So Irving has given up on patenting Freedom Fries, a fruitless farcical campaign to cash in on the war on terror and US anti-French feeling. With right-wing Bush buddy Sarkozy now in control in France the market for Freedom Fries has sunk lower than the US dollar.
But why can't Irvine instead patent Enduring Freedom Fries. These could be marketed not only in the US but in Canada, Afghanistan, and who knows where else. There is even a branch of Operation Enduring Freedom in the Philippines and parts of Africa.
Cavendish Farms dropped Freedom Fries fight
Last Updated: Tuesday, November 20, 2007 | 7:01 AM AT
CBC News
Irving-owned Cavendish Farms has abandoned its efforts to trademark the name Freedom Fries, according to documents obtained by CBC News.
Irving's trademark efforts date back to 2003, when the war in Iraq began. Some Americans weren't happy with what they felt was a lack of support from France, which led to a movement to rename french fries Freedom Fries.
Some restaurants in the United States changed the name of french fries.
(CBC) "Some restaurants have changed the name [of french fries] to Freedom Fries," county commissioner Burt Aaronson of Palm Beach, Calif., told CBC News at the time. Aaronson emerged as one of the leaders of the movement to change the name of fries.
"One restaurant poured French wine down the drain and many people now are not buying French perfume."
Restaurants that changed their menus included the one in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Irving saw a marketing opportunity. Close to a month before the U.S. began its campaign in Baghdad, Irving-owned Cavendish Farms applied to the United States Patent Office to trademark the term "Freedom Fries."
No one from Irving will talk about the three years it spent trying to acquire the name, but documents show in 2006, the company gave up. By then, the chilly relationship between the U.S. and France had begun to thaw.
French president Nicolas Sarkozy was recently in Washington, where he spoke to Congress.
"Together, united, we must fight against terror," he told Congress, speaking in French.
Six others applied to trademark Freedom Fries. The current owner of the name is Neal Rowland, the owner of Cubbie's Restaurant in Beaufort, N.C.
Showing posts with label Operation Enduring Freedom. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Operation Enduring Freedom. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Friday, September 28, 2007
Canada defends policy on Afghan clans
This article makes clear that aid projects are not based upon local needs so much as the need to bribe people to support the Karzai government. The aid is a carrot and the special forces operations of Enduring Freedom are the stick.
The commentators here do not even comment on the killing of two mullahs or who might have done it. One person does mention that confidence that is built up in 100 days can be lost in an afternoon. He might have said in one raid and killings but he didnt. One wonders if the Canadians know what the special forces are doing and accept their roles. The Canadians are the good cops and the US special forces the bad cops.
In the light of this article it should hardly be surprising to anyone that the
Taliban will target aid workers since in these cases at least they are simply another form of battle against them. In the present situation it seems that aid is so integrated into the war against the Taliban and other opponents of Karzai that Canada should stay out period. We are simply being used as junior partners in US imperialism.
Canada defends policy on Afghan clans
GRAEME SMITH
From Friday's Globe and Mail
September 28, 2007 at 12:38 AM EDT
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Canada will not immediately try to douse the anger that flared up this week in a village near Kandahar city after two religious teachers were killed in their homes, a military officer says, in a case that reveals the way Canadian forces are handling rebellious tribes.
The raid by foreign soldiers that left two mullahs dead on Wednesday was only the latest reason for upset in the village of Senjaray, a suburb of Kandahar city. Almost all of the people who protested in the hours afterward were members of the Alizai tribe, a group that often feels disenfranchised by the new government. They claim they're denied reconstruction projects and shut out of positions of influence in the local administration.
A Canadian official confirmed yesterday that some of the Alizais' complaints have a factual basis. Villages considered hostile to the government are shut out of assistance programs in the hope they will become more compliant, and that policy won't change just because the Alizais are shouting “death to Canada” in the streets, said Lieutenant Derrick Farnham, a civilian-military liaison officer at Canadian headquarters in Kandahar.
“We try very hard not to be reactionary, to go and quell anger and solve it immediately,” Lt. Farnham said. “That's something that has been done in the past, and it's been termed the ‘great game' in Afghanistan, where locals play one side off the other in terms of getting treats and gifts, and that's something we want to avoid.”
year'
The Canadian civilian-military co-operation unit, known as Cimic, is responsible for handing out valuable reconstruction contracts, and the bundles of cash often represent the first benefits of government control that villagers experience after the Taliban have been driven away.
The Cimic team has mapped the districts west of Kandahar according to their alignment with the government and concentrated on helping villages that seem most eager to co-operate, Lt. Farnham said, on the theory that disgruntled villages will envy the money dished out to their pro-government neighbours and try to emulate them.
This strategy of reinforcing good behaviour runs against the historical methods that foreign powers have used to subdue the restive tribes of Afghanistan, the lieutenant said. The British and the Soviets both tried to buy off their enemies, he said, but the benefits didn't last and both empires eventually failed to secure the country.
“We don't want to be in a situation where we're just seen as bribing people who have a grudge against us,” he said.
“When we make progress, it's sometimes described as glacial. It can't be fast, and it probably wouldn't be best to be fast. It has to be small steps that are steadily forward.” He acknowledged that the Canadian strategy might aggravate anti-government sentiment among some tribesmen, but added that it's impractical to launch projects in areas where they're not welcome.
“It may harden attitudes,” he said. “But we are not invited into many areas. We have tried to go into some areas, we have tried to do development there, but we're not wanted.” Besides projects, the Canadians can also help by listening to villagers' concerns, he added.
“Just giving them a forum can really count,” Lt. Farnham said, although he said he isn't aware of any plans to hold meetings with the people who protested this week.
The protests have set back Canadian attempts to build trust among the people who live near a strategic stretch of highway outside Kandahar city, another military official said.
“You can build it [confidence] for 100 days and in one afternoon you can lose it all,” he said.
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The commentators here do not even comment on the killing of two mullahs or who might have done it. One person does mention that confidence that is built up in 100 days can be lost in an afternoon. He might have said in one raid and killings but he didnt. One wonders if the Canadians know what the special forces are doing and accept their roles. The Canadians are the good cops and the US special forces the bad cops.
In the light of this article it should hardly be surprising to anyone that the
Taliban will target aid workers since in these cases at least they are simply another form of battle against them. In the present situation it seems that aid is so integrated into the war against the Taliban and other opponents of Karzai that Canada should stay out period. We are simply being used as junior partners in US imperialism.
Canada defends policy on Afghan clans
GRAEME SMITH
From Friday's Globe and Mail
September 28, 2007 at 12:38 AM EDT
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Canada will not immediately try to douse the anger that flared up this week in a village near Kandahar city after two religious teachers were killed in their homes, a military officer says, in a case that reveals the way Canadian forces are handling rebellious tribes.
The raid by foreign soldiers that left two mullahs dead on Wednesday was only the latest reason for upset in the village of Senjaray, a suburb of Kandahar city. Almost all of the people who protested in the hours afterward were members of the Alizai tribe, a group that often feels disenfranchised by the new government. They claim they're denied reconstruction projects and shut out of positions of influence in the local administration.
A Canadian official confirmed yesterday that some of the Alizais' complaints have a factual basis. Villages considered hostile to the government are shut out of assistance programs in the hope they will become more compliant, and that policy won't change just because the Alizais are shouting “death to Canada” in the streets, said Lieutenant Derrick Farnham, a civilian-military liaison officer at Canadian headquarters in Kandahar.
“We try very hard not to be reactionary, to go and quell anger and solve it immediately,” Lt. Farnham said. “That's something that has been done in the past, and it's been termed the ‘great game' in Afghanistan, where locals play one side off the other in terms of getting treats and gifts, and that's something we want to avoid.”
year'
The Canadian civilian-military co-operation unit, known as Cimic, is responsible for handing out valuable reconstruction contracts, and the bundles of cash often represent the first benefits of government control that villagers experience after the Taliban have been driven away.
The Cimic team has mapped the districts west of Kandahar according to their alignment with the government and concentrated on helping villages that seem most eager to co-operate, Lt. Farnham said, on the theory that disgruntled villages will envy the money dished out to their pro-government neighbours and try to emulate them.
This strategy of reinforcing good behaviour runs against the historical methods that foreign powers have used to subdue the restive tribes of Afghanistan, the lieutenant said. The British and the Soviets both tried to buy off their enemies, he said, but the benefits didn't last and both empires eventually failed to secure the country.
“We don't want to be in a situation where we're just seen as bribing people who have a grudge against us,” he said.
“When we make progress, it's sometimes described as glacial. It can't be fast, and it probably wouldn't be best to be fast. It has to be small steps that are steadily forward.” He acknowledged that the Canadian strategy might aggravate anti-government sentiment among some tribesmen, but added that it's impractical to launch projects in areas where they're not welcome.
“It may harden attitudes,” he said. “But we are not invited into many areas. We have tried to go into some areas, we have tried to do development there, but we're not wanted.” Besides projects, the Canadians can also help by listening to villagers' concerns, he added.
“Just giving them a forum can really count,” Lt. Farnham said, although he said he isn't aware of any plans to hold meetings with the people who protested this week.
The protests have set back Canadian attempts to build trust among the people who live near a strategic stretch of highway outside Kandahar city, another military official said.
“You can build it [confidence] for 100 days and in one afternoon you can lose it all,” he said.
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Thursday, September 27, 2007
Afghans block highway shouting "Death to Canada"
From these reports it would seem that it is US soldiers associated with Operation Enduring Freedom who were responsible for the killings. The operation should be renamed Operation Enduring Hatred. The action has just made the situation more difficult for NATO troops including the Canadians in particular who are the main presence in the area.
It makes one wonder if the government or the NATO forces know about or have any control over these special operations. Apparently not. If I were involved with NATO I would be hopping mad to put it mildly. These people kill and then disappear into the woodwork leaving the Canadians to face the wrath and vengeance of the locals.
Afghans block highway shouting 'Death to Canada'
Protest follows killing of two clerics
GRAEME SMITH
From Thursday's Globe and Mail
September 27, 2007 at 5:02 AM EDT
KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN — The death of two Afghan clerics in an overnight raid has ignited an unusual protest against foreign troops and sharply increased the volatility of a district that is critical to Canadian success in southern Afghanistan.
Shouts of "Death to Canada!" were heard among the clamour yesterday on the main highway west of Kandahar city, as an estimated 300 to 400 protesters voiced their anger against the violent searches of local homes.
Neither the Canadians nor other NATO soldiers were involved in the raids, a military spokeswoman said; the only other foreign troops operating in the area belong to U.S. Operation Enduring Freedom, a counterterrorism force.
Local elders held meetings last night to discuss the uproar.
Many of them said they now understand the Canadians were not to blame for the killings, but they predicted that Canadian soldiers will bear the consequences because they're the most powerful force in Zhari district, and most ordinary people can't distinguish between Canadian and American troops.
Haji Sadullah Khan, 40, a grape trader, was among the first people who found the bodies of the religious teachers lying in their blood-spattered bedrooms. Mullah Janan, about 28 years old, had been shot in the mouth and chest; Mullah Habibullah, a few years younger, had bullet wounds in his torso.
No weapons were visible in their home, Mr. Khan said, and the two mullahs had a reputation as peaceful men who taught children at small mosques in the district. Like several other people interviewed in the neighbourhood, Mr. Khan was incensed by an announcement on local television that the raid had targeted mullahs who served as judges in illegal Taliban courts.
The slain men belonged to the Alizai tribe, a group disenfranchised from the government, and their deaths happened in a Kandahar suburb known as Senjaray, south of Highway 1, a ramshackle warren of mud huts that is notorious for hiding Taliban. Insurgents were spotted among the protesters yesterday, and elders say it took some effort to dissuade the mob from marching into Kandahar city.
These events will make the district more dangerous, Mr. Khan said, though the people remain divided.
"There are two opinions now," he said. "If the foreigners behave like they did last night, they are not good for us, and we will fight them.
"If they do good actions, build schools and roads, they are okay, and they should stay in Afghanistan."
He continued: "If they leave, the Taliban will take over, and we don't want that either. So we don't know what to say."
House raids are always unpopular in southern Afghanistan, where violating the privacy of a home is considered a more serious affront than it is under Western traditions. Foreign troops have repeatedly targeted Senjaray for such sweeps. Villagers say the previous raid happened a week ago, when nine men were rounded up and taken to a special forces base in Kandahar city.
The latest raid started in the middle of the night as armoured vehicles drove into Senjaray with their headlights off, residents say.
Soldiers broke through the small wooden door of the mullahs' modest mud-walled house, and neighbours soon heard gunshots, and the screams of women and children.
The wife of one of the slain mullahs later told her neighbours that her husband seemed to know one of the soldiers' translators, and they exchanged some words before he was killed.
"The woman told us that the brothers were speaking with the soldiers before they were shot," said Haji Shaista Gul, 48, a wealthy farmer who owns roughly 10 hectares of farmland in the area. "The mullah said to a translator, 'You are an ordinary man, I know you, you know me.' And after these words, they shot him."
After the shooting, the foreign soldiers searched two more homes and left the village, residents say. Nobody ventured into the mullahs' house to see what happened until daybreak, when a crowd gathered to investigate the wailing inside.
Their wives and children are now destitute, the neighbours said, because the mullahs had few assets and survived only on zakat, the money paid by worshippers to the mosque.
Their bodies were taken to a mosque and buried near the highway around mid-morning. The funeral drew a crowd, which lingered and later blocked the road for hours. An unidentified man with a megaphone rallied them in protest as they chanted slogans against the foreign troops.
"This is the biggest protest we have had in years," said Hyat Ullah, 21, the son of local parliamentarian Habibullah Jan. "We ask the foreign forces to be very careful, to avoid getting into personal fights between people. These things make big problems."
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It makes one wonder if the government or the NATO forces know about or have any control over these special operations. Apparently not. If I were involved with NATO I would be hopping mad to put it mildly. These people kill and then disappear into the woodwork leaving the Canadians to face the wrath and vengeance of the locals.
Afghans block highway shouting 'Death to Canada'
Protest follows killing of two clerics
GRAEME SMITH
From Thursday's Globe and Mail
September 27, 2007 at 5:02 AM EDT
KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN — The death of two Afghan clerics in an overnight raid has ignited an unusual protest against foreign troops and sharply increased the volatility of a district that is critical to Canadian success in southern Afghanistan.
Shouts of "Death to Canada!" were heard among the clamour yesterday on the main highway west of Kandahar city, as an estimated 300 to 400 protesters voiced their anger against the violent searches of local homes.
Neither the Canadians nor other NATO soldiers were involved in the raids, a military spokeswoman said; the only other foreign troops operating in the area belong to U.S. Operation Enduring Freedom, a counterterrorism force.
Local elders held meetings last night to discuss the uproar.
Many of them said they now understand the Canadians were not to blame for the killings, but they predicted that Canadian soldiers will bear the consequences because they're the most powerful force in Zhari district, and most ordinary people can't distinguish between Canadian and American troops.
Haji Sadullah Khan, 40, a grape trader, was among the first people who found the bodies of the religious teachers lying in their blood-spattered bedrooms. Mullah Janan, about 28 years old, had been shot in the mouth and chest; Mullah Habibullah, a few years younger, had bullet wounds in his torso.
No weapons were visible in their home, Mr. Khan said, and the two mullahs had a reputation as peaceful men who taught children at small mosques in the district. Like several other people interviewed in the neighbourhood, Mr. Khan was incensed by an announcement on local television that the raid had targeted mullahs who served as judges in illegal Taliban courts.
The slain men belonged to the Alizai tribe, a group disenfranchised from the government, and their deaths happened in a Kandahar suburb known as Senjaray, south of Highway 1, a ramshackle warren of mud huts that is notorious for hiding Taliban. Insurgents were spotted among the protesters yesterday, and elders say it took some effort to dissuade the mob from marching into Kandahar city.
These events will make the district more dangerous, Mr. Khan said, though the people remain divided.
"There are two opinions now," he said. "If the foreigners behave like they did last night, they are not good for us, and we will fight them.
"If they do good actions, build schools and roads, they are okay, and they should stay in Afghanistan."
He continued: "If they leave, the Taliban will take over, and we don't want that either. So we don't know what to say."
House raids are always unpopular in southern Afghanistan, where violating the privacy of a home is considered a more serious affront than it is under Western traditions. Foreign troops have repeatedly targeted Senjaray for such sweeps. Villagers say the previous raid happened a week ago, when nine men were rounded up and taken to a special forces base in Kandahar city.
The latest raid started in the middle of the night as armoured vehicles drove into Senjaray with their headlights off, residents say.
Soldiers broke through the small wooden door of the mullahs' modest mud-walled house, and neighbours soon heard gunshots, and the screams of women and children.
The wife of one of the slain mullahs later told her neighbours that her husband seemed to know one of the soldiers' translators, and they exchanged some words before he was killed.
"The woman told us that the brothers were speaking with the soldiers before they were shot," said Haji Shaista Gul, 48, a wealthy farmer who owns roughly 10 hectares of farmland in the area. "The mullah said to a translator, 'You are an ordinary man, I know you, you know me.' And after these words, they shot him."
After the shooting, the foreign soldiers searched two more homes and left the village, residents say. Nobody ventured into the mullahs' house to see what happened until daybreak, when a crowd gathered to investigate the wailing inside.
Their wives and children are now destitute, the neighbours said, because the mullahs had few assets and survived only on zakat, the money paid by worshippers to the mosque.
Their bodies were taken to a mosque and buried near the highway around mid-morning. The funeral drew a crowd, which lingered and later blocked the road for hours. An unidentified man with a megaphone rallied them in protest as they chanted slogans against the foreign troops.
"This is the biggest protest we have had in years," said Hyat Ullah, 21, the son of local parliamentarian Habibullah Jan. "We ask the foreign forces to be very careful, to avoid getting into personal fights between people. These things make big problems."
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