The 'Creative Destruction' of Artificial Intelligence

"Having some boom-bust in a sector is normal. Maybe even how it has to be. [But as companies go under it can create wider risks, particularly when failed businesses borrowed big funding]."

"What  you don't want is to infect the credit, and  you definitely don't want to get inside the banking system."

Simon Johnson, MIT, Nobel laureate in economics

 

"The key difference from the 1990s is that the internet only disrupted information distribution."

"AI disrupts cognitive production at large. That's a much bigger economic surface area."

Anton Korinek, AI expert, University of Virginia 

 

"[Management] was like, ‘Okay, this is a nice tool that you can use to make your job easier’."

"It felt like the rug was being pulled out from under me."

Devin Marsh, 36, senior agent handling customer support and sales for telecom giant Rogers through a third-party company, Foundever

 

"Our AI policy in Canada is really being focused primarily on the priority of stimulating the industry in Canada … with almost no attention to the impact on work and preparing workers to navigate the changing nature of work."

"That's a real frustration."

 "It’s very hard to disentangle the incredible disruption that’s going on in the Canadian economy generally from these longer-term technological changes that are also beginning to ripple through the economy more slowly."

Chris Roberts, director, Social & Economic Policy department, Canadian Labour Congress

Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko on Pexels.com

 

It seems not that long ago that ultra-computer-literate ambitious young people entering university chose programs like web development and areas of computer science to distinguish themselves as job applicants whose expertise would be in demand in a job market hungry for good, reliable coding workers as cybersecurity and cloud systems, along with machine learning dominated the field, along with upcoming artificial intelligence. Now, it's suddenly all artificial intelligence and those with secure employment suddenly begin to wonder, for how long?

 

A shadow of uncertainty now looms over companies in the field of internet and computer science  technology as creeping concerns enter their minds at future prospects of ongoing prosperity linked to IT technology. Will they still be in business, will they need their current stable of employees, or will they just harness AI to their programs and manage to cope? The expectation is that artificial intelligence will be the ultimate source of higher productivity. 

 

There was a disruption of the status  quo with the IT revolution that made some industries redundant; classified advertising and newspapers, video rental stores, travel agents, stockbrokers to name a few. There is growing nervousness about what will change in the wake of rising AI development and use, and the potential of disruptions on a much larger scale than what occurred with the IT revolution. 

 

"Is this time bigger? Yes"; perhaps by a factor of ten, mused Anton Korinek, AI expert at University of Virginia. Yes, most certainly AI though still an untested technology, holds the promise to enable more productivity from workers using it. But then, what happens when AI itself, no longer requires a human mind to direct it toward its functional capabilities? Productivity, a measure of worker output using available tools, has surged upward since 2023.

 

While it remains as yet uncertain how much this productivity acceleration owes to AI, analysts believe AI efficiency has had a large part to play in the productivity rise. Since the release of Chat GPT in 2022, capital markets have risen spectacularly; gains driven by surging value of AI companies and their suppliers; Meta Platforms, Nvidia Corp. The concern is the continued rise of productivity to the point where white-collar layoffs and company irrelevance means both will become inevitable.

Jack Dorsey. Photo: Richard Drew/AP

 

Businesses begin to cut payroll costs when technology enables them to produce more with fewer employees resulting in more profit for shareholders. The fintech firm that Jack Dorsey, Twitter founder runs, announced the halving of its staff, while depending on AI productivity, and saw its shares rise over 15 percent. Columbia Business School Daniel Keum studying automation technologies change the balance within companies found employees being referred to as 'costs'. 

 

He concludes that even if jobs and wages are not yet being cut, areas like health care, remote work and freebies are being trimmed. "These side benefits are what the companies go after first, before they go after reducing your paycheque." Businesses fall by the wayside in response to advanced technologies, like Kodak and the Blockbuster chain, left behind by the internet. What the economist Joseph Schumpeter refers to as the "creative destruction" leading to progress.

Illustration by Stephan Dybus

 

"That's been happening for hundreds of years in this country. It's part of the essence of capitalism", stated Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond president Tom Barkin when asked if the Fed should attempt to counter disruption to business and the labour market by AI disruption.  

"Eventually, the disruption will extend to any firm whose competitive advantage lies in human expertise that AI can replicate."

"The transition period may involve stranded assets, debt overhang and the potential for sharp market corrections."

Anton Korinek 

Jewish Children in Canada Outcasts of the Public School System That Will Not Protect Them

"He literally doesn't go to school anymore. He has absolutely no desire to be in school."

"I've pulled him out completely. He's got no desire to learn."

"He has no faith in any of the school[s], the systems or anything of that sort." 

"I was at my wits' end. I was like, 'If they're [police] not going to do anything, then goddammit, I'm doing something. [However], the only thing that I could do was put the kids through restorative justice."

"The fact that my son does not go to school anymore just tells you he's petrified. He doesn't want to go to school; he doesn't want to be around these kids. He knows he's just going to be bullied again."

"We could move, but why am I forced to move out of an area that I lived in for over 23 years? You want me to pick up and move because of what's going on with the demographics in my area?"

"Guess what. I'm staying here. It is my house." 

Aviva Rubin-Schneider, Halifax 

 

"Three youths were referred to the Restorative Justice process, which is led by Coverdale Justice Society."

"Restorative justice is tailored to each individual situation, but in some cases it could involve police and/or the victim attending meetings with the participant so that all involved can speak to how the incident affected each person and the community."

Halifax police spokesman Martin Cromwell 

 

"All schools in the Halifax Regional Centre for Education are committed to providing safe, welcoming and inclusive learning environments for students and staff."

"Antisemitism -- including the use of slurs or symbols of hate -- is unacceptable and addressed as discriminatory or racist behaviour under Nova Scotia's Provincial Code of Conduct."

"Behaviour of this nature is taken seriously and addressed consistently in accordance with policy."

Kelly Connors, spokesperson, Halifax Regional Centre for Education 

 

 

At age 14, a Halifax school student after undergoing years of harassment and antisemitic slurs, now pursues his school studies online, no longer willing to submit himself to more of the same and worse, by physically attending Park West School in Halifax. Where classmates called  him 'Jewseph' and 'Jewboy' and when passing him in the school hallways, executed the Nazi salute in his direction. Brought to the attention time and again of the school authorities, nothing was ever done to put a stop to the bullying antisemitism.

 

And then, things became even more dire for the boy following October 7, 2023, when Palestinian terrorists flooded into southern Israel, headed by thousands of Hamas operatives as well as Palestinian Islamic Jihad, to execute a barbaric sweep of Israeli farming communities, raping girls and women, shooting and stabbing people to death, immolating families sheltering in their safe rooms by setting fire to their homes, savagely torturing women, then abducting children, the elderly, men, women, and foreign farm workers.

 

This event spurred an immediate reaction among Palestinian-Canadians and other Muslim groups, when they assembled in large numbers at demonstrations in the streets of Canadian cities against Israel, defending Hamas's atrocities as a response to Israeli 'occupation', which constrains Palestinians from carrying out their incessant 'martyrdom' attacks on Jews in Israel, incited by their leadership as a 'struggle' against the 'occupiers', who convince Palestinian youth that there is no greater glory than to become a martyr.

 

From Palestinians encouraged to use any means at their disposal to kill Jews, to Muslim and leftist sympathizers in Canada taking up the challenge to harass, intimidate, and threaten Canadian Jews, moving on to firebomb and shoot up synagogues and Jewish schools while propagandizing Israel as 'genocidal' and 'apartheid', the world changed for Jews in Canada. And 14-year-old Joseph Rubin-Schneider was one of many victims. 

 

Wall/Instagram

Matters changed for the worse for the boy when in January of 2024 several of his fellow students assaulted him on school grounds, punching, kicking, throwing him to the ground while he was being name-called by watching students. "My son didn't throw a punch", his mother said later. The school authority continued to fail to provide the boy with a safe learning environment. He is now in therapy while conducting studies online through the public school system. 

 

When Aviva Rubin-Schneider contacted the Halifax Regional Police and their hate crime unit in 2023, a plainclothes police officer met with the principal and vice-principal of the Park West  elementary and middle school following which a police officer delivered a few lectures on racism, intolerance and hate crimes to students between grades 6 and 9. This intervention failed to produce a safe learning environment for her son; the harassment simply continued.  

"More antisemitic incidents were documented last year in physical spaces than the year before. These included street assaults, attacks on synagogues, targeted harassment of Jewish communities, and repeated harm to Jewish institutions."

"Antisemitism in Nova Scotia Schools is a concerning issue, and we get many complaints from students and parents every year."

Atlantic Jewish Council 

 Many Jewish-Canadians now wonder, as the country they were born in, where their parents were born and raised them has become unfamiliar, whether this is no longer their country in equal measure with all other Canadians. The house that Aviva Rubin-Schneider claims as her own, her neighbourhood, her city, her province and her country has been invaded by a culture, a social system, a religion and an ideology completely adverse to the values and social mores she grew up with and valued, trusted and loved. Leaving behind, beside, and before Canadian Jews the confrontational question: Is Canada still their 'house'? 

In All Decency and Fairness, Mr. Trump!

"We're at the point where we're saying enough is enough."

"If we're going to have a delay [in opening] the Gordie Howe bridge, great, then you know what the city wants? We want to make sure that we're collecting enough money to help refill our coffers, make taxpayers whole, and not leave taxpayers on the hook for these expenses, which are atypical for any municipality to have to deal with."

"It's just another chapter in the saga of seeing this new bridge built, where you have the president of the United States saying 'We're not going to open it'. He throws out some arbitrary conditions. And then two days later, it's reported that Mr. Moroun met with Secretary Lutnick, who called the president. And several minutes later, a Truth Social post was put out. And it just picks at the scab that's there."

Windsor, Ontario Mayor Drew Dilkins 

Traffic on Huron Church Road heads away from the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor on Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2023. Photo by Taylor Campbell /Windsor Star

 

The privately owned Ambassador Bridge linking Canada to the United States for travel and trade to and from each country has operated a monopoly for decades. The Lebanese-American family that owns the bridge had spent a fortune in unsuccessfully opposing the building of a new bridge that would cut into its profits. Plans for a new bridge, entirely funded by Canadian taxpayers proceeded for the purpose of a second traffic link between Windsor, Ontario and Detroit, Michigan. The bridge, named after Canada's hockey legend, Gordie Howe, was funded entirely by Canada, although both Canadian and American labour and steel went into its building.

 

Underhanded activity on the part of the private-interest Ambassador Bridge failed to stop the Gordie Howe Bridge from being built, posing a competitor in the collection of traffic tolls. Whereas the tolls charged by the Ambassador Bridge company is destined for the bank accounts of the bridge owner, Matthew Moroun, all tolls collected when the new bridge opens will pay for the astronomical $6.4 billion cost of the bridge. After which, toll proceeds are to be divided between Windsor and Detroit, with a joint ownership agreement.

 

On February 9, President Trump threatened to block the bridge opening, until the U.S. "is fully compensated for everything it has given Canada". Well, in this particular instance, the U.S. gave Canada nothing; it was the reverse that was the reality. The Ambassador Bridge is North America's busiest and as a result, most toll-lucrative crossing for commercial truck traffic. For every day that the new bridge remains closed Windsor is exposed to and liable for traffic congestion and damage to roads for which repairs come at a cost to Windsor taxpayers. 

"Windsor is the auto capital of Canada. Detroit is the Motor City. We've built some great things together. We want to keep that ball rolling and make sure that we create good jobs in both countries for the benefit of both of our economies, and we hope that we never get to a point where tolling is required."

"But if the Gordie Howe Bridge isn't going to open as a result of a decision by President Trump, all options are on the table on our side."

Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens 

Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens is shown near the Ambassador Bridge on Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026. Photo by Dan Janisse /The Windsor Star

 

Which has led to the Windsor mayor asking the province of Ontario for an exemption to section 40 of the Municipal Act, preventing municipalities from imposing their own tolls on highways, bridges or tunnels unless they have specific provincial approval. This would be a temporary assist to Windsor, until the opening of the Gordie Howe Bridge on May 1. The city of Windsor spends millions annually on the main thoroughfare leading from the Ambassador Bridge, a result of some 10,000 trucks using it each and every day in cross-border traffic. 

 

The city has had to contend with the owner of the Ambassador Bridge expecting Windsor to repair roads  that its own bridge traffic wears out, while it retains the revenues it collects from their use of the bridge. "It's several million dollars to repair that roadway. It's a concrete roadway. It supports heavy trucks, and again, another few million dollars to fix that roadway", on top of the millions to fix other parts of the road as well as millions spent in other disputes with the Ambassador Bridge company.

 

According to a report in The New York Times, the post that President Trump put out on his social media site came in the immediate wake of a meeting between U.S. secretary of commerce Howard Lutnick, and Matthew Moroun, owner of the Ambassador Bridge. Also reported by The Times was that Moroun had donated $1 million in January to the MAGA Inc. super PAC.

  

Ontario Premier Doug Ford will 'consider' Windsor's request to levy tolls on trucks coming from and going to the Ambassador Bridge along Huron Church Road during any delays in opening Gordie Howe International Bridge. Shown here, a truck carrying Windsor-built Chrysler Pacifica minivans is shown among traffic on Huron Church Road in Windsor heading to the Ambassador Bridge on Thursday, March 5, 2026. Photo by Dan Janisse /The Windsor Star

"Why are we continuing to spend millions of dollars in support of these endeavours [pressed by the American private owners of the Ambassador Bridge company to repair Windsor-area roads for their profit] at municipal expense when we have no revenue coming in from it?"

"There's no revenue stream derived from this. It's all expense to municipal taxpayers." 

Mayor Drew Dilkins 

 

Locked Out Shipping in the Strait of Hormuz

"Our candidates are worried. And they are not worried about the Middle East. They're worried about [the] United States and Israel ... There seems to be a lot of rules being broken, and that is a scary place to be. The candidates, they're sending pictures and posting stuff about fires. Some people are overly concerned. The rest of the people know that it's a fairly safe country in general. But again, the fear is not coming from the Middle East. The fear is coming from the U.S. and Israel and how far they're going to take it."

"It's small wonder why many of the employees feel like sitting ducks. We work in oil and gas only, and all of our clients are the national oil companies. So they're government-owned companies for oil and gas, LNG production, and all of the employees have just been told to wait for it [the situation] to stabilize."

"There's a lot of fear and desire to leave the area. And they're not able to. There's no way in or out. So if you're a Canadian citizen, the Government of Canada and the U.S. government aren't able to really do anything for the citizens who are living and working there, but the national countries' governments over there are doing quite a bit. The UAE is covering all the costs for hotels and whatnot, for stranded people and the people who are living there just being told to stay home."

Anisa Rosvold, regional vice-president Arabian Gulf region, Petro Staff International 

A general view shows the Saudi Aramco oil facility in Dammam City, 450 kilometres east of the Saudi capital, Riyadh. Photo by Hassan Ammar /AFP/Getty Images

 

"Insurance companies are cancelling war risk coverage ​for vessels in the Middle East Gulf as the widening Iran conflict disrupts shipping, leaving tankers damaged or stranded and at least two people dead."

"Shipping through the Strait of ‌Hormuz between Iran and Oman, which carries around one-fifth of oil consumed globally as well as large quantities of gas, has ground to a near halt after vessels in the area were hit as Iran retaliated against US and Israeli strikes."

"One tanker in the region was ablaze on Monday, at least four others were damaged and about 150 ships were stranded."

Business Recorder 

Iran announced navigation has been  closed through the Strait of Hormuz and waters surrounding it, from Sunday, the day following the first aerial attacks on the country by Israel and the United States. While defending its territory from the combined attacks that have targeted its military and nuclear installations, flattened government buildings, killed Iran's Supreme Leader and much of the government and Islamic Republican Guard Corps elite, Iran has also focused on causing total disruption and chaos within the Middle East in a surprising move that has alienated its neighbours, including those in support of Iran, like Qatar and Oman.

Birds fly near the boat in the Strait of Hormuz amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, as seen from Musandam, Oman, March 2, 2026.  REUTERS/Amr Alfiky

 

While Iran's plans to foment a wider war, using its military resources to send out thousands of drones and missiles over Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar and Oman, numbers greater in total than they launch to strike Israeli targets, what is left of the Iranian military command has not yet called on the services of its Houthi proxies in Yemen which has up to the present been striking international shipping in the Strait, upending normal international shipping. 

 

In the last few days 150 ships including tankers for oil and liquefied natural gas where 10% of the world's container ships pass through, have dropped anchor, unable to venture any further. 

The ships have been ensnared in backups, cargo soon to begin  accumulating at ports and transshipment hubs in Europe and Asia. Asian governments and refiners have been forced to assess their oil stockpiles in this aura of uncertainty where no one knows how extensive it will become or how long it will be before normal shipping passage can resume with safety.

With the threat issued by the IRGC commander that any ship attempting transit of the 21-mile-wide (34-km-wide) maritime chokepoint, tankers remain clustered in open waters off the coasts of Gulf oil producers, including Iraq and Saudi Arabia, and LNG giant Qatar. While berthed in the Middle East Gulf, one U.S.-flagged tanker was damaged by 'aerial impacts' while a Honduras-flagged tanker was burning in the Strait of Hormuz after being hit by IRGC drones.

 

Photo Reuters

 

Contracted oil workers, thousands from Canada the United States and other western countries, have been stranded at work sites throughout Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait. Several hundred Canadian workers out of Calgary dispatched by Petro Staff International are now stranded across the Gulf States and are fearful of the effects of the conflict exploding in the region. Their vulnerability to vengeance attacks by Iranian forces convince many that once they escape their nightmare they plan never to return to the Middle East.

 

Many of the Petro agency's workers are asking to be repatriated, to be stationed elsewhere -- anywhere that is safe in comparison to the conflict surrounding and threatening them. All these employees have been  assured they will be safe as long as they follow local authorities' orders. And that to leave the region is currently just not possible until such time as it has become stabilized once again. No flights are able to get through, so all these employees must wait out the conflict where they are, for the time being.

 

Rumaila oil field, Basra, Iraq   Reuters

 

Operations have, in any event, been shut down temporarily with measures being taken by the Petro group to "minimize becoming targets", according to Anisa Rosvold of Petro Staff International.  

 

Canada: Haven for Islamic Republic Agents

"This happened exactly one hour after people had gathered here to deliberate the death of the oppressive leader of the Islamic Republic."

"Imagine, if families and children had still been here when those shots were fired. The consequences could have been catastrophic." 

"It shows that it's no longer safe here for Canadians themselves, it's not just about Iranians. They've created a place where Canadian citizens cannot live comfortably."

"According to the Supreme Leader ... they had said this themselves before, that we will punish those who organize rallies and demonstrations abroad, and this is part of the IRGC policies."

"It’s concerning because the gym was hit with 17 bullets, which means it was meant for 17 bodies. [Intimidation of Iran’s critics] could become a real problem for Canada … and they are going to have to stop that." 

Salar Gholami, business owner, anti-Iranian regime activist 

Broken glass and bullet holes in the window of Saliwan boxing gym, draped with an Iranian lion and sun flag. The flag is outlawed in Iran by the Islamic Republic. Supplied photo

"We've had to re-prioritize our operations to counter the actions of Iranian intelligence services and their proxies who have targeted individuals they perceive as threats to their regime."

"In more than one case, this involved detecting, investigating and disrupting potentially lethal threats against individuals in Canada."

Daniel Rogers, director, Canadian Security Intelligence Service

 

"The motive behind the shooting is unknown and there is no suspect information at this time."

"Investigators from our Firearms Investigations Team continue to canvass the area for any security camera footage around the time of the shooting."

"The premise shows evidence of gunfire directed at the building. The building was unoccupied at the time of the incident. There were no reported injuries. Damage is limited to property."

York Regional Police

 

"The motive behind the shooting is unknown and there is no suspect information at this time."

"Investigators from our firearms investigations team continue to canvass the area for any security camera footage around the time of the shooting."

Const. Kevin Nebrija, York Regional Police 

In fact, it is not all that difficult to put two-and-two together and come up with four. It is well known that IRGC operatives are in Canada. Some of their identities are known to Canada's intelligence services. Yet little is done to remove them, despite that the Islamic Republican Guard Corps is listed as a terrorist organization in Canada. Canadian Iranians have reported to police the presence of IRGC- and Iranian-government operatives living openly in Canada. Elite Iranian government officials have sent their families to live in Canada as a safe haven.

 

While the two disparate Iranian groups live in the country; Iranian-Canadian citizens increasingly uneasily in the known presence of agents of Iran, their lives complicated by harassment by those agents, the Liberal government does nothing to deport those living illegally in Canada, as a presence of the Islamic Republic in a country with which there are no diplomatic relations. 

 

Since the aerial invasion of Iran by the Israeli and American militaries in response to Iran's governing body's intransigence over demands it abandon its nuclear program, amidst concerns that its increasingly sophisticated ballistic missiles that are more powerful and reach intermediate distances pose a direct threat to Israel, and to U.S. military bases in the Gulf States, exacerbated by the brutality of the regime in dealing with internal dissent by Iranians attempting to free themselves from the regime's oppressive hold on their lives when the IRGC and the Basij police outright murdered thousands civilians taking to the streets, Iranians in Canada have organized massive demonstrations.

 

A bullet hole is seen in the door of Saliwan Boxing at 7027 Yonge St. in Thornhill. (Simon Sheehan/CP24)

 

The owner of the Thornhill, Ontario boxing gym targeted by gunfire on Sunday, Salar Gholami, has been key in organizing those demonstrations across the Greater Toronto area. His business was riddled with bullet holes at the gym's entrance. And while investigators are of the opinion that the shooting was targeted, no 'motive' has yet been established. Mr. Gholami has no problem identifying the motive. It is related directly to his activism. And behind the shooting up of his establishment was a warning by agents of the Islamist regime.

 

There were two massive protests organized in recent months in Toronto; on February 1st, downtown Toronto saw 150,000 protesters peacefully march in a gathering meant to highlight the plight of Iranian protesters across Iran whose protests erupted in all the country's cities only to be met with gunfire from the regime. Tens of thousands were arrested, thousands injured in the violence committed against the civilians, and the figure of those killed by regime forces range from 3,000 to 30,000 people.

 

Toronto police said the Global Day of Action Rally in Toronto saw crowds estimated at 350,000. (Sammy Kogan/The Canadian Press)

 

A follow-up February 14 solidarity for Iran protest saw over 350,000 people attending the event. The date and the immense size of the protest was not confined to Canada; this was an internationally-organized event with protesters coming out in droves in Canada, the United States, Germany and elsewhere across the globe in a well-publicized Global Day of Action. The Toronto rally, which brought out 350,000 people was the largest of all the rallies.

 

A Persian restaurant in Melbourne Australia where an Iranian flag with the lion and sun -- a symbol outlawed in the Islamic Republic -- was displayed in its window was sprayed by gunfire, quite like the situation in the boxing gym's window in Toronto. Its window too was shattered. Sunday morning two people were killed, 14 others injured when a gunman attacked at a bar in Austin, Texas, wearing a sweatshirt with the legend e. 

 

In Richmond Hill, Salar Gholami, despite the threats he and others within the Canadian-Iranian community face, is determined to continue his activism. "The police told me not to go there (his business that had just been vandalized) , but I was the first person there this morning. I'm a Kurdish-Iranian, and I would be proud to die for my country". 

 

Repairs continue after a shooting that damaged the building housing Saliwan Boxing Club in Richmond Hill, Ont., on Sunday, March 1, 2026. Photo by Supplied

 

Repeat: Iran Does Not Wish To Develop Nuclear Weapons!

"[Operations are likely to last four to five weeks but could] go far longer than that."

"This was our last, best chance to strike -- what we're doing right now -- and eliminate the intolerable threats posed by this sick and sinister regime."

"[Iran] remains one of the largest, if not the largest, state-sponsors of terrorism in the world."

"[It] continues to seek the means to possess and employ nuclear weapons."

"Its array of ballistic, cruise, anti-ship and other missiles pose a direct threat to and are attacking US forces, commercial vessels and civilians, as well as those of our allies and partners."

U.S. President Donald J. Trump

Getty Images

 

Israeli and American forces have been pounding Iran, even as the Islamic Republic's military forces have demonstrated their capacity to respond in kind, attacking Israel and U.S. bases established in the Middle East with missiles and drones. Nothing prepared the Gulf states for the situation they now find themselves in; this was not their war, but one that Iran brought on itself. That Iranian forces schemed to attack its Sunni Arab neighbours in a display of furious payback for their amicable links to the United States likely escaped the imagination of even those states like Qatar and Oman who have always supported Iran.

 

Since the death of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the stage was set for a prolonged conflict and its resulting far-reaching consequences where Dubai  has been struck with incoming fire, where hundreds of thousands of airline passengers are now stranded around the globe, where oil prices have shot up and allies of the United States though not having offered to form a coalition 'of the willing' still have pledged to assist in stopping the fast-and-furious Iranian missiles and drones.

 

A military evacuation flight for Czechs who were stranded in the Middle East landed in Prague on Tuesday, March 3, at the Vaclav Havel Airport.    Roman Vondrous/AP

 

President Trump has tasked U.S. forces to destroy Iran's missile capabilities, to extinguish its naval capacity, to put a stop to the country succeeding in obtaining nuclear weapons, and to make completely certain that the Islamic Republic will be incapable of supporting proxy terror groups such as Hezbollah in Lebanon, which has joined Iran, distracting Israel from its mission there to retaliate against Hezbollah's missile attacks. 

 

Even as airstrikes struck Tehran, its top security official, Ali Larijani vowed: "We will not negotiate with the United States", fulfilling the uncompromising orders given him by Ayatollah Khamenei before his death, to continue to guide the country, to ensure that the Islamic Republic lives on. The Iranian Red Crescent Society stated that 555 people have been killed in the U.S.-Israel operation. Hezbollah, in attacking Israel, invited a return of Israeli bombardments. Iran's missiles striking its neighbours caused the death of three people in the United Arab Emirates and one each in Kuwait and Bahrain.

 

Iran's ballistic missile facilities were struck with 2,000-pound bombs unleashed by U.S B-2 stealth bombers, even as President Trump announced Sunday that nine Iranian warships had been sunk, leaving the Iranian navy's headquarters "largely destroyed". The situation did bring a response from Britain, France and Germany declaring Sunday they were prepared to work with the U.S. to aid in the goal of putting an end to Iran's attacks. 

 

People gather in front of the destroyed center of a Lebanese Islamic group which hit by an Israeli strike, in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, Tuesday, March, 3.   Mohammed Zaatari/AP

 

The paramilitary Basij force set up checkpoints across Tehran; known for their violent repression, the streets of the capital are silent with the absence of protesters, reminders of the violent crackdowns still fresh in memory. The Basij checkpoints are a pointed reminder to Iranians that this time, even more than last, any encouragement by them toward the invaders would be seen as treason, punishable by death. 

 

Iran's ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency informed news media that the Natanz nuclear enrichment site was hit by airstrikes on Sunday. "Their justification that Iran wants to develop nuclear weapons is simply a big lie", said Reza Najafi.

 

Social media videos showed heavy damage to the Assembly of Experts building in Qom. Social Media via Reuters

 

Alcohol Over-Consumption Health Risks

Drinking excessively on an occasion can lead to these harmful health effects:

• Injuries—motor vehicle crashes, falls, drownings, and burns.
• Violence—homicide, suicide, sexual violence, and intimate partner violence.
• Alcohol poisoning—high blood alcohol levels that affect body functions like breathing and heart rate.
• Overdose—from alcohol use with other drugs, like opioids.
• Sexually transmitted infections or unplanned pregnancy—alcohol use can lead to sex without protection, which can cause these conditions.
• Miscarriage, stillbirth, or fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD)—from alcohol use during pregnancy. 

The checklist above relates to short-term effects of drinking alcohol; by-products of alcohol consumption leading to events that can have life-altering effects in their harmfulness. But there are also the profound effects of alcohol consumption taking a toll on tipplers over time. Those effects are numerous and most people would like to avoid them if at all possible, but most people reaching for a drink at a social occasion or at home, or at a favourite pub don't really give the time of day to long-term health effect introspection at the moment they are anticipating the comforting high alcohol delivers.

 

Here are some of the health effects that alcohol consumption has the potential to deliver to the uninitiated whose awareness levels are absent not only in the moment but in their foreseeable future due to lack of exposure to scientific data and public  awareness announcements that slip by people's notice. For starters, a brief rundown:

 

*Alcohol use, while immediately pleasurable, relaxing and hugely anticipated for those benefits, poses a threat associated with brain structure alterations. Middle-aged and older adults who enjoy on average a single daily drink, according to some studies, tend to have somewhat less brain volume than those who don't consume alcohol at all. The brain shrinks in volume the more alcohol is consumed. Without knowing exactly what is involved one theory held by scientists is that the brain's immune system is altered by alcohol in an increase in inflammation, damaging neurons.

 

**There are also alcohol-linked effects in mouth and neck where microbes convert alcohol into acetaldehyde, a compound that remains in saliva, causing oxidative stress in cells with the potential for inflammation and tissue damage. The compound is a carcinogen able to modify DNA which can then lead to cancer-causing mutation. Risk of mouth and throat cancers increases by 13 percent, and 26 percent or the risk of esophageal cancer -- on merely one drink daily. The risk of all three cancers can rise with five or more drinks daily four times higher.

 

***Regular alcohol use is associated with higher blood pressure, along with increased risk of hypertension due to alcohol's damaging effect on cells lining blood vessels. Regularly enjoying a drink a day increases the chance of breast cancer developing by 10 percent for women while two drinks daily raises the risk by 19 percent; possibly, experts believe, caused by alcohol increasing estrogen levels. 

 

****Heavy drinking relating to 3 or more drinks daily is associated with higher risk of heart attack and stroke -- with a few studies suggesting that one drink a day results in a modest increased risk. Mixed research results emerge with light to moderate drinking comprising two drinks or less daily. Other research however, report that moderate consumption may reduce risk, in comparison with non-drinkers.  

 

*****Intestinal lining leading to gastrointestinal bleeding and 'leaky gut syndrome', where food and microbes escape the intestines to enter the bloodstream is associated with long term, heavy drinking. People who consistently average two or more drinks daily, a recent study found, had a 25 percent increased risk of developing colorectal cancer in comparison with those averaging fewer than one drink per week. 

 

******The organ most vulnerable to drinking damage is the liver where alcohol-related liver disease is the leading cause of death related to excessive alcohol consumption. Some 30 percent of those who regularly take 3 or more drinks daily according to one estimate, will develop cirrhosis. Advanced cirrhosis is permanent, although alcohol-related fat deposits, inflammation and early fibrosis in the liver can be reversed. The risk of liver cancer resulting from DNA damage is linked to heavy drinking caused by acetaldehyde. 

 

According to experts, odds of experiencing health harms from drinking remain relatively low, averaging one drink or less each day. Risks rise at eight to 14 weekly drinks. An inherited disposition through genetics, along with pre-existing conditions can determine whether someone develops serious illness from alcohol over-consumption. Research also demonstrates that if heavy drinkers stop or cut their drinking level back severely, adverse health effects can be reversed. 

 

John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health