Trump, Excoriating U.S. 'Allies'

"You'll have to start learning how to fight for yourself, the U.S.A. won't n e there to help you anymore, just like you weren't there for us."

"Iran has been, essentially, decimated. The hard part is done."

"Go get  your own oil!"

"[Paris has been] VERY UNHELPFUL]. The U.S.A. will REMEMBER!!!"

"We’ve been there automatically, including Ukraine. Ukraine wasn’t our problem. It was a test, and we were there for them, and we would always have been there for them. They weren’t there for us."

"All of those countries that can’t get jet fuel because of the Strait of Hormuz, like the United Kingdom, which refused to get involved in the decapitation of Iran, I have a suggestion for you: Number 1, buy from the U.S., we have plenty, and Number 2, build up some delayed courage, go to the Strait, and just TAKE IT”."

"I’ve long said that, you know, I wonder whether or not NATO would ever be there for us. So … this was a great test, because we don’t need them, but they should have been there."

U.S. President Donald J. Trump

Donald Trump has also called NATO countries that do not help with the war in Iran "cowards." Evelyn Hockstein/REUTERS

 

"I hope that amid the emotions surrounding the President of the United States today, a moment of calm will come."

"And why? Because there is no NATO without the United States, and it is in our interest that this calm comes."

"But there is also no American power without NATO."

Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz 

Cargo ships in the Gulf, near the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from northern Ras al-Khaimah, near the border with Oman?s Musandam governance, amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, in United Arab Emirates, March 11, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer

 

Frustration with allies  unwilling to commit themselves through the NATO military alliance in support of the U.S. conflict in Iran, has hit boiling point with President Trump who is now telling his erstwhile allies to "go get  your own oil" in respect to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz by Iran, has sent energy prices soaring. 

 

Following U.S. strikes hitting Isfahan, the central Iranian city, leading to Tehran attacking a fully loaded Kuwaiti oil tanker in the Persian Gulf, Mr. Trump's precarious patience appears to have hit its limit. A month after the start of the aerial bombardment by the U.S. and Israel, the intensity of strikes on either side has not levelled off and major disruptions have erupted to the global supply of oil and natural gas, reflected by panicked global markets.

 

Earlier, Mr. Trump  shared footage of the massive attack on Isfahan, home to one of three nuclear enrichment sites that was attacked last June by U.S. strikes, where it is suspected that much of Iran's highly enriched uranium was stored. It seems evident that no agency foretold the extent of Iran's stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz, with its catastrophic results to world shipping, much less the Iranian leadership's decision to attack its neighbours' energy infrastructure.

 

The roiling of world markets and the strait-closing effect on many basic goods such as fertilizer normally shipped across the world, has had its effect on the American president who directed responsibility at the United Kingdom and France for refusing to enter a war for which no clear endgame could be deduced, a war they were never consulted on, nor an alert given that it would be forthcoming. 

 

The U.S. attack on an Iranian ammunition depot in Isfahan raises tensions and the risk of further military escalation in the region. Los Angeles Today

 

France  permitted the U.S. Air Force use of the Isteres base in southern France once it received guarantees that planes landing there would not be carrying out strikes in Iran. Europe's loudest critic of the war, Spain stated it chose to close its airspace along with its joint U.S.-Spain airbases for any planes involved in the conflict. As for Italy, an official confirmed that U.S. military assets were refused use of the Sigonella airbase in Sicily for any operation with links to the offensive in Iran. 

 

American bombers were intending to land at the Italian base prior to continuing on toward the Middle East. However, affirmed Italy's Defence Minister Guido Crosetto, Italy would still allow the US. use of its bases; no cooling of relations between the two countries has resulted over the Iran conflict.

 

The world is now on notice that should a ceasefire not be "shortly" reached and the strait reopened, the U.S. was prepared to broaden its offensive, and that would include attacking the Iranian oil export hub on Kharg Island. 

 

Luojiashan tanker sits anchored in Muscat, amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Muscat, Oman, March 7, 2026. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier

"We don't want to have to do more militarily than we have to."

"But I didn't mean it flippantly when I said, in the meantime, we'll negotiate with bombs."

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth 

A Non-Coalition of the Unwilling

"We are not at war with anyone."

"[France's warship deployment's intent is to allow France] to respond to emergency situations [and evacuate French nationals if necessary."

"We stand by the side of our allies and our friends. There have been some interceptions that have continued in recent days."

French President Emmanuel Macron

Cargo ships and tankers are seen in the Strait of Hormuz on Feb. 25, 2026. (Giuseppe Cacace / AFP via Getty Images)

"We must be careful -- it's always a risky operation -- to make sure our warships are not targeted." 

"Because if they are attacked, we have to fire back."

Former French President Francois Hollande 

 

"It is not NATO's war. NATO is an alliance to defend the alliance area."

"[Berlin has taken note but] The United States did not consult us before this war, and so we believe this is not a matter for NATO or the German government."

Stefan Kornelious, spokesman for German Chancellor Friedrich Merz

 

"It's only appropriate that people who are the beneficiaries of the strait [of Hormuz] will help to make sure that nothing bad happens there."

"If there's no response or if it's a negative response, I think it will be very bad for the future of NATO."

U.S. President Donald Trump

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks before signing an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House on Monday. (Julia Demaree Nikhinson/The Associated Press)

 

The American President, during the U.S.-Israeli aerial strikes against the Islamic Republic of Iran and the consequential blockading by Iran of the Strait of Hormuz to the world's 1/5th most important shipping route, has asked his allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and others, that includes France, China, Japan, South Korea and the United Kingdom for their assistance in securing global shipping through the strait. Thus far there have been far more demurrals than offers of assistance. Appealing to China, in any event, would be a non-starter since it has allied itself with Iran and signed a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, in its thirst for Iranian oil. 

"From our perspective, it [the Strait of Hormuz] is open -- just not for the U.S., Israel and its allies."

"[There have been] delusional [claims that Iran is searching for a negotiated end to the war]."

"[Wrong, Iran seeks nether] truce nor talks." 

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi

Smoke can be seen in the distance from Dubai International Airport after a drone struck a fuel tank, forcing the temporary suspension of flights on Monday. (The Associated Press)

 

At the present time, cargo ships are stuck waiting in the Gulf, or have the alternative of a much longer detour around the southern tip of Africa. As the war in Iran continues, there will appear shortages and price increases on a widening range of goods, beyond soaring energy prices. The wider global supply chain beyond energy includes pharmaceuticals from India, semiconductors from Asia and Middle East-derived products such as fertilizers from oil byproducts. 

 

Foreign citizens from around the world work in the Middle East; more than any other country in Europe, France alone has over 400,000 of its citizens working there; with over 60,000 in the United Arab Emirates. Spain, Italy, the Netherlands and Greece have deployed their frigates in the region. France has signed key defence agreements with several countries; Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates -- a permanent base in Abu Dhabi where French air and naval forces saw a doubling of Rafale fighter jets.

 

Typhoon and F-35 fighter jets, helicopters and air defence systems have been sent by the U.K. to assist in intercepting Iranian missiles and drones and to protect British troops stationed across the region, particularly in Cyprus and Qatar, along with Britain's other partners in the Middle East. France's Rafale jets have intercepted drones from Iran targeting the U.A.E. since the war's beginning. 

 

France's President Macon urged Iran to halt strikes against regional countries as the first Western leader to speak directly with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian since the war broke out. It will be remembered that President Macron was always the first, the second and the third to speak with Vladimir Putin about his invasion of Ukraine. According to Mr. Macron "a diplomatic solution" is required to put a stop to the escalation. As  a major peacemaker, Mr. Macron spoke as well with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump.

 

The war continues. 

 

Fire and smoke rise from Dubai’s international airport on Monday after a ‘drone-related incident’. Flights were disrupted. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

"The feeling is, this is not Europe’s war."

"Of course we are allies with America, but we don’t really understand their moves recently."

"We haven’t been consulted, and we don’t really understand, what are the objectives of this war."

"It is in our interest to keep the Strait of Hormuz open." 

Kaja Kallas, EU foreign policy chief 

Rewarding Terrorism

"According to a May poll by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, half of Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza support Hamas's decision to launch the October 7 massacre."

"Asked who they'd support in a hypothetical election, a plurality [32 percent]said they would cast a ballot for Hamas."

"This shouldn't come as a surprise. It's well known that Palestinian schools and institutions indoctrinate their youth to hate Jews [something UNRWA, which Canada continues to fund, has played a large part in]. Any attempt at recognizing a Palestinian state should acknowledge this and include a plan for deradicalization, which Carney has not put forward."

"On October 7, Palestinian terrorists murdered 1,200 people, including at least seven Canadians. Instead of treating it as our fight -- as we did after 24 Canadians were killed on 9/11 and after ISIS began terrorizing the Middle East -- our leaders seemed intent to blame the victims and continually pressure Israel to end what clearly started as a war of self-defence."

"Now, Carney is rewarding the terrorists, by recognizing a state that has no basis in reality. Geopolitically, it is rather meaningless. But it will certainly embolden those who erroneously paint Israel as an evil occupying power, and vilify Canadian Jews in the process."

National Post editorial, August 2, 2025 

Palestinian terrorists move towards the border fence with Israel from Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on October 7.   Said Khatib/AFP/Getty Images

 

For a period of several months, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a decision to suspend the humanitarian aid process into the Gaza Strip. To that point, Israel had permitted aid to enter Gaza in volumes substantially in excess of what might have been deemed necessary. This was a period when Israel was well aware that some 85 percent of the aid was being intercepted and looted. These are data from the United Nations itself, an acknowledgement that Hamas, along with other terror groups like Palestinian Islamic Jihad were intercepting and looting the aid convoys.

 

The warehouses belonging to Hamas and the others served as depots to hoard, then resell the aid to Palestinian civilians through open-air marketplaces at extortionate prices. Perhaps Israeli authorities were banking on Palestinian civilian outrage that they were being denied aid when the temporary suspension was in place, turning against Hamas in the knowledge that vast resources of food, medicine, hygiene products, and cooking fuels were in their possession, it was decided to take that route to force Hamas to surrender the purloined aid. 

 

While it's difficult to conceive of any authority deliberately withholding food from their own constituents, this is what Hamas and the other terrorists did and continue to do. Hamas is on record as denying it is their responsibility to feed and house and care for Palestinian civilians, attributing that responsibility solely to the United Nations and the international community through their humanitarian gifts to the perpetual 'victims' of Israeli 'occupation'. Undeniably, Palestinians are undergoing a crisis of monumental proportions, gifted to them by their terrorist overseers. The purpose ... to put pressure on the international community to act.

 

Getty Images

 

And the international community has acted -- by condemning Israel for the situation. Just as Hamas has divorced itself of responsibility to the community they represent, the international community concurs by seeing Israel as the source of Palestinian misery. The international media is complacently fortifying Hamas claims, giving complete credence to all the terrorist group's accusations against Israel as the aggressor, committing Palestinians to starvation, with a view to genocidal intent. There is complicity throughout legacy media in the use of Palestinian and Hamas reporting of unverifiable claims against Israel motivated by deeply ingrained antisemitism.

 

When the humanitarian aid convoys reach the Gaza entrance points, Israeli security inspects them to ensure no weapons or prohibited items of any kind are hidden among the food, medicine, blanket supplies. Once into the Gaza side, UN and international aid trucks are tasked with retrieving and distributing the supplies. This is where Hamas armed thugs wait to ambush the trucks to steal what they want of the aid, if they don't entirely hijack the entire load. Gaza is an actively dangerous war zone, one where Palestinian terrorists have forcefully embedded themselves within the civilian population.

 

And this past week Canada's prime minister followed the lead of France's Emmanuel Macron and Britain's Keir Starmer to announce their intention to formally recognize a 'Palestinian State' in September at the United Nations. In the interests of following through, Canada's PM Mark Carney spoke by telephone with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas where Carney outlined Canada's requirements for that recognition. To which, ostensibly, Abbas agreed to the terms, including free and fair elections, reformation of the West Bank and Gaza, and that Hamas not be permitted in any leadership position, as well as surrendering its arms.

 

Hamas is already on record for adamantly refusing to disarm. Mahmoud Abbas has scheduled elections that he has simply cancelled, after his own four-year election term that has extended to 20 years. The Palestinian population has been thoroughly indoctrinated from childhood to adulthood, in music, poetry, television shows, and school curricula, to hate Jews and accuse Israel of planning to kill all Palestinians; add that to the Palestinian Authority's sacred duty to reward the martyrdom achieved by killing Jews by naming public thoroughfares after the 'heroes' and funding awards to the families of Palestinians imprisoned for violent acts and murders against Jews, and you have  an entire culture in dire need of a prolonged refreshment course in civilizational mores.

 

Hamas terrorists carrying clubs and firearms secure humanitarian aid trucks in the northern Gaza area of Jabaliya on June 25, 2025.   (photo credit: TPS-IL)

 

Debating Free Expression in France

"I am moved, and I am relieved. Hearing the word 'guilty' — that's what I needed."

"I spent this week listening to a lot of rewriting of what happened, and it was hard to hear, but now the judge has stated what really happened, and it feels good."

"I think my brother died for nothing, [teachers were still being targeted by violence and threats]."

Gaëlle Paty, Samuel Paty's sister

 

"It's something that really shocks the family."  

"You get the feeling that those in the box are absolutely unwilling to admit any responsibility whatsoever."

"Apologies are pointless, they won't bring Samuel back, but explanations are precious to us. We haven't had many explanations of the facts."

Paty family lawyer Virginie Le Roy

The fallout from Paty’s killing reinforced the French state’s commitment to freedom of expression and its firm attachment to secularism in public life. Photograph: REX/Shutterstock

French teacher Samuel Paty was murdered on October 16, 2020 outside the school where he taught, in a horrific killing that shocked France. At that time, there were protests in many Muslim countries along with online incitement for violence to target France and Charlie Hebdo, the satirical French newspaper which had republished the caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad several weeks before Paty's death, to mark the trial opening of the deadly 2015 attacks on the newspaper's newsroom by Islamic jihadists.

Mr. Paty had thought he would discuss the issue with his students in the classroom, using a cartoon of the Prophet as an illustration and to focus on how a well-balanced society has a respect for freedom of speech, however insulting it may appear to some. That in a free society people have the right to speak as they see fit, and to say what they believe as long as that speech is not used to promote hatred and violence. What his lesson for the day did, however, was to inflame already-heightened social unrest.

One of his students went home to tell her father how her teacher had insulted her and assaulted her belief in Islam's Prophet Mohammad by mocking the religion and its Prophet. Her father began an online agitation promoting vengeance against the teacher, inciting young Muslim men to conspire to take revenge against an unforgivable blasphemy. The trial of eight co-conspirators to the murder concluded on Friday at France's anti-terrorism court when those convicted of involvement in Samuel Paty's beheading were sentenced.

The actual assailant, an 18-year-old Chechen Russian had been shot to death by police at the time of the murder. The eight who were convicted on terrorism charges stood accused of providing assistance to the perpetrator of the grisly killing; among them others charged and convicted of organizing a hate campaign that led to the murder of Samuel Paty. Central Paris's 540-seat special terrorism court was packed for the verdict, the atmosphere charged.

 

It was clear from some of the comments of those present, the families of the convicted, that remorse over the event for many was completely absent. Women whose sons were sentenced to prison were distraught and disbelieving over the sentences; their sons had done nothing wrong. From among them gasps were emitted as the lead justice delivered the sentences. Cries, shouts and mocking clapping erupted, leading the judge to pause repeatedly and call for order.

 

Francis Szpiner, a French lawyer representing Samuel Paty' son, speaks to the press on Dec. 20, 2024, at the Paris Special Assize Court after the verdict in the case against eight people charged in connection with the beheading of teacher Samuel Paty in 2020.  STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN/AFP via Getty Images

Some of the more obstreperous were led away by police. Over 50 police officers kept order throughout the tense session. Sentences ranging from 18 months of suspended imprisonment to 16 years in prison as had been requested by prosecutors. The defendants included friends of the assailant -- Abdoullakh Anzorov -- who had aided in procuring weapons for the attack. The father of the schoolgirl whose lies had begun the fatal spiral of events included. 

When the national anti-terrorism prosecutor asked the court to downgrade offences of four of the eight defendants, the Paty family expressed their ire: "It's more than a disappointment. In a moment like this, it feels like one is fighting for nothing", said Paty's sister Mickaelle. The charge of complicity in favour of a lower charge of association with a terrorist enterprise was dropped against the two  young men accused of providing logistical support to the killer.

The father of the student whose false account of Paty's use of the caricatures triggered a wave of social media posts targeting the middle-school teacher was among those sentenced. Brahim Chnina was given 13 years in prison for criminal terrorist association. Chnina had published videos falsely accusing the teacher of disciplining his daughter for complaining about the class, naming Paty and identifying his school. Essentially making him a target for murder.

Founder of a hardline Islamist organization, Abdelhakim Sefrioui received a 15-year sentence. Both Sefrioui and Chnina were found guilty of inciting hatred against Paty.Two associates of Paty's killer were also convicted. Naim Boudaoud and Azim Epsirkhanov were sentenced to 16 years in prison for complicity in a terrorist killing. Both had denied wrongdoing.

French high-school teacher Samuel Paty (pictured in centre) was murdered by a radicalised Islamist teenager in 2020   AFP

 

The Savagery Inherent in Misplaced Trust

"I am a rapist, like everyone else in this room. They cannot say otherwise."

"They came looking for me themselves. They asked me, I said yes."

"Stop suspecting her all the time [lawyers for the defence suggesting his wife was conscious and enabling her rapes]. I did many things without her knowing."

Dominique Pelicot, 71, France

 

"For fifty years, I lived with a man who I couldn't imagine for even a single second could have committed these acts."

"I trusted this man completely."

"I didn't give my consent to Mr. Pelicot or these men behind me for one second."

"Since I've arrived in this courtroom, I've felt humiliated. I am treated of being an alcoholic, an accomplice."

"I have heard it all."

Gisele Pelicot, 72

Gisèle Pelicot, right, who has allegedly been drugged and raped by men solicited by her husband, Dominique Pelicot, arrives with her lawyer, Antoine Camus, left, during the trial of her husband and 50 co-accused, at the courthouse in Avignon, France, on Thursday. (Antony Paone/Reuters)

 

Married for fifty years, living in the Avignon region of France, raising three children together, Gisele Pelicot had no idea that for the last ten  years of the fifty she lived with her now-ex-husband he drugged her for the purpose of having any man who might be interested, raping her. He circulated invitations for sex with his wife, entirely without her knowledge, and men from all walks of life responded, visiting the family home, seeing a woman lying unconscious, proceeded to rape her.

 

Those same men -- by no means all those who raped her over that ten-year period, but those who could be identified, denied having knowledge of the man's wife being drugged and having sex with the unconscious woman who had not consented to being raped, in the belief she had agreed. At least 72 people took part in the rapes, many of them multiple times. Of that total of 92 rapes taking place between 2011 and 2020, 50 are standing trial as well as Gisele Pelicot's husband.

Her ex-husband during the trial informed the French court that not only is he a rapist but so too are all the other men accused of raping his wife. His testimony was in direct contrast of that of many of the 50 other men claiming innocence. Having recruited men over online platforms to arrive at the couple's home as well as other locations, given his encouragement, they assaulted her and now face a litany of charges, rape included.

 

Prosecutors noted that Dominique Pelicot regularly sedated  his wife with crushed anti-anxiety medication she was unaware of. He had strict rules the men accused of raping his wife had to follow. They were not to smell of perfume or smoke to avoid inadvertently waking her. Some 35 of the defendants are contesting the charges, among some of whom argued it was their impression the couple was living out a sexual fantasy (when it was obvious it was they were living out a sexual fantasy).

The raped woman insisted she be identified by her real name, asking for the trial to be an open court event, determined the world know what had happened to her. The sexual assaults that took place over a decade have left Gisele Pelicot with physical and psychological scars. As how would they not?

It was only by misadventure that she even discovered the odious victimization she suffered, was perpetrated by the man she had trusted and lived with for fifty years. In 2020 her husband was caught filming women under their skirts. When police searched his electronic device they discovered hundreds of photos and videos depicting the sexual assaults against his wife. 

Now the woman who suffered such unbelievably wretched trauma is once again suffering in a French courtroom, as lawyers for some of the men accused of raping her while she was conscious ask about her habits, her personality and her sex life; questioning whether she was really unconscious during the encounters. These men range in age from 26 to 74, many are married and have children, among them firefighters, journalists, and soldiers.

Crowds took to the streets in France over the weekend to show support for Gisèle Pélicot, whose husband is accused of drugging her and allowing strangers to rape her over several years.

Psychopathy Strikes

"The attacker had been talking about selling organs and body parts, but none of this makes sense." 

"The suspect is believed to suffer with serious psychological problems."

"She was living on the street, but had friends and family in the Paris area."

Unnamed French official

 

"She asked everyone she met to help her carry it. She seemed a little crazy."

"At one point she left the suitcase in front of a cafe, she came and went, went in and out, we wondered what was inside her [baggage] but we would never have thought of a body."

"Then she went to the bakery in front of the cafe to buy a croissant, she came back like it was nothing, she looked a little unsteady."

Witness

 

"It's unbearable. We've been living in this neighbourhood for years and we've just come here to give support to the family, in leaving a bouquet, because like many people, this breaks our hearts."

Neighbour

12-year-old Lola Daviet [@EvaVlaar/Twitter]

A young Algerian woman who arrived legally in France on a study visa in 2016 was given an August 2022 expulsion order to leave the country within 30 days, but did not. This woman, Dahbia B., 24 years of age and reportedly homeless, has been charged with the murder of a 12-year-old schoolgirl, Lola Daviet. France is in shock, and critics of the government are furious, pointing to the tragic atrocity as just another example of the failed immigration policy practised by France.

Lola Daviet's school day was over and she had returned home to the apartment building where her father worked as a janitor. Her mother, Delphine was awaiting her daughter's return from school: "Lola knows that on Fridays you go straight home because we go to Béthune, the family village, a three-hour drive north of Paris". And when her daughter failed to return as scheduled, Delphine approached police for their help in the search for her daughter.

Her father decided to view the security footage and there he saw his daughter enter the foyer of the building where he worked and where his family had their apartment. Accompanying her was a young woman whom the parents were unfamiliar with. Several hours afterward the woman left the building alone, carrying two bags, the closed circuit video camera footage made clear were quite heavy.

A day later the young woman was arrested with French media identifying her as an Algerian national. She was brought before a judge two days later, accused of murdering a child under age 15, accused as well of rape, acts of torture and of concealing a body. Under questioning, the woman said she had led the child to her sister's flat in the same building. There, she forced Lola to shower before she was sexually abused.

One witness early in the investigation suggested that organ trafficking might be involved, although the suspect made no mention of that as a possible motive. Another suspect in the case, a 43-year-old man agreed under questioning that he had driven the suspect and her two suitcases along with a plastic box to his home where she stayed for two hours. Finally she was driven back with all the luggage to Lola's apartment building.

Lola's body was discovered in an abandoned plastic box outside the building. An autopsy revealed the girl died of asphyxiation. Numbers zero and one had been written on her feet in red ink. A motive for her killing remains elusive.

"The suspect had boasted about selling body parts. Evidence suggests that the girl was taken into the basement of the flat, where she was tortured, and raped, before being strangled and having her throat cut."

"The suspect is believed to suffer with serious psychological problems. She was living on the street, but had friends and family in the Paris area."

Investigating Source

A homeless woman has been charged with the murder, rape and torture of a 12-year-old Paris girl   Facebook / Delphine Daviet

  

Outcome of Banning the Veil in French Schools

"For students who wore the veil, the ban may have had a negative effect on those who were most attached to it, as it may have led them to drop out of school."

"But the ban may also have had a positive effect on students who were forced to wear the veil, and on students suffering from stigmatization and discrimination in school because of it."

"When comparing women in the Muslim group to those in the non-Muslim group, the data reveal a very significant increase in educational attainment in the Muslim group for the cohorts that attended middle school and reached puberty after the ban."

"This increase clearly coincides with the implementation of the circular – the more years the Muslim group women spent in middle school after the circular, the higher their educational attainment."

Eric Maurin, Paris School of Economics, study co-author

State schools in France were asked to ban "ostentatious religious signs" -including Islamic veils - in 1994, but it was not forbidden by law until 2004. Photo by FRED DUFOUR/AFP via Getty Images

Im 1994 the government of France emphatically recommended that state schools ban "ostentatious religious signs", the customary Muslim girls' veils included. This was not a mandatory order but a recommendation. It became law in 2004 however, when despite warning from religious leaders that the law would persecute Muslims and encourage fundamentalism, it became lawfully illegal for French Muslim girls to wear the veil while attending state schools.

Now, researchers have produced results from a decades-long study with the finding that positive effects resulted after all, from the state initiative of removing the veil in schools. It was found that educational outcomes for Muslim girls were significantly improved once the law was formally implemented. There was also seen to have been an increase in mixed marriages.

Academic accomplishments of Muslim and their non-Muslim female counterparts in France were compared with the use of data extracted from the French Labour Force Survey which had been conducted between the years 2005 to 2019. Born between 1970 to 1974, Muslim women who completed school before the 1994 guideline on veils were 12 percent less likely to graduate from high school in comparison with their non-Muslim coevals.

Among women born between 1980 to1984 that gap in school completion was seen to shrink to 7 percent. For those who spent their education with some form of veil ban in place between 1990 to 1994 the gap in high school completion was seen to shrink once more to 6.5 percent. As well, the number of Muslim women marrying non-Muslim men increased from 13 to 22 percent, during that same period.

 

 

A Mixed Tale of COVID Response

University Health Network vaccination clinic for medical staff.  The Star

 

"Health-care workers in general should be vaccinated to protect themselves, their family and their patients."

"We know that COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective, and we're seeing that across Ontario. They keep numbers coming down, and we're seeing improvements in terms of hospital capacity, ICU capacity."

"I think it's important to understand that we have flu vaccine campaigns and many flu vaccine protocols."

"It's institution-specific, but the vast majority of the [places] where I've worked do have a mandated policy for flu vaccines."

"I think anything that increases hesitancy or makes people more reluctant to pursue vaccinations should always be thought of as a potential side effect for any policy measure."

Dr.Adam Kassam, president, Ontario Medical Association

Humber River Hospital ER physician Dr. Tasleem Nimjee describes what the COVID-19 vaccine will mean for the health-care workers who’ve been on the front lines of the pandemic    CBC

"I believe it is not unreasonable that when you choose to work in health care, like any profession that includes certain bonafide occupational requirements, that you acknowledge that you will take vaccinations and tests that are required."

Isobel Mackenzie, Seniors Advocate, British Columbia

"When it comes to our health-care workers, I think it's really important that they're protected, not just for them and their families but also for the people that they treat. We don't want to have a situation where unvaccinated health-care workers are falling ill and then transmitting the virus to people they're treating."

"We're all human. I think the reasons behind people being uncertain about getting the vaccine have shifted. People are still influenced by family and culture. If you've been raised where your parents or grandparents may not necessarily believe in certain kinds of medications or vaccines, that can still influence people, even when they're science-literate and have that education."

Dr. Krishana Sankar, biologist, science communicator, COVID-19 Resources Canada

Personal support worker Michael Gellizeau gets a dose of COVID-19 vaccine from nurse practitioner Victoria Pierri at a clinic put on by the University Health Network in Toronto. (Evan Mitsui/CBC)

 

Many within the sphere of Canadian public health fully applaud the news that several countries now require their health-care workers to be vaccinated against COVID. Some epidemiologists and advocates don't hesitate to urge Canadian authorities to adopt similar measures in Canada -- while others feel concerned over mandatory shots' messages and how they will be received by their target audience.

In the U.S. the Department of Veterans Affairs was the first federal agency in the country to require employees be vaccinated. That has now been extended to all federal employees in the U.S. Greece and France both announced they will require working doctors, nurses and other professionals in the field of medicine to be vaccinated. Italy was ahead of the game with a similar mandate announced in April. In hours following the announcement, vaccination appointments increased in France.

Greece options unpaid suspension from work for any who fail to be inoculated against COVID, as health-care professionals. Quebec now requires oncologists to be vaccinated or to take three COVID tests every week, following a deadly outbreak in a Sherbrooke hospital cancer ward. In Ontario, staff at long-term care homes are required to be vaccinated or to have proof of medical exemptions. 

The largest hospital network in Ontario -- the University Health Network in Toronto -- states that any staff refusing vaccination must undergo mandatory and frequent testing. The province, however, still hesitates to ensure that vaccinations are picked up by health workers by enacting mandatory provisions. The majority of young adults contracting COVID-19 in the past three months in Ontario were unvaccinated.

Dr.Sankar is among several volunteers operating a twice-weekly Zoom call to listen to people with concerns about the COVID vaccine, responding to their questions. Anyone may use the service, despite that when it opened in January it was geared specifically to people working in long-term care homes. It seems puzzling that people exposed to science education through their profession would hesitate to become vaccinated, even though they have experienced harrowing episodes of sick and dying patients infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

"It's a complete slap to the face. I'm really just so confused why we're removing the only safety net we have left in place to protect everybody", stated Dr.Shazma Mithani who works at the Royal Alexandra Hospital emergency room in Edmonton, Alberta. She is responding to the news from the province that close contacts of confirmed COVID cases are no longer obligated to isolate, and from mid-August onward isolation requirements will be lifted even for those who test positive for the virus. Masks will no longer be required anywhere.

In Alberta, all COVID-19 testing centres are to close by the end of August, changes announced by the province's chief medical officer of health, Dr.Deena Hinshaw. This, despite a surge in Alberta's COVID-19 daily case rates. The province's rate of immunization lags far behind the average in Canada as a whole, despite announcing 233 new cases on Thursday, 188 of them linked to the Delta variant.

"I guess we're back to personal responsibility, where if you're not vaccinated, you need to be willing to suffer the price, and if you can't be vaccinated or if you can't have a good response to vaccine due to comorbidities or medication, well that's too bad, you live in Alberta."

"It's hard to believe Hinshaw's saying this, that this is like any other respiratory virus, when it's nothing like the other respiratory viruses that are around. Any way you look at it, it just doesn't make any sense."

Dr.Alain Tremblay, Pulmonologist, University of Calgary

And then, there is Sydney, Australia's most populous city, where despite an extended lockdown since an outbreak of the  highly infectious Delta variant, 239 new locally acquired coronavirus cases were counted over a 24-hour period. "We can only assume that things are likely to get worse before they get better given the quantity of people infectious in the community", stated Premier Gladys Berejiklian, New South Wales state, where Sydney is the capital.

The situation in Sydney is considered so desperate that the Australian military has been called on to help enforce a new lockdown in the city of six million residents. New curbs are set to be imposed on the southwestern and western areas of the city where most COVID-19 cases are found. Residents of those areas must wear masks outdoors and are warned to remain within five km of their homes. New South Wales police had requested 300 military personnel to assist in enforcing lockdown orders.

The army was also used to help enforce a lockdown in Melbourne last year   Getty Images

The Louvre, The World's Premier Showplace of Antiquity

"If our victorious armies penetrate into Italy, then the seizure of the Apollo Belvedere and the Farnese Hercules would be the most brilliant conquest."
"It is Greece that decorated Rome: but should the masterpieces of the Greek republics adorn a country of slaves?"
"The French Republic ought to be their ultimate resting place."
Abbe Gregoire, Catholic priest, revolutionist, 1794

"Belvedere of the Vatican where, for three centuries, it won the admiration of the Universe."
"Thereupon a hero, guided by victory, came to remove it and to place it forever beside the banks of the Seine."
Louvre label for the Apollo Belvedere

The Louvre, that repository of some of the world's most priceless art treasures, a treasure-house extraordinaire, the pride of Paris and the wonder of the world where an assemblage of the world's most renowned painters' and sculptures' masterworks hang  and sit resplendently on gallery walls and pedestals where visitors view each in awe of the transcendent artistry of genius that depicted the sacred art of Christianity. The building itself absent additions, is a masterpiece of Renaissance architecture that borrows from Greek and Roman architecture, the ultimate in sublime classical design structure.

Can a whisper of shame blemish that grand structure, its administration, its heritage value, its remarkable collections, its reputation as the leading museum of antiquity and art gallery of universal distinction in the world? Yes, evidently it can, for there are such whispers, well grounded in history.
In the 1790s, the Louvre was already assuming its imperious role as the depository of the world's most elegant, famous and priceless artefacts. It employed a very special art-collection agency to do its bidding.

Over 13,000 works of art in revolutionary France were taken into possession on behalf of the Republic, from the ownership estates of 93 French aristocrats. Labels on those pieces of timeless art reflect the temper of the times: saisie revolutionnaire ... revolutionary confiscation. Looting, in another vernacular of the culture of the pillage of righteous victory. Just as the French army overran Europe, looting everywhere, returning with treasures from abroad to be placed where the Republic thought it belonged; the galleries of the Louvre.

Immaculate Conception of the Venerables, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, 1678

As Napoleon's army marched across Europe, advanced into Egypt and the Levant, grand seizures were the order of the times. A novel way to acquire art treasures, but one well recognized over the centuries as conquering armies brought home confiscated loot from the vanquished enemy. "Liberty commands us to confiscate the remains of [Rome's] splendour. It is for us that time has preserved them ... Only we can appreciate them", wrote neoclassical painter, Jean-Baptiste Wicar.

The Grande Armee of Napoleon Bonaparte looted at will in Veneto, in Venice, in Rome, where the Apollo Belvedere, the Laocoon, the Capitoline Brutus and more were to become the property of France since though artists of Italian heritage may have created these works, Italy clearly didn't deserve to hold them in perpetuity as proud symbols of its artistic heritage.

When, in 1815, Napoleon found his defeat at Waterloo, over 5,000 paintings, sculptures and objets d'art sized since 1794, were soon restored to their rightful owners. Still, some of that priceless art was considered to be too fragile to be returned though needless to say this had not been a consideration when they were taken originally to be transferred to French ownership. Veronese's The Wedding Feast at Cana, Giotto's Saint Francis Receiving the Stigmata and Fra Angelico's Coronation of the Virgin remained in the Louvre.

The Tiber, part of the Papal collection confiscated by Napoleon in 1797, was considered too big to move in 1815, and thus remains in the Louvre

There was great reluctance from the Republic to return the Laocoon, the Apollo Belvedere and Raphael's Transfiguration to the Vatican, since it considered that technically through the 1797 Treaty of Tolentino negotiating the surrender to France of the Papal States, they had been 'legally' acquired, leading the pope to send the sculptor Antonio Canova, aided by English and Austrian soldiers to retrieve them.

At the Louvre's 1817 reopening, the bitter sight of galleries with empty spaces, stung. The French novelist Stendhal, claimed the Italians "stole from us what we had won by treaty".

The Wedding Feast at Cana by Paolo Veronese, 1563, plundered by Napoleon’s troops from the church of San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice in 1797, remains in the Louvre in Paris.

Credit Where It's Due : The Intelligence of Birds

"The purpose of the crows ... is to educate the people, to open their minds, to think, 'OK, the birds are able to do something that we are much more able to do than them, so we should do this by ourselves',"
"It's a funny way to show the people that you cannot throw the papers everywhere."
"In an affectionate, supportive atmosphere, they like to communicate with humans and establish a relationship through play."
"The goal is not just to clear up, because visitors are generally careful to keep things clean, but also to demonstrate that nature itself can teach us to take care of the environment."
Park President Nicholas de Villiers, Puy du Fou park

"I captured a series of crows in a park, tagged them and released them. They didn’t like it."
"Many weeks later, I returned to the park with colleagues, and the crows I had tagged attacked me but ignored the others."
Frédéric Jiguet, ornithologist, Paris Museum of Natural History

And they are indeed intelligent. Some species more so than others. Some, like parrots and crows whose tongues have been slit, can be taught to 'speak', emulating words taught to them, and knowing their correct context; uttering them at appropriate times and circumstances; in some instances reflecting their own emotions. They have excellent memory recall, and we tend to do them an injustice when we relegate them to the status of animals incapable of thinking, assessing situations, making use of their environment in unusual ways, and being capable of interacting with other species, including humans.

Rooks have the ability to sort out litter. (Photo: Puy Du Fou blog)

A park in France has taken steps to use the innate intelligence of rooks, a larger, even more clever offshoot of the crow family to teach them to pluck litter left by careless park visitors and deposit that litter in waste containers on regular park patrols. The birds, six of them, have names: Boubou, Bamboo, Bill, Black, Bricole and Baco. Each time they deposit a cigarette butt or any other piece of trash in a special receptacle, it dispenses a treat. There are times when birds like any other animal, will commit altruistic acts, but this is a working environment that compensates their labour.

The birds would not consider what they do labour -- in all likelihood it is for them something akin to a game where they offer something of value to their trainer to be disposed of, and anticipate a reward in recognition of their effort. The trainer, to illustrate just how clever the birds are, speaks of their attempts to innovate, by bringing along slivers of wood to exchange for the treats. The park in question is a theme park; what better place to deploy such activities to demonstrate the birds' capacity to learn and to engage in a trade; their worthless (to them) offerings for valuable food.

The mechanism that has been created for the crows to collect the trash. (Photo: Puy Du Fou blog)

Working industriously, they are able to fill a bucket with disposables in fewer than 45 minutes. It was a bird handler, a park falconer who first thought of putting the birds to work. Accustomed to training birds of prey, Christophe Gaborit explained: "They were motivated by the reward and they soon understood how the game worked". And it would certainly not have been a difficult thing to entice the birds to collect trash for reward. Some biologists consider them to be as intelligent as the average seven-year-old child.

They have demonstrated how they prepare tools by tearing strips from leaves, using the strips to pry bugs from tree trunks. In experiments they have been innovative in response to situations where they have manipulated material to advantage themselves in some way. Given wire, though never having encountered it before, they will bend it to fashion hooks. Given unshelled peanuts, they will smash the peanut held in their beak against a hard surface to open it and release the nuts. They will remember the faces of people who habitually take peanuts into a park to deposit them in various places. Thereafter the birds regularly visit those places, in competition with squirrels.

Some scientists decided to test the rooks through an experiment, placing litter in a room with a worm in a tube of water slightly below the distance the birds could peck. The birds responded by dropping pebbles into the water gradually lifting the worm within reach. Those filler objects too large for the container, or that would float in the water were rejected in favour of the pebbles which sank to the bottom as required to achieve their goal; more than adequately demonstrating their grasp of volume displacement.

Gabroit with his rooks. (Photo courtesy: Puy Du Fou blog)

On Alert to Evade the Tiger Mosquito in France

"Despite storms and rain, people in 30 departments across the south are being urged to look out for the pests which can transmit the Zika virus, as well as other diseases such as Yellow Fever, Dengue Fever, and Chikungunya."
"The species – originally of Asian origin – is well-established in Provence-Alpes-Côtes d’Azur and Midi-Pyrénées-Languedoc-Roussillon, as well as the Vendée, Haut-Rhin, Bas-Rhin and Val-de-Marne."
"So far this year there have been no reports of any tiger mosquitoes in France or any outbreaks of the diseases they can carry but the Health Ministry has issued a yellow alert and has set up a site where the public can record sightings at: www.signalement-moustique.fr"
"Anyone contracting any of the viruses transmitted by the tiger mosquito must report it to the health authorities via their doctor and people are also being asked not to leave stagnant water outside, such as water in saucers under flowerpots, as this provides breeding grounds for mosquitoes."
"The species has been spreading in France since 2004 and has now been seen across the south of the country as well as in Vendée, Haut-Rhin, Bas-Rhin and Val-de-Marne."
The Connexion, French News and Views, May 2, 2018

Tiger mosquitoes with black and white striped body and legs, can carry the Zika and dengue viruses. AFP Photo/EID Mediterranee

France reported more than half of the 2,133 cases of Zika infection in the European Union. Between June 2015 and March 2017, 1,141 Zika infection cases were reported in France. Notoriously, in pregnant women, the Zika virus has the potential of spreading to the fetus to cause severe birth defects like microcephaly, impeding brain development. Zika can be transmitted by mosquitoes or spread sexually.

Dengue fever and Zika have similar symptoms that can most often be mild so that healthy adults though infected may present with no symptoms whatever. For babies there is an altogether different story. If infected they are born with abnormally small heads while the neurological disorder may lead to an early death. Among all European countries France was affected most seriously by the Zika epidemic that hit South and North America in 2015 and 2016.

The aggressive tiger mosquitoes known to carry viruses such as Zika, Dengue and Chikungunya have now spread over half of France, leading authorities to warn the population, particularly those planning to travel on vacation to areas that the invasive insects are known to habituate themselves to; to make use of repellents. Originating in Asia, the insect is recognized by its black-and-white striped body and legs.

The South of France constantly reveals delightful surprises. Sète's canals have earned it the nickname of the "Little Venice" of France.

The south of France, famous the world over for its sunny atmosphere and sandy beaches now plays host as well, to these striped mosquitoes. As does the centre of the country, the southern Paris suburbs and pockets of the north of the country. The presence of the mosquitoes is known to have doubled in the past two years in the identified areas of infection. Of 86 departments (electoral areas or cantons) in France, 42 are now affected.

People are being urged by France's public health authority to be watchful for the presence of the mosquitoes between May and November, to "drain away stagnant water, where mosquitoes can reproduce, around homes". On the French island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean, tiger mosquitoes are responsible for having propagated an epidemic of Dengue fever, leading to fears among health authorities that returning vacationers could conceivably carry the virus to mainland France.

There may be no better way to spend a day than soaking in the Mediterranean sun in the South of France, and have frosty drinks and lunch delivered to your chaise lounge - with an average of 320 days of sunshine per year.

In southern France in 2014 and 2015, 18 cases of locally transmitted Dengue Fever were recorded, and 17 of Chikungunya on the Riviera last year. Making those world-famous vacation spots for the trendy and the financially care-free somewhat less inviting than how they have traditionally been regarded. Most who contract the virus, however, can expect to be inconvenienced by symptoms of Dengue and Chikingunya that include severe joint pain, fever, headaches, weeping eyes and a rash.

Tiger mosquitoes have spread across France