Russia's Jet-Powered Drones

"Last month, according to our statistics, there were 1,500 jet UAV attacks. This month, we've already counted 3,000 jet drones."

"Based on our intelligence data, the Russians have plans to produce 36,000 to 40,000 UAVs per yer -- that is, more than 3 ,000 per month."

"It's safe to say they have already reached that production capacity."

Serhiy Beskrestnov, adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy 

 

"[Such strikes have] once again highlighted a critical issue facing Ukraine: The Armed Forces of Ukraine have reached a breaking point regarding their shortage of surface-to-air missiles."

"Missiles are more expensive and complex to manufacture, making their daily use unfeasible. Geran drones, however, offer an immediate operational advantage."

"Looking long term, with the potential for production and launch capacities up to 5,000 units per month, they can be used to exacerbate the air defence shortages and intensify strikes on Ukrainian territory."

Mikhail Zvinchuk, Russian military blogger 

From Shahed to Geran: Russia reinvents the One-Way Attack Drone  Photo: Anelo/Adobe Stock

"We'll give them the right to make Patriots. We'll show them how to do it", said U.S. President Donald Trump, pressed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to do more to help Ukraine defend itself from Russian attacks on its civil infrastructure, missiles and drones hurled in great numbers at Ukrainian cities throughout the vast geography of the nation. Then came the qualifier: "advanced technology is a hard thing to give  away". 

 

Over 2,800 jet-propelled drones that fly twice as fast as less advanced ones, were launched in numbers meant to overwhelm Ukraine's defences, to force Kyiv to resort to more high-tech methods for self-defence. More than half of the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that Russia launches now to "wear down" Ukraine are jet-propelled. "There were almost 1,500 drones of all types in these four days alone, about 800 of them jet powered", stated President Zelenskyy. 

 

Developed from basic Iranian Shahed drones, the Geran-4 and Geran-5 models are capable of speeds of up to 400 kilometres per hour. Ukrainian forces scrambled combat aircraft at times in an effort to repel them. The role of these drones underlines Russia's alliance with Iran; emphasized when Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian earlier this week.  A Russian Geran-4 drone struck a munitions warehouse in a village outside Kyiv over a period of several hours, killing 38 people, this past week.

 

The image shows Geran drones stored near Tsymbulova in Russia's Oryol region.

 

Russia, predicted Beskrestnov, would go on producing gasoline-powered drones, with Jet-propelled models representing about 60 percent of output. Older types like the Shahed-136 and Geran-2 will make up the rest of the arsenal. But Russia is not the only protagonist in this conflict using powerful drones to their advantage; Ukraine has shown itself adept at producing its own weaponized drones to good effect within the Russian geography.

 

Aerial strikes used by each side penetrated deep into one another's territory, with the ground war stalled. Russian oil refineries continue to be hit by Ukraine. Ukraine has extended its campaign against major Russian online retailers, striking Ozon warehouses, quite apart from its hits on Russian oil refineries. An estimated six percent of the warehouse capacity of the online retailer was obliterated. 

 

For their part, a mix of drones and ballistic missiles are fired by Russia, striking warehouses around Kyiv, and in so doing threatening food shortages, seen as some grocery stores now have empty shelves. Ukraine has improved its capacity significantly to shoot down drones, ramping up its own long-range drone production. Even so, the shortage of air defence missiles represents a persistent vulnerability, an advantage for Russia.

 

Ballistic missiles can inflict much more damage, penetrating heavily defended or underground sites, but they are infinitely more expensive to produce than drones. President Zelenskyy aspires to acquire additional interceptors, pressing President Trump and the U.S. Congress to make more supplies available to Ukraine. He estimates that Ukraine requires at least five percent of U.S. Patriot production in its defence against Russian onslaughts, not merely the one percent it now relies upon. 

 

Russian air attack on Kiev, August 29, triggering major explosion and fire on warehouse. AP/Getty

 

Canada's Scholarship Decline

"All told ending EDI [equity, diversity and inclusion] initiatives in Canadian research should be a top priority for any responsible government."

"[The quantity and quality of Canada Research Chair scholarship declined from between 20 percent to 15 percent, attributable to] non-meritorious appointment of less qualified Black, Indigenous, and female chairs." 

"Our analysis ... confirms that diversity is not merely neutral but can lower performance."

The Equity-Excellence Tradeoff report 

The Bruneau Centre for Research and Innovation at Memorial University in St. John's, Newfoundland. Since 2017, Canadian universities have been subject to strict identity-based hiring quotas as a condition of receiving federal research funding. Photo by Adobe Stock

 

The Macdonald-Laurier Institute released a new report focusing on race-based hiring quotas in academia under a Liberal-government mandate. Canadian universities have been subjected to strict identity-based hiring quotas since 2017, conditional to receiving research funding from the federal government. Postings of academic jobs explicitly barring straight white men has become proforma in recent years at Canadian academic institutions, as a result of that financial stricture.

 

As an example, at Memorial University in Newfoundland a tranche of five new job opportunities advertised in April as being open only to "women; 2SLGBTQIA+ applicants including Indigenous peoples, racialized persons and persons with disabilities".  This identity-based hiring has resulted, according to the 54-page report, in a diminishing number of Canadian research published or cited by other scholars.

 

The $311-million annual Canada Research Chair program came under particular attention by the study, representing the federal research fund focusing on the pressure placed on identity-based hiring. 2,285 university Canada Research Chairs are funded by the program; salaries and office expenses are entirely covered by this federal grant funding. Schools receive $200,000 yearly for a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair, and $100,000 yearly for a Tier 2 Chair. That's a substantial amount to forego for any university that might balk at the restrictions imposed.

 

DEI and academic hiring in public universities: An index of university discrimination in Canada  Aristotle Foundation for Public Policy

 

Schools receiving those grants have no option but to submit to federal quotas on race, gender and sexual characteristics of any researchers they hire. Canada Research Chairs must be comprised of 22 percent 'racialized', 4.9 percent 'Indigenous' and 50.9 percent 'women and gender equity-seeking groups', according to the most recent guidelines published by the Government of Canada. 

 

Individual universities, furthermore are informed of the precise number of Canada Research Chairs they are required to put in place in one of four 'equity-deserving' groups, targets expressed in regularly updated tables. The most recent equity quota for McGill University required the hiring of 34 'racialized' Canada Research chairs, five Indigenous Canada Research Chairs and ten 'persons with disabilities'. 

 

Initiated in 2000, the Canada Research Chair's identity mandates began in 2017 through the oversight of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, which fit nicely within his obsession with Critical Race Theory/DEI/Woke agendas to make Canada more equity-conscious as it approached his ideal of the 'Post-National' state that had no reason to distinguish itself through rigorous academic application to excellence. The program has taken nine years to become fully operational under the aegis of the Liberal federal government

 

Aristotle Foundation for Public Policy

 

When the Canada Research Chair program first started, white males represented 80 percent of the chairs. By 2025, white males represented a mere 25 percent of the total. The productivity of Canada Research Chairs was ranked by Macdonald-Laurier Institute analysts before and after the imposition of the identity mandates. The performance of 1,906 Chairs was categorized by their 'h-index' -- the standard global measurement of productivity and relevance of a scholar. The number of papers where a researcher is listed as an author along with the number of instances where the papers are cited by others results in the h-index ranks; typically between one and 100.

 

Cohorts with the lowest research productivity were recognized as those being given priority for academic positions. Black male scholars or Indigenous had an average h-index of 25, whereas the average white or Asian male scholar held a 39 h-index. As for female scholars, their average h-index was 28. The paper concluded that the replacement of high-achieving cohorts with lower-achieving counterparts arrived at the cost of lower quality research.   

"There will be many cases in which female, Black, or Indigenous scholars will not impose a cost, but on average -- under an EDI dispensation in which race and sex considerations can outweigh scholarly merit -- this will be the case."

"[Example: where a university took a position previously filled by a white or Asian scholar, filling it with a Black or Indigenous hire, it likely entailed an] average loss of 3.2 h-index points."

The Equity-Excellence Tradeoff report  

 

Canada's Incompetent Liberal-Progressive Political-Elite

As the Canadian economy continues to sputter, continuing a trend of weak economic growth for nearly two decades, Toronto is a big part of the story. In fact, given Toronto’s size and economic weight, its performance is central to understanding Canada’s economic malaise. Fraser Institute

 

"When comparing the economic performance of Canada relative to the U.S. since the beginning of the 21st century it's abundantly clear that Canadian policy-makers have failed to create an environment where we can prosper." 

"[The ability to transform raw materials and other inputs into demanded goods and services increased by over double the amount (26.7 percent versus 67.9 percent) in the U.S. in comparison to Canada], which explains much of our languishing living standards."

Jake Fuss, director, fiscal studies Fraser Institute 

 

"One example is that in 2014 we saw a collapse in oil prices in Canada. which resulted in a decline in business investment in the economy."

"But that can't necessarily explain the decade of economic stagnation that followed, and so that's where, in large part, government policy factors played a role."

"We know that investment is a huge determinant of productivity. Which then impacts the incomes that Canadians earn."

Grady Munro, senior policy analyst, Fraser Institute  

Canada’s recent technical recession may have made headlines, but one of the country’s biggest economic challenges has been building for more than a decade—namely, weak business investment. Fraser Institute

 

The past quarter-century has seen Canada's economic gap with the United States in gross domestic product per person doubling; U.S. citizens pull steadily ahead on income, employment, investment and productivity, and Canada stagnates. Good thing Canada's current prime minister, leading the country on a prolonged Liberal-led foray into the future is an economist. He would know, as a former world banker and governor of the exchequer of two G7 'advanced economies' how best to act in Canada's interests. That's what the electorate saw in his election promises, to give him a mandate to govern. 

 

And so far, a year and more into his mandate he has performed no better than his predecessor, a rank amateur in governing a country, hampered in part by his progressive-left credentials and his overweening preening. Personal proclivities shared by his successor.

 

A new study published by the Fraser Institute, found that inflation-adjusted GDP per person in Canada was $48,076 as opposed to the U.S.'s $59,482 in 1999. GDP per person had grown by 2024, to $59,529 in Canada while in the United States it was $84,386; a vastly widening gap over a 25-year period, from $10,766 to $23,757. Measures inclusive of living standards taken into account -- income, employment, investment and productivity in the two countries compared economic outcomes in the study.

 

Canada, over the first quarter of the century, was found to have fallen further behind. In 2010, the earliest year of available comparable data, inflation-adjusted median employment income was $6,126 higher in the United States than it was in Canada, and by 2024, the gap had continued expanding substantially, to $8,663. Three factors were outlined in the Fraser report explaining the disparate gap in economic performance. 

 

The anxiety and growing animus towards the Trump administration by many Canadians is clouding the enormity of the home-grown problems facing our country. These economic challenges existed well before President Trump took office for the second time but the uncertainty over access to the U.S. market and Trump’s almost daily threats of more tariffs have heightened the problems. Unfortunately, there’s increasing evidence that like its predecessor, the Carney government is more about optics than action and results.  Fraser Institute

 

The decline in private-sector employment as a share of total employment in Canada was identified as the first factor impacting the economy. Private sector employment decreased to 78.5 percent from 81.2 percent, as the public sector employment rate outdistanced the private sector in that category, whereas in the United States the direct opposite took place, as private-sector employment increased from 85.8 percent of total employment to 86.5 percent, making for a much healthier overall economy. At the same time, labour productivity, recognized as a key driver of income growth, grew by 67.9 percent in the U.S. between 1999 and 2025, in comparison to Canada's 26.7 percent increase over the same period.

 

In Canada, business investment, equipping workers with tools and technology required to produce goods and services, dropped from close to 90 cents per worker for every dollar invested in the U.S., to 54 cents between 2007 and 2024. Canada's trailing economic performance, according to the Fraser Institute's study, was initiated in 2014. Canada largely kept pace with, and in some instances exceeded the U.S. across several measures, before 2014. Just incidentally, Justin Trudeau became prime minister in 2015 bringing with him his notion of a 'post-national' Canada, with an embrace of progressive environmentalism. 

 

And as The Fraser Institute's Grady Munro pointed out as one of the study's authors, increased regulations on sectors such as energy in combination with tax increases on high- and middle-income earners, along with sky-high increases in federal debt made for reduced appeal for business investment. The Liberal Trudeau government introduced a new top tax bracket on income over $200,000 in 2015, raising the top federal personal income tax rate to 33 percent from 29 percent. In less than a decade the national debt doubled from $687 billion in 2014-15 to almost $1.5 trillion by 2025-26.  

 

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Toronto skyline ... The latest economic readings from Statistics Canada are not encouraging. So far this year, Canada has lost roughly 120,000 jobs. Data for the first quarter of 2026 show overall economic activity declining marginally in the first three months of the year, which is worse than forecasters expected. This comes on the heels of a slight economic contraction in the fourth quarter of 2025. Fraser Institute

 

According to the Fraser Institute study, per-person GDP growth in Canada stagnated during this time while growth in the U.S. continued at a robust pace. GDP per person in Canada increased a mere 3.2 percent from 2014 to 2024, compared to 20.1 percent in the United States. A suggested  re-emphasis on balancing budgets, spending restraint and limiting debt accumulations are the recommended moves to improving Canada's economic performance. Is anyone listening? Thought not.

 

"Injury to Dignity, Feelings and Self-Respect"

"Ayman Elkasrawy is a teaching assistant at Ryerson University. In 2016, he publicly made extremely hateful statements about Jews."

"Oh Allah! Count their numbers; slay them one by one and spare not one of them." 

"Oh Allah! Purify the Al-Aqsa Mosque from the filth of the Jews."

CIJ News 

 

"One of Ryerson's core values is our commitment to community and inclusion ... your comments are in contravention of this core value, do not foster a respectful learning environment and reflect adversely on, and are to the detriment of the University."

Ryerson University dismissal letter teaching assistant 

Masjid Toronto on Dundas Street West. FACEBOOK PHOTO

 

Ayman Elkasrawy, a former teaching assistant with Ryerson University in Toronto (renamed Toronto Metropolitan University in 2022) was fired following his having publicly denounced "desecration by the Jews" in 2016 in a prayer delivered in Arabic, at the Masjid mosque in Toronto. There he called for Jews to be slayed 'one by one', none to be spared. At the time the prayer was condemned by Masjid Toronto as well as the Muslim Association of Canada. It was identified by them as "an inappropriate supplication that was offensive to those of Jewish faith".

 

There was additional repercussions when Ryerson University decided to dismiss Elkasrawy from his work as a teaching assistant in the engineering faculty. Elkasrawy's prayer clips were circulated at the time by  CIJ News, now defunct. The translation circulated by CIJ News represented a mistranslation, claimed Elkasrawy's counsel; the comments "twisted, to make them appear inappropriate, violent and antisemitic". 

 

What he actually did say, according to Elkasrawy was: "Oh Allah: has full cognizance of them, slay them one by one, and don't let one escape your punishment. Oh Allah; cleanse the Aqsa Mosque from the desecration by the Jews". Furthermore testifying before the Ontario Human Rights Commission that his 'slay them one by one' statement referred to members of Syria's Assad regime. That he was referring to Israeli control of Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa mosque; however on second thought he would alter the prayer to "the occupying Jews".

 

In a statement university said it learned last week "that a teaching assistant had made disturbing, anti-Semitic comments off-campus" in the summer 2016, and took "appropriate action." (Facebook)

 

On the grounds that he was the victim of an "Islamophobic attack" Elkasrawy  had taken his complaint to the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal. He had been, he claimed, the victim of an Islamophobic attack resulting from posters pasted on the Ryerson University campus with his photograph alongside the caption "fire him now". The posters, Elkasrawy informed the tribunal, were created by "the Islamophobia industry" in which Ryerson had "participated in the Islamophobic attack" by respecting their demands for his dismissal.

 

The Jewish group B'nai Brith had sent a letter to President Mohamed Lachemi of Ryerson University calling for Elkasrawy's dismissal. Following the termination, President Lachemi replied to B'nai Brith with the news that Elkasrawy was "no longer employed by he university", that "we remain actively engaged in addressing antisemitism in our community". 

 

In adjudicator Cherniak's ruling, Lachemi's decision to comment violated the university's usual privacy regulations even while rejecting Elkasrawy's claims of having been fired because he was Muslim.  Ironically, she deemed him a victim of discrimination, relating to the email Ryerson President Mohamed Lachemi, himself a Muslim, sent to B'nai Brith. Which moved her to the decision to award him $7,000 for "injury to dignity, feelings and self-respect". 

 

Ayman Elkasrawy accused of making anti-Semitic statements while leading prayers at his downtown mosque / Cole Burston for the Toronto Star

"Who amongst us has not at some point in their lives said something they wish they could take back and learned a life lesson because of it."

"[The prayer was a] human moment [that ultimately did not represent] his sincerely held beliefs."

"I find that his identity as a Muslim is not the reason he was terminated because there is no evidence to support such a conclusion."

"I find that Dr. Elkasrawy has not presented clear, cogent and convincing evidence that the poster was made by the Islamophobia industry or is Islamophobic on its face."

"I am satisfied that Dr. Elkasrawy's creed was a small factor in President Lachemi's decision to breach Ryerson's confidentiality policy and send an email about Dr. Elkasrawy's employment status to B'nai Brith Canada."

"I award Dr. Elkasrawy a remedy in the sum of $7,000.00 as compensation for injury to dignity, feelings, and self-respect for this Code violation."

Cyndee Cherniak, adjudicator, Ontario Human Rights Tribunal 

Posters that were put up at Ryerson University, calling for Ayman Elkasrawy to be fired.

 

Asymmetrical Warfare

"This is making the missile the preeminent weapon of the 21st century, with the potential to undermine deterrence and stability."

"[Warfare followed a simple physical law: The further you fired your projectile, the less accurate it became. Overcoming distance was a problem supplanted by the solution of] mass and energy."

"Now, wars are won by information."

"[These new technologies allow] the many and the small -- ] Iranians, Houthis, Hezbollah, Hamas -- ] to slip the heavy punches of their opponents, because they are well hidden and can strike back with accurate blows of their own." 

Professor emeritus of defense analysis U.S. Naval Postgraduate School 

David vs. Goliath: Cost Asymmetry in Warfare   Photo by parilov/Adobe Stock

  

Disparity in Power: At its core, asymmetric warfare hinges on a significant imbalance in military strength. The weaker side, lacking the resources and conventional military might of a state actor, must innovate and adapt unconventional strategies to level the playing field.

Unconventional Tactics: Guerrilla warfare, ambushes, sabotage, and terrorism are quintessential tactics of asymmetric warfare. These methods aim to maximize damage to the stronger force while minimizing losses for the weaker side, showcasing the ingenuity and resourcefulness of asymmetric actors.

Blurred Lines: Asymmetric warfare often blurs the distinction between combatants and civilians. Insurgents may operate within civilian populations, making it challenging for the stronger force to discern between military targets and innocent bystanders, complicating the ethical and strategic dimensions of conflict.

Terrorism: In the arsenal of weaker actors facing off against more potent adversaries, terrorism emerges as a potent tool for disrupting stability and exerting influence. Characterized by its asymmetrical nature, terrorism encompasses a spectrum of violent acts aimed at civilian populations or non-combatant targets, leveraging fear and intimidation to achieve political, ideological, or strategic objectives. Whether through bombings, shootings, or cyberattacks, terrorist groups exploit vulnerabilities in security systems to inflict disproportionate harm and sow chaos. Strategically employed, terrorism aims to erode the morale of the adversary, undermine confidence in government institutions, and provoke reactions that may inadvertently galvanize support for the terrorist cause. As such, terrorism remains a defining feature of asymmetric warfare, presenting complex challenges for security and counterterrorism efforts on a global scale.

Hamas and Hezbollah serve as prominent examples of non-state actors engaged in proxy warfare against Israel, receiving support from Iran. Employing rocket attacks and other unconventional tactics, these groups highlight the intricate interplay between asymmetric and proxy warfare in the region, further complicating conflict dynamics.  

 

 

It was a strike of genius, a scheme whose planning was exquisite in nature, secretive and ultimately successful catching the enemy -- in this case Hezbollah -- off guard when on September 17 and 18 of 2024 pagers and other handheld electronic devices used by members of the terror group, their fighters, officers, medics and civilian supporters became victims when Israel detonated them in a surprise attack that did not require the presence of IDF soldiers. Dozens were killed by the surprise explosions and an estimated 3,000 wounded. Altogether some 1,500 Hezbollah fighters put out of business due to their injuries.

 

A fairly small quantity of explosives cunningly lay in wait for the unsuspecting users of those handheld electronic communication devices. They were remotely ignored on schedule. It took but a few hours for Israel's scheme to demoralize an implacable enemy when a significant number of Hezbollah fighters were killed and wounded. The scheme's success owed to vital information that afforded Israel that rare one-time opportunity. Knowledge of how, where and when to strike for the greatest impact. Low-tech allied with clever manipulation of physical resources and knowledge of the enemy. 

 

People gather as smoke rises from a mobile shop in Sidon, Lebanon September 18, 2024. REUTERS/Hassan Hankir

 

Israel,  however, is not the only entity that is making great use of the supreme utility of information/intelligence and low-cost technology in a combination that frustrates and demoralizes an enemy while allowing the users to make the gains of time and stalemate. This was not Israel's only venture into that low-key, big-impact type of warfare, confusing and confounding its enemies. In February, Israel acting with U.S. intelligence snuffed out over 40 senior Iranian leaders at a high-level meeting where they gathered in a single Tehran compound. Iran's national security elite wiped out with one accurately-aimed airstrike.

 

Smoke rises following an explosion, after Israel and the United States launched strikes on Tehran, Iran, on February 28, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Reuters

 

This was followed by the Iranian regime's own cunning plan to undercut the American victory that had levelled its airports, destroyed its seaports, smashed its political/military infrastructure, left it leaderless, the elite commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps decimated, but not without canny intellectual resources that conspired to unsettle the globe when it closed off the Strait of Hormuz to shipping and relentlessly bombed surrounding Arab/Muslim countries that allowed their territory to house American military outposts. 

 

Long under economic sanctions Iran still was able to develop a massive arsenal of missiles and drones, with a little help from its friends in China and Russia to gain more sophisticated technology. Its fairly inexpensive missiles and drones saw it fighting back at Israel and the United States, while inflicting some considerable damage to U.S. assets in the region. The U.S. aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln with its almost 5,700 personnel found itself under duress of restocking supplies when Iranian missiles and attack drones destroyed the Bahrain-based American supply base. 

 

That coup was followed up with an Iranian missile destroying a $500-million radar operating a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense system at a U.S. air base in Jordan signalling "a potentially transformative moment" in the "strategic contest" between Iran and the United States and Israel according to the Defence Security Asia journal. The IRGC sent their missile to strike the THAAD radar system maneuvering it in flight for a flanking attack on the radar striking it at a vulnerable angle, after having evaded detection and interception.

 

Vessels near the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam, Oman, Aug. 31, 2026.

Stringer | Reuters

 

Clarifying 'Terrorism' as Opposed to 'Hijackers' : CBC in the Public Trust

Photo taken on September 11, 2001 shows the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center burning after two planes crashed into each building in New York. The buildings collapsed on that day claiming 2,753 lives. September 11, 2026 marks the 25th anniversary of this event. Photo by STAN HONDA /AFP/Getty Images

 

"Do not refer to the Sept.11 attacks as terrorist attacks. [Refer to the] longstanding language guidance [on the Sept.11, 2001 al-Qaida attacks]."

"The hijackings led to passenger jet crashes in Washington D.C. Pennsylvania and Manhattan."

"The World Trade Center was destroyed [CBC internal language guide]."

Basem Boshra, senior director, journalistic standards and public trust, CBC News

 

"Refusing to call it an act of terrorism dishonours the victims, their families, the survivors, and the first responders who witnessed the horrors of that day."

"Trying to sanitize or rewrite that history is deeply offensive and does a disservice to everyone who was affected by the attacks."

"[The CBC is redefining] terrorism in a way that downplays the atrocity [of the terrorist attacks]." 

Conservative Member of Parliament Rachel Thomas

 

"It is wholly inaccurate to state our journalists have been urged to declare that this was not a terrorist act."

"[The memo represents a reminder to adhere to the CBC's language guide for] the terms 'terrorist' and 'terrorism'."

"CBC preferences use of these words with attribution to credible sources, a practice shared by many of the world's top journalistic organizations."

Kerry Kelly, CBC public affairs spokesperson 

 

"[Staff will use the terms but they will always be] attributed to government officials, authorities, experts and politicians." 

"But CBC News does not itself designate specific groups as terrorists, or specific acts as terrorism, regardless of the region or the events, because these words are so loaded with meaning, politics and emotion that they can end up being impediments to our journalism." 

Brodie Fenlon, CBC News editor in chief, general manager

 

"[Employees are urged to] exercise extreme caution before using the words terrorist or terrorism [because they can be] highly contested [in some instances and potentially raise questions about the CBC's] consistency and impartiality [in covering other attacks]."

"Terrorism generally implies attacks against unarmed civilians for political religious or some other ideological reason But it's a highly controversial term that can leave journalists taking sides in a conflict."

CBC Language Guide 

Confusion has been swirling about how CBC News journalists use the words 'terrorist' and 'terrorism,' particularly in connection with the al-Qaeda attacks on New York, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania on Sept. 11, 2001. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

 

Al-Qaida, the Islamist fundamentalist terrorist group operating under the late Osama bin Laden, is listed as such under Canada's terrorist list. The United Nations lists the group as terrorists. There is little doubt that  al-Qaida is acknowledged as a terrorist group almost universally, many of the Arab countries of the Middle East as well, including Saudi Arabia where it was formed, with 'radicalized' Saudi Arabians their operatives in the suicide mission that killed almost three thousand people in the aerial attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and Pennsylvania.

 

Canada's once-respected public broadcaster, under its current administration -- well infiltrated by noxious Islamist figures that also occupy positions of trust and authority in many other Canadian institutions under the Liberal government that has seen fit to transition Canada from a nation wedded to social justice through democratic order and Western values to one that accommodates itself to the transformative presence of Muslim Brotherhood adherents -- now carefully sidesteps naming terrorism for what it is, implying in the manner of its coverage that there is room to excuse the excesses of baleful violence against the West in sympathy with the 'oppressed' of the world.

 

In that atmosphere of submission to an alternative view of Islamist jihadists where to name them as such is to burden Canada's Muslim population with institutional 'Islamophobia' which must at all costs be avoided, the CBC's operational chiefs see the value of soft-peddling Islamist extremism expressed in terrorism's slaughter of those opposing Islamic conquest, including innocent civilians who are used as proxies-for-slaughter in lieu of more prized goals such as Western officials viewed as Islam's enemies, even those who compromise themselves by their eagerness to cull favour with their growing Muslim populations.

 

The despicable position taken by the mealy-mouthed expositors of journalistic 'balance' and 'neutrality' in the face of the evil represented by barbarian hordes of Islamist jihadists whose mission is to kill, to instill fear and apprehension in the minds of those they terrify tests our civilizational mores and certainties. Prostrating themselves before the alter of accommodation, they have lost the confidence of the public who judge the public broadcaster on the quality of the journalism they place on display and find it wanting. Those same Canadians would be satisfied to see the CBC defunded by taxpayers and for it to become as totally defunct as it is morally.

 

That the CBC, under pressure applied to Prime Minister Mark Carney by Opposition leader Pierre Poilievre, by a threat made by the American Federal Bureau of Investigation over the outrage expressed by its director Kash Patel, and by the reaction of ordinary Canadians, offended and horrified that their public broadcaster is loathe to name the obvious for what it is, reflected on its original decision-making and recanted this latest order, is telling. Telling also that its withdrawal of the order not to name the 9/11 horror as a terrorist attack, and that this rescinding of the memo is to apply only to 9/11.

 

And not to CBC's regular 'neutral', non-subjective reports on the terrorist attack by Hamas on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, and the resulting invasion of Gaza by the Israel Defense Forces, in a defensive move to destroy the terrorist group controlling Gaza once and for all for which it is universally condemned by its erstwhile allies. The CBC reportage on a tiny nation fighting back against Islamist jihadists whose terrorist death-cult agenda cannot rationally be denied, is shameful, and it will continue; no slack given to public outrage over that since it is too controversial in and of itself, impacting for the present time, only Canadian Jews, not the overwhelming presence of Muslims now living in Canada. 

 

 

 

Basem Boshra, CBC

 

"...To be clear, CBC News has never said what happened on Sept. 11, 2001, was not terrorism, as some commentators have stated in recent days. We have reported fully and accurately on the reasons and motivations for those attacks as determined by police, governments and an independent commission. We've just made sure to do it with attribution."

"Clarity and understanding are at the heart of our journalism. The leaked excerpt without context or explanation has raised more questions for the public that we must now answer."

"After reviewing our current language guidance, we have decided to adjust it to clarify that direct attribution is not required for describing the historic events of 9/11 as terrorism." 

"We are doing so to remove what has unfortunately (and unintentionally) become an impediment to clarity and public understanding."

"At the same time, as new acts of politically or ideologically motivated violence occur in our world, we will continue to follow the journalistically sound practice of attributing causes and motivations to officials and experts."

Basem Boshra, Senior director of journalistic standards and public trust

 

Canada/U.S. Trade Negotiations: The Public's Need to Know

"On Trade, and in other ways, also they are among the worst Nations in the World to deal with."

"They feel entitled, and yet, WE DON'T NEED CANADA THEY NEED US!"

U.S. President Donald J. Trump

 

"Canadians must see it [the proposed agreement] to judge what options are on the table."

"[It's time for the prime minister to release the text of the deal]."

Conservative Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre

 

"If there was a draft text of any agreement that both governments have seen please release it The U.S. administration has seen [it]. Your government has seen it. Canadians deserve to see it."

"We are here to help and fight for a good result for Canadians. But we expect the Prime Minister to be transparent and open with Canadians about what the President offered and/or threatened in these talks."

"...We are asking for information that both the U.S. administration and your own government would already know, because both were involved in the back and forth. This information will allow all Canadians to debate and discuss the way forward as a country."

Conservative Member of Parliament Shuvaloy Majumder, shadow minister for Canada-U.S. relations 

Carney has a weak hand in Canada-U.S. Trade negotiations, Shuvaloy Majumder

 

What a truly awkward time for Parliament to be adjourned for its traditional summer break so that ostensibly Members of Parliament can be available to their home constituents rather than be gathered in the House of Commons to debate matters of great public interest in the ongoing conflict and contradictions between two North American trading partners. Canada-U.S.  relations have never in modern history been so fraught with the impending potential of economic travails as a result of injuriously steep tariffs imposed by the United States on Canadian goods and services.

 

With a matter of such grave vital interest to all Canadians, in that it directly impacts their already steep cost of living, issues that should be openly and transparently available for public consumption with accompanying explanations as required, remain an opaque mystery. News reportage, while hazarding possible scenarios informed by questioning the opinions and possible scenarios of impact on Canada's economy by trade and economic professionals and academics can only conjecture, since no release of actual discussions and tariff proposal settlements have been released.

 

The Liberal government has dominated the issue and made decisions on behalf of the country as they should and must as the current executive administrative government. Yet it behooves them to share what information they have not only with the official Parliamentary opposition, along with provincial premiers, with appropriate segments of the talks and subsequent disagreements being released to the public. A week has passed since the trade/tariff negotiations between the two sparring partners, Canada/U.S. called off the talks when Canada refused the last-call additions of an agreement set to be signed.

 

There is more than ample reason to suspend total belief in what this government, this Liberal prime minister offers publicly as a description of events and negotiations and the government's position. It may very well be true that the U.S. introduced last-minute measures, as PM Mark Carney contends, that proved impossible for Canada to accept. Limiting Canada's sovereign trade options with countries other than the U.S. as a demand by the U.S. would clearly be unacceptable, as would claims that the U.S. attempted to "restrict our protections of our language our culture, and in effect, our sovereignty. In short, they asked too much and offered too little"; a snappy line that Mr. Carney treated us with, but not much else. 

 

He was anything but forthright on a number of previous occasions, that later caught up with him. The most conspicuously in avoidance of truth and reality when he characterized the discussions between Canada and the United States over the opening of the Gordie Howe International Bridge linking Windsor, Ontario with Detroit, Michigan. He failed on that occasion to describe in entirety what the end result was that led to U.S. President Donald Trump finally permitting the bridge to open. A bridge whose cost was totally underwritten by Canada, which planned to recover investment costs over time through bridge tolls.

 

Gordie Howe International Bridge    CTV

 

When in reality, Donald Trump demanded that bridge tolls be shared immediately with the U.S., before Canada could recover its $6.4 billion outlay. The original agreement between Canada and Michigan, signed and delivered, for Canada to recoup its costs, then share half-and-half of the bridge tolls, and generously handing over half-ownership of the bridge to Detroit was summarily struck null and void by the American president. None of which details Mr. Carney disclosed, while characterizing the 'deal' with Washington, as a 'win' for Canada.

 

Member of Parliament Majumdar subtly reminded Mr. Carney of his election promises that he would be the only candidate that Canada could rely on to subdue the U.S. president's enthusiasm for flummoxing other world leaders by treating them as flunkies and imposing steep tariffs on their countries' hitherto trade relations with the U.S. He would, he asserted, have a trade agreement with the U.S. for Canada that would do this country proud. He, and only he, as a seasoned economist, a former governor of the Bank of England had the professional expertise to do the job creditably. 

"There have been no wins. U.S. tariffs on Canada are far higher than when the Prime Minister took office."

"As we move forward, it is critical that we maintain the trust and unity of our people with transparency on the efforts you have made to date, and about the circumstances of these negotiations that are so important for Canada."

Conservative Member of Parliamentary Opposition, Shuvaloy Majumdar 

Shuvaloy Majumder in the House of Commons  Still from Video