Iraq, Increasingly Indistinguishable from Iran

"[The American operations will] degrade KH's ability to conduct future attacks [against coalition forces]."
"Iran and their KH [Kataib Hezbollah] proxy forces must cease their attacks on U.S. and coalition forces, and respect Iraq's sovereignty, to prevent additional defensive actions by U.S. forces."
"KH has a strong linkage with Iran's Quds Force and has repeatedly received lethal aid and other support from Iran that it has used to attack OIR coalition forces."
Jonathan Hoffman, chief Pentagon spokesman

"The Iraqi Prime Minister expressed his strong objection to this unilateral decision and his concern that it would lead to further escalation and demanded that he [Defense Secretary Mark Esper] stop it [airstrikes] immediately."

"These strikes represent a treacherous stab in the back."

Abdelkarim Khalaf, spokesman of the commander of Iraq's Armed Forces

"[The Baghdad government rejects] unilateral action [by coalition forces inside his country]." 
"We have already confirmed our rejection of any unilateral action by coalition forces or any other forces inside Iraq. We consider it a violation of Iraq's sovereignty and a dangerous escalation that threatens the security of Iraq and the region."
Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul Mahdi

Iraqi people walk on a United States flag in a protest after an air attack at the headquarters of Kataib Hezbollah militia group in al-Qaim, Iraq [Alaa al-Marjani/Reuters]

To Iraqis and their leaders it is reprehensible that the U.S. gave warning to its Iraqi hosts that it intended to respond to the attack on U.S. positions in Iraq, then carried out a government-unauthorized mission delivering a compelling message that any militias with plans to bomb Americans should consider themselves placed on notice that repercussions would be swift and deadly. How Iraqi authorities garnered the impression that Washington and the U.S. military are at their beck and call and will act only with their express permission remains a mystery.

Repeated attacks on U.S. installations on Iraqi bases by Kataib Hezbollah spurred the U.S. to action, as simple as that. Five facilities in Iraq and Syria with ownership of the Shiite militia with its Iranian backing were bombed by U.S. F-15 Strike Eagle fighter planes on order from the Pentagon and the U.S. administration after an American contractor was killed when an Iraqi base was hit. That the Iraqis feel Iran-linked militias have impunity to act as they will targeting the U.S. may very well reflect the fear the Iraqi administration feels that Iran might hold them accountable.

Paramilitary Popular Mobilisation: dozens of people killed or injured  Reuters

Pulling the strings on a puppet government cautious lest it give offence to its powerful terrorist neighbour seems appropriate for the Byzantine intrigues and violence of the Middle East. The targeted militia has given its own due warning that it is prepared to draw on its resources to inflict further casualties on U.S. interests. Which will have the effect of drawing the U.S. back into an endless conflict it would prefer to vacate.

The Pentagon knows the militia's links to Iran's Quds Force, the special operating forces of the Iranian Republican Guard Corps tasked to guide their external proxy militias outside Iran. Since Iran controls the militias and they feel secure enough to attack U.S. interests, the provocation is coming from Iran, the response from the U.S. So if any entity is responsible for the potential of heightened hostilities and linked violence it is the Islamic Republic which feels itself indomitable.

It is long past time for a comeuppance and for events to take place to determine whether or not the regime can survive the restive efforts of Iranian protests and the linked Iraqi protests at the involvement of Iran in the affairs of its neighbours to fulfill its viciously nefarious plans of conquest. Those protests are concerning enough to both regimes to elicit deadly means to stifle dissent.

The militia's holdings that were targeted in both Iraq and Syria included facilities for weapons storage, and areas used by the militia in planning attacks against coalition forces.



In Iraq about 25 of their fighters were killed and 55 wounded. Among the dead were four local Kataib Hezbollah commanders, the result of one of the strikes targeting the group's headquarters near the border with Syria. Intelligence had alerted Pentagon officials that Iranian backed groups were planning to attack U.S. forces in Iraq. And then, it happened; over 30 rockets had been launched on an Iraqi base near Kirkuk on Friday, killing the contractor and wounding another few U.S. service members.

Concern related to tensions between the U.S and the Popular Mobilization Units, Shiite militias supported and armed by Iran of which Kataib Hezbollah is but one group among many paramilitary groups under the umbrella of the 'popular mobilization units', will lead to further violence within Iraq. "If something happened then we'll be in the middle and it will be chaos", observed Lt.Col.Hassan Kadhim, an officer with the Iraqi army's 8th Division. "It's being done by Iran proxies. Iran wants to have their war in our land."

Iraqi officials failed to effectively respond to a request by U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper when he had conveyed his concerns about recent attacks on U.S. bases, with the knowledge it was not the Islamic State that was involved, but rather Iranian proxies. Iraq's co-operation was sought to itself respond to an increase in those U.S. base attacks; an appropriate action since they care so much about their sovereignty. Their previous inaction has led directly to the U.S. defending its own interests.

"My suspicion would be that Iran is behind these attacks, much like they're behind a lot of malign behaviour throughout the region, but it's hard to pin down."
"So again, we need their help [Iraqi military] in terms of getting the security situation under control and stabilized, but we also still retain our right of self-defence."
U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper

Kataib Hezbollah said its headquarters in the western Iraqi town of al-Qaim was hit  Reuters

Israel : On Temporary Malfunction Break

"It's a political crisis that we have never gone through before or even anticipated."
"We have never been in a situation where a political candidate did not succeed in putting together a government, and that happened now not only once, but twice."
"[The bind has resulted from both] weaknesses in our system and the unique situation of a popular prime minister who is charged with severe crimes."
Yohanan Plesner, president, Israel democracy Institute

"We are kind of running on autopilot."
"But it means the government really has no flexibility in dealing with any crisis that might arise, there can't be any changes in budgets, and it loses all degrees of freedom to run the country."
Dan Ben-David, professor of economics, Shoresh Institution, and Tel Aviv University

"In the United States, when you have a problem, you can call your representative in Congress. But here there is no one to represent you, no one to hold the administration accountable."
"We have completely forgotten how a functioning democracy works right."
Tal Schneider, senior diplomatic and political correspondence, Israeli business newspaper Globes

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, seen at a Dec. 18 Likud party supporters meeting, declared victory in his primary election battle for leadership of the party on Thursday. (Jack Guez/AFP/Getty Images)

Legally embattled though he is, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has succeeded in fending off his leadership challenger to remain head of the Likud Party, and as such he continues on as a dominant figure in Israeli politics with few contenders that can match his legendary popularity, his history as the longest-serving, born-in-Israel prime minister of the Jewish state. Easily submerging his challenger in the flood of majority votes cast in his favour, he now prepares to lead the country in its third election within a single year.

Israeli Druze community September 2019, Daliyat al-karmel, northern Israel. (Jalaa Marey/AFP)

There are, however, no guarantees that third time around will reach success. In fact, the current political turmoil points to yet another stalemate -- and then what? This inability to come to an agreement, a political 'understanding' for the good of the country is unfortunately an expression on a larger scale of a fairly typical Jewish cultural trait of argumentative illogic; to gain a point by destroying a contested supposition. Netanyahu's appeal to the Israeli public to proceed with ventures certain to see widescale condemnation on the world stage, thrills some, and worries others.

He has the wind at his back in concurrence by the Trump administration determined to take Washington in directions historically hinted at but never committed to in its support of Israel. His amicable relations with Vladimir Putin, the growling bear whose latest adventures in the Middle East place him at odds with Israeli interests, still reflect a soft landing when military missions are deployed that annoy the Kremlin.

Benny Gantz walks during a session of the Knesset in Jerusalem on December 11, 2019.(Gali TIBBON / AFP)

The parliamentary democracy that Israel is, has been temporarily placed on hold, its prime minister viewed by some as heading a "caretaker government" with executive and legislative functions placed on the backburner absent the formation of a working government. Few laws have been approved by the Knesset, no state budget approved for the new year, senior appointments put on hold. Government offices, institutions limited to the past year's budget spending.

Indicted in three cases that center on bribery, fraud and breach of trust, this is an embattled prime minister characterizing charges laid against him as a political witch hunt by enemies determined to force him from office. As a matter of mere coincidence and comparison, the parliamentary democracy which is Canada also has a prime minister popular among those constituents who returned him to office, despite having engaged in the very same morally, ethically questionable conduct, and other than reducing his already-challenged reputation, has paid no political price.

Israel's Supreme Court awaits an opinion on the issue of whether a prime ministerial candidate facing prosecution should be allowed to form a government, having requested such a draft from Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit who indited Netanhahu in November, for their perusal. Meanwhile, Mr. Netanahu's cabinet continues its weekly meetings, the military goes on training and conducting security operations. The nation's hospitals, schools and public transport remain operational.

Waiting ... waiting ... on tenterhooks. March 2 cannot come soon enough. And.then.what?

A general view of the Israeli parliament during a vote on a bill to dissolve the parliament, at the Knesset, in Jerusalem on December 11, 2019. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)

 Chinese DNA Studies : Scientifically Nefarious

"Defining ethnicity is extremely, extremely messy. So actually, ethnicities is first a social and cultural concept. And now suddenly, we're talking about genes. However, it makes it possible to tomorrow decide that someone does belong or does not belong to a certain population."
"I'm extremely concerned about this because in history, actually, if you look back in the first half of the 20th century, German and then Belgian colonists in Rwanda and Burundi actually went there, and they were using pseudoscientific ideas about race and assigned people to a particular ethnicity. That actually was a significant factor in genocides. And the risk for this in the midterm is actually really worrying."
"[When Western journals publish such papers -- pseudo-scientific studies co-written by state-linked scientists, police, security agencies -- it amounts to selling a knife to a friend] knowing that your friend would use the knife to sill  his wife. If you produce a piece of knowledge and know someone is going to take that and harm someone with it, that’s a huge problem.”"
"The [scientific] community has to take a major step and say: 'This is not us'."
Yves Moreau, geneticist, professor, Catholic University, Leuven, Belgium

China's program in studying the DNA of the country's ethnic minorities has come under scrutiny for the very simple reason that it smacks of Nazi-era preoccupation in similar studies with the aim of categorizing ethnic groups such as Jews and Roma as sub-human distinguished by abhorrent traits that civilized and technologically modern cultures reject for their disruptive, threatening-to-society goals, an observation that led to the public, social dehumanization of such groups making it easier for the Third Reich to target them for obliteration lest they continue 'corrupting the social order'.

The global scientific community is reacting to China's DNA-inspection agenda, warning that Beijing could make use of its assemblage of data for the purpose of ongoing oppression as it spies on minority groups within its immense population base. Prestigious Western scientific journals have been placed on notice, leading them to the response that they would undertake a re-evaluation of the standards that permitted them to publish papers on Tibetans, Uighurs and other minority groups in China.

Kashgar, a city in Xinjiang, the region where China has locked up more than one million people from predominantly Muslim minority groups in the name of quelling terrorism.   Credit...Gilles Sabrié for The New York Times

Those that are known to be persecuted, defamed and closely watched for activities the Chinese deem to be 'splittest' or lacking in 'harmony', bringing unrest to the public sphere, making Beijing nervous to the degree they will take steps to stifle any potential degree of protest are subjected to programs such as the mass round-up of Uighurs, said to be in the hundreds of thousands to a million, for re-education purposes, where the institutionally incarcerated are bombarded with psychological duress to impress upon them the existential requirement of submission to the state and renunciation of cultural or religious roots.

Measuring the skull of a Romani woman

Harnessing technology for the purpose of tracking minority groups particularly on the western frontier in China's Xinjiang province, Muslim minorities languish in internment camps because they have been recognized by authorities as terrorists-in-the-making. Facial recognition systems whose selling point is the claim they can differentiate when someone is a Uighur, as well as blood collection with the intention of designing new tracking tools aimed at minority groups, appalls Western scientists and with good reason. All the more so that some scientists in the west have unwittingly collaborated.

In early December, the journal Nature published an essay by Dr. Moreau who has called on all publications to retract papers submitted by scientists with Chinese security agency backing, focusing on the DNA of minority ethnic groups in China. He and other scientists are concerned over China's research meant to be used in contrived methodology in monitoring and subjugating ethnic minorities in China. Research into DNA is a violation of the scientific rules regarding consent. The focus being on whether Uighurs willingly submitted their blood samples.

Frontiers in Genetics journal rejected a paper in February, based on findings from the DNA of over 600 Uighurs, where some of the journal's editors cited the treatment of Uighurs. Chinese research into the genetics of China's ethnic minorities are not all given blanket censure; studies in fields such as medicine, with research geared toward medical treatment of people -- and forensics in matters of criminal justice are viewed as legitimate.

Between 2011 and 2018, of 529 studies in genetic forensics, Dr. Moreau discovered that roughly fifty percent were co-authored with the Chinese police, military, or judiciary. Tibetans were 40 times more frequently  studied than the majority ethnic Han. Similarly, the Uighur population was thirty times more intensely studied than was the Han Chinese majority. Three journals over the past eight years published 40 articles co-authored by members of the Chinese police, describing the DNA profiling of Tibetans and Muslim minorities.

China’s efforts to check the DNA of the nation’s ethnic minorities have incited a rising backlash from the worldwide scientific neighbourhood, as plenty of scientists warn that Beijing may use its rising information to spy on and oppress its individuals.

Israel, in the Piercing Lens of the ICC

"Who are they accusing here? Iran? Turkey? Syria? No — Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East. This is terrible hypocrisy."
"We will struggle for our rights and for our historical truth with all the tools at our disposal."
"We will continue to struggle against this always."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

ICC’s prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, right, and deputy prosecutor James Stewart, center, at the International Criminal Court, ICC, in The Hague, Netherlands. (Piroschka van de Wouw/pool/AP)

The International Criminal Court in the Hague on Friday, through its prosecutor, Faton Bensouda, issued a 112-page report which states that there is "a reasonable basis to believe that war crimes were committed" both by the Israel Defence Forces and by Hamas and other "Palestinian armed groups". Israel is accused of certain war crimes in the framework of Operation Protective Edge of 2014, the 50-day conflict against Hamas terrorists:

• intentionally launching at least three disproportionate attacks
• willful killing and willfully causing serious injuries
• intentionally attacking Red Cross personnel or institutions.

Hamas and other armed groups such as Palestinian Islamic Jihad are accused of:

• intentionally attacking Israeli civilians
• using Palestinian civilians as human shields
• willfully depriving civilians of the rights to a fair trial
• willful killing
• torture or inhuman treatment
• “outrages upon personal dignity,” which refers to humiliating and degrading treatment.



Masked Hamas members carry a model of a rocket during a rally in the central Gaza Strip on December 12, 2014. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)

The prosecutor makes note of the fact that the IDF has itself launched investigations into alleged misconduct by its members and "the existence of pending proceedings in relation to other allegations". This is relevant since the ICC can proceed with an investigation only should a government fail to investigate allegations of war crimes brought against it. Accordingly, Ms.Bensouda noted she will continue to review the "scope and genuineness of relevant domestic proceedings" yet ongoing.


On the other hand, no question remains that the crimes alleged to have been committed by Palestinian groups in Gaza are not under investigation, and as a result the ICC can contemplate moving along with an investigation into their conflict activities. What the prosecutor fixes on is that by promoting the settlement movement Israel may have committed itself to being investigated since that too is considered a war crime according to the Rome Statute where the "transfer, directly or indirectly, by the Occupying Power of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies" is considered a war crime.

Which, of course, leads one to muse why it is that the ICC has not sought to investigate either Russia or Turkey for such crimes, not merely alleged to have occurred, but that have occurred; in Turkey's case its longstanding invasion of Cyprus, and for Russia, its violent incursion into Georgia's South Ossetia and Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula, for starters, clear violations of international law, whereas the so-called Palestinian Territories remain suggested for a Palestinian state yet that nascent state remains in limbo as long as the Palestinian Authority seeks legitimacy by all means other than coming to a two-state agreement with Israel, to jettison its never-ending war with Israel.

Further, there is the future prospect of Ms.Bensouda committing to probe alleged crimes said to have been committed by IDF troops with the use of "non-lethal and lethal means" to fend off Palestinians from Gaza incited by Hamas to commit to weekly riots, challenging Israel's borders with the intention of crossing into Israel proper for nefarious purposes, some of which have succeeded through the use of incendiary devices to burn and destroy Israeli farmlands and terrorize its population with countless rocket fire.

The ongoing "march of Return" speaks volumes about the Palestinian determination to take all the land upon which modern Israel was reunited with a portion of her geographical Judean heritage.

For over seven years a bloody civil war has raged in Syria, destroying the lives of hundreds of thousands, displacing millions representing at least half of the pre-conflict population, creating refugees of millions of Syrian Sunni Muslims with the Shiite regime having declared an all-out war on all Syrians critical of the regime of Bashar al-Assad who has stopped at nothing to butcher Syrians, employing chemical agents, bombing hospitals, arresting and torturing those he identifies as enemies, labelling protesters as "terrorists".

In China, Iran, North Korea and elsewhere massive human rights violations are incurred with impunity. Where is the Hague's ICC there?

Dedicated to prosecuting the "most serious crimes of international concern", the International Criminal Court is content to investigate a Western democracy pushed to the wall to defend itself and its population against organizations known to be terrorists and renowned for the depth of their brutality. In a defensive war, one of many, imposed upon Israel by its neighbours, the IDF fought and won the territory that is now in dispute. Any other nation under similar circumstances, having defended itself and fought to retain territory would be legally building homes on it, with not a murmur of dissent from the international community.

Palestinian protesters run for cover from tear gas canisters during fired by Israeli forces during clashes following a demonstration marking the first anniversary of the “March of Return” protests, near the border with Israel east of Gaza City on March 30, 2019. (MAHMUD HAMS / AFP)

The ICC has allowed itself willingly, to be used by the Palestinian Authority when Ramallah considered The Hague yet another arena of convenience for it to gain points against Israel. The request by the PA for the ICC to investigate Israeli 'war crimes' could have been set aside, the case rejected with use of the most obvious argument -- that the ICC lacks jurisdiction since Palestine is not a state. The prosecutor now awaits an ICC legal ruling whether to proceed.

Hostage To Conflict

"This is more useful than my own children, who all live outside [the Korean Demilitarized Zone separating North and South]."
"There is no use calling 911, because they can't come here [in the case of emergencies]."
Go Geum-sik, 73, Taesung Freedom Village, South Korea

"Don't let appearances fool you."
"It's not your average place. It's a place where all the peace is secured by dedicated soldiers [despite the hope of eased tensions]."
Chun In-bum, retired South Korean Army general

"Despite political leaders talking about easing tensions, we still live with them as the militaries face off with each other."
Kim Yong-sung, 49, village bean farmer

South Korea's Taesung Freedom village, April 24, 2018, in Paju, South Korea.

South Korea's Taesung Freedom village, April 24, 2018, in Paju, South Korea  .Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images

By no stretch of the imagination can this town in the DMZ be called normal. It is, rather, the image of a village under perpetual siege, requiring constant military protection. It is a village of 188 residents, all South Koreans who have chosen to remain in a very sensitive, vulnerable geographic location, encouraged by their government to do so, as a symbolic gesture that the two Koreas could some day live together in amity, unthinkable at the present time given the aggressive militancy of the North.

There is the village with its enclosed, protective status, and there is "outside". The South Korean government thought of ways indicating special status that would seem attractive to villagers to compensate for their remote isolation, living their lives in a seriously dangerous climate of intimidation. And so, men living in Taesung Freedom Village are exempted from military service. The 46 households receive the benefit of special tax cuts.

The Freedom Village is located within the heavily armed Demilitarized Zone, a bit of irony right there.... The village residents represent the only place where South Korean civilians live within that zone separating South from North. Another gift to the villagers recently came their way when KT Corp., South Korea's major mobile phone carrier, installed a fifth-generation ultrafast communications network there, one of the first such networks in fact, in South Korea.

South Korea's Taesung Freedom village 

Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images

People now are able to simply push a button to communicate, should a medical or any other type of emergency arise. That would put them directly and instantly through to the mayor, and to the community center, among others.

The Demilitarized Zone was created as a bridging gap to keep the two warring armies at a distance from one another in 1953, representing a truce, for neither 'surrendered' to the other. Ever since, the South has yearned for re-unification as it went on its democratic free-enterprise capitalist system becoming wealthy over the years, and the North became ever more rigid in its Communist idealism, becoming more poverty-stricken as time went on.

Villagers who once lived within the four-kilometer-wide buffer zone, representing the world's most heavily fortified frontiers punctuated with minefields and sealed off, where battle-ready troops stand at the ready on both sides, were cleared away, with only two villages permitted to remain: Taesung in the South Korean half of the DMZ and across the border, the North Korean Kijong village, with no communication permitted between them. 82-year-pld Park Pil-seon, living in Taesung, cannot see his brother in Kijong, much less know whether he is still alive.

Both towns were pawns in a propaganda war, both Koreas investing in 'model villages' enabling them to extol the virtues of their political systems, so adverse to one another. Kijong at the present time, is almost abandoned, with Taesung remaining a going concern. Villagers in Taesung, however, are not free to do whatever they wish, bearing little resemblance to other South Korean villages there freedom is taken for granted. Their security must be assured by the presence of the military.

Military stand guard at their check area at Taesung Freedom village

Ryu Seung-il/Polaris

Each time they plan to venture to their rice paddies close by the borderline, South Korean soldiers shadow them. There is a midnight-to-sunrise curfew, and a nightly roll-call. Should they invite friends from outside the DMZ to visit, an application for approval two weeks in advance must be obtained. All visitors must be escorted by soldiers. There is no hospital, no supermarket, no restaurant in the village, though a bus arrives four times daily.

The new 5G service will ease some of the villagers' irritations as when before its arrival, rice farmers had to ask for a military escort to enable them to make use of a water pump, and now this can be done through an app on their smartphones. The same app can control the sprinklers in their bean patches. Village women who had for years been interested in taking  yoga classes can now access lessons streamed at the community center. The sole school now offers interactive online games for students.

South Korean children take a class at the Taesung elementary school, April 24, 2018, in Paju, South Korea.

South Korean children take a class at the Taesung elementary school, April 24, 2018, in Paju, South Korea.Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images

Students attending the school enjoy the benefits of a high teacher-student ratio, with 21 teachers and staff for 35 pupils, some of whom are bused in daily from Munsan, the town closest outside the DMZ. Decades earlier, villagers were in constant danger of stepping on stray mines left over from the war. There was, in addition, danger of abductions by North Korean soldiers. During times of high tensions villagers were evacuated frequently from their fields into underground shelters. Twice yearly evacuations are still conducted.

When Criminals Sue Their Victims

"Our view is that effectively we meet the four corners of Bill 27. [The bill] effectively means that there can be no claim, so the fact that they're putting Eddie through the ringer ... is a bit offensive, frankly."
Scott Chimuk, lawyer, Edouard Maurice, Okotoks, Alberta

"As ... Watson was fleeing, without warning, [Maurice] attempted to scare [Watson] by shooting a 22-calibre rifle in his direction, but negligently hit the plaintiff in the right forearm."
"[The injury to his right forearm resulted in] severe damages and liability."
Lawsuit, statement of claim

"Mr. Maurice suffered from mental distress, anxiety, nightmares and a fear of repetition."
"Given that he lives in a rural community, he continues to worry for the safety of his wife and two infant daughters."
"Mr. Maurice seeks: an order that Mr. Maurice is entitled to an award of punitive damages as against the criminally convicted trespasser is such an amount as may be determined at trial."
Countersuit

A young boy and girl play with homemade stocks as people gather in support of Edouard Maurice, who faced three charges after police allege the rural homeowner confronted two people rummaging through his vehicles and shots were fired, outside court in Okotoks, Alta., Friday, March 9, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

Back in June of 2018 criminal charges brought by police against Edouard Maurice for discharging a firearm at an intruder were dropped. Living in rural Alberta which has been plagued by rural crime of property thefts, Mr. Maurice doesn't lack for community support. Property owners are seized with concern that, should they attempt to defend themselves, their families and their properties, police will intervene to arrest them -- the property owner and victim -- not the intruder who is clearly a criminal focused on theft.

It is such an endemic problem that the United Conservative government introduced Bill 27 in November, now law since December 5. A law geared to make it more difficult for trespassers to sue property owners for injuries received when a property owner confronts a would-be robber to defend his property. The landowner must not commit a crime and the trespasser must show the landowner's response was wilfully and grossly disproportionate, under the new law.

Mr. Maurice had been criminally charged with firearm offences in 2018, relating to his having fired warning shots at intruders on his property where he operates a pet resort. Now the man who had clearly been illegally on his property and seen to be in the act of rifling through his parked truck, subsequently hit with a ricochet bullet when Mr. Maurice fired several shots to frighten the two intruders off, has brought a lawsuit against him. And Mr. Maurice's lawyer is attempting to use the new law to have the lawsuit dismissed.

Earlier this year, Watson was sentenced to 45 days in prison, given release in recognition of time spent in custody before trail, when he had pleaded guilty to mischief and breaching probation. In his suit against Maurice he seeks damages for pain and suffering and for lost employment opportunities. A FundRazr campaign was initiated to raise funds for Maurice to help him pay his legal bills. A fund to which the province's premier made his own personal contribution.

Jessica Maurice, Edouard Maurice and one of their children  E.Maurice

Watson claims the injury he suffered as a result of a bullet ricocheting and hitting his arm left him with "severe damages and liability", and is suing Maurice for $100,000. One of two intruders that dark night in November of 2018, neither Watson nor his companion heeded Maurice's call to get away from his truck and leave his property. They simply continued rummaging through the truck, leading Maurice to decide an overhead warning shot might do the trick.

It did. They left, but not before Watson suffered the penalty, however accidental, of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Clearly Inaccurate Perceptions of Anti-Semitism...?

"If Israel is so advanced then why can't they avoid shooting defenceless paramedics and journalists, unless they're killing innocent people deliberately!"
"Israel's injustice and arrogance can no longer be defended and people are wise to Israel's tired old rhetoric."
"[Israeli forces were aiming higher than 6 million [to wipe out the Palestinians]. I wonder if #Israel borrowed this from the #Nazis after they saw how successful they were?"
"#Gaza is the new #Auschwitz."
Rana Zaman, former NDP candidate, Human Rights Commission honouree

"[Zaman the recipient of an] Individual Award [for her] extraordinary advocacy efforts in bringing together diverse communities in Halifax. [The annual awards from the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission represent part of an effort to] demonstrate a commitment to advancing human rights and enhancing equity and inclusion in their community."
Nova Scotia government press release, December 10, 2019

"This decision makes clear that people who engage in this type of hateful discourse disqualify themselves as human rights advocates."
Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs/Atlantic Jewish Council

Three individuals and two groups were presented with the 2019 Nova Scotia Human Rights Awards on Dec. 10 in Halifax (Photo courtesy of humanrights.novascotia.ca)

What this woman wrote on June 3rd  and 8th, 2018 has come back to reveal her as anything but an advocate for 'enhancing equity and inclusion' in her community, much less demonstrating a 'commitment to advancing human rights'. She now, given the highlight her abandoned comments made, certainly regrets having informed the public of her canted view of history and current events. Although the tweets she posted back in June of 2018 likening Israel to Nazi Germany and the 'Occupation' to the Holocaust, were removed, an alert B'nai Brith Canada took screen shots of them.

After which notification the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission made haste to issue a press release stating the action it has taken to "formally rescind[ed]" the award given to Ms. Zaman. The press release went on to explain that its award committee "was unaware of public statements made by Ms.Zaman that were directly contrary to the principles of the award" before the award was made. Despite which the commission spokesperson chose not to state whether the decision was related to the offending tweets.

Rana Zaman appears well known in her community as a Muslim advocate appealing for denunciation of 'Islamophobic' comments that appear online. She had written an op-ed piece in a provincial newspaper declaring social media groups "need to be  held accountable for allowing their platforms to be used to target minority groups with hate speech". And then proceeded to make an example of the misuse herself. It appears evident that her concerns for the welfare in public opinion of Islam are equally matched by her venomous hatred of Israel.

Rana Zaman - Facebook

She has subsequently issued an apology for airing her opinion as she did, despite their being quite specific and entirely consonant with the kind of slanderous accusations usually issued by those in the Muslim-Canadian community. The public is left to conjecture which of her sympathies are sincere, those portraying Israel as a Nazi enterprise practising genocide, or her later sentiment in apologizing that her views were "inappropriate, hurtful and sadly may be perceived as anti-Semitic."

China's Concerns for 'Peace' Overseas

"Greater Vancouver has many Chinese emigrants, exchange students and tourists, and incidents of injury, illness, disappearances, detention, fraud, and so forth involving Chinese citizens remain frequent."
"In order to adapt to a new era, and new higher expectations of excellence in overseas public service and effectiveness in overseas legal defence, it is necessary to innovate new approaches and elevate the effectiveness of consular protection."
"The volunteer mechanism is fully making use of the advantages of the emigrant community, developing working synergy, and helping the consulate to provide good consular services, giving overseas Chinese emigrants and Chinese citizens a feeling of safety and benefit."
China's Vancouver Consulate website

"I believe that there's more to the consulate's efforts than simply training consular volunteers, and that they may be looking to enlist Chinese citizens, and even Canadians, to promote the Communist Party's political agenda."
"Politically motivated outreach to Chinese citizens who are living short-term or studying in Canada is also questionable, especially if it encourages them to act against the interests or policies of their host country, Canada."
David Mulroney, former Canadian ambassador to China

"I have never heard of such an arrangement by any other nations. Of course, most embassies and consulates would have locally engaged staff to assist their diplomats with this kind of thing."
"[The creation of a volunteer corps does] fit into the official Chinese Communist Party rhetoric that Canada is a hostile and dangerous place for ethnic Chinese so they should identify with and seek the protection of the PRC authorities."
Charles Burton, senior fellow, Macdonald Laurier Institute

"When Canadian community groups and citizens are being recruited, trained and given tasks by the Chinese consulate, they are working on behalf of the Chinese government. They could easily become foreign agents, and their given tasks may interfere with Canada's internal matters."
"It is very important for our government, our media, and Canadian citizens to understand the potential serious consequence of this strategic move of the CCP."
Ivy Li, pro-democracy group Canadian Friends of Hong Kong

Pro-China counter-protesters, wearing red, shout down a man in a black shirt during an anti-extradition rally for Hong Kong in Vancouver on Saturday August 17, 2019.   Darryl Dyck / THE CANADIAN PRESS

The world's tyrants use any means at their disposal to infiltrate other nations' administrations and threaten their sovereignty. The Kremlin, famously, speaks of ethnic Russians long resident in parts of eastern Europe from the years of the Soviet Union, requiring Russia's intervention to ensure the safeguarding of their Russian heritage, language and values. So far, only Georgia and Ukraine have suffered violent incursions and revolts incited by Moscow; the rest quaver and shelter under NATO's protective canopy.

Germany's large Turkish population, a result of the availability of cheap labour brought into Germany generations ago, has seen Turkey under Recep Tayyip Erdogan officiously treat those German Turks as though their loyalty is to him and to Turkey and not the country where they have citizenship and where later generations were born and raised. China too has reached out its octopus arms to claim concern over the well-being of Chinese Canadians, most -- other than more recent expatriates from Hong Kong and Chinese students studying in Canada -- have been resident in Canada for a century.

As it is, there are divided loyalties among the Chinese diaspora; those more recent immigrants from mainland China have a different world view from those long established in Canada who came and were used in backbreaking work on cross-country railroads, then established themselves as small independent business people, becoming fully Canadian in the process. But it is the Chinese Communist Party's infiltration through its United Front Work Department and its connection to Chinese diplomatic posts that bring disquiet to Canadian intelligence services.

In late 2016 an English-language newspaper, the China Daily, published an article announcing the inauguration of "consular liaison volunteers" to serve Chinese embassies and consulates abroad. "An increasing number of Chinese people travelling around the world for business or tourism [who] encounter problems as they go" ostensibly led to the launching of this new 'service' staffed by civilian volunteers living in the countries where Beijing has established diplomatic posts.

A photo of the volunteer group, whose recruits include some prominent Chinese-Canadian community leaders, on the consulate page. Consulate of China

Chinese living in Canada are enjoined to volunteer, to "carefully pay attention to the safety situations of their home area, strengthening communication with the consulate". As volunteers they are expected to be "excellent representatives of overseas Chinese people and encouragers of friendship between the Canadian and Chinese peoples". So now a volunteer corps exists, representing Chinese Canadians with influence through their business holdings in the community, a fledgling volunteer system speaking in Canada on behalf of the Chinese government.

According to the director of the China Institute at the University of Alberta, Gordon Houlders, China has always been interested in the Chinese diaspora, and Canada is aware of the activities by its diplomats, with Canadian authorities wary that coercion is not involved or pressure of any nature. The problem lies with intention to rally Chinese Canadians in support of PRC policies. 

"In short, contact with Chinese nationals in Canada is one thing. But where China might be engaged in efforts to shape the views of the broad Chinese-Canadian community or to push a particular point of view, that is another matter."
"...If the point of the campaign is ... focused on loyalty to a foreign state, t hat is quite distinct."

The Chinese Benevolent Association of Vancouver representative of over 100 Chinese associations earlier in the year took out large advertisements in Chinese-language newspapers denouncing Hong Kong protesters as "radicals", appearing to support the Chinese Communist Party position on an extradition bill that was proposed between China and semi-autonomous Hong Kong that saw the growth of mass protests in Hong Kong, calling for respect for Hong Kong's sovereignty, and calling for greater democracy in the city-state.

The United Front Work Department, allied with Chinese diplomats reminded Chinese students in Canada of their pledge of loyalty to the Chinese government, inciting them to go out and protest against the Hong Kong rebellion, and clash with Chinese Canadians who rallied in public support of the Hong Kong demonstrations. Former Ambassador Mulroney expressed his interest in whether the Vancouver Chinese consulate had consulted with Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs relating to "an activity that appears to involve recruiting people in Canada to work for a foreign state".

The current government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is prepared to bow to Chinese pressure; the prospect of greater trade opportunities for Canada with China has the final word with the Liberal Party of Canada.

Pro-China counter-protesters cast shadows on a Chinese flag as they shout at Hong Kong anti-extradition bill protesters holding a rally in Vancouver in August. Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press

Iranian Infiltration in Canada?

"Masoud [Molavi] talked to me about someone by the name of Majid Jowhari. He’s a member of the Parliament of Canada. He’s from the Liberal Party, representing Richmond Hill."
"He said that Jowhari was in touch with some of the intelligence officers of Iran, and that he even visited the representatives of Taeb and Mojtaba Khamenei. He even received financial support from these people."
"Now he’s been elected in Canada for a second time."
Alireza Sassani, Iranian Freelance journalist

"Our government’s position [Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau] is that Canada severing ties with Iran had no positive consequences for anyone, not for Canadians, not for the people of Iran, not for our Canadian allies, and not for global security."
"In a recent program aired on two Persian language broadcasts, without a shred of evidence, I was accused of having connections to officials of the Islamic Republic of Iran. These accusations are absolutely false and unfounded."
"Those who spread these slanderous and baseless accusations want to instigate hate and fear without providing a single fact to support it. We should stand together against this hateful behaviour."
MP Majid Jowhari, Liberal MP for Richmond Hill, Ontario

Liberal MP Majid Jowhari rises to vote during a marathon voting session in the House of Commons Thursday, March 21, 2019 in Ottawa. (Adrian Wyld/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

"I would like to hear from the prime minister what the story is with an MP who seems to take a position that is supportive of the Islamic regime of Iran and is not aligned with Canadian values."
"There have been demonstrations in Iran in which hundreds of people have been murdered and he has never said a word about that."
Senator Linda Frum, Senate of Canada

Of the Richmond Hill riding that Mr. Jowhari represents, there are 21,000 Iranian-Canadians, representing eleven percent of that population. Most of those of Iranian background have no use whatever for the theocratic regime known for its support of terrorism, its efforts to interfere and destabilize the Middle East, its threatening nuclear program, its promises to annihilate the State of Israel and the intrusive actions of its diplomatic staff deployed to Ottawa, all of which caused former Prime Minister Stephen Harper to break diplomatic relations with the Iranian regime in 2012.

When Justin Trudeau as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada campaigned during the 2015 general election, one of his stated goals on the international front was to restore relations with Iran, despite its interference in Syria, its support for the Syrian regime which was responsible for the deaths of at least a half million Syrian Sunnis and the displacement of millions of Syrians, flooding Europe and living in refugee camps internally and abroad.

The online video Mr. Jowhari spoke of accused him of working with the Iranian regime. Those Iranian elites to which his association was referred, included the son of Grand Ayatollah Khamenei, while the Taeb referred to is a senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard and head of Iran’s intelligence operations. Strange acquaintances for a Canadian Member of Parliament. Masoud Molavi had been an associate of the reporter who interviewed him in Turkey as an opponent of the Iranian regime whom Turkish media identified as a defected former Iranian spy.

Mojtaba, son of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, center, attends the annual Quds, or Jerusalem Day rally in Tehran, Iran, Friday, May 31, 2019. (Vahid Salemi/The Associated Press)

A drive-by assassination in Istanbul in November took the man's life, and thus placed him out of the way as an irritant. Turkey employing state assassination, the kind of sloppy nuisance-targeting Russian agents are infamous for, and which Saudi Arabia was embarrassed by when their agents killed and dismembered a Saudi critic, a journalist with a murky past, which Recep Tayyip Erdogan was delighted to accuse the Saudis of, as though such a ghoulish performance would be entirely out of his lexicon of activities.

The difference, of course, is that Turkey's relations with the Saudis is clouded, while Turkish-Iranian relations are rock-solid. For the time being, in any event. In Canada, Senator Frum pointed out that Jowhari has not been known to state any position critical of the Iranian regime, representing a large Iranian-Canadian population notwithstanding, in light of the recent mass protests in Iran and the government's violent repression and murders of protesters, well practised in Syria.

Jowhari had presented a petition in the House of Commons for the government to re-establish diplomatic relations with Tehran, an unsurprising move, given Trudeau's 2015 posturing, but surprising in the context of Canadian Iranians having moved in great numbers to Canada in the wake of the Iranian Revolution 40 years ago. And yet he cordially met with members of the Iranian parliament in 2016 when they visited Canada. An issue he explained as "a parliamentarian with a significant diaspora", the visitors were interested in meeting with him.

Dec 12 interview with a close associate of Masoud Molavi

"It just means we are sitting at the same table and working on understanding the issues and we as Canadians have serious concerns. If we don't tell them, who will?"

Which, given so many conflicting details leads to doubts of his veracity and his loyalties.

Canada/Israel Relations

"Canada remains a steadfast supporter of Israel and Canada will always defend Israel’s right to live in security."
"I understand that many of you were alarmed by this decision [when Canada voted 'yes' on a UN Human Rights condemnation of Israel in November]."
"The government felt that it was important to reiterate its commitment to a two-states-for-two-peoples solution at a time when its prospects appear increasingly under threat."
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, at menorah lighting on Parliament Hill

"This vote reflects poorly on Canada’s record as a defender of democracy and justice. It stains Canada’s reputation."
"Just last week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau assured the Jewish community that Canada would 'always defend Israel’s right to live in security'. Voting for this resolution is not in line with that commitment."
Michael Mostyn, CEO, B’nai Brith Canada

"[The resolution condemned Israel’s security barrier but it] omits to mention that it was built in response to the Second Intifada which killed or wounded 8,341 Israelis by Palestinian suicide bombings, suicides, stoning, stabbings, lynchings, rocket and other methods of attack."
"[Canada has chosen the position of] standing with the jackals [by voting yes]."
Hillel Neuer, director, UN Watch

"[Canada voting for the resolution was an example of] cultural corruption playing out in real time  [and was] trading its integrity [for a seat on the Security Council]."
"This is a resolution that Canadian governments for years have voted against'.” 
"I speak from experience when I say the United Nations presents many opportunities to strike a deal with the devil."
Former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife Sophie Gregoire light the menorah on Dec. 5, 2018 in Ottawa. Last week, Trudeau said, "Canada will always defend Israel's right to live in security."Justin Tang/The Canadian Press/File

Former Prime Minister Stephen Harper unblinkingly assured Israel that there was no question that Canada would always stand in support of the right to existence of the State of Israel. He fully supported and understood the necessity of Jews to have a homeland of their own, to return to their original geographical Judaic heritage and re-establish their presence where they were once exiled to establish  a world-wide diaspora but never forgetting their origins dating back thousands of years in the Middle East in the land of Judea before the tribes were dispersed.

In November, Canada voted for a controversial resolution within the United Nations that was co-sponsored by North Korea, Zimbabwe and the 'State of Palestine' among others, that condemned Israel as the "occupying power in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, including East Jerusalem". A speciously absurd statement without any foundation in history both ancient and current. 'Palestine' was originally concocted as a place-name identifying with Jewish residence, coopted in modern times by Arabs declaring themselves the 'original' Palestinians, not the Jews.

Moreover, the timeless Judean capital of Jerusalem now being claimed by Palestinian Arabs as their very own, bears no factual resemblance to reality nor heritage and history. The Islamic conquest of the Middle East and beyond robbed Jews of Jerusalem, and of their homeland. The Palestinian 'cause' is simply a reiteration of ancient wrongs and wrongdoings, and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation within the United Nations has succeeded in isolating, slandering and victimizing Israel, in consequence of a Jewish presence in a wholly Islamic geography.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, centre, meets with heads of Israeli settlement authorities at the Alon Shvut settlement in the West Bank on Nov. 19. Canada has affirmed it does not share the U.S. view that Israel's settlements in the West Bank are legal under international law. (The Associated Press)

''Although it was a slow process … I am delighted. [The vote was] 'very significant, very positive.''

''I was involved personally in extensive discussions with my colleagues in the foreign ministry in Ottawa'[leading up to the vote]"

 ''But still we have a lot more to do.''

Palestinian envoy to the UN, Riyad Mansour

Endorsed, predictably, as all such resolutions always are, by 167 nations with eleven countries abstaining, and five voting against, from Israel, to t he United States, Australia, the Marshall Islands and Micronesia, in a vote at the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday -- Canada, despite its prime minister having reassured Canadian-Jewish leaders that its support of Israel was assured, and the previous November vote was merely an anomaly, reaffirmed a major change in position in the controversial and long-running dispute between Israel and the Palestinians with yesterday's vote.

The change in Canada's voting position where it usually votes against the 16 recurring Palestinian resolutions brought before the General Assembly on an annual basis, is now obvious. The issues revolve around East Jerusalem, sovereignty over natural resources, Israeli settlements and in general, the "occupation" whereby Israel protects itself and its population from violent ongoing attacks from Palestinians incited to violence, and from Palestinian terrorist groups intent on annihilating the Jewish state.

 
Yesterday, the UN General Assembly adopted six non-binding resolutions all of which as per formulaic determination, single out and criticize Israel, lacking any indication whatever of knife attacks by Palestinians, of the deliberate and vicious incitement by the Palestinian Authority, of the institutionalized hate machine that teachers Palestinian children through school curricula, through songs and plays, and televised programs aimed at them that Jews are their aggressors and they must aspire to become martyrs to the cause of freeing Palestine, minus Israel.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

Canada's longstanding role of supporting Israel at the United Nations, and its past commitment alongside a limited number of countries dedicating themselves to preventing "Israel bashing" appears to be history. Canada joined 163 other countries on Wednesday in support of the motion leaving only the United States, Israel itself, and three others opposing it.

This is a surprising, abrupt and totally confusing departure from Canada's voting record for the years 2014 - 2015. Not only under the previous Conservative-led government, but under both Conservative and Liberal governments of the past, when Canada under all administrations demonstrated its support for Israel ranged against the UN's abysmal record of singling out Israel for condemnation on countless numbers of accusations led by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and unfailingly supported by the union of Non-Aligned nations and, sadly, the
European Union.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's focus is on his Security Council revolving two-year seat campaign. Foreign Affairs Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne's 'mandate' from the prime minister was quite specific in directing him to "lead Canada's United Nations Security Council campaign" as a top priority, challenging Norway and Ireland, both themselves campaigning vigorously for that seat, both having lobbied to that end for over a decade. Ireland is seen as the EU favourite, while Norway is acknowledged for its annual generous foreign aid contributions.

So Canada has decided that its chances would be enhanced by abandoning its long-held commitment to the defence of Israeli presence and security in the Middle East to curry favour with the huge voting bloc represented by countries of the Islamic Cooperation group. But this should not come as a huge surprise, the signs and signals were all there, and all the favour-currying on the part of Canadian-Jewish groups hoping to ensure Canada's continued support of Israel, has come to nought.

The United Nations monitoring organization UN Watch, had undertaken a petition launched after November's vote, for the purpose of amassing a collection of signatures hoping to impress upon the Liberal government of Justin Trudeau that it would represent an honourable decision to disown its last choice in voting against Israel. There were close to 40,000 signatures when the final vote was cast, when Canada's decision to stay the course for leaving Israel to its fate as an outcast, was described as a "Faustian bargain".

Nikki Haley Condemns Canada's UN 'Deal With the Devil'