Denuclearizing North Korea

"If you think the North Koreans would revolt or the regime would collapse because of sanctions, you don't know anything about the North Koreans."
"These are people who survived the famine by eating weeds and even talk proudly about it."
Kang Mi-jin, North Korean defector, South Korea

"I can feel they [the Korean public] are not satisfied with the government, and if the authorities cannot resolve the sanctions problem, such dissatisfaction will go on and on."
"They have lost the [peoples'] loyalty toward the regime."
Terry, Chinese trader

"Once we start talking, the United States will know that I am not a person to launch nuclear weapons at South Korea, the Pacific or the United States."
If we maintain frequent meetings and build trust with the United States and receive promises for an end to the war and a non-aggression treaty, then why would we need to live in difficulty by keeping our nuclear weapons?"
"Some say that we are terminating facilities that are not functioning, but you will see that they are in good condition."
Kim Jong Un, North Korean President

An earthquake expert presents evidence of a seismic event at the nuclear test site near Mount Mantapsan in North Korea      Credit:  AP

"They imply a phased process with reciprocal concessions."
"It is not clear that the Trump administration will accept that kind of protracted program."
Adam Mount, senior defence analyst, Federation of American Scientists

South Korean President Moon Jae-in really believes that a breakthrough in relations has occurred between Seoul and Pyongyang, the love-in between himself and North Korean President Kim Jong Un on Friday at Panmunjom was a demonstration of warmth, trust and yearning. On his part, in any event; it is generally acknowledged that Kim loves game-playing as much as he enjoys pushing limits and there is no ignoring the fact that the North established a reputation of gaming the South and the U.S. in previous attempts to persuade the Kim dynasty to surrender its nuclear ambitions.

On previous occasions it did so, exhibiting in the process a level of authentic, believable commitment, mothballing its nuclear research, only to soon afterward fire it up again, taking up where it left off, after accepting the promised international aid to lift the North out of dire economic and social straits. Gaming the gullible West just as the Islamic Republic of Iran has repeatedly done, then in stealth resuming its research under cover of a signed and sealed agreement otherwise.

There is little resemblance to logic but much cognitive dissonance for the West to now believe that North Korea, after expending time, energy, lucre and secret intelligence and technological exchanges in establishing the reality of nuclear success paired with the engineering technology required to succeed in producing ICBMs, that it would be prepared to surrender all of it now, set it aside permanently as a sacrifice to achieve peace between it and its neighbour and the international community.

Before and after images show the Punggye-ri test site where on September 3, 2017, North Korea claimed to have conducted the underground explosion of a hydrogen bomb Credit: AFP/Planet

This is a regime, after all, which failed to be deterred by robust threats by the U.S. administration of full-blast Trump, going on to test its latest, most successful nuclear device and ballistic missiles in full provocation mode. As for pressure brought to bear by more seriously-imposed sanctions, even those supported by China, reports surface of witnessed border trade where tungsten, lead, zinc, copper and gold concentrates, banned for export under UN sanctions are spirited into China.

In return, nightly transports are smuggled into North Korea carrying sugar, flour, fertilizers and other living necessities in exchange for the Chinese-sought natural resources. Factories in North Korea may have been shuttered and fishermen leaving their boats unattended while military units resort to charcoal-engine vehicles for transport, but shortages aside, vital consumer prices remain stable and no food shortages loom in the near future, according to North Korean defectors.

Electricity doesn't appear lacking where street lights are kept on all night in Pyongyang according to South Korean journalists on a recent visit. Everyone seems equipped with a cellphone, and women appeared in fashionable dresses, far more than previously. "We have seen no big disruption in markets yet that could be attributed to sanctions", according to Jiru Ishimaru, operating Asia Press, a website based in Japan monitoring North Korea. "North Korean markets  have proved quite resilient."

Perhaps it's likelier that Kim is enjoying his little cat-and-mouse game. The nuclear installation that he claims will be shuttered will indeed be, since the mountain under which it was built has been utterly destabilized by the succession of nuclear blasts set off for test purposes, resulting in quakes, requiring that a new nuclear installation be built, in a less environmentally disruptive area of the North to enable it to resume its nuclear program.

Denuclearizing North Korea? Doesn't seem all that likely.

The nuclear tests have taken place in a system of tunnels dug below Mount Mantap, near the Punggye-ri site.

Thwarting Infiltration

"We saw a totally irregular event and severe attack, which was clearly orchestrated by Hamas leaders on the ground who were urging the rioters on, and to run toward the fence, to assault the fence."
"[Hamas attempts] to use civilians as human shields and as a disguise for terrorists trying to infiltrate into Israel."
Lt.-Col.Jonathan Conricus, IDF spokesman, Israel 

          A Palestinian protester slings stones towards Israeli soldiers during clashes with Israeli troops along the Gaza Strip border with Israel, east of Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Friday, March 30, 2018. (AP/Adel Hana

Hamas, recognized as a terrorist group by most Western governments as well as some in the Middle East itself, has long been known to use Palestinians living in Gaza as living shields. In shooting off rockets and other types of deadly missiles into Israel, the locales from which the weapons are aimed across the border tend to be within crowded urban centres, including schools, mosques, hospitals and other areas of urban density. Inviting a military response from Israel targeting the area from which the missiles were fired. The purpose being to deliberately place civilians in harm's way.

Should the response hit its target located in population areas the calculation by Hamas is the more innocent civilians killed or wounded, the better. That response plays right into their playbook whereby any Israeli military targets resulting in Palestinian deaths make for heart-rending, and extremely useful propaganda played at loud volume to elicit outrage from the international community, responding to charges levelled of Israeli atrocities geared to killing Palestinians.

Palestinians march past a tent city erected along the border with Israel east of Gaza City in the Gaza strip on March 30, 2018. (AFP PHOTO / MAHMUD HAMS)

Not far from the border fence separating Israel from the Gaza Strip are a number of Israeli towns and villages, all vulnerable to attack by Hamas terrorists. Should Palestinians from Gaza -- a captive audience for Hamas whose administration of the strip is one of theocratic domination, rather complicated by the fact that the administrators' purpose of existence as a political-religious terrorist group is to kill Jews and destroy their country -- rebel against Hamas in favour of normalizing relations with a neighbour, they would be identified as traitors and suffer the punishing fate of such.

The Gaza Strip and West Bank would not be 'occupied' were it not for the fact that both represent deadly enemies of Israel and both recognize a self-imposed mandate to destroy the Jewish State, and to 'reclaim' the land on which it sits for Islam and the Palestinians. The 'occupation' is one of self-defence entirely. Insistence on "right of return" for the millions of 'refugee' descendants of the original estimated 750,000 who fled from Israel in advance of a combined Arab military attack in 1948 is one way of destroying the Jewish character of the state.

Flooding Israel with the presence of two million Palestinian Gazans, close to another two million from the West Bank, and millions who reside in Jordan, in 'refugee camps' in Syria, Egypt and elsewhere would unleash bloody carnage on Israelis, which the separating fence curtailed after two Intifadas that butchered Israelis of all ages. The new tactic adopted by Hamas of inciting Gazans to flood into Israel through the separating fence is geared to achieving that goal.

Gaza's Hamas terrorist rulers released these images of members of its military wing who it acknowledged were among 16 Gazans it said were killed by Israeli fire during clashes along the security fence on Friday, March 30, 2018. (Hamas)

Friday prayers invariably lead to clerical encouragement to go forth and engage in jihad, wherever those mosques happen to be located, in the Middle East or across the Muslim world and into the world of the West. Crowds of Gazans attempting to break through the fence using hooks and wire cutters, burning tires and intimidation of the forces who warn that tear gas will be used, then live fire when warranted, shout their eagerness to become "shahids" whenever bodies are taken away in stretchers to waiting ambulances.

Firebombs, explosives, Molotov cocktails hanging from kites and burning tires have no place in peaceful protests. If the energy used to slander and violently oppose Israel were used instead to demand accountability of the Hamas administration by the Palestinians living under their ruinous rule, it would represent reality, instead the fallacious fantasy of Israel's responsibility for the corruption and misrule of the West Bank and Gaza dominates the Palestinian agenda.

The Israeli communities living a mere hundred metres or so from the border are hugely dependent on the Israeli military to keep them safe from the deadly prospect of thousands of Palestinians rampaging into Israel.

"[All those killed were engaged in violence, most were injured by live fire while the rest were merely shaken up by tear gas and other riot dispersal means]."
"[The army had faced] a violent, terrorist demonstration at six points [along the fence. The IDF used]  pinpoint fire [wherever there were attempts to breach or damage the security fence]. All the fatalities were aged 18-30, several of the fatalities were known to us, and at least two of them were members of Hamas commando forces."
"[Israel] will not allow a massive breach of the fence into Israeli territory. [Hamas and other Gaza terror groups are using protests as a cover for staging attacks. If violence continues], we will not be able to continue limiting our activity to the fence area and will act against these terror organizations in other places too."
IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Ronen Manelis

A Palestinian protester throws a tire into a fire during clashes with Israeli security forces. (photo credit: AFP PHOTO)

We Get Too Soon Old and Too Late Smart

"It was a very scary thing that happened to me."

"I really don't want anybody to experience what I did, and maybe if the police caught the man who did this, nobody else will be hurt."

Unnamed victim

’Hamid Chekakri, 47, has been arrested in Atlanta on suspicion of doping seniors with drugged chocolates before stealing cash and valuables from their homes. Police handout

Elderly people are usually polite with strangers and for the most part respond to those who appear to be kind and 'charming', with trust. It seems the older one becomes, the more trusting. Because basically it's easier to believe -- or want to trust -- that people are basically good, and that it never hurts to give the time of day to people who appear to be comfortable in your presence. Certainly the benefit of the doubt is in favour of briefly befriending people who seem to merit it.

And for the people who were victimized by 47-year-old Algerian-born Hamid Chekakri, polite Canadians appear to have given him the time of day. They were willing to converse with him, to permit him into their homes on the pretext he conveyed that he was just a man looking for information, or, if they had a house for sale, perhaps he could be the buyer. And since he was so nice about it all, they were nice right back to him.

His modus operandi was to gain the trust of older people in their 60s and 70s, behave as though a transaction of some value to them might be in the offing, and as a sign of goodwill would offer them chocolates. One woman declined his offer, but he circumvented her decision of disinterest by popping a chocolate into her mouth. Imagine the effrontery of it! One might think the reaction to that would be offence, but this woman evidently swallowed the unwanted chocolate. It took 15 minutes for her to feel v e e e e r y drowsy.

The trouble was, anyone who enjoyed one of those chocolates would be ingesting a quite powerful sedative. Generally used medically in the treatment of seizures and anxiety. Mr. Chekakri used such a strong version of the drug that many of those he cajoled into enjoying one of his chocolates lost consciousness for a day, even several days. One couple in Montreal, 67 and 76, man and wife, were unconscious for 24 hours. 

When the 67-year-old wife woke she realized her head and lips were bruised, and then she saw her husband, unconscious on the floor. Taken to hospital they were tested positive for Clonazepam. On their return home they discovered that personal documents, cash, and jewellery were missing. In the space of a week, the "calm, patient and very charming" man robbed three households, feeding the householders  his special chocolates.

Video footage recorded by security cameras located close to the victims' home revealed that a rented vehicle left the area soon after the couple had fallen asleep, later found abandoned. But the rental registration surrendered the name of the culprit, and seeking assistance from the public to identify the image of the man captured on video, he was identified. And linked to six victims in various parts of Montreal and Ottawa.

Mr. Chekakri fled with the avails of his robberies, and was found and identified by the U.S. Marshals Service in Atlanta, Georgia where he had arrived on a flight from Costa Rica. Authorities confirmed active warrants out of Montreal for assault and burglary and arrested the man, and Montreal police escorted him back to Canada. To stand trial, while police urge any possible additional victims to come forward.

• Five counts of aggravated assault.
• Five counts of causing any person to take a stupefying or overpowering drug.
• Five counts of robbery.
• Three counts of breaking and entering.

 The Trudeau Government: Canada For Sale, China May Apply

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met with China's Premier Li Keqiang in December.   Fred Dufour / Associated Press

"Law in China -- despite the term 'rule of law' and the deliberate attraction of expectations about what the rule of law means -- is something quite different altogether, and it really is submission to Party rule."
"What is described in China as the rule of law is more, in fact, the rule by law -- in other words, the use of formal rules, statutes, institutions, and so on to carry out policies."
"[China's rule of law] is nothing more than an instrument for carrying out Party purposes."
Pitman Potter, professor, University of British Columbia A. Allard School of Law

"In that context it seems to me that it's very difficult for the government to approve the Aecon acquisition without incurring significant risk to national security."
"[It would] certainly not be my recommendation [to permit the deal to move forward]."
"It will not make them [proposed Chinese buyer] anything other than an opaque entity operated entirely in accordance with the goals of the state of China."
Ward Elcock, former director, Canadian Security Intelligence Service

"It's not aiming [Chinese take-overs] at profit but market share -- particularly in developed countries."
"We could harm ourselves if we insist on opening our doors wide to a state who does not believe in the private property rights and free market system, but is using its SOEs [state-owned enterprises] in the disguise of commercial entities."
Duanjie Chen, senior fellow, Macdonald-Laurier Institute think tank

China Communications Construction Co. proposed to buy the Canadian construction firm Aecon late in 2017.  Cole Burston/Bloomberg

The Trudeau government seemed fairly unperturbed that China may come into possession of a Canadian construction firm that would most certainly result in sensitive Canadian data being made available to the Chinese state. But there are warning signs everywhere that scream !caution! that the government doesn't seem inclined to notice. They did, months ago, accede to some level of concerns deciding to instigate an investigation to satisfy critics. Which include other Canadian construction companies claiming the takeover of Aecon by the China Communications Construction Co. would imperil locals in bidding on contracts.

The Liberal government of Justin Trudeau is anxious to sign off on a free trade deal with China, cognizant that should the Aecon deal not go in China's favour that elusive free trade deal that Trudeau thought his trade experts in consultation with their Chinese counterparts had all wrapped up and just needed his signature on a trip to China found himself in an embarrassing situation when the Chinese declined to forward that free trade agreement to a conclusion during that trip and Trudeau returned home empty-handed.

Not a very auspicious conclusion to an agreement that was considered to be a wrap, particularly when he had just returned from a high-echelon Trans-Pacific Trade mission when all the other countries concerned were prepared to take the agreement to the signing table and Trudeau decided at the last moment in conversation with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, that Canada had second thoughts, which situation enraged his other TPP counterparts.

Prime Minister Trudeau's next huge international success was his visit to India, where among trade discussions he distinguished himself playing Mr. Dress-up with his adorable family posing in Bollywood get-ups, amazing in their garish costuming to Indians who had no doubt thought that the Canadian sunny-ways Prime Minister was a doltish clown. And then matters turned a little more serious when his entourage suddenly entertained a Sikh-Canadian who had once been found guilty of attempted murder of an Indian cabinet minister while visiting Canada.

So, should it be decided that the China Communications Construction Co., aka an arm of the Chinese Communist Party, not be allowed to take over Aecon in a $1.5-billion deal, there would be consequences, with China convinced that it was being treated differently in foreign take-overs in Canada than other countries' industries investing in Canada. Of course, other nations do not view their corporations as being answerable to their governments as China does.

Developed nations of the world of which Canada is one, alongside Australia, the United Kingdom and others have accused China of influence peddling and political bribery. Centrally owned enterprises have of late rapidly developed their itineraries in acquiring overseas assets. In the 1990s those Chinese investments abroad were valued at $79 billion. Currently, their value has swelled to over $900 billion, in service to China's interests in controlling markets.

It is a growth that fits neatly into China's global influence, with its Belt and Road initiative, expanding the means by which the vast nation with its impressively huge manufacturing facilities can deliver products globally, by its expansion of road, rail and sea infrastructure elsewhere in the world, linking to China. China's geopolitical manoeuvring is fairly transparent at this point. Aecon itself has defended the proposed takeover, pointing out that the construction sector in Canada is inundated as it is by foreign conglomerates from Europe, the U.S., South Korea and elsewhere.

Which may be true, but certainly not representative of the whole picture, since none of those countries seek to further their trade futures and geopolitical influence through monopolization of the world order in production and trade as does China. Experts pointing out that Chinese state-owned enterprises' function is to service the Communist Party of China; they are in fact compelled by Chinese law to surrender any idea of autonomy to the Chinese government.

In 2011, CCCC had been barred, as a result of charges of fraudulent practices, from bidding on any World Bank-backed road or bridge projects.

French-American Show-and-Tell Amicably

"Mr. President, they're all saying what a great relationship we have and they're actually correct. Finally, it's not fake news."
"We have a very special relationship, in fact I'll get that little piece of dandruff off [Emmanuel Macron's suit shoulder]. We have to make him perfect, he is perfect."
"We finished at least almost our work and we have done a job nobody has been able to. I would love to get out, [of Syria], bring our incredible warriors back home. They have obliterated ISIS."
"[The U.S. intends to] leave a long and lasting footprint [and not to] give Iran open season to the Mediterranean."
U.S. President Donald Trump

Win McNamee / Getty Images    President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump welcome Macron and his wife Brigitte to the White House for a state dinner on Tuesday night.

French President Macron's state visit to the United States has been hugely successful. The French President has been able to diplomatically state his case in disagreeing with some of the positions the White House has taken under the Trump administration, and to do so in a manner that failed to result in ire rising from the irascible Donald Trump at being defied on any issue. But then Emmanuel Macron has a great advantage working for him. He is one of those beautiful physical specimens that Trump is so inordinately fond of.

And so, they hit it off. Much as Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have. President Macron may not be quite the preening, selfie-loving 'progressive' indulging in feminism and championing LGBTQ2 rights, but he appears to have a congenial personality that prosecutes a global point of view in matters of international importance, which Trudeau feigns and feints with considerable skill that occasionally loses its screen to reveal an incompetent hiding itself where resolute cognition should occupy the forum.

Kevin Lamarque / Reuters Trump flicks something off Macron's jacket during their meeting in the Oval Office on Tuesday.

President Macron took all the attention heaped upon his person by the man in the Oval Office in good stride, beaming at the paternalistic tone, seemingly satisfied with the seriousness with which his opinion on world affairs was being taken. Such studies in character contrasts and studied submission to the force of an executive-colleague's personality bespeaks a master at conciliatory diplomacy. Without submitting entirely to the worldview each of the other, they maintained a cheerful yet seriously considered contest of wills.

Differences in policy are important considerations in an effort to move each other's position toward mutual satisfaction in agreement, if only marginally. A skillful debater with deep cognitive ability is capable of gentle persuasion in moving an ideological adversary closer to his own perspective to bring them in working accord. Trump's determination to pull American troops out of Syria remains intact, though he may now give it more time. Taking credit for the U.S. killing the ISIL caliphate does give unseemly short shrift to its reliance on Kurdish militias, however.

Trump is now talking a modified version of withdrawal, referring to the American mission still not quite "accomplished". The French President knows he is not alone in persuading Trump to have U.S. troops remain in Syria; his persuasive effort is destined to soon be repeated when German Chancellor Angela Merkel returns to Washington on a state trip of her own. When President Trump will no doubt repeat his mantra: "We want to come home. We'll be coming home. We're going to be coming home relatively soon."

Kevin Lamarque / Reuters  Trump and Macron walk down the colonnade at the White House following the official arrival ceremony for Macron on Tuesday.

President Macron had his briefer, more modest say when he affirmed that together he and Trump managed to have "raised new solutions together, and the Syria situation should be part of this bigger picture" that is the Middle East. The "broader picture" is, of course, inclusive of Iran, a solution for which can be found when the "incredibly wealthy" regional nations for whom Iran's ascendancy represents a threat, to agree to pay for and place their own troops on the ground, replacing the U.S.

As for North Korea, Trump stated, "Kim Jong Un, he really has been very open and I think very honourable from everything we're seeing", and anticipates that any agreement that might be reached would clear North Korea of any nuclear capabilities. In fact, nature itself may have taken a hand on that file, with news out of Hong Kong with the South China Morning Post reporting that the Punggye-ri nuclear site has collapsed. Its collapse resulting in  an "unprecedented risk" of radioactive fallout.

Kim is set to hold a historic meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in at a border village on April 27 [File: Reuters]

This is a situation that may in fact, explain why it is that Kim Jong Un has declared the immediate halt of the North's nuclear and missile tests, since the test site, according to the report and a researcher, has been "wrecked" beyond repair.

Vehicular Terrorism

"Here you have a major thoroughfare in a major city and people are going about their lives and a van driving down the street just goes up the curb and starts cruising down the sidewalk."
"That's what makes it so exceptionally scary. This is almost a new form of violence that takes place in our 9-to-5 lives."
"Mental illness is a minor source of this kind of thing."
"What if [the driver] has some generalized hate? Who knows here, honestly."
"Who would have dreamed that would happen on Yonge Street, in broad daylight? No city is immune, no time is immune and no place is immune."
"And so just be alert ... be on your watch. If you see a vehicle that is very erratic, focus on it, pay attention to it. Eternal vigilance, in a sense."
Frank Farley, Canadian professor, psychological studies and education, Temple University, Philadelphia

"The moment he hit a fire hydrant, I knew. Right away, he hit someone, [and] he just kept on going."
"He hit a pedestrian who was crossing the road. He flew in the air."
"He went back onto the sidewalk. He was zigzagging, hitting people, bodies being lifted, there was blood bursting from them. It was horrible."
Henry Yang, driver-witness, Toronto vehicular homicide attack

"It doesn't matter why the guy did it. We won't let this divide us."
"The community will pull together."
Arias Reisiardekani, Yonge Street resident

RCMP, OPP and Toronto police officers, some with assault rifles, secure Yonge St. at Upper Madison, after police say a white van mounted the curb and struck pedestrians walking along the sidewalk.   (Rene Johnston / Toronto Star)

Good advice from Dr. Farley. On the other hand, the potential threat of an unhinged driver intent on striking and killing people with all the power of a mechanical monster driven for that purpose cannot monopolize people's minds. And nor can they always be aware to the potential of such carnage taking place on ordinary streets in a city housing a UN's-worth of people originating from all over the globe taking up residence in Canada's largest city, a melting pot of ethnicities, heritage, culture and religions.

It is, in any event, futile for no one can be on guard constantly. And such a fugitive event occurring is an anomaly. Mostly undertaken at the behest of Islamist terrorism by the faithful in Islam committing themselves to jihad and the prospect of martyrdom requiring they take along as many non-Muslim sacrifices to Islamist martyrdom-ritual as possible, to gain entry to Paradise as an honoured warrior deserving of the sensuous pleasures available to him there.

A police officer stands over a covered body in Toronto after a van mounted a sidewalk crashing into a number of pedestrians on Monday, April 23, 2018. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette)

On this occasion, when 25-year-old Alek Minassian, a student at a community college living in Richmond Hill just north of Toronto, rented a van with the distinct purpose of using it as a battering ram to take the lives of unsuspecting, innocent passersby, it seems his inner demons may have led him to commit this gruesome assault, and not the conviction of jihadist righteousness. Clearly, he wanted to die, and sought to do so by this medium, imploring an arresting officer to shoot him dead.

He was obviously suicidal but lacked the conviction to dispose of himself, preferring to kill ten human beings and seriously injure another fourteen people, before surrendering himself to the goal of achieving suicide by police-arrest. A wretchedly cowardly act, targeting the innocent to grease the wheels of fate to achieve his own death. Toronto police coping with too-frequent events of emotionally disturbed people committing public crimes, might have hoped they would never encounter one this desperately horrible.

The man's rage against life and his singular existence leading him to mow through a bus shelter, into fire hydrants and a mailbox in his search for warm human bodies to destroy. "From my balcony I could see five or six people on the ground. There was a body at this corner, and another one. And there was like four bodies in Mel Lastman Square. Three of them are still there right now and one of them was put in an ambulance", recounted area resident Andy Jibb.

"I just heard screaming and I ran out to my balcony and I saw this van, still heading south on the sidewalk. I heard something being hit. I could see the van heading down south, and it was like he had the brakes on. I could hear the tires squealing. It was like brake-torque, like he was pumping on the brakes and the gas at the same time."

The dead were between the ages of 22 and 80, mostly women. There seem to be some hints that this man was sexually frustrated, that his sterile relations with women were a source of aggrieved resentment to him. In interviews with some of his academic peers this friendless man was identified as peculiar in character, reserved and remote, unwilling to look others in the eye. Perhaps another Marc Lepine of the Ecole Polytechnique massacre; yet another murderous misogynist.

People light candles and mourn the victims of the Toronto van attack. EXimages/WENN.com

Injuring a Worthwhile Cause

"While armed with and having readily available dangerous and deadly weapons, that is, a pole and a shoe, unlawfully assaulted and threatened Kamal Nayfew in a menacing manner and intentionally, knowingly, and recklessly caused significant bodily injury to Kamal Nayfeh."
"That such a criminal act demonstrated the prejudice of Brandon David William Vaughan based on the actual or perceived race, colour, or national origin of Kamal Nayfeh ... a bias-related [hate] crime."
Armed assault indictment, Washington, D.C.

"We had Antifa out earlier trying to bother people. Didn't work out for them very well. That's the thing about Proud Boys. We show up early so we take care of the rough stuff right off the bat, get it out of the way."
"The only reason we do it, is so these people [anti-Islamists] can have their say."
"People of all races, colours and creeds coming together to stand for Canada, to stand up to Justin Trudeau. This is beautiful."
Brandon David William Vaughan, 23, Ottawan

RCMP officers handcuff Brandon Vaughan during a Parliament Hill "Hijab Hoax" protest in February. Ashley Fraser / Postmedia

When a young Muslim girl claimed that a Chinese man assaulted her on her way to school by ripping away her Hijab, later found to be a false charge, members of the Chinese community were offended, and anti-Islamic groups decided to hold a protest on Parliament Hill to register their anger at false attempts on the part of Muslims to claim they are being violently discriminated against. That appearance by Brandon Vaughan at the protest resulted in arrest and being banned by the Parliamentary Protective Service from the Hill for a period of 60 days.

Brandon Vaughan takes exception to the Muslim presence in Canada. He is clearly not a racist as is claimed by his detractors; witness his delight at the melange of Canadians of colour and ethnic group that turned out in support of the "Muslim-Hoax" protest on Parliament Hill; the object of his dislike is quite particular; only Muslims need apply. He is also criticized for the company he keeps; a supporter of groups described as "far right"; basically people indigenous to the Western tradition, alarmed at the growing presence of Islam and what it inevitably portends.

As a "Western chauvinist" and proud of it, he is decried as 'far-right', as is by now familiar to anyone who protests at the casual diminution of Western customs, heritage and values with the smothering influx of Muslims and their insistence on Sharia law being equal to Western justice, along with the alarm felt globally at the violence of Islamist jihad. "The West is best and we'll keep it that way", appears to be the mantra of the groups he supports such as "Odin's Warriors". He describes  himself as a "buddy" of the Jewish Defence League.

And like most people who decry Motion 103, the parliamentary motion condemning "Islamophobia", is labelled an Islamophobe for his pains. By all indications he is an Islamophobe, a condition that is hardly surprising given the very public incidences of Islamic dysfunction, violence, hostility toward Western values and democracy and vicious, bloody attacks both against other Muslims and communities of non-Muslims.

A man wearing sunglasses who appears to be Brandon Vaughn is seen in the YouTube video from the March 2017 AIPAC demonstration in Washington, D.C. OTTwp

When he and several other young men, one another Canadian, attended the annual AIPAC rally meant to foster closer ties between Israel and the U.S. that took place in Washington, it was with the knowledge that counter-demonstrations outside the annual conference would also be taking place. When Palestinian groups and those supporting them show up to practise their disdain for the very presence of any groups giving support to the State of Israel.

An altercation took place that gives no credit of decency or civilized behaviour to those carrying American, Israeli and Jewish Defence League flags, when a group of young men including Mr. Vaughan surrounded and began beating a 55-year-old Palestinian-American who identified himself as such. His crime was to identify himself as a Palestinian when someone in the group had casually denied the existence of "Palestine". This man was pushed and kicked and beaten by up to four men.

The Palestinian man, Kamal Nayfeh, a college professor from North Carolina, had dropped his daughter off at the demonstration, which accounted for his presence. The strength of Palestinian-American hatred of Israel manifest in undertaking such a trip for such a purpose. When the beating was over he needed 18 stitches to close a wound sustained near one of his eyes. The brutality of the attack against an older man whose presence infuriated younger men who grouped about him and beat him severely was uncivilized and inexcusable.

The assault was despicable and did nothing whatever to advance the causes that these young men espouse. Their right to speak openly about their beliefs were never in doubt. Their right to assault someone whose outlook was quite different from their own was non-existent. It was a spiteful, immoral act of violence. They have, in fact, sullied their cause of their own mistaken volition and criminal act. And more's the pity.

A screen grab showing the attack on a Palestinian man outside a Washington conference in March 2017. OTTwp

No Escape Escapade

"He was completely shocked when we took him away."
"He couldn't fathom that police could so quickly capture him in a crowd of 60,000 [people]."
Police Officer Li Jin

"At the back end, these efforts merge with a vast database of information on every citizen, a 'Police Cloud' that aims to scoop up such data as criminal and medical records, travel bookings, online purchase and even social media comments -- and link it to everyone's identity card and face."
Simon Denyer, The Washington Post

Jacky Cheung is one of Hong Kong's most famous singers   Getty Images

Anonymity? What is that? Lose yourself in a crowd? Might have worked once. This is a new era. Not Big Brother but Big Government. Oh, that IS Big Brother, isn't it? A government that oversees the largest population on the planet, one billion, four hundred-million people. And growing, inexorably growing. This is also a government fixated on establishing firm control on everything and everyone. A government that has eyes and ears everywhere. Melting into a crowd will no longer offer shelter from detection.

For this is also a government that has mastered the technology by which it exercises those eyes and ears radiating out in all directions. In the final analysis, there is no escape. Your presence will be detected, and if you fail to conform to political, government-directed societal expectations there is a penalty. You will pay, and you will pay for any and all indiscretions. Citizens have a duty to their state and must fulfill it.

And here you thought the state had a duty to its citizens! Well, in a sense it does in that its self-perceived duty is to ensure that everyone obeys each and every edict the state promulgates. Above all, to make your presence known to the state. For it will know, with or without your cooperation. And this, in a sense is what 31-year-old Mr. Ao, attending a concert at the Nanchang International Sports Center to mingle with an estimated 60,000 other concert-goers, discovered.

"If I had known (I would be caught), I wouldn't have gone", he commented ruefully, but of course it was too late; hindsight is failure. He had no inkling that when he and some friends bought concert tickets and travelled about 60 miles to view the show featuring the popular legend of Cantopop, Jacky Cheung, that his freedom was soon to be curtailed. He was wanted for "economic crimes", and that was unfortunate; at the very least, his misfortune.

Police officers display AI-powered smart glasses in Luoyang, China, on April 3, 2018.  (Reuters)

Seated among the tens of thousands of other concert-goers it was he and he alone that a pair of police officers sought as they descended the aisles, finally to arrive at the row they had targeted, and where they apprehended Mr. Ao, to take him off to prison. As a felon, Mr. Ao's details were in a national database. On arrival at the stadium, cameras set up at all entrances held facial recognition technology.

He was identified, linked to his record and authorities were alerted. That is one person disposed of. When in fact the entire population will soon be under the same scrutiny where facial recognition technology will keep tabs on them. A comprehensive, nationwide surveillance system called "Xue Liang", (Sharp Eyes) is also currently underway which will monitor the presence of 1.4-billion Chinese.

(File Photo) There are an estimated 170 million CCTV cameras already in place in China  Getty Images

Its first target area will be Xinjiang province with a view to gathering data relating to the ethnic minorities in the western Chinese province. The policing program it develops there in aggregating data will serve as a model for the rest of China. In the meanwhile, in Xinjiang, home of the troublesome Uighur Muslims, an app, a mandatory-to-download one, is being circulated.

Its purpose is to detect "harmful audio, video, photos, ebooks and other electronic files" relating to "violence, terror, and illegal religions" (such as Falon Gong). Should the user not delete forbidden files as instructed by the app, and promptly, "the user will be held responsible by law". And if that sounds rather threateningly foreboding, it is meant to be.

Fool Me Once, Shame on You: Fool Me Twice, Shame on Me

"To secure transparency on the suspension of nuclear tests, we will close the republic's northern nuclear test site."
"[A] great victory [has been attained in the nation's official] 'byungjin' [policy line; pursuing economic and nuclear development in synchronicity]." 
"Nuclear development has proceeded scientifically and in due order and the development of the delivery strike means also proceeded scientifically and verified the completion of nuclear weapons."
"We no longer need any nuclear test or test launches of international and intercontinental range ballistic missiles and because of this the northern nuclear test site has finished its mission."Statement, Korean Workers' Party's Central Committee

"There is nothing in North Korea's statement that signals a willingness to give up their nukes."
"On the contrary, the tone of the message is one of confidence and strength."
Benjamin Silberstein, North Korea researcher, University of Pennsylvania

Attendees at the Third Plenary Meeting of the Seventh Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea  Credit: Reuters

There, it's done -- the long-awaited announcement made after a meeting of North Korea's full Central Committee, focusing on its "new stage" of policies and national directions. The committee saw fit to unanimously resolve to concentrate its national efforts to consolidate a strong socialist economy for the purpose of embarking on "groundbreaking improvements in people's lives". So, it is clear after all that the Kin dynasty is not heartlessly oblivious to the plight of its starving people, envisioning a glorious future of strong economic and social growth.

Of course that future could have been achievable in the past, had it laid aside its commitment to its communist-era pledge and aligned itself with its South Korean cousins who have long since achieved pride in self-sufficiency that it created as an Asian Tiger of stellar technological achievement and production reaching into international corridors of trade and becoming wealthy in the process; the South's robust economy a stark contrast to the North's.

The South has demonstrated incalculable patience with its wayward cousin to the North where -- despite being constantly threatened, suffering violence and loss of life at the vicious whims of Jim Jong Un, putting the South to the test -- it now hopes to usher in a new era, convincing Kim there is nothing to fear from its neighbours, much less the United States, and everything to gain.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in claims Kim's expression of interest in dealing away his nuclear weapons is genuine, that they plan to meet to discuss this and other areas of common interest in Panmunjom during a summit to resolve the standoff with Pyongyang. Sadly, North Korea's idea of "denuclearization" fails to accord with the American definition; it is an issue that remains live; nuclear development to resume unless Washington removes its troops from the Korean Peninsula.

Kim Jong Un's view of himself as a supreme leader, one whose prestige and power resides in his ability to bellicosely threaten his perceived enemies teeters on the brink of acceding to the demands of those enemies, and it just simply does not appear to jive with the former commitment into which so much treasury and effort has been poured. Still, there are those who find the newer statements of accommodation believable.

Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association in Washington is certainly one among them, taking comfort that North Korea is signalling it is prepared to freeze its program; a significant first step -- with others equally welcome -- to follow, they would like to believe, despite past such episodes being turned upside down and inside out, as examples of what can go wrong.

North Korean launching of the Hwasong-15 missile which is capable of reaching all parts of the US in November 2017 Credit: AFP/ KCNA VIA KNS

China : Global Titan

"While virtually everyone agrees that a rules-based system is essential to managing security and trade, a power struggle is underway over who writes and enforces them. The spectacular rise of China over the past two decades and the relative decline of the US mean that sparks are bound to fly. Yet most westerns are only dimly aware of what’s occurring since the rug was so quickly pulled out from under them. The potential for catastrophic miscalculations - including US trade actions against China - are rising with potentially devastating cascading effects to the global economy."
"To get to grips with the seismic shifts underway, consider these five facts: First, China is in the process of surpassing the US economically. By one measure, 35 per cent of world growth from 2017 to 2019 will come from China, 18 per cent from the US, 9 percent from India, and 8 per cent from Europe. By 2050, the top five largest global economies are most likely to be China, India, the US, Brazil, and Indonesia. Is the west even remotely prepared for this kind of world?"
"Second, China is leading the largest urbanization and infrastructure development scheme on earth. Already in its fifth year, the $900 billion "One Belt and One Road" (OBOR) project includes new roads, shipping lanes and building projects stretching to over 65 countries. The idea is to literally rewire global trade from China throughout Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Europe. While details are hazy, OBOR is being financed by Chinese state banks, with a modest strategic contribution by a new Chinese-backed AsianInfrastructure Investment Bank in partnership with other institutions."
"Third, China is set to become a global green powerhouse. China signalled its intention to take the lead on climate change reduction after signing the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement. By 2025, most new cars in China will be fully electric vehicles. China is aggressively cutting coal usage. Already, over 60 per cent of high speed rail in the world is in China (10 times the length in Japan, for example). China also recently committed to achieving blue skies in all of its major cities within three years. The changes are already being felt: Beijing air is 30 per cent cleaner this winter than last winter."
"Fourth, China is also setting the global pace on a digital economy, including cashless payments. In major cities, up to 90 per cent of all commercial and retail transactions in convenience stores and cafes are occurring through Alipay and Wechat. E-commerce delivery in large Chinese cities through Alibaba is the currently the fastest in the world. One company, Alibaba, racked up sales of $25 billion in just one day - dwarfing the returns of so-called Black Friday and Cyber Monday in the US."
"Finally, Chinese universities are also vaulting to the top of the international rankings. Two schools - Peking University and Tsinghua University - just leapfrogged from well below the top 200 to the top 30 within five years. There are anther 40 universities that are not far behind and set to enter the elite universities in the coming years. While Chinese are still seeking out educations in elite schools in North America and Western Europe, soon they won't have to."
Robert Muggah, Research Director,  Igarapé Institute
Yves Tiberghien, Associate Professor of Political Science, Director Emeritus, Institute of Asian Research, University of British Columbia, Founding Chair, Vision 20 

How China's rise and the US's decline is expected to affect the global liberal order

Image: REUTERS/Jason Lee

The world's consumers wanted greater accessibility to cheaper goods and that seemed to put to bed forever the concept of self-sufficiency in production when nations of the world produced goods that their citizens bought in a conscious effort on the part of governments to grow their industries, taking advantage of the inaccessibility of market goods from other countries and putting up bulwarks against trade and imports through customs and excise duties charges. Then came the vaunted advance of free trade and open markets and China, which altered its politics to reflect the practicality of capitalism married to communism and everything changed.

China, in a relative few short decades hollowed out the industries and manufacturing capabilities that nations depended on to provide employment for their citizens and consumer goods as well. China locked up the markets in production of just about everything, from durable goods to foods. In the process it provided employment for its colossal population, sweeping poverty away. It is sweeping the seas of marketable fish, and building infrastructure throughout Africa, the Middle East and Europe in road, rail and bridges to enable low-cost shipping to all points of the geographic compass.

Over in the industrial hub of Shenzhen, Danish firm Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects has proposed the planet’s biggest waste to energy plant, designed to transform 5,000 tonnes of waste every day into power. The plant is due to open in 2020, and it will be almost a mile wide.

At one time industrial espionage and theft of intellectual property consumed its interests in leap-frogging over other nations' research and development and taking it for their own in an unabashed stride to avail itself of the science pioneered elsewhere but ripe for plucking by a country that customarily flaunted international trade conventions in the interests of speeding along its enterprise. China, the colossus striding across the world of commerce and production in all venues of enterprise, has locked up production in essential construction materials. It undercuts its competitors and puts them out of business, then makes them dependent on what it produces.

In September this year, the Five hundred meter Aperture Spherical Telescope – FAST for short – is set to open its doors and become operational. First proposed in the early 90s, it will become the biggest single-aperture radio telescope on the planet, with 4,600 triangular panels. The telescope is situated in a natural basin in Pingtang County, Guizhou Province, to protect the project from unwanted magnetic disruptions.

China has become the world's largest steel exporter, it controls 56 percent of the world's production of aluminum and controls 90 to 94 percent of world production of rare-earth elements. Materials required for military purposes like laser-guided missiles, the F-35 fighter jet, cellphones and similar consumer products are dependent on accessibility of rare-earth elements. A recent discovery of rare-earths deposits sufficiently plentiful to meet global demand for centuries has been discovered off Japanese waters; a rare event that gives Japan a position of superiority in that class of fundamental elements.

Although 3D printing is by no means new (nor is it emerging in China alone), in 2014 a Chinese company called WinSun Decoration Design Engineering managed to create a 10-house 3D-printed village in under one day.
After printing out each of the prefabricated modules, the components were lifted into place by a crane and were then ready to use. And in 2015, the same company created the world’s tallest 3D-printed building at the time

In renewable energy, the industries encompassing solar panels and wind turbines now are dominated by China, as well as the nuclear power industry, and China is now looking to control of the semiconductor industry for the ultimate control of electronics and telecom, and will likely in the near future reach a 60 percent control of the market with resulting problems arising in national security in the West. And unlike in the West, in China industries are state-dependent and controlled, significant outreach arms of the communist government but unlike that of the USSR, these are productive, efficient and reliable.

China is planning to build a solar expressway for self-driving cars and electric vehicles that will be able to charge them as they drive, according to the Chinese newspaper Hangzhou Daily

Its territorial disputes in a belligerent move to expand its geography puts it at odds with Japan, the Philippines, Vietnam, Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Pakistan, Russia, Myanmar, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Mongolia and North Korea. Its claims to the waters of the East and South China Seas and the natural resources that lie beneath those seas make it a formidable, dedicated adversary to all who might wish to dispute China's self-perceived entitlements. It is not in the business of making friends, it is in the business of making business and growing its inalienable opportunities and territories.

The Tianhe-2 is a 33.86-petaflop supercomputer which has topped the world’s most powerful high powered computing lists for years. Developed as part of the Chinese government’s 863 High Technology Program, the monstrous computer was built by China’s National University of Defense Technology. It boasts 32,000 Intel Xeon E5-2692 12C processors and has more than 1,300 TiB of memory. Although it’s by far the most powerful in terms of calculation capacity, critics say that it’s not as functionally useful as other supercomputers in the US

China believes the future belongs to it, and who is there to dispute that? Its focus on Artificial Intelligence, on space exploration, on wringing all it can from places on Earth remote to its geography has seen it lay claim to Arctic resources, as a "near-Arctic" state. There is nowhere too remote under the sea, in geographic distance, in space where meteorites can be mined for raw resources, not to fall to China's attention, and potential grasp.

The world's largest floating solar power plant was completed and connected to the local power grid in China's Anhui province in May 2015.

Which Chemical Gas Attack Would That Be?

"I was with my family in the basement of my home three hundred metres from here on the night but all the doctors know what happened. There was a lot of shelling [by government forces] and aircraft were always over Douma at night – but on this night, there was wind and huge dust clouds began to come into the basements and cellars where people lived."
"People began to arrive here suffering from hypoxia, oxygen loss. Then someone at the door, a 'White Helmet', shouted 'Gas!', and a panic began. People started throwing water over each other. Yes, the video was filmed here, it is genuine, but what you see are people suffering from hypoxia – not gas poisoning."
Dr. Assim Rahaibani, Douma, Syria   report by Robert Fisk, The Independent

Rubble fills a street in Douma, the site of a suspected chemical weapons attack, near Damascus (AP)

So there we have the truth. No chemical attack over Douma, nothing but the active imaginations of France, Britain and the United States, just looking for the opportunity to react to false information. To make themselves look good, as though they're invested in doing what they can for the good people of Syria under constant attack from the Baathist Alawite Shiite regime of Bashar al-Assad who took up the mantle worn so proudly by Saddam Hussein's Baathist Sunni regime as the 'Butcher of Baghdad' for his infamous chemical attacks on Iraqi Kurds.

That king of civilian butchery is now dead, fading from memory except by those whose human rights he violated, and the new king has ascended the throne of tyrannical slaughter of his own population. Helicopter gunships, barrel bombs, starvation sieges, chemical weapons, it's all the same to Assad whose focus is on wiping out any threats to his entitled reign over a Syria that he has pounded into near oblivion. The viciousness of his reaction to Syrian Sunnis asking for equality citizenship rights acted as an invitation to Sunni terrorist groups to flood into Syria, a new battle front.

Assad speaks only with the utmost contempt of Syrian Sunnis, instantly transformed into terrorists rather than rebels against tyranny. It is a distinction that served him well, since there is no need to treat terrorists as opponents with a legitimate grievance, so no need to make an effort to resolve those grievances. Terrorists deserve death, and Assad has gone out of his way on any and all occasions to deliver mass death to those he views as his opponents/terrorists. And he has had ample assistance from Iran's Republican Guard Corps, from Hezbollah and from Shiite militias and finally, Russia.

A video image provided by the Syrian Civil Defense, an aid group, of toddlers being treated by medical workers after a suspected chemical attack in the Damascus suburb of Douma on Sunday. Credit Syrian Civil Defense White Helmets, via Associated Press

The latest chemical gas attack on the people of Douma and the routing of the Syrian resistance resulted in an abhorrent attack on helpless civilians; videos of children suffering the effects of chemical poisoning persuaded the U.S. British and French administrations to deliver a puny, but telling rebuke in the form of a 90-minute aerial bombing attack by warplanes and ships sitting offshore that targeted a number of chemical production and storage facilities.

The medics who responded to the asphyxiating dying people on April 7 are now in the position of being intimidated by the regime's police, warned not to speak to anyone about the attack and one doctor who was not even close to the hospital where scores were rushed exhibiting the classic symptoms of asphyxia by poison gas, denies that any such event occurred. It was, he claims, a dust storm that had blown through the area.

The Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations of Syria has warned that threats have been issued by the regime against any who might wish to discuss the event.

Regime forces and Russian military personnel had prevented the UN's Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons from entrance to Douma to fact-check. And while the combined airstrikes have been supported by the 28-member EU, Canada, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Qatar, Japan, Australia, Bahrain and the National Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces, they are opposed by Russia, Iran, China, Hamas, Hezbollah, Venezuela and Assad. Oh yes, of course, British Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn, too.

Ah, and the veteran Arabophile Robert Fisk, the British reporter who writes for the Independent, and who would swoon with delight if he could accuse Israel of having dropped those barrel bombs filled with chemical weapons over the two Douma sites on April 7. As it is, he has written a long article casting aspersions on the very thought that the Syrian regime was involved in gassing its own people. It was, he claims, the Islamist 'terrorist' groups that Assad is battling who were responsible; they don't have planes at their disposal, let alone barrel bombs, but they did it to convince the West that Assad needed to be bombed.

A picture said to show victims of the attack in a building in Douma. Credit Syrian Civil Defense White Helmets, via Associated Press