Harper plays the security card.

Mr. Fadden still has his job, so obviously he had the PM's blessing. I believe Mr. Harper's response to this story was, "We're aware of all this, it's no biggie." So this is pure politics, and not a bad thing to have out there as we waste a billion on security for Gs 8&20.

Layer Cake

Good article, Mr. Kilian.

It is interesting what Mr. Fadden has both chosen to highlight.... and what he has chosen to ignore.

In regard to that pointedly pointed finger being waved at BC municipal leaders and members of cabinet.... and not they are not complicit or blameless in their susceptibility to both co-option and influence....

But .....if you have been following BC politics, you will know municipalities have been "relieved" of all their powers of determination through sly legislation brought in by the Campbell BCLiberals eg. "The Significant Projects Streamlining Act" - to mention only one highly "influential" one.

And BC cabinet ministers, too, have been similarly "relieved".....note that infamous memo sent out to them in Campbell's early days that made very clear that Gordon Campbell and his "premier-appointed" Chief of Staff, Martyn Brown would be running the show.

So it was truly funny stuff watching Mr. Campbell's "outrage" at Mr. Fadden's so-called revelations over influence.

Influence is a many-tiered cake.

Mr. Fadden, it seems, would prefer to focus on anything but the top tier. So the bottom layers, poor things, get eaten first....and the top layers gets all the protective icing. And like the top of a wedding cake they are preserved and protected and hidden away for "safe" keeping.

Somehooooo....sorry...( as Basil Fawlty says "don't mention the war"), it brings the BC Rail Corruption Trial to mind where all the focus has been conveniently off-loaded onto those few who allegedly dared to take the bribe.... while a hard icing of obfuscation has served to conceal and disguise not only those who allegedly offered the bribe but "especially" those special main players who actually planned... and encouraged...and created this political culture of bribery.

If you've ever played Monopoly, you'll know the most advantageous and influential card in the deck. And these special few must have it....in spades.

Wheels Within Wheels Within Wheels

Like many clandestine secret services before ours (SS, KGB, CIA, NSA etc etc), CSIS has succumbed to the inevitable 'wheels within wheels within wheels' phenomenon, where layer after layer of strategy and secrecy result in everyone involved getting tangled up in their own anchor chains.

In non-democratic societies of the past, ruled by elites over peasants who were not allowed to read or write, you could get away with it. But with a still vibrant citizenry who can spot deception a mile away, you can't.

This is a classic case of plain manipulation by CSIS, authorized by their political masters, to create fake enemies and issues, while the real perpetrator destroying Canada is in 'plain site', which would be Harper et al, the neocons helping to dismantle Canada.

GREAT coverage.

CSIS FADDEN the enemy within

CBC NewsWorld and the National is rightwing fare and has been since Day 1.
CBC Radio overall is leftwing heady stuff sans Rex Murphy on Sunday.
People who like to think are drawn to leftwing fare, people who like to react are drawn to rightwing fare.

Fadden's game was well played the message was for the Federal Conservative, Liberals and Green parties all three should be outlawed on all levels.

Weak minded politicians like Robertson of Vancouver
are easily manipulated and as such should be removed asap. Ditto for all of the BC Liberals and the current leader of the NDP Carole James and the party machine around her.

Calgary University needs to be raided and e-mails and files seized [UNVERIFIED ALLEGATION REMOVED. -MODERATOR].

You brought up 9/11 on the terror side but 9/11 was done for the political side and terror is a very small part of the whole political plan.

AXIOM; Those who can not remember the past are CONDEMNED to repeat it. Harper, Iggy and May are creatures from the past, different names same game.

Thank you Mr Fadden Canada 1st.

Why Now?

If this story and interview was important then why did the CBC keep it hidden until the day before the Chinese President arrived in Canada?

"The timing of the CBC interview was not Mr. Fadden’s choice. This spring, CBC approached him to repeat remarks he had made at a private, but videotaped, speech at the Royal Canadian Military Institute. The public broadcaster kept the interview in its back pocket until it broadcast the exclusive this week. ..."

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/csis-directors-future-in-doubt-as-politicians-decry-remarks/article1615583/

Someone at the CBC knew exactly what they were up to.

``....tangled up in their own anchor chain.``

Quote: ``...where layer after layer of strategy and secrecy result in everyone involved getting tangled up in their own anchor chain.``

So very well said, Jeffrey J.

It certainly reveals what constitutes true freedom.

Not Peculiar or Unique at all

Campbell's comments are in line with NDP Premier Dexter's.

"CSIS remarks ‘very disturbing’, says premier
ALEX BOUTILIER
FOR METRO HALIFAX
June 25, 2010 12:41 a.m.

Recent comments by CSIS director Richard Fadden hearken back to Cold War-era paranoia, says Nova Scotia’s premier. Premier Darrell Dexter said Fadden’s allegation that some provincial and municipal politicians in Canada are under the influence of foreign government’s is “very disturbing” and “xenophobic.”

“It had a kind of xenophobic feel to it that hearkens back to the McCarthy-era where you imply that citizens, because of the fact that they may be new Canadians or first-generation Canadians, are not as loyal to the country as long-established Canadians.”

Fadden set off a media storm when he made the allegations in an interview with CBC on Tuesday. He has since attempted to distance himself from the allegations, offering a clarification on Wednesday.

But Dexter said he believes Fadden owes the public — and governments — an explanation."

http://www.metronews.ca/halifax/Local/article/562479--csis-remarks-very-disturbing-says-premier

http://thechronicleherald.ca/NovaScotia/1188944.html

A Perfect Spy

Fadden reminds me of the Matt Damon character in the brilliant movie "The Good Shephard"; in a key scene Damon meets the mobster Joe Palmi, played by Joe Pesci. In a moment of racial and social perspective, Pesci asks Damon, "The blacks have their music, we Italians have our families. What do you WASPs have?"

Damon's facial expression doesn't change and he answers, "You people are just guests in our country."

I guess that belief is what underpins what Fadden was implying. Despite all the talk about cultural mosaics and 'making nice' the Canadian way, the core of the power structure that keeps this country together and ensures its security is Anglo-Saxon (and based in Ottawa and Toronto). The rest of the non-Anglos are only visitors.

The real issue here isn't what Fadden said. Spy chiefs aren't prone to running off at the mouth by accident. Indeed, his remarks were probably made on purpose to float a balloon for all of us to see, to put their adversaries on notice, to scare the populace. He bypassed the govt's usual security channels and dropped his accusations right on national television. Maybe the rest of the govt bureaucracy didn't take him seriously. Super bureaucrats like Fadden rarely work outside the system by taking political stances and risking their jobs.

Perhaps his intent was to incite a witch hunt among the population pitting race against race. Look at many of the local blogs and you'll find many white people complaining about the out of control immigration of people who do not share traditional Canadian values. Old Canada is being consumed by a New Canada that none of us can understand. Maybe Fadden sought to tap into that vein of discontent.

When a spymaster plays his hand, the move is rarely decipherable at first glance. Motive, intent and consequence are trapped in a wilderness of mirrors.

and what of CBC

Again in this as in other recent "documentary" pieces CBC fails at minimal investigative journalism. For fear of govnt backlash ? Most probably... Some of them probably remember how Mulroney slashed their budgets in the early 90s after they had roughed him up a couple of times as prime minister. Which explains why they have spent so much time rehashing the Mulroney airbus story over the years, softly settling score. The only time they get a bit rough is when they pursue some Joe who screwed people about their retirement money. No risk in that. But when it comes to actually be something else that the mouth piece of canadian "whoever is in power at the time". They fail us all. Rex Murphy's weekly indignation about parliament does not a critical media make.

Dr. A & R/Man Reveal McFadden's Real Intent

Namely, to sow discord amongst the general population, so that we begin looking askance at our neigbours - not so dissimilar to the Hitlerian-spy-on-your-neigbours.

The reasons? Well for one, it a lazy way to gather information on local citizenry. And two, a divided citizenry is much easier to "keep in line". Every (successful) banana republic despot knows this.

Huh? Who are the real spies....?

Why would CSIS focus primarily on foreign influence only from a minority perspective? There is more influence coming from U.S. and Europe than anywhere else. The reality here is that CSIS is controlled by whom-ever Canada's supposed *partners* in intelligence are. A system which doesn't provide very good intelligence at all.

If Canada needs intelligence, instead of cozying up and relying on N.A.T.O. for intelligence, CSIS should be heavily filtering intelligence provided by partner sources and mostly relying on their own data collection. This is because, from the standpoint of external control, supplying misinformation is one of the best forms of political control known. It's easier to control nations if one has the listening ear of their security organizations and diplomats. Can we count on our partners to provide good intelligence? Not really; only when it suits their own agendas.

Does Canada really need a spy agency? No. The reality is that at almost every occasion where CSIS could have made a difference it has botched the job or seriously missed the point.

The very concept of political espionage is obsolete. Governments do not really manage secrets outside the domains of military operations and stored personal information of citizens. In the case of citizen information, anything other than name, address and phone number are normally outdated or incorrect anyway. Canadian databases a full of unfiltered errors, misinformation, hearsay and outright libel.

Real espionage is economic and corporate. Governments can neither study, curtail, nor stop these types of spying. That is the responsibility of the businesses involved. Thus the use of public funds to somehow effect a change in this domain are completely wasted.

Returning once again to the relationship of Canada's intelligence infrastructure and partners; If it is impossible for CSIS to actually provide useful intelligence regarding external and corporate espionage threats to business and the public at large, what then is the true role of intelligence in Canada?
The fact is intelligence in Canada is ALL about collecting information, however erroeous, about our own citizens and disseminating that information to our intelligence our 'partners' around the world via N.A.T.O., Interpol, C.P.I.C., etc..

Global business (the elite wealthy), police, and anyone else in the club are given carte blanche with your information every day.

The reality is CSIS, and most Canadian databases, are the spies that the citizens of Canada really need to worry about. If they were not storing your information you, the citizen, would not need to worry.

Industrial espionage

A friend in Ottawa alerted me to this story. He said that industrial espionage is rampant in Canada. The more 'legitimate' forms happen when Canadian manufacturers off-shore production to China. In short order, several brands of knock-offs, based on copied designs, will appear in the Canadian market at a fraction of the price. Apparently Black and Decker is getting hammered by this.

I talked to someone who is trying to sell various products to China. He met the regional manager of one of the (government-controlled) banks that are the powerhouses behind China's rapid growth. He was told China does not want to develop technology, but to copy and make existing designs cheaper.

China is also picking up technologies as high-tech ventures here go under. They will step in and buy all the intellectual property rights for peanuts. Look up VRB Power Systems.

Also, stories a few years back relating to the Chinese persecution of Falun Gong members revealed a large and powerful network of Chinese spies operating in this country. If they can keep close watch on dissidents abroad, they surely have the spy machinery in place to accomplish other goals.

My friend viewed the Fadden admission as a warning shot, letting it known that we are aware of them.

CBC News...

...might not be "leftwing", but you have to wonder with the Tories musing on our public broadcaster's future if this was not timed to create maximum embarrassment for Harper.

If Fadden was trying to fire a warning shot, then I can tell you his counterpart in Beijing isn't losing any sleep, if they aren't laughing.

dave40

I kinda figure that, if Cancuck manufacturers want to offshore, then they have to be prepared this kind of blowback. Or are they so naive to think it couldn't happen to them (like a tanker mishap just can't happen in Canada)?

Which I Refuse to Believe...

"In addition, we must pay more attention to our various politicians who sometimes seemingly support other countries or groups whose interests or actions run counter to our own.

My yardstick is simple: Canada come first."

And we need to lay that yardstick up against our own US Empire wannabes at all levels of business and governance in this country and, in my opinion, from the evidence of their endless apologetics, many who frequent this site from time to time. The politicians right now, we all know. But it is these in our midst who are the nation's real "problem children".

As for the CBC, which I once loved as a reflection of a nascent independent spirit and world view in Canadians, it has become just another official "State Media" reflecting the ruling class and "serving political elite" interest in serving, and integrating itself into the US Empire system.

Which reminds me that we have two more Canadians killed serving the US Empire Cause in Afghanistan today. Sad. But if you're going to serve the US Empire cause, you better be prepared to pay the ultimate price.

And no, it is not true anybody is going to remember them forever. In a hundred years, these average working class "grunts", or "pongoes" as we used to be called, serving The Empire in Afghanistan today, will just be nobodies like the rest of us. Even the faithful at the annual cenotaph parades will have moved on to new war dead, and these guys will be about as remembered as those who fell on the Plains of Abraham. That is, assuming that capitalism still exists, fighting its endless imperialist wars in one impoverished land or another. Which I refuse to believe.

Foreign Spies a Reality

It is unfortunate that Canada has some naive and/or willfully blind political leaders who seem to think that any accusation that a foreign government is influencing or attempting to influence a Canadian politician is somehow racist or xenophobic.

I have no doubt that CSIS Director Richard Fadden is absolutely right to raise the issue and no doubt has evidence to support his conclusions. Governments like China and Russia have been spying on Canadian technology companies for years. Israel has used fake Canadian passports to carry out operations by its Mossad intelligence agency. There are probably any number of reasons why foreign governments would want to have Canadian politicians in their back pockets.

Canadian politicians should never dismiss such accusations from the head of a Canadian intelligence agency simply to suck up to a particular ethnic vote.

Spying is a everyday pastime

around the world -- political, industrial and commercial. The release by CSIS of this non-information can only have been done for one reason: to strike a little more fear and suspicion into the hearts of the masses; the standard, long-serving ploy of governments.

A fearful nation is a compliant people.

Fear of God.
Fear of Communism.
Fear of Terrorism.
Fear of Drug Lords.
Fear of Nigerian Money Scammers.
Fear of Invasion.
Fear of Foreign Foods.
Fear of the Socialists.
Fear of the Evil-Doers.
Fear of Suspicious Boxes.
Fear of Organized Criminals.
Fear of the Flu.
Fear of Unions.
Fear of Foreigners.
Fear of Not Fitting In.
Fear of Dissent.
Fear of ...

Enough 'fear' to legitimate why the government needs to operate without oversight defending our national security, planning how it is going to rob the nation and its people one more time through boom, bust or war.

Samuidave...

"Enough 'fear' to legitimate why the government needs to operate without oversight defending our national security, planning how it is going to rob the nation and its people one more time through boom, bust or war." wrote samuidave.

You got it, brother.

No more needs to be said, certainly by me.

Blind trust can be dangerous

"I have no doubt that CSIS Director Richard Fadden is absolutely right to raise the issue and no doubt has evidence to support his conclusions."

No doubt, eh?

CSIS, big business and our corporate sponsored government loves you.

Interesting questions indeed...

...and don't we all love a glimpse of intrigue.

I do think that, in light of BC's extremely lax municipal financing laws, that Fadden's questions about external governments buying influence are legitimate, although this is probably a very soft form of influence - one that's more about cultivating potentially useful long-term friendships, rather than the stealing secrets stuff of spy novels.

But that is just the tip of a much larger iceberg that's by no means limited to China or foreign governments. The influence bought by local, BC-based and international corporations (and to a lesser extent unions) through gifts, hospitality, political donations and probably outright bribes in some cases is a very large, very insidious and very real threat. It's one that visibly corrupts local and provincial governance and one that has shaped Canada from the time Europeans first arrived here.

Are you kidding, Ramone???

There is plenty of evidence around in the public domain tying China, Russia, Israel, and yes, even the United States to taking advantage of Canada in one way or another.

For a really prime example of how easily manipulated and dumb Canadian politicians can be, just look at the number of federal and provincial politicians actively supporting the Sikh separatist groups who are tied to the Air India bombing. At various times, some very prominent federal and provincial politicians openly supported these groups at the same time CSIS and the RCMP were linking these groups to the Air India bombing. Unfortunately, those same two agencies screwed up the investigation and so no one was ever convicted, except for Reyat.

Read Vancouver's Sun reporter Kim Bolan’s book about the Air India conspiracy and bombing, “Loss of Faith”. She names names and gives details, and has never been sued over the content of the book.

While that situation is something different from what the current CSIS chief was talking about, it does show that some Canadian politicians will go to great lengths to win favor with certain ethnic minorities without bothering to consider the evidence. The recent criticism of the CSIS chief by Gordon Campbell and Premier Dexter of Nova Scotia are prime examples.

Back to the Future.

Ah! A taste of the future conservative police state, right wing Christians, doing what's best for us sinners! No Thanks.
How about we act like 911 never happened and pretend the Right Wing Conservative Muslims are not in control of the planet!
The good old days, crossing the boarder for lunch with the only answering where do you live, getting on a plane with no more than a smile and have a great vacation. Soldiers that where peace keepers.
At least I grew up in real freedom.
Time for more drugs, to forget and dream of the past....