With new generic rivals, Lipitor's sales halved (AP)

TRENTON, N.J. ? Sales of cholesterol blockbuster Lipitor plunged by half barely a week after the world's top-selling drug got its first U.S. generic competition, new data show.

That's despite a very aggressive effort by Lipitor maker Pfizer Inc. to keep patients on its pill, which generated peak sales of $13 billion a year, through patient subsidies and big rebates to insurers.

Lipitor lost patent protection on Nov. 30 in the U.S., where the drug was still generating about $7.9 billion in annual sales. Two generic versions costing about a third less hit the market right away, one made by India's Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd. and the other an authorized generic, made by Pfizer and sold by its partner, Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Lipitor's patent loss has been closely watched across the pharmaceutical industry, where most companies face generic competition, and a big revenue hit, for at least some of their top drugs over the next few years.

Figures from data firm IMS Health on prescriptions for Lipitor and competing drugs that lower LDL or bad cholesterol, the class called statins, show the number of Lipitor prescriptions filled in the seven days ended Dec. 9, the first full week when generic rivals were available, plunged to 359,235. That's down from the 724,799 Lipitor prescriptions filled a month earlier, in the week ended Nov. 11.

Lipitor's share of statin prescriptions dropped to 9.7 percent from 20.9 percent over that period. Its biggest rival among brand-name cholesterol drugs is a newer one, Crestor from Britain's AstraZeneca PLC, which saw market share hold steady at 12.3 percent amid a new Crestor ad campaign.

The IMS data, released Monday, show nearly 476,000 new prescriptions for generic Lipitor, called atorvastatin, were filled the week ended Dec. 9. Just under 80 percent were for Watson's generic version.

The figures cover retail prescriptions, those filled at independent pharmacies, chain drug stores and pharmacies in supermarkets and discounters such as Target. Not included are prescriptions filled by mail order, where any shifts are likely to take longer to appear.

Miller Tabak analyst Les Funtleyder said Monday the drop in Lipitor prescriptions is less than he expected.

"It's already done better than we thought it would, (but) it's a little early in the game to declare this a successful strategy," Funtleyder, portfolio manager for the Miller Tabak Health Care Transformation Fund, said of Pfizer's rebates and discounts.

For months, New York-based Pfizer has been heavily advertising its "Lipitor For You" program, which offers insured patients a card to get Lipitor for a monthly $4 copayment. Pfizer will pay the difference between that and an insurance plan's normal brand-name co-pay, up to $50.

Uninsured patients could get the same savings using the card but would have to pay the rest of the cost, which ranges from about $115 a month for the lowest Lipitor dose to $160 a month for three higher doses. The new generics cost roughly $80 and $100 a month, respectively.

Spokesman MacKay Jimeson said Pfizer estimates about 5 percent of current Lipitor patients in the U.S. and Puerto Rico will enroll in the program.

Many of the roughly 3 million Americans who were taking Lipitor have not gotten a refill since generic Lipitor arrived. For some, their insurance plan may not give them a choice ? either automatically switching them to generic Lipitor or keeping them on the brand name and taking Pfizer's rebates for the next six months.

After that, multiple generic versions will hit the market. Their prices should dip as low as about 20 percent of brand-name Lipitor, and the Pfizer discounts will end.

Any market share retained until then is worth a lot to Pfizer, Funtleyder said, noting the low cost of making the pills ? about a dime each.

"It wouldn't surprise me to see similar things from other companies," he said, if Pfizer's program continues to retain some patients.

While Lipitor and Crestor generate most of the money from cholesterol medicines, much-cheaper generic versions of three older statins ? Zocor, Pravachol and Mevacor ? account for almost two-thirds of statin prescriptions. Those three generics saw a slight increase in the number of prescriptions filled from Nov. 11 to Dec. 9.

According to IMS, about 167,000 of the prescriptions filled for atorvastatin were from patients who had been on Lipitor, another 118,000 were from people on simvastatin (generic Zocor) and about 20,000 were from patients on Crestor. The rest were from the other existing generic statins and seven other brand-name statins that have very low sales, most because they have a generic rival.

Overall, the number of people taking a statin drug increased slightly right after generic Lipitor arrived. The number of prescriptions filled for statins jumped from about 3.48 million in the week ended Nov. 11, to 3.7 million in the week ended Dec. 9.

Jason Mazzarella, a product manager at IMS Health, thinks that's partly because patients with tight budgets are more likely to go without cholesterol pills than drugs for conditions with obvious symptoms, and generic Lipitor would be more affordable for them.

Also, some of the new atorvastatin prescriptions are for patients adding it to another statin or one of the eight other types of drugs for cholesterol problems.

Besides Pfizer, AstraZeneca stands to lose most from generic Lipitor. It started a new Crestor advertising campaign in November, with broadcast, print, Internet and other ads. It will continue into 2012, AstraZeneca spokeswoman Elizabeth Renz said.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111220/ap_on_bi_ge/us_lipitor_sales

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Cement plant near Mojave to pay EPA fine

A CalPortland cement plant near the high desert community of Mojave has agreed to pay a fine of $1.4 million and spend $1.3 million on equipment needed to reduce emissions of pollutants that cause asthma and generate smog, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Thursday.

The penalties were part of a settlement that capped an investigation by the EPA and the U.S. Department of Justice into the CalPortland Co. facility, one of the largest emitters of nitrogen oxide pollution in California.

"This is one of the biggest fines against a cement facility," said Jared Blumenfeld, the EPA's regional administrator for the Pacific Southwest. "It comes at a time when the EPA is focusing on cement production as a sector which can make significant improvements in air quality nationwide."

CalPortland Vice President Scott Isaacson said, "We've chosen to settle this matter and we are not going to quarrel with EPA. Our focus will be implementation and resolution of the settlement, a process that will unfold over the next few years."

The 58-year-old plant employs 130 people and is one of the largest businesses in the unincorporated community of about 4,000 people best known as home to the Mojave Air and Space Port, a campus of more than 60 companies engaged in aerospace development, manufacturing and flight testing.

The EPA probe revealed that CalPortland made significant modifications at the plant that increased emissions of nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide and carbon monoxide without first obtaining a pre-construction permit and installing pollution control equipment required by the Clean Air Act. The company also failed to submit accurate and complete permit applications, the EPA said.

The settlement ensures that the proper equipment will be installed to reduce annual pollution by at least 1,200 tons of nitrogen oxide and 360 tons of sulfur dioxide, said Ignacio S. Moreno, assistant attorney general for the environmental and natural resources division of the Department of Justice.

The plant, about 95 miles northeast of Los Angeles in Kern County, now emits about 3,200 tons of nitrogen oxides and 1,200 tons of sulfur dioxide per year, the EPA said.

CalPortland has one year to install and operate emission controls for nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide, the EPA said.

Nitrogen oxides are linked to health problems, visual impairment and asthma. Sulfur dioxide, in high concentrations, can affect breathing and aggravate existing respiratory and cardiovascular diseases.

louis.sahagun@latimes.com

Source: http://feeds.latimes.com/~r/latimes/news/science/~3/v63X1QJmX4A/la-me-cement-fine-20111216,0,5364721.story

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Tennessee jobless rate lowest since January 2009 (AP)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. ? Tennessee's unemployment rate in November dropped 0.4 percent to 9.1 percent, the lowest since January 2009.

State officials said Thursday about 10,000 jobs were created since October with job growth in the service sector such as retail trade and temporary jobs. Eighty-nine hundred jobs were added in retail trade. Professional and business services grew by 7,100 positions.

Jobs losing positions were arts, entertainment and recreation, down by 1,800; wholesale trade, 1,400; and durable goods manufacturing, 400.

The January 2009 figure was 9 percent.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/economy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111215/ap_on_bi_ge/us_unemployment_rate_tennessee

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San Gabriel Valley still feeling effects of windstorm

Los Angeles County's most potent windstorm in recent years continued to dole out complications Saturday, depriving about 80,000 homes and businesses of power for a third day and sapping pre-holiday spirit in some foothill communities.

Nearly 74,000 Southern California Edison customers remained without power Saturday in about a dozen San Gabriel Valley communities, including Pasadena, Temple City, San Marino and Arcadia. Utility workers handed out flashlights, ice and bottled water to affected residents.

The storm ? a meteorological mutation of typical Santa Ana winds ? blasted the region with cold northerly winds instead of warm seasonal gusts, and it bowled over myriad trees and snapped power lines. At the wind event's peak, more than 400,000 customers throughout Los Angeles County lost power, about 235,000 of them in San Gabriel Valley cities.

Photos: Santa Ana winds

At night, large stretches of normally bustling commercial thoroughfares like Valley Boulevard were dim as cars crawled past dark traffic signals and closed gas stations, supermarkets and restaurants.

"This is probably the most severe windstorm event in terms of impact on the power grid in the last decade," said Gil Alexander, a Southern California Edison spokesman. "Looking at our history, this is one of the more significant ones."

Alexander said the utility hoped to return power to most homes by the end of Sunday, but he said crews were having problems reaching affected neighborhoods because of downed trees. Although the windstorm had moved away, he said it was possible that traditional Santa Ana winds could swoop in and aggravate the situation.

"We still see the potential for some ongoing wind damage," Alexander said. "We have more than 500 personnel involved in assessing the damage and working around the clock, so we're hopeful that most of our customers will have power restored by the end of the weekend."

Joe Ramallo, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, said service had been restored by Saturday evening to nearly all of its more than 200,000 customers who lost power because of the storm. But, he said, an additional 5,000 customers in San Pedro lost power Saturday. He said he was not sure whether that outage was related to weather.

Stuart Seto, a weather specialist for the National Weather Service in Oxnard, said there were some robust gusts Saturday, including winds clocked at nearly 50 mph in the Newhall Pass and in the mid-60s in the mountains.

Strong Santa Ana winds are expected to ramp up again Monday through Tuesday, though Seto said they were not predicted to be quite as forceful as the previous gusts. They are expected to come from the northeast, meaning they would sweep through San Fernando Valley communities and the Cajon and Newhall passes and spare the San Gabriel Valley from the most powerful gusts, which could top 60 mph.

"They'll still feel the gusty winds, but they won't feel them like before," Seto said of the already hard-hit communities. "When the winds were more northerly, they were coming right at them."

In towns such as Arcadia and South Pasadena, city crews worked to clear major streets of trees and other debris. City officials reminded motorists to treat blacked-out traffic signals like four-way stop signs. Some streets remained closed, as did the L.A. County Arboretum and several parks and libraries.

In Temple City, where about 75% of the town's roughly 10,000 homes had been without power, the situation has steadily improved, said Steven Masura, the city's community development director. About 3,700 homes were still without power early Saturday afternoon. Masura said he was hopeful that by Monday all would get electricity back.

Friday night, the city's big commercial corridor at Las Tunas Drive and Rosemead Boulevard was up and running after losing power during the storm.

"We're hoping that by late Sunday we'll be 99% up, but we don't know for sure," Masura said.

The windstorm created an uptick in patients at local hospitals. The emergency room at Huntington Hospital in Pasadena saw a 5% increase in patients Wednesday night through Friday night over the usual 170 patients it sees each day.

Several were injured in car accidents due to debris-strewn streets and nonworking traffic signals, said Dr. Robert Goldweber, assistant director of the hospital's emergency department. Emergency room staff also saw many elderly people who'd fallen in the dark. Some patients' oxygen generators failed.

"People needed oxygen and their oxygen generators went out. They didn't have the equipment they needed," Goldweber said.

Source: http://feeds.latimes.com/~r/latimes/news/science/~3/UIhy9szgNR4/la-me-wind-follow-20111204,0,2987057.story

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Climate change: 2011 temperatures the hottest ever during La Nina

Climate change studies show rising global temperatures ? the 10th highest ever ? and shrinking ice caps. This year saw the lowest volume of Arctic sea ice ever recorded, due to global warming, say scientists.

The world is getting hotter, with 2011 one of the warmest years on record, and humans are to blame, a report by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) said on Tuesday.

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It warned increasing global average temperatures were expected to amplify floods, droughts and other extreme weather patterns.

"Our science is solid and it proves unequivocally that the world is warming and that this warming is due to human activities," WMO Deputy Secretary-General Jerry Lengoasa told reporters in Durban, where almost 200 nations are gathered for U.N. climate talks.

The WMO report was released to coincide with U.N. climate talks which run until Dec. 9 in Durban aimed at trying to reach agreement on cutting planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions.

Prospects for a meaningful agreement appear bleak with the biggest emitters the United States and China unwilling to take on binding cuts until the other does first. Major players Japan, Canada and Russia are unwilling to extend commitments that expire next year and the European Union is looking at 2015 as a deadline for reaching a new global deal.

There has been an emerging surge of support for an EU plan to have a new global deal reached by 2015 and in force by 2020 that includes countries not bound by the Kyoto Protocol.

"Not only the EU but other countries share the same goal in one way or another," chief Japanese climate envoy Masahiko Horie told a news conference.

Japan is looking at a single, comprehensive legal document. Horie did not say Japan was on board with the European Union but signalled that Tokyo agreed with the principles of the plans laid out by Brussels.

TEMPERATURES RISING

The WMO, part of the United Nations, said the warmest 13 years of average global temperatures have all occurred in the 15 years since 1997. That has contributed to extreme weather conditions which increase the intensity of droughts and heavy precipitation across the world, it said.

"Global temperatures in 2011 are currently the tenth highest on record and are higher than any previous year with a La Nina event, which has a relative cooling influence," it said

This year, the global climate was influenced heavily by the strong La Nina, a natural phenomenon usually linked to extreme weather in Asia-Pacific, South America and Africa, which developed in the tropical Pacific in the second half of 2010 and continued until May 2011.

One of the strongest such events in 60 years, it was closely associated with the drought in east Africa, islands in the central equatorial Pacific and the United States, as well as severe flooding in other parts of the world.

The WMO report said the extent of Arctic sea ice in 2011 was the second lowest on record, and its volume was the lowest.

It said the build-up of greenhouse gases put the world at a tipping point of irreversible changes in ecosystems.

"Concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere have reached new highs," WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud said in a separate statement.

"They are very rapidly approaching levels consistent with a 2-2.4 degree Centigrade rise in average global temperatures which scientists believe could trigger far reaching and irreversible changes in our Earth, biosphere and oceans."

Russia experienced the largest variation from average, with its northern parts seeing January to October temperatures about 4 degrees C higher in several places, it said.

U.N. scientists said in a separate report this month an increase in heat waves is almost certain, while heavier rainfall, more floods, stronger cyclones, landslides and more intense droughts are likely across the globe this century as the Earth's climate warms.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said global average temperatures could rise by 3-6 degrees Celsius by the end of the century if governments failed to contain emissions, bringing unprecedented destruction as glaciers melt, sea levels rise and small island states are submerged.

(Additional reporting by Tom Miles in Geneva, reporting by Jon Herskovitz, Editing by Maria Golovnina and Janet Lawrence)

CLIMATE QUIZ: Are you smarter than Al Gore?

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/wFiPbLBjoeY/Climate-change-2011-temperatures-the-hottest-ever-during-La-Nina

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Grammy surprise: Who's that? His name is Skrillex (AP)

NEW YORK ? Many people were surprised when the name Skrillex was announced in the best new artist category, along with the likes of Nicki Minaj and The Band Perry, during this week's televised Grammy nominations special.

Count Skrillex as one of them.

A day after earning a whopping five nominations in total, the 23-year-old dance and dub-step producer is still taking it all in.

"It just hasn't really hit me yet," he said in a phone interview from Manchester, England, on Thursday. "I wouldn't have thought I would come this far in so many ways."

Skrillex scored the third-most nominations, matching Lil Wayne. Kanye West leads with seven nods; Adele, the Foo Fighters and Bruno Mars scored six each.

The Los Angeles-based Skrillex, born Sonny Moore, may be best known for "Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites" (he's also a producer on Korn's new album, "The Path of Totality," out next week).

Skrillex hasn't had much success on the Billboard charts ? he's more of an underground artist. He'll have some tough competition in the best new artist category: Besides facing The Band Perry and Minaj, who were both nominated for Grammys earlier this year and have dominated their respective fields and at other awards shows, he'll compete with Bon Iver, a critical darling, and J. Cole, who had a No.1 album and is the protege of Jay-Z.

Skrillex is nominated for best dance recording for "Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites," and also nominated for best dance/electronica album for his EP, which shares the same name. In 2010, Lady Gaga earned those trophies, and Rihanna's "Only Girl (In the World)" was the winner of best dance recording earlier this year.

Skrillex will have to battle Robyn, Deadmau5 and David Guetta, acts who come from a similar background to his.

"I feel very proud of where I come from," Skrillex said of being in the electronic music scene, a genre that has exploded on Top 40 radio in recent years. "I do feel like I represent something and I'm a part of something and it's an honor to be there."

Skrillex, who is also nominated for best remixed recording (non-classical) and best short form music video, says he hopes his Grammy love will give more attention to the dance music genre.

"I just hope it opens more doors for next year, not only Grammy nominations, but just everything in general," he said.

The Grammys will be held Feb. 12 in Los Angeles.

____

Online:

http://www.skrillex.com/

http://www.grammys.com

____

Mesfin Fekadu covers entertainment for The Associated Press. Follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/musicmesfin

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/music/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111202/ap_en_mu/us_music_skrillex

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Muslim Brotherhood's machine helps in Egypt vote

Member of Egypt's Freedom and Justice Party use their laptop computers outside a polling station in Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2011. Polls opened Tuesday for a second day of voting in Egypt's landmark parliamentary elections, the first since Hosni Mubarak's ouster in a popular uprising earlier this year. (AP Photo/Bela Szandelszky)

Member of Egypt's Freedom and Justice Party use their laptop computers outside a polling station in Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2011. Polls opened Tuesday for a second day of voting in Egypt's landmark parliamentary elections, the first since Hosni Mubarak's ouster in a popular uprising earlier this year. (AP Photo/Bela Szandelszky)

An Egyptian man looks at a campaign banner in Arabic that reads, "The Freedom and Justice party," on the second day of parliamentary elections in Alexandria, Egypt, Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2011. Polls opened Tuesday for a second day of voting in Egypt's landmark parliamentary elections, the first since Hosni Mubarak's ouster in a popular uprising earlier this year. (AP Photo/Tarek Fawzy)

An Egyptian woman stands in front of a campaign banner in Arabic that reads, "The Freedom and Justice party," on the second day of parliamentary elections in Alexandria, Egypt, Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2011. Polls opened Tuesday for a second day of voting in Egypt's landmark parliamentary elections, the first since Hosni Mubarak's ouster in a popular uprising earlier this year. (AP Photo/Tarek Fawzy)

CAIRO (AP) ? First-time voter Hassan Abdel-Hamid had no idea who to vote for in Egypt's first parliamentary elections since the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak, so he followed the guidance of the friendly activist from the Muslim Brotherhood who handed him a flyer outside the polling station.

The fundamentalist Brotherhood was emerging as the biggest winner in partial results Wednesday from the first voting this week in Egypt's landmark election in which voters turned out in unexpected droves.

That strength is not necessarily testimony to widespread Egyptian support for its Islamist ideology. More crucial were two other major factors: the Brotherhood's history of helping the poor and a highly disciplined organization of activists, who on the two days of voting seemed to be everywhere.

Outside polling stations around the country, Brotherhood activists were set up with laptop computers in booths, helping voters find their district and voter numbers ? which they wrote on cards advertising the party's candidates. Elsewhere, they posted activists outside to wave banners, pass out flyers or simply chat up voters waiting in line.

And in a marked change from previous elections, when Brotherhood members running as independents touted their Islamic credentials, this time their campaign focused on promises to improve services, to appeal to poor voters.

"Do you think any of these guys prays when it's not a holiday?" said Yasser Dawahi, pointing to four friends hanging out in his auto garage in the poor Cairo neighborhood of Zawiya al-Hamra before the vote. All said they'd vote for the Brotherhood.

"It's all about services, clean streets, jobs and hospitals. That's what's important," he said.

For decades, the Mubarak regime suppressed the Brotherhood, which was banned but still established a vast network of activists and charities offering free food and medical services. It transformed this into a potent campaign machine, holding rallies and wallpapering neighborhoods with banners for its Freedom and Justice Party. After voting closed in the Mediterranean coastal city of Alexandria on Tuesday night, Brothers even lined up to protect the road while ballot boxes were moved to the counting center.

During the voting Monday and Tuesday, many parties violated a legal ban on campaigning during elections, but the Brotherhood's operation was by far the slickest and most widespread. The campaigning at the polls is particularly effective because so many parties are new and most Egyptians know almost nothing about them.

Abdel-Hamid, the first time voter, said he received the flyer telling him how to vote from "the guys with the computer."

They sat across the street in front of a huge Freedom and Justice Party banner, punching voters' ID numbers into their computer to get their voter numbers and make sure they were in the right place.

One of them, 25-year-old Essam Ahmed, acknowledged he was a party activist, but denied the group was campaigning. "Here I'm just a volunteer for all citizens," he said.

Shortly after an Associated Press reporters arrived, the men took down the party banner and wrote voter information on plain white paper instead of party brochures.

The election is likely to be the best indicator of Egyptians' political sentiments after decades of elections under Mubarak that were so rigged that few people even bothered to vote. The parliament it seats will play a role in determining if Egypt's new government remains secular or moves in a profoundly Islamist direction.

The Obama administration on Wednesday hailed the vote as Egypt's freest and fairest ever. This week's voting took place in nine of Egypt's 27 provinces, including the capital Cairo. In subsequent rounds, other provinces will take their turn in a process that will last till March.

Partial results reported by judges overseeing the count showed the Brotherhood leading, though the extent of their win was not clear. The Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice party is likely to win a strong plurality ? and some of its leaders Wednesday claimed it captured half the first round vote.

Mustafa Mohammed Khalifa, a 28-year-old voter in the village of Elwan in central Egypt, said little distinguished the parties in the eyes of his poor farming community, where most people live on government-subsidized bread and suffer from poor sanitation, roads, schools and hospitals. But all knew the Brotherhood's reputation for providing charity.

"The Muslim Brotherhood never helped here, but at least we know them," he said. "They aren't extreme liberals or extreme conservatives."

Many criticized the Brotherhood's tactics, though few deny they gave them an edge at the polls.

"They outspent, outworked and politically outclassed the other political parties by a huge factor," said Elijah Zarwan, a political analyst who specializes in Egypt.

The election commission has said it will punish groups that violate the election law. Foreign observers say it is too early to speak of systematic violations, though some add that the rules banning campaigning lack specificity. The U.S. National Democratic Institute, which ran an observer team, praised the vote in general in a statement Wednesday but advised authorities to set a 30-yard campaign-free zone around polling sites.

"They're not playing it fair," said Carmen George, a Coptic Christian who pointed to Brotherhood activists outside her polling station in the Cairo neighborhood of Nasr City.

"It's not guiding (voters). It's manipulating them," she said.

The Brotherhood operation in the neighborhood showed the blurriness of the line between campaigning and "assisting voters." Its activists sat behind a sign reading "Information" while female volunteers chatted up voters near the entrance.

None wore party logos, leading some voters to think they were from the state election commission.

While most voters merely needed help getting their numbers, one volunteer told an undecided voter to choose the scale, the soccer goal and the crocodile ? the campaign symbols of the party and its two local candidates. The symbols, on campaign literature and the ballot, are to help illiterate people recognize their choices.

Nearby, Brotherhood volunteer Siham Sobhi wore a badge reading "information committee."

"I ask people who they want to vote for and if they say they don't know, I tell them I am with Freedom and Justice," she said. "I don't tell them how to vote, but I describe my position."

She denied this constitutes campaigning.

A moment later, 70-year-old Sayida Mohammed walked from the volunteer's table to the polling station.

"I want someone to fix the country because the people who are full don't feel for people who are hungry," she said.

She was unclear which party she supported but knew which symbols to pick: The scale, the soccer goal and the crocodile.

___

Associated Press Writers Hadeel al-Shalchi and Aya Batrawy contributed reporting.

Associated Press

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Canada 'won the War of 1812,' forging nationhood: U.S. author

In a relatively rare admission for an American scholar, a leading U.S. historian who authored a provocative new tome about North American military conflicts states bluntly that Canada won the War of 1812.

Johns Hopkins University professor Eliot Cohen, a senior adviser to former U.S. secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, writes in his just-published book Conquered Into Liberty that, ?ultimately, Canada and Canadians won the War of 1812.?

And Cohen acknowledges that, ?Americans at the time, and, by and large, since, did not see matters that way.?

The book also echoes a key message trumpeted by the federal Conservative government in recent weeks as it unveiled ambitious plans to commemorate the bicentennial of the War of 1812 over the next three years: that the successful fight by British, English- and French-Canadian and First Nations allies to resist would-be American conquerors ? at battles such as Queenston Heights in Upper Canada and Chateauguay in Lower Canada ? set the stage for the creation of a unified and independent Canada a half-century later.

?If the conquest of (Canada) had not been an American objective when the war began, it surely had become such shortly after it opened,? Cohen argues in the book. ?Not only did the colony remain intact: It had acquired heroes, British and French, and a narrative of plucky defense against foreign invasion, that helped carry it to nationhood.?

In an interview with Postmedia News, Cohen observed that, ?all countries have to have these myths ? not in the sense of falsehoods, but really compelling stories that are, in fact, rooted in some kind of truth, even if they?re not the complete truth.

?And the War of 1812 gives Canada that,? he continued. ?It gives you some foundation myths. It gives you Laura Secord. It gives you heroes.?

Cohen, who advised the Bush Administration on geopolitical strategy from 2007 to 2009, said the War of 1812 ?was the last point at which the United States thought really seriously about trying to take Canada by force of arms.?

It?s clear, he added, that ?there were a lot of senior American leaders who thought the outcome of the war would be the forcible annexation of Canada ? thinking, not entirely without reason, that there would be some segment of the (Canadian) population that would welcome that.?

There were, in fact, deep roots for such thinking in the U.S. Rebel forces during the American War of Independence had launched a northward invasion ? ultimately unsuccessful ? nearly four decades before the War of 1812.

In 1775, a rebel pamphlet distributed among Canadians in present-day Quebec warned that they would be ?conquered into liberty? by the invading revolutionaries from the South, an oxymoronic appeal to join in the revolt against British rule, and which Cohen captured in the title of his book as a sentiment which still echoes in contemporary U.S. foreign policy.

Subtitled ?Two Centuries of Battles Along the Great Warpath that Made the American Way of War,? the 400-page survey of North American history from 1690 to 1871 contends that the national mindsets of the U.S. and Canada were profoundly and enduringly shaped by struggles over the land and water routes between Montreal and New York City, principally Lake Champlain, Lake George and the Hudson River.

And while Cohen?s book highlights the fact that the U.S. won the principal War of 1812 clash in that crucial corridor ? the Battle of Plattsburgh in September 1814 ? he concludes that ?the nominal causes for which (the Americans) had fought the war had advanced not an iota? by the time a peace treaty had been signed and hostilities ended in early 1815.

U.S. forces ?had failed in their objective of conquering Canada,? Cohen writes. ?They had suffered humiliating defeats at the hands of numerically inferior enemies; the Royal Navy had driven American commerce from the seas; and American national finance had suffered severely.?

But like Canada, which emerged victorious from the War of 1812 and more aware of itself as a potential nation, the U.S. salvaged a solid ? even strengthened ? sense of national identity, Cohen argues.

?Some of this has to do with myth, understood as powerful stories that frame a deeper conception of one?s history,? he writes. ?They clung to the victorious naval duels of the USS Constitution, the ?bombs bursting in air? over Fort McHenry, the fleet action on Lake Erie, the Battle of New Orleans . . . and ? very much ? Plattsburgh.?

Even as late as the U.S. Civil War in the 1860s, Cohen said in the interview, a ?substantial body of opinion? persisted among American political leaders ?that sooner or later, Canadians will decide that they want to join the United States.?

But, added Cohen, even the most ardent annexationists in the U.S. had come to believe by then that the absorption of the Canadian colonies by the United States would only happen ?on the initiative of Canadians.?

rboswell@postmedia.com

? Copyright (c) Postmedia News

Source: http://feeds.canada.com/~r/canwest/F56/~3/_KYj5yxHMjI/story.html

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