Landscape-Altering Climate Change

"[The landslide was not the largest ever in Canada, but it was] very, very enormous."

"Imagine a landslide with a mass equal to all of the automobiles in Canada travelling with a velocity of about 140 kilometres an hour when it runs into a large lake."  

"This drained most of the lake water, which then travelled down [a 10-km]-long channel causing widespread channel erosion and loss of salmon habitat,"

"It took about 30 seconds from when the rock started to detach on the slope for that mass of rock to enter the lake and, that produced a huge displacement wave. And everything was removed, all the trees and the soil, and so that was pretty spectacular." 

Marten Geertsema, adjunct professor, University of Northern British Columbia

 

"What we don't know is whether the final straw that broke the camel's back, for lack of a better phrase, was a rainstorm or unusually wet conditions during 2020."

"The ability to have perhaps half of the lake volume drained within ten minutes or less, I mean, it was tremendously powerful and disruptive."

"It feels very small [as a human], studying things with such power."

Professor Brian Menounos, Canada Research Chair in glacier change, University of Northern British Columbia

Brian Menounos, a professor of geography at the University of Northern British Columbia, surveys a debris field caused by a landslide and outburst flood off the coast of B.C. (Briar Stewart/CBC News)

A massive landslide presumed to have been caused by a retreating glacier located in a remote valley in British Columbia, caused a 100-metre-tall tsunami to occur, wiping out kilometres of salmon habitat. The earth tremors caused by the landslide was powerful enough to be detected by sensitive scientific equipment located as distant as Australia, according to a study published in Geophysical Research Letters.

 

An immense load of 18 million cubic metres of rock was sent cascading down a mountainside on November 28, 2020, as a result of the landslide uprooting trees and displacing soil, on its way to slamming into Elliot Creek. In Germany, Japan and Australia, earthquake sensors detected the landslide, the study points out, emphasizing its powerful effect. 

Salmon spawning habitat was destroyed over 8.5 kilometres of the creek runway, sending a plume of mud and organic matter over 60 kilometres into Bute Inlet located around 150 kilometres from Vancouver. At Columbia University in New York, a professor simultaneously measured a magnitude-5 earthquake in the area.

Dr.Geertsema described most of the lake water being drained and forced down a 10-kilometre-long channel when the massive slide fell, causing widespread erosion and loss of salmon habitat. Roughly four million cubic metres of material was removed from the creek within a stunning ten minutes. An event that would naturally have consumed thousands of years, should the stream have continued its normal flow.

 

The landslide scoured the Elliot Creek bed, creating this canyon, after an initial outflow into a glacial lake triggered an outburst flood. (Bastian Fleury/49 North Helicopters)

 

 Members of the Homalco First Nation who brought their intimate knowledge of Elliot Creek's salmon habitat, contributed to the research. Landslides, while not uncommon, are known to have carved the landscape of continents for millennia creating or diverting water bodies and rivers.

According to Professor Menounos, several factors would have occurred for the slope's instability and the landslide to have eventuated. Deglaciation, however, is being pinpointed as an accelerating cause of landslides. Scientists now have the required research methodology and accumulated data to map topography under glaciers, allowing them to estimate such events, inclusive of new lake formations.

Study: A retreating glacier in a remote British Columbia valley caused a massive landslide that crested a 100-metre-tall tsunami, wiped out kilometres of salmon habitat and was detected as far away as Australia. ElliotlakeToday

Bioprint-Boosting Human Reproduction

"A human testicular biopsy from a single donor with NOA [non-obstructive azoospermia] was dissociated into single cells [and then] expanded in vitro and 3-D bioprinted into tubular structures that resemble the tiny tubes that produce sperm."

"[The research] may carry future potential for disease modelling and regenerative opportunities in a personalized medicine framework."

Dr. Ryan Flannigan, urology assistant professor, University of British Columbia/Weill Cornell Medicine associate

Cross section of human testicular cells 3D printed into a tubular structure.

 

Infertility is a problem faced by one in six couples in Canada, with 30 percent of such cases reflecting an inability to conceive attributable to the male partner. According to the Public Health Agency of Canada there are many causes of male infertility, among them poor sperm quality, low sperm count, or lack of sperm, a history of sexually transmitted infection like Chlamydia or hormonal imbalances.

That is not an exhaustive list to explain male infertility; other causes both for men and women can be traced to tobacco and alcohol use, being underweight or overweight, and cancer treatments such as chemotherapy, radiation and/or surgery. Included as well can be chronic conditions such as diabetes, including their medical treatments. 

 

Nature is complex and she approves of ideal conditions for reproduction though she is not herself immune to producing occasional imperfect specimens.

While some forms of male infertility are correctable through appropriate treatment, even men with untreatable forms of infertility may now be on the brink of seeing research succeeding to convert into a potential treatment that overcomes all those other obstacles, thanks to researchers at the University of British Columbia.

  Sperm cells stained w/fluorescent dye for study

With his team of researchers, Dr.Flannigan decided to study the feasibility and potential of 3-D bioprinting of spermatogenic modelling. In the process discovering sperm production was indeed possible, given the success of their early trials. The team retrieved stem cells from a 31-year-old NOA patient to culture new cells which in turn showed a 93.4 percent viability in 24 hours.

These results were 3D printed into a petri dish. Non-obstructive azoospermia (NOA) a condition where no sperm is to be found in the ejaculate, has responded to reversal through surgery in some men, yet there is only a 50 percent success rate with the conventional surgical procedure.

Titled Using Clinically Derived Human Tissue to 3D Bioprint Personalized Testicular Tubules For in-Vitro Culturing, the research report noted following 12 days of observation saw the cells survive. Well enough so that the researchers now 'coach' the cells to produce sperm. Should that process succeed, the sperm should function for use in inseminating a viable egg.

Dr. Ryan Flannigan and research assistant Meghan Robinson with bioprinter

COVID-19 Returns to Home Base in China

"While the majority of G20 countries are exiting pandemic-related lockdowns, China appears to be stuck with its old tool box of zero tolerance and draconian measures to fight COVID."

"In addition to the strain on business, the population seems less willing to put up with lockdowns, as more and more erratic local policies erode citizens' confidence in their local administrations."

Jon Wuttke, president, European Union 
Chamber of Commerce in China

Tests take place behind the barriers of a makeshift Covid centre in Shanghai earlier this week  Reuters

 

Shanghai, China's financial engine with its 26-million-srong population has never encountered a need previously for a mass COVID lockdown. Three days ago authorities ruled there would be no shut down of the city in reflection of its huge economic importance to the Chinese economy. Instead the focus was on more targeted solutions, to seal off residential towers and manufacturing plants where outbreaks had been occurring.

Until Wu Fan. one of a panel of expert COVID advisers, informed a city briefing of recent mass testing that discovered 'large scale' infections throughout the entire city. "Containing the large scale outbreak in our city is very important because, once infected people are put under control, we have blocked transmission", he explained.

 

Chinese authorities believe in the efficacy of large-scale responses to even relatively small breakouts of COVID and its variants. Where its zero-COVID policy has fairly well shut off its borders for the past two years from outside 'influences. The introduction of more infectious variants such as Omicron has led some to question the strategy of mass testing, lockdowns and reliance on domestic vaccine development.

 

Now, in lock-step with China's COVID-aversive reactions, the financial hub of Shanghai went into lockdown Monday with the determined purpose of quelching its COVID-19 problem. The sudden decision was announced on Sunday by local authorities; the city was to be divided in half, with mass testing, closure of businesses and confining millions of people to their homes to take place first in one half of the city, then the other, as the first half reopens.

 

Police control access to a tunnel leading to the locked-down Pudong district of Shanghai, amid efforts to stop the spread of COVID-19 in China's financial capital, March 28, 2022. HECTOR RETAMAL/AFP/Getty

This reaction to the discovery of widespread infections must seem puzzling to the 26 million people in the city, given that the epidemic has been largely asymptomatic. The lockdown and its implications arriving when most nations in the West have moved on to abandoning COVID lockdowns and restrictions  to move toward an acceptance of the virus's existence.

 

Shanghai authorities Monday locked down areas east of the Huangpu River, an area where its financial district and industrial parks are located. The four-day lockdown shifts to the second half of the city in the west then, for another four days. During which time testing is to be conducted on residents barred from leaving their homes.

 

Public transport is suspended and private cars forbidden from the roads. tunnels and bridges linking the two halves of the city have been closed off; roads leading out of Shanhai have been blocked. A negative  COVID test is required for anyone wishing to leave in an emergency. Residents of the city responded to the orders in a panic of stocking up on food and related supplies to the point where supermarket shelves were emptied.

 

Shanghai residents line up to buy eggs from a vendor next to a market in Yangpu district, in Shanghai, China, as the city is shut down in two staggered phases to limit the spread of COVID-19, March 28, 2022. HECTOR RETAMAL/AFP/Getty

 

Staff of financial institutions were instructed on short notice to return to offices before the lockdown and to expect to sleep over nightly until the lockdown is lifted. Linked foreign businesses have viewed the situation from the outside with concern. In Hong Kong, over a million cases of COVID erupted in the city that had been largely free of the virus in the past two years.

 

The highest number of cases recorded anywhere in the world surfaced in Hong Kong in early March where close to 900 cases per 100,000 residents was tabulated. Deaths of close to 300 daily surged earlier in the month in Hong Kong. Reflective of low vaccination rates among the elderly. China's home-grown vaccines, as it happens, have a low efficacy rate. 

 

Medical staff walk in front of barriers of an area under lockdown in Shanghai on Friday. (Aly Song/Reuters)

Life, Ebbing and Flowing

"Given that cross-coupling between alpha and gamma activity is involved in cognitive processes and memory recall  in healthy subjects, it is intriguing to speculate that such activity could support a 'last recall of life' that may take place in the near-death state."

International Neuroscientist Study Team

 

"We measured 900 seconds of brain activity around the time of death and set a specific focus to investigate what happened in the 30 seconds before and after the heart stopped beating."

"Just before and after the heart stopped working, we saw changes in a specific band of neural oscillations, so-called gamma oscillations, but also in others such as delta, theta, alpha, and beta oscillations."

"Through generating oscillations involved in memory retrieval, the brain may be playing a last recall of important life events just before we die, similar to the ones reported in near-death experiences."

"These findings challenge our understanding of when exactly life ends and generate important subsequent questions, such as those related to the timing of organ donation."

"As a neurosurgeon, I deal with loss at times. It is indescribably difficult to deliver the news of death to distraught family members."

"Something we may learn from this research is: although our loved ones have their eyes closed and are ready to leave us to rest, their brains may be replaying some of the nicest moments they experienced in their lives."

Dr Ajmal Zemmar, neurosurgeon, University of Louisville, US

Image: Okrasiuk/Shutterstock.com

The brain activity of an 87-year-old patient was inadvertently recorded in hospital as the elderly man died. Subsequent analysis of electroencephalography recordings of the man's brain in the 30-second period before and following the patient's heart stopping to beat suggested to the investigating scientists that interaction had taken place between different brain waves; that the process continues once blood stops flowing in the brain.

This observation, new to bioscience, may indicate that life-scenes flash before the eyes of an individual in the instant prior to death. A finding that the international team of scientists has reported. Should this prove to be a universal phenomenon and not simply an observation of one individual case, it seems that the potential for 'recall of life' may be a common experience for those facing and moving into death. 

The study's observations and subsequent theories were published in the journal Frontiers in Ageing Neuroscience. Despite which the researchers note that their assessment and the conclusions brought away from the study relates to one single observable incident recorded and studied for its implications. That the phenomenon cannot yet be considered to be  an end-of-life occurrence common to all individuals.

 

In the instance of the 87-year-old Canadian man with epilepsy, a brain scan was ordered and simultaneously the man had a heart attack and died. He was not immediately disconnected from the EEG machine, thus the accidental recording was made, and came under investigation by the researchers. This happenstance occurrence, tragic as it was for the man and his family, gave neuroscientists the opportunity to study the resulting recording.

The Cost of Energy Dependency

Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a government meeting via a video link at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow on Wednesday. Putin said Russia will only accept payments in rubles for gas deliveries to "unfriendly countries," which include all EU members and the U.S.   Mikhail Klimentyev/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images

"I have decided to implement ... a series of measures to switch payments — we'll start with that — for our natural gas supplies to so-called unfriendly countries into Russian rubles." 

"Russia will continue, of course, to supply natural gas in accordance with volumes and prices ... fixed in previously concluded contracts."

"The changes will only affect the currency of payment, which will be changed to Russian rubles."

Russian President Vladimir Putin

"At face value this appears to be an attempt to prop up the ruble by compelling gas buyers to buy the previously freefalling currency in order to pay."

Vinicius Romano, senior analyst, consultancy Rystad Energy

"It is unclear how easy it would be for European clients to switch their payments to rubles given the scale of these purchases."

"However, there are no sanctions in place that would prohibit payments of Russian gas in rubles."

Leon Izbicki, associate, consultancy Energy Aspects

AFP/Getty Images

Punishment and its sister spite have aided Russia in drawing up a list of 'unfriendly' countries who just happen to correspond to any imposing sanctions on Russia for its sudden invasion of Ukraine. Agreements with companies and individuals from the marked countries must be approved by a government commission. Some of the listed countries like the United States and Norway make no purchases of Russian gas and some others purchase so little they have no need of it whatever.

 

The list Russia has compiled includes but is not exclusive to the United States, European Union member states, Britain, Japan, Canada, Norway, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland and -- suppress that laugh -- Ukraine. Questions arise over whether this decision of Russia to impose this kind of 'penalty' would breach contract regulations agreed in euros.

"This would constitute a breach to payment rules included in the current contracts", a senior Polish government source complained, adding there is no intention on Poland's part to sign new contracts with Gazprom following the current long-term agreement's expiration in 2022. "I can't imagine we will agree to change the terms of that", he stressed.

Punishing Russia with sanctions and more sanctions for its misdeeds and now the incalculable horrors of a full-on conflict with Ukraine has given Vladimir Putin inspiration on pay-back. It's the steep price that comes with dependency. Without Russia's natural resources bonanza paying the freight for his technologically-updated war machinery inspiring him to the belief it'll be a quick in-and-out to achieve  his aspirations to help himself to Ukraine's territories, his level of confidence would be somewhat less.

 

In the full confidence of European dependence on Russia's gas and oil, Mr. Putin feels he's still holding aces.  His rubles demand from 'unfriendly' countries sent prices for European gas into the stratosphere on concerns the region's energy crunch would be exacerbated. Heating homes and powering up industries is of vital concern to any economy and so it is with Europe who in their fury over Russia's invasion of Ukraine exacted their own punishment on Russia.

 

To the EU's consideration of whether to sanction the Russian energy anchor, Putin took the initiative to snap back: Buy our currency or forget about acquiring our gas. Europe's need of Russian gas accounts for 40 percent of its total usage. Fluctuating between 200 million to 800 million euros daily so far in 2022. The demanded currency change has the potential to disrupt that trade, sending wholesale gas prices 30 percent steeper after the announcement.

 

Since February 24 when Russia began its invasion of Ukraine, the Russian currency has fallen about 20 percent. Major banks are wary of trading in Russian assets and some buyers of Russian gas in the European Union were unable to clarify how they would go about paying for gas under the new demand. 58 percent of Gazprom's sales of natural gas to Europe and other countries from January 27 were paid in euros, with U.S. dollars accounting for 39 percent of gross sales and sterling 3 percent. 

The European Commission plans to end reliance on Russian supplies of gas "well before 2030" and has started out with plans to cut its dependency by two-thirds this year. EU states, given their dependency on Russia's energy sector, however, have not agreed to sanction it. Germany's Economy Minister plans to discuss with his European partners a potential response to Moscow's gas payments announcement. Even while Germany's Habeck stated that the demand represented a breach of delivery contracts.

 

A Russian Gazprom vessel — a floating storage and regasification unit — is seen anchored offshore in the Baltic Sea near Kaliningrad, Russia, in early February. (Vitaly Nevar/Reuters)

"It's difficult, given the current economic situation, for Russian authorities to abandon sales of oil and gas to the Western countries."

"You can say, 'We do not trust euros or dollars,' but economically it's the same operation. Money is money."

Marcel Salikhov, president, Institute for Energy and Finance, Moscow

Fallout of Russia's Invasion of Ukraine

"The difficulty with commodities like a crop market is that it takes a while for the market to adjust. It's not like you can add a second shift or open up the tap."

"The disruption to those two countries [Ukraine and Russia] represents a significant cut in the availability of wheat. And so, as a result, prices jumped up dramatically; increasing by about 50 percent since Russia invaded Ukraine."

Alfons Weersink, professor, food, agriculture and resource economics, University of Guelph 

"The amount of wheat that is missing due to this conflict is like one thousandth of one percent of all supply."

"The situation is very serious for people in certain countries because, sure, it's just a temporary local shortage, but a temporary local shortage that lasts a week can kill you."

"And the best thing that people in wealthier western countries can do is just settle down."

Sarah Taber, U.S. crop consultant

"The very high likelihood of disruptions to Ukraine's grain and oilseed harvests, combined with the threat of trade restrictions on Russia's exports of cereals and other basic foodstuffs ... would jeopardize the food security of many countries around the world, and of discern, to many economically vulnerable countries."

United Nations report

"It certainly won't affect our [Canadian] harvest and won't really have that big influence on seeding, simply because plans are made and field crop rotations are pretty sound so it's not like we can just suddenly swing into a bunch of more wheat acres."

Jim Wickett, secretary-treasurer, Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association

Farmers harvesting wheat last year near the village of Tbilisskaya, Russia. A crucial portion of the world’s wheat, corn and barley is trapped in Russia and Ukraine because of the war.   Credit...Vitaly Timkiv/Associated Press

As a result of Russia's invasion of Ukraine not only is Europe facing massive destabilization and the potential for the conflict to metastasize and have the potential to lead to a wider conflict, it also forces Europe to look elsewhere for their energy sources, deviating from their dependence on Russia for a good proportion of their gas and oil. Food production is also on the line in the eventuality of a crop shortages, in particular wheat since both Ukraine and Russia are major international exporters of wheat.

 

Turbulence has entered the international wheat market, leading to questions about how an expected shortfall will be handled. Just as the complications relating to weaning Europe off Russian-derived oil and gas has presented as an issue, so too does the complex issue of the vital distribution of cereal grains now present as an emergent problem, one that will affect less affluent countries dependent on imports of Russian and Ukrainian crops to supplement or to entirely provide as their sole source of wheat and other grains. 

The spectre of global food shortages looms large with two major exporters of agricultural commodities now at war, placing underdeveloped nations, major importers of food, at a critical disadvantage. From Russia and Ukraine close to 64 percent of sunflower seed oil supplies the world market. Ukraine provides the world with 14 percent of its barley and 20 percent of rapeseed. Between them, Ukraine and Russia account for roughly 28 percent of world wheat exports. 

The dire predictions of shortages has eyes swivelling to another major exporter of world grain supply; Canada. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations' recent analysis of the Russia-Ukraine conflict fallout argued that the fighting could lead to a "sudden and prolonged reduction in food exports" culminating in the undernourishment of between eight and 13 million people worldwide from economically vulnerable countries.

Combine harvesters unload harvested wheat grain into a truck near Stavropol, Russia. Source: Bloomberg

According to figures supplied by the US Department of Agriculture, about seven million tons of wheat is absent from the global supply chain as a result of the conflict, partially offset in exports by Australia and India.  Black Sea wheat from the two countries in conflict is largely exported to the Middle East and North Africa, along with underdeveloped countries heavily reliant on food imports. Eritrea sourced all of its wheat last year from Russia and Ukraine. In the Seychelles over 90 percent of wheat came exclusively from Ukraine in 2021.

Around the world close to fifty countries source in excess of 30 percent of their wheat imports from Russia and Ukraine. A situation which has led to some governments taking action as in Egypt, the largest wheat importer in the world, where the government has fixed the price of bread to guard against price hikes. Lebanon is now seeking its wheat from India to compensate for the 80 percent it normally obtains from Ukraine.

As for Canadian farmers, few are likely to add more fields to wheat production since even at increased prices wheat is not a profitable crop. Moreover since other crops tend to be more favourably priced  such as canola, farmers are unlikely to plant more wheat in the face of other, more profitable crops presenting as an option. Canada produced 21.7 million tonnes of what last year, 12.6 million tonnes of canola, 14 million tonnes of corn and 6.3 million tonnes of soybeans. Barly fields rounded out with 6.9 million tonnes, and oats, 2.6 million tonnes.

A harvester at work in the Khmelnytskyi region of Ukraine. Russia and Ukraine account for about 28 per cent of the world's wheat exports.

"Wheat prices have increased to the point where they're likely profitable, if you can get the yields, but also all the other commodities have increased as well."

"You can't grow canola every year -- at least a person shouldn't be -- so throwing that wheat into the rotation breaks up the disease cycles on some of the more profitable crops."

"And yeah, on a lot of years, if you can get good yields, there is still a potential for profit on wheat."

Bill Prybylski, vice-president, Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan

Of Mice, Men and Fertility

"Most female birth control pills work on the female sex hormones."

"Targeting the male sex hormone leads to a lot of side-effects such as weight gain, depression and increased risk of cardiovascular diseases."

"Men are less willing to take a birth control pill that has significant side effects. That's why we are targeting a non-hormonal pathway to developing a male birth control pill."

MD Abdullah al Noman, Ph.D.candidate, University of Minnesota

 

"That's very important -- that you knock out the target that you've achieved the desired effect but the mice are also viable and healthy."

"Of course, you have to be careful with this analysis because they are mice and not humans, but nevertheless the effect was very, very promising."

Gunda Georg, researcher, University of Minnesota

Clinical trials on humans may begin in the second half of the year. Photo by RGtimeline

Condoms and vasectomies are currently the sole options for men to select between as a form of birth control in the reality of no available oral contraceptives. Researchers in presenting their findings at the American Chemical Society's 2022 conference in San Diego, California noted that condoms are single-use, prone-to-failure devices, and vasectomies considered a permanent form of male sterilization with the potential of reversal, lacking guarantees.

 

In presenting their birth control pill for men, the scientists lauded it as a new, highly-effective non-hormonal contraception. Its efficacy was tested on mice, leading to a 99 percent success rate in the prevention of pregnancy. Human trials are proposed to begin the second half of 2022. The researchers explained that the pill is designed to target interactions with vitamin A, a vital compnent in fertility, instead of targeting hormones.

 

iStock

 

In avoiding testosterone, the male sex hormone, no side-effects were observed in the animal models. Following four weeks of oral administration of the compound -- YCT529 -- a significant reduction in sperm count was observed in the mice which led to the 99 percent success rate in preventing pregnancy, in the absence of any observable side-effects.

 

Once the treatments were stopped within four to six weeks the mice returned to normal levels of virility. Clinical trials on humans to be initiated in the second half of the year, though potentially risky, will lead to the conclusive trials, clearing the way for the formulation to be approved and eventually marketed as the first-ever available oral male-specific birth control pill.

A daily pill shows it can temporarily make mice sterile, and researchers hope to start human trials later this year..   -     Canva

 

 

Trooping the Colours of Democratic Liberalism

"Putin's attack on Ukraine is an attack on the values that form the pillars of all democracies. We have a responsibility to make the case to people about why these values matter so much -- not just to Ukrainians but to us all."

"We must recommit ourselves to the work of strengthening our democracies, and demonstrate the principled leadership people are looking for."

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

Despite Canadian legacy media outlets burying the story, the reprimand of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau by European parliamentarians in Brussels has made headlines around the world. True North

Canada's 'charismatic' prime minister, the man who rode to success during the 2015 election that brought him to the helm of government, enjoyed telling the international community at events taking him outside his country that "Canada is back!". He never stopped deriding the previous, Conservative-led government that preceded him, led by former Prime Minister Stephen Harper. His initial actions on coming to power included reversing most of the moves of the previous government, and then he put his own personal imprint on government departments, renaming them all. 

 

This man preened and presented himself as a 'feminist' and a supporter of Indigenous rights, yet when his government's female/Indigenous Minister of Justice and Attorney General refused to surrender to the pressure he and his cronies subjected her to in the interests of airbrushing away prosecution of a prominent Quebec company accused of international corruption, he moved her from her position, demoting her to a lesser portfolio, and finally removed her from caucus.

When the second-in-command of the Canadian military attempted to support the need for a re-supply vessel for Canada's ill-equipped navy, Justin Trudeau persecuted him, saw to his removal from office, and ordered a judicial enquiry into alleged wrong-doing, the consequences of which were an absolute acquittal. Justin Trudeau as prime minister of Canada has done more to drive a wedge between Western Canada and Eastern Canada than any of his predecessors.

He saw fit to elevate a spurious charitable enterprise during the initial days of the COVID pandemic; a group unqualified to fill a questionable position that would profit them greatly. A charitable enterprise whose operators were personal 'friends' engaged in questionable ethics, which paid the prime minister's mother and brother handsomely for celebrity appearances geared to give greater credibility to the charity, but which ended in a public scandal, forcing the Minister of Finance to step away from office.

During his time as prime minister of Canada, democracy has been eroded by decisions made by Justin Trudeau, with limited appearances in the House of Commons, and remotely-gathered sessions to conduct government business. He unnecessarily prorogued government for sustained periods of time, and would not be answerable for the lapse in government business, preferring lengthy adjournments attributable to his personal agenda.

This is a man who felt entitled to travel once again to Europe to speak to European parliamentarians to plead for unity in responding to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a man who drove separatist impulse in Western Canada over his unequal and dismissive treatment of provincial assets and governments with which he would not agree. Democracies, he informed the European parliamentarians, is under attack in Ukraine, as though he was a leading exponent of democratic justice.

Trudeau's penchant for personal unaccountability, his practised aversion to direct response to questions, indulging in circumlocution, his automatic response to critics, lapsing into accusations of 'racism' and 'anti LGBTQ2' prejudices are legendary, known beyond Canada. When he mentioned as an example the recent truckers' protests in the streets around Parliament Hill in Ottawa last month, citing the Freedom Convoy as a conspiracy to turn citizens against a democratic system he described as best-suited, he drew a principled response from a handful of European delegates.

A response that made long-suffering Canadians sigh in appreciation that the hypocrisy and egocentricity of the man who has spoken of Canada as a 'racist' country, a country without any culture of its own, along with his aspiration to make of it a 'post-national' country has received recognition. The protesters in Ottawa, fed up with their government's autocratic mandates verging on dictatorship asked to be listened to. Their government had mandated that the ten percent of truckers who were unvaccinated must be.

People who for whatever reason would not submit to vaccination became, under Trudeau, third-class citizens whom he regarded with repugnance as unspeakable riffraff. He directed that they be unemployable without vaccination. Families with no incomes, struggling to get through a difficult period in their collective lives wanted an explanation and an answer from their prime minister, who refused to meet with them. Their protest was an affront to his sense of infallibility. 

"To defend our rights and the rights of our children, which we have acquired over the centuries, many of us – including myself – are willing to risk our own freedom and our own lives. Unfortunately, today there are those among us who trample on these fundamental values."

"Canada, once a symbol of the modern world, has become a symbol of civil rights violations under your quasi-liberal boot in recent months."

"We watched how you trample women with horses, how you block the bank accounts of single parents so that they can’t even pay their children’s education and medicine, that they can’t pay utilities, mortgages for their homes. To you, these may be liberal methods, for many citizens of the world, it is a dictatorship of the worst kind. Rest assured that the citizens of the world, united, can stop any regime that wants to destroy."

Croatian MEP Mislav Kolakusic

 

"Based on article 195, I would like to point out that it would have been appropriate for Mr. Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada, to address this house, according to article 144. An article, which was specifically designed to debate the violations of human rights, democracy, and the rule of law which is clearly the case with Mr. Trudeau."

"[You are a] disgrace for any democracy. Please spare us your presence."

German MP Christine Anderson

Anderson accused Trudeau of openly admiring the Chinese basic dictatorship and called out the prime minister for trampling on “fundamental rights by persecuting and criminalizing his own citizens as terrorists just because they dare to stand up to his perverted concept of democracy.”

Syphilis Resurgent in Canada

"Syphilis can affect any organ, not just the genitals, as is traditionally thought."

"[When public health units pivoted to COVID] which was important, but there is an opportunity cost [programs offering access to STI testing, contact tracing and treatment slowed, or ground to a halt]."

Dr.Zain Chagla, infectious diseases specialist, McMaster University 

"Every case of congenital syphilis reflects a failure of our health-care system to identify and treat a treatable condition."

Dr.Carsten Kruger, infectious diseases fellow, Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario

 

"Our cases are the highest we've seen since the 1940's, so that's pretty shocking to see those types of numbers."

"There's no question everywhere in the world right now social media apps are being used to arrange sexual contact and casual partnerships. In fact, about a third of our cases (in Alberta) report anonymous partners,"

"A disproportionate number of cases are among Indigenous persons and also persons who are affected by multiple social determinants of health -- so they're affected by homelessness, addictions, mental health issues as well as poverty."

Dr. Ameeta Singh, infectious disease expert, University of Alberta

Syphilis is easily spread through sexual contact and can damage vital organs and lead to death if left untreated. (Getty Images)

Rates of syphilis infection have increased within Canada, covering every age group. Females aged 15 to 39 have seen an especial rise in cases. A 740 percent increase in infectious syphilis was reported in Canada, infecting women from the years 2016 to 2020; the highest rates being seen among women of child-bearing age. That increase has resulted in a parallel rise in babies with syphilis.

Doctors in Montreal were alerted by public health bulletin in January to test all pregnant women in care for syphilis, reflecting a worrying rise in congenital syphilis. The bacterium, treponema pallidum causing infection, spreads from mother to fetus prior to birth. Left without treatment, syphilis in pregnancy can lead to miscarriage, stillbirth, or infant death following birth.

Born with syphilis, babies can end up with deformed bones, enlargsd liver and spleen, along with nerve and brain damage. Caught expeditiously treatment with penicillin can prevent transmission of syphilis from mother to baby. Commonly in the near past Canada would see no more than ten instances of congenital syphilis yearly. A national congenital syphilis surveillance study last summer asked pediatricians and other doctors treating children to produce monthly reports on confirmed or suspected case.

The official reported number to date came to 101 cases, considered an underestimate. The Prairie Provinces, Alberta, and Saskatchewan have presented as the geographic areas most likely to be reporting congenital syphilis. The rate of which had been ascending in Canada before the onset of the     COVID pandemic. The swift focus and concentration on dealing with the SARS-CoV-2 virus took attention away from the rising number of syphilis cases.

Older people are also falling victim to syphilis. Some 9,382 cases were confirmed in 2020 in Canada, a substantial increase from 2011 when 1,749 cases were reported. Gay, bisexual and other men who engage in sex with men represent the  highest case proportions, but syphilis is shifting toward heterosexual populations, especially targeting women. Every age group has seen a rate increase. 

Symptoms include a sore that is often without pain, or an ulcer marking the point of contact. These can appear on the genitals, the mouth, at any time from three to 90 days following infection. Untreated, the infection advances to the secondary stage where fever develops, swollen lymph glands, a rash. Eyes and ears can become involved as well, causing partial or complete loss of vision, balance and problems with dizziness.

Should no treatment be forthcoming at the secondary stage, a latent stage can be entered where years, even decades forward, people can develop complications of the brain and nervous system "so problems with dementia, problems walking", explained Dr. Ameeta Singh, infectious diseases expert at University of Alberta. Timely penicillin treatment is like magic, she noted: "Often within a month, many abnormalities resolve".

"Our cases are the highest we've seen since the 1940's, so that's pretty shocking to see those types of numbers," said Dr. Ameeta Singh, and infectious disease expert at the University of Alberta

Living with COVID-19

"[Omicron's reduced severity] will make the goal of living with COVID-19 in the absence of socially and economically disruptive public health interventions substantially easier to achieve at the current time."

Research study, Imperial College London

 

"Interestingly, how much severity is reduced varies by age, with the greatest reduction in severity seen in 50- to 70-year-olds, and a smaller reduction in younger and older age groups."

"[The latest analysis showing a substantial drop in severity] has undoubtedly made it easier for countries to end pandemic restrictions than might otherwise have been the case."

Neil Ferguson, research author 

 "[BA.2 is 30 percent more transmissible] and more when you add in lack of restrictions and waning immunity."

"Fortunately, it's not more virulent, and three shots protect well [against hospitalization]."

Eric Topol, founder, director, Scripps Research Translational Institute

 

"Does this mean Omicron is severe for kids? Not necessarily."

"In young kids, hospitalization doesn't always equal more severe disease, as the threshold for admission is low."

Meaghan Kall, epidemiologist, report author

This was a massive study where over one and a half million COVID infections in England provided "clear evidence", according to its authors, that Omicron is not as deadly as the previous mutated strain that roared through the world community -- Delta. Evidence, according to the British scientists behind the study, that supports the case for COVID restrictions being dropped.

 

Omicron was seen to have a 59 percent lower risk of hospitalization along with a 69 percent reduction of dying in comparison to those people who were infected with Delta. At the same time the risk among the unvaccinated was significantly higher for hospitalization. The risk of ending up in hospital was 70 percent lower, however, even among the unvaccinated, with the risk of death 80 percent lower, infected with Omicron  in comparison to unvaccinated people infected with Delta.

Leading researchers to state with conviction that the Omicron variant is intrinsically less severe than its predecessor. Infection breakthroughs saw vaccines somewhat less effective at keeping people out of hospital in comparison to Delta breakthrough cases. Those who were boosted with a third shot were the most protected from hospitalization and death; at 80 percent less likely to be admitted to hospital or to die from their infection, compared to the unvaccinated

When Omicron was beginning to surge in November, Imperial College researchers felt no evidence existed to credibly prove that Omicron was less deadly than Delta and that its capacity to elude some level of protection from a previous infection or vaccination could mean a "major, imminent threat to public health" was posed by Omicron, based on early and limited data available at the time.

A substantial drop in severity has now reversed that early data according to the latest analysis. Despite which the assurance comes with no guarantee that a future variant will not end up being more virulent. The BA.2 sub-variant of Omicron itself now driving record case counts and deaths in some areas is on the cusp of becoming more dominant. And more must be learned about its virulence potential. It is seen to be 30 percent more transmissible.

An analysis separate to this latest study published in The Lancet, by the U.K. Health Security Agency, found no evidence that people infected with BA.2 are more likely to be hospitalized. Only adults had significantly reduced risk of ending up in hospital with Omicron as compared to Delta cases in The Lancet study. The risk of hospitalization among children under age ten, was similar where both variants were involved.

People with the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 were less likely to be admitted to hospital or to die, compared to those with the Delta variant.

"The Killing Does Not Stop"

"Ukraine needs clear guarantees of its security but, so far, we see the Russian side is not fulfilling even elementary agreements on humanitarian corridors for the exit of civilians from the encircled cities."

"Civilians are simply being destroyed with Russian weapons."

"Look at what is happening to them in Ukraine. NATO is many times stronger than our armed forces and yet Ukraine has held back a full scale offensive by one of the world's largest armies for a second week. Do you really think Russia has the potential for World War Three? Stop this self-hypnosis."

"Of course we want peace. But this does not mean that we will agree to the dismantling of our freedom and our democracy, our natural European aspirations. If Russia takes a position based on reality, not on unrealistic ambitions, then progress is possible."

"So far, we've seen that the Russian side does not ensure the fulfillment of things that are promised. Russian troops shoot people when they try to leave the occupied cities."

"Russian troops are shelling routes along which an exit of people could be organized, particularly in Mariupol and Volnovakha. So I have to state that the Russian side manipulates these rounds more than it actually invests in the negotiations."

"Negotiations are not a date to get to know each other and look for something in common. Contact is a false goal ... you need to be result-oriented. On Sunday, in Irpin, a city on the outskirts of Kyiv, Russian troops opened fire on civilians who were trying to get out of the city. A total of eight people died, including a family with two children ... In Kyiv, a Russian cruise missile was shot down over Ukraine's most important children's hospital ... the killing does not stop."

"President Zelenskyy has repeatedly offered direct negotiations with Vladimir Putin. So far, we have not received a positive response. Why? Is it possible that on the Russian side there is a lack of confidence in Putin?"

"If the West is afraid to create a humanitarian no-fly zone, then there must be a decision to transfer combat aircraft to us. We are, of course, very grateful to our partners for the sanctions but the ongoing massacres of civilians in Ukraine show that existing sanctions are not enough.You have to understand Russia is actually a very poor country. With the exception of some large cities and a rather small segment of people who benefit from the flow of oil and gas dollars, most Russian citizens live a very difficult, hopeless and poor life."

"They will feel the pain of the rise in prices and loss of opportunities but this is not new -- they've always been made to live like that."

Mikhail Podolyak, chief negotiator, Ukraine 

A Ukrainian firefighter works at an apartment building after it was hit by artillery shelling in Kyiv, Ukraine, on March 14. (Vadim Ghirda/AP)

 

The negotiations between Ukraine and Russia to put a stop to the ongoing invasion seem pointless as long as Russian troops have their standing orders to continue attacking Ukrainian cities, and the expectation by Moscow is that they will continue their attacks, including the shelling of corridors established to enable civilian evacuation of bombarded cities, in the hope of saving lives from an enemy invader that appears to be flouting all civilized rules of warfare meant to protect civilian lives.

Russian forces continue to fire on civilians attempting to evacuate through these humanitarian corridors, effectively trapping vulnerable people within partially occupied cities coming under continual fire. Ensuring that those citizens remain in place in inhumane insecurity, facing a shortage of food and medical supplies, where their electricity and heating have been cut off and potable water resources are faltering. 

Mikhail Podolyak, isolated in a bunker in Kyiv, accuses Russia of "manipulating" the talks hoping to lead to peace, and in the process promising cease-fires that never come to fruition; a severe betrayal of any expectation that Ukraine negotiators can rely on a serious response to their efforts to sway Russian negotiators to send their offers of conciliation back to Moscow for serious consideration. Even slight agreements on temporarily holding back fire to enable people to reach safety has not been communicated to the troops.

 

Mr. Podolyak is one of President Zelenskyy's most trusted aides, entrusted with leading three rounds of negotiating talks with the Russian negotiating delegation. His experience during those talks has led him to hold out faint hope for a breakthrough to be achieved any time soon. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov claims that should Ukraine agree to cede Crimea to Russia, recognize Donetsk and Luhansk as independent and that done, commit to not joining NATO or the European Union, the conflict could conclude "immediately".

 

A firefighter carries a hose in front of a residential building that was hit by a shell in the Obolon district in Kyiv, Ukraine, on March 14. (Thomas Peter/Reuters)

In contrast to Mr. Podolyak's position of skepticism over Russia's willingness to reasonably debate the critical issues with a view to stopping the violence, the Russian lead negotiator Vladimir Medinsky, claims progress has been achieved. To achieve any measure of progress between the two sides however, seems as remote as it was before the talks were initiated, according to this senior Ukrainian negotiator.

 

And in a spirit not of optimism but of faint hope, Mr. Podolyak repeated his country's request for a NATO no-fly zone over Ukraine's skies. "Thousands of houses, hundreds of businesses, a significant part of them destroyed from the air, by missiles and combat aircraft. If the Russian troops did not have such support from the air, they would not have been able to wreak such havoc."

 

When the issue came up during an interview of the death of a fellow Ukrainian negotiator, Denis Kireev, Mr. Podolyak was silent. Reports from Russia claimed the negotiator to have been killed as he was being arrested for treason. "This man died performing a task in the interests of the Ukrainian state", he responded. Without going into the obvious explanation that doing anything at all to favour Ukraine over Russia merits the charge of treason on Russia's part.

 

"Most of our cities that Russia planned to capture are fighting bravely. In cities that are temporarily occupied, there are mass protests ... this is real civic heroism: people coming out unarmed with a national flag against armed invaders and demanding that they get out of our country."Ukraine will not give up its freedom and will not give up its democracy", he averred with pride.

Talks aimed at ending the war in Ukraine will resume, as fighting rages around the country Photograph: Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images

Ukrainian Bio-Lab Threatening Russia?

"[There is likely a] high degree of probability that the United States and its Western allies were producing chemicals for the distinct purpose of selectively attacking] various [groups from within the population of Russia]." 

"[Documents uncovered by the Russian military in Ukraine on 24 February - the day the Russian invasion started] show that the Ministry of Health of Ukraine has set the task of completely destroying bio-agents in laboratories."

"The Pentagon knows that if these documents fall into the hands of Russian experts, then it's highly likely that Ukraine and the United States will be found to have violated the Convention on the Prohibition of Biological and Toxin Weapons."

General Igor Kirillov, head, Radiation, Chemical and Biological Protection Troops, Russian Armed Forces

Russian state TV has been showing sites which officials say are being used to develop bioweapons

 

"There are no indications that Ukrainian labs have been involved in any nefarious activity, or any research or development in contravention of the Biological Weapons Convention."

Filippa Lentzos, biosecurity expert, King's College London

 

"[The World Health Organization advised Ukraine to destroy high-threat pathogens stored at the country's public health labs to prevent] any potential spills [that would spread disease among the population]."  

"[The agency collaborated with Ukrainian public health labs for several years to enhance biosafety and biosecurity and help prevent] accidental or deliberate release of pathogens."  

World Health Organization

 

"These labs publish in openly available literature."

"They collaborate on many public health projects with global partners."

Brett Edwards, senior lecturer, security and public policy, University of Bath

"Devoting considerable sums of money and significant resources to conducting bioweapons research makes no strategic sense for Ukraine given the difficulty in using them in a conflict."  

"Conventional warfare weapons are much easier and more effective to use for countries like Ukraine."                                                                                                      Dan Kaszeta, former US serviceman, expert on defence against biological weapons

The US says it funds work in Ukrainian labs to tackle dangerous diseases  Getty Images

 Back in 1991, several former Soviet bioweapons laboratories in Ukraine underwent conversion by the United States, becoming facilities meant to decommission weapons of mass destruction. For the obvious purpose of preventing them from falling into the possession of those who might wish to use them following the dissolution of the Soviet Union. This appears to be the program that has now sparked conspiracy theories, useful to Russian propaganda intent on painting Ukraine and its Western allies with broad, black strokes of threats by whatever means, to Russia.

In 1992 when then-Russian Premier Boris Yeltsin, visited the United Kingdom, at a time when relations between Russia and the West were on a friendly track with signs of warming trust and collegiality, he spoke with members of the Defence Intelligence Staff, telling them that Russian bioweapons scientists were undertaking research into the influence on human genes of chemical substances.

This was echoed years later when Dr.Christopher Davis, serving on the Defence Intelligence Staff spoke of the research as having opened the door to a weapon that could be indiscriminately sprayed, yet it would prove lethal to only "certain people it was designed to find and attack". Russia has first-hand knowledge of the potential of developing biological weapons to target individuals of a distinct ethnic group, since Russia itself developed such weapons in the past.

Scientists are notoriously inquisitive about the nature of things and their interaction; it is what moves science forward, for good and for ill. Laboratories may not be involved directly in formulating bioweapons, but legitimate fears abound with respect to "dual-use" biological research. The type of research whose product could feasibly be used for nefarious purposes, once in the wrong hands.

In 2019, the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk at Cambridge University circulated a warning of the possibility that biological weapons could be formulated and produced for the very purpose of targeting a demographic representing a particular ethnic group, based entirely on their DNA. Russia's new claims warning that Ukraine was producing just such weapons, fall directly into the type of claims that follow a typical pattern of disinformation linked to Russian propaganda.

 

Dr. Filippa Lentzos, co-director of the Centre for Science and Security Studies at King's College London, had on an earlier occasion tackled similar claims made by Russia of the existence of a laboratory in Georgia dedicated to a similar purpose, to justify its invasion and conflict with Georgia, another former USSR satellite which was anxious to go its own way of independence with the collapse of the Soviet Union. Reports in Russian state media in 2018 claimed untested drugs were given to citizens at a lab funded by the U.S. in Georgia.

 

A convoy of pro-Russian troops are seen outside the separatist-controlled town of Volnovakha in the Eastern Ukrainian Donetsk region on Saturday. (Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters)

 

Now the very same claims, under very similar circumstances are once again being trotted out to justify Russia's need to invade Ukraine leading to the destruction not of a putative bioweapons laboratory but the entire national infrastructure. When Russia invaded Georgia, it re-possessed the allegiance of two provinces. Moscow has already done that in Ukraine, repeating the very same pattern that the Kremlin never seems to tire of, declaring eastern Ukraine's Donetsk and Luhansk regions in the Donbas to be independent of Ukraine; Russian territory. With Crimea thrown in for good measure.

 

And with Mariupol encircled and battered with artillery and constant shelling, with the bombing of apartment buildings, schools, government offices and hospitals it too is meant to fall into Russian hands to provide a land link between Russia and the Crimean peninsula. A gradual, creeping reclamation of a sovereign geography Moscow claims historically to be part of Greater Russia.

 

A woman puts her head in her hands as she sits on a cot in a shelter, set up for displaced persons fleeing Ukraine, inside a school gymnasium in Przemysl, Poland, Tuesday, March 8, 2022. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)