Physical/Mental Disabilities/Trans/Visible Minority? Have We Got A Job For You!!!!

"[Positions are] designated to candidates who self-identify as women with a disability or gender equity-seeking persons with a disability."

"The preference given to equity-deserving groups in recruitment processes is based on self-identification." 

"[To qualify as] racialized [applicants must identify as] non-white."

"[Members of a] gender equity-seeking [group must confirm that they] identify as anything not fitting cultural norms around gender identity, expression, and/or sexuality."

"Disabled [applicants include anyone who self-identifies as having] a chronic, long-term or recurring physical, sensory, mental, learning or intellectual impairment." 

Dalhousie University position-seeking criteria

DEI isn’t just widespread, it’s practically ubiquitous, encompassing 98% of all academic job postings. Aristotle Foundation

 

It starts with Canada's Liberal government's grants into research chairs at Canadian universities. Men who are able-bodied are by virtue of their unqualified descent from 'colonial powers' regardless of the time that has passed from that distant past, are considered themselves to be 'colonialist imperialists', thus ineligible for positions in science at Canadian universities funded by government largess. These $100,000+ plus positions are simply off limits to any candidates who do not fall into the prescribed categories of women with disabilities, or gender equity-seeking individuals with disabilities.

 

In their peerless wisdom, government has decreed -- and universities have agreed -- that positions in leading science chairs within academia cannot be filled any longer with people qualified in their field of science. They must move on elsewhere to make room for replacements who will tackle complex scientific formulae from the perspective of queers, Indigenous and female perspectives. At Dalhousie, one of the most deeply equity-involved universities in Canada, the search is on to find the ideal candidate to apply artificial intelligence to 'healthy aging', within the new focus of using artificial intelligence in research and development.

 

To be fair, candidate screening based on colour or sex has become standard practice at universities right across Canada. Aristotle Foundation for Public Policy's January report reviewed 489 academic job postings in Canada, to find that 98 percent contained a condition that "directly or indirectly discriminated against candidates". Dalhousie was identified as one of the most enthusiastic practitioners of identity quotas in hiring. Multiple positions explicitly turning way candidates based on race, gender or sexual identity have been advertised by Dalhousie in the last year. 

 

prioritizing DEI over excellence

From the school's Canada Research Chair in marine carbon transformation,  another in Indigenous prosperity and economic reconciliation, another in observational chemical oceanography, yet another on engineering where applicants are required to generate new technologies to work in deepwater ocean environments, candidates must have an Indigenous, 'racialized women' or 'racialized gender minorities' background to succeed in convincing Dalhousie they would be the ideal candidate for the job. 

 

There is the risk at Dalhousie, as at other universities across Canada, that a share of the federal government's financial support for science funding will be withdrawn unless some  hires remain based on these characteristics. Canada Research Chairs represent funding to the tune of $310 million annually and remain bound to strict quotas on researchers' colour pigment and gender. By the timeline of December 2029, it is expected that 50.9 percent of all Canada Research Chairs be comprised of women and gender minorities; 22 percent visible minorities; 7.5 percent people with disabilities, and 4.9 percent Indigenous.

 

The origins of 'equity quotas' in hiring practises began in the United States where the widespread method of identity-based quotas was eventually hobbled when legal challenges conducted under the terms of the 1964 Civil Rights Act prohibiting discrimination in any program that receives federal funding, led to its cessation. In Canada, Section15 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms explicitly permits discriminatory hiring as long as the practice ameliorates "conditions of disadvantaged individuals".

 

Photo by iStock/Getty Images Plus

 e

To measure the prevalence and severity of DEI in academic hiring, we reviewed approximately 50 active, academic job postings from the largest public university in each Canadian province. The review was based on eight research questions that each gauge a different DEI strategy—from acknowledging DEI ideologies, to compelling intellectual conformity, to reverse racism (e.g., excluding white males from applying).

All 10 universities sampled—and 477 of the 489 job advertisements reviewed—employed some form of DEI requirement or strategy in filling academic vacancies. In other words, 98 percent of the academic postings directly or indirectly discriminated against candidates and/or threatened academic freedom.

Some noteworthy instances include the following:

• All University of Toronto job postings and 96 percent of Dalhousie’s mentioned or implied a candidate’s “contribution to DEI” was an asset.
• McGill and the University of Saskatchewan required all applicants to complete a DEI survey.
• Nearly two-thirds of the University of British Columbia’s (UBC) and 55 percent of the University of Manitoba’s job postings required candidates to submit a DEI statement or essay.

Interestingly, the institution most likely to exclude candidates outright was also the least likely to employ any DEI strategies. At UBC, nearly one out of every five academic job postings explicitly restricted the job to a particular race, ethnicity, group identity, or other inherent trait. However, it was also the university least likely to call for specific DEI strategies; they were absent from 12 percent of UBC’s postings.

Aristotle Foundation for Public Policy

Speaking With AI/God

Google Play

"There is a whole generation of people who have never been to a church or synagogue."

"Spiritual apps are their way into faith."

Rabbi Jonathan Romain, British Reform Jewish movement

 

"The curmudgeon in me says there is something good about really, really wrestling through an idea, or wrestling through a problem, by telling it to someone."

"I don't know if that can be replaced."

"I wonder if there isn't a larger danger in pouring your heart out to a chatbot. Is it at some point going to become accessible to other people?"

Reverend Mike Schmitz, Catholic priest

 

"People come to us with all different types of challenges; mental health issues, well-being, emotional problems, work problems, money problems."

Laurentiu Balasa, co-founder, Bible Chat

 

"They're generally affirming."

"They aren't going to church like they used to."

"But it's not that they're less inclined to find spiritual nourishment. It's just that they do it through different modes." 

Ryan Beck, chief technology officer, Pray.com

A slew of religious smartphone apps are allowing untold millions of users to confess to AI chatbots, some of which claim to be channeling God himself. Yahoo News Canada

 

Tens of millions of people have taken to unburdening themselves conversing with spiritual chatbots where they invest their trust in confessionals, unloading their guilt in a gush of admissions over their petty vanitiesm their deepest concerns, their urges to be gluttons, and their shameful sinister impulses. For their part, the bots are good listeners, sympathizers and advisers. The chatbots have been loaded up with religious texts, capable of producing empathy and guidance, and users take to thinking of them as on-call priests, imams, or rabbis -- what's more, dedicated only to them, no one else.

 

This is the 'faith tech' industry embraced by a public starved of spiritual guidance. These religious chatbot apps have become indispensable life-partners to many people, and their sensitive utilitarianism has shot them to the top of Apple's APP Store. There are over 30 million downloads of Bible Chat, a Christian app, while a Catholic App, Hallow, now has more fixated users than Netflix, Instagram and TikTok, taking the number One spot in the store last year for a brief period.

 

Even in China, people try to decode their lives and expectations with the  use of Deep Seek. With this popularity, millions in investment dollars have been attracted, with people paying up to $70 annually for subscriptions. Pray.com has about 25 million downloads; incentive to produce their own chatbots. These digital chaplaincy apps might have been a predictable result of people turning increasingly to social media in preference to socializing with others in person. Why go to church when you can speak directly with a heavenly apprentice, or even god  himself? 

Texts from Jesus/New Testament

 

As for the App founders, their public perspective is that they are providing people with the opportunity to express their deepest held emotions. And there are religious leaders who agree with them and lend their support to the use of chatbots with the proviso they complement, not replace the presence and availability of faith communities. 

 

 Users can select their religion of choice and what they're searching for; comfort, confession or inspiration, and the website ChatwithGod provides responses tailored to those choices. "The most common question we get, by a lot, is: Is this actually God I am talking to?" stated ChatwithGod's chief executive, Patrick Lashinsky. Most popular apps however, function as a spiritual assistant, channeling people to doctrine and scripture.

 

"In my neighbourhood when things are not right or when I hear sad things on the news, I go on the Bible Chat app", said Delphine Collins, a preschool teacher in Detroit. When in her community a woman was stabbed to death, Ms.Collins asked the chatbot for a "prayer for healing", and it offered a psalm while responding: "As you seek healing, let us turn to the word of God, which is a source of comfort and strength. The Scriptures remind us of God's power to heal and restore." 

 

"It [chatbots] shouldn't be something where it replaces human connection", Alex Jones, founder of Hallow said, of his hopes that the app will inspire people to search for religious communities. Some apps, including Hallow, take pains to help people locate local congregations they may wish to attend. 

"[This is tricky theological territory because chatbots] tell us what we want to hear."

"It's not using spiritual discernment, it is using data and patterns."

Heidi Campbell, professor of technology and religion, Texas A&M University  

An app promoting Catholic prayer reached No.1 on Apple’s App Store last year, beating Instagram and TikTok  (Image credit: Illustration by Julia Wytrazek / Getty Images)

 

Severely Prejudiced Medical Students

"The office of the lieutenant-governor of Quebec has removed Ahmad Mousattat's name from the Quebec lieutenant-governor's medal register, and he has been notified of this decision." 

"Dawson College sent us a letter asking us to withdraw its recommendation to support Mr. Mousattat's candidacy."

"[Dawson] confirmed to us that the student had admitted to writing messages that were, shall we say, inappropriate."

Ian Prefontaine, spokesperson, Lt.-Gov. Manon Jeannotte

 

"We have never requested the removal of a Youth Medal to a student though we have rescinded the recommendation of a student to the lieutenant-governor's office for a Youth Medal."

"The selection of recipients of the Youth Medal lies solely with the lieutenant-governor's office, and by extension one would assume, the removal as well."

Donna Varrica, spokeswoman, Dawson College

Screenshot of Ahmad Mousattat from video on Islamic Relief Canada via YouTube.

"On May 9, 2025, an anonymous email sent to Dawson College denounced a social media chat group between students from different institutions."

"The comments were described as hateful, antisemitic, racist and threatening to various groups. Among the main participants in this group was a student from the college. The email included several screenshots illustrating these exchanges."

"Faced with this situation, the college took swift action. The articles concerning the student were removed from the college’s website and a meeting was arranged with him."

"During this meeting, he confirmed that he was the author of the messages and provided some explanations."

Dawson College report to Quebec Ministry of Higher Education  

In the final analysis, Universite de Sherbrooke declined to refuse the student admission to its medical school: "Although some comments were deemed inappropriate, they did not constitute incitement to violence", their report concluded.That decision by the university was viewed with alarm by other students admitted to the medical college, amplified by a response from the Association des médecins juifs du Québec and Doctors Against Racism and Antisemitism (DARA) in Toronto, both of which groups relayed concerns to the university. Leading to a subsequent meeting between Rector Jean-Pierre Perreault and some physicians concerning Mousattat.

Mousattat posted a picture of a refrigerator filled with weapons following a post where a symbol of LGBTQ Pride appeared. He could also be seen sharing elsewhere an image of a man wearing a vest with explosives and another image of an armed man.

In another message, he used the "n-word" and, in another, he mentioned medical school admission policies that, according to him, favored gays, Blacks, Jews, and trans people. "The Islamic State of Quebec," he wrote in response to a user who wrote "Quebec is over, we dominate soon."

A student with extremist views admitted to medical school  Actualité

Undeniably, Ahmad Mousattat, as reported by the Journal de Montreal, posted social media remarks unambiguously antisemitic, homophobic and sexist. Convincingly enough to cause him to be stripped of a youth medical conferred on him by the lieutenant-governor of Quebec. In obvious recognition that such sentiments, even expressed in a closed group chat platform like Discord (aptly named) in conversation with others sharing similar sentiments, identify an individual with strong racist antipathies. As a nascent member of the Canadian medical community it is obvious that someone of this mentality practising medicine can constitute a danger to those patients whose demographics he despises.

 

The conferring of medals such as the one withdrawn as a result of revelations of the man's character is made when an invitation is circulated from the lieutenant-governor's office inviting recommendations to be forwarded of potential recipients, those who distinguish themselves as model citizens, who extend themselves in ways that mark them as exceptional, and a credit to their community and society at large. Clearly, anyone who recommended this man did so from a perspective either ignorant of his bigotry, or sharing his deep-seated prejudices.

 

That the Universite de Sherbrooke saw fit to overlook the man's 'indiscretions', betraying him as a potential threat to the larger community as a practising member of the medical community burdened with a deep contempt for others unlike himself, is in and of itself troubling. The man in question, Ahmad Mousattat claims to be the victim of "baseless" allegations by an anonymous group. 
Bakgrounded by revelations that the Discord social media platform for medical school applicants revealed comments described as hateful, antisemitic, racist and threatening to a number of groups within society.

 

When the situation was revealed in July by a number of prominent news reports, Dawson College was apprised that among the medical students engaging in pejorative comments against minority groups was a main participant who was a student from Dawson College. The College then undertook to meet with the student involved: "During this meeting, he confirmed that he was the author of the messages". Which failed to impress on the college just how inappropriate it would be for an individual with that mindset to train in the healing arts. And this was but one of the medical students involved in those incendiary chats. 

 

Screenshot of a Facebook Médecine Montérégie group showing Université de Sherbrooke medical students, including Ahmad Mousattat in the bottom left corner Facebook Médecine Montérégie

Liberal Gov't of Canada Where Freedom of Speech and Protests are Protected -- Just Not Against the Gov't

"It is Mr. Barber's position that he followed the instruction of the police as to where to park Big Red and that he moved Big Red at the request of the police when it was safely feasible for him to do so; as such Big Red was not used in the commission of the offence of mischief."

Defence documents filed in Gov't suit

 

"It would amount to, in my opinion, cruel and  unusual punishment. [If the judge sentences Barber to prison time and he loses his truck], that would be a really harsh financial hardship for him and his family."

"[Taking his truck would be] totally out of proportion [to the mischief caused]."

"Now his son is also driving, and he has a couple of employees that sometimes drive it too, so it's a legitimate source of business for himself, his family and his employees. [Taking away Barber's truck would cause his family] extreme financial difficulties."

"That truck's been part of his family for over 20 years. His children grew up in that truck. One of his dogs died in the truck. He had wedding pictures by the side of the truck. So, that truck is part of the family. It was named Big Red by his children when they were younger." 

Lawyer Diane Magas  

Government of Canada

The Government of Canada’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic prioritizes the health and safety of Canadians. We are committed to keeping our transportation sector, including employees and travellers, safe and secure.

Transport Canada has taken action in all modes to protect passengers and essential transportation workers while continuing to support the flow of critical goods and services during this unprecedented global crisis. 

Vaccination plays an important role in keeping each other and our transportation system safe and secure. That is why we are ensuring travellers and workers in the transportation sector are vaccinated against COVID-19.

Since October 30, employers in the federally-regulated air, rail and marine transportation sectors have been required to have vaccination policies in place for their employees.

The vaccine mandate that came into effect in October has helped to protect transportation workers from the impacts of Omicron by reducing the frequency and severity of the COVID-19 illness.

With vaccination rates at home and around the world increasing, and the epidemiological situation continuing to evolve, it is important that Canada’s border and travel related measures reflect the current global and domestic context.

 

During the height of the COVID pandemic, Canada's federal lockdown strategies and inoculation mandates infuriated many Canadians. In particular a mandate that all truckers, including long-haul be vaccinated in line with government orders. Non-compliance would result in the nullification of truckers' licenses; they would effectively be put out of commission, jobless. It might have made sense for drivers of buses or any other vehicles where the drivers came in contact with other people, but truckers sit alone in their rigs, delivering goods, seeing few other people other than at delivery ramps.

 

A coalition of dissenting truckers began a cross-Canada journey in a convoy of like-minded people, all seeking to protest the government's mandates on COVID-19 infection prevention in a joint agreement that the government had gone too far, impacting the lives of tens of thousands unnecessarily and their plan was to confront the government directly, as they headed to Ottawa. Once there, the convoy parked their vehicles in the downtown area close to Parliament Hill, asking to speak to the prime minister who soon made his contempt for them and their mission a matter of public display.

 

In the central downtown area where the convoy was parked, friction between residents and convoy participants soon arose; commotion, blocking access to local businesses, noise emanating from the honking of the horns of the rigs, all conspired to arouse resentment and anger in locals. Justin Trudeau refused to meet with or speak to the organizers, one of whom was trucker Chris Barber. The upshot of a standoff where the convoy invoked their right to peaceful assembly and protest and freedom of speech, and the municipality of Ottawa dealing with neighbourhood complaints came to a head when the Trudeau government invoked the modern version of the War Measures Act (Emergencies Act) enabling government to put an end to the convoy's presence.

Protesters participating in a cross-country truck convoy walk near Parliament Hill on January 29, 2022. (Adrian Wyld/CP)

 

Part and parcel of the Emergencies Act implementation was to bring court cases against two of the more prominent convoy organizers, Chris Barber and Tamara Lich. As for citizens who supported the convoy with donations, they were identified and their bank accounts frozen. Draconian measures were imposed by government on any individual or group or company that had been involved in support of the convoy and its protests. Dramatic persecutory actions belying the democratic nature of the country. The Crown seeks a 7-year sentence for Lich, and eight years for Barber. 

"I’ve worked hard all my life as a trucker, and ‘Big Red’ is the heart of my business."

"Taking it away wouldn’t just be punishing me — it would take away my ability to provide for my family and employees." 

"The Crown is trying to forfeit this truck and then destroy it," Chris Barber says. Photo by Courtesy Chris Barber // JUSTIN TANG / The Canadian Press

 

More recently Canadian cities have been witness to thousands of keffiyeh and mask-clad supporters of a terrorist-proscribed Palestinian group, Hamas, assembling time and again to block intersections, interfere with traffic, threaten Jewish Canadians, picket synagogues and Jewish parochial schools, vandalize Jewish businesses, call for a global Intifada, chant slogans calling for the destruction of Israel, intimidate and threaten those who disagree with them, and no government or police action has ever been taken. 

 

In those protests it is not uncommon to see the flags of Palestinian and Yemeni terrorist groups flown, even though these are recognized terrorist groups and are present on Canada's terror list, including Samidoun, which continues to have its headquarters in Vancouver, and continues its agitation, with the federal government looking the other way. Palestinian supporters have protested in front of the offices of Members of Parliament, they have interfered with public events and shut down special events, yet no official action is taken, even when pedestrian and vehicular traffic is blocked off for mass Islamic street prayers.

 

The long-standing persecution since 2022 of the convoy principals continues with a Crown forfeiture application to take the 2004 Kenworth long-haul truck valued at over $150,000 from the ownership of Swift Current, Saskatchewan trucker Chris Barber. Should Ontario Court Justice Heather Perkins-McVey judge that the truck was used in the commission of mischief, the truck called Big Red would be seized. "The Crown is trying to forfeit this truck and then destroy it", states Mr. Barber, pointing out "It's been my home fore the better part of 22 years". Where the collar of his dog Buddy, hangs from the ceiling. "The dog travelled with me for the better part of 17 years".

 

Both Barber, 50, and Tamara Lich, both Freedom Convoy organizers, convicted of mischief under the argument that the protest was the cause of broad community harm, have had many court appearances during their prolonged trials. Any unaffected objective observer would come away from the charade of government upholding the law on civil disobedience with its determined persecution of these people bearing the indelible impression that this is a government bent on vengeance, not upholding the law, applied unevenly to suit the mood of the government apparatus. 

 

Convoy organizers Tamara Lich and Chris Barber outside the courthouse in Ottawa in a file photo. Photo by Justin Tang /The Canadian Press 

"There's a great divide between the two sides. There are citizens of Ottawa that really took it to heart and felt interfered with and still some have a hatred. He's got death threats."

"I've got emails from people that were very hateful to me as a lawyer for him. I've been a criminal lawyer for over 30 years, defended a lot of different types of crimes much worse than this, and never got that type of attention and hatred from regular people."

"Mr. Barber has to cross into the United States for his work purposes. [A criminal record might see him turned away at the border]."

Lawyer Diane Magas 

Canadian Justice for Criminal Acts Perpetrated by Indigenous People

"The offender repeatedly had sexual intercourse with her knowing that he held the power in the situation not only because of their age difference but also because he had inflicted physical harm on her and psychological terror to ensure that she would comply."

"But for his Gladue factors [leniency in sentences for those with Aboriginal backgrounds], I would have imposed the sentence sought by the Crown." 

"The offender's life has been directly influenced by many of the Gladue factors. He has existed for extended periods of time in his life in a state of severe poverty over homelessness, he is under-educated, he has struggled with severe addiction issues and as a child was taken from his family and placed in a foster care system where he was sexually abused and separated from his siblings."

"The racism he faced in his own family and in the outside world, no doubt impacted his views as to how others should be treated." 

Justice Jayne Williams 

A Calgary courthouse. Photo by Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press

 

This Calgary judge, in her legal wisdom delivering justice saw fit to take two years from a  ten-year sentence given a man who repeatedly sexually assaulted a girl who was 12 years old when they met, while he was 25. He terrorized the girl into submission, yet because the man has an Indigenous background, of Cree heritage, he is deemed to qualify for a reduced sentence under Canadian law. Known to the court as RJM, the man met the young girl on  the social media site Instagram. 

 

He assaulted and threatened to kill his victim on many occasions in a period of time between spring and the fall of 2023. Before RJM was arrested in September 2023, he had led police on a wild vehicular chase. He had threatened the  girl and her mother even when he was securely locked into a prison cell. His lawyer saw fit to argue for a six-year sentence for her client, while the Crown recommended a ten-year prison term.

 

In Canadian law, the Supreme Court of Canada set out the Gladue principles requiring sentencing judges to consider what is called the 'unique circumstances' of criminal offenders with Indigenous backgrounds. This was meant to address the over-representation in Canada's courts and prisons of Indigenous people. The decision for reduced sentence was made despite that the court was aware of the gravity of the treatment the young girl was exposed to.

 

The girl was sexually assaulted multiple times, dragged by her hair, punched in the face. "On another occasion he drove her out of the city and left her on the side of the road to walk back. He eventually returned for her." He threatened to kill the girl's mother and her cat, "specifically telling A.B. she was a 'dead slut' and that her mother A.C. was 'going to get hit too'. He would put a bullet in her head, and there was a bomb to total A.B.'s mother's car." Indeed, a makeshift nail bomb was placed under A.C.'s car. She ran over it and it exploded.   

"He took no steps to substantiate her age initially, but on [Sept. 2, 3030] the offender took a photograph of A.B.'s passwords and accessed her Calgary Board of Education account. It was on this date that he learned she  was 13."

"They began to argue about infidelity. He brandished a knife pointing it at A.B. and telling her he was going to kill her He also searched her phone confirming she was not cheating."

"[Once he learned her true age, RJM] confronted her via  text message, about lying. His texts divulge his awareness that her actual age resulted in 'a whole new level of consequences'." 

"[He made a] conscious decision to continue the relationship despite his receipt of this new information. He speaks to A.B. in possessive terms stating, 'better or worse you belong to me', 'that p--sy is mine and that bulls--t sexy little attitude', 'delete every message I ever send to you at the end of the night'."

Justice Jayne Williams  

Soon after RJM and the girl met online, they agreed to meet in person. "Between this first meeting and his arrest in September they met almost every second day" and regularly had sexual intercourse. A.B. informed the man that she was 16 year of age. He admitted to the court that he was violent with her while the girl was still 12 years old, while they drove about in his car. After he learned her true age his texts "include a mix of disbelief that she is so young and a decision to sexually make the most of her age. There is a progression detailed in the [agreed statement of facts] from him being disturbed by her age to him being aroused by it".

 

Calgary police were called by one of the girl's friends, "as a result of aggressive text messages the offender sent to A.B. while her friend was present. These texts included the offender calling A.B. a 'f--king rat', f--king piece of s--t, and 'f-king whore'. He threatened to shoot up and burn down her mother's home and that of her friend. He threatened to kill her mother and her friend, sending a video of himself holding a blowtorch and a video showing he was outside A.B.'s mother's residence." When police located him, he turned and fled. 

 

When police searched his backpack during the arrest they found a manilla folder. "The folder had 'BOOM FOLDER' written on the front and 'Munitions Supply Folder, Burials, Advanced Techniques' written on its back. Documents found inside the folder held details for explosives production, modified ammunition, improvised firearms, and techniques on properly digging a grave." A butane torch, rifle cleaning kit, hatchet, pickaxe, sledgehammer and knife were found on a further search of RJM's car.

 

A Calgary police cruiser is pictured. Postmedia file

"The texts begin with the following sentiments; 'I'm in shock', 'I'm seriously disturbed right now like feel really scared', 'I can get labelled after a pedophile' and progress to 'I might as well earn these potential life-changing charges'." 

"[RJM] was involved in a sexual relationship with a teenager for over three months. He was aware she was 13 for ten days. His conduct was intentional over the course of that ten days and the sexual acts were continual."

"This was not a temporary lapse of judgment on his part. In fact, his arousal having learned that A.B. was 13 resulted in the sexual acts becoming more egregious over the course of that ten days."

Justice Jayne Williams 

Testing The NATO Alliance

"Three Russian fighter MiG-31 [jets] entered Estonian airspace in the Vaindloo Island area without permission, and remained there for approximately 12 minutes."

"The fighter jets did not have flight plans, and their transponders were switched off."

"At the time of the airspace violation, the fighter jets did not have two-way radio communication with Estonian air traffic control." 

Estonian defence forces

Europe in edge after Russian jets invade Polish airspace. Still from video  Poland is rejecting the claim that Russian drones crossed into Polish airspace by accident and says the move is reckless and could lead to potential escalation.

 

Denmark drone sightings Sept. 24

"This is part of the development we have recently observed with other drone attacks, airspace violations, and cyberattacks targeting European airports."

Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen 

 

"[Denmark is facing a]high threat of sabotage."

"Someone may not necessarily want to attack us, but rather stress us out and see how we react."

Flemming Drejer, director of operations, Denmark intelligence service

 

"The number, size, flight patterns, time over the airport. All this together ... indicates that it is a capable actor. Which capable actor, I do not know."

"It was an actor that had the capacity, the will and the tools to make their presence known."

"Several large drones [flew over Copenhagen airport for over three hours, Monday]."

"You have to think very carefully before starting to try to take down such big drones. If they were to fall to the ground], there are planes with people, fuel, and also housing on several sides of the airport." 

Copenhagen police inspector Jens Jespersen

 

 When three Russian fighter jets violated Estonian airspace over the Gulf of Finland, complaints were swift of a dangerous new provocation that the EU and NATO now face. Stationed with NATO 's air defence support mission the Baltic states, Italian F-35 fighters scrambled to intercept the Russian jets, to warn them off. "This is yet another example of reckless Russian behaviour and NATO's ability to respond", stated NATO spokesperson Allison Hart.

 

Former Estonian prime minister Kaja Kallas, now the top diplomat with the EU, accused Moscow of "extremely dangerous provocation", warning the sortie "further escalates tensions in the region". Poland a week earlier complained that some 20 Russian drones had overflown its territory. This is Russia's way of taunting the European nations in its 'near abroad' for their joint support of Ukraine, during the conflict that the Kremlin imposed upon its neighbour. 

 

A Polish police officer stands near a unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) fragment in Czesniki, Poland, on Sept. 10 after Russian drones violated Polish airspace during an attack on Ukraine and some were shot down by Poland. (Polsat News/Reuters)

 

A Russian M1-8 helicopter had violated Estonian airspace earlier in the month nearby the island of Vaindloo. The helicopter entered the country's airspace for four minutes, making no contact with air traffic control, nor did it have a flight plan, and its transponder was turned off, a warning gambit that Moscow plays by its own rules, in a repetitive, symbolic mission to unsettle its adversaries. 

 

Polish, Italian and Dutch NATO allies last week scrambled their jets to intercept about 20 Russian drones prowling their airspace. Plans were announced by the United Kingdom, Germany and France, to reinforce joint air patrols with more jets on NATO's eastern flank. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson too notified on social media that the incident "Illustrates the seriousness of the Russian threat to European security and the fact that our and NATO's readiness is constantly being tested".

 

Copenhagen and Oslo airports were forced to shut down in the "most serious attack on Danish [and Norwegian] critical infrastructure" to date, as a result of large drones flying over for hours on Tuesday. Both countries' airports reopened hours after the unidentified drones caused dozens of flight diversions and cancellations, affecting thousands of passengers. 

 

The finger of responsibility was pointed directly at Russia by the governments of Poland, Estonia and Romania in the earlier violations in Poland and Romania by Russian fighter jets. Police in Denmark, in cooperation with the Danish military and intelligence services, saw a heavy police presence dispatched to investigate, while the drones flew back and forth for hours before eventually departing the airspace. They returned days later.

 

Police were unable to say with certainty who was involved, and where control of the drones emanated from. Copenhagen's airport sits on the coast of the Oresund Strait between Sweden and Denmark. Police in Denmark were in close cooperation with their Norwegian colleagues where the very identical scenario played out, closing the airport in the Norwegian capital for several  hours. 

 

A person works on a French Rafale aircraft, one of three mobilized by France following the launch of the Eastern Sentry operation to bolster the defence of NATO's eastern flank in response to Russian drone incursions into Polish airspace, in a location given as Poland in this screen grab from a handout video released on Sept. 12. (French Armed Forces/Reuters )

 

"Russia has already violated Estonia's airspace four times this year, which in itself is unacceptable. But today's incursion ... is unprecedentedly brazen."

"Russia's increasingly extensive testing of boundaries and growing aggressiveness must be met with a swift increase in political and economic pressure." 

Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna 

 

A Relationship Maintained on Distrust

"Fully abandoning the legacy of this agreement would be, from many perspectives, a mistaken and short-sighted step."

"To avoid provoking a strategic arms race ... Russia is preparing to continue adhering to the central quantitative limitations of the New START Treaty, for one year after February 5, 2026."

"We believe that this measure will only be  viable if the United States acts in a similar manner and does not take step that undermine or disrupt the existing balance of deterrence potentials."

Russian President Vladimir Putin

Vladimir Isachenkov, Associated Press

 

While this key treaty with the United States is set to expire in February, Russia has offered to extend the treaty for another year -- out of the goodness of  Mr. Putin's heart. He does not wish to 'provoke a  strategic arms race', but he is not averse to threatening use of the nuclear arsenal in Russia's possession whenever he feels particularly paranoid, fearing that things are not quite going his way. Just a little self-protective tic of his personality.

 

Signed by both parties in 2010, this treaty is the remaining nuclear arms reduction agreement shared by the globe's two atomic powers in possession of the greatest number of nuclear warheads, one that limits the number allowable by each side. Tensions over the Ukraine conflict have not been conducive to amicable relations sufficient to ensure the world's two top nuclear powers share a desire to lower the nuclear threat; leaving each with the impression that the other is preparing to breach the limits.

 

It was in fact, Russia that froze participation on its part in New START in 2023, while continuing to honour the treaty limits restricting both sides to a maximum of 1,550 deployed strategic nuclear warheads each, representing a nearly 30 percent reduction from the previous 2002 limit. Together the two countries control over 80 percent of the world's nuclear warheads in an atmosphere now prevailing of mistrust and calculated risk.

 

Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev sign the New START treaty at Prague Castle, Czech Republic, in 2010. Getty Images

 

The two countries withdrew from the landmark Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty in 2019, which had been concluded by U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1987. That agreement limited the use of medium-range missiles, conventional and nuclear.  A law revoking Russia's ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty was signed by Mr. Putin in 2023 even while Moscow claimed it would honour the moratorium on atomic testing.

 

Shortly following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in an all-in military assault, Russia's nuclear forces were placed on high alert. A decree lowering the threshold for using its nuclear weapons was signed by the Russian leader in 2024. So the question lingering in knowledgeable minds is why this outreach by Putin, however temporary, at a time when Putin is playing cat-and-mouse games with his neighbours in his near-abroad, convinced that if his Ukraine adventure succeeds, they may be next in line.

 

The eventual replacement of single-warhead Topol-M intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) with RS-24 Yars ICBMs—seen here on display at the Victory Day Parade in May 2023 in Moscow—equipped with multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles could potentially add several hundred warheads to Russia's ICBM force. (Credit: President of the Russian Federation)

"[This is] an important and positive move."

"More nuclear weapons will not make anyone safer."

"By agreeing not to exceed the current strategic nuclear limits, they could reduce tensions, forestall a costly arms race that no one can win, create diplomatic leverage to curb the buildup of China’s arsenal, and buy time for talks on a broader, more durable, treaty."

Daryl G. Kimball, director, Arms Control Association, Washington 

Has anyone reminded Mr. Kimball that Russia and China have signed a new mutual engagement pact that ensures each has the other's back? Trust Russia? Putin enjoys putting his neighbours on tenterhooks of apprehension; last week warplanes and drones overflew the sovereign airspace of Estonia and Poland,  Russia violating their airspace in separate incidents. Romania also said Russian drones breached its airspace. And more recently Denmark and Norway were treated to mystery drones flying over their airports. 

"[Russian agencies are tasked to] closely monitor relevant American activities, particularly with regard to the strategic offensive arms arsenal [with a particular emphasis on plans to] expand the strategic components of the U.S. missile defense system, including preparations for the deployment of interceptors in space."

"The practical implementation of such destabilizing actions could undermine our efforts to maintain the status quo in the strategic offensive arms sphere."

Vladimir Putin 

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

 

 

Pro-Palestinian Chaos in Italy

The National

"[Ms Meloni condemned the] outrageous images [and the rioters as] self-proclaimed ‘pro-Pal’ individuals, self-proclaimed ‘antifa’ members, self-proclaimed ‘pacifists’ [who were] “wreaking havoc”."

"[The violence and destruction was nothing to do with solidarity and] would not change a single thing in the lives of people in Gaza, but will have concrete consequences for Italian citizens, who will end up suffering and paying for the damages caused by these thugs." 

"[Law enforcement officers have been] forced to endure the bullying and gratuitous violence of these pseudo-protesters." 

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni 

 

"This doesn’t mean we’re anti-Jews or antisemitic, and we’re tired of the media and politicians playing on this misunderstanding." 

"It just means we’re against a government that’s committing genocide while the international community looks the other way."

Alessandra, Italian student 

Clashes break out as thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrate across Italy – still from video

 In part of a day of action to "denounce the genocide in Gaza", tens of thousands of people in Italy demonstrated across the country, including transport strikes and port blockades. Italian unions were front and centre, aiding and abetting the organizers with their union clout. There are now close to a million Muslims living in Italy, mostly from North Africa. Their  collective voice is substantial enough, yet adding the support of Italian students and union members gives them even greater voice. Everyone sympathizes with the victimhood of Palestinians, lacking the knowledge that these are self-made victims.

While pursuing their victimhood status with great gusto, as a badge of empathetic honour, it is the Palestinians and their terrorist leaders who are the aggressors, those whose intransigence over refusing to diplomatically argue in good faith with their Israeli neighbours to negotiate agreeable terms for statehood. The  terms that Israeli negotiators emphasize are the beginning and the end of any agreement that boil down simply enough to recognition of Israel's right of existence, and peace to cement that recognition.

 

A bridge too far for Palestinian leadership who have time and again over the plus-70 years since Israel's re-existence have instead plotted unremittingly to destroy the state, disinterested in two states living side-by-side if not amicably, then with a restrained peace agreement. Instead Palestinian leadership generation after generation, incited the population to believe that Israel must be destroyed, that all the land in question must be exclusively 'Palestinian'. The very designation of Palestine historically was a name given to Judea by the Romans. How ironic is that?

 

Protesters pack the central railway station in Naples. Photograph: Matteo Ciambelli/Reuters

Following the Holocaust and the end of the Second World War, only 28,000 Jews now live in Italy, far fewer in number than the figure given for Muslims dating to 2021. Jewish influence in the country is minimal in comparison to that of a demographic of some 800,000+ Muslims whose narrative echoes that of the Palestinians from abroad. The very day that France, the United Kingdom, Portugal and Canada declared their readiness to accept and support a Palestinian State at the United Nations General Assembly, massive demonstrations appeared throughout Italy; not spontaneous, but pre-organized.

Italy's government, speaking through Prime Minister Giorgia Melono is not prepared to recognize a Palestinian state at the present time. For her, and for the government she leads, it seems far more sensible and just for a government-in-waiting to be one for which constant violent attacks against a neighbour stop. The Palestinian Authority is notorious for paying a 'martyrs fund' for Palestinians who commit violent crimes against Israel; funding terrorism, aside from inciting its children to aspire to martyrdom against the Jewish 'enemy'. 

Italian protesters gathered at the main Terminal train station in Rome, among them students shouting "Free Palestine!" and carrying Palestinian flags. Those  at the front of the march held a giant banner proclaiming "Against Genocide, Let's block everything". "Italy must come to  standstill today", 52-year-old Federica Casino, a worker protesting with the students, stated. "Italy talks but does nothing." 

 

Dock workers and protesters block the port of Genoa. Photograph: Matteo Minnella/Reuters

 

Organizers boasted in the northern city of Milan that 50,000 people had turned out, where protesters burned an American flag and in Bologna, over 10,000 marched through the streets, protests also taking place in Turin, Florence, Naples and Sicily. In Livorno and Genoa, dock workers blocked entrances to ports. Local buses and the metro service were disrupted by strike action in Rome; national train operators warned of delays and cancellations.

 

The Italian government states it does not intend, for the present, to recognize a Palestinian state, and is reluctant over implementing the European Union's proposed trade sanctions on Israel. On the other hand, it has condemned the Israeli assault on Gaza, and has not sold Italian weapons to Israel since the October 7, 2023 attack inside Israel by Hamas. Close to 64 percent of Italians feel the humanitarian situation in Gaza to be "very serious", and 41 percent support recognition of a Palestinian state, according to a recent survey. 

 

Workers took to the streets in many of Italy's biggest cities in pro-Palestinian protests Anadolu via Getty Images

Super Pathogens "Armed to the Teeth"

"[The pathogen watchlist] reflects the current reality in Canada."

"[Carbapenems are powerful antibiotics] -- the last station on the penicillin highway. If you look at your IV bag and you see the word carbapenem, you know you're in trouble."

"It's not something that's given all the time, and resistance to that class of drugs has spread like wildfire over the last 20 years or so." 

"[Carbapenem0resistant Pseudomonas -- another[ super-bad bug [was also ranked high priority]."

"It's a vicious organism, really intrinsically drug-resistant. It doesn't seem to care too much about any antibiotics. It's very well armed to the teeth and causes all sorts of things like pneumonia." 

Dr. Gerry Wright, professor of biochemistry and biomedical sciences, McMaster University, Hamilton 

 

"If you can't treat gonorrhea, it can lead to pelvic inflammatory disease or infertility in the future."

"And no matter what drug you bring into the country, resistance is inevitable." 

Dr. Kanchana Amaratunga, medical adviser, antimicrobial resistance task force, Canada 

The Public Health Agency of Canada has identified 29 as posing “significant risks.” Photo by Getty

 

Dr. Wright's lab isolated a protein from a bacterium taken from a soil sample. "It has activity against almost all of the pathogens that we care about on that list" on lab mice, he said. Referencing the newly updated list of pathogens federal health officials highlight as posing threats to Canadians. Dr. Wright's work related to the bacterium was published in the journal Nature recently. He and his staff have been attempting to refine the bacterium's development to make it a candidate for a new drug. 

 

Virtually all instances of invasive pneumococcal disease which rose by 82 percent from 2021 to 2022 in Canada, are caused by vaccine-preventable strains.

 

The Canadian medical community faces a steady epidemic in the occurrence of antibiotic-resistant pathogens, some of which have developed to withstand any drug thought to have been capable of inoculating against their vicious depredations on the human body, like a fungus that boasts a rate of death up to 60 percent. Such medical threats are listed on a newly-released "high impact" superbug list that includes a family of bacteria that causes E.coli and salmonella, as well as a drug-resistant gonorrhea.

 

There are fewer pathogens listed now, by fifty percent flagged by Public Health Agency of Canada expert working and advisory groups, totalling 28. But those selected for inclusion were scored and ranked based on treatability, transmission, case fatality ratio -- equal to the proportion of confirmed fatal cases -- and effects on marginalized communities such as Indigenous; the drug-addicted, gay, bisexual, homeless, new immigrants and refugees entering the country from regions of the world where conflict and disaster reign. 

 

 New emerging threats include Candida auris, a fungus that is drug-resistant and which spreads in hospitals, capable of causing infections of the blood, heart, nervous system and organs -- and Mycoplasma genitalium, an infection that is sexually transmitted. Infectious bugs that are already familiar include Streptococcus pneumoniae that can lead to life-threatening meningitis, pneumonia or sepsis -- with children and the elderly at greatest risk -- are now increasingly drug-resistant.

 

Meningitis-causing fungus Exserohilum rostratum. Changes in the microbiome may allow another fungal species, Candida auris, to further emerge. (Pouya Dianat/The Associated Press)

 

"Things are going to get to the point that we're going to be seeing a lot more people staying in hospital or even dying, because the antibiotics are not working", warns Dr. Wright, concerned that no new drugs are entering the market.  Needless to say, it is not only Canada that faces these threats; antimicrobial resistance is a global health threat that occurs when infections caused by bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites cannot be countered by antibiotics, antivirals and drugs designed to kill them. 

 

High priority pathogens that rank top of the four tiers in Canada's 'pathogen prioritization list' includes carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales, a family of bacteria normally present in the human gut that can cause infections; the group that includes E.coli and salmonella can cause urinary tract, abdominal and bloodstream infections. Spread person-to-person, through contact with soiled hands, wounds, stool or contaminated medical equipment and devices. 

 

Canada's national gonorrhea rate in 2022 was three times the prevalence three decades earlier; the highest in 30 years Rates are steepest in men aged 20 to 39, and women 15 to 30, spreading readily, associated with travel-related sexual contact, and the risk of HIV increases as well. The McMaster lab where Dr. Wright is hard at work proposing to succeed in killing Pseudomonas "Because if you've got something that will kill Pseudomonas, it will probably kill everything else", holds hope in eventual success. 

 

A medical illustration of Candida auris fungal organisms

Another in the high priority group is drug-resistant Acinetobacter, a bug that tends to cling to materials like IV bags, IV poles and dialysis lines that causes blood, wound and other infections -- and Canadida auris, a deadly fungus whose properties can colonize or burrow into skin via needles or catheters as well as lingering on hospital sinks, bed rails and curtains. C. auris can cause organ failures in severe cases; particularly lethal for people with weak immune systems, with a death rate of up to 60 percent.

 

According to the task force, the fungus has "now emerged as a critical public health threat" due to its resistance to multiple antifungals, high morbidity and the ease with which it can spread in healthcare settings. Both Drs. Wright and Amaratunga emphasize the need for prevention; judicious and appropriate use of antibiotics, beefed up surveillance, early detection and vaccines.  

 

Hospital:  an institution providing medical and surgical treatment and nursing care for sick or injured people. Additionally now, a place where infectious diseases and pathogens that can be life-threatening can spread and infect patients. Patients who arrive at hospitals generally as a final resort for treatment of chronic or temporarily-acquired health challenges, or visiting as a result of injuries...all of whom whatever the reason for hospitalization, trust that their medical conditions will be ameliorated with medical care leading to discharge and resumption of normal life.

"[Microbes can evolve rapidly, within hours. However, unlike the heydays of the 1980s], It's now a completely different kettle of fish. There are very few drug companies working in the field."

"They can't make money on it. Antibiotics cure disease. If you're a large pharma company, you like to be controlling chronic diseases, because then people take your drugs for a very long time [a guaranteed revenue stream]."

Dr. Gerry Wright