Inhibiting Free Discourse in Russia : Critics of Government Will Be Silenced

"We don't believe that the patient suffered poisoning. Poisons or traces of their presence in the body have not been identified. Probably, the diagnosis of 'poisoning' remains somewhere in the back of our minds. But we do not believe that the patient suffered poisoning."                                                                           Anatoly Kalinichenko, deputy chief physician, Omsk hospital, Siberia

"Another broad analysis has been initiated [while Mr. Navalny remains in a medically induced coma but] there is no acute danger to his life."                  "Longer-term effects, especially in the area of the nervous system, cannot be ruled out."                                                                                                                                Charite Hospital statement

Mr Navalny is being treated at the Charite hospital in Berlin Reuters

"Cholinesterase inhibitors block a crucial enzyme which regulates messages from nerves to muscles. The enzyme is called acetylcholinesterase. Inhibition of the enzyme interferes with nerve to muscle messaging and muscles are no longer able to contract and relax. They go into a sort of spasm."          "All muscles are affected with the most crucial being those which affect breathing. As breathing is inhibited individuals may become unconscious."                                                                    Alastair Hay, Professor (Emeritus) of Environmental Toxicology at Leeds University

''According to the medical team at the Charite [hospital], the clinical findings point to poisoning of Alexey Navalny. Given the prominent role of Mr. Navalny in the political opposition in Russia, local authorities are now urgently called upon to clear up this crime to the last detail -- and to do so in full transparency."                       "We hope that Mr. Navalny can recover fully. Our good wishes also extend to his family, which is undergoing a severe test."                                                           German Chancellor Angela Merkel/German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas

Independent laboratories confirmed that a toxin believed to be a cholinesterase inhibitor was used to poison prominent Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny, to still his voice critical of the Kremlin and of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The toxin blocks an enzyme -- cholineserase -- required for the  normal functioning of the nervous system. The precise substance used to poison Mr. Navalny has not yet been identified other than generically as a cholinestrase inhibitor.

Atropine, a medication utilized in the treatment of certain types of nerve agent and pesticide poisonings is being administered to Mr. Navalny to counteract the negative consequences of the poison that had been covertly administered in an effort to silence a critic. Stricken Thursday during a Siberia-to-Moscow routine flight, the 44-year-old, according to his spokeswoman along with others, was directly targeted by a state-ordered silencing, yet another victim of a method which the Kremlin and its chief executive officer have found convenient to silence inconvenient opponents.

Protest in Khabarovsk, eastern Russia, 'Navalny was poisoned' (Igor Volkov/AP)

It is a situation well known to western intelligence, given Moscow's penchant in sending state emissaries abroad for the express purpose of silencing critics, generally those with inner-circle intelligence and military experience who know whereof they speak when they alert the world community to the Kremlin's covert plans to reassert Russian influence, particularly among the former satellite countries, neighbours of Russia which became unwilling 'partners' within the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

Moaning in pain, Mr. Navalny lost consciousness during the Thursday flight which the pilot then aborted, making an emergency landing in Omsk where two days were spent being stabilized in hospital. Emergency physicians took immediate action to place him in a medically induced coma. Doctors at the Omsk Hospital appeared to backpedal on the poison theory, claiming instead a sudden drop in blood sugar had incapacitated the Kremlin clinic.

"Organophosphate insecticides poisonings are common worldwide, as farmers sometimes mishandle them. But some organophosphates are far more poisonous than insecticides and have been used for military purposes e.g. sarin, VX and Novichok. We're talking about a very broad range of materials."

"[The inhibitor acts on the nervous system in place of the critical acetylcholinesterase (AChE) enzyme, which transmits signals within biological systems.]" "The inhibitor attaches itself in the same place where the enzyme should be and the enzyme becomes irreversibly blocked."  "It's one of the first things they should have checked in Omsk. There are a number of symptoms that accompany this poisoning including various types of muscle paralysis, contraction of the pupil in the eye, blood tests, and so on." "If you don't act quickly you could have long-term damage associated with the nerve system."  "Navalny was treated and kept alive, yes, but whether or not he'll have further damage remains to be seen." Andrea Sella, professor of inorganic chemistry, University College London

Russian anti-corruption campaigner Alexei Navalny was poisoned by a substance that disrupts the nervous system, according to the Charité hospital in Berlin. Navalny has been in a coma since Thursday. Odd Andersen/AFP via Getty Image

Despite Mr. Navalny's family's request that he be allowed to leave the Omsk Hospital to be medic-evacuated to a hospital in Berlin, arranged by a human-rights charitable organization, Omsk doctors balked at discharging their patient, while at the same time denying he was a victim of poisoning. Eventually his release was approved, he was handed over to the custody of three German doctors who had flown in on the evacuation plane, and taken to Berlin, then admitted to the Charite Hospital.

The conclusion reached by the Charite Hospital directly contradicts the Omsk doctors' insistence that no evidence exists to link Mr. Navalny's condition to an administered poisonous source. His associates in the opposition movement are convinced that the Omsk doctors deliberately blocked their patient's move to Berlin, under pressure from Russian authorities determined to hinder foreign investigation into the event. Mr. Navalny is now under the protection of Germany's Federal Criminal Police Office, the very same source that provides security to German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

"The European Union strongly condemns what seems to be an attempt on Mr Navalny's life. It is imperative that the Russian authorities initiate an independent and transparent investigation on the poisoning of Mr Navalny without delay."

"The Russian people, as well as the international community, are demanding the facts behind Mr Navalny's poisoning. Those responsible must be held to account."  European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs.

German army emergency personnel load the stretcher that was used to transport Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny into an ambulance on August 22, 2020 at Berlin's Charite hospital

Closing the Barn Door in Wuhan, China

"Any disease that can kill two percent of all those it infects, and which is expected to infect at least 40 percent of the population, will be horrible; mathematically, economically, socially and medically."
"Those who have seen actual military service have been quick to remind us to not panic, to slow down, to prepare for a long campaign..."
"Emotions can spread like viruses, so keep a check on yours. I was livid the day when I discovered that hand sanitizer had been ripped off the hospital walls and masks had been stolen by the public."
"We are all vulnerable, and none of us is truly a nihilist or an island."
"We health-care workers are scared but we are also lucky. We have the chance to relearn that human contact is lovely, that caring for others matters, and that finding humour in the everyday is glorious."
Peter G.Brindley, Department of Critical Care Medicine, Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Dosseter Ethics Centre, University of Alberta, Edmonton

Tedros Adhanon Ghebreyesus, Director General, WHO

The Director General of the WHO (World Health Organization), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, holds a powerful position. The WHO is the health advisory arm of the United Nations. Government health departments, hospital administrations and medical associations around the world look to the WHO for direction, and assessments on a global scale. What the WHO, through Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus advises as best practices under trying global health situations, governs the decisions and actions taken by governments and their health advisers around the world.

The purpose of the WHO is to advocate for patient health, to warn governments of possible health threats and the secure actions recommended to deal with them. The critical position of director general is arrived at by an executive board selection. The board is appointed through the decision-making of a rotating appointed World Health Authority comprised of WHO member-state representatives. As such the appointment of the head of the WHO becomes a political decision.

In the instance of Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, it was the decision of the appointment board to place a non-medical actor in the role of director general. Someone who was a politician in Ethiopia and who before that had been a member of the Tigray People's Liberation Front, in other words, a revolutionary. Whose political party assumed power in Ethiopia in 1991 following a bloody civil war. And when they came to power Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was given the post of minister of health from 2005 to 2012.

He also served as Ethiopia's foreign minister from 2012 to 2016, before being elected in 2017 to lead the WHO. While foreign minister of Ethiopia he established a good working relation between his country and China. And it was largely China's support in 2017 that gave the impetus to Tedros's election as head of the WHO, a prestigious post but one that should never be held by anyone without a medical degree. In his capacity as director general, Tedros had high praise for China's outstanding handling of the novel coronavirus that emerged in Wuhan, China.

This photo taken on Feb. 18, 2020, shows Medical personnel walk among patients with mild symptoms of the COVID-19 coronavirus at night in the temporary Fangcai Hospital set up in a sports stadium in Wuhan, China.AFP via Getty Images

China's "transparency" was approvingly cited, despite the fact that China deliberately and with full intention suppressed any news of an emerging epidemic, going so far as to threaten Chinese doctors who spoke of a mysterious new respiratory disease leading to pneumonia and death. And when China eventually agreed there was a problem, it downplayed the possibility of human-to-human contact. Which led the WHO to this statement: "Preliminary investigations conducted by the Chinese authorities have found no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of the novel #coronavirus (2019-nCoV) identified in #Wuhan, #China."

When China expressed outrage that the epidemic was called the 'Chinese coronavirus', identifying it as the source, Tedros from his magisterial height chastened the world, that it was discriminatory and unfair, and came up with an approved title for the virus: COVID-19, approved by China. And when alarmed nations sought to exclude the entrance of Chinese to their borders, he huffed how 'racist' that was, though China allowed seven million people to leave Hubei Province, the hub of the virus, for Chinese New Year.

Now that China is no longer the hot-spot for viral spread, and Italy is suffering a magnitude of deaths that far outpaced China's, perhaps through virus mutation and partly because Italy failed to exert immediate military measures in lockdown, finding China's example unattractive to its culture, and the United States looks set to overtake Italy and Spain in the numbers of the U.S. population infected and dying, China is locking down its borders against the entry of 'foreigners', to ensure the virus is not re-introduced. But that, needless to say, is not racist.

Tedros, while in the running for the WHO top spot, was accused by medical doctor and prominent global health expert from the United Kingdom, David Nabarro, of covering up three cholera epidemics while he was Ethiopia's minister of health, passing them off as cases of "acute watery diarrhea".  And now, while the world awaited direction from the World Health Organization, Tedros kept it waiting, refusing to declare a global pandemic until COVID-19 had infected over 116 countries.

This, while the world was awaiting a signal from the world body to determine how each of the affected governments would need to react to protect their populations, basing their pandemic response plan and how it would be implemented, once they received word from the WHO. So, like every other arm of the United Nations and the United Nations itself, corrupt and self-serving nations have handily succeeded in wagging the tail that controls the dog's mind.

"As reports of the spread of confirmed and suspected cases of the novel coronavirus in other countries grew in the past several weeks, numerous airlines took the precaution to temporarily cancel their flights to and from China. Tedros, while officially declaring the Wuhan novel coronavirus as a “Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC),” (in 2009 the WHO called it a Level 6 Global Pandemic), sharply and repeatedly criticized other countries for allowing air travel to China to be cut. On February 7 the China Peoples’ Daily reported Tedros stating, his disapproval of imposing travel bans on China, stressing that “such restrictions can have the effect of increasing fear and stigma, with little public health benefit."
F. William Engdahl Global Research, February 20, 2020 

Men stand on a bridge over the Yangtze River in Wuhan on March 30 after travel restrictions into the city were eased following more than two months of lockdown. (AFP)

 

Hijacking Indian Affairs

"The government has legitimized the meeting with the five hereditary chiefs and left out their entire community. We cannot be dictated to by a group of five guys."
"This project has been hijacked by the five chiefs. Over 80 percent of the people in our community said they wanted LNG to proceed."
"The Indian Act system must be reformed, but that does not invalidate the role of the elected councils. We need to have the benefits of our land. We need to be able to have equity stakes in projects that come forward."
"We feel like we have been hijacked by the protesters who have their own agenda."
"What we agree on is that now the conversation begins. How does the nation make decisions together? That is why the hereditary chiefs chose to take it [the agreement with the government] back to  heir house and their clans to see if there is support for that."
Teresa Tait-Day, former Wet'suwet'en hereditary leader

An Extinction Rebellion protest in Vancouver on Oct. 18, 2019. Indigenous groups have twice complained about the organization's actions on Vancouver Island. Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press/File

"My appearance was not about one project. It is about the future of Canada."
"Where there is a process on how a nation takes a decision that achieves the kind of certainty that allows investments."
"We need a mechanism as a nation that is democratic and inclusive where we can all make decisions."
Crown Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett

Before the novel coronavirus swept all attention by the Canadian public to its swift shutting down of Italy and Iran after the city of Wuhan in China was devastated by its emergence, Canadians were discomfited by animosity directed toward a vital liquid natural gas project underway in northern British Columbia being denounced by five Wet'sewet'en hereditary chiefs, challenging the authority of the Wet'sewet'en elected chiefs and the decision supported by the majority of the Wet'sewet'en people to benefit from the Coastal GasLink pipeline project to bring liquefied natural gas to the
B.C. coast for export.

Negotiations between the company and the Wet'sewet'en bands had been ongoing for a decade. Band councils were informed, kept apprised of, and negotiated with to ensure that they understood they would be a primary beneficiary of any agreement reached. That a percentage of profit from the pipeline would be earmarked for the tribe, and employment guaranteed when the pipeline was constructed through Wet'sewet'en territorial land. The elected chiefs on the authority of their members' assent, agreed to the construction and it was set to proceed.

Wet’suwet’en subchief Theresa Tait-Day testifies before the Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs, March 10, 2020, in Ottawa. parlvu.parl.gc.ca

And then came the blockades, instituted by five hereditary chiefs who decided that neither the project nor the agreement with the Wet'sewet'en was to their liking. The project site was blocked by protesters, a court order was sought and obtained and the RCMP moved in to remove the blockade and arrest the protest leaders. Which led to a number of railway blockades going up from Alberta to B.C., Ontario to Quebec, shutting down CN Rail freight and passenger service for a month, leading to a social-political crisis.

In their wisdom, the elected federal government chose to meet not with the elected chiefs who fervently wanted the project to proceed to enable financial independence to the Wet'sewet'en, but with the hereditary chiefs. Hereditary chiefs who had earlier taken steps to remove hereditary chief status from female Wet'sewet'en, and mantle themselves with the hijacked titles. Theresa Tait-Day went before a House of Commons committee meeting to speak of the decision by the government to meet with hereditary chiefs, as a gross error.

The result of that meeting between government agents and the self-proclaimed hereditary chiefs was an agreement, none of which details have been made public with the explanation that the hereditary chiefs required the opportunity to explain the agreement to their community. The community, on the other hand, has been given no opportunity to learn what the agreement consists of, nor have the elected chiefs been given copies of the agreement for their own study. Only a select few supporters of the hereditary chiefs have been consulted.

Theresa Tait-Day was a representative of the Wet'suwet'en Matrilineal Coalition, stripped of her title of hereditary chief after her support went with the Coastal GasLink project. She affirmed to the committee that the vast majority of the people in Wet'suwet'en territory are anxious that the project proceed. The purpose of the matrilineal coalition was to assist the Wet'suwet'en people to arrive at a decision on the pipeline project, in line with elected band council chiefs' agreement on support of the project. Her community, she stressed, required economic prosperity to enable them to build a more sustainable community.

Environmentalists were involved in supporting the hereditary chiefs, she explained, and in the process were disrespecting the Wet'suwet'en community. "By refusing to hear from elected councils, these governments have without merit prevented the most credible current governing voices from being heard. The Indian Act system must be reformed, but that does not invalidate the role of the elected councils. While imperfect, they continue to speak for the people until a better model is implemented."

Wet'suwet'en hereditary leader Chief Woos, centre, Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett, and B.C. Indigenous Relations Minister Scott Fraser arrive to speak to reporters in Smithers, B.C., March 1, 2020.  Jonathan Hayward/The Canadian Press/File

Islam's War Without End

"It is not in the authority of the United States to decide, they are only a facilitator."
"The government of Afghanistan has made no commitment to free 5,000 Taliban prisoners."
"The people of Afghanistan need to believe that we've gone from war to peace, and not that the agreement will be either a Trojan horse or the beginning of a much worse phase of conflict."
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani. | Rahmat Gul/AP Photo

"The United States has no legal standing to sign a peace agreement or to determine the future of Afghanistan."
Foreign Ministry, Iran

"You are a tough people and have a great country and I understand that you are fighting for your homeland. We have been there for 19 years and that is a very long time and withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan now is in the interest of everyone."
"We had a good conversation. We’ve agreed there’s no violence. We don’t want violence. We’ll see what happens. We had actually a very good talk with the leader of the Taliban."
U.S. President Donald Trump

Abdul Ghani Baradar, the head of the Taliban’s political office. Photograph: EPA

You bet they're tough. They're well practised murderers who will stop at nothing to reinvest themselves as Afghanistan's political as well as faith leaders. It's clear enough that the White House under Donald Trump, given his pre-election promise wants to be shed of its self-imposed obligations in Afghanistan. It's been a generation-long commitment, and the theistic battle between these hard-line Islamists and ordinary Afghans who would prefer to live normal lives in Islam rather than revert to 7th Century 'pure' Islam is an internal struggle, one that an outside interlocutor will never settle.

But it is beyond telling that the Taliban absolutely refused, in its negotiations with the United States, to include the Afghan government, a duly democratically elected government representing the people of that war-torn country, to enter a three-way negotiation. The reason is clear enough, and beyond the Taliban claims that they won't negotiate with an 'illegal' government. Their intention was to persuade the United States to leave Afghanistan, and knowing the U.S. mood that wouldn't be an impossible task.

The Afghan government of President Ashraf Ghani is 'illegal' because democracy, as the Taliban see it, has no place in Islam. Those only who practise pure Islam have the right to govern. Their way is the way of Islam and total obedience to Islam through the auspices of these 'scholars' totally immersed in bloody jihad is the only route to the authority of governing the country.

The agreement reached by the the U.S. negotiator with the Taliban leaders was simply an agreement between those two parties; relieving the U.S. of its tired presence in the country and relieving the Taliban of having to counter American military power, leaving it to continue its vicious violence against the Afghan people. Even Iran gets its oar in, sneering that the U.S. hasn't the moral or religious authority to broker peace between the government and its lethal adversary.

Iran, of course, does have the 'authority' of Islam even if Iran and Afghanistan face opposing sectarian viewpoints. And it practices its authority ruthlessly in its unwavering dedication to terrorism. It now also has another weapon at its disposal, with the novel coronavirus it has inherited from China, a seemingly extremely severe strain with more deadly consequences that it has begun exporting to the Western world.

The accord the U.S. signed with the Taliban was to release combat and political prisoners as a 'confidence-building' measure and all relevant sides would coordinate, and of course approve. But the most relevant side has failed to 'approve', knowing full well the intention of the Taliban to return to its brutal campaign of mass murder as soon as Afghanistan is clear of a U.S. presence. Once the U.S. departs, any remaining vestiges of a NATO presence will disappear as well.

An accord to release 5,000 deadly committed jihadists with blood on their hands, in exchange for a thousand Afghan government captives? What kind of equitable balance in 'good faith' does that represent?  From an ethnic perspective, U.S. negotiator Zalmay Khalilzad may have the confidence of the United States in establishing an uneasy rapport with these jihadists, but it's all smoke and mirrors. The women and girls of Afghanistan know what is in store for them should there be an initial power-sharing agreement with the government and the Taliban.

It would be no time at all before the Taliban manage  handily to cut out any interference in managing the affairs of Afghanistan, where the country will revert to the status quo existing before the UN approved, U.S.-led, NATO mission to oust al-Qaeda from Taliban protection in Afghanistan, to which Pakistan proved its reliability in acting as a partner with the U.S. in its struggle against terrorism, by nurturing the presence of both the Taliban and al-Qaeda in their wild and ungoverned mountainous border states.

U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad and Taliban co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar sign a peace agreement during a ceremony in the Qatari capital Doha on Feb. 29, 2020.Karim Jaafar / AFP - Getty Images

De-Coding Iranian Reticent Resistance

"Iranians are trying to make a political point that Canada really doesn't have a big political interest in this since it was mostly 'Iranians' who were killed."
"It's sickening for them to play this card in these circumstances when families are grieving, but it's what they do."
Dennis Horak, last Canadian Ambassador in Tehran, Iran

"[Iran had been] co-operating with foreign experts in the investigation to date."
"[But it is] imperative that Iran allow for a thorough and credible international safety investigation into the causes of the crash [and that it] assume full responsibility, including by providing compensation."
"[Iran must] move the black boxes to a facility with all of the technology and expertise required to quickly and reliably download and analyze the data without delay [as prescribed by international conventions]."
Ukraine, Canada, Sweden, Afghanistan and the UK

Iran's armed forces purchased the Tor-M1 missile systems from Russia  Reuters

"If they're buried in Iran, it's only going to strengthen the Iranians' argument that they're really just Iranian citizens and they're not dual citizens."
"[In Islam] not burying the body is considered torture of the soul."
"For some families, they may be stuck with the pressure to please bury the body because to retrieve [sic] it to Canada may take more hurdles, and that's not good for the soul of the deceased person."
Bessma Momani, Middle East expert, University of Waterloo

The first repatriated body of a Canadian citizen of the 57 who died in the horrific downing of the Ukraine International Airlines jet after takeoff from Tehran Airport resulting the total death count of all aboard --176 -- has been returned to Canada for burial. The government of Canada has spoken with urgency to Iranian authorities of the need to respect the wishes of Canadian Iranian family members who have expressed their wish that their deceased family member be returned to Canada for burial.

According to authorities, a number of the victims' remains from the plane attack have been buried in Iran, in accord with their family's wishes for a speedy burial as is ordained by Islamic burial rites. Iran has stated it will not recognize the issue of dual citizenship; anyone born in Iran is Iranian, and Iranian exclusively. Iran is not the first nor the only Middle East country refusing to give credence to dual citizenship; it gives them a freer hand in handling their 'citizens' when they return briefly to reunite with family members.

In the instance of the deliberate attack on a civilian passenger jet and the demand by the countries whose nationals were involved; Ukraine, Canada, Afghanistan, the UK and Sweden that financial compensation must be paid by the Islamic Republic to the expatriate dual citizens, the stance of recognizing only Iranian citizenship has a second defined purpose. Refusal to pay compensation based on refusal of recognition of citizenship other than Iranian.

As far as Iran is concerned, only the children aboard who had been born outside of Iran and who were killed on that fated flight, can be considered by them to be non-Iranian citizens. Iran has assured and reassured the countries whose citizens were killed that it would respect the families' wishes, but it has neatly diminished the number of family 'wishes' it will feel obligated to 'respect'. Based on passports, according to Iran's aviation authority only five Canadian nationals were aboard the jetliner.

Ukraine and other countries want Iran to turn over the flight recorders Reuters

As for the release of the black boxes for full investigation of the shooting down of the Ukrainian jet, Iran initially agreed that since it lacks the technical apparatus and the experience to properly lead and interpret the investigation it would release them, as recommended by consensus by the involved five countries, to France for analysis. And then it recanted, claiming its investigators would themselves conduct the required investigation.

At the same time, the report issued by the  Civil Aviation Organization of Iran made it abundantly clear that Iranian investigators had found it "impossible" to read the plane's flight data and cockpit voice recorders - commonly known as the "black boxes" - because they were too technically advanced for their limited investigation capabilities.

"If the appropriate supplies and equipment are provided, the information can be taken out and reconstructed in a short period of time", Iran's Civil Aviation Organization stated in its Monday release of the second preliminary report. In its great wisdom and need to retain control of the situation, Iran has asked authorities in the U.S. and France to forward to them equipment to enable them to download information from the flight recorders.

That same preliminary report on flight PS752, is where the CAOI identified the surface-to-air missiles fired at flight PS752 as coming from a Tor-M1 system, which NATO identifies as the SA-15 "Gauntlet". The report also stated that "the impact of these [two] missiles on the accident and the analysis of this action is under investigation". Ignoring completely the security camera footage suggesting  the plane was struck by two missiles within 23 seconds, shortly after taking off from Imam Khomeini International Airport.
 

Clearly Inaccurate Perceptions of Anti-Semitism...?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rana Zaman - Facebook

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

Neither Face Very Commendable

"At a time when Canada needs strong relationships more than ever, Justin Trudeau's poor judgement, lack of professionalism and love of drama continues to weaken Canada's position on the world stage."
"We saw this just yesterday at the NATO summit."
Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer, Parliamentary Opposition

"He's not paying two percent and he should be paying two percent. It's Canada. They have money and they should be paying two percent [in military preparedness]. So I called him out on that and I'm sure he wasn't happy about that, but that's the way it is."
"And honestly, with Trudeau he's a nice guy, I find him to be a very nice guy but you know the truth is, that I called him out on the fact that he's not paying two percent and I guess he's not very happy about it. [Canada is] slightly delinquent."
"Trudeau is two-faced."
U.S. President Donald J. Trump

"I think he hit a nerve. If you look a the tape and you look at the reaction, it was hard not to think about high school where you have the two good-looking rich guys gossiping about the big powerful other guy."
"The relationship is deeper and has guardrails around it, in a sense, that doesn't allow that sort of stuff to happen easily [actual damaging fall-out or related consequences]."
Eric Miller, global fellow, Canada Institute, Wilson Centre, Washington, D.C.

President Donald Trump meets with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at Winfield House, Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2019, in London. (The Associated Press)

As a judge of good character it's hard to credit President Trump with a keen objective sense of what even constitutes good character. He is not himself an example by any means. And he's cut Justin Trudeau a lot of slack; generous to a fault. But it is a faulty conclusion. He's not a nice guy by any means, but rather a pretentious, egotistical, vain, entitled charlatan. Oops, that is Trudeau, but those traits also echo Trump, so little wonder he approves of the former's persona.

There were serious issues to be discussed at the NATO conference, even if it purported to be a celebration and consolidation of its 70 years of international cooperation among NATO allies. One issue that failed to pass the test of serious consideration was the appropriateness of Turkey's half-century of membership that might have been countenanced when it was an Ataturkian-secularist-reform-governed proto-democracy, an entirely different administration than the current Islamist autocracy headed by Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Turkey now shares none of the concerns of NATO. Its ruling Justice and Development Party, which proves more than adequately that words have lost their intrinsic meaning to be manipulated by tyrants and autocrats to serve their personal purposes, has an agenda that is abhorrent for many reasons to other NATO members. With the sad exception of the U.S. whose president gravitates happily to strongmen since he models himself as one. Turkey's membership in NATO, an unspoken grievance by many members, should be under discussion.

Emmanuel Macron was a little precipitate in declaring NATO 'brain dead' on the basis of having been abandoned by Trump, whose volatile, puzzling and intemperate statements and choices have suddenly resurrected U.S. interest in NATO. Donald Trump imagines himself the elder statesman of NATO by virtue of his powerful country's having created the union as a bulwark against the-then Cold War with the Soviet Union and its powerful Eastern European bloc. As the most influential, wealthiest country on the globe, he is conferred with exceptional status.

His pique is spontaneous, his decision-making lacking deep knowledge to guide him, his arrogance is monumental, and defying the man when for a change he has a legitimate point to make in holding other NATO members to the agreed-upon pact all made to spend 2 percent of GDP to acquiring and sustaining a robust national military complete with military hardware in the interests of unity and a reliable military capacity both singly and collectively in an increasingly unsettled world order, can be given the respect it deserves.

When President Trump chastised Prime Minister Trudeau for Canada's lack of commitment to acquiring adequate military hardware, and for failing to live up to its troop-number commitment to NATO, he had a legitimate point to make in urging Canada to follow the example of less-wealthy NATO members who do take their commitment seriously. That Justin Trudeau was incapable of responding like a mature adult and chose instead to mock the president of the United States speaks to a monumental failure on Trudeau's part in representing the best interests of the country he governs.

Choosing to behave like an adolescent rather than an adult to anticipate the frisson of pleasure he would experience in making himself yet again the centre of amused attention by his political international peers, he once more disgraced himself, pandering to his theatrical, drama-princeling aptitude and greed to be the centre of notice, while enjoying the opportunity to laugh at someone he grovels before in face-to-face contact.

On the other hand, Trudeau happened to be in the company of heads of government who chose themselves to behave like adolescent clowns. It is most unfortunate, but Trump seems to have this effect on people who consider themselves to be superior to a man whose manners and values are deplorable and in their distaste for him and choosing to demean the man who holds the position of the most powerful man on Earth, however temporarily, they more or less reflect some of his unsavoury attributes....

PM Justin Trudeau, France's Emmanuel Macron, UK PM Boris Johnson and other VIPs shared a few words at a Buckingham Palace reception Tuesday - and seemed to be talking about U.S. President Donald Trump's lengthy impromptu press conferences earlier in the day.  CBC

Worlds Apart

"Right now, time seems to pass slowly. It is so slow that I have enough time to read a book from cover to cover."
"I can take the time to discuss minutiae with my colleagues or to carefully complete an oil painting. [I have the] luxury of taking my time and enjoying my surroundings."
Meng Wanzhou, CFO, Huawei Technologies

Huawei Chief Financial Officer, Meng Wanzhou, leaves her Vancouver home to appear in British Columbia Supreme Court, in Vancouver, on Oct. 1, 2019. (AFP/Getty Images)

"[I hope the] hardship and suffering] my daughter is going through proves to be] good for her growth."
"Under the grand backdrop of the Sino-U.S. trade war, she is like a small ant caught between the collision of two giant powers."
Ken Zhengfei, Huawei founder, CEO

Ken Zhengfei, father of Weng Wanzhou, speaks of his daughter's suffering, held by Canadian authorities on a warrant through an extradition treaty between Canada and the United States. She is wanted in the U.S. to speak to charges laid by the U.S. Department of Justice that include conspiracy, fraud and obstruction. Primarily the charge that Huawei and Ms.Meng conspired to misrepresent ownership of Skycom to circumvent U.S. sanctions against Iran.

For her part, Ms.Meng wrote of feelings of helplessness, torment and struggle at her arrest in Canada a year earlier. However, forced by circumstances and bail conditions to remain in Vancouver, she suffered within the confines of one of the two luxury mansions she owns in Vancouver. Where she is free to leave her home for appointments, or shopping expeditions garbed in the latest most expensive fashions, sporting an ankle bracelet, accompanied by security.

 Meng Wanzhou leaving her Vancouver home Sept. 30, 2019. (AFP/Getty Images)

Following her arrest in Canada, two Canadians, entrepreneur Michael Spavor and former diplomat Michael Kovrig, both in China on business, were arrested on spurious charges of undermining the national security of China. Their crime of 'espionage' was in fact a vastly delayed charge, long after they had been imprisoned. Where they have been lengthily and frequently interrogated, refused the services of lawyers, unable to see family members, and allowed Canadian consular service but rarely.

China has warned Canada repeatedly that both these men will not be released until Canadian sees the error of its ways and releases Ms.Meng who has been injudiciously charged, her human rights abridged, her country insulted because of Canada's 'mistake'. A 'mistake' that has cost Canada dearly not only in the arrest of two hapless victims of Beijing's rage, but the cancellation of trade talks and a costly bar in the importation to China of Canadian grain products, pork, beef and Canola.

Michael Kovrig (left) and Michael Spavor,  THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP

The People's Republic of China has furthermore warned Canada that should it choose not to include Huawei Technologies in its upgrade to 5G technologies there will be hell to pay. Huawei infamously has close links to the Chinese Communist Party, its founder was himself once part of Chinese military intelligence, and there is the guaranteed prospect of cyber surveillance should Huawei be given the inroads it seeks would endanger Canada's security.

Canada's Intelligence alliance in the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing group including the U.S. Australia, Britain and New Zealand, none of which plan to allow Huawei entry to communications upgrades would be forfeit should Canada accede to China's demand. Beijing's long tentacles have already made political, academic, social and military inroads into Canada through its infiltration network of Chinese-Canadian supporters, nicely balanced by those Chinese-Canadians for whom democracy, not the CCP is the order of their day.

The current Liberal-led government of Canada had aspired to sign a free trade deal with China. The opportunities envisaged to do business and expand entry to the gigantic China marketplace was simply too alluring to dwell on Beijing's agenda of human rights abuses, its occupation of Tibet, its threats to its neighbours of disputed territories on land and sea, its persecution of minorities, Christian and Muslim. All to be overlooked for the greater aspiration of trade and investment.

In this Nov. 20, photo, people stand outside of a Huawei store at a shopping mall in Beijing. The founder of Huawei says the Chinese tech giant is moving its U.S. research center to Canada due to American restrictions on its activities. (Mark Schiefelbein/The Associated Press)

Huawei opening a manufacturing branch plant in Canada? To give employment to Canadian workers? How subtle can pressure get? Intimidation by gift-giving? All other avenues appear to have fizzled. Did Beijing lean on Huawei CEO Ken Zhengfei to give this move a try, to melt Canada's heart by China's sincere wish to do business with Canada to the extent of investing in a manufacturing plant for technology it could not under these new circumstances possibly apurn? To persuade Ottawa to relent and transfer Ms.Meng to China and open its loving arms to Kovrig and Spavor?

“It [considering a prisoner exchange to placate Beijing] effectively normalizes hostage-taking by China, something that either makes it impossible to arrest Chinese citizens, or means that we need to be even more clear in advising travelling Canadians about the risk of becoming a hostage in [China]." "We could expect China to build on its success with hostage diplomacy, possibly using it to pressure Canada to hand over Uyghurs and Tibetans or dissident writers and scholars who have sought refuge in our country."
David Mulroney, a former Canadian ambassador to China

"[A prisoner-exchange would set a] very dangerous precedent [for future extradition cases in Canada involving citizens of the People’s Republic of China, or PRC]."

"It would also give tacit consent to the Chinese regime’s gross violations of the international norms of diplomacy and trade, and embolden the PRC government to subject Canada to more coercive outrages in future."

"Moreover, such a prisoner exchange would be very badly received by the U.S. authorities and in addition damage Canada’s credibility with the allies who have been supporting us in seeking the just release of Kovrig and Spavor."

Charles Burton, China expert, senior fellow, Macdonald-Laurier Institute

Obnoxious Bullying, China's Forte

"The Chinese competent authorities have arrested them [two Canadian citizens] according to law as they are engaged in suspected activities endangering national security."
"The nature [of the trumped-up charges] is the same. It is endangering Chinese national security."
"The United States is using its domestic law to interfere in other countries' internal affairs, because Hong Kong is part of China, that is very dangerous and it sends the wrong signal."
"What they have done is going to embolden those violent criminals [Hong Kong protesters] and that will do nothing to help restore order."
"We are firmly opposed to any foreign interference."
Chinese ambassador to Canada, Ambassador Cong Peiwu

Ambassador of the People's Republic of China to Canada Cong Peiwu participates in a roundtable interview with journalists at the Embassy of China in Ottawa on Friday, Nov. 22, 2019. (Justin Tang/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

"The reason why some people are used to arrogantly adopting double standards is due to Western egotism and white supremacy."
"What they have been doing is not showing respect for the rule of law, but mocking and trampling the rule of law."
Former Chinese ambassador to Canada, Lu Shaye

China's new ambassador to Canada is continuing the fray where his predecessor left off, accusing Canada of warping international as much as domestic justice, which China staunchly upholds on both counts. This latest political contretemps which quickly escalated in charges and counter-charges began back in December 2018 when Huawei's CFO, Meng Wanzhou was arrested at the Vancouver airport on a U.S. warrant to detain and extradite the Chinese executive.

She was released on bail for the interim until her case would be judicially resolved, living at one of her two Vancouver mansions, wearing an electronic monitor, but free to go about normal life in Canada, while Beijing accuses Canada of illegally detaining one of their important nationals. Almost immediately following Ms.Weng's arrest, two Canadians, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor were arrested and ultimately charged with espionage endangering China's security. Like his predecessor, Ambassador Cong denies their arrest has anything to do with Ms.Weng's detention.

Both Canadians remain incarcerated under fairly harrowing conditions, have had sporadic Canadian consular contact permitted them, and no lawyers assigned to their cases. According to Ambassador Cong, the Huawei executive's arrest was completely arbitrary and unlawful, while the imprisonment and charges against the two Canadians is completely lawful and due process will proceed. As for a third Canadian whose lengthy prison sentence for drug smuggling was precipitately transformed to a death sentence, due process will doubtless be applied there as well.

Not to worry. According to Jeremy Paltiel, professor at Carleton University -- a China expert -- now that formal charges have finally been placed against the two Canadians in custody, they should be given access to lawyers. And since 99 percent of such cases in China conclude with conviction, it doesn't seem hopeful that Kovrig and Spavor will be returning home any time soon. Unless, that is, Canada spikes its own system of justice with a pass and returns Ms.Meng to China.

Michael Spavor, left, former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig, right (Canadian Press)

In the interview that the new ambassador granted he weighed in as well to warn Canada to stay out of the issue of supporting Hong Kong demonstrations for autonomy and democracy, as the United States has done with the U.S. Congress passing legislation to lead to sanctions. This move is hugely unpopular with the Chinese Communist Party, as is the effort to persuade other governments to themselves place like sanctions on Chinese officials.

Police violence in trying to contain the protests has led to violence on the part of the demonstrators. Beijing has exercised a certain level of restraint in responding to the protests that they characterize as 'riots', knowing that the eyes of the international community are fixed squarely on events in Hong Kong, and that the sympathies and sentiments of the civilized world are with the protesters. The five months of unrest in the city-state have represented a trying time for all involved.

Canada and China established diplomatic relations almost a half-century ago. Beijing's focus on presenting itself as a contender for world power status and its ambitions in the sphere of universal trade, to place itself at the centre of the international community's focus on trade has often been crudely carried out, gaining China distrust from Western democracies just as China's near neighbours have been disturbed and forewarned of its aggressive moves to acquire contested geographic, oceanic and air rights.

"The situation has deteriorated as much as it can and China doesn't want it to deteriorate any further", Professor Paltiel advised . "China has enough problems on its plate that it doesn't need to have fewer friends in the world", he continued, assaying that Beijing would be open to settling the problem it faces with Canada over the Huawei arrest. On the other hand, there would be no settlement possible, should Canada decide that its G5 upgrade will proceed without Huawei inclusion, to ensure that its status as a 'Five Eyes' member will remain intact. 

Protesters were out on the streets again during their lunch hour on Friday as part of the daytime campaign launched last week by the anti-government movement. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

The Loathsome Iranian Kleptocracy

"As often happens when the Iranian regime finds itself under pressure, such as the Green Revolution in 2009, when there were mass protests against the result of the presidential election, the ayatollahs resort to the brute force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Basij, the IRGC's volunteer militia, to crush dissent. The regime employed similar measures during the Green Revolution, when thousands of Iranian protesters, who were dismayed at the prospect of former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad serving another four-year term of office, staged the largest anti-government protests Iran had witnessed since the 1979 Islamic revolution."
"Regular outbursts of dissent have been reported throughout Tehran since the end of last year, mainly in response to the crippling effect the US sanctions regime is having on the economy, where inflation is running at around 40 percent, and the collapse in the value of the rial, the national currency, has caused dramatic rises in the cost of basic staples, with red meat and poultry rising by 57%, milk, cheese and eggs by 37%, and vegetables by 47%."
Con Coughlin, Telegraph's Defence and Foreign Affairs Editor, Distinguished Senior Fellow at Gatestone Institute

With the Iranian economy under such intense pressure as a result of the sanctions, the regime has little room for manoeuvre, so it faces a stark choice: either radically reform its conduct or continue to face the wrath of the Iranian people. Pictured: Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (left) and President Hassan Rouhani. (Image source: khamenei.ir)

Iranian citizens have taken to the streets in protest against their Islamist theocratic government's ineptitude in managing the affairs of the country. Its ayatollahs and the Republican Guard Corps' leadership has focused on exporting the Islamic Republic's brand of fundamentalist Islam and in disrupting relations between its Sunni-majority neighbours, intent on acquiring power and prestige for itself to reflect its view that Iran must take its 'rightful' place once again as the controlling centre of the Middle East.

But in its focus on external relations, and the mischief it is able to exert on neighbouring countries, it has attracted unwanted attention to its corrupt regime along with its interference in the internal affairs of other countries such as Lebanon, Syria and Yemen, stirring up sectarian antipathies and inciting violence. Its proxy Shiite militia Hezbollah in Lebanon, and its support for Hamas in Gaza, both groups involved in threatening the existence of Israel, has given it recognition as the sponsor of terrorism.

Iranians facing difficult economic times and shortages of basic goods, medicines and food, are resentful that their countries' nuclear ambitions and funding of terrorism abroad have brought sanctions crippling to the economy, and they are the ones to suffer, not the Iranian elite, the leading clerics and the leaders of the IRGC, all of whom have amassed substantial private funds siphoned away from the ruined economy and safely nested in Swiss bank accounts.

A country with the kind of vast oil reserves that Iran has, unable to provide for its population, yet funding terrorist groups and deploying its military and their military proxies in the bloody conflict in Syria and Yemen, has failed its people. Thousands of Iranians have joined protests in response to the government of President Hassan Rouhani rationing fuel and pumping up its cost by 50 percent to a population already hard-pressed to feed themselves.



Now that the police, the military and Basij are using live rounds on the protesters, a reputed several hundred people have been killed, characterized by the regime not as citizen-protesters, but as criminals, just as Syria's President Bashar al Assad spoke of Syria's majority Sunni protesters as 'terrorists' he was justified in slaughtering by the hundreds of thousands with the help of Hezbollah and the IRGC al Quds force.

And while Iranians are protesting their government's pursuit of regional power and financial support of terrorism groups -- "not to Gaza, not to Lebanon, I sacrifice my life for Iran", the popular rebuke of the protesters in Tehran and elsewhere -- protests in Iraq and Lebanon against Iranian hegemonic interference in their countries have sparked public anger. Those shot dead in the protests are being held by the government instead of being delivered for burial to their families, in fear of funerals becoming lightning rods for more protests.

The regime shut down the Internet to keep people from organizing protests. Although the United States indicated it was capable with its technical capability to restore Internet service in Iran, the Iranian regime now gloats the protests are almost over, and it has itself restored service. Iranian officials' corruption has been rampant. Its leaders who claim the U.S. and Israel are responsible for Iran's financial losses are known to have hoarded billions for themselves.

And though they detest the West, that hasn't deterred Iranian leaders, despite threats they send to prove how much they hate the democracies which find the Republic's base oppression of its own people loathsome, become host to wives and children sent to live abroad floated by the funding siphoned from public funds.

Demonstrators filled the streets of Tehran to protest economic downtown in Iran.

Atta Kenare/AFP/Getty Images

Baghdad's Massive Riots

"[The unrest is costing the economy] billions of dollars."
"[The protests  that] shook the political system [have achieved their purpose and must stop affecting the country's trade and economic activities]."
"Threatening the oil interests and blocking roads leading to Iraq's ports is causing big losses exceeding billions of dollars."
Abdul-Mahdi, Iraqi Prime Minister

"A witness told us [Monday] that the police responded with live ammunition, not tear gas, and that at least five people may have been killed."
"A medical source told us about 30 people have been injured and these injuries are gunshot wounds to the head and face. The injured include security forces as well as protesters."
Natasha Ghoneim, reporting from Baghdad

Anti-government protesters stand on barriers set by Iraqi security forces to close a bridge leading to the Green Zone government areas during ongoing protests in Baghdad, Iraq, on Monday. (AP)

On Sunday, the appeal from Iraqi government authority was for protesters to cease and desist; the economy was faltering. Thousands of demonstrators burned tires and blocked major roads in the capital, Baghdad. Anti-government protests have been steadily mobilizing and their actions increased. Roads were obstructed with wooden pallets, barbed wire and the torching of furniture dragged into the thoroughfares. Central Tahrir Square has hosted huge numbers of people calling for the resignation of the government.

Protesters pushed on Monday with civil disobedience  [Ahmad al-Rubaye/AFP]

Banners reading "Roads closed by order of the people" were held aloft, and calls for ending the political system that came out of the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq were rife. In the past month since the demonstrations began, over 250 people have died.

 Security forces firing live rounds at protesters along with rubber bullets and tear gas canisters have increased the death toll. An inquiry launched by the government itself claimed security forces have used excessive force against protesters.

Despite that revelation and its release a hundred more people have been killed. At Iraq's main Gulf port, Umm Qasr close to Basra, there is a complete standstill where the bulk of the country's imports of grain, vegetable oils and sugar is normally received. An activist physician who had offered medical care to protesters was abducted on Saturday by unknown assailants. Physician Siba al-Mahdawi's whereabouts is unknown, yet the sinister abduction has not deterred protesters.

At least 250 people have been killed in the anti-government protesters since they began at the start of October.

Increasing violence has simply spurred demonstrators to become bolder, and aside from critical rage at their own government, the protests have turned to targeting the presence of Iranian forces in Iraq. Even while the prime minister has warned protesters that the price of goods will rise as a result of their actions, the mostly young demonstrators with their bleak future prospects in a country where they cannot find employment, has not convinced them to cease.

On Sunday, Iraqi security forces shot three protesters outside the Iranian Consulate in the holy city of Karbala. That led to Monday's demonstration where dozens of Iraqis fired up tires and attacked the consulate, scaling the concrete barriers surrounding the consulate, lobbing firebombs over the walls, chanting "the people want the fall of the regime", echoing the slogans of the 2011 Arab Spring. The goal was to haul down the Iranian flag over the consulate to replace it with an Iraqi flag. Ultimately the Iraqi flag was placed on the wall in front of the consulate, its message clear.


The lavish lifestyles of the country's political elite at a time when young Iraqis know their future holds a one-in-five potential of living below the poverty line, simply infuriates them even more, given that one in four among them is unemployed. "The protesters want radical change, but the ruling class would lose everything if such change came to pass", commented Abdulla Hawez, a regional researcher.

Protesters set fire to close a street in Sadr City during the ongoing anti-government protests in Baghdad, Iraq, on Monday. (AP)