This was always a scary and daunting task to deal with as there are so many accusations leveled back and forth from both the pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian sides with such passion that one had to be able to tell the story without providing a megaphone to those wishing to transform a political conflict into a religious one.

In covering such an explosive story,  I set up a few basic ground rules, the most fundamental of which was that I would not allow any of my writers to refer to pro-Israeli students as Jewish, or to pro-Palestinian students as Muslim. There was a real point to this other than the obvious reason that not all pro-Israel students were Jewish and not all pro-Palestinian students were Muslim.

The simple fact is that one could disagree with the policies of the state of Israel without being anti-Jewish and in the same vein, one could also support the State of Israel and denounce Palestinian extremism without being anti-Muslim.

This is why I was shocked today to read in a report released by the Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Anti-Semitism (CPCCA) that statements against the state of Israel should be considered anti-Semitic.

I find that statement to be highly unfortunate because, by singling out those who criticize the policies of the state of Israel as engaging in anti-Semitic behaviour takes away from efforts to curb actual anti-Semitism.

This is a really slippery slope because it essentially mixes religion with politics, an abyss for which there can be no compromise.

Even if there are some cases where those who criticize the state of Israel go on to make racist remarks about Jewish people or the Jewish religion, their criticisms of Israel are not what make the comments anti-Semitic, rather it is their attacks on the Jewish people which makes it so.

I find it unacceptable that in a democratic society, one can not criticize the government of another democratic nation without being labeled an anti-Semite.

Our Charter of Rights and Freedoms grants us the freedom to criticize any government we so choose. What it does not grant us is the right to make derogatory and hateful remarks about any race or religion.

The two points are completely separate. At least they were up until the release of the CPCCA report.

While I applaud the efforts of the committee to combat anti-Semitism in this country, I think there is a real need to differentiate between those who are opposed to the state of Israel and those who seek to cause harm to the Jewish people.

Some of the photos, videos and news reports have highlighted the fact that many of the people carrying out these atrocities are not even Libyans, but are mercenaries from other parts of Africa.

Some reports have stated that many of these mercenaries come from such impoverished countries such as Chad, Guinea, Nigeria and Niger. There are likely mercenaries from other countries as well.

I have read reports that the Libyan government has placed advertisements in some of these countries offering the equivalent of $2,000 USD a day for mercenaries.

To highlight how difficult and frightening this situation is, I have compiled some information on the average annual per capita GDP of the aforementioned countries from the CIA World Factbook.

Chad: $1,800 (2010 est.)

Guinea: $1,000 (2010 est.)

Nigeria: $2,400 (2010 est.)

Niger: $700 (2010 est.)

As you can see, if there is any truth to the rumour that Libyan President Moammar Gaddafi is paying mercenaries from these countries $2,000 USD a day, it’s not very difficult to see why there is no shortage of mercenaries from these countries willing to do his deeds.

The sad fact is that if this figure is true, mercenaries from all of these countries but Nigeria can make more money in one day than their average citizens make in one year. Even so, mercenaries from Nigeria can make significantly more money in two days than an average Nigerian makes in one year.

I know this is probably an over simplified analysis, but nonetheless, the numbers are staggering.

In the few days prior to the documents’ release, the U.S. government has been in damage control mode, warning those who may have damaging and unflattering information released about them.

Hillary Clinton, the U.S. secretary of state, came out swinging in her response to the release of the documents stating that “this disclosure is not just an attack on America’s foreign policy interests, but is also an attack on the international community.”

Clinton went on to say that these leaks would put lives at risk and would “sabotage the peaceful relations between nations.”

While it is never good for any government to have any of its sensitive foreign policy information released, let alone the amount that has already been released, I don’t believe it will have as catastrophic an impact as is currently being made out.

Although it should be noted that Wikileaks has obtained a vast amount of information and only a small amount of which has come to the surface thus far, nothing that has come out so far is particularly surprising or damaging.

Sure, there have been one or two things that may add fuel to the fire of some current global hot spots, such as the revelation that China may be ready to accept Korean reunification under the leadership of South Korea, or the fact that some Middle Eastern leaders had privately urged the U.S. to attack Iran before they are able to obtain nuclear weapons. However, once again, none of these things are particularly all that surprising.

Take China for example, given its rapid modernization, industrialization and economic growth over the past three decades, it shouldn’t really be a surprise that they would likely see an irrational and isolationist country like North Korea, who is largely dependent upon their aid, as a bit of a nuisance. Thus it is fairly logical to assume that while they would by no means advocate any change to the status quo on the Korean peninsula, if North Korea were to implode itself, the Chinese, under the right conditions, would be at least slightly open to the possibility of Korean reunification under the leadership of the South.

Likewise, it is fairly logical to assume that many of the Gulf States would want to stop Iran’s nuclear ambitions at any cost for a number of reasons, some more complex than others. To over simplify, politics, geography, history, religious and cultural tension have a lot to do with it. Sunni dominated Saudi Arabia is currently the most dominant player in the region, if Shi’a dominated Iran, who the Saudis have historically held animosity towards, were to get their hands on a nuclear weapon, then the dynamics of the region would change overnight. This would also explain why some of the smaller gulf states like Bahrain, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) would want Iran’s nuclear ambitions to be stopped for fear of the insecurity it would cause in an already unstable region.

What the release of these documents does, is allow us, the public, to become sort of global voyeurs of international politics, getting a rare and unfiltered personal look at some of the world’s foreign policy issues from the perspective of the United States government.

Sure there are also some juicy bits about Russia, such as the U.S. government’s unconfirmed speculation that Russia is currently a state run by the mob, or that current Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has amassed a vast amount of wealth stashed in foreign banks, said to be worth as much as $40 billion US, or that current Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is “Robin” to Putin’s “Batman.”

As juicy as these particular cables may be, there have already been stories circulating in the media about each of these items long before they were leaked. For example, the New York Times’ Above the Law series talks about some of those very same issues. As for Putin’s alleged wealth? The Guardian reported that in 2007.

For his part, Putin defended himself on Larry King Live, calling the leaked documents “slanderous.”

Other issues such as U.S. fears that Pakistani nuclear weapon technology might fall into the hands of terrorist groups is not such a big revelation, as this has been a major story in the media for some time now, and one would think that it would be unfathomable for the U.S. not to be concerned about it.

Another major issue was that Hillary Clinton ordered U.S. embassy staff to spy on foreign leaders and officials, including high level United Nations (UN) diplomats such as Ban-Ki Moon, the secretary-general. Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, the man at the centre of this whole scandal, has called for Clinton’s resignation based on this. I am by no means condoning this unwarranted action by the U.S. government, but it would be naive to think that they are the only government spying on officials. If governments’ didn’t conduct such activities, then there would be no need for intelligence agencies.

While there is no doubt that these leaks have caused a significant amount of damage, I am not naive, nor arrogant enough to claim to know what impact these leaks will have on global foreign policy. As there is literally a mountain of information to sift through, with more and more being added, its impact is completely uncertain.

However tantalizing and enticing these leaks might be to both news organizations as well as the average reader, it is also important to note that it easy to get lost in this whirlwind of information, and we must not forget that there are plenty of major issues going on in the world today that are as important, if not more so, to focus on than some embarrassing leaked U.S. state secrets, which seemingly just add colour to many issues which have already been out there.

The spill, which currently has no end in sight has already caused catastrophic and possibly irreparable damage to the gulf ecosystem. This in itself is bad enough, but it’s also time for us to face an even scarier fact, the fact that if this incident happened somewhere else in the world, we may not have even heard or known about it.

Take Nigeria for example. This vastly complex country is one of the most oil rich nations in the world. However, despite this fact an estimated 70 percent of Nigeria’s more than 150 million people currently live below the poverty line. This sadly, makes Nigeria a perfect place for oil companies to cut corners when drilling for oil in the process, causing numerous leaks which have resulted in unspeakable environmental damage, all the while remaining under the world’s radar.

Adam Nossiter of the New York Times reports that:

“The Niger Delta, where the wealth underground is out of all proportion with the poverty on the surface, has endured the equivalent of the Exxon Valdez spill every year for 50 years by some estimates. The oil pours out nearly every week, and some swamps are long since lifeless.”

In fact, Nossiter reports:

“It was only a few weeks ago, they say, that a burst pipe belonging to Royal Dutch Shell in the mangroves was finally shut after flowing for two months: now nothing living moves in a black-and-brown world once teeming with shrimp and crab.”

Darren Foster of Vanguard Journalism also wrote an excellent blog post on the subject.

Sadly, Nigeria is only the tip of the iceberg. There are many other places in the world where oil leaks are routine. However, as long as the demand for oil and thus the price is high, incidents like the gulf oil spill will likely become the norm. Let’s just hope that we’ll at least hear about them.

The Blackhawks are a young team with a tremendous amount of talent, which were really fun to watch.

However, now that the Hawks have ended their nearly 5 decade Stanley Cup drought, I can’t help but turn my crosshairs on another Original Six franchise who hasn’t sipped from Lord Stanley’s mug since 1967. Of course, you know I’m talking about the team that is now the proud owner of the longest current Stanley Cup drought, I’m talking about none other than your Toronto Maple Leafs.

While the fact that the Leafs are now the NHL’s official standard bearer for futility, there is a whole silver lining in this. Under the right management, teams can make a rapid turnaround.

Take this year’s Stanley Cup final pairing for example, both the Chicago Blackhawks and the Philadelphia Flyers occupied the league’s basement during the 2006-2007 NHL season. Just four seasons later, they made up the Stanley Cup final.

So in that regard, with the right management decisions, the Leafs could be a few seasons away from a decent squad and all signs are that they are at least on the right track.

The only drawback to this of course, is the fact that both the Blackhawks and the Flyers built up their teams largely through quality first round draft picks.

Of course the Leafs have traded away their next two first round draft picks, including next year’s second overall pick to the Boston Bruins. Let’s hope that GM Brian Burke has an answer to get back some draft picks or at the very least some good young players to build a team around. If not, the Leafs futility streak will continue with no end in sight.

It is for this reason that the president of the world’s largest MMA organization, the Ultimate Fighting Championships (UFC), Dana White has been extremely active in his attempts to lobby the Ontario government to legalize the sport in the province in order to hold an event in Toronto.

Just this week, the UFC stepped up their legalization efforts by hiring former CFL comissioner Tom Wright to lobby the government as well as opening up a Canadian office in Toronto.

The UFC’s arguments are pretty simple. The amount of revenue the UFC would generate would provide a boom to the local economy.

The company has held three hugely successful events in Montreal, where MMA is legal. Earlier this month, UFC 113 attracted 17,647 fans to the Bell Centre, generating $3.27 Million in revenue, while the previous two events held there attracted more than 20,000 fans and generated $4.9 Million and $5.1 Million respectively.

Tickets for the UFC’s first ever event in Vancouver, to be held next month, sold out in a record 30 minutes. However, despite all this, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty has refused to budge, saying “It’s just not a priority for our families.”

The Toronto Star even opposed the legalization of MMA in Ontario in a May 28 editorial, saying:

The sport does have a growing fan base among young males and stricter rules. (Kicks to the groin are now prohibited.) But it is still a sport where two men enter an eight-sided cage to punch, kick, choke and wrestle each other into submission or unconsciousness by using any and every combat technique at hand.

The Ontario government need not feel pressured into lifting the ban on mixed martial arts based on questionable assertions of broad economic benefits and comparisons to cheerleading.

Without even going into the fact that boxing, which has been legal in Ontario for generations, is actually a more dangerous sport than MMA, I will address these arguments on a simpler basis.

If you want to see an argument for why MMA is actually safer than boxing, then you can watch this video:

But let’s put this argument aside for a second here, let’s just say hypothetically that I believe as the Toronto Star ascertains (which I don’t), that MMA should not be legalized in Ontario because it is a brutal “sport where two men enter an eight-sided cage to punch, kick, choke and wrestle each other into submission or unconsciousness by using any and every combat technique at hand.”

Even if this were to be the case, the fact of the matter is quite simple, MMA and specifically the UFC is a global multimillion dollar brand that is here to stay. If Ontario decides that MMA should not be legalized, the UFC will simply take their business somewhere else, including other places in Canada such as Montreal and Vancouver, pumping millions of dollars into their local economies in a time of economic downturn.

Whether the powers that be in the Ontario government like the idea of MMA or not, these fights are going to go ahead, regardless of whether they happen here or not. If this is the case, surely Ontario should reap the economic benefits as well.

There are many complex factors at play when it comes to who is to blame for the largest oil spill in U.S. history, but at this stage of the game, does it really matter.

Currently BP is implementing a top kill method which has been explained in depth on cable news outlets over the past few days and according to live pictures of the leak, something is happening, at this stage, nobody’s really sure just what. The pictures show that the black cloud of gushing oil has turned brown, indicating that the mud inserted from the top kill method is now coming out. However, whether this is a good or a bad sign, or any indication the leak will be stopped is not yet known.

Much of the criticism, some of it justified, has been levelled at U.S. president Barack Obama, who held a news conference earlier today to address the issue.

He assured everybody that while BP is to be in charge of stopping the leak and covering any costs from the disaster, they are taking orders from the U.S. government.

Obama also tried to explain why things that have and have not been done so far in terms of plugging the leak and tried to reassure the world that everything is being done that possibly can.

Whether he’s right or not, the President of the United states needs to appear that he’s taking charge of the situation. I personally liked the fact that Obama decided to take all of the politics out of his response to the disaster, but will the American voting public?

In the end though, I firmly believe that it is more important to plug the leak than to point fingers. Once the disaster is contained, then it should be time to assign blame and level out punishment where applicable.

However, regardless of who is to blame for the disaster, it will never make up for the damage that has already been caused.

Also, in an exercise in the completely bizarre, an Alabama geometry teacher used the example of an assassination of Barack Obama to teach his students angles. Surely he could have found another way to drive the message home to his students.

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe doesn’t seem to have a lot of friends these days so of course he’s reached out to North Korea’s “Dear Leader” Kim Jong Il by presenting him with his very own version of Noah’s Ark.

Speaking of North Korea, Current TV’s fourth season of Vanguard Journalism kicks off tomorrow night with a special episode where former Vanguard Journalism reporter Laura Ling talks about the story about human traficking in North Korea that she and producer Euna Lee were investigating before they captured and imprisoned in North Korea for nearly six months before former U.S. president Bill Clinton secured their release.

A preview of the episode which premiers tomorrow night at 10 p.m. EST can be found here.

Sometimes the links posted could be items in the news that I think are going to be big in the weeks and months to come. Others are stories that are out there that I don’t think get enough mainstream press coverage, while others are just so weird, wacky and absurd that I just can’t resist sharing them here.

So without further adieu here are some of my weekly news picks. Enjoy.

Greece Considering Legal Action Against U.S. Banks For Crisis

This one could be big because of the extreme backlash currently going on in Greece due to the major cuts to both wages and pensions in which that government was forced to conduct in order to gain an economic bailout. Why this matters is simple. Greece is not the only country whose economy is facing such dire straits. It’s important to realize that many other countries including Spain, Portugal, Italy and the UK will be forced to make some tough decisions in the coming weeks in order to deal with their massive debts and the political fallout in those countries could be high. Any decision by the Greek government to sue U.S. banks is likely a political calculation designed to try to appease the country’s angry populus.

This however, is something to keep your eye on because depending on how such a lawsuit goes could potentially set a precedent for other countries experiencing similar crises to follow suit.

Thailand street battles escalate as red shirt leader warns of civil war

The Thai government has stepped up its violence against the red shirt protesters which have been hunkered down in central Bangkok. This has caused some leaders of the protest movement to warn that a civil war might be ahead in the idyllic Southeast Asian nation. This would be truly catastrophic if it were to happen as Thailand has always been one of the more stable countries in a chronically unstable region.

What’s more is that if Thailand does plunge into a civil war, who’s to say what role outside factors will play such as that of the brutal military junta in neighbouring Burma (Myanmar) or the Islamist separatist movement in the south of the country.

Currently the red shirt protesters are limited to the capital. Far away from some of the tourist destinations that are vital to the country’s economy, if it were to go into a civil war, Thailand’s lucrative tourism industry would likely be gone in an instant and would take years to recover, even if any such civil war doesn’t last very long.

Scientists find vast unreported oil leak from Deepwater Horizon

If there’s one thing that there seems to be a consensus on, it’s that the giant oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico is much larger than what BP is reporting. Despite the fact that this is a major global crisis, the folks at BP are trying to downplay it so as to protect their bottom line. It is clear that BP does not have this thing under control and it’s time that governments step in to pool all of their resources in order to limit the already irreversible damage that has already been done to the environment.

Sarah Palin trying to brand herself as a feminist

In undoubtedly one of the longest campaigns in recent memory, Palin 2012 soldiers on and brings together a couple of unlikely bedfellows. The U.S. Tea party movement and feminists? We’ll have to see how this story progresses.

Eyes flashing, robot conducts wedding in Tokyo

In a story that can only come out of Japan, a couple was married by a robot. On a side note, if you are interested in the topic of Japan and its obsession with robots then I highly recommend watching Current TV’s Vanguard Journalism documentary Japan Robot Nation. It runs for roughly 20 minutes and it is a fascinating look into Japan’s robot crazed society.

Website exposes embarrassing Facebook posts

Ever heard of those people who think that Facebook is totally private? Or how about the ones who think they can post whatever they want on Facebook and no one other than their friends will see it? Me neither, but now there’s a search engine where I can find all these people. Apparently they do exist.

On May 5 University of Ottawa professor and copyright activist Michael Geist released some information on his blog stating that a new Canadian law similar to the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) in the United States could be tabled as early as June.

Part of the proposed new bill would force Canadian internet service providers (ISPs) to essentially police their own customers. Under a three strikes you’re out policy, ISPs are essentially expected to keep track of the downloading practices of their users.

Geist posted the testimony of Ken Englehart, Senior vice-president of Rogers communications, one of Canada’s largest internet service providers before the standing committee on Canadian Heritage on this very subject.

Englehart expressed his displeasure at the possibility during his testimony, stating that “We don’t think ISPs should be put in the position of being traffic cops to decide what is legal and what is not.”

Englehart went on to express his sympathy for copyright holders who believe that their intellectual property has been stolen through illegal downloading practices, stating, “It’s a big problem. But I don’t want to see this done by putting ISPs in the position of having to disconnect their customers or aid in the conviction of their customers.”

First of all, let’s put the issue of illegal downloading aside for just one second in order to think of the incredible invasion of privacy such a law would create.

In order for such a law to operate effectively, this would require ISPs to actively keep track of all activity in which its users conduct over the internet.

Think about this for a second. Countries like China have been severely criticized for their excessive policing of the internet, and while some might say that I’m mixing apples and oranges in drawing such a conclusion from any proposed anti-piracy law created in this country by comparing it to China’s open internet censorship, this law puts the mechanism in place to be able to invade people’s privacy and to potentially prosecute them without just cause.

If you think about it, this law is the digital equivalent of the government being given the right to search the houses and belongings of every citizen without a warrant, in order to make sure they aren’t in possession of stolen property.

If the Canadian government were to ever propose such a law, people would be up in arms, but yet, why is there not an equally strong reaction against the proposed anti-piracy legislation?

What makes this whole situation worse is the fact that some of those who are most affected by internet piracy have not received any major financial setbacks because of it.

For example, the U.S. motion picture industry is coming off their most profitable year ever, recording more than $10 billion in profits in 2009. As for recording artists, some reports have shown that many of them have actually made more money in the age of digital file sharing. Some arguments can also be made that independent artists have actually benefited from this by being able to instantly spread their music to all corners of the globe. The more fans these artists are able to garner, the easier it is for them to profit in the areas where the real money is at. That being live shows and merchandise sales.

Some major mainstream artists such as Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails have offered up their latest albums for download over the internet. Radiohead made their latest album In Rainbows available for download on a “pay what you want” basis, making it available for fans to pay them before download and if fans didn’t want to pay, they could still download the album for free. Nine Inch Nails offered their album The Slip for users to download for free and placed a “limited edition” of the album available for sale on CD and vinyl for those who wished to own a hard copy.

What is particularly interesting about this is that Radiohead made almost $10 million in from In Rainbows from user generated payment in less than a week.

Of course the reason that both bands were able to release their albums in this way is because both bands’ contracts with major recording labels had expired and they released their latest albums independently.

Also, according to the 2009 edition of the Global Software top 100 list the vast majority of the world’s 100 largest software companies have recorded a significant increase in profits.

In using these examples, I am not trying to justify the illegal downloading of copyrighted material, I am merely pointing out the companies who stand to suffer the most from this practice and who are the ones who are most actively lobbying governments to implement such draconian laws, in actuality aren’t hurting all that bad, and in my opinion aren’t hurting bad enough to even consider opening up the slippery slope that would cause such a gross invasion of privacy that could further harm Canadians in the future.