Working Hard to Safeguard Paddling Assets for All Canadians

All about Whitewater

All about Whitewater
A Blog about River Preservation and the need to protect our free flowing whitewater resources

Friday, December 9, 2011

Excerpts from http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2011/12/08/f-vp-stewart.html

ANALYSIS | Brian Stewart: The covert war in Iran
By Brian Stewart, special to CBC News
Posted: Dec 8, 2011 7:45 PM ET

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2011/12/08/f-vp-stewart.html
Last Updated: Dec 8, 2011 7:44 PM ET

Timeline: Iran and the West — a history of tensions

Iran focused war-hawk messages in the MSM mimic those propeling the U.S. into the Iraq war in 2003. A fiasco.
Newt Gingrich claimed recently that the U.S. "could break Iran in a year." despite what we know of combat in Iraq and Afghanistan..
Why support Israel? It is likely covertly attackingIran's supposed nuclear weapons sites.

There is now covert war that involves kidnappings and assassinations of scientists, the possible use of computer viruses to destroy information networks, and mysterious explosions at Iranian nuclear sites, all of which seem to be escalating.
Last year, two leading nuclear physicists were killed and the head of the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization was wounded by car-bomb attacks inside Iran, attacks Teheran blamed on Israeli and U.S. operatives.

Months later, Iran's nuclear program was sabotaged and put back at least a year by the Stuxnet computer virus which made secret adjustments to centrifuges at Iran's uranium enrichment site. Who would do such a thing? USA, Israel?

Nov. 12 this year, an enormous explosion virtually obliterated a top secret base near Teheran that was being used for developing long-range missiles and killed the head of Iran's missile program and 17 others, including key experts in the field. Not likely an accident.

Two weeks later, another large explosion damaged the key uranium enrichment plant at Isfahan.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard brought down a US spy drone electronically over its northeastern border with Afghanistan in November 2011. Iran has been directing Shia militia in the roadside bombings that killed and maimed American troops in Iraq, and it is a strong backer of Hamas and Hezbollah in their clashes with Israel. There was a bizarre plot to kill the Saudi Arabian ambassador in Washington and blow up his embassy. Iranian demonstrators stormed the British Embassy in Teheran last week shouting "Death to Britain."

The Mossad and CIA are widely reported to be working with Iranian exiles of the MKO (sometimes called MEK) — the military wing of the National Council of Resistance, which has strong links to U.S. conservative groups favouring action against Iran.
Patrick Clawson at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, believes these campaigns of assassinations and cyber-war and only vaguely acknowledged sabotage mark a new form of conflict in our world where it's never made clear who is doing what.

The descent into chaos started a long time ago.
General Wesley Clark (ret.) told "Democracy Now" (2007) that ten days after September 11, 2011 another general had told him that the Bush government was planning to invade: Iraq, Libya, Syria, Lebanon, Somalia, Sudan and Iran. What they have in common is that they were not members of banks within the Bank of International Settlements, and most of them have lots of oil.

The military industrial complex will tell you anything to get in your bed, and its hands on taxpayers money.
A lot of these unnecessary wars about oil and greed could be avoided if those pushing for war had to enlist and serve in a combat role or, at least have someone in their immediate family do it.

All the candidates for the Republican leadership, with the exception of Ron Paul use war rhetoric which is truly disturbing. The leading wingnut is Gingrich.Ron Paul's "misguided and extreme views" on Israel include ending subsidies to Israel, Pakistan, Egypt etc. and to strenuously oppose a military attack against Iran.
He wants to ditch the Fed too and people like Bernanke have targeted him with public criticism.

The Iranians have the capacity and probably will block the Straight of Hormus where half of the world oil passes. The consequences of that blockage by Iran would immediatly send the price of oil thru the roof. This covert war where iranian scientists are coldly assassinated by professional killers unites Iranians against the west and now we have the downing of the drone.

War is makes a few people rich and everyone else suffers. I wish the poor would stop fighting a rich man's war. If they feel so passionately about fighting someone, make them do it themselves. I doubt we would have been at war this long if our politicians were the ones fighting. I'm sick of killing innocent people that just want to be left alone, ironically to spread freedom and democracy while our freedoms at home are being stripped away one by one.

If Iran decided to come forward with evidence of being attacked, it would be immediately mistrusted for the sole reason that it is coming from Iran (which the war machine's media has been attacking for months - who needs objective reporting anyways?). They seem to be out of reach of congressional or presidential oversight. Who do they take their orders from? So war with Iran seems inevitable, regardless of who gets elected President. Political pundits take for granted that a Republican in the White House would almost certainly mean war, and Obama seems to be going out of his way to steal the right's thunder. Obama sold the Israelis the bunker buster bombs that they needed to attack Iran's nuclear facilities, something even Bush refused to do. He has ratcheted up the rhetoric and the sanctions. Bush used the fiction of WMD as an excuse for war, Obama foists upon the world a most unlikely story of Iranian agents hiring the Mexican drug cartels to kill the Saudi ambassador to the US. All this strictly on the word of a paid FBI informant. At least Bush had a 5 star general spin his BS on the world stage.

As for the drone that was shot down, it is just a continuation of American covert activities in Iran which has been going on for years. These continued invasions of Iran's territory are acts of war in their own right and I fully support Iran's right to defend itself.

The greater force is not always the victor....Iran was once called Persia and was a great empire but was defeated eventually by a much smaller nation called Greece .

President Ahmadinejad did quote Ayatollah Khomein (the man who Israel was supplying weapons to during the Iran-Contra affair) to the effect that "this Occupation regime over Jerusalem must vanish from the page of time" (in rezhim-e eshghalgar-i Qods bayad as safheh-e ruzgar mahv shavad). This was not a pledge to roll tanks and invade or to launch missiles, however. It is the expression of a hope that the regime will collapse, just as the Soviet Union did. It is not a threat to kill anyone at all.

Iran has not launched an aggressive war in modern history (unlike the US or Israel), and its leaders have a doctrine of "no first strike." This is true of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, as well as of Revolutionary Guards commanders.

Iran's military budget is a little over $6 billion annually. Sweden, Singapore and Greece all have larger military budgets. Moreover, Iran is a country of 70 million, so that its per capita spending on defence is tiny compared to these others, since they are much smaller countries with regard to population.

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Canadian Rivers

Canadian Rivers
I speak for river users too!

The Queen is not amused!

The Queen is not amused!
http://www.ispeakforcanadianrivers.ca/

The Damned Dam - 2005 -

The Damned Dam - 2005 -
22nd Annual Kipaw Rally has modest turnout. - 23rd does better

The Ashlu river: it could happen to you

The Ashlu river: it could happen to you

Whitewater Ontario

Whitewater Ontario
Working Hard to Protect Canada's Paddling Resources

Whitewater Ontario - Mission Statement

It is Whitewater Ontario’s mission to support the whitewater paddling community through the promotion, development and growth of the sport in its various disciplines. We accomplish this through the development of events, resources, clubs, and programs for personal and athletic development, regardless of skill level or focus, to ensure a high standard of safety and competency; We advocate safe and environmentally responsible access and use of Ontario’s rivers. Whitewater Ontario is the sport governing body in the province, and represents provincial interests within the national body Whitewater Canada and the Canadian Canoe Association http://www.whitewaterontario.ca/page/mission.asp

Kipawa, Tabaret, and Opemican

Kipawa, Tabaret, and Opemican
If Hydro Quebec is not actively pursuing Tabaret what is that bite out of Opemican for?

Kipawa Dam: After

Kipawa Dam: After
Laniel Dam at 2006 Rally

Where is the Kipawa

Where is the Kipawa
Kipawa flows into lake Temiskamingue, running from Kipawa Lake, under hwy 101 in Quebec

Kipawa Dam

Kipawa Dam
laniel dam at 2004 River Rally

Tabaret is a Bad Idea

About the Kipawa



The best thing paddlers can do to help the cause of the Kipawa:

1. attend the rally and bring others including non paddlers to attend and buy beer and have fun

2. write your MP /MNA and raise the issue and post your objections -1 letter = 200 who didn't write

3. Write Thierry Vandal the CEO of Hydro Quebec strongly opposing the 132 MW standard decrying the use of "diversion" as the most environmentally inappropriate method of power production

4. Write Jean Charest, Premier of Quebec protesting that either the algonquin or the tabaret project will eliminate all other values on the Kipawa River by turning it into a dry gulch.

5. See if you can get other allied groups interested by showing your own interest, ie the Sierra Defense Fund, Earthwild, MEC, and so on.

6. Demand further consultation

7. Currently we are at the point where we need to sway public opinion and raise awareness.

However, if all else fails, don't get mad, simply disrupt, foment, and protest . The Monkey Wrench Gang.

Have you read Edward Abbey?

Important Addresses
CEO,Hydro Québec, 75 boul René Levesque, Montreal, P.Q., H2Z 1A4Caille.andre@hydro.qc.ca



Tabaret is a Bad Idea (Part Two)

Les Amis de la Riviere Kipawa is poised to use an application to the Federal Court to issue a Writ of Mandamus to ensure the Minster does what he is supposed to do, protect the public's right to navigate the water control structure at Laniel, Quebec using the Navigable Waters Protection Act. (see http://www.kipawariver.ca/)

In the now gutted Navigable Waters Protection Act lay the means by which the Minister of Transport could keep the public right of passage down our great Canadian Heritage, our rivers and streams which are threatened especially by resource corporations and power brokers such as Hydro Quebec.

These powerful entities continue to petition that 'this' river or 'that' stream is not navigable and therefore not protectable.
I don't say that dams and bridges should not be built, only that if they are, historical navigation rights should be considered and preserved by making reasonable accommodations for recreational boaters.

It is the Minister of Transport, in exercising the right to allow or disallow work on or over a navigable waterway is what keeps boats and recreational boaters plying our waterways.

To many recent cases launched in the Federal Court concerning the Navigable Waters Protection Act, most recently the case of the Humber Environment Group of Cornerbrook Newfoundland versus the Cornerbrook Pulp and Paper Company indicates that the important oversight is not being faithfully performed. Have we really come to the point now where we must say "such and such a stream is one foot deep, possessing so many cubic feet per second flow and so on?" The answer to this is... YES!

The honourable Mr. Justice John A. O'Keefe, ruled that it had not been shown that the river was navigable. How convenient was that to the Minister? But either the Minister of Transport acts to protect our rivers and streams as a public right or he does not and that means rivers and streams currently enjoyed by kayakers and canoists.

Enough of the cheating, and double-talk. Canadians! our rivers and streams are our own, lets urge the Minister of Transport and the our government to protect them.

Peter Karwacki

Tabaret is a Bad Idea (Part Three)

10 Reasons WhyTabaret is a Bad Idea1) Tabaret is too big. The station is designed to useevery drop of water available in the Kipawawatershed, but will run at only 44 percent capacity.We believe the Tabaret station is designed to usewater diverted from the Dumoine River into theKipawa watershed in the future. 2) The Tabaret project will eliminate the aquaticecosystem of the Kipawa River.The Tabaret project plan involves the diversion of a16-km section of the Kipawa River from its naturalstreambed into a new man-made outflow from LakeKipawa. 3) Tabaret will leave a large industrial footprint on thelandscape that will impact existing tourismoperations and eliminate future tourism potential. 4) The Tabaret project is an aggressive single-purposedevelopment, designed to maximize powergeneration at the expense of all other uses. 5) River-diversion, such as the Tabaret project, takinglarge amounts of water out of a river’s naturalstreambed and moving it to another place, is verydestructive to the natural environment. 6) The Kipawa River has been designated a protectedgreenspace in the region with severe limitations ondevelopment. This designation recognizes theecological, historical and natural heritage value ofthe river and the importance of protecting it.Tabaret will eliminate that value. 7) If necessary, there are other, smarter and morereasonable options for producing hydro power onthe Kipawa watershed. It is possible to build a lowimpactgenerating station on the Kipawa river, andmanage it as a “run-of-the-river” station, makinguse of natural flows while maintaining other values,with minimal impact on the environment. 8) The Kipawa watershed is a rich natural resource forthe Temiscaming Region, resonably close to largeurban areas, with huge untapped potential fortourism and recreation development in the future.Tabaret will severely reduce this potential. 9) Tabaret provides zero long-term economic benefitfor the region through employment. The plan is forthe station to be completely automated andremotely operated. 10) The Kipawa River is 12,000 years old. The riverwas here thousands of years before any peoplecame to the region. The Tabaret project will change all that.

Problems on a local River?

  • There is more to do as well but you have to do your research and above all, don't give up.
  • IN the meantime prepared a document itemizing the history of navigation of this spot and its recreational value. Use the Kipawa river history of navigation as a guide: see www.kipawariver.ca
  • Under the Ministry of Environment guidelines you have a set period of time to petition the change under the environmental bill of rights, you may have limited time to take this action. But it involves going to court for a judicial review of the decision.
  • 4. contact the ministry of natural resources officials and do the same thing.
  • 3. contact the ministry of the environment and determine if they approved the project
  • 2. determine if the dam was a legal dam, approved under the navigable waters protection act.
  • 1. research the decision and timing of it to determine if an environmental assessment was done.

Minden Ontario

Minden Ontario
Gull River Water control at Horseshoe lake

A History of Navigation on the Kipawa River

Prior to the environmental assessment there was no signage at the Laniel Dam

T-Shirts Area: These are available now!

T-Shirts Area: These are available now!
Send $25 and a stamped self addressed envelop for the Tshirt, and for the bumper sticker, a stamped and self addressed envelope with $5.00 for the bumper sticker to Les Amis de la rivière Kipawa, 80 Ontario St., Ottawa, Ontario, K1K 1K9 or click the link To purchase a Les Amis "T" contact Doug with the following information: Number of shirts:Sizes: Ship to Address: Method of Payment: cash, cheque and paypal, Shipto address:

Bumper Stickers Now Available

Bumper Stickers Now Available
Get your bumper sticker and show your support for the Kipawa Legal Fund ! - send $5.00 in a Stamped, self addressed envelope to: Peter Karwacki Box 39111, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, K1H 7X0