EU Approves Air Passenger Data Deal With Canada

Hmmm. More fascism. Why don`t these tyrants just put a tracker on everyone, then?

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Dave Ruston

stay tuned, thats coming up in a few years

Lets face it..."democracy" is nothing but a word - its meaning long forgotten. And what next? Passenger data being transferred to the US for flights within Canada?

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Vera Gottlieb

Though it is hard to comprehend, what was once a Nation that’s Beacon of Liberty had shown throughout the world, today America has become the most monstrous and barbaric Nation the world has ever seen. But most absurd of all is that these Americans actually believe the rest of the world wants to be like them! Their children poisoned by drugs. Their food and water supplies poisoned beyond repair by pesticides and genetic modification. Their holding the distinction of having more of their citizens in prisons than the rest of the world’s countries combined. Their freedoms and liberties taken away from them daily. Their police forces resembling, and acting like, the dreaded Gestapo of the Nazi Empire. Their cities resembling armed and protected war zones.

Do we canadians really want to intergrate with this Nazi american country, and will canada adopt the same attitute, we as canadians still have time to say no, before our own politicians sell us out, and if and when that happens, one would be justified to accuse our politicians as traitors to Canada.

In direct response to Anonymous on Wednesday, July 20 2005 @ 08:29 AM MDT : Go read and learn oh, "polite", "progressive", "enlightened" Canadien...<br />
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<a href="http://northamericans4peace.blogspot.com/2005/07/this-is-special-difference-between.html">http://northamericans4peace.blogspot.com/2005/07/this-is-special-difference-between.html</a>

Wow, are these two posts all that remains of rational debate in this world?

I'll put $10 on the mongoose.

You do know that America has no friends in the world. That includes any country. This is like your own Mafia, they pretend to be your friends and come at you with a smile, but when you turn your back they blow your head off. It is sad for the average decent American that your Government will be the downfall of your country. Unfortunately deranged lunatics like you don't fall into the category of decent.

Good link, good laugh. The more I hear about peace, the less I see of it. Stop talking, start walking.

Excellent working example of hyperbole. Before any of the anti-anti-americans out there get your broad brush out, would any of the "normal" vive contributors like to create some distance here? This is hardly the response to wild conspiracy theories you should wish to leave dangling out there without some reasonable and mitigating comment.

To do otherwise risks a kind of "Canadian exceptionalism" to go along with "American exceptionalism": that our highly-leveraged approach to international relations is to be spent on all nations save the "exceptional" US. For decades we have had a foreign policy in which we were willing to engage the worst governments on the planet, with only the limited toolset of a middle power, in order to attempt to effect positive change. Is the current American administration worse than Mao's China, Suharto's Indoensia, or Bhreznev's Soviet Union, all of whom deserved diplomatic engagement? Please don't risk further hyperbole by attempting an answer.

Those calling for Canada to disengage from the US, besides being geographically ignorant, betray Canada's legacy in international relations. We are one of few nations who have any diplomatic leverage left.

another reason why canadians should distance themselves from the americans....this could happen here in canada<br />
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forgive my not linking this story only, it might not be around <br />
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<a href="http://www.examiner.ie/pport/web/ireland/Full_Story/did-sg46g7Ks0cvBEsg7OWirIStPSk.asp">http://www.examiner.ie/pport/web/ireland/Full_Story/did-sg46g7Ks0cvBEsg7OWirIStPSk.asp</a><br />
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21/07/05 <br />
Treaty gives CIA powers over Irish citizens <br />
<br />
By Dan Buckley<br />
US INVESTIGATORS, including CIA agents, will be allowed interrogate Irish citizens on Irish soil in total secrecy, under an agreement signed between Ireland and the US last week. <br />
<br />
Suspects will also have to give testimony and allow property to be searched and seized even if what the suspect is accused of is not a crime in Ireland. <br />
<br />
Under 'instruments of agreement' signed last week by Justice Minister Michael McDowell, Ireland and the US pledged mutual co-operation in the investigation of criminal activity. It is primarily designed to assist America's so-called 'war on terror' in the wake of the September 11 atrocities. <br />
<br />
The deal was condemned yesterday by the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) as "an appalling signal of how the rights of Irish citizens are considered by the minister when engaging in international relations". The ICCL said it appeared to go far beyond even what has been agreed between EU countries. <br />
<br />
<br />
On signing the agreement, the minister said that "the international community must do everything it can to combat terrorism with every means at its disposal.<br />
<br />
"Ireland will not be found wanting," he added. <br />
<br />
The treaty will give effect to agreements on Mutual Legal Assistance and Extradition signed by the EU and the US in June 2003. These are aimed at building on mutual assistance and extradition arrangements. <br />
<br />
Although the Department of Justice insists that the arrangement merely updates existing agreements, it goes much further. The US may ask Irish authorities: <br />
<br />
To track down people in Ireland. <br />
<br />
Transfer prisoners in Irish custody to the US. <br />
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Carry out searches and seize evidence on behalf of the US Government. <br />
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It also allows US authorities access to an Irish suspect's confidential bank information. The Irish authorities must keep all these activities secret if asked to do so by the US. <br />
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The person who will request co-operation is US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, the man who, as White House counsel, instigated the notorious 'torture memo' to US President George W Bush which advised how far CIA agents could go in torturing prisoners. The person to whom the request is sent is the Minister for Justice. <br />
<br />
About 20,000 immigrants, who have not been charged with any crime, are currently in prison in the US. In two recent US Supreme Court cases, the US Government argued that US citizens could be imprisoned indefinitely without charge if the president designated them as "enemy combatants". <br />
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ICCL director Aisling Reidy said: "An extraordinary aspect to this treaty is, despite its scope and its potential to violate basic constitutional and human rights, that all this happened without debate or transparency. <br />
<br />
"To agree to give such powers to a government which has allowed detention of its own citizens without access to a lawyer for over a year, which has legitimised Guantanamo Bay and the interrogation techniques there, without public debate, is an appalling signal of how highly or not the rights of Irish citizens are considered by the minister when engaging in international relations."<br />
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The Department of Justice said it was wrong to say the treaty happened without debate, as the agreements update and supplement existing arrangements, and the EU-US agreement has been scrutinised by the Oireachtas four times since December 2002. <br />
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A spokesperson also rejected that the measures go beyond what was agreed between EU countries. <br />
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Legislation will be required to give effect to some elements of the Mutual Legal Assistance Instrument. The necessary provisions will be contained in the Criminal Justice (Mutual Assistance) Bill which Mr McDowell expects to publish shortly. <br />