Halifax International Security Forum
Ban the Halifax War Conference! Make Canada a Zone for Peace!
From November 18-20, the 14th Halifax International Security Forum (HISF), aka Halifax War Conference, convenes as a platform for warmongering and empire-building of U.S. imperialism and the NATO bloc in which Canada is fully embroiled.
Canada
has submitted lock, stock and barrel to the dangerous
imperialist
concoction that the U.S. is the "indispensable nation" to which
every
country must submit or suffer war and destruction. The U.S.,
through
its warmongering North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
created the
HISF as a forum for governments, war industries, media and think
tanks
to work out plans for the use of police powers and the policy of
"Might
Makes Right" to dictate over the countries and peoples of the
world,
violating the UN Charter and international laws with impunity.
The forum is the largest annual gathering of these reactionary and dangerous forces to plan their next moves. Since 2009 Canada has spent tens of millions of dollars from public funds to subsidize it. It shows how deeply integrated Canada is into the U.S. war machine.
This is not a Canadian -- let alone a Halifax -- event. It is a U.S./NATO bloc event organized directly from Washington, DC by an entity now called HFX. The HIFS website says: "With the generous support of the Canadian government, Halifax International Security Forum was founded in 2009 as part of the German Marshall Fund of the United States. HFX became an independent organization in 2011." Following its becoming "independent" it was joined by Foreign Affairs magazine (journal of the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations) as media partner, followed by Foreign Policy magazine and Politico, which was bought in August 2021 for more than a billion dollars by the German Springer monopoly. It also now holds forums in London and Taipei and operates out of Ukraine.
It carries out all its criminal, warmongering and nation-wrecking activities in the name of peace, democracy and human rights.
On March 11 this year, Peter Van Praagh, President of the HFX announced:
"The Forum is the preeminent international affairs and security gathering for leaders committed to democratic principles, including senior decision-makers from politics, militaries, media and business. Strategic cooperation among democratic nations has never been more urgent, and we look forward to advancing this vital imperative with democratic leaders in Halifax this November."
Once again the war the U.S. and NATO are waging against Russia to the last Ukrainian is blamed on Russia.
"Ukraine's brave fight to defend its democracy from Vladimir Putin's invasion is a salutary reminder that the world can change with breathtaking speed and that democracies must stand together to meet such critical challenges."
With
the overall aim of criminalizing and isolating Russia by blaming
it for
all the problems the world is facing and to corral financial,
military
and political support for this proxy war by the U.S./NATO and
allies
against Russia, the war in Ukraine is slated to take centre
stage this
year at
the Forum. This includes a campaign to raise $U.S.10 million for
the
"Ukrainian Victory Fund," the result of a direct appeal of
Ukrainian
President Zelensky to the HFX. This is a pittance given that
Ukraine
requires a subsidy of $5 billion a month to stay afloat.
According to
the promo material, the
money will be used by Ukraine "to purchase its own Dedicated
Satellite
Constellation (DSC) with multiple high-resolution satellites
registered
under the Ukrainian flag."
It is called "a strategic game changer which will allow Ukraine to track everything from the movement of Russian soldiers to identifying escape routes for millions of refugees."
The fundraising drive for this piece of military hardware illustrates the role of the HISF and HFX to militarize the life of the people. It is being spearheaded by Club HFX, a "pro-democracy business group" associated with the forum, whose stated aim is:
"[T]o create the productive environment that allows for significant education between government and industry that, in turn, leads to cooperation, action and results on matters of global concern. Club HFX members agree that when responsible industry and democratic governments work together, the result is enhanced public policy that leads to increased prosperity and greater international security."
Among the companies who are members of Club HFX are Boeing which is a builder of military planes, the hedge fund ACTO and OYAK, a pension fund owned by the Turkish armed forces. How many local businesses are targeted to cooperate on pain of exclusion from what should belong to them by right -- to carry on business in Halifax -- remains to be seen.
The problem the HISF will face is that the U.S. proxy war in Ukraine is not achieving the desperate results a faction of the U.S. ruling class desires. This will lend an air of desperation to the entire HISF proceedings this year and make its decisions all the more dangerous as they are in the service of the war profiteers and all the associated hedge funds and narrow private interests which benefit.
The "Informal" or "off the record" session of the HISF related to Ukraine include such topics as "Lessons from Ukraine's Invisible Heroes"; "UAV: Ukraine's Absolute Victory"; "Wonder Weapon: Ukraine's Women"; and "Whole, Free and at Peace: Ukraine After the War."
Discussions at the Forum this year will continue to "de-couple" China. This is a war speak euphemism for directing hostility to China in addition to the campaign against Russia. One of the topics in the "off the record" sessions is called: Decoupling: Russia, Yes. China, Next.
China is far ahead of the United States in the use of alternative sources of energy and communication. Any hope of "decoupling" i.e. cutting off, Russia and China from the economy of the U.S. and its allies, Canada included, will achieve what? The organizers do not say.
There
is nothing honourable in the way that the Trudeau Liberals are
funding
and promoting the HISF. Not only is everything related to
foreign
relations a prerogative power over which the people have no say
whatsoever, but Canada's subservient role increasingly reveals
the need
for the working
class to constitute the nation and vest sovereignty in the
people. The
current situation which makes Canada's Department of National
Defence and its
armed forces directly subordinate to the U.S. Commander-in-Chief
through both NATO and NORAD command structures is dangerous
indeed.
The "security" this conference is based on is a Cold War concept of "collective security" which does not respond to Canada's defence needs or the demand of the peoples of the world for peace and the peaceful resolution of conflicts within and between nations. It responds to the demands of the U.S. imperialists and their NATO warmongering alliance and the biggest arms monopolies and other narrow private interests to increase military spending, step up war preparations and destruction of all interests which clash with their own.
In line with the Liberal government's modus operandi, Canada's participation in the HFX and the launching of wars is presented as a factor for a "more stable and peaceful world," and a "rules-based international order." It is not. The great insecurity felt by the world's peoples today, the destruction of countries and their infrastructure, the displacement of human beings and the refugee crisis around the world are all indicative that human beings have become things which are dispensable. The U.S.-led imperialist wars have devastated and threatened countries and whole regions and continue to do so. This is certainly the case in Ukraine where Russia is blamed for everything while it is the U.S., Britain and their lackeys in Canada which use the people of Ukraine as cannon-fodder in their proxy war between U.S./NATO and Russia.
The
HISF is a block to the peaceful resolution of conflicts,
increasing the
danger of a catastrophic world war. Its agenda is a provocation
against
the people's striving for peace here in Canada and globally
which is
the indispensable condition for the well-being of all. Those
gathering
at the
HISF are enemies of humanity's striving for the recognition of
the
rights of all as the crux of their aspiration to humanize the
social
and natural environment on the world scale.
The forces for peace in Canada demand that the HISF be dismantled. Canada must get out of NATO and NORAD. The economy must be demilitarized and taken in a pro-social direction so that financial resources from the bloated military budget can be diverted to serve the basic needs of people for their security and well being. These would be important steps towards establishing an anti-war government in Canada and making Canada a zone for peace.
Ban the Halifax War Conference!
Get Canada Out of NATO and NORAD!
Organize for an Anti-War Government!
Make Canada a Zone for Peace!
This article was published in
Volume 52 Number 47 - November 18, 2022
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmld2022/Articles/D520471.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca