Authoritarian regimes give rise to forces which oppose them by pushing against the individual and collective will to freedom, truth and self realization. Plans which assist authoritarian rule, once discovered, induce resistance. Hence these plans are concealed by successful authoritarian powers. This is enough to define their behavior as conspiratorial.

Julian Assange, “State and Terrorist Conspiracies”

by John W. Warnock
December 22, 2010

    This is the season to be jolly. So they say. But how can one be upbeat in the present world? Just the other day, Robert Gates, President Obama’s Secretary of Defense, stated that it did not matter how large the majority of Americans opposed to the war in Afghanistan. The war would go on because the U.S. had major long term geopolitical strategies at stake there. While the President had claimed that U.S. troops would start withdrawing from that war in 2011, no one could really believe that. In 2010 the President’s budget called for spending $1.3 billion on new military bases in Afghanistan.
    The latest U.S. poll revealed that two-thirds of Americans believe that the Afghan war cannot be won and is not worth the effort. In all the NATO countries a majority of the population, in recent polls, are opposed to participation in the Afghan war. Yet all the NATO governments remain strongly committed to the war. What happened to democracy?

Propaganda and the war in Afghanistan
    Just recently President Obama reported that there is great progress being made in the Afghan war. This view was supported by Canada’s political leadership and the mainstream  media. Yet a few U.S. newspapers dared to report that a couple of days before the President’s report was issued U.S. intelligence agencies told the intelligence committees of the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate just the opposite. The Taliban and its growing number of allies now control most of Afghanistan and are increasing their strength in areas where they had virtually no support in 2001.
    The Globe and Mail, which claims that it is Canada’s national newspaper, played up the report by President Obama and ignored the contrary opinion of the U.S. intelligence agencies. The publishers and editors strongly support the war and the continuation of an active NATO role for Canada in Afghanistan. The other main media sources followed suit. Yet for several years now polls in Canada have revealed majority opposition to participation in this war and around 70% support for Canada returning to peacekeeping as our proper military role.

Blocking democracy in Haiti
    A short time ago the U.S. and Canadian governments publicly chastised the people of Haiti for refusing to accept the outcome of their recent national election. There was no reporting of the fact that only 22.8% of eligible voters went to the polls. In the articles by our national newspaper, there was no mention that the U.S. government backed military coups in 1991 and 2004 which overthrew the democratically elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide. The Canadian government aided the coup in 2004 and supported the decision by the U.S. government to force Aristide into exile.
    On top of this, the so-called peacekeeping authorities in Haiti have since 2004 banned the participation of Aristide’s political party, Fanmi Lavalas (FI), from participating in any elections. This is the party overwhelmingly supported by Haiti’s poor majority. No mention of this by our national newspaper. Could that be a reason why the voter turnout was so low? Or why the people don’t want to accept the results of the election?
    The mass media in Canada and the other NATO countries has been very hostile to Julian Assange and Wikileaks. He dares to argue that we live under authoritarian governments which conspire with the mass media to deny us the facts on what governments are actually doing. As he predicted in 2006, once the facts are leaked to the general public it is the authoritarian governments who will issue the strongest protests. The mainstream media in the authoritarian countries will denounce the release of the facts as they are first of all committed to the preservation of the authoritarian status quo.
    It takes Ron Paul, Republican Member of Congress from Texas, to stand up and say that we need more Wikileaks for democracy depends on the general public having access to all the relevant facts.

John W. Warnock is a Regina political economist and author.

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