Canada's Love Affair with Scrap, Second-Hand

"[Germany has decided to] begin concrete negotiations with Canada for the sale of the Euro Hawk aircraft, two ground stations and possibly certain spare parts."
German Defence Ministry

"The question is what a buyer would do with such a gutted aircraft."
"Without GPS navigation and in particular without flight control systems, the drone would hardly be able to fly."
Thomas Wiegold, German journalist

In this Thursday, July 21, 2011 photo a recce drone 'Euro Hawk' is moved at the air base in Manching, Germany. Germany wants to sell a second-hand drone that’s cost the country over 700 million euros ($823 million) to Canada, without many core components it needs to fly. (Armin Weigel/dpa via AP, file)

This is a technologically advanced, military drone whose future is being discussed. According to the German government the drone has been "demilitarized". Which means U.S.-manufactured radio equipment has been removed, along with the GPS receiver and aerials, as well as all encryption and flight control system. Technicians, it appears, given the order to prepare the aircraft for sale, chose to perform a "hardware uninstallation" rather than labour to delete its individual software components.

Somewhat similar to a complete lobotomy with consequential results, one might safely assume. Back in 2000 Germany ordered the Euro Hawk, a variation of the Northrop Grumman Global Hawk, for use as a long-distance reconnaissance plane. The order was cancelled in view of skyrocketing costs and the realization that the prototype wouldn't be certifiable for flight in Europe, leading then-German defence minister Thomas de Maiziere to characterize the drone as a write-off.

Better, he said, to have a "horrible end than a horror without end". In recognition, most likely, that this was such a complicated mess; that attempts to rectify all the problems attendant on it would only complicate matters further, with increasing costs associated with each consequent effort to make a silk purse out of their sow's ear. Canada has some considerable experience in that type of situation. Remember the four Victoria-class submarines that Britain wrote off and Canada bought from them?

The HMCS Chicoutimi is seen departing in Esquimalt, B.C., on March 2, 2017.

CHAD HIPOLITO/THE CANADIAN PRESS     Liberals to spend nearly $2.5-billion to keep used subs sailing past 2030

"Why were the Canadians daft enough to buy them? My God, it's a sad tale, isn't it? 'Buyer beware' should have been painted on the sides of these submarines.We sold them to you knowing there were intrinsic problems in the submarines. It's either incompetence on behalf of the Canadians, or sheer, smooth-talking salesmen from the MOD [Ministry of Defence] here in Britain", noted Mike Hancock, the Liberal Democrat MP for Portsmouth South. Canada paid $850-million for the wrecks  plagued by dents, rust, fires and leaks.

A Royal Australian Air Force F-18 fighter on a training mission. (Royal Australian Air Force)

More currently, the Trudeau government has rejected the deal made by their predecessors who had signed on to buying CF35s for the RCAF, badly needed aircraft which Justin Trudeau scorned as of "unproven" value, turning instead to Boeing's Super Hornets, only to find that corporation in a competitive spat with Canada's Bombardier, leading the Canadian government to turn away from Boeing and decide instead to buy second-hand F-18 fighters from Australia, planes that are of the same vintage as the ones they're to replace currently in use by the Canadian Air Force.
 
Now, Transport Canada plans to buy that German-reject drone for surveillance missions in the Canadian Arctic, the very drone that many analysts claim to be close to worthless. This time the Department of National Defence isn't in the questioning hot seat, instead it's Transport Canada which refused to confirm its interest other than to state: "In 2015-2017, as part of its technical assessment, the government sought information from suppliers to better understand the technology and the solutions available."

"We look forward to sharing more information on this project as it progresses, but it is still premature to speculate which remotely piloted aircraft system will be purchased." Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat approved $39.5-million in funding for a technical assessment and a system meeting Canada's needs: "We have identified options within this range", noted a spokesperson for Transport Canada. According to the Left Party lawmaker Andrej Hunko in Germany, the drone has "scrap value".

Just down Canada's alley!

Called to Account: Iran, IAEA, United Nations

"Like the atomic archive, it’s another innocent looking compound. Now for those of you at home using Google Earth, this no-longer-secret atomic warehouse is on Maher Alley, Maher Street. You have the coordinates, you can try to get there. And for those of you who try to get there, it’s 100 meters from the Kalishoi, the rug cleaning operation. By the way, I hear they do a fantastic job cleaning rugs there. But by now they may be radioactive rugs."
"Iran has not abandoned its goal to develop nuclear weapons…. Rest assured that will not happen. What Iran hides, Israel will find."
"[IAEA director-general Yukiya Amano should now undertake to] do the right thing, go and inspect this atomic warehouse immediately — before the Iranians finish cleaning it out. [Inspect] right here, right now, and inspect the other sites we told you about… Tell the world the truth about Iran."
"In Lebanon, Iran is directing Hezbollah to build secret sites to convert inaccurate projectiles into precision guided missiles, missiles that can target deep inside Israel within an accuracy of ten meters."
"Hezbollah is deliberately using the innocent people of Beirut as human shields. They have placed three of these missile conversion sites alongside Beirut’s international airport."
"[Tyrants of Iran, Israel knows what you’re doing, and Israel knows where you’re doing it. [Israel will] never let a regime that calls for our destruction develop nuclear weapons. Israel will do whatever it must do to defend itself against Iran’s aggression."
"We will continue to act against you in Syria, we will act against you in Lebanon, we will act against you in Iraq, we will act against you whenever and wherever we must act to defend our state and to defend our people."
"The same week Iran was caught red-handed for trying to murder European citizens, European leaders were laying out the red carpet for President Rouhani, pledging to give them more money. Have these European leaders learned nothing from history? Will they ever wake up?"
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, UN General Assembly, plenary session, 26 September 2018

Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel, holds up a placard showing a suspected Iranian atomic site while delivering a speech at the United Nations during the United Nations General Assembly on September 27, 2018 in New York City. (Stephanie Keith/Getty Images/AFP)

All manner of international corporations were champing at the bit to get into Iran, with the release of that huge lump sum treasury after the signing of the nuclear agreement. They all wanted a piece of the action, investing in Iran's oil industry, selling arms, you name it. Of late, those investors have pulled back since the Trump administration signed off the agreement and implemented further economy-crippling sanctions on the Islamist regime. This was an action threatened and taken, in recognition that the Islamic Republic continued to destabilize its neighbours and to fund terrorist groups and to invest in its own advanced ballistic missiles.

None of which meant that those same international conglomerates that swooped in and then out of the Iranian economy aren't eager to get back in, as long as there are assurances their own interests won't be harmed by U.S. sanctions and the tightening of international banking leading to fears that they will impact on any foolish enough to risk the U.S. administration's retribution. But, where there's a will there's a way and Europe appears to be willing to continue overlooking Iran's corrupt and destabilizing presence in the Middle East, anxious to resuscitate the agreement and defy the U.S.

The EU seems less interested in Iran's backsliding, its malign presence in Syria supporting the regime's massacres of its Sunni Syrians, along with its support of the Yemeni Houthis; two civil wars that Iran encourages and tasks its Shiite militias and surrogate military, Hezbollah, to involve themselves in. There's also the not-inconsiderable matter of Iran's penchant for charging foreigners and Iranians alike with trumped-up charges of espionage, imprisoning them and all-too-often applying capital punishment; alternately prisoners finding themselves suddenly dead due to "heart attack".

An image from a placard displayed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his speech to the United Nations General Assembly showing a suspected ‘secret atomic warehouse’ in the Turquzabad district of Tehran containing up to 300 tons of nuclear material. (GPO)

 

The Israeli Secret Service managed to find more than ample evidence of Iran stockpiling nuclear-fissile materials in "a secret atomic warehouse". The evidence is as credible as any could be, since a library of meticulous notes along with some of the material itself was slipped out of Iran by Israeli agents and taken into Israeli custody. The data was shared with the U.S. and with the International Atomic Energy Agency; IAEA, failed to respond. Just as they also had no comment when Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu once again startled the General Assembly with an instructive revelation of Iran's duplicity.

None of which seems to really bother the EU. Which august body appears to be satisfied that Iran's meddling in Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon keeps it out of Europe. European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini for whom Iran has favoured status, appears to have reached an agreement with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif with plans for a new financial instrument to bypass U.S. sanctions, allowing European companies to continue to do business with Iran. An effort on the part of the EU to persuade Iran to remain within the nuclear deal.

Irrespective of the fact that by all measures that same deal's guidelines were never meant by Iran to be respected; the regime had no problem whatever assuring its gullible Western agreement partners that it meant no harm, had no intention of carrying on with nuclear work which it wasn't to begin with either interested in or planning to use as a deterrent against its neighbours' efforts to oppose the Shiite regime's plans to threaten the Sunni majority nations into irrelevance as it took the lead in power and control in the Middle East.

President Netanyahu's revelations, accusations and challenges? Yawn. Does no one care? Evidently not.

Photographs from the Iranian nuclear weapons archive, showcased by Israeli officials, of a metal chamber that Israeli officials said was housed at the Parchin military site and was built to conduct experiments as part of the Iranians’ rogue nuclear weapons program (Israeli government)

Compassionate Sentencing : Let Crime Prevail.... Re-balancing the Scales of Justice

The judge who sentenced Kevin Morris said sentencing objectives can be achieved without an “undue heavy hand" and shouldn't be "based only upon fear."  (Dreamstime)

"It seems like not a day goes by without the media reporting yet another gun tragedy, sometimes very horrible ones. It happens in every neighbourhood. It happens in my own. None are immune from gun violence."
"People are rightfully outraged and bewildered by it. They feel powerless in its onslaught. Afraid."
"My role is to give expression to that fear. To condemn the crime and those who do it. But it is not my role to give in to that fear, no matter how strongly it seizes the community's psyche."
"Reason must control emotion in sentencing. Because in our system, a sentence is not just about the crime. It must be also about the offender."
Ontario Superior Court Justice Shaun Nakatsuru

What of those self-directed to violence? Those for whom psychopathy is a comfortable fit? What of those whose backgrounds of oppression, despair and disadvantage were similar to that of the young black male whose case the judge referred to and who make choices other than to exploit fear and violence and threaten the safety and security and well-being of general society? That young black men appear to be predisposed beyond their numbers in society to gangs and violence and illegal activity is the answer to why it is that they are over-represented in prisons.

The social background element in the numbers of misdirected black youths is yet another part of the formula whereby young black youths are over-represented as thugs involved in dealing drugs, in robberies, in brutal attacks on others -- most often those others being rival gang members, other young black youths. The fallout of those attacks often strikes out at innocent bystanders. People must be held to be responsible for their choices in life, for their status as part of a criminal element.

When forgiveness is proffered to those whose vendetta is against society in general -- or are simply indifferent to how their criminal actions impact society -- they are quite simply empowered to get on with rejecting social norms since there is a lack of consequences for their actions and society is the loser, with yet another prowling sociopath prepared to go on victimizing others. According to Judge Nakatsuru the black Canadian experience is rooted in colonialism, slavery and segregation perpetuating systemic racism.

Where black children are exposed to negative treatment in schools, through public services, government institutions and by police. All of which helps to emotionally impoverish and marginalize their community in a situation that is "cyclical and compounding". Perhaps it is the other way around; that ongoing rejection of societal norms where children are raised by single mothers lacking adequate discipline and emotional support and direction creates a backlash when those children accustom themselves to spurning the overall social contract.

As a distinct ethnic group without the identity-visibility of blacks, Jews have been oppressed, rejected, disadvantaged and preyed upon unendingly throughout their history yet they have endured without embracing the violence and antisocial tendencies the black community has. Anti-Semitism has drawn contempt and viciousness toward Jews despite that group's efforts to avoid antagonizing greater society in a designed effort to live in peace and security. Genocide failed to turn Jews to rejection of social norms; they chose respect for others, living in harmony with others, obeying the law.

"I appreciate not every young Black  child who is subject to the same pressures as you makes the choices you did. Nothing that I say here should be taken to mean that you did not have a moral choice when you committed these crimes. However, what I do say is that your choice was constrained by these forces. The young man who makes the choice to pick up a loaded illegal handgun will not likely be a product of a private school upbringing who has the security of falling back upon upper middle class family resources. Rather, he is likely to be a product of oppression, despair and disadvantage", waxed the judge in sentencing Kevin Morris, 22.

Responding to an alarm of a  home invasion, Toronto police witnessed four black men in a parking lot and stopped them. Morris leaped away with a police car attempting to cut off his escape as Morris kept running, discarding his jacket with its loaded .38-calibre revolver in its pocket. The Crown at trial sought a minimum of four years in prison, his lawyers pressed for one year. The trial jury found him guilty of possession of a loaded, prohibited firearm and related criminal offences.

According to police data, 228 shootings have occurred in Toronto in 2018, resulting in 308 victims.
Here’s how that compares with the total number of gun crime incidents in past years:

• In 2017 there was a total of 395 shootings;
• In 2016 there was a total of 407 shootings;
• In 2015 there was a total of 288 shootings;
• In 2014 there was a total of 177 shootings

Judge Nakasuru's judgement came complete with a lengthy addendum how social circumstances of blacks may lead to criminal behaviour so that "every judge on every sentencing of a Black offender" might consider that indelible fact. "The conclusion is inescapable" Justice Nakatsuru quoted from a report titled Crime, Criminal Justice and the Experience of Black Canadians in Toronto that "young Black Canadians who view the system as unjust are less likely to believe they should abide by that system's rules".

"Recognizing, as the law must, that individuals are held responsible for the acts they commit that breach the criminal law, the reality is that this choice to act may be constrained by an offender's life circumstances", wrote the judge. "I can understand why a man of your background, a young Black man, suffering from trauma, with such limited opportunities, with feelings of despair, being influenced by others, may think that I will have that gun", went on Judge Nakatsuru.

In the end the offender was given a 15-month sentence minus three months to compensate for the fact that in the melee of the chase he was slightly hit by a police car. It was a "lenient" sentence, the judge said, leaving him "taking a chance", and hoping the man he had just sentenced would respect the opportunity he was given. How likely is that to happen? The obligation of taking responsibility for oneself, for supporting oneself by working, paying taxes, being a useful part of society rather than trading in drugs and guns and robbery simply seems more rewarding for those rejecting societal norms.

The view that they are driven by circumstances beyond their control that has left them drained of the desire to live normal, worthwhile lives and should be given consideration for the emotional difficulties encountered in their formative years has a limit. That limit is reached when they pose an ongoing threat not only to the law-abiding in their own communities but to the greater community of people who commit to the social covenant of personal responsibility. Most of whom did not attend private schools, nor come from well-off families.

Civil Discourse in America

"Sexual assault survivor questioned Cruz during disruption at fancy Washington D.C. restaurant. Cruz ignores her."
"This is a message to Ted Cruz, Brett Kavanaugh, Donald Trump and the rest of the racist, sexist, transphobic, and homophobic right-wing scum."
"You are not safe. We will find you. We will expose you. We will take from you the peace you have taken from so many others."
Smash Racism DC social media

"I'd love to talk to you about Brett Kavanaugh tonight."
"I'd love to know what  your vote is going to be tonight. I know that you're very close friends with Mr. Kavanaugh. Do you believe in survivors, sir?"
"Senator, we have a right to know what your position is on Brett Kavanaugh."
"God bless you, as well. I'm a survivor of sexual assault. I believe all survivors. There are now three people who have come forward and said that Brett Kavanaugh has attacked them."
"Would you talk to him about that?"
Unnamed women in mob group of 12, Fiola Italian restaurant, Washington, D.C.

"I did not try to leave the scene of the accident, though driving drunk, which I did, is a terrible mistake for which there is no excuse or justification or defense, and I will not try to provide one."
"Not right that Senator Cruz and his wife Heidi were surrounded and forced to leave a restaurant last night because of protesters."
"The Cruz family should be treated with respect."

Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Tex.), Democratic Senate candidate opposing Republican Cruz

Ted Cruz confronted in a D.C. restaurant about a mile from the U.S. Senate building. Smash Racism DC / Twitter

First it was President Trump's press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders who was refused a table at a rural Virginia restaurant. The restaurant owner refused to serve anyone who served Trump. Sanders gathered her dignity and her family and departed. As insults go, this was pretty stinging -- and socially indefensible. Last week it was Florida Governor Rick Scott, a Republican whom Mojos Real Cuban in Venice, Florida refused to serve, furious over the scourge of red tide algae presence in the state's waterways.

Senator Cruz and his wife were out for a evening's dining experience in Washington. They had made reservations at a restaurant popular with D.C. politicians of both stripes. Somehow, a motley assembly comprised of members of left-wing groups, a local anti-fascist group and a Democratic Socialists of America branch, and others got wind of the Cruz family reservation. They arrived an hour earlier to sit at the bar awaiting the Cruz's arrival. 

"[Politicians from both parties frequent Fiola often.] Everyone except Donald Trump. We're very bipartisan by nature", later explained a perturbed Maria Traochhi, a co-owner of the popular, upscale restaurant. "We're not trained to deal with this. How do you deal with things like this? It's crazy times", she opined, obviously unwilling to be viewed as supporting the ruckus that erupted leaving her and her staff fearful that violence might ensue. Not, however, from Senator Cruz who was being verbally crucified; his response to all the shrill charges shouted at him was: "God bless you, Ma'am."

His continued response to the ongoing confrontation was unwavering; polite, respectful and non-committal. Challenged by a woman whose odious behaviour he suffered, he remained polite throughout her harangue. That he had stated last week before a second woman declared herself to have been harassed by the candidate for the Supreme Court nominated by President Trump, and supported by him, irrespective of the hysteria now surrounding that nomination, that "These allegations are serious and deserve to be treated with respect", obviously held no currency with the raucous mob verbally assaulting the Senator.

The dozen self-righteous accusers kept flashing the cameras in their cellphones in the Senator's face, repeatedly chanting "We believe the survivors!", "Fascist, racist, anti-gay!", raising middle fingers, chanting continuously, "We believe the survivors!". As the Cruzes made to leave the premises, one of the men in the mob snarled a warning at other patrons in the restaurant, "This is what'll happen to you if you support Kavanaugh".

Police had been called. The restaurant staff stood watching, appalled at the viciousness of the attack on a couple who had assumed they had a right to privacy and a restful night out, enjoying a meal together after the stress of political life in the nation's capital that has become uber-partisan and unrelentingly ugly. The staff was uncomfortable and decidedly of the opinion that their hospitality was being besmirched by a demonstration of incivility unbecoming a civil society.

While the mob of a dozen misfits screamed and shouted at Senator Cruz, he responded with smiles, quietly repeating "God bless". Finally requesting of his attackers that they allow himself and his wife to leave without further ado: "Can you let my wife through?", he asked of the frenzied group. Finally a member of the restaurant staff ordered the mob to "Leave the premises. This is a private space." So by the time police arrived Senator Cruz had departed and the mob had left, mission accomplished.

And Smash Racism DC was quick to post videos of the event on their social media account. 

Last night, a group of protesters unexpectedly entered Fiola with the purpose of confronting Senator Cruz. Recognizing that there was a potential for escalation and concerned for the safety of all our customers, our management did what they could do to diffuse a difficult situation and, as is our policy, if there is ever an event of this nature, the police were immediately called.  We are trained at hospitality not public safety, and our highest priority is always the well-being of our customers. Separated from the protesters, the Senator exited the restaurant and the protesters left soon thereafter.
Fiola owners Fabio and Maria Trabocchi

First Nations' Justice : Nation-to-Nation Reconciliation

"Okimaw Ohci [Okimaw Ohci Healing Lodge, Saskatchewan] contains both single and family residential units, as offenders may have their children stay with them. Each unit has a bedroom, a bathroom, a kitchenette with an eating area and a living room."
"The focal point is the spiritual lodge where teachings, ceremonies and workshops with elders take place. A personal life plan is created for each Aboriginal offender outlining what she needs emotionally, physically and spiritually to help with her rehabilitation."
"Programs help offenders build the strength they need to make essential changes in their lives." "Programs address vocational training, family and children, Aboriginal language and nature."
"The women learn how to live independently by cooking, doing laundry, cleaning and doing outdoor maintenance chores."
Correctional Service Canada website

"She's in an [A]boriginal healing lodge in Saskatchewan living it up in minimum medium security. Open concept living..."
"How do people such as TM [Terri-Lynne McClintic] get more rights and privileges and lessened security? From maximum security to a healing lodge?"
Rodney Stafford, Victoria Stafford's father

"We will be renting buses which will leave from Tillsonburg and Woodstock, Ontario, and going to the Parliament to peacefully protest the reduced security levels being given to the worst of the worst, including one of Tori Stafford's killers, Terri-Lynne McClintic."
Cara Adeline Voisin, organizer, protest, Parliament Hill

"It just really made me feel sick. If anybody is going to have cement walls and no privileges, it should be (McClintic)", said Cara Voisin who used Facebook to organize a protest scheduled for November 2 to take place in Ottawa in front of the Parliament buildings. A protest against the reduced security levels thought appropriate for justice to prevail after the coldblooded murder of an eight-year-old little girl who had been abducted, beaten, tortured and raped before her slaughter. When news of the transfer of the young woman with Aboriginal background was made public, the public reacted with shock.

Yet Canada's Public Safety Minister, Ralph Goodale, is on record as stating that in his considered opinion this is an entirely appropriate situation, to reprieve an unrepentantly vicious murderer from her life sentence in a maximum security installation to soft living in a women's Aboriginal healing lodge. There is nothing to heal in a soul as bleak and black at this woman's. Who coolly took the hand of a trusting child, to lead her to a horrible death, who was deliberately, icily unresponsive as the child begged her, at the place where she was murdered, to help her.

Terri-Lynne McClintic (left), Victoria (Tori) Stafford (right)

On April 9, 2009, Victoria Stafford began the first day of the rest of her life. Her mother had agreed that her older brother would no longer escort her home after school. She was old enough to make her own way back home from Oliver Stephens Public School in Woodstock by herself. Her brother Daryn would continue to return other young children home after school to their parents. Victoria hadn't got very far when, as parents picking up their own children noted, a young woman took her hand and walked off with the child. That woman was familiar to Victoria who had seen her about .

Captured on closed-circuit video, that woman walked Victoria over to a parked car where her boyfriend was waiting, and they drove off with the eight-year-old, making a number of stops before their final destination. One, where Michael Rafferty, who planned to rape Victoria, stopped at a cash machine, another where Terri-Lynne McClintic stopped to buy plastic garbage bags and a hammer. Not only was the child's rape premeditated and carefully planned but so too was her murder. Both abductors would be tried for first-degree murder and both were sentenced to life imprisonment.

Before Victoria suffered the blunt force trauma to her cranium that killed her after repeated hammer blows, she had suffered other violent assaults that left her chest impacted by a pounding that lacerated her liver and broke her ribs. The rape came later. And so did the relentless hammering of her head. Now, one of her murderers has been placed in an institutional setting that offers spiritual and cultural 'training' along with 'independent living' and attractive living quarters as appropriate punishment for an atrocity she was wholeheartedly committed to.

"We were all upset by this move. Seems to be an easier path for her", remarked one of Victoria's grandmothers after she had been notified of the move to the lodge for her grandchild's murderer. It seems, from the description provided by Correctional Service Canada on its website, that Aboriginal women who go afoul of the law are exposed to values very similar to those provided to Aboriginal children who were lodged in the residential school system, that Aboriginals abhor as the source of all the ills that befall them, their inability to obey the law, to stop killing one another, to adapt to social norms rejecting alcohol and drugs and neglecting their children.

At the trial where Terri-Lynne McClintic's lawyers defended her, evidence was presented by the prosecution outlining McClintic's violent fantasies and inclination to maim, torture and kill people. While at the Grand Valley Institution for Women in Kitchener, Ontario, she had assaulted another inmate whom she stomped, punched and kicked, regretting that if the opportunity had been greater she would have had the chance to commit infinitely greater physical damage to her victim.

“Ladies and gentlemen, at the end of the trial you are going to consider what Michael Rafferty and Terri-Lynne McClintic did individually and what they did together to bring about the kidnapping, sexual assault and murder of Victoria Elizabeth Stafford. In the end, it is not necessary or essential that you determine exactly who did what. Which of the two delivered the hammer blows to the skull or who inflicted the trauma to Tori’s body, that lacerated her liver, broke her ribs."
“Deciding that is not your task. Your task will be to decide whether they acted together when they picked up Tori and took her away from her school, whether they acted together when they took Tori to Guelph, whether they acted together when (they went) to the Home Depot and bought the garbage bags and the hammer, whether they acted together when they took Tori to an isolated location where all of her clothing was removed other than her T-shirt, whether they acted together to bring about sexual assault on Tori, whether they acted together when Tori was killed, when she was placed in a garbage bag, and when heavy rocks were placed on top of her."
Prosecution at trial of McClintic and Rafferty, March 2012

Okimaw Ohci Healing Lodge, Maple Creek, Saskatchewan

Deep-Sixing Deconfliction Channels

In this photo, a Russian air defense system missile system Antey 2500, or S-300 VM, is on display at the opening of the MAKS Air Show in Zhukovsky outside Moscow, Russia. (AP Photo/Ivan Sekretarev, file)

"The presented objective data testifies that the actions of the Israeli fighter pilots, which led to the loss of life of 15 Russian servicemen, either lacked professionalism or were an act of criminal negligence to say the least. Therefore, we believe that the blame for the tragedy with the Russian Ilyushin Il-20 aircraft lies entirely with the Israeli air forces and those who made the decision to carry out such actions."
"[Those actions represented] an extremely ungrateful response to all that has been done by the Russian federation for Israel and for the Israeli people, recently."
Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov

"[For Israel, training against the Crete S-300 would be] precisely what you need [to study the system’s radar frequency, pattern and reach]."
"If you know all these details then you are perfectly fitted to replicate this same signal, which means you have a chance to imitate, to sort of bluff-echo [the S-300]."
"You can brutally jam it. You can take the signal and return it, and then you send another ping which imitates the same signal. So instead of one target, the radar operator sees three, five or 10 and he does not know where to fire."
Igor Sutyagin, Russian military expert, Royal United Services Institute, London

"[S-300s in areas where Israel operates or might want to operate would challenge its advanced, U.S.-backed military - but not insuperably so]."
"In general, any system can be defeated this way or that. Some are harder and some are easier. The rule of thumb is that if your friends [the Greek military] have a system that you are interested in, you can learn all kinds of things about it."
Tal Inbar, senior scholar, Fisher Institute for Air and Space Strategic Studies, Tel Aviv

Russian S-300 air defense missile systems drive during a Victory Day military parade marking the victory in WWII in Red Square in Moscow, Russia, May 9, 2016. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

"The information provided by the Israeli military… runs counter to conclusions of the Russian defense ministry [that the actions of the Israeli pilots had led to the plane being targeted by Syrian air defense systems]."
"The Russian side proceeds from the fact that the actions by the Israeli air force were the main reason for the tragedy."
"According to information of our military experts, the reason [behind the downing] were premeditated actions by Israeli pilots which certainly cannot but harm our relations."
Kremlin statement

Israel had been left with the impression, just several days earlier, that its delegation to Moscow led by IAF chief Amikam Norkin, explaining that it had provided considerable advance warning — 12 minutes according to Israeli reports — and precise information on the target area to the Russians before the strike; that its jets hadn't hid stealthily behind the Russian plane, and that its planes had vacated the airspace before the Syrians ineptly and "indiscriminately" fired one of 40 anti-aircraft missiles downing the Russian plane, had sufficed to persuade the Russian military that Israel had no part in the tragedy that led to the deaths of 15 Russian airmen.

The so-called 'friendly fire' incident whereby the Russian military’s reconnaissance Ilyushin Il-20 was shot down by Syrian missile defense systems responding to an Israeli airstrike now, it appears, in the Russian version, is completely Israel's fault. Data collected by Russian air defense systems in Syria ostensibly indicated that one of the Israeli F-16 fighter jets was flying close to the much larger Russian plane. When the F-16 was targeted by a Syrian missile it suddenly veered off, resulting in the missile homing in on the larger target, a version exonerating Syria. That version disputes the Israeli version that its fighters were gone long before the Syrian missiles were launched.

The Kremlin and its Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu are delivering a punishing resolution that Russia now plans to jam radars of military planes striking off the coast of the Mediterranean — measures obviously geared to complicate Israel’s defensive plans, inclusive of preventive airstrikes, to ensure that Iran's deepening of its military presence in Syria is foiled, and to effectively thwart the transfer of weapons in Syria to Hezbollah. "In regions near Syria over the Mediterranean Sea, there will be radio-electronic suppression of satellite navigation, on-board radar systems and communication systems of military aviation attacking objects on Syrian territory", assured Shoigu.

“This is absurd. The Syrians down a Russian plane and get the prize of an advanced weapons system, said Israeli Middle East analyst Ehud Ya’ari. Quite so. As absurd as a Turkish fighter jet downing a Russian warplane that had strayed into Turkish airspace, and after sanctions imposed to injure Turkish economic interests, Ankara and Moscow find themselves steadfast pals despite their clear differences. As absurd as the Kremlin failing to learn its lesson when it provided Ukrainian-Russian rebels with a sophisticated anti-aircraft missile which it used to destroy a Malaysian passenger airliner out of the skies over Ukraine, causing hundreds of deaths.

The unfortunate episode whereby 15 Russian airmen lost their lives stems from a confusion of actors in the region all of whom focus on their own special perspectives, advantages, priorities and influences. This is a regional tinder-box, apart from the fact that wholesale slaughter has been perpetrated by the leader of the country on his own civilian population in a sectarian rebellion. In the Syrian regime's determination to foil the efforts of the Syrian opposition and destroy its leaders, it has not hesitated to destroy its civilians as well. A half-million Syrian lives lost, and millions made homeless, more millions, refugees.

Without the intervention of the region's most infamous supporter of terrorism, the Islamic Republic of Iran, its elite al Quds division of the Republican Guard Corps involved in blueprinting strategy along with Iran calling in its Shiite militias, including Lebanon's deadly Hezbollah group, Bashar al-Assad would never have been able to surmount the legions of Syrian Sunni rebels, much less the presence of foreign fighters and terrorist groups. The tide turned completely with Vladimir Putin's decision to make a place for Russia in the Middle East, abandoned by the Obama administration.

The Kremlin-backed Syrian regime is guaranteed its survival. Turkey, which serviced the needs of a number of Sunni terrorist groups, could have intervened at an early stage of the rebellion to remove the Syrian ruler it detested, but Turkey, despite having the second largest armed forces in NATO, awaited action by NATO and the U.S. to intervene. Now Turkey, a member of NATO, has aligned itself however reluctantly with Russia and Iran, swallowing their insistence that Assad prevail. Russia has succeeded in ingratiating itself with Syria, Iran and Turkey, a grim balancing act, but one the Kremlin is well suited to.

And Vladimir Putin appeared, while negotiating all of these ties and juggling the various interests with his own, to have had a soft spot for Israel and its existential dilemma, threatened by all the actors, governmental and non-governmental that he dances with. The agreement between Putin and Netanyahu that Russia would countenance Israeli strikes against Iranian and Hezbollah transfers of weaponry being stockpiled for the purpose of destroying Israel was built on slender trust. It appears now to have been shredded.

Sunday's announcement that Russia is now prepared to deliver the advanced anti-aircraft systems it had held off in response to Israel's appeals, testifies to that. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Monday call to Vladimir Putin for a last appeal was rebuffed. Israel, having ensured its military was schooled in methods [war games with Greece] whereby it could strategically bypass detection by the more technically advanced system to be released in two weeks' time to Syria will likely manage the additional challenge to its Syrian overflights to destroy the weapons threatening its survival.

But its very survival is at stake here, which is vastly different from the reason that Russia is in Syria; to advantage Russian political ambitions and military expansion.

A computer simulation released by the Russian Defense Ministry, Sunday, September 23, 2018, purports to show Israeli jets near a Russian reconnaissance plane, in red, off Syria’s coast before it was accidentally shot down by Syria forces responding to the Israeli air strike. The Russian Defense Ministry on Sunday again blamed Israel for the downing of its plane, as Syrian government forces are thought to have mistook the Russian Il-20 reconnaissance plane for an Israeli jet and shot it down Monday, killing all 15 people aboard. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

Afghanistan, Still Gaming The West

"We spent too much money, too fast, on too small a country with too little oversight. And we totally, totally overwhelmed the Afghan economy."
"To a great extent it was wasted. Like spaghetti on a wall, some of it will stick. But a lot of it fell off and became money that was turned into bank accounts in Dubai and houses in Dubai, houses in Vancouver and houses in northern Virginia."
These [that Afghan security forces are inept and there is] endemic [corruption] and rampant [narcotics production] are problems we still have to face. Some of them we contributed to. On corruption, we threw gasoline on the fire."
"The problems that we [United States investigations] find are the problems that the Canadians should [also] find."
John Sopko, Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, U.S.

"This [Canadian monitoring and reportage] is enhanced by contracted third-party monitoring of projects at the ground level. On a case-by-case basis, Canada elects to commission project evaluations to better understand the results and to gain lessons learned."
Amy Mills, spokesperson, Global Affairs Canada

Canada’s new defence policy, with its extensive foreign policy undertones, paints a gloomy picture of rising global economic disparity, violent extremism and unstoppable mass migration.  Canada is, it continues, an island of stability in comparison and therefore “called to leadership” as “we have the capacity to help those who live under the threat of violence.” Kilford

From the Greek-Macedonian military incursion of Alexander the Great intent on civilizing Afghanistan, to the 18th Century Russian-British campaigns to outsmart one another in establishing a presence in that country whose own warlords have always exploited its people and its resources, a people of fierce tribal loyalties and fiercer determination to counter foreign invasions with their own brand of medieval-style atrocities, to the more recent invasion by the Soviet Union, leaving it to limp home in the failure of reduced investment in time, manpower and treasury, and on to the 2001 U.S.-led invasion, Afghanistan has been bloodied but resilient.

Human rights and civilizational social development and prosperity linked in that order is a Western concept, not one recognized by tribal societies, much less those ruled by Islamic precepts of order maintained through Sharia law. The original purpose of the 2001 invasion was to convince the Taliban to surrender Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda to justice over the terrorist attacks of 9/11 in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania. When, thanks to its ally Pakistan, the U.S. failed to succeed in that mission, it chose to paint its presence there as one of mercy, intending to guide the stone-age nation to democracy and equality leading to prosperity and self-defence.

Reality has a way of invariably getting into the picture, distorting such intents, when the West involves itself in Islamic-majority countries. In Islam, the faithful (umma) are the bulwark of the pillars that hold up the canopy under which the religion thrives even while it feeds upon itself as it inexorably expands its influence through conquest. One achieved by persuasion if possible, force as required, in all conceivable manifestations of the power to coerce, terrorize and convert the willing and the unwilling alike. That powerful force of persuasion has been churning through the globe since the 7th Century.

Police forces clash with protesters during a demonstration in Kabul earlier this month. Hundreds of demonstrators demanded better security in the Afghan capital in the wake of a powerful truck bomb attack that killed scores of people. (Massoud Hossaini/Associated Press)

Persuasion is too time-consuming, violence has its costs but the spread of fear leaving few options but to comply grew Islam exponentially to capture Africa, India, Spain, Italy, Portugal in its throes. Islam has never forgiven the West for thwarting it from its rampant growth. Yet the West still believes it can pacify Islam by respecting it and being tolerant of its excesses and forgiving it for slaughtering non-believers and its own alike. After the invasion of Afghanistan, the moral obligation of 'helping' the country to learn how to deflect the attacks of the resurgent Taliban, of building schools and wells and health clinics seized the minds of the invaders whose intention was merely to extract the evil they saw without realizing that the evil was everywhere, so deeply engrained it could not be extirpated.

The sacrifice in personnel, both military and civilian, with NGOs nobly ensconcing themselves with the mission to save the country from itself has failed. The Taliban has simply kept growing itself. Al-Qaeda and Islamic State are well entrenched with activities in 70 percent of the country and entire districts completely controlled by the terrorists. The West terms them terrorists, Islam considers them honourable and heroic jihadis, responding as they should, as they must, to Islamic precepts of honouring the Koran's dictate to jihad.

So Canada, like the United States and other NATO members, swelling with pride that they have remained faithful to their collective pledge not to abandon Afghanistan, but to continue to pour funding into the country, insist on believing that their efforts and their sacrifices will make all the difference, restoring something that never existed; a coherent peace and security in a country that was never anything but a collection of tribes and brutal warlords continually at war with one another alternating with warring against intruders.

We are doomed, it seems to repeat history ad infinitum, too stupid to recognize the inevitability of failure when and where reason has never prevailed. Canada will continue to help train the Afghan military and its police, both of which agencies remain corrupt and ineffectually unreliable. And the funding will continue to flow, as it must, because of a misplaced sense of honour urging the West to give aid to those less fortunate, whose leaders bleed them dry in a sectarian, tribal society that will never surrender to Western values much less stop its slaughter.

Afghan policemen stand guard after explosions at a Shiite cultural center in Kabul on December 28, 2017 | Shah Marai/AFP 

via Getty Images

Saint Justin Slaying the Anti-Equality Dragon

"[Crown Prince] Mohammad bin Salman was trying to send a message that he is not to be disrespected by anyone. Unfortunately, many Saudi students who were in Canada are paying a heavy price."
"Investors are looking more askance at Saudi Arabia, and none of this helps Saudi relations with the rest of the world."
Paul Sullivan, Saudi specialist, Georgetown University, Washington

"Canada is back," Trudeau mugged for the world's cameras at the signing of the Paris Accord in 2015. "We're Canadian," Trudeau told the U.N. General Assembly the following year, "and we're here to help." (Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press)

When the smiley-face ebullience of Justin Trudeau, Margaret's "Golden Boy", was loosed on the world stage as Canada's spanking new prime minister he presented as an antidote to the taciturn, capable, resolute and intelligent Stephen Harper with whom the voting public had tired. How the public spirit soared at the prospect of this handsome young man with the temerity to offer himself as a public service to Canada with his great experience in drama and snowboarding excited expectations!

"Sunny ways" did it, Justin winked, as he boasted on the world stage introducing himself to other world leaders, that "Canada is back". Since then, we have learned that the Canada that never went away has shifted backward. Canada has become the world's silly clown, alternating between espousing progressive values and changing the social contract and its language, alerting 90 percent of the population that due diligence must be paid forward in soothing the emotional baggage of the dissatisfied ten percent as their due.

As for Canada's reputation abroad, it has become somewhat of a laughing stock, an administration that busies itself morally strong-arming its counterparts to give obeisance where it is due; Canada's version of social, cultural, international, economic imperatives to hoist the status of women and the traditionally socially-impoverished in a mission of achieving total equality.

Stephen Harper's cabinet gained close to parity between the genders, but Justin Trudeau appointed women to cabinet posts based on gender alone, it seemed not necessarily suitable qualifications which he deemed to be expendable; he had none, why would they require any?

Now it is attempting to placate the rage it inspired in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia when Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland demanded that the Saudis release a rights activist instanter. Liberal Party supporters like SNC-Lavalin, the Canadian unit of General Dynamics Corp., McCain Foods Ltd., and others stand to suffer as a result of a breach in relations whereby Canada's ambassador to the Kingdom was expelled, investments curbed, Saudi medical students recalled; a giant rebuff to Canada for interfering in Saudi Arabia's internal affairs.

Globally, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is increasingly being regarded as a pain in the arse, his virtue-signalling fails to impress internationally just as it is beginning finally to pall at home. When Trudeau jabbed China and India in trade discussions with his expectations on women's and minority rights he failed to endear himself and Canada to potential free trade partners. This, in addition to the sad state of Canada's third-class status in NAFTA negotiations, where once again Chrystia Freeland has assaulted the sensibilities of the U.S. top trade negotiator; a trading partnership made in hell.

So, sigh, what went wrong? Well, just about everything. The shining new prime minister who promised that his administration would tend to bolstering Canada's reputation abroad, take back its revolving seat in the United Nations, bolster the military and respond to peacekeeping requests has just been slapped down by the Organization for Economic Cooperation for its failure to restore foreign aid commitments to the level it enjoyed under the Harper government.

Trudeau seemed to think his considerable charm and celebrity could mollify Trump in the early days of his presidency. (Christinne Muschi/Reuters)

The Issue of Malignant Vituperation and Reasonable Debate

"Before 2014, it was unimaginable to me that I would become a poster boy for men who are assholes. I had not been a network boss or an executive with institutional power; there had been no formal complaints at work that I was aware of over the years; there were no hush-money deals or nondisclosure agreements. As things came crashing down, I became obsessed with the inaccurate stories and the pattern of salacious details taken as truth in the echo chambers of social media outrage. That foreclosed any focus on my own accountability."
"Since then, I have spent almost four years reflecting on my relations with women I dated. For some, nothing I say here will be enough or be put the right way. Even as I feel deep remorse about how I treated some people in my life, I cannot confess to the accusations that are inaccurate. What I do confess is that I was emotionally thoughtless in the way I treated those I dated and tried to date. As well, I leveraged my influence and status to try to entice women and lead them on when they were interested. There are all sorts of old-fashioned words to describe men like this: player, creep, cad, Lothario."
"But it went deeper than that. I was demanding on dates and in personal affairs. I would keep lobbying for what I wanted. I was critical and dismissive. Some women I cared about went along with things I wanted to avoid my disappointment or moods. I ought to have been more respectful and responsive with the women in my life. To them I say, you deserved much better from me."
Jian Ghomeshi, essay: Reflections From A Hashtag, New York Review of Books 

The New York Review of Books editor, Ian Buruma, has left his post after an outcry over publishing an essay by disgraced former radio host, Jian Ghomeshi, seen here outside a Toronto court in May 2016. (Mark Blinch/Canadian Press)

Jian Ghomeshi, the radio host of CBC's extremely popular "Q" social-cultural-pop-interview program was easily identifiable as an ego-driven, self-promoting star. He was, in fact, the CBC's very special star. His program so wildly popular it was syndicated and could be heard on American radio. He fell steeply and swiftly from grace when a number of women, a few at first but at last count twenty in all, went public in revealing him to be a nasty little creep of a sexually abusive predator. A revelation that brought deep satisfaction to those who detested him, and profound sadness to those who revered him.

Evidently there were rumours of his relentless pursuit of women, his autocratic and insulting behaviour with women, from female interns on the program to more seasoned women with a certain celebrity of their own. No one at the CBC evidently took them seriously; he was, after all, their star. He was, however, a shooting star and he was shot down from the heavens above to his own very personal hell. The relentless flood of news about his character along with instant condemnation from all who knew him and knew of him now identifying him as a low-life, vicious predator.

Like a beaten cur, he couldn't believe what had happened to him. But he did have enough cerebral function left to realize that he had to hire a lawyer who would be not merely competent but outstanding in her defense capabilities and that lawyer was Marie Henein. When it came to his trial, the women who had agreed to be public about their accusations, questioned professionally by the expert Ms. Henein were revealed to have enabled their own humiliation. They were so anxious to be noticed by Ghomeshi that even after he had violently manhandled them they gushed over him.

They collaborated stories and evidence in a pact to humiliate him as he had humiliated them; while they had been complicit in their own humiliation, Ghomeshi hadn't the choice. But the deft defence mounted by Marie Henein led to a discharge; not guilty as charged. Despite which he was pilloried and continues to be. This is a man who may still be a creep, but from what he has written, he understands full well what brought his downfall, identifying his own character faults and deploring them and his previous relationships with women.

Those who cling to the #MeToo movement are, however, implacably unforgiving. Ghomeshi's case is certainly one that verges on the unforgivable, but he has learned a lesson from it, and it's time for him to be able to move on, a chastened and a better man than he was. There are countless men whose behaviour is far more egregious than his, more harmful, more enduringly and relentlessly destructive. These are the men who should be outed, and many are. The thing of it is, the #MeToo movement is insatiable in its voracious appetite for revenge, and that appetite sweeps into its vortex men undeserving of such condemnation.

In the public arena of the social contract between men and women it is undeniable that women all too often get the short end of the stick. That has changed and it is continuing to change. The men that have allowed themselves to fossilize into the old order can be dealt with in ways other than their complete character assassination and professional destruction by bitter, vindictive Valkyries. Clumsy advances, male entitlement choices, these are all social errors in communication, gestures and verbal insults. There are some, like Justin Trudeau, who will never be held to account.

But these are relatively trivial, albeit insulting in comparison to the social/sexual/violent crimes that destroy women's lives. Women themselves are known to be abusive to their sex partners on occasion if and when the mood takes them. Men, however, don't die at the hands of abusive partners at anywhere near the rate that women do. Still, women have made significant gains in forwarding themselves and their aspirations as never before. The beast in some men needs more taming, but the men don't need to be destroyed in the process.

"I am not going to defend his behaviour, and I don't know if what all these women [Ghomeshi's accusers] are saying is true. Perhaps it is. Perhaps it isn't. My interest in running this piece, as I said, is the point of view of somebody who has been pilloried in public opinion and what somebody like that feels about it. It was not run as a piece to exonerate him or to somehow mitigate the nature of his behaviour."
"The exact nature of his behaviour -- how much consent was involved -- I have no idea, nor is it really my concern. [I have] ambivalent feelings [about the #MeToo movement; partly positive as a] necessary corrective on male behaviour ... but like all well-intentioned and good things, there can be undesirable consequences. I think, in a general climate of denunciation, sometimes things happen and people express views that can be disturbing."
Ian Buruma, editor, The New York Review of Books

Ian Buruma, editor, The New York Review of Books   Vincent Tullo / The New York Times

And for this intrepid, honourable editor who simply wanted to place before the reading public whom he assumes is reasonable and intelligent, an argument for discussion, the wrath of Hell has descended. The outraged 'progressive' outcry that has accompanied the publication online of the Ghomeshi piece has not elicited a reasonable debate, but rather calls for this man's head -- on a pike, preferably. So, because the paying sponsors and advertisers of the venerable Review of Books see the writing on the wall from furious #MeToo-ers, he did the honourable thing, and resigned.

Another head rolled out from under the guillotine of vicious retribution visited upon any who dare question the public evisceration of any man deemed to have stepped beyond the boundaries of approved social conduct which places men in the position where women were traditionally expected to be; modest and silent and invisible.

Jian Ghomeshi and Marie Henein, National Post