When considering the adopted standards of the so-called academic discipline of “Globalization Studies”, it’s not only fair to wonder what, precisely, passes for research in this obscure corner of academia. It’s actually becoming deeply necessary.

In the days following a weeks-overdue military intervention in Libya – Canada has joined a coalition of countries imposing a UN-mandated no-fly zone – the usual suspects have come out to denounce the action. Operation Odyssey Dawn’s detractors declare it, as usual, to be an act of imperialism, and rush to report the unfolding atrocities.

Cue the Centre for Research on Globalization’s Madi Darius Nazemroaya. A self-described “multidisciplinary sociologist”, and former Ombudsman for the University of Ottawa’s Fulcrum newspaper.

To date, Nazemroaya has reported that French fighters jets – as many as five – have been shot down over Libya, that an Italian naval vessel has been sunk and sailors captured, and that the coalition has attacked Libyan hospitals.

His source for all of this? “Libyan sources”. Roughly translated, this basically means Libyan government sources.

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