January 6 Attack on U.S. Capitol Building

"Pezzola was not the only person trying to break windows and forcibly enter the Capitol at that time, but he appears ... first to breach a window so successfully that he and other rioters could enter the Capitol through it."

"The defendant's actions show planning, determination, and co-ordination."

"[Pezzola filmed himself smoking a] victory cigar [in the Capitol building]."

Assistant U.S. Attorney Erik Kenerson

"So instead they [Capitol Police] used their training to try and de-escalate the situation by talking with individuals in an attempt to calm them down."

"[The crowd refused, shouting] this is our house, this is our America [and] we're here for the corrupt government."

FBI Agent affidavit

Two members of the far-right Proud Boys were indicted in federal court Friday. Both men face a slew of charges for their participation in the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.  Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

New court documents are revealing details gleaned by the F.B.I. through interviews and video examination relating to the January 6 breach of the U.S. Capitol by a violent mob that left five people dead, and over a hundred police officers injured. Two Missouri brothers have had a criminal complaint lodged against them and a prominent member of the Proud Boys, a detention memo; the documents detailing the initial period of the forced mob entry to the Capitol.

They serve as an explanation of how it was that a violent mob was able to overrun a small, poorly-defended line of Capital Police officers as prosecutors trace the actions of what are believed to be key instigators in the storming of the U.S. Capitol. Members of a far-right nationalist, nativist group with a history of violence -- the Proud Boys -- and other right-wing extremist groups have been heavily implicated.

 

Trump supporters clash with police and security forces as they push down barricades to storm the U.S. Capitol. The Capitol Police officers are quickly overwhelmed.  Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images

Both surveillance video and social media have helped to identify Proud Boy Dominic Pezzola as one of the first to lead the charge outside and inside the Capitol, according to prosecutors. His actions helped to overwhelm police defences and enabled him personally to purloin an officer's riot shield. Pezzola was recognized as being among the first to charge and overwhelm a line of police behind a pedestrian gate on the west front Capitol grounds, leading the crowd to advance toward a second set of metal barricades at the west plaza.

There, Pezzola was flanked by a man wearing an American flag bandana who pulled away a part of the fence leaving a gap and allowing thousands of people to follow onto the Capital grounds toward unprotected police. He was also among the first to reach another police line at the base of the Capital. Pezzola was viewed on video pulling out a riot shield after a member of the mob was hit by a projectile, and using the shield to break a window in the building.

A pair of brothers  from Montana, Joshua Calvin Hughes and Jerod Wade Hughes then followed Pezzola into the window, helping to kick down a door from the inside, serving as an access point to greater numbers of rioters. The brothers were charged with felonies relating to destruction of property, obstructing law enforcement and disrupting a government proceeding, while Pezzola faces similar charges.

 

After a series of phone calls from local and Capitol Police leaders to Defense Department officials, the D.C. National Guard is deployed to help end the riot that saw Trump supporters breaking windows to get into the Capitol. Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

Evidence exists that Pezzola assaulted police when he stole the riot shield, earning him two additional crimes of violence charges. Members of the Proud Boys made use of walkie-talkie type communication devices in co-ordinating the attack. U.S. Attorney Kenerson revealed that FBI agents found information on producing homemade firearms, poisons and explosives on Pezzola's computer. 

 

Having gained entry to the Capitol, Pezzola and the Hughes brothers confronted Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman at the foot of a staircase. Officer Goodman was subsequently recognized for his calm and heroic management of a mob, leading them away from the chambers containing the assembled lawmakers who were confirming the numbers of the Electoral College votes, "advancing ... in a menacing manner", according to one FBI agent, while the Hughes brothers "followed immediately" behind.

The failure to fend off the rioters who forced lawmakers to hide in corners of the building while the angry mob called for their deaths is the subject of enquiry by internal and congressional investigations. Authorities acknowledge that police were outnumbered by rioters at every turn, that while Officer Goodman called for backup and other officers joined him, they still lacked manpower to enable them to attempt arrests. 

At one juncture a rioter slammed a fire extinguisher on the floor resulting in a cloud of smoke which acted as a shock, leading to a dissipation of the crowd's rage and dispersal. The Hughes brothers however, did not leave the building, instead making their way to the Senate floor, where they occupied lawmakers' chairs and rifled through their desks.

Convinced the election was stolen, thousands of Trump supporters storm the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6 as Congress counts and certifies the Electoral College vote. Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Pandemic Politics

"The pandemic is having devastating effects in Europe and all around the world. Protecting the health of our citizens remains our utmost priority, and we must put in place the necessary measures to ensure we achieve this."

"There are binding orders and the contract is crystal clear. AstraZeneca has also explicitly assured us in this contract that no other obligations would prevent the contract from being fulfilled."

European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen

 

"The EU have a dispute with AstraZeneca Sweden, so decide to respond by blocking the supply of vaccines to the UK, which is not a party to the dispute."

"Do the EU not care that they are trashing their international reputation? They were once so keen to talk about the rule of law."

Former UK cabinet minister David Jones

 

"We have millions of doses that we are ready to start shipping to the EU over the next few days and weeks."

"We have identified additional sources of drug substance that we are redeploying from other parts of the world so we can top up the supply in Europe and make sure we can vaccinate as many people as we can as quickly as we can."

AstraZeneca’s chief executive, Pascal Soriot

 

"If no satisfactory solution can be found, I believe we should explore all options and make use of all legal means and enforcement measures at our disposal under the Treaties."

European Council President Charles Michel 

"I think we need to make sure that the vaccine supply that has been bought and paid for, procured for those in the U.K., is delivered."

Minister for the Cabinet Office, Michael Gove

Vials of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine are prepared to be administered to front-line health care workers under an emergency use authorization. Patrick Fallon/AFP via Getty Images

 

 All these civil, diplomatic politicians representing their nations' best interests at a time of high national stress are talking through, around and past one another, rather than to each other in this tug-of-war of vaccine accession. The European Union gave warning on Thursday to drug companies like AstraZeneca that it was prepared to use all means legal, including blocking exports should they fail to agree to deliver vaccine shots as contracted for and promised.

Israel appears to have the inside track with AstraZeneca, not least because their agreement included supplying the pharmaceutical giant with data derived from Israel's vaccine program using the AstraZeneca product; in effect a living laboratory, a Fourth Test to appraise the effectiveness of the shot, thus making the partnership one of mutual value, and placing Israel miles above any other country in its delivery of vaccinations to its public.

That European Union countries lag far behind Israel in administering inoculations, behind the United Kingdom and the United States in rolling out vaccines and is now in the position of scrambling to obtain the supplies needed, happens to coincide with the largest drugmakers in the West's slowing delivery schedules as a result of production problems and factory updates. Not that the EU is alone in this predicament, since Canada too was advised of a slowdown in its Pfizer deliveries as well as Moderna.

The EU threatens its rules on monitoring and authorizing exports of vaccines in the 27-nation conglomerate may see exports being blocked should existing contracts between vaccine maker and the EU membership be violated. Tensions are steadily rising across the world as the global mass vaccination begins to roll out with world powers snagging doses in bulk leaving poorer nations to look for the leftovers. Italy, Germany, France, China and Russia are well behind the leading vaccination-per-head-of -population rollout of Israel, the UAE, United Kingdom, Bahrain and the U.S.

Pfizer, based in New York, and AstraZeneca headquartered in Cambrdge, England have both seen production problems arise at this most critical stage of attempting to control the ongoing spread of the coronavirus with the new, more virulent mutants moving steadily forward. The EU, points out AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot had been late to strike a contract for vaccine supply, leading to the company having insufficient time to smooth out production problems in Belgium.

"There are currently insufficient data available to assess the vaccine efficacy from 65 years of age", European regulators concluded in a draft resolution as they prepare to determine whether to approve AstraZeneca, even as Germany's vaccine committee insists the vaccine be given only to those aged between 18 and 64. Nothing is ever as simple as it may seem, complicating conditions move in with infuriating regularity at times of globall stress. Britain, on the other hand believes the vaccine to be safe and reliable across all age groupings.

 

 Online applications for vaccination in France have had to be suspended for new appointments due to the vaccine shortage. While Madrid and Cantabria regions in Spain have set aside first vaccinations to make use of remaining doses for those awaiting their second shots. Deaths and infections in Portugal have soared since Christmas and there delays in delivery result in those in the top priority now waiting for April.

The Netherlands and Germany look to the necessity for postponing their vaccination centre openings until February. Everywhere concerns have been raised at expectations for delivery going afoul.

 

Beijing's Cultural Genocide of Uyghurs

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) The Government of the People's Republic of China has a 
        long history of repressing Turkic Muslims, particularly 
        Uighurs, in China's Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region.
            (2) In May 2014, Chinese authorities launched their latest 
        ``Strike Hard against Violent Extremism'' campaign, using wide-
        scale, internationally-linked threats of terrorism as a pretext 
        to justify pervasive restrictions on and human rights 
        violations of members of the ethnic minority communities of the 
        Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. The August 2016 transfer of 
        former Tibet Autonomous Region Party Secretary Chen Quanguo to 
        become the Xinjiang Party Secretary prompted an acceleration in 
        the crackdown across the region. Scholars, human rights 
        organizations, journalists, and think tanks have provided ample 
        evidence substantiating the establishment by Chinese 
        authorities of ``reeducation'' camps. Since 2014, Chinese 
        authorities have detained no less than 800,000 Uighurs, ethnic 
        Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and other ethnic minorities in these camps.
            (3) Those detained in such facilities have described forced 
        political indoctrination, torture, beatings, and food 
        deprivation, as well as denial of religious, cultural, and 
        linguistic freedoms, and confirmed that they were told by 
        guards that the only way to secure release was to demonstrate 
        sufficient political loyalty. Poor conditions and lack of 
        medical treatment at such facilities appear to have contributed 
        to the deaths of some detainees, including the elderly and 
        infirm.
            (4) Uighurs and ethnic Kazakhs, who have now obtained 
        permanent residence or citizenship in other countries, attest 
        to receiving threats and harassment from Chinese officials. At 
        least five journalists for Radio Free Asia's Uighur service 
        have publicly detailed abuses their family members in Xinjiang 
        have endured in response to their work exposing abusive 
        policies across the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region.
            (5) In September 2018, United Nations High Commissioner for 
        Human Rights Michele Bachelet noted in her first speech as High 
        Commissioner the ``deeply disturbing allegations of large-scale 
        arbitrary detentions of Uighurs and other Muslim communities, 
        in so-called re-education camps across Xinjiang''.
            (6) The Government of the People's Republic of China's 
        actions against Turkic Muslims in the Xinjiang Uighur 
        Autonomous Region, whose population was approximately 13 
        million at the time of the last Chinese census in 2010, are in 
        contravention of international human rights laws, the 
        International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of 
        Racial Discrimination, and the Convention against Torture and 
        Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, both 
        of which China has signed and ratified, and the Universal 
        Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on 
        Civil and Political Rights, which China has signed. Congress Gov

 China says the camps are a necessary measure against terrorism following separatist violence in Xinjiang   Getty Images

 

"[The ultimate goal is to thoroughly purge Xinjiang of all inkling of distinct identity and] identify with the country, such that, in the future, the idea of Uyghur will be in name only, but without its meaning."

Uyghur economist Ilham Tohti in self-exile

The New York Times accessed and published Chinese internal government documents that revealed a situation that confronts Uyghurs should they enquire about relatives who have been spirited away by authorities for 're-education' purposes, when they are advised in response to "treasure this chance for free education that the party and government has provided to thoroughly eradicate erroneous thinking, and also learn Chinese and job skills". Denying the Yughurs their language, their culture, their history, their religion.

 

The Beijing Chinese Communist Party loves to demonstrate to the world how proficient they are in rising to special occasions. As for example, the speed and efficiency they are able to muster during a time of SARS-CoV-2 causing the pandemic of COVID-19, by building in the blink of an eye hospital facilities to care for thousands upon thousands of people in China's great populous megapolises. They tend not, however, to focus publicly on their impressive capacity to build huge, sprawling campuses for 're-education', complete with guard towers, fences and razor wire.

 

The Chinese 'province' of Xinjiang is Muslim-dense, its ethnic and cultural origins reflective of neighbouring Uzbekistan. The region suffered a conquest by the Qing Dynasty in the 1870s -- even back then China was resolute in its determination to expand its territory by swallowing those of its neighbours to enable it to announce to the world that an unwilling, conquest-battered territory (such as Tibet) is henceforth to be recognized as Chinese. In like vein, the People's Republic of China's military aspires to fulfill its function of wresting disputed territory in the Himalaya from India. 

 

Still from video: blindfolded, head-shaven Yughur men awaiting transport by train to re-education destination

 

The vast network of 're-education centres' in China's northwest keeps growing in China's hegemonic outreach; the purpose, to pacify and integrate an ethnic culture foreign to and hostile to Chinese occupation. For its part, the CCP looks on the Xianjing-native Uyghurs as 'splittists' -- a nasty pejorative for people who yearn for freedom from oppression -- and is determined to create a spirit of 'harmony' through re-education; which is to say after breaking a people's collective spirit.

 

An estimated one, and as much as two million people in the region have been involuntarily incarcerated in the re-education facilities, mostly ethnic Turkic Uyghurs, to cure them of "crimes" charactrerized as such for attending Mosque or texting a relative in Turkey. For its part, the Turkey of Recep Tayyip Erdogan makes no mention of the plight of the Uyghurs, evidently unperturbed by human rights abuses they suffer under Chinese occupation. Erdogan focuses instead on Israel, accusing it of human rights abuses against Palestinians among whom close to two million are citizens of Israel with equal rights.

 

Beijing uses the classification of "boarding schools" or "vocational training schools" when referencing the centres, for anodyne public consumption -- guard towers, high walls topped with razor wire notwithstanding. A video that had been leaked out of China in 2019 features large groups of blindfolded, shaven Uyghurs forced to kneel on the ground, awaiting processing at a train station in Xinjiang, presumably headed for a boarding school. 

 

 

The Australian Strategic Policy Institute with the use of satellite imagery assembled 3D models of close to 400 Uyghyur detention facilities located in Xinjiang. Local government construction tenders were analyzed in 2018 by Reuters, confirming the facilities to have been designed as fully equipped prisons with surveillance and security systems, when according to official Chinese designation-descriptions they are vocational training schools. Clearly, western intelligence cannot tell the difference between prisons and educational establishments.

 

Former detainees describe being subjected to brutal regimens of indoctrination replete with torture and sexual abuse for good measure, for those who stubbornly dissent from China's well-intentioned interventions on the way to creating good citizens.  Ample evidence has also surfaced that Uyghurs are forcefully used as slave labourers in Chinese factories. Some of those factories produce goods sold by brand-name international corporations relying on China for its cheap labour.

Twice the region attempted in the 1930s and 1940s -- taking advantage of political instability -- to beak away as an Islamic republic. This had most recently been attempted in 1991 on the collapse of the Soviet Union. Since then incidents of ethnic riots in Xinjiang and separatist Uyghur violence emerged that drew Beijing under President Xi Jinping to once-and-for-all solve the problem of troublesome Uyghurs with the launch of the Strike Hard Campaign against Violent Terrorism.

The entire population of Xinjiang between 2016 and 2017 was required to hand over biometric data like DNA samples and iris scans under the rubric of Physicals for All. And this, after residents were made to surrender their passports, while police checkpoints popped up in their cities. According to Chinese authorities, the Uyghur culture and Islamic faith is but a mental illness, or an "ideological virus". And if any nation knows about viruses, it is China.

Uyghur women were "no longer babymaking machines", having been liberated from that tiresome task by the thoughtful measures taken by Beijing to sterilize them and thus "eradicating exttremism", according to China's embassy in the United States. In interviews with Han Chinese residents n Dabancheng city, Xinjiang, investigators from the BBC asked their opinion of the presence of new high-security "re-education" centres in their midst. One man succinctly responded they were purposed for the tens of thousands of Xinjiang residents known to have "problems with their thoughts".

Once detainees "study well and their mental state is healthy, they will be able to live happily in society", explained a counsellor from one of the facilities. China's Xinjiang crackdown employs a wave of forced sterilization, birth control and abortion, revealed an AP investigation last year. Hugely successful as a control mechanism, since the birthrate is in free fall; population in some regions falling by over 80 percent.

 

 

The Vice-Regal Failure : "Walking on Eggshells"

"...Many participants reported conduct that, if it occurred, would lead to a toxic workplace. Reports included allegations of  yelling, screaming, aggressive conduct, demeaning comments and public humiliation."

"The overwhelming majority participated confidentially to raise concerns about the work environment and/or their individual treatment. Forty-three participants described the general work environment as hostile or negative or used other words to that effect. Twenty-six participants used the words 'toxic' or 'poisoned' to describe the general work atmosphere at [Rideau Hall/Governor General's residence] during the current mandate."

"Quintet did not investigate the veracity of the concerns and allegations raised by participants. For example, Quintet did not test the quality of the evidence gathered, or assess participants' credibility. It follows, importantly, that the description of alleged conduct in this Report does not establish that such conduct occurred."

"[There is] a serious problem [that requires the Privy Council Office's] immediate attention. [The government must act] quickly and decisively. Only through meaningful, timely action on the part of senior leadership of the PCO will any restoration of the work environment at [Rideau Hall] be possible."

"In reaching this conclusion, Quintet respects the unproven nature of the reported concerns and draws on its decades of experience in the field of conflict management and prevention."

Quintet Consulting report to Privy Council Office 

Gov. Gen. Julie Payette delivers the throne speech in the Senate chamber in Ottawa on Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

 

The Privy Council Office retained Quintet Consulting to undertake a review of the situation at Rideau Hall respecting the behaviour toward staff evinced by Governor General Julie Payette and her hand-picked secretary of the Office of the Governor General when the national broadcaster, CBC had reported confidential sources that alleged the Governor General and her secretary, Assunta di Lorenzo, a Montreal lawyer and personal friend of Julie Payette had between them created a toxic workplace, verbally abusive toward staff, belittling them and occasionally leaving some in tears.

The report of the workplace review issued by Quintet and surrendered to the Privy Council Office, saw a heavily redacted version released to the news media a day ago.  While details regarding who is alleged to have committed certain acts remain unknown as a result of redaction, larger conclusions of the overall workplace situation can be read from the text that remains and what it reflects is an intolerable 

atmosphere of dysfunction permeating the vice-regal office, a situation that has no counterpart in the long history of the Queen's representative in Canada.

But then, this choice of Governor General turned out to be  hugely unusual in the demeanor, preferences and presence of the office holder who was forced to resign days ago when the extent of her incapability to act with adequate respect and decorum toward those working for her was fully revealed. What had been revealed on numerous previous occasions was Julie Payette's distaste for the position which she had accepted; her unwillingness to appear at ceremonial occasions at public and private events, her impatience with signing official documents, her insistence on remaining in Montreal, rather than domiciling at the official residence of Rideau Hall.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau looks on as his wife Sophie Gregoire Trudeau greets Assunta Di Lorenzo, secretary to Gov. Gen. Julie Payette, as they arrive at Rideau Hall in Ottawa, Sept. 11, 2019. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press)

 

Now, both she and her secretary Assunta di Lorenzo, both equally accused by Rideau Hall employees -- federal public servants skilled in the byways of the office -- of manipulating the office to suit themselves and in the process harassing and abusing their professional staff. Between October and November of last year Quintet conducted 92 interviews with individuals including current employees, former employees and 'knowledgeable insiders' where fewer than 10 people reported positive or neutral feedback relating to the work environment.

Quintet was originally supplied with a list of 197 employees along with their email addresses, despite which by October 6 the firm received "more than 81 requests for interviews from current employees, former employees, and those presenting themselves as having relevant information. This was substantially more than anticipated", they reported. "Turnover is at record levels" and "people are leaving in droves", with "waves of departures", along with an exodus of "quite a few competent, accomplished, experienced personnel", Quintet was informed by staff, all of which episodes undermined morale.

Among the language made use of by participants in describing the atmosphere within the vice-regal residence were "humiliation", "disrespect", "condescension", "a non-inclusive workplace", and "the definition of a poisoned work environment", leaving employees "stressed out" and "worn out". The report was complete with a full dozen pages of "serious" and "oft-repeated" behaviours leading to a toxic workplace. Each and every example, however, had been redacted.

What was made abundantly clear was that the examples given spanned Ms.Payete's entire tenure with her behaviour described in measures "that were in most cases repeated and persistent". The former astronaut whose reputation while in her previous positions reflected that of a poor manager with a short temper and abusive manner, had been overlooked in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's zeal to place a brilliant scientist and former astronaut in the vice-regal role of Governor General.

 

Astronaut Julie Payette waves before boarding the astronaut van for a trip to launch pad 39-A and a planned liftoff onboard the space shuttle Endeavour Wednesday July 15, 2009 at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (Chris O'Meara/Associated Press)

 

Naming this intelligent, short-fused, misanthropic woman as Canada's 29th Governor General in 2017, Mr. Trudeau had done so once he had disbanded a non-partisan, arm's-length committee constituted by the previous Conservative government to exclude politics from the recommendation of likely nominees for the vice-regal post.

 

Appended to the Quintet report was one emanating from the Office to the Secretary to the Governor General, which enumerated measures that were adopted to "improve the health of the workplace" by conducting a "World Cafe", all-staff meeting in fall of 2018, adopting a first-ever Workplace Well-being and Harassment Prevention Action Plan and the organization of training sessions on "Respect in the Workplace", and "Working Minds". The problem here seems to be that Ms. di Lorenzo felt that the stress and manipulation, harassment and agitation emanated from staff, not from her; an unfortunate misunderstanding.

"OSGG [Office of the Governor-General] management specifically spoke about the challenges associated with needing to modernize some aspects of the OSGG, including related to HR policies, technology and the system of honours."

"They reported that some OSGG staff were quite resistant to these changes that were taking place ... Representatives of OSGG management also stated that reports of harassment at the OSGG predated the current mandate, and they had, in recent years, taken many important steps to improve the health of the workplace."

Report, Management, Office to the Secretary to the Governor General (OSGG)

The outer wall and visitors gate is seen at Rideau Hall in Ottawa, Thursday January 21, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

And Over To You, Comrade Capitalist Putin ...

"The Kremlin's mistake was to underestimate Navalny's level of support," 

:[When people saw Navalny's arrest on live TV on his return to Russia on Jan. 17, as well as the online release last week of a documentary about President Putin's alleged corruption], it provided a strong emotional impulse to take to the street."

Russian political observer Andrei Kolesnikov, fellow, Moscow's Carnegie Center  

A still image taken from video footage shows law enforcement officers speaking with Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny before leading him away at Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow on Jan. 17. (Reuters)

"I am sick of this government of thieves."

"This is a police state that gives nothing to the people. [Putin] builds palaces for himself."

"What is this?" 

68-year-old pensioner Galina Zolina, Moscow

 

"[The protests are] not a knockout blow to the state. We shouldn't start moving into hyperbole, that this is the beginning of the end of Putinism."

"[It's a] coalition of the fed-up. People have all kinds of reasons to feel unhappy with the way things are going and [Navalny] kind of becomes the catalyst."

"It's hard to maintain the momentum [of the protests] week after week."

"One way or another, the state wants to slowly de-legitimize the protests and make them less appealing, and by outlasting them, make opposition look increasingly pointless." 

Mark Galeotti, London-based Russia analyst, host, podcast In Moscow's Shadows

Russian President Vladimir Putin does a video conference call with university students at a state residence in Zavidovo, Russia, on Monday. (Sputnik/Mikhail Klimentyev/Kremlin via Reuters)

"Hypocrites continue to inflate the fake Navalny case to interfere into internal affairs of our country."

"This is a professionally prepared provocation, encouraged by embassies of Western countries."

Russian embassy, U.K., Twitter

 

"That's what terrorists do. They put women and children in front of themselves [accusing demonstrators of placing children at the fore of the protests]." 

"Nothing that is listed there [Black Sea palatial palace] as my property belongs to me or my close relatives, and never did."

Russian President Vladimir Putin 

Law enforcement officers stand in front of participants during a rally in support of Navalny in St. Petersburg on Saturday. (REUTERS)

According to Russian President Vladimir Putin speaking to university students through a video conference addressing the unrest of unprecedented numbers of protesters in Russian cities, the mass anti-Kremlin protest organizers are "terrorists", and there is no need to investigate -- as Alexei Navalny, returned from Germany to Russia demands -- the president's personal wealth. An issue that is the stuff of urban legends, a conspiracy theory launched by those opposed to Mr. Putin's continued rule, the best president that Russia has ever had and as far as Mr. Putin is concerned, to be the longest-governing.

The issue of a Black Sea palace supposedly owned by Vladimir Putin is nothing but slander, according to the man himself, one that first emerged years ago, and now reborn to slur his reputation. Reputed to have cost a billion dollars and described as "Putin's Palace", the deed to the immense mansion may or may not be in Mr. Putin's strong-box possession, but state funds were apparently diverted in a scheme by his loyal allies to invest him with a palace worthy of his stature, held in trust perhaps for his eventual public ownership.

In 2010, Kolesnikov claimed that a luxurious estate near the Black Sea was for Putin. A Russian website published pictures, including the one above, which it said were of the mansion. The Kremlin denied Putin had anything to do with the building. Reuters is unable to independently verify the authenticity, content, location, source or date of this photograph.

 

Tens of thousands of Russian demonstrators took to the streets on Saturday protesting against the arrest of Alexei Navalny who was determined to return to Russia after  his convalescence in Berlin, recovering from an attempted assassination with the use of the Russian military chemical nerve-agent, Novichok which failed to fatally poison its target. The second time the poison was used for a similar purpose; the first occasion in London targeting another Russian dissident who also recovered as did his daughter, poisoned by default.

For the most part, state-ordered assassinations -- of journalist-critics, political critics, oligarch critics, and any high-profile pests who feel it their right to criticize the Kremlin and Russia's president can be certain that one way or another an attempt will be made on silencing them -- are proven to be successful, whether by drive-by shootings, sharpshooters, poisoning or mysterious disappearances. This was the ultimate challenge by Navalny, to return to Russia and dare the Kremlin/Putin to take additional action.

GRAND DESIGNS: One of the pictures described by a Russian website as showing the mansion dubbed “Putin’s palace.” The Kremlin has denied Putin has anything to do with the building. Reuters

 

Which they speedily did, and Putin's current most-prominent and popular figure of opposition complicating his life now faces trumped-up charges that in a Russian court, may earn him ten years in prison from his current pretrial detention. New mass demonstrations in protest of Mr. Navalny's arrest are scheduled for the coming weekend, similar to Saturday's protest where over 3,000 people were detained. There were relatively restrained clashes by protesters against baton-wielding police with no serious injuries reported.

 

Mr. Putin had in his address to the students on Monday, referred to authorities' claims the opposition had persuaded minors to become part of the rallies, remarking that young people had no place in such situations, nor should they be manipulated for the opposition's political ends. As a master manipulator speaking to young people, the president obviously knows whereof he speaks. An investigation into the claims failed to turn up evidence of the presence of young people in the chanting, determined protest crowd.

 

Mr. Navalny and his political group opposing ongoing rule by Mr. Putin, brought even wider global and internal focus to the situation when they released a video just hours after Mr. Navalny's arrest, pointedly accusing the president of amassing wealth for himself, draining the country's treasury. The immense, sprawling Black Sea mansion was highlighted as an opulent manifestation of the grandiloquent role Mr. Putin sees for himself as a modern-day Czar of the Russian Federation.  

 

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell is set to visit Moscow in the coming month to impress on the Kremlin that by arresting and imprisoning the opposition leader, Russia resembles nothing less than a dictatorship, and to urge the Russian authorities to reconsider this action in light of the harm they do themselves on the international stage. An EU meeting of European foreign ministers had reached the conclusion that a friendly visit and friendly advice to Russia might turn the situation around.

"The council considered it completely unacceptable and condemned mass detentions and police brutality over the weekend."

"We call on Russia for the release of Mr. Navalny."

Joseph Borrell, EU Foreign Policy Chief 

Riot police drag away a protester in Moscow on Saturday. More than 1,400 people were arrested in the capital alone, with 3,700 arrests reported nationwide. (Corinne Seminoff/CBC)

 

Buy American : Friends, Neighbours, Trading Partners

"That [talking about imposing 'buy American' strictures on U.S.business, but not implementing it] is going to change on our watch."

"I'm directing the Office of Management and Budget to review waivers to make sure they are only used in very limited circumstances -- for example, when there's an overwhelming national security, humanitarian or emergency need here in America."

"I don't buy for one second that the vitality of American manufacturing is a thing of the past. American manufacturing was the arsenal of democracy in World War Two, and it must be part of the engine of American prosperity now."

U.S. President Joe Biden

President Joe Biden prepares to sign a pile of executive orders on his first day in office, one of which will authorize the cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

"Buy American restrictions remain a perennial problem for Canadian businesses seeking to access government contracts with our largest trading partner."

"Although the rules have progressively tightened over the years [Monday's] announcement represents another unhelpful step to make it more difficult for Canadian businesses to secure contracts in the U.S."

"Although the full impact of [Monday's] announcement will take time to cascade to different parts of the U.S. government, its chilling effect on business will be acutely felt north of the border."

Mark Agnew, director, international policy, Canadian Chamber of Commerce

The United States, with its third-largest national population globally of around 330-million people is not hugely dependent on external trade. What it produces is largely absorbed internally. Canada, by contrast, has a population of about 38-million, and its economy is hugely dependent on trade. Moreover, the U.S. is now and always has been Canada's most important trading partner. Canada imports from the United States and exports to the United States. And between the two neighbours there are interlinking production and manufacturing agreements; separating them would be difficult. 

"Canada has a network of agreements with the U.S. to address Buy American programs, but the nuance often is lost on procurement officers that do not want to risk using non-U.S. products."

"If Canadian companies can use this new Made in America office at OMB [Office of Management and Budget] to emphasize Canada's 'exemptionalism', it could prove worthwhile." 

"Make no mistake: Canadian companies, supported by federal and provincial governments, will need to remain vigilant and aggressive on this file."

"There is a risk that Canada gets lumped in with everybody else."

Dan Ujczo, Canada-U.S. trade lawyer, senior counsel, Thompson Hine LLP, U.S.

Former President Donald Trump exhibited the attitude that trade agreements always failed to benefit the United States, that it was always other countries that gained through free trade agreements with the U.S. so it was his intention to re-negotiate all such trade agreements to re-align benefits favouring the U.S. Among other trade agreements he saw fit to scrap NAFTA, the free trade agreement between Mexico, the United States and Canada, scalping as much of the agreed points benefiting the two other nations in North America to their detriment and America's profit.

 

That's what it's like living beside a giant whose whims and preferences can make all the difference in reminding the countries of lesser clout that they're at its mercy. Now that a new American administration is in the White House, trade negotiations are once again under consideration. For all the flourishing of things being 'different' under the Democrats, they're really just a continuation of the Republican presidency. America's new president has set a new record in signing executive orders 'changing' rules and regulations on issues his predecessor saw fit to champion by merely going a little further. In so doing he has already dealt Canada a double blow.

A lot has changed since the Keystone XL pipeline project was first proposed in 2005. For one thing, the U.S. has increased its own oil production and has become far less dependent on imports. (TC Energy/The Associated Press)

 

With over a million miles of pipelines transporting crude oil to refineries across the United States, President Biden as his very first executive order, cancelled the long-in-the-tooth, in-the-process pipeline known as Keystone XL which was meant to transport oil from Alberta's oil sands, with its third-largest reserve in the world, to West Coast refineries in the United States. A piffling amount of oil in comparison to what the U.S. is already piping, but an assurance with its completion that Canada would be selling its oil full price. That longed-for option is now dead, signed out of existence after the Trump administration had given it a green light.

 

 

Now another executive order has hit Canadian aspirational hopes for the future with a Democratic government and president in the Oval Office. A man reputed to be 'friendly' to Canada, but signing off on an executive order that is anything but friendly to a neighbour. On the other hand, any country's administrator in governance's first obligation is to ensure full employment in their own baileywick as well as favouring products produced at home. 

The new policy was adopted to make certain that American manufacturers, the country's workforce and suppliers remain primary beneficiaries of U.S. government concerns. In this instance, an estimated $600 billion yearly in procurement contracts. Besides which the signing reflects one of Mr. Biden's election campaign promises to lure blue-collar workers' votes from their original choice of Donald Trump. Henceforth a new "Made in America" office is to be attached to the Office of Management and Budget at the White House.

Waivers representing exemptions permitting Canadian contractors, manufacturers and suppliers to have access to government lucrative business deals are no longer the order of the day. The amount of American-produced materials or components required for a project or product to qualify as being identified as American-made would also increase, easing the way for small- and medium-sized businesses to have access to procurement opportunities. 

 

Government agencies will be required to provide twice-annual progress reports on the outcomes of the new rules and voicing support for a law requiring goods being shipped between domestic ports to be delivered on U.S.flagged vessels built, owned and operated by Americans or by U.S. permanent residents. Specific government procurement provisions between the U.S. and Canada are not included in the U.S.-Mexico-Canada agreement that took the place of NAFTA, negotiated by the Trump administration.

The terms of the World Trade Organization general procurement agreement held sway in that trade deal, signed into practise by all concerned, the three North American neighbours. Yet according to the White House, President Biden "remains committed to working with partners and allies to modernize international trade rules -- including those related to government procurement". So far, then, with the new president in office, relations between the U.S. and its allies appear to be as befuddled as previously.

Buy American

In 2019, Canada GDP was an estimated $1.7 trillion (current market exchange rates); real GDP was up by an estimated 1.6%; and the population was 37 million. (Source: IMF)

U.S. goods and services trade with Canada totaled an estimated $718.4 billion in 2019. Exports were $360.4 billion; imports were $358.0 billion. The U.S. goods and services trade surplus with Canada was $2.4 billion in 2019.

Canada is currently our 2nd largest goods trading partner with $612.1 billion in total (two way) goods trade during 2019. Goods exports totaled $292.6 billion; goods imports totaled $319.4 billion. The U.S. goods trade deficit with Canada was $26.8 billion in 2019.

Trade in services with Canada (exports and imports) totaled an estimated $106.3 billion in 2019. Services exports were $67.7 billion; services imports were $38.6 billion. The U.S. services trade surplus with Canada was $29.2 billion in 2019.

Office of the United States Trade Representative

 

Totalitarianism is Complete and Utter Control

"Hong Kong's democratic leadership has been arrested en masse,and recently citizens found they were no longer able to access certain websites."

"Under the National Security Law, the government can force websites to remove any information that could 'endanger national security'."

"Schoolbooks are being edited and teachers' roles circumscribed. It is possible that Hong Kong could see even more repression as the regime uses its tools of surveillance to quash any thought of independence."

"In the ultimate measure of extraterritorial control, the National Security Law provides that any person who speaks out against the Chinese regime anywhere in the world can be extradited and prosecuted in China."

Margaret McCuaig-Johnston, Senior Fellow, Institute of Science, Society and Policy, University of Ottawa

The Chinese Communist Party is increasingly dominated by one man, Xi Jinping, whose power is stronger than any leader since Mao. Lintao Zhang / Staff / Getty Images

 

Beijing recently named two Danish politicians in an extradition request; their crime? aiding a former Hong Kong legislator in his asylum search in Denmark. That Denmark has never signed an extradition agreement with China is fortuitous both for the Danish politicians and for Denmark itself since there are no legal obligations to impel them to respond to China. On the other hand there are many countries which did sign such an extradition agreement never realizing that a complication such as the National Security Law would ever trouble them.

There are, however other avenues that Beijing can take to compel people to bend to its will and in this regard the Chinese diaspora is particularly vulnerable, no matter where they have emigrated to. They can be threatened that harm will come to their relatives still living in China to coerce them from criticizing the regime they left behind. Their relatives become virtual hostages to the diaspora -- Chinese citizens of other countries being forced to act with great circumspection to avoid payback.

Under Xi Jinping, Beijing has turned sharp left from authoritarian to totalitarian with a cult of leader-worship in full display. The Chinese Communist Party no longer indulges in any pretense to appease the sensibilities of the international community that it continues to approach the democritization of its political agenda. China's embrace of capitalism did not, after all, lead it toward a form of Chinese democracy; its growing influence in the international community, its status as a trade and technology giant have given it free rein to remove the facade of moderation as it moved steadily toward dictatorship.

Photo: NICOLAS ASFOURI/AFP/Getty Images

 

According to The Economist's 2019 Democracy Index, the current regression away from any semblance of democracy resulted in a fall of 23 places in ranking in one year. A situation that now places China near the bottom, below Iran at 153 out of 167 countries. It isn't complicated to recognize totalitarian rule; a sole political party ranks as the leading indicator. Added to which is intolerance of varying opinions and the control of its citizens' lives, along with manipulation of the system of justice. 

Citizens are monitored by its Social Credit System through WeChat and Weibo through the use of algorithms identifying those who are bold enough to mention June 4 or May 35, code for the Tiananmen Square massacre or referencing Winnie the Pooh, with a gait similar to President Xi's own. There are subtle identifiers that single out 'social deviants', as simple as late-loan payments, acquiring traffic violations to earn poor social credit scores. As a result of which people can find themselves unemployed or lacking the right to send their offspring to a good school.

 

New Chinese facial recognition technology can identify faces with masks. Source Hauyon's Website CSIS

 

Large demographics cannot gain permission to travel either within the country or abroad as punishment for low social credit scores, and citizens become careful in their exercise of the social weal as it is seen in China, to avoid appearing on the blacklists, becoming skilled in self-censorship. Domestic and foreign companies are compelled to submit to the Corporate Social Credit System, since failure to comply with regulations or speaking ill against government policies will ensure no access to grants, procurement contracts, land, or lower taxes.

Should employees or suppliers themselves gain poor scores, the company itself is punished. These credit systems are set to be further firmed up with party committees in every company prepared to ensure corporate decisions take care with their obligations to advance the interests of the Communist Party. Each citizen is obliged to study on an app that takes note when the users are scrolling too quickly to properly mentally ingest the information through the guiding ideology, Xi Jinping Thought, a three-volume publication.

 

Visitors being filmed by a security camera with facial recognition technology.
Source: Photo by NICOLAS ASFOURI/AFP via Getty Images.

Typically, totalitarian regimes are intolerant of religions; in plain evidence in Tibet and Xinjiang where incarceration for 're-education' purposes to achieve 'harmony' and dampen 'splittism' is the overarching goal of control of people's thoughts, aspirations and loyalties. Voice pattern telephone surveillance, forced labour and mass sterilization are all part of the extensive program of brain-washing to achieve CCP loyalty in the People's Republic of China. 

When Turkic Muslim Uyghurs are released from re-education to return home, a young Han man or woman is assigned to mandatorily live with them to monitor that the family speaks Mandarin exclusively, and does not revert to its former religious practices. In this 'family program' package the Han handlers are also encouraged to marry Uyghurs in a long-term strategy of thinning the genetic stream as well as the cultural-religious landscape. 

Persecution of Chinese Christians continues, with churches seeing their crosses torn down, and where  Xi's photo and Xi Jinping Thought are given prominent place in sanctuaries while senior clerical appointments  must be approved by the Party. Officially unapproved covert House churches, when their presence is discovered are routinely shuttered, their clergy incarcerated.

Those Chinese citizens oblivious or uncaring of the backlash they will incur, speak out on such issues as free speech, environmental degradation, expropriation without compensation at their peril, known to having been subjected to daily interrogations while seated in a metal tiger chair with wrists and ankles in vices in freezing environments. Websites are shut down in their hundreds of thousands in response to 'inappropriate' content, exemplified by criticism of President Xi and his party.

 

While the novel coronavirus was unleashed globally after emerging in Wuhan, China, with the result that the world economy suffered overwhelming losses in 2020, China's economy grew 2.3 percent in that same year even as every other major economy suffered dreadful recessions. China is now on track to supplant the United States as the world's foremost economy, within a decade. When Beijing faces criticism from abroad it takes immediate punishing steps.

Australia had the unmitigated gall to ban Huawei in 2018 from its 5G upgrade, and more recently called for an international inquiry into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the process by enraging Beijing, trade barriers abruptly appeared and Australia lost roughly $3 billion in commodity sales to China in 2020. Canadian canola shippers too were targeted by Beijing following the house arrest of Meng Wanzhou, CFO of Huawei,  on a U.S. extradition request.

'Practical' business interests are now calling on their governments to avoid unnecessarily alienating the trade giant that China is. At the centre of the most dynamic region in the world, China is a sought-after trade and investment source. The fear is that failure to 'constructively' engage with Beijing on its very own terms will result in long-term harm to other nations' business interests. And so, nations wedded to the concept of protection of human rights are prepared to set those concerns aside for the greater interests of securing prosperity linked to Chinese business opportunities.

Vaccine Hesitancy Versus Vaccine Envy Within the Medical Community

Dr. Jessica Kent-Rice, an emergency medicine resident in Toronto, posted this photo on Twitter, writing she was "extremely grateful to have had the opportunity to get vaccinated." Photo by @jessicakentrice/Twitter

"I've never had people request a photo when they've gotten a vaccine before. I think it points to how terrible the pandemic has been and what a historic moment it is ... I'll be very excited and enthusiastic for when my turn comes up."

"One of the personal support workers I was vaccinating said her mom who lives in the Philippines was  told by her local public-health official that she wouldn't be getting it [inoculated] until 2023."

Monika Winnicki, dermatologist, Toronto, vaccine volunteer administer

 

"When we are on the front lines and seeing, on social media, vaccinations being given to child psychiatrists doing Zoom meetings or doctors on maternity leave ... it gives us the message that we've been forgotten."

Alan Drummond, emergency physician, Perth, Ontario

 

"I feel like the urban centres are getting covered. I feel like rural Canada is being missed."

"Every time I see a friend posting, I'm happy for them but feel incredibly anxious."

"We were told [a vaccine] is three months away. There is no vaccine rollout where I'm working -- no one has received a vaccine."

"I'm just disappointed. My hospital covers several different communities and there are outbreaks and we definitely see COVID-positive patients ... Rural lives matter too." 

Sarah Giles, rural family and emergency physician, Kenora, Ontario

Photo: Michelle Morais

"As selfies continued to show up, the emotions turned a little bit complex. I caught myself in a more envious state, and then feeling guilt around feeling envy."

"It's never about individuals; it's more about feeling [the rollout] should be going faster than it is."

"I think it's a normal feeling. But I think it's important to acknowledge the feelings of envy and guilt."

Audrey Marcotte, emergency medicine resident, Montreal

"We haven't really seen a ton of cases ... My life hasn't really changed a whole lot in the past year ... I've had Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners with my family. Birthday parties have been celebrated."

"I haven't posted anything for fears of how it would make my deserving colleagues who haven't gotten theirs yet feel. Seeing their anxiety on social media has made me realize that posting a picture ... might not help their morale."

Aleisha Murnaghan, emergency doctor, Charlottetown, P.E.I.

"When Ontario Public Health put out its guidelines for vaccinations, they excluded pregnant and lactating women."

"About eight to 11 percent of pregnant women who acquire COVID19 will end up sick enough to be admitted to hospital, and two to four percent end up in ICU with severe complications, including being on a ventilator for weeks to months and [with] long-term effects from COVID."

"The risk for non-pregnant women is one to two percent by comparison, so we're looking at a two to four times higher rate of severe disease in the unvaccinated."

"Pregnant doctors are posting to show people that they feel it's safe enough to get it themselves."

Constance Nasello, chair, Ontario Society of Obstetrics and Gynaecology

In a sense, the medical community, comprised of individuals from all backgrounds and beliefs and walks of life in their private lifestyles is no different than the general public in their concerns, their likes and dislikes ,their distrust of systems. People from outside the medical community likely think that those within it have some kind of insider knowledge and confidence the general public lacks. A general public among whom a substantial contingent of people view the prospect of being vaccinated askance, not willing to trust medical science when it says the vaccines are safe and effective. 

People in the medical community have their own groups of medical professionals unwilling to chance taking a vaccine they feel has been inadequately tested and researched, much less the time it has taken to develop the vaccine; they view it with distrust. So much for being a medical insider; those job descriptions don't automatically come with an app to instill confidence and trust. And so, from within the medical community itself a campaign was initiated to persuade their unwilling collegial peers that all is well -- look, I've taken the vaccine and I'm fine!

Photo: Michelle Morais

As part of their convincing campaign, medical personnel have been taking selfies of having their vaccination and posting them on social media sites for the benefit of their colleagues in medical practise. And those selfies have garnered some surprising results. One emergency doctor in Vancouver who happens also to be an outstanding athlete was amazed to see her vaccine selfie acquire more likes than a Facebook post showing her finishing an Ironman competition. "I think it speaks to how everyone is looking forward to the light at the end of the tunnel".

There are, however, critics of the vaccine-selfie campaign, those who feel the new social media campaign has been the cause of anxiety, envy and frustration at a time that many physicians still await their turn in a slow-motion rollout across the provinces. Dr.Drummond the emergency physician in Perth as an example, feels the postings to be "tiresome" and "demoralizing". 

Dr.Giles in Kenora has had experience working with Doctors Without Borders in Sierra Leone, Pakistan, South Sudan and Myanmar and her concern is the effect the vaccine postings of photographs may have on people living in lower-income countries: "My friends in those countries are not posting vaccines selfies", she said of countries where vaccines are not in circulation and most certain not to be for years to come in an unequal world of access and non-access. 

Many other doctors are convinced the selfies have a useful purpose; to educate and motivate those who remain vaccine-hesitant within health care to be convinced inoculations are the best course of action for themselves personally, their families and their communities at large. "There's a lot of mistrust and conspiracy theories around 'Big Pharma'", explained Jennifer Chu, a St.Michael's Hospital emergency physician in Toronto. "A lot of people also don't understand how drugs are made and think that the vaccine can't be safe because it was rolled out so quickly."

In Canada, the South Asian population is notorious from within the medical community for its suspicion of vaccinations. Kashif Pirzda, a Toronto emergency doctor who works with Canada's South Asian COVID Task Force, posted a selfie with captions in Hindi and Urdu meant to turn the situation of false information around. "Usually the same claims will come up, such as that the vaccine will change your DNA, or that it hasn't been properly tested, or that it contains pork products, which would make it forbidden for Hindus or Muslims", he said.

 

As well, a situation of vaccine hesitancy has emerged among health-care workers at long-term care facilities where some centres in Ontario see vaccination rates of a mere 20 percent. Since many of those workers are of South Asian heritage working with vulnerable elderly and infirm residents, it's critical for them to accept inoculations. 

"I think we have an obligation as medical experts to spread sound medical knowledge and facts to our non-medical friends and family."

"I think the time to address and remove vaccine hesitancy is now ... as physicians, we are highly mindful of staying in our own lane when it comes to various societal issues."

"This is our lane."

Kavitha Passaperuma, oncologist, Richmond Hill, Ontario