On land, Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin has proven himself to be an artful dodger whenever the $100 million in government kickbacks to Liberal-friendly communication agencies is on the discussion table.

At sea, Martin, through the company he founded, has been something of a latter day pirate.

Canada Steamship Lines may have been turned over to Martin’s sons last year, but . . . .

BEIJING China's new and growing influence in Asia, which some analysts say has come at the expense of the United States, is showing its limits as the aspiring superpower plays an active but secondary role in responding to the tsunami disaster. [. . . . ]

The Chinese response is significant by even the recent standards of its inward-looking history. But it is also a reminder that the world's most populous country is far from being the dominant power in Asia.

Last weekend, Prime Minister Wen Jiabao announced that China would donate more than $62 million, one of its largest ever pledges of international relief aid. But that figure was quickly eclipsed when the United States increased its pledge to $350 million and Japan followed with a $500 million donation.

[. . . . ] Meanwhile, China has increased its donations to nations like Vietnam, Indonesia and Burma as part of its effort to raise its profile in the region. China is also believed to donate tens of millions of dollars in annual aid to help prop up its ally and neighbor, North Korea. [. . . . ]

YUKOS has announced its intention to supply 280,000 tons oil to China in January, Russian Railways Vice President Salman Babayev told journalists. According to him, LUKoil plans to supply 240,000 tons to the region. Sibneft will transport 30,000 tons more.

As for the transportation of Russian oil to China in 2005, Russian Railways President Gennady Fadeyev announced that about 10m tons of oil would be supplied, as the Chinese railway infrastructure cannot make the transportation of larger amount of oil possible. Therefore, oil supplies to China will be boosted to 30m tons by 2007-08.

Industry watchers say that China is interested in stable oil supplies from Russia. China has always been acquiring Russian oil assets. Chinese companies wanted to take part in the auction of Slavneft, but they abandoned this idea later. Some experts say that they were granted guarantees of the stability of railroad oil supplies and the construction of a pipeline linking Russia to China instead.

Vice President of China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) Zhou Jiping met Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller on December 7, 2004, to discuss Russia’s oil supplies on the Chinese market and Gazprom’s market expansion. [. . . . ]

CALGARY - Proponents of the Alaska Highway Pipeline Project are stepping up pressure on Ottawa to strip Calgary-based pipeline builder, TransCanada Corp., of its claimed right to construct the bulk of the US$20-billion natural gas line.

[. . . . ] BP Canada spearheads the Canadian lobbying effort for Alaska gas producers planning the massive project: BP PLC, ExxonMobil Corp. and ConocoPhillips Co.


Working together with a second pipe builder, Enbridge Inc., BP is trying to convince Ottawa to lay out a new regulatory process for assessing the portion of the line (two-thirds of the total) that would pass through Canada.

[. . . . ] An act of Parliament, dating back to the 1970s, gives TransCanada the right to build the Canadian portion of the proposed gas line, and already lays out a regulatory process to follow.

"If Ottawa were to set out a new regulatory process, it would basically be saying, 'We aren't going to recognize TransCanada's rights as they exist under the [Northern Pipeline Act],' " said another source close to matter. [. . . . ]

China Petrochemical Corporation, or Sinopec, the biggest oil refiner in China, is in talks with Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. (0013.HK) and its controlling shareholder Li Ka-shing to buy all or part of their controlling stake in Canada's Husky Energy Inc. (HSE.T), reports the South China Morning Post, quoting a Sinopec source.

An acquisition wouldn't only give Sinopec access to Husky's oil and natural gas reserves, but could provide the access that Sinopec has been seeking into Alberta province's massive Athabasca oil sands. [. . . . ]

[. . . . ] The Globe and Mail newspaper said in a front page report that Beijing wants to buy the Calgary-based firm through one of its state-owned energy companies PetroChina, as it tries to fuel its booming economy.

[. . . . ] Husky is Canada's fourth largest oil and gas concern, and is the operator of the new White Rose offshore exploitation project off the coast of eastern Newfoundland.

[. . . . ] A delegation of Chinese experts visited the western province of Alberta, the epicentre, of the Canadian oil and gas industry earlier this year to visit firms, including Husky, involved in extracting bitumen which can be used in asphalt and other compounds.

China's foreign minister Li Zhaoxing earlier this year encouraged Chinese state firms to seek investments in Canada, especially in the resources and exploratory sectors. [. . . . ]

Singapore Management University (SMU) in November announced the formation of its fourth school, the School of Information Systems Management (SISM). The new school will specialise in information technology (IT) as well as business management, and will be the first in Singapore to offer a bachelor degree in these combined disciplines. The school has been set up in response to the changing needs of the region’s digital economy.

[. . . . ] The industry and government Focus Groups advising SMU on the SISM curriculum have indicated that these changing human resource requirements will demand diverse IT-business management and thinking skills. They clearly identified a need for increased problem solving ability, integration skills, regional and global knowledge, self-reliance and innovation. [. . . . ]




SMU receives S$19.5 million from Li Ka Shing

Record donation . . . . Dr Li Ka Shing . . . . has donated a significant $19.5 million to SMU. The donation, made through the Li Ka Shing Foundation and his Hutchison Whampoa Group, . . . marks an unprecedented move of collaboration between SMU and Hong Kong & Mainland China.

[. . . . ] The other S$4.5 million will support up to eight endowed scholarships a year
for undergraduates from the Asian region, particularly from Hong Kong and mainland China . . .

[. . . . SMU] serving as the gateway to a vast resource of information, whilst the scholarships will foster intellectual excellence and attract the finest students to SMU as students prepare for success in the global business environment through a better understanding of their neighbours and building of partnerships with regional and international players. [. . . . ]

As the debate about exporting work from America dominates the presidential campaign, voters need to separate myth from reality. A TIME guide to how we got here—and why short-term pain might translate into long-term gain.

[. . . . ] Sharma's Indian-American team, tethered by a broadband connection, gets his product in front of customers faster and cheaper. "As a business, you have to stay competitive," he says. "If we don't do it, our competitors will, and they're going to blow us away."

But Sharma's sharp analysis loses its edge when he thinks about what decisions like his will mean someday for his children, a 2-year-old daughter and another on the way.
"As a father, my reaction is different than my reaction as a CEO," he says. [. . . . ]

* FROM MEXICO TO INDIA: HOW DID WE GET THERE? . . . .
* WHY SO FAST? . . . .
* GETTING LEFT BEHIND . . . .
* WHOM WILL OUTSOURCING AFFECT NEXT? . . . .
* CAN AMERICANS LEARN TO LOVE OUTSOURCING? . . . .
* SHOULD OUTSOURCING BE CONTROLLED? . . . .

Everyone knows a magnitude 9.0 earthquake triggered the massive tsunamis that have killed more than 150,000 in South Asia, right?

Wrong, reports Al-Jazeera, the popular Arab news service.

Some think the U.S. and Indian militaries deliberately caused the tsunamis with electromagnetic pulse technology. [. . . . ]

Disaster strikes a world away
We get the call, what do we say?
We move at once, to ease their plight,
To aid them through their darkest night.
But come shrill cries from carping press,
"That’s not enough to fix this mess."
We know that, fools, but give us room,
To counter Mother Nature’s doom. [. . . . ]

A world without the U.S. would be a sorrier world indeed, especially when leadership in humanitarian causes is needed.

Thank goodness for the Americans. What would this world would be like without the U.S.?

Especially in times of natural disasters like the Boxing Day tsunami that killed so many and shocked the world into unprecedented humanitarian generosity.

Such generosity often seems muted. Not this time. The world's people have responded more ardently than their governments, and in case after case governments have taken a cue from their citizens, and increased their initial aid response.

Canada is just one example, but typical of the world. Prime Minister Paul Martin started by pledging $1 million, then $4 million, then $40 million and now $80 million -- not because our government now realizes as it didn't before that the catastrophe was so severe, but because Canadians from every strata of society have opened their hearts and wallets. [. . . . ]

[. . . . ] But as the worldwide aid total reached US$2-billion, the Saudi contribution was still only US$10-million. Kuwait has raised its contribution from US$2-million to US$10-million, Qatar has given US$25-million, and the United Arab Emirates is to give US$20-million. Libya's contribution still stands at US$2-million.

[. . . . ] FDR warned that welfare was "a narcotic, a subtle destroyer of the human spirit." Just as it bred dependency, resentment and ingratitude among recipients in America, and moral arrogance in its smug dispensers, the same holds true in the international realm.

As we see the moral superiority of Egeland on parade, so we annually witness the rage and resentment of Third World regimes against America – that we are responsible for their poverty, that we do not give enough to them – in the General Assembly and at U.N. conferences. Recall the one in Durban, South Africa, three years ago, where reparations for slavery were demanded, but only of the West.

One day, Americans will grow weary of this, as they did of welfare, and abolish foreign aid, tell the Third World kakistocrats that the gravy train doesn't stop here anymore and provide aid directly to people, not governments. For the present, President Bush might solve Ian Egeland's moral problem by being more generous with the suffering people of South Asia, and taking the money, dollar for dollar, out of this year's contribution to the United Nations. [. . . . ]

Just before the New Year, the Ayn Rand Institute issued a commentary saying that the United States should not help tsunami victims. "Private organizations and individuals are scrambling to send out money and goods to help the victims. Such help may be entirely proper, especially considering that most of those affected by this tragedy are suffering through no fault of their own. The Unites States government, however, should not give any money to help the tsunami victims. Why? Because the money is not the government's to give."

[. . . . ] If there's an emerging lesson in the aftermath of the tsunami, it is this: Beware of aid efforts that must be trumpeted in press releases and hyped at news conferences. The bulk of world relief to tsunami victims, soaring to hundreds of millions of dollars, had been registered by private agencies collecting donations from individuals who sought no public recognition, issued no media release and made no effort to get their names into the papers. It was only after it became obvious thousands, if not millions, of individuals wanted to help that the world's governments -- in Ottawa and Washington and elsewhere -- suddenly saw an opportunity. Absurdly, Ottawa announced it would "match" the private donations of individual Canadians -- as if Ottawa got the money from some magic fountain behind Parliament Hill rather that from taxes on the same individuals who had already volunteered. [. . . . ]

In Sri Lanka, a 17-year-old girl whose parents drowned was gang-raped by six men just hours after she safely washed ashore. Human rights groups there reported that gangs of rapists were roaming shelters in the capital, Colombo, and attacking young girls.

Young boys in Sri Lanka and Thailand, both notorious playlands for pedophiles, also were in danger.

"We believe two children were sold to traffickers from Colombo," said Tahirih Ayn, a child protection officer with the Save the Children Fund in Sri Lanka. "We fear they will be passed on to pedophiles or sold for some other form of exploitation." [. . . . ]

[. . . . ] On Monday, the Saudi-owned daily Asharq Al-Awsat identified the butcher responsible: 20-year old Ahmad Sayyid Ahmad al-Ghamdi, a Saudi medical student.

The bomber acted as a member of Ansar al-Sunnah (Volunteers of Sunni Islam), one of the most violent terror groups in Iraq, and an al Qaeda ally.

The name "al-Ghamdi" should ring bells; the family is large, and three of its members were involved in the 9/11 assault.

The Saudi daily, and Western media, identified the Mosul bomber, and even said they had spoken with his father. But no one has mentioned who the father is: Sayyid al-Ghamdi, former head of the Saudi diplomatic mission in Sudan, a country ruled by an Islamist regime that once played host to Osama bin Laden himself. [. . . . ]

[. . . . ] Saudi support of jihad outside the Kingdom and against U.S. troops was recently the subject of a fatwa by 26 leading Saudi religious scholars from the most prominent universities in the Kingdom. According to the fatwa, released in November, killing U.S. soldiers in Iraq is allowed. The fatwa, which came one month before the suicide attack by a Saudi bomber on an American mess hall in Mosul that killed 14 U.S. soldiers, stated: “Fighting the occupiers is a religious duty…It is a jihad to push back the assailants…Resistance is a legitimate right."

The Saudi embassy in Washington, D.C., tried to distance itself from the fatwa. However, according to Saudi law, the government is the only body that can lawfully issue such a fatwa. The unauthorized religious authorities who sanctioned the killing of U.S. troops have yet to be punished. [. . . . ]

Since 9/11, the Saudi royal family has spent millions of dollars to improve its image worldwide. [. . . . ] despite the Saudi PR efforts, which claim that the report completely vindicates Saudi Arabia, it in fact states that Saudi Arabia is "a problematic ally in combating Islamic extremism" and that "significant problems remained" regarding its role in the war against terror. [. . . . ]

[. . . . ] Harvey Kushner, a respected adviser to the FBI, the FAA, the INS, and other government agencies, offers frightening new evidence of a unified Islamic terrorist network that is operating inside the United States and planning new opportunities to strike.

Kushner identifies and assesses the violent plans of these Islamic organizations and individuals who take advantage of our reluctance to engage in ethnic profiling. He supports his claims with never-before-seen documents from top-level government sources, exposing a secret network of Arab intelligence agencies, terrorists, university professors, corrupt imams and other religious leaders, and violent criminals. [. . . . ]

I am not writing to quarrel with your judgment about the war in Iraq. Rather, I am writing to protest your attitude toward the war. And the point I want to make is this: sometimes, you have to choose between proving yourself to have been right, or helping make a project succeed despite your opposition to it.

Since all our tempers are running hot, it might be best to illustrate my point with a non-political example: . . . .

Simply put, Iraq has become the focal point of the entire war on terrorism. That’s because President Bush’s strategy for winning the war, in addition to fighting al Qaeda terrorists wherever we can find them, is to spread democracy itself throughout the Middle East. More precisely, his strategy is to create conditions in that part of the world that will trigger an Islamic revolution whose objective is to jolt Islam itself from the Seventh Century into the Twenty-first Century. In other words, we want Islam to do what Judaism and Christianity did centuries ago: namely, to reconcile with the modern world. If this actually happens in Iraq, the President believes, it will crack political ice throughout the region and trigger a chain reaction that will spread to other countries. [. . . . ]

The rule erecting a barrier between intelligence and criminal investigations had been put in place by Attorney General Janet Reno in July 1995.[42] Referred to as “the wall,” it caused a breakdown in the collaboration between investigators that national security officials had long realized was a danger to public safety. In the words of Mary Jo White, a Clinton-appointed U.S. Attorney who was the most seasoned al Qaeda prosecutor before 9/11: “The walls are the single greatest danger we have blocking our ability to obtain and act on [terrorist] information.”[43] One of the important innovations of the Patriot Act was to eliminate these walls. This made possible the collaboration between intelligence agencies and the FBI and led directly to the arrest of Sami al-Arian and his associates.

Another post-9/11 security reform was removing the so-called “Levi” guidelines implemented by the Ford Administration, which barred the FBI from surveilling radical organizations unless they could be shown to have committed (or be planning to commit) specific criminal acts. Under these guidelines, a terrorist organization—such as Abudallah Azzam’s Alkhifa or Sami al-Arian’s Islamic Crusade for Palestine—could recruit soldiers and funds for a holy war against the United States and be insulated from FBI scrutiny unless they could be tied to an actual criminal act. In the new age of terror, this could mean an act as destructive as 9/11 itself.

Yet it was precisely these provisions of the Patriot Act to which the left objected and against which it mounted a ferocious national campaign. For more than half a century the left had defended revolutionaries and agents of revolutionary states who had broken American laws. Radical legal organizations like the National Lawyers Guild and the Center for Constitutional Rights, as well as Sami al-Arian’s National Coalition to Protect Political Freedom, had been created for the express purpose of doing so. They supplied the lead counsels for violent radicals and terrorist suspects both before and after 9/11 and were themselves vocal antagonists of America’s wars and its national security defenses.[. . . . ]

It was the idea of terrorism itself that radicals found problematic. . . .

* Iraqi insurgents threaten attack inside United States -- 'Big surprise' planned: 'We will give Americans a taste of what civilians in our country go through'
* Airlines note theft by baggage handlers at Vancouver airport -- after Canada's Auditor-General's report -- nothing on the security front. The talk of $7.7 billion? It's more smoke and mirrors.
* How to be an illegal -- Mexico government publishes guide to assist border crossers
* Get serious about immigration enforcement (Canada should do this, as well.)
* Drug prohibition is a terrorist's best friend
* Radical Islam in The Netherlands: A Case Study of a Failed European Policy

* Taking liberties -- "Mr Monderman’s thesis feels right to me — that by creating the illusion of security you relieve the citizen of the need to make his own judgments."
* Risky tiff -- Newfoundland's rage makes centrists quake
* Jolly Roger better flag for Canada Steamship Lines
* Where Have the Fish Gone? -- A Fresh Look at the Ocean

* Nurses at Montreal English hospital fail French test, lose licences
* Canada still pays for Trudeau blunders -- Even questioning the bilingualism program--promotion of French--is akin to treason
* Ottawa, First Nations seek to redefine Indian status -- Current law will result in 'legislated extinction,' warns Phil Fontaine
* Shat on a turtle -- and -- Indian Time
* Bud Talkinghorn: The looming Aboriginal Disaster