.
Jeff Jarvis;

Sarah Boxer’s story on IraqTheModel in today’s New York Times Arts section is irresponsible, sloppy, lazy, inaccurate, incomplete, exploitive, biased, and — worst of all – – dangerous, putting the lives of its subjects at risk. . . .
So here is a reporter from The New York Times — let’s repeat that, The New York Times — speculating in print on whether an Iraqi citizen, whose only apparent weirdness and sin in her eyes is (a) publishing and (b) supporting America, is a CIA or Defense Department plant or an American.
Ms. Boxer, don’t you think you could be putting the life of that person at risk with that kind of speculation? In your own story, you quote Ali — one of the three blogging brothers who started IraqTheModel — saying that “here some people would kill you for just writing to an American.” And yet you go so much farther — blithely, glibly speculating about this same man working for the CIA or the DoD — to sex up your lead and get your story atop the front of the Arts section (I’m in the biz, Boxer, I know how the game is played).
How dare you? Have you no sense of responsibility? Have you no shame?

Has she no editor?
Times article here. (Registration may be required.)
American Digest has been googling, and has more on Sarah Boxer.

It isn’t a mystery to me how Boxer was assigned to, or pumped for, this “Blogging” article in the Times. Having been in and around the editorial types at New York newspapers and magazines for decades, I can well imagine the editor’s mindset when confronted with either Boxer’s desire to write about this or the need of the Times’ “Arts” section to get with it on ‘the blogging thing.’ Boxer is young, Boxer is “hip,” Boxer must “get it.” Except, of course, she doesn’t, but the editors at the Times have no way of knowing that, because they get it even less. In fact, none of them have to get it. They are, after all, The New York Times. Who would better know later what they don’t know now?
[…]
Will the Times issue a “correction” if Ms. Boxer’s article leads to the death of the brothers at IraqTheModel? Doubtful. Will Ms. Boxer be given the blog beat at the “Arts?” Much more likely. After all, she’s given every indication that she doesn’t understand what she is writing about, is willing to push liberal bias, knows who to contact, and, more importantly, who not to contact. All without being told. In short — a good soldier, “one of us.” That’s grounds for promotion at The New York Times. In addition, having cut her eye-teeth on “arts criticism,” she’s an unusually bad writer. That’s golden.

Postcards From Kabul, Jan.18

Military 4 Comments

You have been busy. I caught the postcards from Afghanistan on your blog as well as the comments. Here are a few more pictures of the progress that is going on. The one guy was right. There are a lot of smiling faces. They love to have their pictures taken. I was riding air sentry in the rear of the bison, while taking some pictures. We never travel alone. We have the bison, plus at least one other vehicle, in this case a SUV. No one is allowed to come between the bison and SUV. It was my job to make sure of that and monitor any one moving close to the bison. A big concern was the possiblilty of magnet bombs being attached to the bison. Most of the people we encountered were happy to see us and gave us the thumbs up sign, but I later found out the thumbs up has ‘another’ meaning there. lol
Anyway, while taking pictures one day. A taxi driver saw me and wanted his picture taken. He followed us half way through the city gesturing for me to take his picture. Finally he moved on.
These people are working hard to restore what they once had. In the short time I was there, I could see the progress being made. You see them making bricks and hauling bricks. There is a photo attached of a building, half destroyed, yet half has been reframed and bricked in. There are people living in it. Unfortunately as in any culture of people, there are those who try to improve and those who could care less. In the middle of the market areas the stench is unbelievable. There is a trench that runs parallel to the road everywhere. It is filled most times with raw sewage, right next to the vendors carts. There was also a huge pile of garbage between some carts. I am talking, taller pile than a man. Yet down aways there are people with shovels, shovelling out the garbage and hauling it away in wheelbarrels, so that water can drain properly.
Another of the attached photos shows a picture of the stone houses built up the side of the mountain. If they build on the mountainside, they do not have to pay tax. Some of those houses are a long ways up. You can see the graves in the forground. I meant to ask our linguist about it, for they stick tree branches/poles into the ground and attach green pieces of cloth to it. Not sure why green. I will ask once I am back at work.

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t_afgh6.jpg
There are full sized versions of these, plus other photos, at this directory.

No War, For Oil: BNP Paribas

Radioactive 12 Comments

Paul! Say it isn’t so!

One of those who made out like a bandit is a rich Canadian whose bank made millions and whose Paris-based holding companies include the originally French-Belgian oil company TotalFina Elf, which cut lucrative deals with Saddam’s Iraq and is currently operating in war-torn Sudan.

(I hope that someone notices that the UN’s own oil-for-blood investigator Paul Volcker has ties to Power Corporation…)

Top among these is the European-based BNP Paribas bank, which the U.N. chose to administer the program and which reportedly received nearly $1 billion for its efforts.
Congressional investigators reviewing the bank’s actions have discovered broken rules, missing documents and improper transfers by BNP Paribas, which up until now has been assumed to be a French bank.
In fact, BNP Paribas is actually controlled by Power Corporation, an appropriately named Canadian company that has a shocking track record of ‘business’ relationships with the worst gangsters and tyrannical regimes in the world.
BNP Paribas also has one other distinguishing feature: a direct corporate and familial relationship with the persons running the government of Canada for the last 20 years.
The truth about BNP Paribas and Power Corp. sheds a new light on Canada’s seemingly bizarre anti-American foreign policy in the Middle East, in China and elsewhere.
BNP Paribas bank is part of a holding company, Pargesa Holding, which is jointly owned and controlled by the Fr�re and Desmarais families. Paul Desmarais Sr. is the chairman of the group, while Albert Fr�re is the vice-chairman. Gerald Fr�re, Albert’s son, is one of three general managers who oversee day-to-day operations, and Paul Desmarais Jr. is also an officer.
Pargesa, and thus Power Corporation and the Canadian Desmarais family, holds a controlling significant stake in TotalFina Elf, the Belgian-French petroleum multinational corporation formed from the merger of Total and Petrofina.

Read on
My head is still spinning. Desmarais … Power Corp … Paribas … Chretien… Martin …. Canada’s No-War-for-Oil-for-food foreign policy? Who would have thunk it….

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