A Childhood of 'Instability and Dislocation'

"Absent the mitigating factors and the circumstances described in the Indigenous Background Report, I would regard this as an exemplary case for a sentence very significantly above the 5 - 7-year range."

"[Delaney had informed an undercover police officer in 2024 that] two men had recently died in her residence from fentanyl overdoses caused by the red fentanyl [she was selling], indicating that one of the deceased had been a good friend of hers."

"[Delaney's] moral culpability [taking into account these circumstances, is placed] well above that of the ordinary commercial fentanyl trafficker."

Justice Derek Jugnauth, October 15, 2026 

Jeff Whyte - stock.adobe.com

Now 28 years of age, Metis woman Kendall Delaney was sentenced to six years in prison after pleading guilty in the Court of King's Bench, Alberta, to trafficking methamphetamine and fentanyl. Arrested in the spring of 2024, court heard that the young woman had been selling fentanyl laced with a benzodiazepine, which increases risk of fatal overdoses. An undercover police operation arranged by the Camrose Police Service and Vegreville RCMP succeeded in establishing evidence of her criminality.

 

According to the Crown, she was recommended for three years in prison as a "lenient" sentence representing "the minimum capable of adequately denouncing the conduct and deterring [Ms. Delaney] and others". On her own initiative, the defendant pleaded for house arrest and probation. She deferred her request for a conditional sentence and sought in its stead a prison term of about four to five years, when the judge stated his decision to increase prison time over what the Crown had recommended. 

 

On March 10, 2024, Ms. Delaney sold two ounces of methamphetamine for $380 at her home to an undercover police officer in the presence of her six-year-old son. She followed this up by selling the same undercover officer an ounce of methamphetamine and 3.5 grams of cocaine three days later, for $430. A short time later, the undercover officer again contacted Ms. Delaney and arranged to purchase 3.5 grams of fentanyl for $220. "The fentanyl was packaged in three separate bags containing red, blue and brown fentanyl. Analysis later determined that the red fentanyl contained bromazolam, a benzodiazepine." 

"During the discussions leading up to the sale, Ms. Delaney asked whether the officer wanted 'blue, red or brown' fentanyl, or a combination of the three."

"Ms. Delaney advised the officer that the red fentanyl was 'literally killing ppl it's so strong' and suggested that anyone receiving it should be warned about its potency."

"The officer replied that a mixture was acceptable."

Justice Derek Jugnauth  

Once again the undercover officer went to his fentanyl supplier. "During the conversation, Ms. Delaney stated that she was not doing well because two people had overdosed during the previous week. When the officer asked to purchase additional red fentanyl and one ounce of methamphetamine, Ms. Delaney advised that the red fentanyl had caused the overdoses and noted her supply was diminished but that she would see what she could do." The following day arrangements were made by the undercover officer to buy an additional three ounces of methamphetamine. 

 

Ms. Delaney was arrested when the RCMP stopped a car she was travelling in with the two undercover officers on their way to pick up more drugs. She had with her a bag of methamphetamine of an ounce and another bag of about 1.3 grams of cocaine, both of which she managed to conceal in her vagina. At the arrest scene police discovered more undeclared  cocaine and methamphetamine in her purse. "After initially denying she was concealing controlled substances in her body, and refusing medical treatment to extract those substances, Ms. Delaney eventually removed the concealed drugs on her own, which were then seized by police." 

"[Delaney's mother] first exposed her to crack cocaine [at age 19]. What followed was years-long addiction to crack cocaine and methamphetamine."

"[She has been given] significant weight [to her] acceptance of responsibility and expressions of remorse; her difficult personal history; and the factors identified in the Indigenous Background Report." 

"Her life has been marked by significant childhood adversity and the effects of intergenerational trauma."

"Those experiences do not excuse her conduct, but they provide important context for understanding how she came before the court." 

Final Court decision 

A Metis woman was sentenced to six years in prison at Edmonton's Court of King's Bench for trafficking methamphetamine and fentanyl. Photo by Shaughn Butts/Postmedia

 

 

In France, Protests Have Grown Into Full-Blown Insurrection

"People were traumatized by what happened last weekend when they sometimes found themselves on their own, sometimes for two or three hours or the whole day, facing the rioters."

"Shopkeepers, restaurant owners and individuals got scared and are looking to defend themselves."

"They're not seeking to take justice into their own hands."

"[However, the increase in sales of non-lethal protective gear is] unprecedented."

Yves Gollety, proprietor, l'Armurerie de la Bourse, Central Paris

 

"It's not just Paris. It's many cities across France."

"There will be large-scale operations everywhere. [At least 75 percent of the police force will be mobilized, with postponements of days off, as required]."

Thierry Clair, national secretary, Unsa Police union 

People enter a ransacked Franprix store as clashes erupted at Place de la République. Photograph: Matthieu Rondel/AFP/Getty Images

 

The shopkeeper of a costume jewelry store in Les Halles, a sprawling commercial district in Paris, went shopping a few days back, for self-protection weaponry; a truncheon, a plastic handgun propelling small canisters of a substance like tear gas, and all together found himself 600 euros out-of-pocket. Although his store was spared by the rioters who had ransacked other stores nearby his own last weekend, he finds it necessary to be prepared for such exigencies as may reoccur.

 

"I never thought it would come to this. I'm doing this, but I don't feel reassured", he said in an interview, taking care to ensure his name would not be used. He didn't stop just with procuring those weapons, but went on to hire private security guards complete with trained canines. He is boarding up his storefront windows. And then, when he feels somewhat prepared, he will reopen his business. And he is not alone in feeling the necessity to protect himself and his property, feeling he can no longer be reliant on police alone in the face of violent mob action.

 

Last Saturday's protests across France came complete with violence and vandalism, with roving bands of rioters attacking hundreds of shops, smashing windows and making off with merchandise. Observers note that most of these looters are people of colour, individuals who may be first- or second-generation immigrants to France. Palestinian flags have become a common sight among the protests, whereas the flag of the Republic is less seen among the protesters who initially came out to inform French officialdom that students are fed up with underfunded education.

 

An optician’s on rue Beaubourg in central Paris on Monday. The graffiti says: ‘Burn the prisons.’ Photograph: Angelique Chrisafis/The Guardian

 

Residents, shopkeepers and authorities have been on edge in fearful anticipation, with another planned weekend of protests, where students, teachers, unions -- and others whose purpose is not as well defined plan to roil the country with more of the protests that come complete with threats and violence. The owner of l'Armurerie de la Boure, Yves Gollety, is also chair of the organization representing weapons sellers in France. It is not only his store but others like his own where customers are usually hunters, seeing self-defence weapons sales rise ten times normal in Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Bordeaux.

 

Sales of hunting rifles are stagnant, while demand for pepper sprays, tear gas-like canisters, pistols that fire rubber bullets and other non-lethal gear have exploded. Although other shops in the area where Yves Gollety's is located were attacked and looted last weekend, his was not. His plans were to open his shop again on Saturday, if for no other reason than to protect it from the potential of swarms of rioters looting it as they did those of his neighbours.

 

Masked protesters confront French riot Police   CNN

 

Business owners were informed by the Prefecture of Police to hire more private security agents in anticipation of what Saturday and coming Saturdays may bring. The co-founder of the Crypto hardware wallet maker Ledger wrote on X that if the state can no longer protect the people, the French should stop paying taxes. Authorities have promised to roll out the military to back up police tasked with upholding law and order, planning prevention of last weekend's riots on repeat. 

 

In an effort to reassure markets whom the violence has unnerved, a 20 percent-greater police presence was expected, according to the Interior Ministry, in response to the chaos that erupted through cost-of-living protests that deteriorated into the looting of 3,000 stores that merited 2,700 arrests. Special-intervention forces ordinarily deployed for risky missions such as counter-terrorism will be present should they be required, according to French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez.

 

Forensic investigators search for evidence after a shooting in Trappes, outside Paris, Friday, Oct. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Emma Da Silva)

 

Sensitive buildings will be guarded with soldiers and helicopters, water cannons and armoured vehicles popularly called Centaurs, will be present to ensure a level of public order. On Friday an escalation in the violence occurred when a Black mixed-martial-arts figure was shot and killed in an act termed 'racist' and a 'terrorist attack' by French authorities. The government, added Minister Nunez, would be 'uncompromising' in dealing with hooligans, with 70,000 security forces to be mobilized Saturday. 

"The suspect of the deadly shooting in Trappes (central France) claimed to have acted in response to the unrest during the October 17 demonstrations and the widespread looting and vandalism of shops."

"When he was arrested on Friday, October 23 in Coignières, after a deadly rampage lasting nearly 20 minutes, the man suspected of killing one person and injuring five others, including a 12-year-old girl, with an automatic weapon, stated in substance that he had "avenged the shopkeepers" by targeting "Black people and Arabs." 

Le Monde  

For The Love Of Dictators

"Outlining military plans is important, but it can't be divorced from addressing what everyone is worried about: Trump's outbursts, Russia's war on Ukraine and threats to Europe, and questions on whether we're pulling significant U.S. forces out of Europe."

"The real dictator in the room here is Vladimir Putin, who has been in power for 25 years, not Zelenskyy, and it is Russia that launched this unprovoked invasion against Ukraine, not the other way around."

Kurt Volker, former U.S. envoy to Ukraine 

 

"I'd burn down every one of the goddam refineries that Russia has today. Take them all out."

"[Vladimir Putin should not be permitted any military sanctuaries and his oil refineries are legitimate Russian targets]."

"Ukraine should be encouraged to] make them pay the price [by targeting Russia's oil and gas industry]."

Keith Kellogg, chief of staff, U.S. National Security Council

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks during a news conference in Kyiv on Oct. 4. | Bloomberg

 

At a North Atlantic Treaty Organization strategic meeting at the Warsaw Security Forum last month, the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, U.S. General Alexus Grynkewich, introduced the latest NATO formula for mutual defence of its 32 member-states. It was titled the "theory of victory". At the summit, generals and heads of state and defence ministers spoke little of the elephant in the room, even as the prospect of Vladimir Putin in his grand territorial ambitions leaves little to the imagination of what his plans are post-Ukraine invasion.

 

Poland is in his sights, as are the Baltic nations, vulnerable through Belarus and Kaliningrad the Russian enclave. A 10-day war game deploying 20,000 troops simulating a hypothetical invasion of 10,000 troops from the east was underway companioning the Warsaw conference. The perceived almost-certainty of Russia emerging victorious from its four-and-a-half years of the 'special military operation' to free Ukraine from its 'neoNazi' government and liberate the people of Ukraine, while liberating a good portion of Ukraine's  territory has focused the mind of NATO nations. 

 

The uncertainty over whether, should a NATO country be attacked in the near future, whether the assured entry of a coalition counterattack would include the United States consumes the minds of those states which have of late received 'messages' from Moscow through cyber and drone appearances in their sovereign domains could any longer be guaranteed. An administration that appears all too often to cater to the Soviet wannabe's ambitions by characterizing its victim as a hapless aggressor and the Russian military without scruples that sends ballistic missiles into civilian enclaves, bombing schools, hospitals, energy depots and shopping centers, as restrained and commendable.

 

Finally, NATO members can be somewhat heartened at the news that U.S.-internal opponents, both old and newly-hatched, against the Trump administration's decisions and declarations have been rallying and stating in no uncertain terms that they strongly disagree. Added to that the deepening unpopularity of the administration among the public which has alerted the Republicans that the forthcoming midterm elections will see them losing influence in both the House and the Senate.

 

US President Donald Trump walks on stage during a campaign event ahead of the midterms, in San Antonio, Texas, US, October 7, 2026. REUTERS/Callaghan O'Hare

 

President Trump's generosity to  his Russian counterpart in extending a mutibillion-dollar sanctions exemption with the sale of millions of barrels of diesel oil did not win a popularity contest anywhere in the U.S. nor in Europe. That President Donald J. Trump sees it in his interests to boost the conflict fortunes of President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin by handing him a lifeline to get on with his bombing of Ukraine's cities can only be understood by Trump himself whom critics cite as a symptom of his fascination with dictators.

 

Yet it is Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that Mr. Trump characterizes as a dictator who, in his opinion should be removed from office. And who he feels entitled to instruct that he must refrain from any further strikes against Russia's oil refineries. Even for the mercurial, bullying Trump the spectacle of the Oval Office treatment of Ukraine's president to charges of war-mongering represented over-the-top lunacy. It did not take long following President Trump's reinstatement in the Oval Office before he made it clear that he had no interest in NATO and was prepared to abandon its traditional role of leadership in the defense coalition, leaving the other 31 members in a state of shock.  

 

President Donald Trump welcomes Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to the White House to sign an agreement granting the United States access to Ukraine’s rare minerals, February 28, 2025. Joshua Sukoff/Shutterstock

 

"These authorities require you to apply economic pressure on Russia and the chief enables of its war, in particular China."

"For decades, America has stood as the bastion of freedom against tyranny, and American presidents have embodied our nation's resistance to tyrants. Putin is a tyrant. Withdraw from this agreement...Maintain our legacy -- and the duty America holds -- as leader of the free world."

"President Trump's decision to allow Russian diesel imports to the U.S. runs directly counter to that law [the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026]."

"The United States should not provide Putin with a financial lifeline while Russia continues to kill Ukrainian civilians. The Administration must immediately reverse course."

Bipartisan letter from U.S. senators

Mark Carney's Sanctimonious Miscalculation; One Among Many

"We are certainly holding [the Palestinian Authority] to account."

"We're supporting efforts to have those elections and to have free and fair elections in Palestine, and we'll continue to do so."

"[Canada remains committed to a two-state solution, which is] critical for peace, stability and security in the Middle East and beyond."

"We have far more resources dedicated to support [the people in Gaza] than are able to be delivered to Gaza. So there are many things that are not working within Palestine, and there are many who are responsible for that." 

Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney 

 

"[Mahmoud Abbas's] attempt to drag Israel into this [excuse for cancelling imminent elections by the Palestinian Authority], falsely claiming that Israel imposed obstacles to holding elections, is yet another ridiculous lie designed to evade responsibility and accountability."

"Just like the other lies about 'reforms' that were never implemented -- ending payments to terrorists and their families, and stopping incitement in the Palestinian education system."

Israeli Foreign Affairs Minister Gideon Sa'ar 

Nearly two decades have passed since the last Palestinian Legislative Council elections were held, and five years since the planned 2021 elections were postponed. [Getty]

 

Either PM Mark Carney is acutely, deliberately obtuse, or, perhaps more likely, so devoted to his possibly subconscious hostility to the reality that Israel does not control what happens in the Palestinian Territories, that he has no problem digesting the accusations of  Israeli interference that makes everything go sideways for Palestinians. He cannot possibly be ignorant of the fact that Israel intervenes only when she has no other choice, when the constant incitements of the PA to its citizens to dedicate themselves to hastening the destruction of Israel creates a backlash of defense. Defensive actions that Palestinian leaders inform the credulous West represents Israeli violence against Palestinians.

 

Insistence on a two-state 'solution' as an answer to the ongoing conflict between Jews and Arabs in the Middle East, is a fly-in-the-sky sop to an imagined, simple problem that can be corrected when two parties to a dispute agree between them to finally shelve hostilities in an agreement to share disputed land. The problem is that Israel has for the past 80 years accepted that concept of reasonable accommodation, while the Palestinians, led by their leaders have rejected a state of their own alongside that of Israel for the more palatable solution of one state and Jews begone!

 

It never seems to occur to Canada's prime minister and his colleagues in Ireland, Spain, France, the United Kingdom and Australia that they are willingly absorbing a false, two-sided message; one delivered in Arabic to Palestinians that their ongoing 'resistance' to the presence of Jews on Judean ancestral land will eventually succeed, and the assurances given to the West that the Palestinian dream of their own sovereign state cannot be accomplished as a result of Israel's refusal to allow them that dream. They can afford to be duped; Israel bears the horrific brunt of Palestinian violence through their death-cult leadership.

 

Internal disarray within Fatah, disagreements over candidate lists and the distribution of power, and emerging alliances among Abbas's opponents have all contributed to delaying elections until 2027. [Getty]

 

So, no, the statement that the Palestinian leadership is being held to account for its promotion of murderous assaults on its neighbour, for its generous payouts to the terrorist they breed, for school curricula that identify Jews as mortal enemies that must be killed to stop them from eliminating all Palestinians in their zeal to preserve their position as a Jewish state in Muslim-Arab territory, is far from reality; it is a blatant lie iterated as a demonstration of just how even-minded and neutral Israel's critics are.

 

As reported by The Associated Press, the decision to postpone the legislative elections until September of 2027 represented another stalling tactic by the PA, in consultation with Hamas and Islamic Jihad. As a 'reason' for that postponement, the Fatah, the party in power with the Palestinian Authority cited the Palestine Liberation Organization's executive committee claiming Israeli military raids, expansion of settlements, withholding of tax revenue were responsible for the decision. Israel's fault, a charge readily accepted by Israel's natural Democratic, putative allies.  

"[We] deeply regret [the decision by Abbas not to move forward with elections]."

"We call on the Palestinian Authority to reconsider the decision to postpone elections and to take the necessary steps to hold legislative and presidential elections, without further delay."

"[The] significant challenges that impediments have affected the ability to conduct elections."

"[We call upon Israel] to refrain from actions that could impede the conduct of elections, including the practical arrangements necessary for all Palestinians to participate."

United Kingdom, Australia, France foreign affairs ministers' joint statement  

President for the last 22 years, since 2005, when Hamas challenged Fatah and was itself elected alongside Fatah, leading it to establish its headquarters in Gaza, the very year in which which Israeli Forces had removed all Jewish settlements by order of then-Israeli President Ariel Sharon with the intention of leaving the territory for the Palestinians to administer on their own as a good-faith gesture. That gesture led to Hamas taking authority for itself by co-opting Gaza, and violently neutralizing the Fatah presence. The rest is  history as Gaza became the staging ground for continuous, non-stop deadly assaults against Israel, until a separation wall was finally built. 

 

Even that had its limits in protecting Israeli citizens from the vicious savagery of Palestinian terrorism as the dreadful events of October 7, 2023 demonstrated. Canada boasts of its generosity to pledging close to $600 million in charitable assistance for Palestinians in the past three years. And another $100 million for charitable aid was announced by Carney last month at the UN's General Assembly, alongside $80 million more in humanitarian aid. There is no accountability, no tracing how those charitable funds are disposed of, even though it was channelled through UNRWA. As though that would guarantee anything positive, other than ending up with Hamas, hundreds of whose operatives are part of UNRWA. 

 

This photo taken Monday, Aug. 28, 2017, shows a newly built mansion for the Palestinian Authority, on the outskirts of the West Bank city of Ramallah. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

  

On 10 October, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas issued a decree cancelling the legislative elections set for 28 November. Instead, presidential and legislative polls will be held together on 11 September 2027. The decree followed approval by the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and consultations with political factions.

The official explanation was Israel's occupation. Fatah officials insist that the movement was ready and that Israeli restrictions made a free, fair, and inclusive vote impossible. While that argument is real, it is also incomplete.

Read closely, the accounts of those around the decision point to three pressures converging at once: external obstacles that have not changed, rivalries inside Fatah that its own leaders acknowledge, and a factional dialogue that gave the leadership a consensual route away from a deadline its critics say it was not ready to meet.

The postponement is less a verdict on Israeli obstruction than a decision about who gets to shape the next Palestinian political order, and on what terms.

"Fatah respected the outcomes of the dialogue held in Cairo with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and Hamas,” Nasrallah said, “and conveyed them to the movement's leadership bodies before the procedures for the postponement were completed”. 

Monjed Jadou, 19 October, 2026, The New Arab

 

The Depraved Mental Condition of Would-Be Jihadis

"[The Justice Department] will prosecute those who aid, attempt to aid, or commit violence on behalf of the pernicious ISIS ideology wherever they may be found."

"[The sentence reflects an]unwavering commitment to fight those who perpetrate violence in the name of ISIS even behind prison walls."

Pennsylvania U.S. attorney Brian Miller 

 

"Although he was behind bars, this convicted terrorist committed a horrific attack on two corrections officers in the name of ISIS, which they fortunately survived."

"Today’s sentencing shows that violent attacks by those who support the evil ideology of ISIS or other foreign terrorist organizations cannot be tolerated by our society."

"Fighting terrorism is a central part of the FBI’s mission to protect the American people, and the FBI is committed to working with our law enforcement partners to hold these vicious criminals accountable."

Jarod Brown, assistant director, counterterrorism division, Federal Bureau of Investigation 

The U.S. Department of Justice logo is seen on a podium before a news conference, Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)

 

Abdulrahman El Bahnasawy, now 28, after stabbing two prison guards at U.S. Penitentiary Allenwood located in Pennsylvania, has been sentenced to an additional 50 years in prison, to run consecutively with the 40-year sentence already being served. That original sentence was related to his participation in            helping to plot a mass-casualty terrorist attack on behalf of ISIS, in New York City. 

 

The Allenwood attack took place on December 2020 when El Bahnasawy forcefully stabbed one officer in the head and face with a weapon he had constructed from part of a steel desk that sat in his prison cell. The officer was stabbed by him in the head and face. When a second officer showed up, responding to a call for  assistance, she was stabbed in her hand. The first of the two officers to be attacked ended up losing one of his  eyes.

 

"Today's sentence will further ensure that Bahnasawy  remains in prison, where he can do much less harm, for a very long time", noted Assistant Attorney General for National Security, John Eisenberg. Finally restrained, corrections officers discovered the presence of a note in one of his socks, reading: "This is a terrorist attack for the Islamic State". Taped inside the locker door in El Bahnasawy's prison cell, a pledge of allegiance to the Islamic State was found. 

 

Abdulrahman El Bahnasawy, 20, before he was arrested and convicted for his part in planning a mass casualty event in New York City on behalf of ISIS. He is now 28 and will serve another 50 years for an attack on prison guards.   (Social Media photo) PST

 

In November of 2025, El Bahnasawy pleaded guilty to assault, assault with intent to commit murder, possession of contraband inside a prison, as well as providing material support to ISIS, a designated foreign terrorist organization. Before he had involved himself with ISIS, he had led a sheltered life, living with his  parents in Mississauga, Ontario. He was known back then to be suffering from "serious" mental-health problems. On consideration, don't all these Islamist jihadists, inspired by a death cult act through depraved minds?

 

In his younger years he was treated for an opioid addiction.  His education in the public school system stopped at Grade 11.  His life revolved around his family; parents, an older sister. He eventually graduated from brief social interactions with those whom he met casually through his drug-addiction treatment, toward cliques of extremist jihadis, two of whom he linked up with in a plot to bomb and shoot at dense crowds of people in heavily populated New York City areas in 2015, in the name of ISIS, during Ramadan.

 

He has been in custody ever since, in 2015, he pleaded guilty to conspiring to bomb Times Square, attack passengers on the subway, and shoot  up crowds at unnamed concerts. The man obviously remains committed to his pledge to the Islamic State in their ongoing activities toward achieving a global Caliphate, where it is not only ISIS, but a multitude of other criminal Islamists who actively threaten the world order, chief among them the Muslim Brotherhood.

 

The West is beset with the presence of menacing figures that have dedicated themselves to destroying western values, culture, education, law and replacing religious devotion toward Christianity and others with Islam. Thoroughly infiltrated with the presence of 'sleeper agents' in covert operations to destroy what they abhor, there are other groups purporting to be innocent and socially integrated groups that conspire with the Muslim Brotherhood's many tentacles in obedience to Islam's injunction to the faithful to proselytize through the quiet jihad of population numbers, and alternately with the violent jihad of terror.

 

To bring attention to this steady infiltration and the changes being wrought in populations increasingly reflecting greater numbers of Muslims who bring Western culture, values and customs to a slow ebb of disuse while foreign values, culture and customs take their place, including the dissemination of propaganda that reflects those foreign tribal and sectarian customs and values. To seek explanations or to voice doubts about the direction this Muslim activism and infiltration is taking us to is to be identified as "Islamophobic". 

 

To be 'Islamophobic' is to detest and revile the ongoing and past episodes of savagery that terrorist groups bring to the civilized world. Who, other than the terrorists and their supporters would not be 'Islamophobic'. A religion whose major tenet is to replace the world order with one of its own in total conquest is one to to viewed with a justified phobic reaction. 

 

El Bahnasawy, right, with his father and mother. El Bahnasawy's family has been calling on his return to Canada to serve his prison sentence, citing a lack of mental health support and appropriate medication in U.S. prison. (Photo supplied)

 

Ukraine: Engage in Self-Defense or Do Good Service to the World?

"Ukraine never wanted this war. It is crucial to call things what they are. To call the aggressor an aggressor and help Ukraine defend lives."

"When deliveries of missiles for Ukraine's air defence are blocked while Russia is granted  relief or delays in sanctions, this is, unfortunately, a denial of reality on the part of our partners."

"This [Starshield malfunction] is slowing down our front-line logistics and limiting the use of various types of drones and interceptors of jet-powered 'shahed' [drones]."

"Delays in certain types of vital supplies [at the U.S. Defense Department] are also occurring."

"There are political agreements that have not been implemented at the working level."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy 

Volodymyr Zelenskyy  UNN

 

Once again Ukrainian counteroffensive found itself in a bad place. Ukraine's reliance on the goodwill of the U.S. government under President Donald Trump has proven to be a rocky ride, one with all too many speedbumps that come complete with accusations and grudging accommodation with a side-helping of personal insults for the indomitable, dogged president of Ukraine who has become diplomatically adept at swallowing justified outrage and turning on the placatory mien of one who has little other choice. When this is all over and Ukraine is finally left in peace and security to continue its sovereign existence beside a brooding Russia, there should be a special medal of recognition bestowed on this man for perseverance.

 

Ukraine was faced with a true dilemma in its prosecution of existential defence against the violent predatory attacks from Moscow that continued -- against all international norms of warfare -- to target its cities, its civilian infrastructure, including schools, hospitals, places of worship, shopping centers, apartment complexes and energy depots with the distinct purpose of demoralizing a vulnerable civilian population -- when it suddenly found itself without the early warning system it so depended upon. 

 

The frequent, powerful Russian missile and drone attacks that threaten Ukraine's population with waves of ballistic missiles and swift attack drones slammed into Kiev and other cities while the Ukrainian military discovered that suddenly the U.S. military-grade satellite it has been reliant on to enable it to warn citizens of incoming strikes and for the military to take evasive action in shooting them down left them unable to respond in their self-defense with air raid sirens. 

 

Musk said any limits on speed or usage of the Starshield system that Ukraine’s military relies on are “decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS"  NurPhoto via Getty Images

 

Starlink's Starshield, indispensable to Ukraine's armed forces in their counteroffensive and defense had somehow failed, leaving the military in confusion at the sudden outage. "This is comparable to a nuclear strike against us. All operations are on hold", stated a military official. The interrupted connectivity abruptly cut off once Ukrainian drones and vehicles started moving faster than 100 miles an hour, rendering them useless for intercepting incoming Russian fire; Ukrainian defences were entirely hobbled.

 

Mysteriously, no one involved in providing that essential component in Ukraine's defense could explain what had gone wrong. The White House denied speculation that it was the source of the cut-off; Starlink's Elon Musk did likewise, attributing any possible loss of connectivity to a potential decision made by the U.S. War Department. Which also linked to the hold-up of European-paid missile interceptors whose delivery had been delayed at critical times of need in Ukraine, to Pete Hegseth, U.S. Secretary of War failing to sign off on them. 

 

The United States was accused by President Zelenskyy of deliberately withholding vital intelligence by slowing the Starshield system speeds, so vital to the Ukrainian battlefield in launching counter-strikes. Washington denied any such orders on its part. Yet a direct link could be made from President Trump signing an agreement with Vladimir Putin for a diesel-supply agreement even as Mr. Trump angrily accused Mr. Zelenskyy for being a warmonger, by Ukraine forces attacking Russian oil refineries. 

 

Servicemen of the 68th Oleksa Dovbush Separate Jaeger Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine set up Starlink satellite internet system, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, near the frontline town of Pokrovsk in Donetsk region, Ukraine April 10, 2025. REUTERS/Inna Varenytsia

 

On its part, Russia's most recent strikes against Ukrainian energy facilities and cross-country civilian infrastructure, depriving over 500,000 civilian households of energy in approaching winter weather went unremarked, while  the country rallied to emergency repairs of its battered energy grid. "Once again, there was no early warning from our partners", observed President Zelenskyy in mourning over more deaths of his countrymen, women and children.

 

At accusations by President Trump that Ukraine's strikes on Russian refineries were "seriously hurting" the global cost of diesel, accusing him of prolonging the war, Mr. Zelenskyy reminded his tormentor that it was not Ukraine that embarked on a war of aggressive territorial acquisition but it was President Vladimir Putin whose violently-expressed acquisitiveness and disregard for human life that was solely responsible. Ukraine, in case Mr. Trump had failed to notice, was doing what any other nation would do in such circumstances in defending itself. 

 

As for an order to slow speeds on the U.S. government-owned and controlled Starshield, President Trump gave that accusation short shrift, even though its developer Elon Musk whose SpaceX developed it, stated that only the White House could have made such a decision. Front-line units had reported that the Starshield equipment "stops functioning at speeds of 130 to 160 kilometres an  hour in various sectors of the front". And nor were the advanced U.S. Patriot interceptor systems being delivered to aid in Ukraine's air defense.

 

Finally the 'mishap' attributed to a malfunction, was overcome, and the Starshield once again activated to its full use, to the great relief of the Ukrainian military and its tenacious leader. Once again a vital component in Ukraine's defense restored, the Ukrainian military re-commenced with confidence its own counterattacks against Russian assets delivering to Russia's economy the same kind of pain that Russia does to that of Ukraine.

 

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks during a media conference at the EU summit in Brussels, Friday, Oct. 16, 2026, Geert Vanden Wiingaert, AP    

 

"We are thankful that intelligence works. I'm speaking about early warning, what is very important for our people, for children, adults, civilians, because we can hear when ballistic is coming."

"[It is] important that we keep the conversation going."

"If there are issues about Ukraine, our future, it can be acceptable only when we are at the table of negotiations. It's absolutely clear."

Volodymyr Zelenskyy

 

"If you tell me that Zelenskyy is again shooting at refineries, all he’s doing is making the world oil price higher…I think that’s a disgrace."

"[There are a lot of targets he could hit] But when you shoot at diesel refineries, when you make diesel oil, and we need that and the world needs that, then he’s not doing a good service for the world."

U.S. President Donald J. Trump  

A policeman helps an elderly woman to walk out from a residential building damaged by a Russian airstrike in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Saturday, Oct. 17, 2026. Kateryna Klochko / AP

 

 

Remembering the 1989 Tiananmen Massacre

"In the very beginning when I arrived in Canada, I didn't think I could be a lawyer again. The worst case is I would not pass [the exams]."

"I told myself, if some young people sacrifice their future for Hong Kong, why could I not do this? So I was not afraid of being arrested or being injured ... or even dying or having my licence [to practice law] removed. That was my first concern."

"I was not afraid because I could not see. If you see the police, they are running toward you, your direct reaction is to leave. But I could not see."

Expatriate Chinese-Canadian Joy Luk

Lawyer Joy Luk at her Markham, Ont., offices, Oct. 14, 2026. Photo by Peter J. Thompson /National Post

 

Now 47 years of age, Joy Luk has been blind since birth. Believing while still young that the rights of the disabled should be protected under the law, she had visions of herself becoming a lawyer. In China, she passed law school, obtaining a master's degree in human-rights law. She became an advocate for the disabled while practising general law in Hong Kong. As a resident of Hong Kong she valued the special freedoms that made the city different from the mainland. 

 

Until Beijing decided to cut short the agreement China had made with Britain to retain that special status for Hong Kong reflective of British rule in the colony. Loyal to Beijing, the Hong Kong government of the day proposed a new law to permit extradition from Hong Kong to the mainland, a signal to dissidents and others who professed their loyalty to a democratic regime, becoming vulnerable to a system that would make them outcasts, ending up in China's oppressive system of justice.

 

It was that legislation that led to the 2019 historic protests when  up to a million Hong Kongers flooded the streets in protests. Despite the mostly peaceful nature of the protests, violent clashes with police ensued, leading to a crackdown that served to obliterate most of the traditional political freedoms customary in Hong Kong before it was handed back to China. Blind, or not, Joy Luk joined the maelstrom of dissent giving legal advice to demonstrators. 

 

Violent clashes broke out in Hong Kong on June 12 as police tried to stop protesters storming the city’s parliament, while tens of thousands of people blocked key arteries in a show of strength against government plans to allow extraditions to China. (Photo by ISAAC LAWRENCE / AFP) 

 

 Joy Luk's involvement as a blind woman in the protests made her a recognized figure in the movement. "She stood out. Despite all the oppression and suppression by the police, she was willing to stand up front and be counted", narrated Cheuk Kwan of the Toronto Association for Democracy in China. Finally, government forces and the police prevailed, the protesters dispersed, many had been arrested, and the protests came to an end.

 

The experience Joy Luk recalls was not pleasant in its immediate personal consequences, which saw her home undergoing repeated searches. She was arrested without charges being laid at a demonstration that had taken place in close proximity to a police station. She recalls standing in the street arguing with police to ensure that demonstrators were able to leave before being taken into custody on warrantless charges. On one occasion, police rushing toward the crowd crashed into the blind woman standing at the front, breaking her arm.  

 

Since April 2019, up to 2 million people came out to protest in Hong Kong   Jimmy Lam/everydayaphoto

 

Seven years later she left Hong Kong, hoping to spare her parents any further notice from police. Living in Toronto, she still has nightmares of night-time knocking at her apartment door. In Canada, she speaks at commemoration vigils for the Tiananmen Square vigils, of the 'criminalization' of dissent. She has picketed outside the Chinese consulate in Toronto.

 

In the interim, she succeeded in obtaining a Global Professional Master of Laws degree at University of Toronto, passing bar-admission exams as a blind woman, and now set to practice law in Ontario. She expresses her gratitude at being accepted as an immigrant to Canada and the assistance given her as she settled in. What she finds it difficult to come to terms with is the current federal government's initiatives toward trade  relations with Beijing.   

"I guess they [Canadian Liberal government led by Mark Carney] are not eager to fight for freedom of the people in Hong Kong and other parts of China under that kind of tyranny."

"Because they want to sell some things to China ... "

"We are very disappointed by this."

Joy Luk 

She found help as a newly-arrived immigrant starting life over anew as a blind person with aspirations to practice law again in her new home, with a particular focus on human rights and support for the disabled, though the Toronto Association for Democracy in China. On her arrival in 2021, she was gifted with 18 months of free rent in a Toronto apartment by one of the association's members, while others helped with her living expenses and the legal costs associated with her immigration status. 

 

In 2024 she was accepted into the University of Toronto Masters program and finally sat for the exams for bar-admission. She made use of a computer program that converted the exam text to speech through an electronic voice. "I had to ask AI ... 'Using a blind person's perspective, describe this picture, this figure to me and let me know what it's showing'", as part of an exam question requiring an applicant to peruse an image.

 

She is now employed part-time at a Markham law firm, north of Toronto. Even with her attention focused on her new life in Canada, she is adamant that the world remember what she and thousands like her fought for seven years ago, in Hong Kong.  

"We believe that after several years, if we do not do anything, then people will forget what happened in 2019 [just like the 1989 Tiananmen massacre]."

"We have no choice but to do something."

Joy Luk