How Goes America The Bad And The Yearned-For?

"After George Floyd's murder a year ago, Atlanta’s mayor scolded the rioters who were smashing up parts of her city. “This is not a protest…This is chaos,” Keisha Lance Bottoms said. “If you care about this city, then go home.” The speech was so well pitched that some overexcited pundits wondered whether she might one day run for president. One year on, Ms Lance Bottoms has declined even to run for re-election as mayor, in part because Atlanta is suffering from a violent-crime wave which she has been unable to calm. One affluent neighbourhood is keen to secede from the city altogether."

"What is true in Atlanta is also true in other American cities. Property crimes are down, but violent crime has risen. Murders increased by about 30% between 2019 and 2020, a rise that shows little sign of slowing. This change puts at risk what has been perhaps the most benign social trend in America so far this century: the great crime decline. It also threatens liberal reforms."

The Economist

 

Major urban centres in the United States, most of them under Democratic governments are recording murder rates at unprecedented numbers. And there are fears that the rates may continue to mount and accelerate over the summer months in lock-step with the receding of pandemic restrictions. New York City saw its murder rate rise 45 percent last year -- a rate that has since steadily increased. The murder rate in Atlanta went skyward by 60 percent in 2021.

 

In the country, 275 mass shootings have taken place thus far in 2021 representing a 40 percent rise over a like period the year before. Ten of those mass shootings have taken place in Chicago alone. And many cities have fresh memories of violent social clashes, torchings and looting that took place last summer, causing billions in damages to retail establishments and government facilities. Police forces all over the country are in wary contemplation of a renewal of that social dysfunction in violent public disorder.

 

"Defund the police" demands echoed everywhere in the wake of the death of George Floyd. Violent street protests took place across the country, incited by the movement for Black Lives Matter, unleashing civil disobedience events and criminally violent physical attacks to round out the shrill accusations of systemic, ongoing racism. Black Lives Matter was on a roll, publicly supported by Congressional Democrats lending it heft and legitimacy.

 

In many urban centres black mayors and black police chiefs presided over the violence in a triple-bind of duty, past injustices and the 'woke' public mood. In some urban centres police see the benefits of early retirement, while others pursue the 'do less policing' potential inherent in countering public distrust and disdain alongside threats of public violence aimed directly at police. 

The stridently vocal left wing of the Democratic party exerts its influence on the governing Democratic White House openly advocating police defunding in response to their views of police as "systematically racist". This, while the violence and negative acting-out issues impact largely on the poorer black communities who voted for the Democratic nominee for president. Gun ownership has been targeted by the Biden administration as a solution to the murderous violence roiling America's streets.

 

After demonstrations like this there was a deliberate drawback of policing.  CNN

 

Inconvenient truths such as Chicago having the most stringent gun control laws and regulations in the country, yet it is the epicentre of the bloody crime wave, is largely ignored. And then there is the Democratic journey to reverse all the initiatives taken by the predecessor Republican government under Donald Trump, and two issues; 'the wall', and the surging influx of migrants and refugee claimants at the Mexican border are front and centre.

Illegal migrants game the American asylum process, and in addressing the issue of burgeoning illegals melting into the general U.S. population, Trump as president shut everything down. And then President Biden turned it back on, suspending the "Remain in Mexico" policy of the Trump administration that sought to prevent asylum claims without merit. With the wall construction stopped, would-be refugee claimants considered those changes represented a hearty welcome to their prospects.

Enthusiastic new contingents of would-be refugees from Mexico, Central America, Venezuela, Cuba and even Europe and Nigeria have swelled the ranks of the migrant-minded. Now, being swamped with migrants has resulted in mass apprehensions; 173,358 in March; 178,622 in April; and 180,034 in May. Closing in on a million since January; historically unprecedented numbers beyond which are those who successfully escaped apprehension.

Single males, unaccompanied children escorted to the border by "coyotes" are fulfilling the "open border" approach the Democrats have espoused. Although some of their humanitarian impulses are aimed directly at convincing segments of the population that a vote for Democrats is an assurance of a kinder, freer America, the message doesn't always resonate; Large numbers of Hispanic residents in Texas border cities tend to support "law and order" mayoralty candidates of the Republican breed.

 

Chicago police officers investigate an officer-involved shooting outside its 25th district station  

Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune via Getty Images

"The increase in homicides is large and widespread enough to raise serious alarms for criminologists and other experts. So what’s going on?"

"Some experts have cited the protests over the police killings of George Floyd and others — which could’ve had a range of effects, from officers pulling back from their duties to greater community distrust in police, leading to more unchecked violence. Others point to the bad economy."

"Another potential factor is a huge increase in gun purchases this year. Still others posit boredom and social displacement as a result of physical distancing leading people to cause more trouble."

Vox

Goliath vs Goliath

"The current situation on the border between China and India is generally stable, and the two sides are negotiating to resolve relevant border issues."

"In this context, the words, deeds and military deployments of relevant military and political leaders should help ease the situation and increase mutual trust between the two sides, not the other way around."

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin

Xi Jinping, left, and Narendra Modi had previously played up a personal bond   Getty Images

"Having so many soldiers on either side is risky when border management protocols have broken down."

"Both sides are likely to patrol the disputed border aggressively."

"A small local incident could spiral out of control with unintended consequences."

Lieutenant-General D.S. Hooda, former Northern Army commander, India

Indian troops near the border with China   Getty Images

Chinese spokesmen for the government speak reasonably and always portray the Chinese Communist Party ruling Politburo as bearing no ill intentions whatever toward any other country. Peace always uppermost in Beijing's collective mind. Conflict or creating situations that might lead to misunderstandings not their way at all. The sterling quality of 'harmony', within China itself and between the government and its international counterparts represents the goal sought by Beijing.

 

A Beijing that cannot seem to fathom that its insatiable appetite for acquiring the world's natural resources; for excelling in technological advances, achieved in part by pirating advances and formulae and technologies from other international sources which China can then self-produce with a specific Chinese flair and application in proud ownership; a China that cannot abide the thought that its neighbours have an equal right to disputed territories; or that international waters and airspace are to be shared, is one that raises the hackles of those it constantly undercuts and outmanoeuvres.

 

The two nations, restless neighbours, each with immense billion-plus populations, powerhouses of potential in science, technology and academic excellence but with opposing political systems, have long been uneasy with each other's proximity and penchant toward rivalry. Invariably, however, it is China that becomes the aggressor in its hunger for control and possession.  Last summer was a testy one for China-India relations. Border skirmishes in the Himalaya over a tentative border saw India lose control over some 300 square kilometres along the disputed mountain terrain.

 

China's intentions are oblique until they become evidently transparent. The People's Liberation Army brought in forces from Tibet to the Xinjiang Military Command, responsible for patrolling the disputed areas along the Himalayas. Fresh runway buildings, bombproof bunkers meant to house fighter jets and new airfields have appeared along the Tibetan disputed border. Long-range artillery, tanks, rocket regiments and twin-engine fighters have been added in the last few months.

 

Irrelevant to relations between the two countries. Whatever Beijing decides must be done within Chinese territory is of no business to its neighbours. All is well, the border undisturbed, there is no reason for India to leap to conclusions. Neighbours must trust one another's good intentions. The amassing of troops and arms? Negligible training exercises.

 

Indian soldiers on patrol near Leh, in the disputed frontier region of Ladakh   AFP

India, given its experiences with China both in the past and at present, thinks otherwise. It has brought in an additional 50,000 troops to the border; an obvious offensive military move against a neighbour more accustomed to acting out treacherous moves than relying on diplomatic niceties. India has moved its own troops and fighter jet squadrons to three areas along its border with China, to the point where there are now 200,000 Indian troops stationed on the border.

 

In the past, the military presence was directed toward blocking moves China might make; the present redeployment is set to give Indian commanders flexibility in options where they may attack and seize territory in China should it be seen to be necessary; a strategic ploy known as "offensive defence". Where helicopters are assigned to airlift soldiers from valley to valley, as well as artillery pieces like the M777 howitzer. These are not preparations taken lightly.

The recent diplomatic skirmishes representing military-diplomatic discussions with China have seen no progress reaching a return to the decades-old status quo so rudely interrupted by China's acquisitory challenges. The largest increase in troop levels have taken place at the northern region of Ladakh, where the two countries met in brief conflict on several occasions last year. Among India's transferred soldiers are some once involved in anti-terrorism operatons against Pakistan; newly deployed on the border.

 

 An Indian army convoy drives towards Leh, on a highway bordering China, on June 19, 2020 in Gagangir, India. As many as 20 Indian soldiers were killed in a "violent face-off" with Chinese troops on Tuesday in the Galwan Valley along the Himalayas. Chinese and Indian troops attacked each other with batons and rocks.  Photographer: Yawar Nazir/Getty Images AsiaPac

 

Henceforth, India will have greater troop numbers acclimatized to fight in the high-altitude Himalaya, reducing the number of troops stationed on India's western border with Pakistan. A fragile situation, to be sure. In the more populated area along the southern Tibetan plateau, soldiers with machine guns joined lightly armed paramilitary officers. Most of India's border forces were located in the far eastern state of Arunachal Pradesh, where the1962 India-China war took place, French-produced Rafale fighters armed with long-range missiles are deployed in support of the boots on the ground.

 

Bring Us Your Poor, Unskilled, Uneducated, Oppressed ...

"People from all corners of the globe have sought refuge in Canada, people who have started the next chapter of their lives here in Canada,"

"There's another reason that Canada's light shines brightly, and that is the contributions of refugees themselves in so many ways."

"We've seen refugees give back to their new communities and their countries, even during the pandemic."

Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Marco Mendicino 

A group of Central American migrants rest along the railway track on their way to the United States in Macuspana, Tabasco, Mexico March 25, 2021. REUTERS/Carlos Jasso

Immigration Minister Mendicino made an announcement on June 18 that Canada is proceeding with a new target number of refugees into the country of "protected persons"; refugees and asylum seekers set to be accepted for residence in Canada while their applications for acceptance are being determined. That acceptance for residence is to be extended to their families. In 2020 the number brought into Canada stood at 23,500. For 2021 that number is to rise to 45,000.

 

An estimated 50,000 haven-seekers, migrants declaring themselves 'refugees' entered Canada illegally in the space of two years between 2018 and 2019, numbers that are declining by a wide margin, but still ongoing where people who have entered the United States transit into Canada which has a far more relaxed reputation for accepting migrants' refugee claims. Many of those haven-seekers, are fleeing poverty, crime and conflict in their central American homelands, many seek out better economic prospects.

 

Many are drawn by Canada's generous social support system which they can draw on as soon as they enter Canada. And many of the migrants are unschooled, unskilled and if and when they look for employment, will only be suitable for low-skill work that will leave them in poverty, albeit with the added assistance of social welfare. Finding places for migrants to live, providing them with initial financial supports, medical care, language training, educational opportunities strains an already-strained system in Canada at all government levels.

 

In cities like Toronto where many of the refugee declarants head directly for temporary emergency housing -- already under strain to accommodate Canadians who have fallen on hard times and/or those whom the added financial strains of the COVID pandemic's upheaval of social, employment norms have sent into the ranks of the homeless -- an overburdened situation has been exacerbated by the presence of migrants. 

In Toronto 40 percent of people in homeless shelters in 2019 were refugees and asylum claimants. Refugees and asylum claimants represented 80 percent of the total families living in shelters in 2018. A 2018 study of homeless shelters in Ottawa revealed that close to 25 percent of those using the shelters were immigrants or refugees. When the viral pandemic struck, close living quarters in shelters convinced many to leave that shared housing in preference to living on the street.

The downtown cores of many cities now reflect the growing number of street people who have left crowded shelters to live in tent cities in public parks and on sidewalks. An issue of public safety has arisen in lock-step with illegal tent cities. So it defies logic and simple common sense to proudly proclaim Canada's readiness to increase by a wide margin an already large committed number of refugees to a country which has been unable to accommodate the needs of newly-entering people.

The Liberal government speaks of "irregular" entries to the country, when what they are is "illegal". There are legal entry points where people can declare themselves and where they know that entering Canada from the United States where a safe country agreement is in effect whereby the first country entered is the country where application should be made, is deliberately bypassed. In illegal entry a strange situation unfolds where the illegals declare themselves refugees and are enabled to make applications to remain in the country.

Germany stands out as the European country that distinguished itself in 2015 and 2016 in its declaration that it was prepared to accept a million refugees and migrants pouring illegally into Europe from Africa and the Middle East. Years later the German government finds itself supporting those they permitted entry to, many of whom are disproportionately involved in violent crime, according to the government's own data. A mere 50 percent of the migrants -- mostly young, single men -- are employed in Germany.

Robust social welfare systems that leave no one behind are viewed by many who have long been citizens and grew up in the system, as a last resort when living turns tough. To many others coming from countries with no notion of public welfare, state support through welfare seems attractive and well worth leaving home for. Those genuinely seek a better life and prepared to work toward it have indeed made Canada what it is, a country of immigrants.

In earlier generations those who entered Canada as immigrants and refugees, many non-skilled, without higher education levels, applied themselves to whatever employment was available. There were no social welfare programs of any note in that era. People lived in poverty and slowly improved their living situations, their children received good educations and found better employment and left poverty behind. At the present time, all manner of government programs in support of immigrants and refugees are available, and, it seems, less effort is put out for self-support by those feeling entitled to state support.

 

Police erected a tent at the Roxham Road crossing, a Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer informs a migrant couple about a legal border station a few kilometres away. (Charles Krupa/Associated Press)

 

Back, At The Beginning...

"This was a city of 15 million people that was in lockdown. It was strange, but we were told this was to make it easy for the Games participants to get around."

"[I got] very sick two days after we arrived, with fever, chills, vomiting, insomnia. On our flight to come home [at the end of October], 60 Canadian athletes on the flight were put in isolation [at the back of the plane] for the 12-hour flight. We were sick with symptoms ranging from coughs to diarrhea and in between."

"I was tested for various issues, but never for anything respiratory. A few weeks later, I offered to take an antibody test but was ignored."

Unidentified military source still serving in Canadian Armed Forces

Photo taken on Oct. 27, 2019 shows a view of the closing ceremony of the 7th CISM Military World Games in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province. (Photo: Xinhua)

"Given unanswered questions surrounding the origins of the pandemic, information involving the health of service members who participated in the 2019 Games could provide key evidence in understanding when COVID-19 first emerged."

U.S. Representative Mike Gallagher calling for U.S.investigation

 

"One-quarter of us got sick there and when we returned, some were bedridden for weeks. This made us potential vectors for the virus. The military did nothing."

"I was sick and others were too with Wuhan symptoms. ...I was eventually given a swab test, which measures only recent exposure, and told to carry on."

Second unidentified military source serving in Canadian Armed Forces

 

"We are not aware of any CAF members or civilians becoming sick at the Games or after they returned. There have not been any COVID-19 cases identified amongst this group."

"As their stay in Wuhan was well before [the] COVID-19 pandemic was declared and before anyone was aware of the virus, members were not tested upon their return. Testing for COVID-19 was not available in Canada prior to January 2020."

"Once we were aware of potential risks, the CAF and Department of National Defence took immediate precautionary measures to avoid any illness or additional exposure to CAF members related to the novel coronavirus."

Julia Scott, communications adviser, Canadian Forces Health Services public affairs department

The story of the novel coronavirus pandemic keeps deepening, widening, drawing in more studies, becoming more complicated with each passing day. The SARS-CoV-2  virus causing COVID itself is constantly mutating, the focus of health authorities worldwide as breakouts occur and new variants are identified -- along with mutations of variants of concern piggy-backing on variants already tagged as more infectious than the original. As for the original, the role that China played in alerting the world is also questioned and the questions become louder and more persistent day by day.

 

In the United States lawmakers this week called for an investigation into the possibility that the Military World Games that took place in Wuhan, China in October of 2019 turned out to be the first superspreader event that handed the globe a pandemic. Suspicions that officials involved in the arrangements of the event should have been alerted of something amiss when once arrived, the city appeared empty of its population, described by some Game participants as a veritable 'ghost town'. By December of 2019, several months following the Games, the world was aware of a new virus in circulation.

Some members of the Canadian Armed Forces who had taken part in the Games and returned with symptoms linked to COVID feel that military officials failed them, by appearing to ignore both their ill-health symptoms and their complaints involving Wuhan. About 180 military athletes and support personnel from Canada attended the Games, out of a total figure of 9,000 athletes representing 100 countries. China disclosed the presence of a new respiratory virus to the world around the end of December.

Two current members of the Canadian Armed Forces claim the military bureaucracy chose to ignore their symptoms, suggesting Beijing had repressed news of a virus outbreak months in advance of finally admitting the presence of a mysterious new virus that was killing people in Wuhan. One of the military officers who revealed impressions of what he had experienced in Wuhan in October of 2019, spoke of his family members becoming ill, and of his own worsening symptoms; fatigue, nosebleeds, fever and breathing pain.

 

Armed Forces men’s soccer team members salute at the start of a preliminary round match with Qatar for the Council of International Sports for Military 2019 Military World Games in Wuhan, China, Oct. 16, 2019.  US Dept. of Defense

 

According to The Washington Post, American military leaders at the time dismissed the idea or claimed they had no idea of the situation where U.S. military participants in the Games became ill with COVID-centric symptoms. On January 22, 2020 Canadian servicemen who had taken part in the Wuhan Games received a letter from the Surgeon General that advised it was "not aware of any COVID-19 illness among Games participants"; that "Your individual risk of having been exposed to 2019-nCoV during temporary duty in Wuhan City ... is negligible."

"How did they know? I would have thought the intelligence of medical intelligence community would have tested and followed up on this, but this didn't happen. Athletes were coming back sick from countries, with ongoing symptoms. In Europe, athletes were tested and French, Italian and six Spaniards returned and were positively identified in 2019-20 as having the virus", stated one of the Canadian Forces officers.

Opening Ceremonies - The U.S. Armed Forces team marches during opening ceremonies for the 2019 Military World Games in Wuhan, China, Oct. 18, 2019. Teams from more than 100 countries will compete in dozens of sporting events through Oct. 28.  US Dept.of Defense

And then there is this: "Chinese official who has a history of attacking the United States online has lent a voice to a conspiracy theory that blames American soldiers for bringing COVID-19 to China, though the science does not support that narrative."

"According to the unfounded accusation, which reports say has been widely shared on the popular Chinese social media platform Weibo, the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 was introduced to China when 300 US military members arrived in the Wuhan region for the Military World Games in mid-October and infected the local population. None of the servicemembers who made the trip have tested positive for the virus."

"The rumors seemed to begin when Chinese respiratory specialist Zhong Nanshan stated at a February press conference that “though the COVID-19 was first discovered in China, it does not mean that it originated from China,” planting the seeds of doubt."

"On Thursday (March 12), Zhao Lijian, the spokesperson of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, took to Twitter, a social platform banned in China, to ask, “When did patient zero begin in US? How many people are infected? What are the names of the hospitals? It might be US army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan. Be transparent! Make public your data! US owe us an explanation!"

March 13, 2020, Lisa Winter, The Scientist

Canada's Liberal Government in Contempt of Parliament

"There's a lot of politics going on by both the Liberals and the Conservatives but in parallel to that, there is zero doubt in my mind that there are very good reasons to protect at least some of the information here."

"It's very hard to know where the line is between government efforts to actually legitimately protect classified information, which is very real, and government attempts to protect itself against embarrassment."

"NSICOP [the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians] has done and said things that were independent, that were autonomous, and that did not make the intelligence community happy, that did not make the government happy."

"Any time you set up new institutions, there's always a process of two steps forward one step back, two steps sideways; This is multiple steps back."

Thomas Juneau, associate professor, security issues, espionage, University of Ottawa

"My understanding is that parliamentary privilege is absolute. So how to convince a judge otherwise, what would be the rationale for that is really something that is quite puzzling to me."

"I think it's dangerous if we start to play that game and try to limit access like that, using courts to limit access to documents."

Daniel Beland, director, McGill Institute for the Study of Canada

"The research community goes where the best science and opportunity is taking place."

"I think it would be short-sighted to heavily restrict research partnerships. After all, science is a global enterprise and one never knows where and when a breakthrough or major discovery can emerge."

Paul Dufour, adjunct professor, Institutute for Science, Society and Policy, University of Ottawa

"This is our future."

"Good relations with China means our future scientists and theirs will be in constant communication, visiting back and forth and trading information."

"The freer they are to do so, the better for all of us."

James Robert Brown, professor emeritus, Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, University of Toronto

Xiangguo Qiu, her biologist husband and her students have not returned to work at the National Microbiology Lab in Winnipeg, after being escorted out in July 2019. The RCMP is still investigating a possible 'policy breach' reported by the Public Health Agency of Canada. (CBC)

 

The Parliamentary Committee of the House of Commons Canada-China relations committee had censured Iaian Stewart, President of the Public Health Agency, for having ignored their calls for documents to be presented for their scrutiny to answer the mystery of the firing of two Chinese bioscientists from the high-security Winnipeg-based National Microbiology Laboratory. Two scientists with professional links to research and scientists linked to the People's Liberation Army laboratories. 

Questions surrounding the two scientists' escort from the high-security bioresearch laboratory along with Chinese bioscience students studying in Canada and recruited by Xiangguo Qiu and her husband Keding Cheng to work alongside them at the Winnipeg laboratory have gone stonily unanswered. Both the President of the Public Health Agency, which oversees the Winnipeg laboratory, and the Liberal government have refused to release the requested documents. The Liberal government has now filed with the Federal Court to give legal impetus to its refusal to release the documents.

Michael Juneau-Katsuya, formerly head of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service Asia-Pacific section reminds that CSIS consistently gave warning of China's vast intelligence gathering network and that it poses a grave threat to Canadian intellectual property. He had commissioned a report in mid-1990 while still with the service, estimating that Canada had experienced a loss in excess of $10 billion annually as a result of economic espionage carried on by China. He criticizes the government for its lax approach in protection of Canada's science breakthroughs.

Mr.Juneau-Katsuya points to the cost associated with a 2014 cyber attack on the National Research Council, despite which Canada's cooperation with China went on unabated. "CSIS has identified a lot of threats and knows a lot about the threats, but the government does not warn its employees. The only defence is prevention. When they steal your stuff, it's too late", he said. An internal document produced in 2016 revealed that rebuilding the ransacked system would take years at an estimated cost of breach repair in the hundreds of millions. Still, the agency continued to collaborate with China.

 

One of the scientists escorted from the National Microbiology Lab last year amidst an RCMP investigation was responsible for a shipment of Ebola and Henipah virus to the Wuhan Institute of Virology four months earlier - although the Public Health Agency of Canada still maintains the two are not connected.  CBC

 

It was at the National Research Council where an Ebola vaccine was developed in 2018 alongside the Chinese Academy of Military, Medical Sciences and CanSino Biologics. China's Ministry of Science and Technology issued a joint call with the National Research Council in 2019 for proposals for collaborative industrial research and development projects. A number of additional ventures were conducted by the National Research Council, along with annual meetings with the China National Biotec Group.

A research-council employee from China who had been employed in the People's Republic's Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation had conducted much of the work involved in setting up partnerships and guiding Canadian technology companies to enter the Chinese market. Council researchers had developed a cell line as a scaffolding for virus research which they provided to CanSino for use in the Chinese company's COVID-19 vaccine. That was followed by an agreement for the NRC to help in testing the vaccine and to manufacture it at an NRC facility.

By August of last year, when the CanSino vaccine candidate was prepared for shipping as per agreement to Canada, Beijing stepped in to refuse to allow the vaccine to be exported to Canada. Viewed by those knowledgeable as yet more retribution, aside from the arrest on charges of 'espionage' of two innocent Canadians, Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, for the arrest in Vancouver on a warrant from the U.S. of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou.

Environmental Degradation, Catastrophic Consequences

"We went running out, and we saw all the debris and the building was just gone."

"We heard a couple of people yelling, 'Help, help, please!" 

Alexis Watson, 21, Texas vacationer

 

"It's hard to explain. This doesn't happen in America. It's doesn't happen in Miami Beach. It doesn't happen in our homes. And it's very difficult to comprehend how it's possible."

"I have to tell you, when I walked past ground zero, there was row after row after row of firefighters who are literally waiting to rush into a building that could fall at any time."

Rabbi Eliot Pearlson, Temple Menorah, Bal Harbour, Miami

 

"You always hold out hope. Until we definitively know, we are trying to stay hopeful. But after seeing the video of the collapse it's increasingly difficult, because they were in that section that was pancaked in, in the first section that fell in, and then the other building fell on top of it, so it's not easy to watch."

"It was just a comment she made offhand, that's why she woke up, [his mother said that creaking noises woke her up in the building the night before the collapse], and then she wasn't able to go back to sleep afterward -- but now in hindsight, you always wonder."

"We are praying for a miracle, but at the same time trying to be as realistic about it as possible [whether he will see his mother and his grandmother again]."

"Until we definitely know, there is hope. It's just dwindling by the minute." 

Pablo Rodriguez, Surfside, Miami

This aerial photo shows part of the 12-story oceanfront Champlain Towers South Condo that collapsed early Thursday, June 24, 2021 in Surfside, Fla. (Amy Beth Bennett/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP)

A professor in the department of earth and environment at Florida International University produced a study in 2020, that found the building that partially collapsed in Surfside, Florida  early Thursday morning had been steadily sinking since the 1990s. The 12-story oceanfront condominium building had been built on what can be seen in hindsight was an unstable foundation. Built on what has been euphemistically called 'reclaimed wetland'. Reclaimed wetland is wetland that had been degraded and had then been restored to its natural functionality.

Wetlands have important -- vital -- environmental properties that are normally considered off limits for tampering with. They represent nature's way of helping to absorb excess moisture; with a rising ocean attributed to climate change, the wetland's critical function is to act as a protective barrier between the ocean and the land. What happened to that wetland was that it was destroyed for the purpose of 'reclamation', a spurious term, whereby infill, construction garbage and detritus and soil from elsewhere was dumped to destroy the wetland and create a building site.

Land is valuable for the construction trade in areas where demand is high for accommodation in a tourism-industry geographic area. Where moderate weather  calls out to winter-weary residents of other geographies with harsh winters, along with the prospect of beach-and-sun leisure making for a situation that adds tourism dollars from visitors from abroad, to the state coffers. Where entrepreneurs and construction companies can persuade a municipality to issue building licenses in areas that should be under environmental protection.

 

Residents of Surfside, Florida, not far from Miami Beach had a rude awakening before 2:00 a.m. on Thursday when the building they were in was shuddering, and then part of it collapsed. In the shock of the collapse, surrounded by smoke and debris, screams resounded, heard by other residents living in nearby buildings that remained intact. "It is just overwhelming to see when we opened the door and saw that the building had collapsed", one woman recounted after she was rescued from her balcony. 

The bodies of four people who were killed outright when the northeast corridor of the 12-story Champlain Towers condominium collapsed is only the beginning. An estimated 150 people are unaccounted for. In the building lived a wide mix of people, from Latin America, from the Jewish community. Unaccounted for is the sister and brother-in-law of the first lady of Paraguay. Unaccounted for are entire family units. 

 

Rescue workers look through the rubble of Champlain Towers South in the Surfside area of Miami. Photograph: Lynne Sladky/Associated Press

 

Rescuers evacuated dozens of people from the building with its 136 units. Fifty-five of the total units were entirely destroyed. A wing of the building is seen in footage captured by nearby security cameras, suddenly collapsing with an immense dust cloud erupting over the collapse. A witness spoke of seeing people trapped within, making use of their phone flashlights signalling desperately for rescue. Rescuers pulled a few people from the rubble and firefighters rescued other tenants from balconies in the part of the tower that remained standing.

"He was yelling, 'Please help me!' It was sheer panic", said Nicholas Balboa who lives right next to the condo, of a boy's hand he saw waving through the rubble, while he helped in his rescue. The building had passed inspection just one day before the collapse. Engineers were on the scene the day of the collapse 'examining' what might have caused the collapse, according to the vice mayor of Surfside. "It's a tragic day. We still have hope to be able to identify additional survivors", said Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

Rescuers reported initially they could hear banging and knocking within the rubble, of people desperately trying to indicate their presence, to be rescued. Later, first responders spoke of their confidence that all survivors had been rescued. "Everyone who is alive is out of the building", director of Miami-Dade Emergency Management, finally stated. "It's hard to imagine how this could happen. Buildings just don't fall down", said Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett. "Unless someone literally pulls out the supports from underneath, or they get washed out, or there’s a sinkhole or something like that, because it just went down."

 

On all of Miami Beach towns are built on a barrier island, building sites that climate scientists and geologists long have given warning of the islands' instability, made up of a loose mixture of sand and mud, nature's protection for the shoreline, which cannot responsibly be developed. "These are very dynamic features. We didn’t understand that these islands actually migrate until the 1970s", explained professor emeritus of geology Orrin Pilkey. Professor Pilkey has studied sea-level rise and the coast's overdevelopment. "As sea level rises, they move back."

 

Rescue personnel work on the collapsed condo tower Friday, June 25, 2021, Photo: AP

 

The Riddle Within a Mystery Encapsulated in a Puzzle

"If her contract permitted it, that would be a scandal. If the contract didn't permit and they ignored the contract, that would be a scandal."

"If the contract didn't even turn its attention to this, that would be a scandal, too."

Mark Warner, trade lawyer, former legal director, Ontario Research and Innovation Ministry

"We cannot comment on this matter."

"The National Microbiology Laboratory has policies and processes that allow for scientific collaboration and these are reviewed periodically as part of the Science Excellence initiative to adapt them as needed."

Mark Johnson, spokesman, Public Health Agency of Canada

Xiangguo Qiu's ouster from the National Microbiology Laboratory remains cloaked in mystery and has been the subject of ongoing debate in Parliament. Photo by MCpl Vincent Carbonneau, Rideau Hall/File

The plot sickens as it thickens. That the Government of Canada is shielding documents from the Parliament of Canada that would shed light on the strange and rather awkward dismissal of two Chinese scientists long employed by Canada's topmost secret biology laboratory, biologists of distinction who had links both with the Wuhan Virology Institute and scientists working directly for the CCP's People's Liberation Army laboratories, defies logic. 

The dismissal of scientists Xiangguo Qiu and her husband Keding Cheng in January following their having been escorted out of Winnipeg's National Microbiology Laboratory a year and a half earlier along with Chinese biology students that Dr. Qiu had brought into the NML, is an event of great interest to parliamentarians and to the Canadian public. Particularly at this time of a global pandemic when a viral pathogen erupted in Wuhan, China and there are suspicions whether it was a natural event or whether the Wuhan Institute of Virology had been involved.

The head of the Winnipeg laboratory was called before Parliament and given instructions to produce documents to clarify the reason behind the scientists' escort from the laboratory and their consequential firing. Public Health Agency of Canada chief Iain Stewart adamantly, despite being reprimanded, continues to refuse to provide unredacted documents to Members of Parliament sitting on the Canada-China relations committee.

It has now been made clear that it is the Liberal government of Justin Trudeau which has instructed Mr. Stewart to refuse to surrender the documents in question. The Liberal government has filed an application to the Federal Court asking it to prohibit disclosure of the requested documents, challenging the principle of the House of Commons' supreme position to demand documents be produced regardless of privacy or national security laws.

Yet the government that has imperilled national security through its continued positions on allowing Beijing access to Canadian academic circles, corporate interests, government infiltration, scientific and technical inventions and production has filed an application requesting an order confirming the documents should remain undisclosed; the disputed material being "information which if disclosed would be injurious to international relations or national defence or national security". 

Dr. Xiangguo Qiu, a prominent virologist at the forefront of an ongoing RCMP investigation, is seen in an undated screengrab at the Winnipeg-based National Microbiology Laboratory. She was fired from her post in January, but officials won't say why.  Photo:  CBC

It would, in the sense that such disclosures have the potential to demonstrate the extent of this government's lax attention to securing its own intelligence, linked to that of its G7 and Five Eyes partnerships. News that Xiangguo Qiu, currently under investigation by the RCMP, is listed as an inventor on two patents filed by official agencies in China is another unsavoury revelation. As a long-time Canadian civil servant her obligation is to Canada, not China.

It is, in fact, illegal for any employee of the Microbiology Laboratory to patent anything discovered at the Lab; it is the property of the Lab and of Canada.While her escort out of the Microbiology Lab continues to shrouded in mystery, the subject of Parliamentary debate, these new revelations serve to deepen the conundrum.

One patent listing her as a co-inventor with others was filed with the Chinese National Intellectual Property Administration by China's National Institutes for Food and Drug Control, describing an 'inhibitor for Ebola virus'. Ms.Qiu had been celebrated in Canada for her work in helping to develop a treatment for Ebola. In the other patent registered by the Inspection and Quarantine Technology Centre of Fujian province a "detection method" for Marburg a hemorrhagic fever, is involved.

Just coincidentally, Dr.Qui had been involved in an unauthorized shipment of NML materials involving those same biological inventions out of the Winnipeg laboratory to the Wuhan Virology Institute. Dr.Qiu, it seems apparent, was either in violation of the inventions law or had received permission from the minister to proceed as she had, which seems unlikely, given its illegality and the strange potential decision to provide such highly classified and protected material and research to a hostile country.

It had been revealed by a journalistic investigation that Professors Qiu and Cheng had failed to pass security screening by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, somewhat after the fact. They had been known to work alongside Chinese scientists as  well as a PLA military researcher who had also been employed by the Winnipeg Laboratory. None of this inspires confidence in the Public Health Agency of Canada, nor the Government of Canada in this hugely unsavoury event.

The National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg where scientists Xiangguo Qiu and Keding Cheng worked until they were escorted out in July 2019, and finally fired in January 2021. Photo by Michel Comte/AFP via Getty Images/File

Mlitary Ombudsman Damning Government, Military for Inaction Against Sexual Malfeasance

"[The office of the military ombudsman  is the victim of] subtle and insidious [attempts by the Defence Department to] exert control [over its work and investigations]."

"The ongoing sexual misconduct scandal within the Canadian Armed Forces and the Department of National Defence is moving from crisis to tragedy."

"When leaders turn a blind eye to our recommendations and concerns in order to advance political interests and their own self-preservation or career advancement, it is the members of the defence community that suffer the consequences. It is clear that inaction is rewarded far more than action."

"In the four months since the most recent outbreak of multiple accusations of sexual misconduct, the actions of the Minister of National Defence, senior government and military officials have bitterly proved this point."

"The erratic behaviour of leadership defies common sense or reason. The concept of ministerial accountability has been absent." 

"The cycle of scandals followed by studies, recommendations for independent oversight, half-solutions, and resistance by the Department or the Canadian Armed Forces will only be broken when action is taken."

"In the event that more talk of 'review' surfaces in response to this press conference and my position paper, I have included in the paper an outline of all the reviews already conducted on the subject since 1977. They are numerous and thorough."

Gregory Lick, military ombudsman, Canadian Armed Forces 

Canada's military ombudsman is calling for big changes in the military after years of complaints about misconduct. Gregory Lick issued a position paper calling for full independence for his office    CBC

 

Bitterly damning the government that brought him to his position, and the Minister of National Defence whom Prime Minister Justin Trudeau only the day before threw his 'full confidence' behind, stating him to be perfect for the role he was assigned to in 2015 despite a series of missteps and oversights, both of carelessness and intent, when Harjit Sajjan should have been dismissed from his post long ago, is an indication of just how redundant another National Defence insider's account of damning realities of dysfunction will be to the outcome of a situation that has festered far too long.

Ombudsman Gregory Lick demands the government agree to his office being granted "full independence" from the Department of National Defence and the office of the minister. He and others like him within the department, including his predecessor, are beyond mere outrage at the lack of dedication by both the government and the executive administration of the department to tackle the problem of sexual misconduct within the senior ranks of the military. Where the former chief of the defence staff is being formally investigated for sexual misadventures and the revelation that his replacement is similarly under investigation.

And nor do investigations start and stop with these two high-echelon administrators. Others of high executive rank have also been cited for sexual misdemeanors and have been removed from their posts while under investigation as well. The investigations have been conducted under wraps only revealed through sleuthing by investigative journalists to a shocked public. Previous reports and investigations with their litany of accusations and promises to reform the military have come to naught. Mostly because those who have done the promising and who have led the 'solution-finding' have themselves come under scrutiny.

 

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau responds to questions about military ombudsman Gregory Lick's criticisms of the government's handling of military misconduct   CBC

 

The bluntness with which the ombudsman revealed the extent of the dysfunction blighting the military and its future in Canada is unusual for an executive still active in such a critical post. But he is appalled at the government's "inaction" in failing to address the sexual misconduct crisis that has smeared the Forces Those internal measures whose purpose is to support victims of misconduct have transitioned from "broken", he asserted, to "collapsed". Promises for change turned into "checklist exercises". 

That his office reports to the Minister of National Defence "does not work". He had with him a position paper with a list of "must-have" reforms and new legislation that would advance the empowerment of  his office. A recommendation that would have him report directly to Parliament rather than to the minister's office, enabling him to carry out his work "unimpeded". Controversy of the Liberal government's stance relating to the series of sexual misconduct allegations, along with Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan arose when claims against former Chief of Defence Staff Jonathan Vance were revealed.

Former CDS Vance vigorously denies wrongdoing, but the evidence is there and it speaks loud and clear. Gary Walbourne, Ombudsman Lick's predecessor, had months ago informed a parliamentary committee of having brought to the attention of Defence Minister Sajjan compromising details relating to CDS Vance's conduct, which Minister Sajjan refused to hear or see. When the information was passed on to the Privy Council Office and the Prime Minister's Office, no one took 'notice'. 

When the matter became public, Defence Minister Sajjan announced yet another review, this one to be led by former Supreme Court Justice Louise Arbour. Another review on top of an earlier one by another retired justice, Marie Deschamps, which was, like all such reviews, accepted, then shelved. "I have always had a professional working relationship with Mr. Lick. As Mr. Lick said today, there has been no political interference with his office. Further, I expect he would have alerted me if he felt there was a problem with the relations between our offices. That has never happened", explained tone-deaf Minister Sajjan.

Minister of National Defence Harjit Sajjan is seen during a news conference on May 7, 2020 in Ottawa. The military's ombudsman said Tuesday the minister's office had placed reports 'on hold' and has been 'delaying their publication and availability to the public.' (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)

Canada: Use It or Lose It

"This study should be a wake-up call for the federal government."

"It has been made abundantly clear that the overarching issue within this industry is the fact that the federal government has created a business environment where Canada will be unable to meet the growing global demand for critical minerals and, therefore, be reliant on other countries to meet our needs."

"[The current review process] imposes barriers and represents a serious financial risk for reputable mining companies to move forward with new projects."

House of Commons Natural Resources Committee Report

"We're talking about the here and now. People have to get with the times and get with critical minerals or they're going to lose."

The question is, will we be riding on the crest of that wave, or will we feel the impacts of federal government bearing down on us as opposed to walking in lockstep."

Greg Rickford, Minister of Northern Development, Mines, Natural Resources and Forestry, Ontario

Ontario Minister Rickford points out that new regulatory hurdles imposed by the federal government declared recently all new projects in the northern "Ring of Fire" region are to be subject to federal environmental assessments. This is the Ontario region known to be rich in chromite, nickel, copper, platinum and other minerals, set to play a vital role in building Canada's supply chains, most particularly if federal funding is provided for the development of provincial resources.

This is in recognition of China tightening its grip on worldwide supplies of rare earths and other crucial materials. Minerals such as magnesium, lithium and cobalt, used in the production of electric car batteries, mobile phone components, solar panels and guided missiles relate to their shortage, constraining production levels. Those same consumer-demanded items will of necessity be sourced elsewhere, as fungible products, if Canada fails to protect its vital natural resources for its own security.

The federal government's failure to secure supply for these strategic materials represents a shortcoming with potential major consequences, in view of next-generation technologies consuming a growing share of the global economy. Canada's immense mineral wealth according to the report, as a result of a weighty regulatory burden, has hampered Canada from tapping into its own critical natural resources. 

The critical need to secure supply chains for strategic products has become urgent recently in view of sustained efforts on the part of the Communist Party of China to 'corner the market' for supplies of strategic metals, alongside its coveting of the 17 rare earth elements on its way to manipulating prices and supplies. In 2010 China cut the Japanese supply of rare earths, responding to a dispute over the Diaoyu Islands. That measure restricted Japan's capacity to manufacture hybrid cars and other like products.

Canada is being urged by experts to outline a working framework geared to developing and protecting critical minerals; incentives for investment, to national security protection to guard against foreign takeovers of Canadian assets. For decades, China has invested in acquiring strategic mineral assets in Africa and elsewhere. The end result being that it now has possession of fully 80 percent of global processing capacity for rare earths. Around 80 percent of battery chemicals globally are refined in China.

The report urges Canada to deepen ties with Europe, the United States and Japan, in a group effort to strengthen non-Chinese supply chains. The managing director of Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, Simon Moores, informed the committee that China is set to possess 67 percent of global capacity to build lithium-ion batteries by 2030, in large part as a result of significant investments China has made, including a number of "mega factories". Leaving the rest of the world to contemplate the possession of a mere 12 percent.

A lithium mine in Quebec. One expert told the committee that China is likely to possess 67 per cent of global capacity to build lithium-ion batteries by 2030, and North America just 12 per cent. Photo by RB Energy Inc./File

Canada’s critical minerals list:

Aluminum, Antimony, Bismuth, Cesium, Chromium, Cobalt, Copper, Fluorspar, Gallium, Germanium, Graphite, Helium, Indium, Lithium, Magnesium, Manganese, Molybdenum, Nickel, Niobium, Platinum group metals, Potash, Rare earth elements, Scandium, Tantalum, Tellurium, Tin, Titanium, Tungsten, Uranium, Vanadium, Zinc.