Adampol Slave Labour/Death Camp, Poland

"We never had the opportunity to lay a flower for any of our beloved ones who died here. But we will mourn them today. Their souls in heaven will always be with us."

"He [his father Jack Pomeranc] had tremendous anxiety and regrets and fear. [He was] crying and apologizing to his family that he wished he [had] saved them, and he could have but he didn't and should have."

"And at that time, I understood very well that this was something I needed to put closure to for him, since he was traumatized all his life from it."

Today we bring closure to this chapter in our lives."

Michael Pomeranc, son of Holocaust survivor

 

After many long years of planning, Michael Pomeranc and his close relatives fulfilled a personal mission when they took part in a ceremony to unveil memorials to murdered Jews during the Second World War. The venue was a forest in Poland. And the memorial was to honour the Jews murdered by German forces. Dozens of Michael Pomeranc's relatives among them, at a little-known German labour camp named Adampol.

During the dedication ceremony, Pomeranc spoke of his childhood in the United States. Where there were no cemeteries that held the remains of his family members, no graves to visit that held the remains of his predecessors in his family tree. Jews were forced to work as slave labourers in fields nearby the Nazi labour camp. Once their usefulness was over, when they became too weak, too ill to continue labouring, they were murdered, in 1943.

Poland, under Nazi German occupation, was the site of many such labour and death camps where Jews had value as slave labourers and when they could no longer perform the labours assigned to them they were scheduled for mass extermination in the death camps. Auschwitz is the most well-known of all such death camps, but it was only one of many, although it was responsible for the extermination of over a million Jews of all ages.

 

Women in the barracks at Auschwitz, Poland, January 1945. Photo taken by a Russian photographer shortly after the liberation of the camp.

 

The event was attended by local schoolchildren in the presence of descendants of Holocaust survivors who witnessed it far from Poland, via livestream. Two living survivors of Adampol are left to contemplate their living hell during that time. Too old and frail to make the trip to Poland. New York city hotelier Pomeranc visited the site 25 years earlier with his father Jack Pomeranc. His father had been imprisoned there but was able to escape, to join Jewish partisans and took part in blowing up Nazi-occupied buildings and train tracks in efforts at war sabotage.

Jack, whose Yiddish name back then was Jankiel, along with a brother and two sisters managed to survive, but his parents and two little sisters, age 3 and 4, along with aunts,  uncles and cousins were all murdered. At the commemoration a memorial with the names of 73 of over 600 victims were included; the only identification so far of those who perished. The organizers' goal is the restoration of identities of as many victims as possible to preserve their memories.

The event is part of a more expansive effort by the Polish Jewish community to commemorate sites of mass murder of Jews during the Holocaust, neglected and unmarked a lifetime after the Second World War. Of the 3.3 million Jews who lived in Poland before the 1939 German invasion, most wee murdered. Polish Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich along with a group named Zapomniane (Forgotten) aided by non-invasive technologies have succeeded in systematically locating sites of mass burials to mark them for posterity.

So far, witness testimony of local people and technology have aided researchers in identifying over 20 possible mass grave sites in Adampol, verified by a forensic archaeologist who has carried out years of research at the site.

Illustrative photo of electric fences with concrete posts and insulators surrounding the barracks where deportees where held at the Auschwitz concentration and death camp established by the Nazis. (Jack Guez/AFP)

 

UNRWA, Facilitator of Palestinian Terrorism

"UNRWA has taken steps to address allegations regarding individual employees' support for terrorist organizations and demonstrated its willingness to pursue and implement reform of internal processes."

Co-signed (Canada, Australia, France, Germany Japan South Korea, U.K.) statement

"[The new laws in Israel] would de facto render UNRWA's vital operations in Gaza impossible, and seriously hamper its provision of services in the West Bank."

"[The laws stand] in stark contradiction to international law and the fundamental principle of humanity."

Josep Borrell, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy

 

"UNRWA workers involved in terrorist activities against Israel must be held accountable. Since avoiding a humanitarian crisis is also essential, sustained humanitarian aid must remain available in Gaza now and in the future."

"In the 90 days before this legislation takes effect – and after – we stand ready to work with our international partners to ensure Israel continues to facilitate humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza in a way that does not threaten Israel’s security."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

Security personnel work at the UNRWA headquarters, in Jerusalem, May 10, 2024. REUTERS/Ammar Awad/File Photo

 

Israel  has moved to make it illegal for the United Nations' Relief and Works Agency(UNRWA) to continue its operations in Israeli territory. State officials in Israel may no longer, under the law, co-operate with the UN aid agency. A large majority of the Knesset passed the two laws in the wake of ongoing revelations of UNRWA staff complicity in the Hamas October 7, 2023 massacre in southern Israel.

According to an unnamed U.S. State Department official, the Biden Administration is "deeply concerned" over this turn of affairs. Despite which had the United States been the subject of such barbarian savagery, there would be no question of the ferocity of its retaliation against the perpetrators of the inhuman nature of such barbarism against its civilian population by a conscienceless aggressor. Think back to September 11, 2001. For Israel, September 11 and October 7 are interchangeable.

Afghanistan facilitated and nurtured the al-Qaeda conspiracy that resulted in 9/11 which led to a long and ultimately fruitless pursuit of both the Taliban and al-Qaeda. The latter's mastermind was eliminated but the state of mind that he expressed lives on. UNRWA has, since its inception as a permanent crutch for the interminable victimhood of Palestinians aided and abetted and incited its spirit of malevolent intentions against the Jewish state in the interests of destroying Israel.

According to UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini,the legislation "opposes the UN charter and violates the State of Israel's obligations under international law". When in fact, UNRWA's actions over the past 70 years have deliberately nurtured Palestinian Arab resentment, victimhood and hatred against Jews living in their ancestral homeland with the rebirth of Israel on a slender tract of land that represents a small portion of its original homeland. Another portion of which Palestinians rejected outright for their future state in preference to claiming the entire geography as their entitled due.

Accusations of malfeasance against UNRWA are not new; most Palestinians are taught at UNRWA schools throughout the Palestinian territories and in 'refugee camps' in the Arab world, using tainted curricula that fosters hate and terrorism. 30,000 staff are employed by UNRWA, mostly Palestinians. It operates in Jordan and Lebanon as well. The UN agency has long been known to provide cover and income to Palestinian terrorists and actively undermining attempts at peace negotiations.

 

Ayelet Samerano reacts as she screens the video of her son's body being kidnapped to Gaza by an UNRWA social worker, during a UN Watch summit in Geneva, February 26, 2024. (Screenshot: Hostages Families Forum)

 

Evidence surfaced in the wake of October 7 massacres when 1,200 mostly civilian Israelis, men, women, children, the elderly were murdered, another 250 abducted from their homes to be taken as prisoner-hostages back to Gaza to be maltreated, tortured, raped, starved and murdered while being used as barter by Hamas for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. The atrocities were participated in by UNRWA employees who also happened to be members of Hamas.

"A social worker for a so-called humanitarian organization kidnapped my son. How can someone working for an organization that claims to do good in this world do something so cruel and inhumane?" "How can the UN pay this man who dragged my son’s limp body along the ground and then picked him up as if he was a prize into Gaza."

"How many more lives have been ruined by this person, hauling my son like he isn’t even a human being into an UNRWA car?"

Ayelet Samerano, mother of man killed and taken hostage by UNRWA employee to Gaza

Of the over 1,000 Gazans employed by UNRWA, an estimated 450 are members of terrorist organizations located in Gaza, mostly members of Hamas. UNRWA experts dispute that the legislation newly enacted in Israel is in contradiction to international law. Simply put, Israel is not party to treaties compelling it to engage with a group such as UNRWA that actively agitates against the Jewish State. To permit UNRWA to continue its ongoing actions deleterious to Israel's survival would represent a nonsensical act of self-destruction on Israel's part.

Flirting Dangerously With Prospects of World War III

"Today, I can confirm that North Korean troops have been sent to Russia, and that North Korean military units have been deployed to the Kursk region."

"[The move represents] a significant escalation [in North Korea's involvement in the conflict and marks] a dangerous expansion of Russia's war."

"[NATO is] actively consulting within the alliance, with Ukraine, and with our Indo-Pacific partners [on developments]."

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte

 

"This is our sovereign decision."

"Whether we use it or not, where, how, or whether we engage in exercises, training, or transfer some experience. "

"It’s our business."

Russian President Vladimir Putin

 

"North Korean soldiers are deployed to support Russia’s war of aggression. It's a grave escalation in this war and a threat to global peace."

"[The EU would] respond together with our like-minded partners."

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen  

"[A] portion [of those soldiers had already moved closer to Ukraine."

"The US is increasingly concerned that Russia would use these soldiers] in combat or to support combat operations against Ukrainian forces in Russia's Kursk oblast [region]."

Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh

The Ukrainian spy agency released video that it says was intercepted from Russian soldiers complaining about North Korean troops and the language barrier. Reuters

A high-level South Korean delegation, along with top intelligence and military officials as well as senior diplomats briefed NATO's 32 national ambassadors at NATO headquarters in Brussels on what is known at this time respecting the deployment of North Korean soldiers to Russia for training to take part in the Russian conflict against Ukraine.

Sergey Lavrov, Russia's Foreign Minister pointed out that Pyongyang and Moscow had signed a joint security pact in June. Although he was responding to the statement by NATO's Mark Rutte, he confined himself to that single remark, side-stepping any confirmation that North Korean soldiers were actually in Russia at this point. On the other hand, he pointed out, Western military instructors have been deployed covertly to Ukraine to train its military in the use of long-range weapons supplied to Ukraine by its Western partners.

NATO has confirmation that troops from North Korea have been dispatched to Russia to aid its war against Ukraine, elaborating with the additional confirmation received that some troops have already been deployed in the Kursk border region where significantly, the Russian military has been attempting to push back a Ukrainian incursion into Russia well beyond the border between the two that appears to be well dug in.

Thousands of North Korean soldiers -- an estimated total of 10,000 -- would represent a significant boon to Russia in Europe's largest conflict since the Second World War. In the process the situation will place greater pressure on Ukraine's overstretched military and underarmed, war-weary soldiers. On Monday, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that about 650,000 Russian soldiers had been killed or wounded. "They [Russians] are not collecting the bodies... their people are rotting on the ground." 

 

Geopolitical tensions in the Korean Peninsula and the greater Indo-Pacific region including Japan and Australia are being stoked, according to Western officials. The more complex the situation becomes, the more heated the conflict and wider in its implications, drawing in sympathetic supporters on either side -- East and West -- the likelier it is that the embers of a greater and more widespread conflict can accelerate the flames of war; that World War III hovers on the horizon.

 

It is obvious that Vladimir Putin's end-game is the goal of reshaping of global power dynamics, seeking a counterbalance to Western influence during a summit of BRICS countries where the leaders of China and India visited Russia a week ago. Direct assistance for his war was sought from Iran, whose supply of drones has been most useful to the Kremlin, alongside North Korea's contribution of ammunition to Russia's war machinery.

• NATO says N.Korean troops may be headed to front line
• South Korea and Ukraine vow to step up cooperation
• North Korea's foreign minister arrives in Russia for talks
• Kremlin doesn't deny reports of N.Korean troops in Russia
  

"This war is becoming internationalized, extending beyond two countries."

"We agreed to strengthen intelligence and expertise exchange, intensify contacts at all levels, especially the highest, in order to develop an action strategy and countermeasures to address this escalation."                                                                                                             Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

A news broadcast in Seoul showing a satellite image of Russia's Ussuriysk military facility, where intelligence agencies said North Korean personnel were gathered within the training ground. Photograph: Kim Jae-Hwan/SOPA Images/REX/Shutterstock

 

 

Canadian Justice in Action (Inaction)

"When mental illness contributes to the commission of an offence, general deterrence will be a less important consideration because a mentally ill offender is not a suitable exemplar to dissuade other members of the public from similar conduct."

"Understanding the root cause of his [Stanley Jago] criminality, and finding ways to address it, is in my view, the key to the long-term protection of society."

Court of King's Bench Justice Anna Loparco

"The Crown certainly takes no issue with the fact that Mr. Abbas's personal experiences as a Muslim Canadian would have undoubtedly played a role in him coming before the court today."

Pre-sentence report

 

"Mr. Woods recalls playing with cousins, picking berries and learning how to cut and jar fish."

Provincial Court Judge R.P. Harris

 

"She is haunted with nightmares; that going outside fills her with anxiety."

"That her foundation of trust and empathy has been lost."

Victim impact statement 

Paul Knox, Michael Finlay's longtime friend, said Finlay's journalistic career, particularly his interest in reporting on Africa and his mentorship of new reporters, was shaped by his concern for the underdog. (Submitted by Lena Sadiwskyj)

 

In Canada's DEI, woke, Critical Race Theory pervasive social climate, serious crimes at trial must be viewed through the lens of compassion and woke justice where the crimes themselves and their perpetrators must be handled differently than those of the aggregate society, if the criminals' backgrounds, ethnic/cultural origins, familial situation, state of personal security, mental health, place in society deem them to be psychologically fragile. Psychopathic tendencies must be set aside, as too the severity of their crimes to take second place to consideration of their personal backgrounds.

Should they fall into the categories of ethnic minorities, visible minorities, poverty, mental instability, membership in colonialized groups, low education level, struggling immigrant class, Indigenous or Black heritage, special attention must be given to their poverty of opportunity as opposed to the privileged white demographic who commit unforgivable crimes for whom penalties are considered to be reflective of their societal status, superior lifestyles and fulsome life opportunities earning them the full impact of justice earned for criminal behaviours.

Offenders who fall into the socially deprived classification pay criminal penalties judged to be commensurate not with the crime but with their backgrounds of want and neediness, social and mental. A malefactor whose unstable upbringing allied with dependence on drugs and/or alcohol gives them the status of having been underprivileged, and thus must be viewed through a different lens, one that is forgiving of his bad fortune and in reaction, finds lesser penalties for capital crimes appropriate.

Examples of these special dispensations abound, but a few stand out for their inappropriate society-harmful diminishing of injustice done to victims of criminal violence. Anthony Woods, 27, stabbed 72-year-oldAlex Gortmaker in the chest on an elevator, leaving him to bleed to death. He was inebriated and high on drugs at the time. Four years on, he was given what amounts to a free pass out of prison, spending eight months in jail. The judge cited Woods' ADHD, unstable childhood and alcohol dependence. Above all, that he was Indigenous.

Over a 25 year period, 44-year-old Saeed Abbas racked up a criminal record of 25 convictions; arson to car theft, and 22 breaches of parole. His latest offences included breakins, fraud, and car thefts and stolen wallets. He carried a loaded, illegal gun when caught breaking into a Mercedes-Benz dealership. The Crown recommended a maximum sentence of two years' imprisonment. The crimes, believed the judge and the Crown, were to be considered not entirely his fault. Reason: He is of Arab extraction, and his parents are Muslim; no positive expectations drawn from that combination.

 

Stanley Jago (left) has been sentenced to five years in prison, plus probation, for the manslaughter of Thomas Gignac. Postmedia, file

At a homeless shelter in Edmonton, Thomas Gignac disturbed the sleep of another resident on his way back from the bathroom. Stanley Jago, in reaction to his disturbed sleep, brutally attacked Thomas Gignac who suffered a fatal seizure, as a result. At the time he killed Gignac, Jago was on probation. Sentenced to five years in prison, taking pretrial custody into account after the 2022 killing, he will be out of prison in less than a year.

Of Haitian descent, raised by an adoptive family, Jago merited a lighter sentence in view of his severe mental health problems that, according to the sentencing judge, reduced his "moral blameworthiness" for the crimes he committed. While committed to excusing the homicide given a condition of mental health problems, the judge spoke of her awareness that he is likely not to submit to treatment to keep his mental illness from further similar aggression against others.

In 2023, 73-year-old former CBC producer Michael Finlay, walking along Danforth Avenue in Toronto was violently shoved to the ground. The assault, unprovoked and by a stranger, caused a punctured lung, broken ribs and led to medical problems that caused the man's death soon after the assault. The serial offender convicted of the charge of manslaughter was handed a sentence of three years. Robert Cropearedwolf, 43, earned criminal convictions for violent crime from 1995 forward in both Canada and the U.S.

 

Cropearedwolf, 45, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in connection with Finlay's death. (Toronto Police Service)

Cropearedwolf is Indigenous. His sentencing reflected his family history, including his mother's substance abuse. In a victim impact statement, a friend of Mr. Finlay's pointed out that: "There are large numbers of Aboriginal people, Black people and people of all sorts of backgrounds who have had very dreadful times and most of them don't hurt people".

"Religious Infiltration/Islamist Infiltration" in Quebec Public Schools

"Clearly there is a discomfort in intervening or discussing these religious questions very frankly and for me, this is not unrelated to the very Canadian anti-secularism discourse."

"[Quebec is facing a case of] ideological infiltration, anti-secularism and anti-Bill 21 activism."

"The federal government is truly the champion of defamation of Quebec's secularism, which is no stranger to the woke movement that presents secularism as a form of racism when it is actually a form of living together in peace."

"[Quebec must do more in terms of secularism in our schools to protect children] from all religious proselytism [and] ensure the duty of neutrality of teachers, which must be applied to all manifestations of religious beliefs, regardless of religion."

Parti Quebecois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon

 

"Obviously, if it comes out that there was a concerted effort to conspire, to impose your own religious values on others or on a public institution, of course that's unacceptable. But the report doesn't conclude that."

"Being visibly Muslim is seen somehow as threatening. That's a real social problem. And politicians should not be pandering or exacerbating fears around diversity."

Stephen Brown, CEO, National Council of Canadian Muslims 

"Our first concern must be the children. As a government, our first responsibility is to clean up this school and protect the children."

"There’s something very disturbing in this case, this attempt by a group of teachers to introduce Islamist religious concepts into a public school."

"In Quebec, we decided a long time ago to take religion out of public schools. We’ll never go back on that decision."

"We need all Quebecers to denounce these situations without fear of intimidation. The whole of Quebec must defend the choice of secularism in our public institutions. Let’s not be afraid."

Quebec Premier Francois Legault 

Eleven teachers at Bedford elementary school were suspended this past weekend for allegedly creating a toxic environment since 2016. (Ivanoh Demers/Radio-Canada

 

It appears that an untoward situation pertains; a group of teachers at a Montreal public elementary school has been ignoring the curriculum, turning instead to their conception of how subjects of their choosing should be taught to students in an education-hostile environment that they have transformed into an opportunity to teach students non-typical subjects with an Islamist bent, which has only recently been reported in the news, evidently because other teachers, along with students, have been intimidated to the point where they fear a violent backlash, restraining them from divulging the volatile and fraught situation.

The Quebec Ministry of Education published a report following a lengthy investigation, concluding that the dominant group of teachers was "mainly composed of people of Maghrebi origin", adding "although the majority clan is mainly composed of people of Maghrebi (North African) origin, people of other origins are also associated with it. Likewise, the minority clan is also partly composed of individuals of Maghrebi origin, including some of the strongest opposition to the majority clan." The group of problematic teachers are reported to frequent attendance at local mosque.

"The clans present different visions and understandings of education, pedagogy and relations with students", according to the report. One group of like ethnic/cultural/religious origins has protested against the majority group's educational ethos as inappropriate to their current setting in Montreal. The ruling clique aggressively pursues its own teaching methods and agenda separate and apart from the approved curricula. The result is a toxic, challenged environment, felt by the students and leading them to under-perform academically.

The situation runs counter to the State Secularism Act, known as Bill 21, adopted in 2019 by the National Assembly, to prohibit the wearing of religious symbols by those in positions of authority inclusive of teachers and principals of public elementary and secondary schools in the province. Montreal's Bedford School was the model identified as having a "toxic environment" which led to the Education Ministry's investigation and subsequent report on the situation.

Debates between teachers revolve around the use of foreign languages in common areas of public schools, acts of violence and humiliation against children while disciplining them, and opposing methodologies of teaching, which led to the suspension of eleven teachers during the time of the investigation. The report from the Quebec Ministry of Education points to a "dominant clan" comprised of North African teachers attempting to indoctrinate children while maintaining a "clan" dynamic among teaching staff, ongoing since 2017. 

The teaching of science, ethics and sex education was rejected by some teachers who instead used traditional rigid methods, some shouting at students as a form of discipline. A teacher was mentioned in the report in "an act of violence ... reported to the administration when a teacher allegedly closed the door to his classroom with a brutal gesture while one of his students had her fingers in the door frame". Rescued by another individual, from having her fingers crushed between the closing door and the door frame.

According to investigators, the local Muslim community exerted a "strong influence" within the Bedford school, where some teachers prayed in their free time in classrooms, performed ablutions in community bathrooms. Occasionally these performances were carried out in the presence of students. The spokesman for the National Council of Canadian Muslims states that should the politicians be unable to conclusively prove people are plotting to impose their ideology on a public institution prior to the completion of an independent investigation "it reeks of political opportunism".

It appears that other examples have emerged -- at Jewish schools and Catholic schools -- related to religious indoctrination. The difference, of course, being that these are schools independent of the public school system, with their own particular curricula. Students in attendance at parochial Jewish schools are there because their parents were interested in having them achieve an education comparable with that of the public schools, but overlaid with Judaic concepts and values. The same is true of the Catholic school system.

Parents of children attending public schools, particularly in a province that emphasizes secularism, anticipate that their children will receive an education compatible with a non-religious observance. It has been, in fact, some Muslim parents themselves, among others, who have been alarmed that their children are being exposed to a rigid form of Islamic overlay in the public system where teachers refuse to teach some of the subjects that will be elemental to a fully rounded education in Canadian society.

Controversially and ironically, it is in other provinces, particularly Ontario, where school boards and principals and teaching staff of some schools have contrived to have students exposed to Islam. More troubling has been the penchant for some among them to espouse distinctly un-Canadian views of championing Palestinian terrorist groups while demonizing the state of Israel, and in the process discriminating against Jewish students in a toxic mix of woke, DEI, Critical Race Theory and antisemitism.

Rally outside of the Toronto & District School Board headquarters on Yonge Street, Tuesday Sept. 24, 2024. Photo by Peter J. Thompson/National Post

"The issue here is how to manage our schools to make room for all families who have very different perspectives on this subject."

"And the only solution is to not let religion enter our school system."

"So I can't help but talk about religion in the school system."

Paul St-Pierre Plamondon

Speculation, Suspense, Surprise Strategy: Reality

"It could have enough weapon-grade uranium for six weapons in one month, and after five months of producing weapon-grade uranium, it could have enough for twelve [nuclear weapons' production]."

Institute for Science and International Security report

 

"There are many many targets that can be hit without causing suffering to Iranians, because the regime is weak, and without its proxies, it's only a rather weak country because Iran doesn't have sufficient conventional military might."

"Even the Americans cannot destroy the nuclear sites because they are dug inside the mountains, under the earth. The problem is not only to get there and to drop bombs, the problem is to destroy them. So I don't know how it's possible."

Alex Grinberg, Iran expert, Jerusalem Institute for Security and Strategy 

"Although damaging or destroying export infrastructure would surely be the most direct way to limit Iran's oil revenue, it could also be impossible to avoid some form of a subsequent price spike."

"Washington is doubtlessly keen to avoid a major jump in oil prices from the loss of Iranian supply, particularly so close to a hotly contested election."

Colby Connelly, director, economic and energy program, Middle East Institute

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the Security Cabinet following the missile attack by Iran on Oct. 1, 2024. Photo by Avi Ohayon/GPO.

 

Israel, there is little doubt, has the capability to strike deep within Iran to target military installations, nuclear facilities, oil and gas centres, given its advanced arsenal, which includes F-16 and F-35 fighter jets, along with sophisticated drones. Israel had reportedly informed Washington that for the time being strikes against the Islamic Republic's oil and nuclear sites would not be considered; instead the IDF planned to target Iran's military assets. 

Experts argue the most powerful conventional bombs and missiles, including bunker busters, would potentially be incapable of destroying missile and drone factories in Iran, since they are buried deep underground, making targeting them a challenge of significant proportions. Iran expert Alex Grinberg felt that targeting military leadership would "create disorganization. I don't know how they will command themselves", he mused.

It is impossible to overlook the profound existential threat that Iran's network of nuclear sites, buried deep within mountains, unreachable by powerful bombs, possess a dire threat to Israel. Natanz and Fordow are located under several dozen metres of rock, the facilities are where Iran enriches uranium to 60 percent purity. The United States has made it clear, however, that it would not support an Israeli strike on these sites. 

Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu meets security chiefs after the IDF carried out airstrikes on Iran. Photograph: Israel Mod/Zuma/Rex

 

Western democracies in general refuse to fully support Israel in its lonely war against terrorism, despite that this is a war that threatens them all, in time. Israel was very well aware of its forlorn status as the sole impediment to Iran's desolating plans for regional domination, which would in time expand outward... Iran's ballistic missile attacks on Israel signalled significance in that no other free nation came under such an outright challenge to its sovereignty by another nation, anywhere.

"[Israel could conduct a] combined military operation [involving assassinating senior military officials in Iran, cyberattacks, and deploying Israeli special forces to destroy military targets."

"It's not only one thing, not only one theatre. They did something very unusual [in the IDF operation in Syria]. They not only attacked the Iran missile factory in Syria [but] special troops also landed in the factory."

Alex Grinberg

Explosions heard in Tehran after Israel announces precise strikes on military targets  Still from video

 

As it happened, only last night Israel did make its move. The government of Israel weighed its options while also attending to the diplomatic aspect of its major supporter/benefactor's 'advice', and decided this time around that by demonstrating its capabilities in a lightning strike that would represent the largest airborne strike group in any conflict anywhere else in the world, it would accomplish what it set out to do; exact a penalty on the Islamic Republic of Iran's military installations.

In the process leaving the indelible message, on the return safely home of all its air crew and planes, that it is capable of more, much more, should any future occasion yet arise. Should Iran decide to respond to this latest demonstration of Israel's capability to mount an air attack on military installations in a move that elicited no defensive response to a massive air attack where distance and overflights in alien jurisdictional airspace were no issue, that potential would be unleashed.

Explosions seen near Tehran, amid an Israeli attack on Iran, October 26, 2024 (photo credit: SOCIAL MEDIA

Russia and North Korea, Bedfollows and War-Mongers

"We are seeing evidence that there are North Korean troops [that have gone to Russia]."

"What exactly they're doing is left to be seen. If they're co-belligerents, their intention is to participate in this war on Russia's behalf."

"That is a very very serious issue, and it will have impacts not only in Europe; it will also impact things in the Indo-Pacific."

U.S. Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin

 

"North Korea’s dispatch of the troops to Russia is a provocation that is threatening the security of the Korean peninsula."

"South Korea will not stand by and do nothing."

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol

North Korea's soldiers have little, if any, combat experience.  Xinhua News Agency via Getty Images file

"[Kyiv had intelligence about Russia] training two military units from North Korea [involving perhaps] two brigades of 6,000 people each."

"[Ukraine has seen North Korean] officers and technical staff in the temporarily occupied territories [and believes Russia is] preparing a grouping [to enter Ukraine]."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

 

"Rubbish. Knowing his character, Putin would never try to persuade another country to involve its army in Russia’s special operation in Ukraine."

"It would be a step towards the escalation of the conflict if the armed forces of any country, even Belarus, were on the contact line."

"Even if we got involved in the war this would be a path to escalation. Why? Because you, the Anglo-Saxons, would immediately say that another country had got involved on one side... so NATO troops would be deployed to Ukraine."

President Alexander Lukashenko, Belarus

North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un (Center-R) and Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) walk past children attending a welcoming ceremony at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang on June 19, 2024.(Vladimir Smirnov / POOL / AFP)

Rumours abound, but by Wednesday the U.S. defence secretary agreed that evidence exists affirming that North Korea has dispatched troops to Russia. Should they join the conflict in Ukraine offering practical fighting assistance to Moscow, there would be consequences, he warned. Lawmakers in South Korea were informed by the country's chief spy that 3,000 North Korean troops have arrived in Russia to receive training on the use of drones and other equipment, prior to deployment to Ukraine battlefields.

According to American Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin, this turn of events represent a "next step", an add-on following the provision by North Korea to Russia in the past two years of conflict, of arms. Pyongyang could face consequences, he warned, for helping Russia directly in its war with Ukraine. Analysts, he said, were in the process of analyzing the situation.

Reports that the Russian navy had ferried 1,500 North Korean special warfare troops to Russia this month was publicized most recently by South Korean intelligence. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy verified that his government was in possession of intelligence confirming that 10,000 North Korea soldiers were in preparation to join the Russian forces as they advance in their invasion of Ukraine.

Both Russia and North Korea deny that North Korean troops have been transported to Russia for training. Despite that the troop movements have been verified. President Zelenskyy stated his government is confident of the accuracy of the intelligence specifying the situation, to reflect the reality on the ground. In the past two years, Russia and North Korea have firmed their relationship in the annals of yet another axis of evil after signing a major defence agreement that requires both countries to use all available means to provide immediate military assistance should either country be attacked.

North Korea has been extremely useful to Russia in its arms shipments, which include thousands of metric tons of munitions, helping Russia to replenish its dwindling stockpiles in a war where Ukraine’s forces have long been outgunned and outmanned. For its part in the exchange, cash-strapped North Korea is believed to have received food and other necessities. 

 

It concerns South Korean officials that Russia may reward North Korea for its diplomacy and what is more important, supplying North Korea with sophisticated weapons technologies. As for North Korea, the anticipation may be that Moscow will consider rewarding it through granting sophisticated weapons technologies with the potential to increase the North's nuclear and missile programs targeting South Korea.

Putin and Kim have exchanged gifts and visits as they have deepened their alliance in the past year. Getty Images

"Putin will never use the [nuclear] weapons stationed in Belarus without the Belarusian president’s consent."

"I’m completely ready, [to allow the use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine] otherwise why have these weapons? But only if the boot of one [foreign] soldier steps into Belarus."

"We have no plans to attack anyone."

Alexander Lukashenko

 

Sacrificing Canada-India Diplomacy for Domestic Votes

"We have repeatedly raised our strong concerns regarding the violent imagery being used by extremist elements in Canada against our political leadership."

"Celebration and glorification of violence should not be a part of any civi8lized society. Democratic countries which respect the rule of law should not allow intimidation by radical elements in the name of freedom of expression."

Shri Randhir Jaiswal, spokesman, Indian Foreign Affairs Department

"We would work with them on any evidence or any concerns they have around terrorism or incitement to hate or anything that is patently unacceptable in Canada."

"My position and Canada's position is to defend the territorial integrity of India. One India is official Canadian policy and the fact that there are a number of people in Canada who advocate otherwise does not make it Canadian policy."

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

"Though times are quite different now, India always remembers the era of militant Sikh separatism in the 1980s and associates any separatist claims of positions with violence and militancy, as a threat to Indian safety, security, and sovereign integrity."

Neilesh Bose, associate professor of history, University of Victoria

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau shake hands on the sidelines of the G20 summit in New Delhi on September 10, 2023. Photo by - /PIB/AFP via Getty Images

 

Canada has a long history of effectively shielding war criminals from the justice they deserve. Infamously, Nazi war criminals were given haven in Canada and although their presence in Canada as permanent residents and citizens has been well known to governments over the decades that passed since the Second World War, general disinterest in exiling them and returning them to their country of origin was dismissed but for a few rare instances under pressure from Jewish groups. And nor was it only WWII war criminals involved, but others as well, from Tamil Tigers living in Canada agitating for conflict in Sri Lanka, to Sikh Khalistani extremists violently expressing their hatred for India.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's pious words of 'Canadian policy' and his government's responsible attitude to having no tolerance for those preaching violence in Canada against their countries of origin is nonsense, unreflective of reality. Sikh separatists dedicated to forcing India to agree to splitting off part of their geography to satisfy its Sikh population's demand for a homeland and using violence to achieve that end finds itself right at home in Canada which hosts the largest expatriate Sikh population in the world outside of India itself where the Khalistani movement has calmed.

Charging the Indian government, as Justin Trudeau has done twice, in Parliament, with fomenting schemes of assassination in Canada to target extremist Khalistanis, represents diplomatic failures in communication and action on the part of Canada, alienating a collegial democracy for partisan political purposes. Official Canada appears to have conveniently forgotten the worst terrorist incident that Canada has ever experienced when Khalistanis in Canada plotted the bombing of Air India Flight 182 that killed over 300 people, most of them Indo-Canadians.

Former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her own trusted Sikh guards during the violent insurrection period when Khalistani militants took haven in the Golden Temple at Amritsar and the Indian military fought a gunbattle with them at the gurdwara, the holiest of Sikh temples which the Khalistanis themselves had defiled by bringing weapons into the temple, and engaging with the military in that conflict in 1984. Since then, the Khalistani movement has been muted in India, but carried on with greater ferocity against India through extremists living in Canada.

Appeals by the Indian government of Narendra Modi for Canada to extradite convicted Sikh criminals to India to stand trial for their crimes have gone unheeded. As have appeals by Indian diplomats for Canada to respond to the public exhibitions of Khalistani protests and marches in Canada depicting the assassination of Mrs. Gandhi as well as the demonization of the Modi government. The Liberal Trudeau government has chosen to favour instead placating the Khalistani movement seeking an exclusive Sikh homeland carved out of India.

Rather than side-stepping the anti-India, anti-Hindu sentiments expressed violently by Sikh separatists, Canada's prime minister plays a game of innocence against India's accusations, instead accusing the Indian government of bringing lethal violence to Canada. By not acting to stem the violence emanating from a minority within the Sikh diaspora in Canada, this government is shirking an elemental responsibility, just as it has with the raging antisemitism being promoted and expressed through radical 'pro-Palestinian', pro-Hamas rallies crucifying Israel and targeting Jewish Canadians.

Float featuring the assassination of late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, in front of the Indian Consulate in Vancouver. (FILE IMAGE)

"Canada would help mend relations a great deal by taking seriously any public act of violence, intimidation, or harassment by Khalistani activists, and condemning such acts publicly."

"Hindu temples in Canada have been defaced and defiled by Khalistani activists and Indian diplomats have been threatened, and such acts have not been condemned by Canada."

Neilesh Bose, Associate professor of history, University of Victoria

Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan

"Going forward the strategic interests of Canada and our allies in Afghanistan have diminished."

"As a result, a reduced programming footprint ... is proposed, focused on education health and gender equality in addition to humanitarian assistance."

Canada's foreign affairs briefing note to Ahmed Hussen, minister for international development 

Newly recruited personnel joining the Taliban security forces demonstrate their skills during their graduation ceremony in the western city of Herat

 

Internal Canadian government documents give some insight to Canada's ongoing financial support to Afghanistan in humanitarian aid, meant to be delivered to suffering Afghans living a life of privation under Taliban rule, in the hopes that none of that financial aid goes to the government itself. The "Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan" under Taliban administration, has no diplomatic recognition from any nation. It has no international legitimacy. And its toxic rule has been a life-stopper for Afghan girls and women.

Global Affairs Canada issued a briefing note that while recognizing Canada's diminished focus on the country at a time when new crises are erupting elsewhere in the world, that ongoing funding in areas such as health, education and women's rights be maintained; given the odium in which the fundamentalist Islamist regime is held, there is no popularity among Canadian taxpayers to expend charitable funding to a country that its extremist rulers would be swift to appropriate.

"This could generate negative media interest", the document warns, should it be publicized, recommending a "reactive" communications strategy. Since the Taliban took over in 2021 and foreign missions were withdrawn along with a coalition led by the United States of military forces, the Taliban expelled international humanitarian groups leading to an exacerbated condition of non-foreign-interference in the affairs of the country bringing issues of education, health, food scarcity to a head.

 

Taliban security personnel holding rocket-propelled grenade ride motorbikes as they celebrate the third anniversary of Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in Khost on August 14, 2024. Photo by AFP via Getty Images/File

Most countries strive to avoid direct government-to-government contact with the Taliban that risks legitimizing a regime known for its human rights abuses. Afghanistan is a country whose people face severe humanitarian pressures; the United Nations estimating that over 12 million Afghans suffer "acute food insecurity". Canada's government while refusing to recognize the Taliban as a legitimate government, has provided $367 million in assistance in the past three years. 

 

"Canada has continued to provide development assistance to the people of Afghanistan", a Global Affairs spokesman affirmed to an investigating journalist. Over the years of Canada's active involvement in Afghanistan the total that the government of Canada provided was over $4 billion in aid. Under the Taliban, girls are barred from attending school past Grade 6. Women cannot participate in most areas of the economy, and harsh rules have been imposed on their dress and their participation in social life.

"A country like Canada can't do everything everywhere all the time. But if there's ever a place where values, historical obligation and interests kind of align, it's Afghanistan."

"There is no place in recent history where not just Canadian Forces but also civilians and diplomats were as present for as long as they were in Afghanistan."

Martin Fischer, spokesman, World Vision Canada

There is nothing quite like the passion of humanitarian groups urging governments to fund their missions abroad. It is their reason for existence. For employing locally engaged people. For priding themselves on supporting those for whom few options remain other than to dream of a future without coercion, insecurity and starvation. That, in the process of delivering their humanitarian aid they relieve dictators of their own responsibility to provide for their populations is irrelevant; as is the fact that indirectly they are supporting those dictatorships.

Since Canada closed its embassy, cutting off direct assistance to the Afghan government since the Taliban takeover it has continued to provide critical support "without compromising our values", Global Affairs insists. Pointing out that 40,000 Afghans were brought to Canada, ostensibly saving them from Taliban threats, but leaving the question of adequate security measures being in place through the process. That an incident of recent street protests where extremists gathered to condemn Israel for its war in Gaza following the terrorist assault on Israel, flags of Hamas, Hezbollah and the Taliban have been seen. 'Death to Canada' has been heard, along with 'Death to Israel'.

The government of Canada insists that much of its funding aid has been directed to the Afghanistan Resilience Trust Fund, a World Bank project; funding that the briefing note recommended be reduced. Funding directed elsewhere in aid to Afghanistan is meant to focus on health, education, female rights and empowerment and humanitarian aid, the Global Affairs briefing note adds.

A Taliban fighter stands guard as women wait to receive food rations distributed by a humanitarian aid group in Kabul last month.

"Should the reduction in the department's international assistance to Afghanistan be publicized, this could generate negative media interest."

"[However], the proposed approach is not expected to garner media and/or public attention."

"The department recommends a reactive communications approach."

Normalizing Medical Assistance in Dying in Canada

 "It happened again. In the list of questions about your life and  your past and how are  you treating these things was 'Hey, [MAID] is a thing that exists'."

"It was upsetting. Not because I thought they were trying to kill me. I was shocked that it happens. I was like, 'Again? This happened again'?"

"I was literally on my way into surgery [when for the second time the issue was broached by another doctor]."

"It came up in completely inappropriate places and completely inappropriate times."

"I am a very lucky woman. I have a large and supportive family. I have all the love. But I felt small and lonely and alone in that hallway before going into surgery."

"There are people who have lists of conditions like mine who don't have a big, happy, loving family, or financial or emotional support and if those words are said to them when they're lonely and alone --- if my life were like that, I may not have had the strength or courage to either pretend that that question didn't exist or just say 'No I don't want to talk about it. Let's move on'."                                                       Nova Scotia resident, 51-year-old woman

"[It was] clearly inappropriate and insensitive [for a doctor to raise Medical Assistance in Dying] as a person is being rolled into a surgical suite]. I can understand why the patient was upset. [However], there's a difference between raising the topic of discussing awareness about MAID and possible eligibility, from offering MAID. They are wildly different things that need to be disambiguated."

"The issue is the sensitivity or appropriateness of raising the question of an awareness of MAID at the time, and I can certainly understand the patient being put off by that."

"[The thrust of the college's approach to MAID and conscientious objection] is to make clear that the patient's rights are paramount [and to ensure that] the care available and provided to patients does not vary according to the belief structure of the physician providing the care."

"[Assisted death is] increasingly becoming part of the dialogue between patients and physicians, particularly when the patients have grievous and irremediable conditions."

Dr. Gus Grant, registrar, chief executive officer, College of Physicians and Surgeons of Nova Scotia

"I'm not sure that any physicians in Nova Scotia are clear on where we are on this."

"Certainly, what we're seeing in hospital is that physicians are initiating the conversation with patients."

Dr. Jeanne Ferguson, geriatric psychiatrist

A routine questionnaire in general use in the province of Nova Scotia, presented to a patient on the cusp of surgery, when she is queried through a series of pre-operative questions: What was her medical history? What medications does she regularly take? Any allergies? Was she aware of medical assistance in dying (MAID)?  Anyone in those circumstances would be taken aback, mind churning over the sinister nature of a casually asked question: You're about to have cancer surgery, so MAID? Is it possible I won't survive the operation; they're preparing me for the end...

Nova Scotia resident, 51, recounting an operating room dilemma

The head of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Nova Scotia said he "can understand why the patient was upset" about a doctor raising MAID as she was being rolled into a surgical suite. Photo by Getty Images

"Every patient I see in my office who is suffering with a chronic medical condition -- anyone I see could potentially be eligible for MAID."

"If this ended up on a checklist, how did it get there? Did it get there because people think they have an obligation to raise this with every single patient that crosses their path?:

"And even if it sounds like it was off a checklist what she heard was, 'Does your life really have any value to you? Because we can end it for you."

"If you don't know the patient very well, if all that you have is a list of their medical issues and their external appearance, how can you, as a physician or a nurse, speak to their experiences and decide in n instant 'Oh, they must e suffering so much that maybe we should offer to help them end their lives?"

"I don't understand how that could be coming from anywhere but a place of bias."

Dr. Amy Hendricks, internal medicine specialist, Antigonish, Nova Scotia

Concerns are being raised yet again about Canada's system of assisted suicide, through its Medical Assistance in Dying protocol which when first introduced into Canadian medical circles as an approved process had strict guidelines respecting qualifications for such a process; quality of life, suffering, a severely shortened life expectancy and a condition so severe that it led inevitably to death. Those who qualified could be accommodated in their wish to leave life. 

 

The public had majority support for the process. Gradually the guidelines were loosened and it seemed as though the process was being promoted.

It has reached the point where those suffering from mental illness, from pain and demoralization from physical handicaps, children whose suffering cannot be mitigated can all now be swept into the net of ending an unbearable life and critics have been howling their indignation that the qualifications have been stretched out of proportion to their original careful selection to ensure that lives weren't being eased into death heedlessly, needlessly. Charges that medical practitioners and nurses were recommending MAID to certain of their patients went the rounds.

Now a woman undergoing cancer surgery in Nova Scotia had revealed publicly how new guidelines for the province's medical-providing community has been tasked with an obligation to mention MAID when examining their patients, or undertaking surgery. The predictable results are obvious in their context of delivery; when people are already at their most vulnerable, facing a life-changing process that could conceivably lend itself to tragedy; a condition of time and place exacerbated through a reminder of one's mortality matched with a morbid outcome.

Speaking of her experience to investigative reporters the Nova Scotia woman has emphasized the dilemma facing both patients and their physicians when the latter raise euthanasia as a perceived optionary 'solution' to pain and a hopeless outcome approaching. Even as she clarified that she had not been offered MAID, simply given a reminder that it is available, and with her numerous chronic conditions, would be eligible if she were to be interested. It was the blunt approach to the question that unsettled her at a time of deep uncertainty.

According to Dr. Grant, the province's College of Physicians and Surgeons have no intention of imposing a duty on member-physicians to initiate discussion relating to MAID eligibility. A group of provincial doctors professing Christianity stated that the new policy on conscientious objection by the college  relating to conscientious objection has created confusion while a "strict reading" implies a duty to raise MAID with patients.

The organization that represents Canada's MAID assessors nationally and providers, argues that doctors have a professional obligation to raise MAID as a 'clinical 'option' should a patient be eligible, as long as the intention is to draw attention; the issue is not to induce, persuade or convince the person to request assisted death. 

 

Calgary palliative medicine specialist Dr Leonie Herx wrote that patients reported to her feeling "badgered and harassed" to consider MAID. Doctors, the Nova Scotia policy reads, "must discuss all available treatment options" relevant to a patient's condition and doctors must not "withhold information regarding a procedure of treatment", even should providing such information conflict with the doctor's conscience.

The Telegraph