When Cold-Induced Dormancy in Reptiles is Life-Saving

"When temperatures drop and sustain to near-freezing or below, reptiles and amphibians, including non-native green iguanas, can go into a state of torpor, where they temporarily lose muscle control and appear 'frozen' -- sometimes even falling out of trees."

"Green iguanas cause  damage to residential and commercial landscape vegetation and are often considered a nuisance by property owners."

"Iguanas are attracted to trees with foliage or flowers, most fruits [except citrus] and almost any vegetable." 

"[They can also cause damage by digging burrows that] erode and collapse sidewalks, foundations, seawalls, berms and canal banks."

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission 

Cold-stunned iguanas may look dead, but they're just in a state of shock. (Cristobal Herrera/South Florida Sun Sentinel/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

Iguanas nonchalantly clutching tree trunks in Florida are a common sight. Not an unattractive sight by any means. The trees that grow in Florida are themselves out-of-the-ordinary in the view of northern dwellers, the addition of  iguanas that have proliferated since the 1960s as 'transplanted' (foreign-'invasive') species of reptiles add an extremely exotic touch. For those people not repulsed by the sight of reptiles, it can be fascinating watching the iguanas as they make their home in the Florida greenscape.

 

Originally from the temporal range of Central and South America as well as some areas of the Caribbean where they inhabit rainforest canopies adjacent to water sources, all it took for them to spread and adjust themselves to the forgiving climate of Florida was their sales potential for people looking for exotic pets sold through the pet trade in Hawaii, Florida and Texas. The Florida Everglades is trying to cope with a wide influx of Burmese pythons, following a similar route to introduction away from their native habitat.

 

Now Floridians are being introduced to a new phenomenon, finding iguanas dropping from the trees, appearing dead, as a result of an cold snap, unusual for frigid temperatures below freezing hitting the Sunshine State. Iguanas in trees, clinging to tree trunks with their clinging claws, a fairly normal, unremarkable sight. Those same iguanas dropping from the trees, appearing lifeless marks a startling abnormality. 

 

The FWC says residents can take advantage of Florida's freeze by transporting cold-stunned green iguanas to one of its facilities, no permit required, to be euthanized. (Saul Martinez/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Unusual and unwelcome plunging temperatures in Florida have made the difference as Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach have been assailed with record-low temperatures, plummeting to -1C. The most frigid temperatures in 15 years in South Florida. To address the issue of iguanas suddenly becoming vulnerable to the unaccustomed cold, an executive order was issued by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission giving permission to area residents to gather the cold-stunned creatures without a permit to transfer them to five designated FWC offices.

 

Green iguanas are recognized as an invasive species in Florida. Their presence has "adverse impacts on Florida's environment and economy", according to the Florida Wildlife Commission. Under normal circumstances, residents are not allowed to possess green iguanas without a permit, even for transportation purposes. Those residents who do trouble themselves to 'rescue' the iguanas by taking them to any available FWC facility are enabling their disposal, as they are destined to either be killed humanely or transferred for live animal sales -- presumably to be used as meat for iguana-dining-preparations.  

 

A green iguana enjoys fresh leafy greens. These reptiles have thrived in Florida's generally warm climate. (iStock)

 

Iguanas can reach impressive sizes in their maturity. Their life expectancy in the wild is up to ten years, but in captivity (maintained in a zoo or as a pet) they can live up to 19 years. Male iguanas have the potential of growing to five feet in length (including the tail) and can weigh up to 17 pounds. They can swim as semi-aquatic creatures in both saltwater and freshwater. They are able to accustom themselves to living in both rural and urban landscapes.

 

Ron Magill, Zoo Miami communications director, explains that the reptiles can revert to a lethargic state when temperatures fall below 10C. When nature steps in to provide an alternative state of protection through temporary musculature immobilization (semi-hibernation), to enable them to survive the cold, awaiting the return of more reptile-salubrious weather conditions.  

 

Green iguanas are an invasive species that threaten Florida's native wildlife and plants. (iStock) 

"When collecting live, cold-stunned green iguanas for removal, members of the public should wear protective gloves, pants and long-sleeved shirts to protect themselves from potential scratches." 

"The iguanas must be contained in a secure, escape-proof, cloth sack or bag. Only cloth sacks or bags may be used for primary containment to ensure breathability — and they must be securely closed shut." 

"Once transport has begun, collection bags or sacks must remain closed or sealed until they are transferred to FWC staff." 

"This is to both keep the iguanas from escaping into a new location and to prevent the iguanas from getting loose in your vehicle if they start to recover from torpor."

"Iguanas can recover from cold-stunning more quickly than you might expect and, once recovered, can act defensively, with long tails that whip and sharp teeth and claws."

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission 

 

Terra Nullius, Svalbard: Cold Shore

"Norway now finds itself in the most serious security situation since 1945."

"[Svalbard has for too long been seen by nations as a place where] everyone who wants to can come up and do almost whatever they want."

"That's not the fact. This is Norwegian sovereign territory. So we're making that a bit clearer."

Eivind Vad Petersson State Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Norway 

The Svalbard Archipelago   Photo: Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP via Getty Images

 

Following World War 1, Norway's claim to the Arctic archipelago and its islands was officially recognized. The Svalbard Treaty of 1920 banned the presence of activity linked to the military while granting all other nations choosing to sign on to the agreed-upon treaty access to hunting, fishing, mining and land ownership. Over the years, close to fifty countries added their names to the treaty which allowed them access.

 

Of late, studies of the geology of Svalbard and the ocean floor surrounding it have identified vast amounts of copper, zinc, cobalt, lithium and rare earth elements buried in the ocean floor. These are eagerly-sought-after minerals that power electric car battery technologies and wind turbines. It was  generally taken that the Svalbard Treaty granted signatories rights to its surrounding seas and seabed. Until January 2024 when Norway's governing party announced it would pursue deep-sea mineral exploration in an enormous sweep of its seabed.

 

The remote, frigid island, viewed as hostile to human life on a prolonged basis where minus 34 Celsius temperatures were not unknown, were initially home to Norwegian miners and Russian fur trappers. Longyearbyen, Svalbard's largest town, these days boasts candlelit restaurants, hotels, daily flights to the mainland, and is home to 2,500 people from 50 countries. According to the town's mayor, a surge in investment, official visits and strategic attention has recently focused on Svalbard.

 

 

Recently, the Energy Ministry of Norway publicly declared that Norway's goal in exploiting the natural geology of the area had a defined purpose; the goal of "profitable and sustainable" pursuit of seabed minerals, including the seabed around Svalbard. As Norway moves toward consolidating its sovereign rule over the island, its attitude toward foreigners and civil rights has hardened. Foreigners since 2021 were able to cast a vote in the political arena. 

 

That changed when authorities declared that voting in local elections would be off limits to foreigners living on Svalbard if they had not lived on Norway's mainland for the previous three years. "Should have been done a long time ago", said Mr. Petersson. The Svalbard Treaty guaranteed "equal access, not equal rights", he said, pointing out that in other countries foreigners are not given the right to vote. 

 

Svalbard is located about 800 kilometers from the North Pole, one of the only places on Earth where instant connection is possible with polar-orbiting satellites, leading to uninterrupted, clearer feeds and faster downloading speeds; more advantageous than anywhere else on the planet. In fact SvalSat, the world's largest satellite downloading station is based on Svalbard. 

 

Telecommunications domes of KSAT, Kongsberg Satellite Services, on a mountain near Longyearbyen. Photo: Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP via Getty Images 

Fur traders from the Pomor region in northwestern Russia arrived at Svalbard some 300 years ago. The Soviets established several coal mining towns in Svalbard a century ago and had signed the Treaty. Of the mining towns, only one, Barentsburg, remains and still operates minimally. Once there was a population of 1,000, now reduced to around 300. One Russian official claimed the archipelago should be renamed the "Pomor Islands".

 

A powerful radar system monitoring space weather and the atmosphere is at the service of Chinese scientists. Data gathered from this equipment have been shared with the China Research Institute of Radiowave Propagation, a Chinese defense organization. Members of the U.S. House Select Commission on the Chinese Communist Party are convinced China is performing military research on Svalbard in defiance of the Treaty proscription. 

 

Outside the Yellow River Station where the Chinese scientists live a pair of granite lions stands guard.  

Norway ordered the Chinese to remove the lions, each of which weighs 900 kilograms, installed 20 years ago when the Chinese government agents arrived on Svalbard. For the first time last summer, the archipelago's sole university,   the University Center, operated by the Norwegian government, barred entry to Chinese students, identified by Norwegian intelligence agencies as a potential security risk. 

 

Criticisms of China's activities represent "nothing but distortion of facts and groundless speculation", according to officials at the the Chinese Embassy in Norway. As for the lions standing guard, they continue to remain where they were placed two decades earlier. 

"While the Russian geopolitical threat remains paramount, Chinese encroachments facilitated by an isolated Russia may complicate the Arctic security landscape in the longer term. The coast guard agencies of Russia and China recently signed a cooperation agreement on strengthening maritime law enforcement to great fanfare in Murmansk, a city on Russia’s western flank close to Norway."

"Moreover, when all other Arctic coast guard agencies suspended their participation in the Arctic Coast Guard Forum, Russia invited China to join the forum—clear signs of China’s expanding presence in the High North."

"As Iris A. Ferguson, U.S. deputy assistant secretary of defense for arctic and global resilience, has put it, Chinese efforts aim “to normalize its presence and pursue a larger role in shaping Arctic regional governance and security affairs.”"

Center for Strategic and International Studies  

The world’s northernmost Lenin statue looks over the abandoned Russian city of Pyramiden on Svalbard, summer 2018. Photo: Alina Bykova

 

Dracunculiasis -- Guinea-worm disease

 

"We think about President Carter's legacy [and his push to get to zero cases]." 

"These might not be seen as the No. 1 problems in the world, but they are the No. 1 problems for people that suffer from these diseases."

"So we continue to charge ourselves with his mission of alleviating as much pain and suffering as we can."

Adam Weiss, director, Carter Center Guinea worm eradication program 

 

"Dracunculus medinensis (D. medinensis), a type of parasitic worm, causes guinea worm disease. The larvae live in stagnant (nonmoving) water, like ponds or shallow wells. They infect copepods, bug-like crustaceans that are almost too tiny to see. Copepods are sometimes called water fleas."

"If you drink water that copepods live in, D. medinensis larvae can get into your stomach and intestines. They move through the walls of your insides to other parts of your body. Eventually (usually about a year later), an adult worm starts pushing its way through your skin. They need to get to the outside of your body to release eggs into water. Adults can grow up to 3 feet (1 meter), so it can take a long time for them to work their way out of your body."

Cleveland Clinic

 

 

In 2025, came the good news of a historic low in Guinea worm infections now seen only in three countries. Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter who established The Carter Center with its mandate to eradicate the dread disease with its launching in the 1980s, was said to have wanted to outlive its eradication, to enjoy the completion of a goal he had set. Back then in the mid 1980s, the parasite was known to afflict millions of people in developing countries.

 

In the year just passed, four human cases were reported in Chad, four in Ethiopia and two in South Sudan. Animals too can become infected and among animals infections continue to number much higher but have slightly declined in some countries. There were 15 cases of Guinea worm reported in 2024 in Angola, Cameroon, and Central African Republic while Mali reported zero cases two years running.

 

If and when Guinea worm is finally eradicated, it will join smallpox as the only two human diseases that medical science succeeded in freeing the world from. The worm's larvae are laid in water, so the contaminated water becomes the vector in infecting people and animals who consume that water. Once the larvae enters the body it grows for a year and can grow up to a metre in length, with the diameter of spaghetti.

 

Once the worm has reached maturity it seeks to exit the host body and it does this through the medium of a blister. Depending on the length of the worm, its exit can take a long time, during which time excruciating pain wracks the infected person. When infected people -- or animals -- who suffer from the condition immerse themselves in water in an effort to ease their pain, the worm takes the opportunity to deposit its larvae, in an ongoing cycle. 

 

Infections can also occur when people consume fish or amphibious creatures that have themselves consumed the larvae. The Carter Center specializes in educating the public, training volunteers, and distributing water filters in affected areas. No treatment exists for Guinea worm, although medication can be used to alleviate pain and suffering.

 

The development of diagnostic tests is next on the agenda for the Carter Center's eradication program. The benefits of testing before an infected person or animal becomes symptomatic are linked to minimizing or eliminating opportunities for the worms to continue infecting water sources with their larvae.  

A jar containing Guinea worms AP file

"Imagine drinking a simple sip of water and unknowingly setting a timer for one of the most bizarre and painful biological ordeals on the planet. Guinea worm disease, caused by the parasite Dracunculus medinensis, has haunted humanity for millennia. Its modus operandi is as unsettling as it is intricate. The story of its near-eradication, led by the heroic efforts of former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and a coalition of determined organizations, is a testament to what global cooperation can achieve—even without the aid of modern medical marvels like vaccines or miracle drugs."

"Guinea worm disease begins when someone in a rural, water-scarce region drinks from a stagnant pond teeming with tiny water fleas infected by Guinea worm larvae. Once ingested, these larvae migrate through the digestive tract, eventually pairing up for a little love in your body. While the male dies after its job is done (a grim version of “mate and die”), the fertilized female has big plans: she grows to about a meter long—yes, meter—and prepares to leave her host, which, unfortunately for us, involves excruciating pain."

"A year after infection, the female worm heads to the surface of the skin, creating a blister that feels like it’s on fire. Naturally, the victim seeks relief by submerging the affected body part in water. That’s the worm’s cue to release a soup of larvae, ensuring its species’ survival. The cycle begins anew, unless interventions like water filtration or behavior change interrupt it."

History of Vaccines tribute to former President Jimmy Carter 

 

 

The Predictable and the Unexpected

"The Chinese economy is designed to be, when it comes into a country like Canada, fundamentally parasitic. It sucks out capital, it sucks out IP, it sucks out jobs. It's designed to feed the parasite and to weaken the host."

"Another thing about China is that according to the 2017 National Intelligence Law, every Chinese citizen and Chinese company has to support China's intelligence efforts. They have to. They're punished if they don't, and they're rewarded if they do. If you're a Chinese citizen, you are a hostage, an unwilling hostage, often, of the Chinese state."

"[The Chinese Communist Party's] disintegration warfare [finds fault lines in communities, and exacerbates them]; to use countries' own weaknesses or strengths in the case of democracy, against itself, in order to weaken its resistance to China, in order to advance China's relative comprehensive national power."

"The Chinese are very good at identifying legitimate grievances, exacerbating them, and then leading you toward a solution that benefits China."

Canadian journalist Cleo Paskal, China politics expert 

Models pose near the BYD Seal 06 Dmi, unveiled during the Auto China 2024 show in Beijing, on April 25, 2024. China's largest EV maker has been expanding rapidly into overseas markets, and could reach Canadian shores shortly following Ottawa's recent deal with Beijing. (Ng Han Guan/The Associated Press)

 

Canada's intelligence agencies are acutely aware of the danger that China poses to Canada's sovereignty. They issue reports, some portions of which are made public, others that go directly to the Prime Minister's office and a multitude of government agencies. Beijing's acquisition of state, scientific and corporate technology secrets of other countries through complex espionage schemes to further its own interests by shortcuts, undermines trade and military secrets of the countries it infiltrates. Its cyber-spy network has reaped great benefits for China at the expense of the countries whose classified material it accesses.

 

China uses and abuses, harasses and threatens expatriate Chinese who take up citizenship in other countries, considering them solely Chinese citizens and obligated to feed Beijing's hunger for data they can access willingly or unwillingly. Beijing does not recognize dual citizenship of its former nationals. In foreign countries of the West Chinese investment, the presence of elements of its United Front Work Department pose a threat to its expatriate community many of whom feel sufficiently pressured to do its bidding.

 

The Chinese economy thrives as a manufacturing powerhouse, and the nation’s products seem to be everywhere. The majority of tags, labels, and stickers on a variety of goods proclaim they are “Made in China.” ChinaChipManufacturing   Costfoto / NurPhoto via Getty Images

 

In the last several decades, invited to join the World Trade Organization, China used the opportunity to build upon its vast population of cheap labour to over-produce consumer goods, exporting them abroad as less expensive alternatives to similar products made in Europe and North America, establishing itself as the choice of consumers everywhere, leading to the failure of manufacturing elsewhere throughout the world as China mounted the summit of world production championship. 

 

China's trade piracy in government-subsidized production guaranteed it access to global markets through consumer demand. But manufactured goods are not the only items that emanate from China, as the world became acquainted with pathogens that made their presence first in the Middle Kingdom, then transited borders in human-to-human contact to spread wildly in a great global contamination wreaking havoc in illness and widespread deaths, overwhelming hospitals and medical science.

 

 

 

Where the spread of population-levelling disease ran its temporary course, after China took advantage of the need of medical devices and supplies of face masks to a world hungry for any bandaid solutions to help ward off disease and death. China took recourse to other means of conquest, this time through the chemical production of opioids and precursor chemicals to supply the world community with lethal drugs like fentanyl and carfentanil leading to illegal street drugs cheaper to acquire while expanding core groups of drug users, when incidents of drug overdoses began to soar.

 

China's clever use of persuasive media while flooding Europe and North America with illegal substances in its control of pharmaceuticals and supply chains has created a desperate situation of drug addiction, homelessness, drug overdose deaths and criminal violence. All of which are well known in Canada, as it is elsewhere, including Beijing's organized interference in politics abroad in  efforts to ensure that during elections political parties soft on China are elected. Interference that includes persuading expatriate Chinese with dual citizenship to run for political office and once installed, able to influence outcomes in favour of China.

 

And this is the country whose ideology is in such contrast to that of any Western democracy that world leaders will visit, despite its hostile agenda, to pay homage to its commercial, technical, mercantile and trade success, at a time when economies worldwide face onerous trade tariffs brought into play by the world's most influential political and economic giant, the United States, seeking advantage by aligning themselves with the commercial/political savagery of China as an alternative.

 

China’s President Xi Jinping (R) and Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer shake hands before their meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on January 29, 2026.

Carl Court | Afp | Getty Images 

"These visits reflect managed, selective resets under rising U.S. policy uncertainty, rather than a strategic pivot to China"

"Keeping communication channels open with Beijing is increasingly seen as preferable to disengagement."

"Particularly as the gains from selective resets with China become more visible, and U.S. policy has grown less predictable."

Yue Su, principal economist, Economist Intelligence Unit  

 Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney with China's President Xi Jinping, January 16  Ministry of Foreign Affairs \ People's Republic of China

 

Canada, Diminished and Faltering

"One could argue that we've lost that unifying sense of right and wrong."

"The very sense of [the] liberal, permissive, non-judgmentally embracing society that our countries were fundamentally founded on is now being openly exploited for the purpose  of reshifting the balance." 

Former Vice-Chief of the Canadian Defence Staff, Mark Norman

 

"Symbolic politics has never been sufficient, it is a sign of weak leadership. Condemnations without enforcement, statements without consequences and gestures without policy are not leadership."

"Canadians do not need additional legislation layered over existing statutes. We need the consistent application of the laws already in force.e"

"Canada is lost and no longer immune. A nation cannot remain open if it forgets how to be a nation. The choice is not between tolerance and cohesion. It is between a confident pluralism anchored in shared civic norms, and a politics of endless accommodation that dissolves the very framework that makes diversity possible."

Larry Maher, CEO, Exigent Foundation

Anti-Israel protesters block a downtown Toronto street to pray as police watch. Photo by Caryma Sa’d/X

 

It took no more than a  decade to fundamentally alter Canada, reverse many of its values, not the least the outstanding human right assurance of equality and rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. With that assurance came the expected responsibility of each member of society to respect the social contract that ensured equal opportunities (if not equal outcomes) to succeed and prosper for Canadian citizens who obeyed Canadian laws and whose experience in the general education system helped them to understand their citizen obligations to the country. 

 

In an earlier era those rights and obligations were unevenly applied and issues of discrimination against minority groups reflected a European heritage of entitlement and belittlement of the exotic 'others' who had made their way into North America, many as refugees fleeing persecution and conflict. Under moderately good governance evinced by leaders who at best understood their own guiding obligations to the people they served, laws were passed that ushered Canada into an era of fair justice and social cohesion.

 

Migrants from abroad who entered Canada in the first half of the 20th century as immigrants from impoverished backgrounds to make a home for themselves in a new country where opportunities abounded worked hard, obeyed laws, and accommodated themselves to a new culture with values that suited their own notions of being and belonging. Canadian authorities refined immigration rules to eventually reflect Canada's needs in a point system that rewarded education, professional qualifications, age suitability and an assessed philosophical fit.

 

A succession of Liberal governments in more recent times gradually morphed toward the kind of liberal progressivism that loosened qualifications and requirements of suitability to join the Canadian population. Sympathy for people searching for haven from authoritarian governments, from endemic poverty, from societal crime rates, from conflict zones opened the gates of entry to Canada wide, including the refugee class and illegal migrants who bypassed normal entrance procedures to declare themselves refugees. 

 

Prime Minister Mark Carney, left, is greeted by Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, centre, as he arrives in Doha on Jan. 18. Photo by Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press

 

The intake swelled, fulfilling what government and business leaders professed to be a need to replace an aging, low-child-bearing population with new recruits to build Canada's working population. Entry to the country no longer relied on screening for adaptability and suitability for integration into the prevailing culture, its values and its laws. To the point where landed immigrants and new citizens openly declared their defiance of those values and accompanying laws, bringing havoc and division and open discrimination to the very streets of the cities throughout the country where they settled in influential numbers.

 

Newcomers to the country felt no loyalty to the country that had adopted them and there were no expectations from government that they should integrate and accept the prevailing social order as it was. Instead religious and ideological divisions erupted and with no amending reaction from government and institutions at any level, those divisions deepened, becoming more publicly expressed, including through deliberate acts of law-breaking.   

 

Canadians of long standing were treated to displays of overt challenges to the  public order in universities and cultural institutions where mass protests took to the streets, bringing foreign campaigns, conflicts, ideological convictions averse to Canada's own, to the fore, with no government intervention at any level. All the while Canada congratulated itself as a bastion of liberal democracy. Politicians rather than applying themselves to Canada's and its populations' defense, eyeing the numbers of voluble protests and the votes they represented, chose appeasement of activist groups.

 

Canadian PM Mark Carney : China's President Xi Jinping AP

 

And from the outside world, lax attention to the actions of foreign powers that invaded Canada's sovereignty through the infiltration of foreign agents acting on their behalf on the social, academic and political levels exercised the 'soft power' of authoritarian regimes and of extremist movements, effectively interfering in Canada's politics as well as the social contract unique to Canada. Russia, China, Iran, 
Qatar, Turkey and the Muslim Brotherhood all have made an indelible impact within Canada with their malign presence. 

 

The moral, institutional foundations of Canada's principles of equality and human rights have been assailed by Islamist, Marxist, socialist and other radical engagements in destabilizing Canada, as well as other Western nations they have entered both legally and under the radar. What all these Western nations appear to have in common is an attitude of oblivious disinterest in the interference and subtle changes being wrought in normalizing abnormal social behaviour and its effect on their institutions.

 

The exploitation of liberal societies, priding themselves on their Democratic principles of inclusion appear willing to accept the slow erosion of their adherence to the public weal rather than risk being labelled racist, exclusionary or 'Islamophobic'. Identity politics, moral relativism, and DEI guide governments content to do nothing in response to the unravelling of their nations' stability and social coherence. If there is a solution to Western democracies' inaction in the face of this dilemma, it has not yet shown its face. 

 

Canadian universities have seen a surge of pro-Palestinian protests following similar demonstrations across North America.  University Affairs

 

Brokering Democratic Freedom From Corruption

"I acknowledge that we are dealing with, I told you, with individuals that have been involved in things that in our system would not be acceptable."

"By no means is our policy to leave in place permanently something that [is] as corrupt as you've described."

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio

Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, testifies before the Senate foreign relations committee on 28 January 2026. Photograph: Nathan Howard/Reuters

 

Standing before a hearing, Mr. Rubio was responding to a question from U.S. lawmakers wanting to know why it is that their Republican-led Trump government had decided to cooperate with and permit the ascension of Venezuela's vice-President to act as president in the absence of Nicolas Maduro, removed by U.S. Special Forces in early January through a lightning raid against the Venezuelan regime. He hastened to assure his interlocutors that it is not the Trump administration's intention to leave acting President Delcy Rodriguez permanently in place. 

 

Soon afterward at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Venezuela in response to a query over how long Delcy Rodriguez would be left to retain power as a continuation of the Maduro regime, Mr. Rubio's response was "No one here is telling you that this is what we want to see in the long term". The Venezuela raid to remove Mr. Maduro and bring him to the United States to stand trial on drug and gun trafficking charges appeared to mask President Trump's eagerness to control Venezuela's oil deposits.

 

Barely 48 hours after US forces took Nicolás Maduro and his wife from a compound in Caracas, the Venezuelan leader stood in a New York court and pleaded not guilty to conspiracy charges brought by the US government.  Reuters

 

Perhaps a more fitting question to be put to the Secretary of State might be the logic inherent in allowing the Maduro regime to carry on under its former vice-president, when the whole rationale of the invasion was to effect regime change. In which case it should have been the opposition, ready and willing to take charge of the Venezuelan government that should have been installed with U.S. cooperation. That might have happened, perhaps, if the Nobel Committee had decided to honour Mr. Trump with the Nobel Peace Prize, rather than their selection of Maria Corina Machado, the Venezuelan opposition leader in exile.

 

Ms. Machado's effort to 'make amends' in the hope of forestalling just such a snub by offering her Prize to Trump aside. Its soothing effect as a placating gift of appreciation from this courageous woman to honour a man that she recognized as having involved his country and his prestige to rescue Venezuela from the grip of its socialist corruption appears to have had a best-before date. Rather than leave the government rudderless and usher Ms. Machado into the governing post she deserved with the legitimacy of the last election having been won by her stand-in Edmundo Gonzalez in 2024, he waved her off.

 

 

 

In her place, in his great wisdom, President Trump announced his intention to permit the handover of government to Delcy Rodriguez. Mr. Rubio testified that the Trump government's intention is to see Venezuela return in good time to a democratically elected government. The raid removing Maduro, he asserted was a "law enforcement" operation targeting an indicted drug trafficker, despite the complicating issue that targeting "the  de facto head of a regime is not as simple as going after some fugitive hiding in the closet". 

 

Indicted in very point of fact, by the U.S. Justice Department for charges of narcoterrorism to which Mr. Maduro pleaded not guilty. Acting President Rodriguez, wrote Mr. Rubio, has committed to opening Venezuela's energy sector to American companies, with preferential access to oil production. Three U.S. oil companies that had invested in Venezuela, lost their investment with the nationalization of its oil industry by two of Mr. Maduro's predecessors, including Hugo Chavez, his mentor.

 

Now, given the current situation with the U.S. standing over Venezuela with the cudgel of guidance toward democracy and a turn away from the massive neglect and corruption that enriched the government cabal, leaving Venezuelans in a dictatorship of enforcement in a steadily declining freedom index and economic failure, the U.S. has extracted several conditions from the country. 

 

The provision of preferential access to oil production for U.S. companies. Profit from oil sales must be used to purchase goods from the United States. And a pledge agreed to evidently by the acting president to no longer support Cuba through oil exports. Perhaps the sole worthwhile goal for Venezuela and its population; a promise to pursue "national reconciliation with Venezuelans at home and abroad". 

 

"I presented the president of the United States the medal of the Nobel Peace Prize [as] a recognition for his unique commitment with our freedom."

"[The -- 1825 gift of a likeness of George Washington given by the Marquis de Lafayette to Simon Bolivar, one of the founding fathers of modern Venezuela -- was] a sign of the brotherhood [between her country and the U.S.] in their fight for freedom against tyranny."

"And 200 years in history, the people of Bolivar are giving back to the heir of Washington a medal -- in this case a medal of the Nobel Peace Prize -- as a recognition for his unique commitment with our freedom."

Nobel Laureate Maria Corina Machado 

 

  

Striking a Familiar Zoonotic Pathogen Chord

International arrivals at Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok face extra screenings following the outbreak in India. (Suvarnabhumi Airport Office /Handout via Reuters)

"Nipah virus (NiV) is a member of the Henipavirus genus of the Paramyxoviridae family and is a zoonotic virus with a high case fatality rate. Our knowledge of the geographic distribution of NiV and the disease it causes, mode of pathogen transmission, and clinical manifestations of infection, have evolved over time."

"The first recognized human infection was in the Malaysian village of Kampung Sungai Nipah in 1998, initiating a deadly outbreak that lasted through 1999. Smaller sporadic outbreaks have since recurred nearly annually within South Asia with case fatality rates reaching greater than 90%."

National Library of Medicine...National Center for Biotechnology Information 

Black flying fox bats ... World Health Organization

 

Nipah virus infection in humans causes a range of clinical presentations, from asymptomatic infection (subclinical) to acute respiratory infection and fatal encephalitis.

The case fatality rate is estimated at 40% to 75%. This rate can vary by outbreak depending on local capabilities for epidemiological surveillance and clinical management.

Nipah virus can be transmitted to humans from animals (such as bats or pigs), or contaminated foods and can also be transmitted directly from human-to-human.

Fruit bats of the Pteropodidae family are the natural host of Nipah virus.

There is no treatment or vaccine available for either people or animals. The primary treatment for humans is supportive care.

The 2018 annual review of the WHO R&D Blueprint list of priority diseases indicates that there is an urgent need for accelerated research and development for the Nipah virus. WHO 

Confirmation of an outbreak of Nipah virus in West Bengal, India, led to southwest Asia airports placed on alert. Checkpoints for passengers from West Bengal were implemented by Thailand on Sunday, while Taiwan's Centers for Disease Control announced that it planned to list the disease as a Category 5 threat. The Indian Ministry of Health confirmed two cases of the zoonotic infection, with 200 close contacts being monitored and tested. 

 

Nipah has a fatality rate of 40 to 70 percent, according to the Centers for Disease control and Prevention. No vaccine has yet been produced against the virus and there is no cure for Nipah virus. Outbreaks of Nipah occur annually in South Asia, while more broadly global awareness of the virus remains low. Transmitted to people from animals, the virus can be contracted from direct contact with infected animals, primarily flying fox bats and pigs.

Nipah virus has a fatality rate in humans of up to 75 per cent. (Reuters: CK Thanseer)

 

Fruit contaminated by these animals can be a source of infection for the unsuspecting. Raw date palm juice produced with sap contaminated by fruit  bats has been linked to outbreaks in Bangladesh. The virus, once it makes the leap from a contaminated animal's tissues or secretions, can readily spread person-to-person through close physical contact.

Scientists in Bangladesh have previously caught bats to test them for the virus. (Reuters: Mohammad Ponir Hossain, file)

 

A major outbreak among pig farmers in 1999 Malaysia killed over a hundred people, and this was the world's introduction to the presence of the virus,  highly contagious among pigs. Nipah outbreaks occur almost annually in Asia, most frequently in Bangladesh and India. A 'predictable season pattern' has emerged as routine outbreaks in Bangladesh between December and April, a research paper published in the Journal of Infection and Public Health established.

 

That research linked the pattern to peak harvesting season for raw date palm sap, a cultural delicacy and tradition, where fruit bats frequently live among date trees. The Philippines, Singapore and Malaysia have also been host to outbreaks. "This represents a return of Nipah to this area after a long gap, which is concerning from a surveillance standpoint", pointed out Lauren Sauer, director, Special Pathogen Research Network at University of Nebraska Medical Center.

 

Within days of infection symptoms including fever, headache, cough, muscle pain and difficulty breathing emerge. Patients may experience neurological symptoms such as  brain swelling as the infection progresses. Patients who survive brain swelling (encephalitis or brain inflammation) can recover but still face a future life of consequences including seizure disorders.

 

No licensed treatments exist for Nipah, nor are there any available vaccines.  

 

In 2018 the World Health Organization  marked Nipah as a priority pathogen urgently requiring accelerated research and development particular to the virus.