CANADA WATCH- War mongers gather for another conference in Halifax (TO DISCUSS OVERTHROW OF ASSAD)
This year's conference has been dominated by discussion of the Zionist onslaught on Gaza and how to promote the Syrian opposition against the government of Bashar al-Asad.Anti-war activists were on hand to send a powerful message to the war mongers that gathered in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on November 17 that they are not welcome in Canada. The rally organizers were further motivated to condemn the gathering because of Zionist onslaught on defenseless Gaza.The three-day conference (November 17-19) has become a regular fixture in Halifax financed by Canadian taxpayers and pushed by Canadian Defence Minister Peter McKay. The conference is being attended by Defence and intelligence officials from NATO member states as well as Israel.The majority of participants are in fact Americans pointing to the fact that that it is aimed at promoting the American agenda but in a city that is not a media hub, thus avoiding greater media exposure or publicity.Informed observers believe that McKay is keen to promote what is officially called the Halifax International Security Forum (HISF) in order to position himself for a possible top spot in NATO. The Stephen Harper-led Conservative government in Canada has become more militaristic in its pronouncements and wants to project Canada as a member of the big league with such players as the US, France, Britain etc. This year's conference has been dominated by discussion of the Zionist onslaught on Gaza and how to promote the Syrian opposition against the government of Bashar al-Asad. A pro-western Syrian opposition figure, Riad Ziadeh was invited to the conference to plead the opposition's case. He did not have to try very hard; NATO is pushing for a military solution in Syria but it is constrained by the better than expected resilience of Syrian forces.More than 20 months into the conflict and the opposition has made little headway. In fact, foreign mercenaries that have flooded into Syria have indulged in gruesome attacks against and killings of civilians that has turned most Syrians against them. Some estimates put the number of foreign mercenaries at 80 percent. Such details have not deterred the war mongers from pushing their agenda in Syria as well as elsewhere. Not one participant inside the conference hall condemned Zionist aggression against defenceless Palestinians in Gaza. Instead, they again parroted the worn out phrase that Israel has the right to defend itself. What about the Palestinians of whom more than 53 have been murdered by the zionists in four days? At least 500 have been injured.Among the dead are 15 children. These of course are not considerations that the Halifax conference wants to consider. After all, Palestinian lives do not count.Canadian Peace Activists, however, are not prepared to turn a blind eye to such crimes. Their presence outside the hotel where the conference is being held has sent a powerful message to the war mongers that while they may try and hide from the media by gathering in a relatively remote city like Halifax, they cannot escape censure from peace activists. The majority of Canadians do not believe in militarism and Canadian government policy is running directly in opposition to such sentiment.EndSide Note: We are posting regular brief updates on the situation in Gaza on our Facebook page -http://www.facebook.com/CrescentInternational