The Guardian has done an excellent and vital job digesting the U.S. National Security Agency PRISM data leaked by Edward Snowden. A good deal of it had come out, in part, in dribs and drabs but it was the British newspaper that put it all together in chilling context.
It's partly a warning about our governments spying on us and why. It's also a warning of what they might have in mind for us in the future. They foresee unrest and potential upheaval in the future from climate change impacts. Theirs is a world in which today's environmental activists are viewed as tomorrow's potential terrorists and they're gearing up for domestic military responses.
Read this summary. Read it from top to bottom, the whole thing. Then consider it in light of recent controversy over domestic spying on Canadians by Communications Security Establishment Canada or CSEC.
CSEC denies it is spying on Canadians. That's bullshit. The Americans, under the Five Eyes intelligence alliance, do the heavy lifting and share it with Canada's security agencies. And we know that CSIS, in conjunction with the Calgary and Edmonton police and the RCMP, is running an active intelligence operation targeting environmentalists opposed to the Northern Gateway pipeline project. This is, after all, HarperLand.
It's infuriating to realize that these same governments that drag their heels on doing anything meaningful about climate change nonetheless see it as a major threat warranting preparations for military intervention against their own populations.
As I noted in my post on the budget 2012, it was clear from the language in budget 2012 that Canada intends to treat climate change as unstoppable with it's policy towards it "one of adaptation" rather than prevention.
ReplyDeleteCanada's actions to date on climate change have been in line with my assessment.
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ReplyDeleteI don't think there's any question of that, especially now, Richard. Unless and until the Carbon Bubble bursts, Ottawa and Alberta will try everything to maximize Athabasca production and export.
ReplyDeleteJoe Oliver chose his words carefully when he denounced environmentalists opposed to Northern Gateway as "inimical" to the interests of Canada - enemies of the state.
Richard & M of S,
ReplyDeleteIf you have never been to the central northern Alberta Boreal Forrest prior to the devastation of the tar/oil sands project it is very difficult to understand the devastation of the wildlife life habitat of the flora and fauna.
Let alone the First Nations whose territory that was, undisputed by except the rich men that devastate the boreal forest for tar that can be processed into oil, heavy crude.
It is with great difficulty we and the sovereign first nations will oppose the Harper/Clark government's to the bitter end. Law suits the way Harper does it, denial the way Christy Clarks government does it are no longer an option for running the longest most dangerous pipeline in Canada to the flora and fauna that keep us unique and pristine.
They and the Alberta Government can go to hell.
A lot of people had already guessed that their was some kind of collaboration between corporations and governments in mining citizen data since over a decade ago. Snowden's revelations just confirmed what was already widely suspected. The only surprise was the sheer magnitude of the operation.
ReplyDeleteHowever, if there is another catastrophic environmental event in Japan in the near future, concerns about programs like PRISM will become irrelevant.
Because that could possibly trigger a civilization threatening event which would make conventional climate change look like a picnic.
Does this mean that we know who will be occupying Stephen Harper's newly planned and constructed prisons? Yes.
ReplyDeleteAnon 3:13. I'm not sure we know but I suspect "they" have quite a good idea.
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