Russia: Unintended Consequences to Ukraine 'Special Operation'

"President [Vladimir] Putin's war in Ukraine is a war on freedom, on democracy and on the rights of Ukrainians, and all people, to determine their own future."

"As Canadians, these are values we hold dear. Athletes who decide to play and associate with Russia and Belarus should explain their decisions to the public." 

"Our government has been very clear. Canadians should avoid all travel to Russia and Belarus. If they are in Russia or in Belarus, they should leave now."

"Our ability to provide consular services may become extremely limited."

Adrien Blanchard, press secretary, Canadian Foreign Affairs

Russian policemen prepare to detain participants of an unauthorized protest against the partial mobilization due to the conflict in Ukraine, in central St. Petersburg, Russia, 21 September 2022. Russian President President Putin has signed a decree on partial mobilization in the Russian Federation, with mobilization activities starting on 21 September. Russian citizens who are in the reserve will be called up for military service. [EPA-EFE/ANATOLY MALTSEV]

 

Evidently, the traditional 'break a leg' in show business resonates with professional Canadian hockey players. Despite the turmoil in Russia, with Russian citizens leaving by droves to enter other Eastern European states in haste to avoid the partial call-up of Russian military reservists, and the urgency with which the Canadian government has instructed its citizens to leave Russia lest they become pawns in Russia's conflict with Ukraine, it seems none of the 48 Canadian hockey players currently with the Kontinental Hockey League club roster has complied.

 

They obviously don't feel in any danger of a personal nature while playing for Russian/Belarus teams and intend to remain where they are; after all, their reasoning might be that sports and politics are not compatible. There are forty-four Canadians playing with clubs in Russia and Belarus, and another four with Kazakhstan hockey clubs.  

Advisories urging Canadians to return home from Russia were posted along with advisories not to travel to or within Belarus or Russia in March and February. Nine of the Canadian players in the KHL received personal messages from the Canadian Press enquiring  whether they had received any assurances from the leagues and the teams ensuring their personal safety. None have responded. While Canadians feel comfortable remaining in Russia, several hundred thousand Russian citizens have felt compelled to flee.

Their very departure concerns neighbouring countries for fear of a wider state of instability in the region. Statistics out of Georgia, Kazakhstan and the European Union indicate the scale of the Russian departures with a total considered a gross underestimate -- while Russian citizens flood to Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkey, none of which have publicly disclosed arrival figures. 

Millions of Russians were shocked when their president issued mobilization orders a week ago in a country that had up to then been shielded from the upheaval taking place in Ukraine as a result of the Russian invasion. Suddenly, in essence, the 'special military operation' has been transformed to a conflict zone. Can Russians really have been taken by surprise? Vladimir Putin was well aware that a general call-up would be wholly unpopular in his country.

The circumstances of the Ukrainian military successful counteroffensive has caught the Kremlin off guard. The call-up, reluctant as it was, and clumsily limited for the present, risked arousing the anger of the Russian populace, realizing Putin's fears by large protests breaking out all over Russian towns and cities. Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu's assurance that the call-up would affect a mere 300,00 of the 25 million reservists doesn't appear to be quelled the reaction.

Russian police detain a protester during a rally against the mobilization of reservists ordered by President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on September 24.

China's Police Presence in Canada

"During the past two years, the pandemic made international travels not easy and quite a few Chinese nationals found their Chinese ID cards and/or driver's licences expired or about to expire, and yet they could not get the ID  renewed back in China in time..."

Embassy of China in Ireland

Police in the Chinese city of Fuzhou show off seized counterfeit money in this 2009 photo. Fuzhou security services have now set up at least three branch offices on Canadian soil. Photo by STR/AFP/Getty Images

"I thought I'd have a safe, happy life in Canada. But the Chinese Communist Party was already here", said Sheng Xue, a Chinese Canadian living in Mississauga, Ontario since her escape from China in 1989, following the Ti8enanmen Square Massacre. The People's Republic of China has groping tentacles all over the world, keeping track of expatriate Chinese who sought to find a new home and with it security and a base where they could begin life anew. Beijing, however, looks to keep tabs on all Chinese, irrespective of whether they now live elsewhere than China, and they are particularly interested in Chinese who oppose their government back home.

 

Beijing has also made it quite clear to Chinese living abroad that their first obligation is to China, not any other country which they have chosen to live in as loyal citizens. Chinese living abroad with citizenship in other countries are expected to be compliant with any demands that the People's
Republic makes of them, from defending China from criticism in their new countries of citizenship, to conveying useful information to China through its United Front Work Department, which has offices set up across the world. 

Chinese living abroad are also expected to be cooperative with Chinese embassies and consulates abroad, representing China's interests. Most Chinese who emigrate abroad from Mainland China find it expedient to cooperate in support of the Chinese Communist Party mostly because of China's coercive policies of harassing family members back in China if their members living abroad fail to cooperate. Those originally hailing from Hong Kong tend to be opponents of the CCP, and the long, probing, intrusive arm of the CCP makes certain they are acutely aware that Hong Kong is now under direct control of Beijing.

China-dissidents of the Beijing government based in Canada have warned Canadian authorities for years of the organized harassment from Chinese authorities that they face, despite their Canadian citizenship. Now, investigative reporting has revealed that the People's Republic has installed what can only be identified as Chinese police stations in countries abroad, focused on controlling Chinese living as citizens in countries other than China. In Toronto, Canada, there are three 'service stations' in operation by the Fuzhou Public Security Bureau, a police force from the Chinese metropolis of Fuzhou.

 

The Fuzhou police say it has already opened 30 such stations in 21 countries.

 

The Asian human rights group Safeguard Defenders has revealed the presence of these furtively-operated police stations in a recently published report. According to China, the stations' existence relates to the need to give assistance to Chinese expatriates in the completion of administrative documents like the renewal of driver's licenses. However, according to Safeguard Defenders, the function of the stations is that of outposts for "Involuntary Return" policies, a program that compels Chinese nationals to return to China should the country's security service consider they have violated Chinese law.

"These operations eschew official bilateral police and judicial cooperations", the report states. Chinese authorities claim that 230,000 expats were "persuaded to return" as a result of various charges laid against them. Those charged respond to the persuasion of the threat of extreme sanctions to be visited on their families in China, including asset seizures and prohibitions against government health care or education opportunities.

Canada is among several dozen countries that have become outposts of Chinese law enforcement. A report in The Irish Times highlighted the opening of a Fuzhou Overseas Police Service Station in central Dublin. In Dublin the Chinese Embassy declared the station to function as a place for Fuzhou expats to seek assistance in routine paperwork. 

 

An investigation in Canada by the Globe and Mail newspaper found that the Association was founded with direct Chinese government oversight. Leading to the question: why is Canada permitting China to establish its own police stations in Canada? More to the point, why is the government of Canada allowing Canadian citizens of Chinese extraction to be harassed, bullied and terrorized by the People's Republic of China?!!!

 

Iran: A Nation Rent Asunder

Women burn headscarves during a protest over Amini's death in the city of Qamishli, Syria, on Monday. (Orhan Qereman/Reuters)

"The spark that lit the recent Iranian protests -- which increasingly displays all the hallmarks of a revolution -- was the murder of a 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman named Mahsa Amini at the hands of Iran's 'morality police'."

"They had detained her because her hijab did not meet the Iranian regime's strict standards."

"The protests that have gripped the country after Amini's death are the stuff of nightmares for the geriatric clerics and military thugs that have run Iran since 1979."

"Unlike in previous protests where the people chanted for economic relief or fair elections, the message from the streets has been clear: "Death to the dictator".

"There is perhaps no better symbol of the system's cruelty than its current president, Ebrahim Raisi, a man who by all accounts was directly involved in sending approximately 5,000 political prisoners to the gallows in a massacre n 1988."

Kaveh Shahrooz, lawyer, human rights activist, senior fellow, Macdonald Laurier Institute

A demonstrator holds a photo of Mahsa Amini during a protest outside the Iranian Embassy in Nicosia, Cyprus, on Tuesday. Amini died after being arrested by Iran's morality police for allegedly violating its strictly enforced dress code. (Philippos Christou/The Associated Press)

 

Several days ago state-organized demonstrations in several cities in Iran countered anti-government unrest resulting from the death of the young Kurdish-Iranian woman who was murdered in police custody. Marchers in these demonstrations called for the execution of anti-government protesters. The Iranian military has warned the Iranian public it planned to confront "the enemies" causing the unrest. The pro-government demonstrators condemned anti-government groups as "Israel's soldiers", shouting "Death to America" and "Death to Israel".

Mahsa Amini's death last week has spurred Iranians to stage mass protests country-wide, outraged that morality police arrested her for wearing "unsuitable attire". The Iranian military messaged that "These desperate actions [demonstrations] are part of the evil strategy of the enemy to weaken the Islamic regime". And it was the intention of the military to "confront the enemies' various plots in order to ensure security and peace for the people who are being unjustly assaulted".

 

A demonstrator cuts his hair during a protest in Nicosia, Cyprus, on Sunday. (Yiannis Kourtoglou/Reuters)

 

According to Iran's Intelligence Minister, "Seditionists' dream of defeating religious values and the great achievements of the revolution will never be realized". In Amini's home province of Kurdistan anti-government protests were particularly resonant. In towns in the northwest of Iran where many of Iran's ten million Kurds live, a general strike in protest was held. The Islamic Republic is in the grip of crises, both internal and external. Some 46 cities in Iran along with towns and villages have seen protests, unnerving authorities.

 

People participate in a protest in New York City on Tuesday. Amini's death in police custody has sparked demonstrations in Iran and worldwide. (Stephanie Keith/Reuters)

 

Dozens of protesters and police have been killed since September 17 when the protests began, with over 1,200 demonstrators arrested. Authorities are restricting internet access, detaining journalists and placing tight controls on all levers of government power. Protesters' capacity to organize and share videos with the outside world has been limited by Instagram, LinkedIn and WhatsApp restrictions; the last Western social media apps in the country. Short video clips have emerged, however, some of security forces firing at protesters and women defiantly snipping their hair off, burning hijabs.

The feared basij motorcycle-riding volunteer forces allied with Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard have attacked demonstrators. Demonstrators have also set fires, flipped over police cars, fighting back against riot police. Independent observers like human rights activists face threats, intimidation and arrest. The public has received government text messages warning of criminal charges for joining demonstrations.

Western sanctions have wiped out savings of a generation in the country, with the economy cratered. Iran's currency value has plummeted from 32,000 rials for a dollar in 2015, to 315,000 rials for a dollar in 2022. Iranian youth attempt to go abroad at whatever cost, leaving the struggle to make ends meet behind them. The 2021 presidential election where Ebrahim Raisi, a protege of Ayatollah Khamenei, saw the lowest electorate vote in the history of the Islamic Republic.

Both in the military and economic sphere, the Revolutionary Guard, answerable only to the Grand Ayatollah, has become ever more powerful during recent tensions with the West. According to the U.S. Treasury, the Guard has smuggled "hundreds of millions of dollars" of sanctioned oil into the international market. Both the Guard and the senior theocracy hold financial and political incentives to protect the status quo, even in the face of the current and growing mass protests by the Iranian public.

Iranian pro-government protesters wave their national flag during a rally in Tehran on Sunday against the recent anti-government protests in the country. (AFP/Getty Images)

Rewarding Russian Call-Up Protesters With Call-Up Summons

"[This winter] will be very difficult."

"They will shoot missiles, and they will target our electric grid."

"This is a challenge, but we are not afraid of that."

"[With the partial call-up of reserves] They admitted that their army is not able to fight with Ukraine anymore."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

 

"It may be the moment to rethink the issue of visas to Russians …"

"Helping the men who want to flee from being mobilized would be a humanitarian and militarily good decision."

Gérard Araud, veteran French diplomat

 

"Many Russians who are now being called up do not want to take part in this war either. This is a good sign."

“A way must be left open for Russians to come to Europe and also to Germany."

German government spokesman

 

"[300,000 is] an immense number of people to then try to get in any sense of semblance to be able to fight in Ukraine."

"The authorities will face major challenges even in mustering this number of personnel."

"We think that they will be very challenged in training, let alone equipping such a large force quickly." "[Recruits will likely be issued] old stuff and unreliable equipment."

Unnamed European official

President Vladimir Putin's announcement of Russia's first military draft since the Second World War sparked waves of protests across the country, resulting in over 700 arrests.

In Germany, some officials express a wish to give aid to Russian men fleeing military service, calling for a Europe-wide solution. This desire to be of help to Russian citizens desperately attempting to avoid the partial reservist call-up issued by the Kremlin in the face of massive territorial losses the Ukrainian military counteroffensive has reclaimed for Ukraine, has found sympathy in France as well. But it is the eastern European countries, former satellites of the Soviet Union, those on Russia's near-abroad that are unwilling to open their borders to fleeing Russians.

 

While Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is bracing for additional strikes on Ukraine's electrical infrastructure in a Kremlin strategy to increae pressure on Ukraine and its backers in the West as colder weather enters leading to winter, Mr. Zelensky spoke disparagingly of the Russian mobilization, its first such event since the Second World War, as a symbol of weakness, not strength, signalling the Russian "army is not able to fight".

 

In the interim, the  United States has provided Ukraine with NASAMS air defence systems. Systems that use surface-to-air missiles to track and shoot down incoming missiles or aircraft. All of these powerful, more technologically advanced war machines continue to give Ukraine an upper hand in its offensive against a Russian military which has stumbled in its mission from 24 February forward in a gross upset of Moscow's arrogant plan to swiftly take Kyiv and unseat Ukraine's government for one of its own.

The European Union has closed itself off to Russian ingress. Direct flights were stopped, land borders increasingly closed to Russian travel, including the exodus of Russian men trying to evade military service. That very escaping influx has created dissension among European officials in the issue whether Russians abandoning their country's call-up for military service in Ukraine looking for safe haven in Europe can expect to be welcomed.

Protests have broken out all over Russia, with burgeoning antiwar demonstrations. Dagestan in the North Caucasus saw police firing warning shots to disperse protesters in the poverty-stricken region where a highway was blocked in protest of Russian President Vladimir Putin's military call-up. Women chanting "No to war!", in Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan, made it abundantly clear they have no intention of standing by while their men are marched off to war as a reflection of Vladimir Putin's vanity project.

The Siberian city of Yakutsk saw women protesting as well, marching in a circle around police and for their efforts many were dragged off by police or forced into police vans, according to Russian media videos. Recent days has seen a minimum of several thousand people arrested for demonstrations taking place around Russia. For their sacrifices in defying the government many of the men hauled off from the protests were immediately given call-up summons.

 

A protester is detained by police during an unsanctioned rally in Saint Petersburg on Wednesday. Despite Russia's harsh laws against criticizing the military and the war in Ukraine, protests erupted across the country after President Vladimir Putin ordered a partial mobilization of reservists. (Olga Maltseva/AFP/Getty Images)

 

Claiming Russian Title to Ukraine's East

"Encroachment on to Russian territory is a crime which allows you to use all the forces of self-defence."

“This is why these referendums are so feared in Kyiv and the west."

Dmitry Medvedev, former Russian president, deputy chair, security council

 

"There is no referendum. There is a propaganda exercise which is being called a referendum."

"It means nothing. It will be a few staged things where there will be Russian television cameras."

Mykhailo Podolyak, senior aide, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy

"From the very start of the operation … we said that the peoples of the respective territories should decide their fate, and the whole current situation confirms that they want to be masters of their fate,"

Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov

A volunteer distributes the Republic campaign newspaper with the slogan '27.09 – Yes' during a campaign rally for a referendum to join the Russian Federation in downtown Luhansk, Ukraine. Photograph: EPA

 

The sudden launch of a 'referendum' whose purpose is to demonstrate to the world that Ukrainian citizens living in occupied Luhansk and Donetsk regions of the Donbas would produce an overwhelming vote in favour of joining Russia, is meant to give legitimacy to Vladimir Putin's illegal occupation and invasion of Ukraine. All the more desperately sought as validation of Russia's claims of historical regional ownership in consideration of recent setbacks where the Ukrainian military has launched its counteroffensive with gratifyingly obvious success for Ukraine's reclamation of its territories and towns.

Moscow, however is leaving nothing to chance. It is clear that the population of the Donbas is being coerced to 'vote' in Russia's favour, leaving an oppressed population little choice but to support Russia's claim that the population agrees it is in favour of leaving Ukraine and joining Russia. Ukrainian officials speak of people being banned from leaving some of the occupied areas while the four-day vote is being conducted.

And as additional measures to make certain that people do as they're told under duress, armed groups go directly to homes forcing people to cast their ballots. Elsewhere, employees face threats of losing their employment should they fail to participate. "Today, the best thing for the people of Kherson would be not to open their doors", advised displaced first deputy council chairman of Kherson region, Yuriy Sobolevsky..

With Ukraine's recapture of large swaths of the northeast in their counteroffensive, the voting manoeuvre was organized in great haste. The same Ukraine counteroffensive highlighting a weak Russian military response, impelled Vladimir Putin to act on a matter he has been famously loathe to call upon, knowing the furious public reaction that would result, by calling up a partial military draft to swell the military by 300,000 troops to deploy to Ukraine.

Moscow envisions succeeding in new attacks to retake the initiative in the grinding conflict. By formally incorporating vulnerable, occupied areas of Ukraine, as essentially Russian, Vladimir Putin would then regard attacks on those areas by Ukraine as representing attacks on Russia itself, to justify a response possibly as frighteningly severe as a nuclear attack. Nothing would merit such a starkly globally extreme attack in the Russian attack against Ukraine, but the reverse obviously would.

References to Russia's nuclear arsenal have gone well beyond idle talk; they are now being invoked as a possible option should Russia find itself in extremis. There is little that could be viewed as more terrorizing than unleashing a nuclear bomb in the context of a war Russia has imposed on a neighbour, with its far-reaching menace and ramifications throughout Europe. Much less a necessary response that would draw the entire region and beyond into a wider conflict.

In the east and northeast, voting in the provinces of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia represent a desperate attempt by the Kremlin to legitimize the illegality of the occupation of a third of Ukraine, in what is essentially the country's industrial heartland. Serhiy Gaidai, Luhansk's Ukrainian governor, spoke of the population of the town of Starobilsk banned from leaving, with people forced from their homes to vote. The situation, he said, was "elections without elections", where people were forced to complete "pieces of paper" lacking privacy, in kitchens and yards.

"The mood of the Russians is panicky because they were not ready to carry out so quickly this so-called referendum, there is no support, there's not enough people", explained Sobolevsky from Kherson. The votes have been condemned by leaders of the West and the United Nations, viewing the issue as an illegitimate precursor to illegal annexation, simply put, with no independent observers where a large percentage of the pre-war population having fled. 

"It's all nonsense, bluff and political manipulation to frighten us and the Western countries with their nuclear stuff", remarked 64-year-old Oleksandr Yaroshenko, resident of Kyiv. Previously, a referendum was staged as a pretext for annexation of Ukraine's Crimea in 2014. Russia's little set-piece strategies for returning its neighbours to their pre-Soviet-disintegration servitude.

Vladimir Vysotsky, the head of the Central Election Commission of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic, inspects a polling station before a referendum in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine. Photograph: AP

Russian Oligarchs' Penchant for Accidents, Suicide

"When people die suddenly in Russia, you usually assume it's suspicious until you rule it out."

"It becomes a lot more suspicious when all those people die in strange ways and all are connected in some way to the oil and gas business."

"Putin is behind all of them, because he is the ultimate beneficiary. He is like the mafia boss."

Bill Browder, former foreign investor in Russia 

"It could be security forces muscling into the energy sector. [But] these are guesses."

"We are just making guesses about a situation that is by definition opaque."

"Strange things happen. History is not required to make sense."

Seva Gunitsky, political science professor, University of Toronto

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Lukoil Vice-President Ravil Maganov in 2019. Maganov was recently reported to have died after falling from a hospital window. Photo by Mikhail Klimentyev/Sputnik/AFP via Getty ImagesFile

 

There is nothing particularly new about political assassinations in Russia. They happen with regularity; critics of the regime, its president, suffer the consequences. Which doesn't stop the outrage of principled people from breaking out of their cocoon of self-preservation from time to time, succumbing to their outrage in however a brief period of relieving themselves of the massive irritation they feel over the Kremlin's political machinations in league with their president's ambitions.

 

From the time of the February invasion of Ukraine bizarre deaths of prominent, wealthy, sometimes influential businessmen have occurred. Mysterious deaths that on occasion also lethally victimize members of their families. Mysterious mostly because the reason for these deaths remains unknown. And those responsible are not about to enlighten the puzzled onlookers who may themselves be the next victims.

 

From mere days leading up to the invasion of Ukraine to the present time, a line of up to eleven oligarchs and business executives, most with links to Russia's largest corporations, and mostly involved with energy, have been dispatched in accidents, suicides, murder-suicides and suddenly-fatal health issues. One prominent Russian fell overboard from a speeding boat in the Sea of Japan, just this past Saturday.

 

And just before that occurred, the vice-president of Lukoil energy giant lost his balance and fell from a window of a hospital where he was being treated for an undisclosed malady. The series of strange fatalities has aroused visions of a widespread menace despite Russia being a country where assassinations are not uncommon. 

 

Bill Browder considers most of those deaths were simply murder scenes, orchestrated by business rivals for greater assets from figures in the energy industry, awash with wealth despite Western sanctions. He believes these deaths were planned by the FSB the main security-intelligence service of the country, and the trail points directly to Vladimir Putin extracting his cut of resulting proceeds.

Not to be overlooked is that some of the dead had been incautious enough to speak their opposition of the war. "Let's not forget that Putin does mix money and politics and I think he goes after his enemies in both cases with equal amounts of cruelty and potentially violence", said Marcus Kolga, a fellow of the Macdonald-Laurier Institute think-tank.

President Putin lost no time making any measure of opposition to his invasion of Ukraine a proposition of risk for anyone criticizing the "special military operation" that has destroyed towns and villages, laid waste to inner cities, killed thousands of Russian and Ukrainian servicemen and many more thousands of innocent Ukrainian civilians.

Something as offensive as calling the 'special military operation' a war, referring to the brutality involved, or any other type of comment, can net the offender up to 15 years in prison. It's possible that as an alternative of the irreversible state of death, some of those marked out for death would far have preferred the option of 15 years imprisonment, but they had no choice in the matter.

Central Clinical Hospital in Moscow where Lukoil executive Ravil Maganov is said to have died from a fall out of a sixth floor window, September 1, 2022. Photo by Evgenii Bugubaev/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Toronto 18 Muhammad Shareef Abdelhaleem : Full Parole Denied

"I'm an intimidating individual and I'm very loud. Everyone here will testify to that. I tend to express myself vocally and vociferously."

"I'm a very loud person. I always cut people off, I vocally impose myself. These are things I have to work on."

:I hope the board does not insist or base their decision on whether for the next 30 years of my life I will ever get angry -- of course I'll get angry. It's a human thing to be angry at certain things."

"I'm being completely honest. You should appreciate the honesty."

Muhammad Shareef Abdelhaleem, 46, charged and convicted of terrorism in 2011

Muhammad Shareef Abdelhaleem, who was a key architect of the Toronto 18 terrorism plot. Photo by Postmedia files

Abdelhaleem obviously thought his 'honesty' would be disarming, would gain him a measure of respect as he addressed the panel comprised of two parole board members in his customary loud, harsh voice. A man prone to outbursts of anger, aware of that, and 'working on it'. He has been on day parole in a halfway house in Montreal for over 14 months. In 2011 he was given a life sentence with no chance to seek parole for a decade. That's the Canadian justice system's version of imprisonment for a life sentence in recognition of a crite of high treason and intent to terrorize and indulge in mass murder.

He and the other 17 arrested when he was in 2006, members of a group named the 'Toronto 18' of which he was a major conspirator, planned to detonate powerful truck bombs at the Toronto Stock Exchange, at a Canadian military base, and at Canada's spy agency, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. Along with additional plans to storm Parliament and behead the prime minister. Canada's very own, home-grown Islamist terrorists. 

Before all this occurred, Abdelhaleem, the 'key architect' of the terrorism plot, was a high-paid computer engineer with a side-interest in day-trading as an investor. His commitment to Islamist jihad twinned with his passion for acquiring money. So why bomb the Toronto stock exchange, what would that have in common with a revenge jihad attack? He thought he could profit financially from the chaos that would ensue.

That was merely a secondary benefit, not his prime motivation, he assured the parole board. It was the political element that motivated him, wanting to bring the penalty of justice to those harming the interests of global Islam. He felt that after spending over a year on day parole, he should qualify for full parole to enable him to live a normal life. 

More recently, with the Russian attack on Ukraine, he felt outraged that the West was opening wide to accepting Ukrainian refugees, valuing their lives over those of Syrian refugees. Ukrainians are not Muslim, Syrians are. Another discriminatory signal that Muslim lives are worthless. His mind failed to grasp the significance of an Islamic regime having been the cause of the death of hundreds of thousands of Muslims in Syria and his belief that Western democracies have the obligation to rescue Muslims from Muslim rule.

The fact that brutal sectarian violence, pitting two sects of the same faith against one another seems not to bother this man; only his perception that non-Muslim democracies have an obligation to rescue Muslims from their Muslim rulers. Managing to overlook the acceptance of refugee Afghans and Syrians that did take place, among others fleeing violence in Muslim countries. When he mentioned his anger over the issue to  his anti-violent extremism counsellors they responded "maybe they're afraid of letting in terrorists" reminding him of his own plans to commit mass violence in Canada.

When a Board member asked Abdelhaleem his thoughts regarding the potential loss of life and damage to infrastructure his terror group planned to mount had the plot succeeded, his response was somewhat less than reassuring: 

"There's no doubt that this would have been devastating to certain families should they have lost loved ones."

"Somebody must have woken up the morning of my arrest, some worker in one of those buildings, and thought, 'Wait a minute, I could have died today'. It must have scared the living bejesus out of him. I can empathize with that."

"But I don't get to the point of tears about it because at the end of the day it did not occur."

No, it did not come to fruition, but only because the terrorist plan in its wide scope and potential had been infiltrated and apprehended, not because the group hadn't intended to fully carry out their carefully planned atrocities. So does that sound like someone who fully appreciates the consequences of his intended actions? And in so doing feels the least bit of remorse? Strangely enough his parole officer and a halfway house advisor recommended his release on full parole.

 

Describing him as a 'conformist' meticulous with rules, polite and responsible. One who participates in deradicalization counselling, enrolled with the intention to begin college in the fall. Two restrictions were proposed by his parole officer; not to associate with anyone involved in crime or radicalized activity and to have no position of leadership in a spiritual or religious activity or group. The Parole Board reached their decision after several days of deep thought. 

"It is difficult to believe and disturbing to think that he would accept a role in a plot that had the potential to cause significant amounts of death and destruction simply as a means to gain acceptance of a group of individuals."

Correctional Service of Canada

The psychologist who worked with Abdelhaleem reached the professional conclusion that remorse was 'incomplete'. For his part, at the hearing, Abdelhaleem found the psychological report wanting. That the psychologist had a personal dislike for him because he tended to argue back when told he had a “parasitic” relationship with his family, who send him an allowance to help support him. "Venal and vindictive", was how the psychologist was labelled by Abdelhaleem. Neatly encapsulating precisely what his own personality obviously is.

Shareef Abdelhaleem watches as a Crown attorney questions a witness during a Toronto 18 trial in 2010. Photo by Pam Davies/File

"It was the opinion of the Board that the seriousness of your actions and their potentially devastating nature called for caution."

"The Board concludes that you will present an undue risk to society and your release will not contribute to the protection of society by facilitating your reintegration into society as a law-abiding citizen on full parole."

"After a few years of a hedonistic lifestyle including the use of alcohol, drugs and extravagant spending, you decided to reconnect with your faith [Islam]. You attended a mosque more assiduously. You eventually met radicalized people and engaged in activities that led to the current offences,"

"Several psychological risk assessments are included in your file, the most recent being from October 2020. In her report, the psychologist identifies narcissistic and obsessive-compulsive personality traits. She notes that you are vulnerable to substance abuse and have anxiety and depressive effects, but do not meet criteria for having a clear-cut problem."

"Your family members support you in your social reintegration, and you maintain employment."

"However, you are still struggling with adjustments to the community and work has to be done in developing skills to reach full autonomy. More specifically, you need to work in the areas of self-esteem, sense of belonging, fear of displeasing others, and a need for approval."

"You do not demonstrate any radical thinking on any subjects, but you appear to be sensitive to injustice in the world."

"You generally did well in incarceration and since your return to the community. You have shown your capacity to respect rules as well as your special conditions and have been able to work with your caseworkers in what appears to be an open and transparent manner. There is no doubt for the Board that you have made progress up to now."

Parole Board of Canada

The Success of China's "Zero-COVID" Policy

"We've been locked up in our home for more than 40 days. We are short of everything, especially food."

"There are so many difficulties, I feel like crying just by mentioning them."

"We only eat naan and congee [flatbread and porridge]. There is no milk or vegetables."

Gulnazar, resident of Ili, Xinjiang region, China

"All supermarkets and small stores where you can buy groceries are closed."

"The online shopping platforms designated by the government are also having shortages and you cannot buy stuff or receive deliveries."

Guiyang resident posted on Weibo

Millions of migrant workers in Shanghai were unable to earn any income during the months-lockdown as China pursued a zero-Covid policy. Photograph: Aly Song/Reuters

 

China, the very place where the pandemic raised its head, remains fixated on a "zero COVID" policy, no exceptions and no complaints permitted. But there have been and continue to be plaintive messages posted on social media from people desperate for food and medical care. Tens of millions of people are once again under weeks-long coronavirus lockdowns. And they're there, locked into a now-too-familiar scenario of SARS-CoV-2 punishment they can do nothing about, while a meeting of the Communist party is set to begin. 

There will be no relief for these people hit with this misfortune until that key meeting has been concluded -- if then. By orders of Communist Party leader and President of the country, Xi Jinping; "zero COVID" must be maintained and protocols upholding that goal are not to be questioned. Localized outbreaks are kept from spreading through these lockdowns at a tremendous economic and psychological toll on a long-suffering population.

This is a momentous occasion for President XI as he prepares to launch a third five-year term in office in October, irrespective of the precedent of stepping down following two terms in executive office. So at least through that meeting, the 20th National Chinese Communist Party Congress is over, lockdowns are to continue. Some faint hope is offered that post-meeting some of the sweeping COVID controls may be rescinded.

Ili prefecture in northwestern Xinjiang region is where some of the most serious reports are emanating from. One woman who gives only one name, explains that local authorities locked their apartment door from the outside, opening it only when medical workers appear to perform coronavirus tests. Neighbourhood committees in some cities deliver free groceries to those in lockdown. But this woman says the neighbourhood committee where she is locked down offers only to sell food at higher-than-normal prices and even that not frequently enough.

 

Residents stand behind barricades in a sealed-off portion of Shanghai   Aly Song/Reuters

 

Online postings in Ili speak of an inability to take their sick children to hospital. Some post of the death of elderly family members during lockdown. Widely reported on Chinese social media leading the Ili government to apologize for problems in the lockdown response while also rejecting reports as mere rumours. Four people were punished with five to ten days' detention each for "spreading rumours" about the lockdown. Residents are warned to watch their words.

The official case count in the entire population would cause joy in any other country, but not China. A mere 949 locally transmitted cases were reported nationwide on Sunday, within an immense population of 1.4 billion people. Residents in lockdown are unable to work to sustain themselves through a regular income, ending up surviving on fast-disappearing savings. President Xi projects an image of himself as a populist leader who has declared elimination of poverty central to his administration.

In Guiyang where a lockdown in parts of the city commenced on September 5, a wildlife park published a public plea for food to keep its tigers, pandas and other wild animals from starvation. In Lhasa, the capital of occupied Tibet, parts of the city began locking down a month ago.  Shanghai's earlier months-long lockdown echoes what is occurring once again in parts of China. In Shanghai, supply chains were disrupted in the wealthy city, leaving residents begging for food, pleading for ill family members to be permitted to go to hospital.

Beijing maintains China is unable to halt lockdowns since a substantial number of the population, in particular the elderly who were not given priority status, remain unvaccinated. The country's refusal to import the most effective foreign vaccines against coronavirus, relying totally on domestic vaccines that provide much less immunity explains in part its predicament. Censorship and detentions aid the government in suppressing domestic criticism of its "zero COVID" policy.

Residents line up to register to get their routine COVID-19 throat swabs at a coronavirus testing site in Beijing, Monday, Sept. 5, 2022. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

Ukrainian Counteroffensive Successes

"To achieve the goals of the special military operation to liberate Donbas, a decision was made to regroup Russian troops stationed in the Balakliya and Izyum regions, to bolster efforts along the Donetsk front."

Russia's Defense Ministry statement

 

"I have traveled to Kyiv to show that they can continue to rely on us. That we will continue to stand by Ukraine for as long as necessary with deliveries of weapons, and with humanitarian and financial support."

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock

This handout photograph taken Sept. 9, 2022, released Sept. 11, shows Ukrainian soldiers loading an abandoned Russian military vehicle on a trailer during the Ukrainian Army counter-offensive in Kharkiv region. (General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces / AFP)

"The Russian army in these days is demonstrating the best that it can do -- showing its back", quipped a jubilant Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as he mocked Russia's response to Ukraine's long anticipated counteroffensive, retaking huge swaths of Ukraine's northeast from Russian military occupation. Posting a video of Ukrainian soldiers hoisting the national flag over another town the counteroffensive reclaimed.

 

Sunday saw Ukrainian troops pressing their counteroffensive in the country's northeast, in the bleak shadow of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant's state of potential meltdown. The plant in the south of the country was shut down completely in hopes of preventing a radiation disaster caused by fighting that raged not far from the plant complex.

 

Kyive's success in reclaiming Russia-occupied areas in the Kharkiv region has forced Moscow to withdraw its troops. Ostensibly to prevent them from being surrounded. In the process left behind was significant amounts of weapons and munitions as a result of the hasty retreat, falling neatly into the hands of the Ukrainian military who will make good use of it all.

 

Izyum, considered an important command and supply hub for Russia's northern front has been taken by the 95th brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. "Everything around is destroyed, but we will restore everything. Izyum was, is, and will be Ukraine", said Yuriy Kochevenko of the 95th brigade in a video he posted showing the empty central city square surrounded by destroyed buildings.

 

Meanwhile, Ukraine's nuclear energy operator announced the reconnection of the nuclear power plant to Ukraine's electricity grid, enabling engineers to shut down the last operational reactor in order to safeguard the plant amidst the surrounding battles.

 

Ukraine's military chief, General Valerii Zaluzhnyy, announced Ukraine's forces had recaptured about 3,000 square kilometres since the counteroffensive began. Ukrainian troops are only 50 kilometres from the border with Russia. Ukrainian troops have reclaimed control of over 40 settlements in the region, according to Kharkiv Governor Oleh Syniehubov.

 

Fighting Racism with Racism

"In response to the Canadian government cutting anti-racism funding for an organization whose co-founder has a history of antisemitic tweets, The Lawfare Project, in partnership with RE-LAW LLP, just submitted a FOIA request to find out why the Department of Canadian Heritage worked with this organization."

"The Community Media Advocacy Centre received $133,800 from the Department of Canadian Heritage, according to Housing, Diversity and Inclusion Minister Ahmed Hussen. The funding, which was meant for an anti-racism strategy for Canadian broadcasting, went to an organization whose senior consultant, Laith Marouf, made antisemitic comments."

"Justin Trudeau's government said it will take steps to ensure this does not happen again. However, The Lawfare Project is seeking to find out how this happened in the first place."

"The Lawfare Project has requested copies of all communications between the government and the Community Media Advocacy Centre and/or Marouf. The organization also requested copies of all documents — including briefing notes, reports, memos, media lines, and communications — relating to the Community Media Advocacy Centre."

"The purpose of the FOIA request is to compel the government to disclose key documents and communications that should uncover how they came to form this absurd partnership, when they discovered Marouf’s virulent antisemitic views, and why this was discovered only after contracts were signed, funds were disbursed, and some of CMAC’s programs and projects took place."

 

"The FOIA request is an important step to find out how Canadian taxpayer money could have funded Jew-hatred. It is unacceptable to say that this merely slipped through the cracks. We are determined to investigate exactly how the Department of Canadian Heritage funded this organization."

"How can people trust a system that provides anti-racism funding to racists themselves? Jewish Canadians should not have to worry about whether or not their taxpayer money is going directly to fund conspiracy theories."

Brooke Goldstein, Founder and Executive Director, The Lawfare Project 

Housing, Diversity and Inclusion Minister Ahmed Hussen has asked Canadian Heritage to 'look closely at the situation' in response to what he called 'unacceptable behaviour' by Laith Marouf, a senior consultant involved in a government-funded project to combat racism in broadcasting. (Andrew Vaughan/The Canadian Press)

 

The strange carelessness and oblivion of the current Liberal-led government of Canada under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau which goes into overdrive when a citizen uses crude language to address his frustration with the mandates and misappropriation of government funds along with excessive taxes reflecting this government's fixation on destroying Western Canada's industries revolving around its natural energy resources, feigning outrage that a Cabinet minister would be met with hostility was used as a devious move to distract the attention of the public from yet another government outrageous stumble. 

 

A well-known user of social media who aims spitefully insulting comments at minority groups, at Western governments, at Blacks and Indigenous peoples, and above all, at venting venom at Jews and the state of Israel, inveigled his way as a professional communicator into various places of trust, coming away with hefty contracts from a number of government ministries. The man, a racist whose bigotry encompassed a wide range of victims, was hired by Heritage Canada to operate a number of training sessions for Canadian media on anti-racism.

 

Any reasonable onlooker might feel it should be standard procedure when handing out lucrative contracts to those posing as professional communicators to deduce through an internet search of social media what his qualifications might be and whether the candidate has a clean record on what he claimed to be anti-racism credentials. None, apparently did. The contract from Heritage Canada was launched in May and at his first session, Laith Marouf, (the founder and principal communicator and sole employee of the profesional group he established -- Community Media Advocacy Centre -- aside from his wife), began his first lecture with a scathing attack on Jews and on 'apartheid' Israel.

 

It took a casual search by a telecommunications consultant to discover an unfolding situation, where a serial social media poster of vile racist commentary to reveal the man's background with the foreground of a government-of-Canada-sponsored program on anti-racism. The absurdity of this sordid connection could be lost on no unbiased mind. A Liberal Member of Parliament Antony Housefather, become aware of the situation with this man and spoke to his ministerial colleague, MP Ahmed Hussen, warning him that the man he had publicly praised and co-signed a contract with was a racist. To no avail.

 

Finally, when the story broke and was reported in the news, Minister Hussen was appalled, stating the government mantra that "anti-semitism has no place in Canada", and that he intended to demand an explanation from the Community Media Advocacy Centre, why it had hired a racist as a senior consultant. This, from a senior government minister who had earlier praised the man stating how proud his government was to launch such a program with the estimable assistance of the consultant, beaming beside him in a public announcement.

 

The Lawfare Project has launched an investigation, requesting information from the government of Canada through a freedom of information request. The investigation is to take place with the partnership of RE-LAW LLP, a Toronto law firm. This is what David Elmaleh, a partner at RE-LAW had to say:

"The government's use of taxpayer funds in this instance is particularly concerning. We are pleased to be assisting the Lawfare Project in its quest to bring these issues of vital public importance into the public domain. The public deserves to know what transpired, and why."

 

The Lawfare Project was founded for the express purpose of bringing justice into the environment of racial denigration of Jews in general and vilification of the State of Israel in particular. And they have been fairly busy. Through the unflaggng work of its executive director, human rights lawyer Brooke Goldstein, they have been "defending the civil and human rights of the Jewish people and fighting discrimination wherever we see it".

 

In the current and growing atmosphere of antisemitism, the Lawfare Project saw Kuwait Airways terminate half of its American operations and inter-European flight routes as a result of its discrimination practised on Israeli passport-holders. Corporations have been stopped from implementing BDS policies through counselling on the legal implications of discriminatory commercial conduct. The U.S. Congress has agreed to hold the United Nations to account for its ongoing promotion and inciting of violent radicalization in Palestinian children through UNRWA refugee camps.

 

Palestinian youths hold weapons during a military-style graduation ceremony after being trained at one of the Hamas-run Liberation Camps in Gaza City in 2015.(Suhaib Salem/Reuters

Foreign Actor Interference Activity : China/Canada

"[Support for Chinese] reunification [with Taiwan is a] sacred mission of all Chinese sons and daughters at home and abroad."

"Chinese Canadians overseas will firmly support the Chinese government's political stance and fight against any external forces that try to split and undermine China's unity."

Chinese Canadian association joint declaration, Dawa News

"[Chinese Canadians consider Taiwan and China to be] one family. So why do we organize activities like this? Because we still have feelings for our country of origin and the hometowns we grew up in."

"We don't want to see people on both sides of the [Taiwan] strait to continue to argue with each other."

Pifeng Hu, honorary president, Peace and Development Forum of Canada, Richmond, British Columbia

"Let me ask you a question: Will Canadians agree if Quebec wants to be independent? Will the United Kingdom be happy if Scotland wants to be independent?"

"You can't have that double standard [toward China]."

"[U.S. Speaker Nancy Pelosi's trip to Taiwan was a] publicity stunt [designed to pull China into war]."

"I was once told by other Chinese immigrants to go back to China. I replied, it's totally fine that you dislike my opinions. However, it's my personal choice to stay here or to leave."

Hilbert Yiu, former chairman, Chinese Benevolent Association of Vancouver

"[Canada should] pause and think [and back off from being a cheerleader for the United States]."

"We are departing from our traditional role as peacemakers."

"In the past, Canada had been unbiased when there was a conflict between nationals or political entities."

"[1.8 million Chinese Canadians would be] disgusted [if Taiwan was used as a pawn in conflict]."

David Choi, national executive chair, National Congress of Chinese Canadians

 

Canada has a significant number of Chinese-Canadians integrated into its general population comprised of people from all over the world, as a country of immigrants. With greater numbers of immigrants emigrating to Canada from their home countries globally on an annual basis, not to mention the tens of thousands of refugees who are also accepted as landed immigrants (and in good time, citizens) of this country where a cornucopia of ethnic groups and a babel of languages can be seen and heard on the streets of any Canadian city.

Chinese have a long history of citizenship in Canada. Originally brought over as a hard-working labour base in the 19th century when the country began its unification program of railroads from coast to coast to coast, a long, arduous project that included cutting tunnels and laying rails through the Rocky Mountains and the Coastal Mountains of Alberta and British Columbia. When Chinese later wanted to immigrate, a steep 'head tax' to dissuade them was applied by a racist government that wanted only white Europeans.

 

In the last several decades however, China has called upon its expatriate community to heed the call of the motherland by supporting the government in Beijing's surreptitious methods of gaining influence and aiding China in its long-range plans of pulling countries into its economic, social and political orbit.  Confucius Institutes were installed in universities across the country eager for investment, where Chinese history, customs and language would be taught. A potential academic bonus screening a bid for increased Communist Party of China influence.

China's increasingly tyrannical demands on other nations for unquestioned respect despite its human rights abuses in Tibet and Xinjiang, its clever manipulation of consumer markets, wiping industrial production off the map for most countries that saw its blue-collar jobs disappearing to Chinese lower wage economy, Beijing's strident belligerence in the South and East China seas reflecting its territorial ambitions to its neighbours' deficit, and its slow and steady acquisition of the world's rare earth resources while calling upon Chinese abroad to support Beijing's ambitions through the Belt and Road and other initatives have put the West at odds with China.

 

China's abrogation of the treaty it signed promising a fifty-year autonomy for Hong Kong, placed the world on notice that the population-and-trade colossus was serious about its expansionist plans. It was clear that Taiwan was next in line to be drawn directly into Beijing's sphere of control. A long-autonomous, resourceful, wealthy democracy, Taiwanese and their government have no wish to accede to Beijing's demand for unification.  In presenting an aggressive agenda toward the island of Taiwan, defiant of the island nation's refusal, China's threats and bullying tactics have turned the eyes of the West in its direction.

In the wake of Nancy Pelosi's senior U.S. diplomatic visit to Taiwan that aroused Beijing to a rage of threats and violent intimidation, Canadian parliamentarians have also announced plans of a trade mission to Taiwan. Leading to Beijing trying to exert pressure on Canada's government not to recognize Taiwan as an independent state. Accordingly, 87 Chinese groups signed a letter published in a Chinese-Canadian newspaper pledging fealty on behalf of all Chinese-Canadians, to Beijing's assertion of 'one China' including Taiwan.

The truth is, by no means do these groups represent the best interests of Canadian-Chinese as a whole. Chinese who originated from mainland China are represented by these groups, but certainly not Chinese originally from Hong Kong, or Taiwanese Chinese n Canada, much less Tibetans and Uyghurs from China all of whom deplore Beijing's political trajectory. Taiwan denies it has ever been part of China and that it will ever in the future join China.

To use Quebec and Scotland's positions of discontent with the nations they are linked to as a comparison with Taiwan is ingenuous at best, deliberately misconstruing their positions, since if through a referendum either population voted for separation, it would be honoured by the nations involved, albeit sadly and reluctantly. Beijing has no such intentions; instead it plans a military invasion of Taiwan to unseat its government and absorb the island state just as it did Tibet.

"And again, I'm not saying (organizations were repeating views at the behest of foreign governments) that's happening in this case, but this is where my concern is."

:What I would like to be sure of is that all organizations are expressing their own personal views, and not passing on the views of another unnamed actor because then that, I think, is problematic."

David Muilroney, former Canadian ambassador to China

"[The Dawa news letter forwarded to her by many Taiwanese Canadians expressed views] not acceptable at all by all overseas Taiwanese."

"I don't know if the strategy is useful for others, but it's useless to Taiwanese Canadians."

Angel Liu, director-general, Taipei Economic and Cultural Office, Vancouver

A soldier holds a Taiwan national flag during a military exercise in Hsinchu County, northern Taiwan.. (Chiang Ying-ying / AP)