Peace Negotiations -- Over to You, Putin

"[The] only way to reopen a window of opportunity for diplomacy is through tough measures against all those bankrolling the Russian army and effective sanctions against Moscow itself – banking and energy sanctions."

"It is absolutely clear that Moscow used the time meant for preparing a leaders-level meeting to organize new massive attacks."

"This war won’t stop with political statements alone; real steps are needed. We expect action from the U.S., Europe, and the entire world."

"Russia chooses ballistics instead of the negotiating table. We expect a response from everyone in the world who has called for peace but now more often stays silent rather than taking principled positions." 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy 

 

"It’s inhuman, striking civilians."

"With every cell of my body I want this war to end as soon as possible. I wait, but every time the air raid alarm sounds, I am afraid."

Oleksandr Khilko, Kyiv resident 

 

"You never think it will be your house that's hit. These attacks are very cruel. They happen at a time when people are sleeping and you are unable to get your bearings."

"And they are attacking with everything all together - missiles and Shaheds  [drones]."

"They all attack at the same time. It's just impossible to live like this."

Iryna Kutsenko, Kyiv resident  

Kyiv hit by 'massive' Russian missile and drone attack, killing 18: Kyiv and other parts of Ukraine came under a major combined missile and drone attack overnight into Thursday. ABC News' Tom Soufi Burridge

 

 A major air attack was once again launched by Moscow early Thursday, hitting Kyiv, including a rare strike on the centre of the city. 48 people were wounded, and 18 killed. European Union diplomatic offices were also hit and damaged. This was the first major Russian attack on the Ukrainian capital in weeks, as the bombardment of drones and missiles hit, even as U.S.-led peace efforts are ongoing in the hopes of ending the three-year war, without gaining any traction.

 

While Ukraine is anxious for a ceasefire leading to a swift conclusion of the conflict, Vladimir Putin plays the innocent peace-seeker to mollify U.S. President Donald Trump, although there is no way to conceal the reality of Putin's determination to grind on while lending himself to the fantasy of peace, as a shield to the reality of Russia's goal to acquire more Ukrainian territory in the interim. 

 

And while Ukrainian President Zelenskyy will never agree as part of the peace process to accede to Moscow's demands of foregoing Ukrainian territory annexed by Russia, it will represent another nail in his coffin to bring U.S. President Trump to abandon Putin and support Ukraine.

 

The drone and missile bombardment represents Putin's contempt for Trump's mission to secure a peace 'deal', in the hopes of recognition that will lead to the award of the Nobel Peace Prize. These ongoing attacks on civilian areas of Ukraine sabotage any peace efforts and do so with that end in mind. Ukraine urgently requested an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss the overnight bombardment, and much good will that do, with Russia sitting on said Council.

 

The Kremlin expresses itself dedicated to ongoing peace talks to placate the American president's fixation on representing himself as a peacemaker extraordinaire. The evidence is front and centre this is all a sham considering Thursday's air attack, one of the largest since 2022. What also distinguishes this attack is its penetration deep into Ukraine, with Russian drones and missiles hitting the heart of Kyiv.

 

Russia launched 598 strike drones and decoys, along with 31 missiles of various kinds across the country early Thursday, most of them directly targeting Kyiv. Some 33 locations across ten of the city's districts were  hit directly, or damaged by falling debris as thousands of windows shattered and close to 100 buildings sustained damage, including a city centre shopping mall.

 

Firefighters tackled blazes in Zaporizhzia in the early hours of Saturday morning.  Photo State Emergency Service of Ukraine

 

Two strikes landed 20 seconds apart, some 50 metres from the EU Mission to Ukraine building in Kyiv, according to European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen; fortunately no staff were injured. "In response, we are summoning the Russian envoy in Brussels", stated the European Union's top diplomatic, Kaja Kallas.

 

Western leaders point out the obvious, that Vladimir Putin is dragging out peace efforts, avoiding serious negotiations, allowing time for Russian troops to advance their positions in Ukraine. Ukrainian military leaders conceded this week that Russian forces have broken into an eighth region of Ukraine in their aspirations to capture more ground. 

 

After temporarily criticizing Putin for stalling on a proposal by the U.S. for direct peace talks with Zelenskyy, Trump decided last Friday he expects to decide in two weeks on what possible steps can be taken to further direct talks if they continue to languish without scheduling. As for Zelenskyy, he still holds out hope for the U.S. to exact harsher sanctions to cripple the Russian economy should Putin not demonstrate an intention to end the war. 

 

A photo from Ukraine's emergency and rescue service shows a devastated block of flats. DSNS Ukraine

 

Is There a Difference Between Terrorism and Journalism?

"After some 20 people were killed in an Israeli strike on a hospital in Gaza Monday, media zeroed in on their new favourite narrative, implying that because journalists were among the dead, they were targeted."

"Indeed, the headline carried by the Globe and Mail above a Reuters wire story read as if killing journalists was the point of the strike: Multiple Journalists Killed by Israeli Strikes on Gaza's Nasser Hospital."

"It wasn't until several paragraphs into the story that it was reported Israeli troops fired two artillery shells at the hospital, targeting surveillance cameras on the roof'."

"In fact, nearly half of the 197 journalists -- listed by the Committee to Protect Journalists -- killed in Gaza and Lebanon since the October 7 attack, 'worked for media owned by or affiliated with terrorist organizations', according to analysis by American journalist James Kirchuk. These include 'journalists' who worked for the Hamas-affiliated Al-Aqsa TV, the Islamic Jihad-run Al-Quds Al Youm and the Hezbollah-owned Al-Manar." 

Carson Jerema, National Post 

A combination image shows the journalists killed in Israeli strikes on Nasser Hospital on Aug. 25, 2025: (L-R) Hussam al-Masri, a contractor for Reuters; Mariam Abu Dagga, who the Associated Press said freelanced for the agency; Moaz Abu Taha, a freelance journalist who worked with several news organizations, including occasionally Reuters; Mohammed Salama, who Qatar-based Al Jazeera said worked for the broadcaster; and Ahmed Abu Aziz, taking a selfie in an undated social media image obtained by Reuters. (Stringer/Reuters/Ahmed Abu Aziz via Facebook/Handouts via Reuters)

 

This is a war, one wrought by Hamas and other Palestinian terrorists -- Palestinian Islamic Jihad, PFLP, Fatah -- who raged through southern Israel in their thousands, committing mass murder, rape, wholesale destruction and the abduction of 250 children, infants, women, the elderly, foreign farm workers, leaving devastation in their wake and a traumatized population in Israel. The nation's military response, with the Israel Defense Forces entering Gaza's crowded population enclaves in their search for the terrorists ensconced within the densely-packed civilian areas and deep underground in the Hamas tunnel network, has incited world condemnation.

 

While nations under attack by hostile foreign elements are guaranteed international recognition of the right to respond, protecting its population and searching out their enemies to destroy any further potential for additional attacks, Israel appears the sole exception. Government leaders in the West gasp their condemnation of 'lack of proportionality', when the Israeli hammer nails the terrorists threatening it, even while doing its utmost to minimize collateral damage impacting the civilian population in Gaza. That Hamas willingly sacrifices Palestinian civilians for the greater good of destroying Israel, all are silent.

 

Infamously, Palestinian terrorist groups view their civilian populations as expendable, their value as human shields and as public relations material in Hamas's victimhood agenda of Israel deliberately killing Palestinian children and women, the greater the number the greater the impact on an accusing Western media, unquestioningly repeating victim numbers to the gratification of the terrorists and the horrifying fascination of their readership, Israel becomes the aggressor, and sympathy oozes for Hamas's courage in confronting an 'oppressor'.

 

Context in reporting events is irrelevant to the greater goal of demonizing Israel. Reuters, The Associated Press, lead the way and the BBC, CBC, CNN and others publish what the public omnivorously reads, listens to, and is ultimately fully influenced by. Israel is expected to endure whatever happens to it and its population. Its existential condition surrounded by a death cult nourished by the Islamic Republic of Iran and carried out by its terrorist proxies is its problem, and its alone, for Jews, and Israel have always been left to their own devices in securing their lives.

 

The inflated numbers of dead Palestinian children give way to the tales of starvation, privation and death, photographs of strike-mangled bodies, of children in the throes of death lacking food whose twisted, gaunt bodies reflect chronic inherited diseases, not starvation, but those photographs make good readership bait along with the cover stories -- and deception sells, as long as it involves the demonization of Jews and Israel.

 

Journalists among 20 Palestinians killed in Israeli strike on Gaza hospital – still from video

 

Anas Al-Sharif, one of the purported journalists killed in the August 10 strike reported for Qatari-funded Al Jazeera, while also "an active Hamas military wing operative" who "received a salary from the Hamas terror group" according to Israeli records. Oh well, there's the problem writ large: 'Israeli records'...as in who would believe anything that Israel claims, as opposed to the credibility of everything that Hamas announces...?

 

Even documents attesting to the 'journalist' having joined the Hamas military wing where he "was certified as the team commander" of a "rocket launching squad in northern Gaza", and being listed as a member of the Hamas Nukhba Force, a military group that "led the initial waves of attacks on southern Israel during the October 7, 2023 Hamas onslaught". Documents, so what? Evidence, hard evidence, is it? But ... but ... but ... Hamas certifies on their honour, that he was a journalist, and so does Al Jazeera. Believe Israel? 

 

Al Jazeera, after all, is a credible, creditable news source. Is it not? Well, perhaps it's true they employ many Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives as journalists, why not? They're direct observers and actors, so with their insight and personal experience, doesn't that make them the perfect journalistic specimens? Why should Al Jazeera be put on a hot seat to explain the links between its journalistic credibility and having terrorists on its payroll?  

 

The Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, on Monday.

Abdallah F.s. Alattar/Anadolu/Getty Images

 

"On the way to Gaza, when they started to touch me and sexually abuse me, I passed out physically and mentally. I couldn’t handle it anymore."

"I had to beg not to be raped, telling them I was on my period. I didn’t know exactly what had been done to my body in those lost minutes when I wasn’t conscious. But my soul already knew: nothing would ever be the same. I was suffering from a fractured jaw, a broken pelvis, ear damage from the explosions, and a burned leg."

"They took us through the back entrance [of the Nasser Hospital] and walked us past all the civilians. In the hospital, there was an area that was closed off and used only by Hamas, with an armed guard. They locked us in a room, where we met a third hostage."

"When it was time to eat, they took a lot of food to their room. They had meat, rice, and vegetables. At the same time, they left us with our meal, which contained sometimes as little as 10 chickpeas or a piece of dry flat bread, which wasn’t always well-cooked."

Ilana Gritzewsky, former Israeli/Gaza hostage 

Ilana Gritzewsky shows the UN Security Council a picture of her and her hostage partner Matan Zangauker on August 27, 2025. (Perry Bindelglass / Israeli Mission to the UN)

 

Queers for Palestine's Influence in Ottawa's Pride Parade Cancellation

"I don't think we want to have a situation where anybody can just block a parade -- especially Capital Pride -- put a bunch of demands on the table, and the parade doesn't move forward unless people get into those demands. I don't think that's acceptable."

"I don't think that's a proper way to advocate or discuss the issues that are important to those people."

"If you start licensing people to block parades and other events and say we'll do whatever you ask, where does it end?" 

Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe

Mayor Mark Sutcliffe addressed Sunday's parade cancellation during a news conference at city hall on Monday. (Arthur White-Crummey/CBC)

"As a community organization, we strive to engage with our community members in good faith and to balance the various interests and demands that are made of us while also organizing one of the largest festivals in our city."

"Throughout the summer, we had several meetings with Q4P [Queers for Palestine], along with other community groups to discuss the issues that are important to them."

"Unfortunately, the group refused to have a meaningful discussion about how to move forward. After over an hour of attempting to resolve the stoppage, it became clear that Q4P was unwilling to engage in a good faith conversation and was insistent on misrepresenting our discussion."

Capital Pride clarification statement

A pro-Palestine protester holds a 'No Pride in Genocide' sign during a march following the annual Capital Pride Parade in Ottawa on Sunday, Aug. 24, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Spencer Colby

 

A year ago, the organizers of the annual Capital Pride parade when pressured by pro-Palestinian groups agreed to issue a statement at their behest, censuring Israel for its conflict in Gaza. As a result, Jewish gay groups felt excluded, and the Jewish community censored the parade organizers for bringing international politics and a foreign war into a gay community-organized event meant to support that community. Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe declined to attend, as did the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario, the Ottawa Hospital and political party representatives.

 

This year no such declaration and support of the BDS movement was included; lesson learned. After all, no one can be totally ignorant that the treatment of LGBTQ2S+ scored 19 out of 100 by Equaldex, an online resource tracking their treatment. Queers for Palestine, however, in the nation's capital was outraged that Capital Pride capitulated to critical opinion, refusing to repeat its support in this year's Pride Parade. They chose to block the parade shortly after it began, with demands that parade officials meet their 'demands'.

 

Protesters holding signs and Palestinian flags, the signage reading "no pride in genocide", and a banner reading "all of us or none of us" and "stone wall was an intifada", aggressively blocked the proceedings. Chants of "free, free Palestine", "long live the intifada", and "from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free" rang out to an unappreciative audience. "We will not leave until our elected officials and Capital Pride come down and meet our demands", Masha Davidovic, Queers for Palestine-Ottawa insisted.

 

A Pro-Palestine protester chants as they walk through blocked traffic following the annual Capital Pride Parade in Ottawa, on Sunday, Aug. 24, 2025. (Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press)

 

A pamphlet circulating at the Sunday protest indicated that Capital Pride was pressured by pro-Palestinian groups to host a BDS (boycott, divestment, sanctions) town hall in support of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, to force economic pressure on corporations, banks and others to withdraw support for Israel. Mayor Sutcliffe was called on to "apologize for last year's boycott of the parade and a call to defund Pride", and "commit to stand with protesters and all oppressed peoples, including Palestinians". 

 

Over 7,000 people, representing over 175 groups had assembled with the intention of marching in the parade. The parade hadn't managed to get very far on its route before it was interrupted by several hundred of the pro-Palestinian protesters, forcing Capital Pride to make the decision to cancel the remainder of their route, informing everyone to pack up and leave. Last year OCDSB trustee Donna Blackburn was censured by colleagues for ignoring the school board's withdrawal decision when a pro-Palestinian statement was issued by Capital Pride. She was instructed to attend an antisemitism training.  

"We are bummed, of course, but we had a blast for the block and a half that we walked, and everyone was so positive, so it was still a net win for us."

"We sang, we spread the word. It's still been a bit sad to not get to finish the run, but it is what it is."

Stefania Wheelhouse of Toto Too Theatre 

 

"[The action taken by the pro-Palestinian movement was] backwards; protesters had] hijacked [the parade]."

"I have publicly stood up for the Palestinian community in a very public way, took a lot of personal heat for doing it. I'm now a target of the Zionists. They're coming after me. But this is not the way to get people onto your side."

"Blackmailing the mayor in the middle of the parade is completely, highly inappropriate. There are ways to lobby. There are ways to advocate, and holding a parade like this hostage and blackmailing politicians in the middle of it is completely inappropriate."

"Hopefully the rest of the day we can just go about celebrating. The community organizations are down [on Bank Street] with their booths, and I'm sure the music will be good and all that stuff. It's just unfortunate the parade was hijacked."

Donna Blackburn, Ottawa-Carleton district School Board trustee  

Capital Pride's annual parade launched from City Hall Saturday but ground to a halt near Parliament Hill after pro-Palestinian demonstrators blocked the route, Sunday, August 24, 2025. Photo by Ashley Fraser/Postmedia 

"My heart goes out to the many people in our city who were deprived of the opportunity to participate in this celebration of joy, resilience, and community."

"At a time when 2SLGBTQIA+ rights are under attack around the world, it's critical to show our solidarity with the community and honour all those who have achieved hard-won progress on equal rights."

"Ottawa should always be a place of inclusion, where everyone feels welcome. Let's continue to work together for a better city, for everyone."

Mayor Mark Sutcliffe 

Seeing Is Not Always Believing

"The political tide has turned against Israel"

"[Largely the result of] images of starving Gazan children have[ing] ricocheted across the globe."

Professor Daniel W. Drezner, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, tufts University

 

"[Too many journalists have been uncritically citing the Hamas-operated Gaza Health Ministry on conditions in Gaza]. The result is a narrative that masks its source and misleads the public about who is to blame."

"The default frame -- that of U.S., Israeli, and GHF [Gaza Humanitarian Foundation] culpability -- is repeated in headlines both explicitly and implicitly, even when the reality is unresolved or points elsewhere."

"This pattern of laundering narratives, particularly from unvetted or partisan sources, appears widespread in Western media. [The result has been] a distorted portrayal of humanitarian conditions in Gaza, misleading policy-makers, misinforming the public, and exploiting vulnerable individuals for political gain." 

The Network Contagion Research Institute / Rutgers University Social Perception Lab report 

Hidayat Al-Motawaq holds her 18-month-old son, Mohammad Al-Motawaq, in their tent in the Gaza Strip on Aug. 3.  Anas Baba/NPR 

In the wake of the Israel Defense Forces' invasion of Gaza directly following on the Hamas terrorist group's October 7, 2023 atrocities carried out by thousands of Hamas operatives along with those of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Fatah and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine when Israeli girls and women were raped, mutilated and murdered, and kibbutzim raided, their inhabitants killed, leaving 1,200 people in Israel, mostly civilian, butchered, and another 250 taken hostage, the Palestinian public relations operation went into full overdrive. 

 

Heart-rending stories and photographs of gaunt, skeletal, vacant-eyed Palestinian children were distributed by Hamas to Western media who unhesitatingly took them up and gave them wide, front-page publication, setting the wider stage for a global popular revulsion of the nation defending its population from marauding masses of terrorists, transformed into the merciless aggressor, placing the Palestinian population which fully supported Hamas in Gaza and its categorical aspirations for the destruction of Israel, as the victims in an unjust war.

 

Mainstream Western media unquestioningly published the photographic 'evidence' of Palestinian children starving in Gaza, resulting from Israel's conflict with Palestinian terrorists. The very same terrorists known for installing themselves along with their weapons caches, rocket launchers, militia operations headquarters within the densely populated areas for the purpose of shielding themselves from Israeli responses, offering up the Palestinian civilian population in their stead. Those civilians who are wounded or killed as collateral damage in the conflict with Hamas become the useful propaganda fodder for Hamas.

 

And even knowing this to be the Hamas modus operandi, as despicable as it is, the resulting propaganda is published without verification or suspicion with respect to its source, in a free-for-all legacy media assault on Israel as the aggressor once again victimizing Palestinians. The international community, influenced by what they read and hear and see in those damning photographs turn against a nation desperate to defend itself from its implacable death-dealing enemies. The photographs of pathetic starving children in Gaza that fire up anger against Israel, bear examination.

 

The Free Press did investigate a dozen of those photographs of 'starving children' revealing that each of them "were already facing grave situations because of their health, irrespective of any third-party action". Olivia Reingold and Tanya Lukyanova pointed out that a photograph of an emaciated Muhammad Zakariya Ayyoub alMatouq forced the New York Times to admit the child "had pre-existing health problems affecting his brain and his muscle development", when the falsity of Hamas-generated images of him as a typical starving child was revealed.

 

The Associated Press, CNN and other U.S. major news outlets published photographs of children portrayed as starving, when they were in actual fact, suffering from medical conditions ranging from cystic fibrosis to cerebral palsy, to genetic wasting conditions. This reflected a pattern of Western press publishing utterly false allegations on stories and photographs supplied to them by a terrorist group. And it is not that the corrupt practices of Hamas propaganda was unknown to these Western media enablers.

 

The Wall Street Journal had published an analysis of October 7's mastermind Yahya Sinwar's correspondence revealing his purpose in using Palestinian Gazans' suffering as a weapon against Israel. "He's shown a cold disregard for human life and made clear he believes Israel has more to lose from the war than Hamas", wrote two journalists for the Journal in analyzing his messages to negotiators and Hamas members. Sinwar, they wrote, also stated to an Italian interviewer: "We make the headlines only with blood ... No blood, no news".

 

The myth of Palestinians suffering under famine has captured coverage in the West, all the more so, through photographs of starving children. The inconvenient detail that the children portrayed suffer not from starvation but from chronic medical conditions is hardly of concern to Hamas, but it should be to the uncritical Western media that appear to favour Hamas and in contrast, disfavour Israel. That Hamas was the instigator of the conflict and deliberately sacrifices its own population of civilian Palestinians seems less newsworthy to the Western press than presenting reality. 

 

Samah Matar poses for a photo with her sons Yousef, 6, in her arms, and Amir, 4, who suffer from malnutrition and cerebral palsy, at a U.N.-run school in Gaza City, Saturday, July 26, 2025. In Gaza, malnutrition is often worsened by preexisting conditions and compounded by illnesses linked to inadequate health care and poor sanitation. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

 

The United Nations also clearly favours Hamas. Its refusal to work with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in distributing food aid to Palestinians has meant that hundreds of trucks loaded with food have been virtually abandoned by the UN, the food left to rot. Those trucks that did enter Gaza saw many of them commandeered by armed Hamas terrorists and taken to Hamas depots where they were unloaded and stored for the use of Hamas, not distributed to Palestinian civilians as they were meant to be. Yet Western media has yet to ask of Hamas why it has secured humanitarian aid in their own warehouses, off limits to Palestinians, while Hamas claims starvation stalks Gaza and kills its children.

"[NCRI addresses the issue of the falsely-imputing photographs alleging] multiple cases of potential journalistic malpractice by major Western media outlets in their portrayal of alleged famine in Gaza." 

"[NCRI] uncovered clear evidence that the depicted individuals had long-standing, confounding medical conditions such as cerebral palsy, traumatic brain injury, or chronic illness [that were generally revealed in the original Arab-language sources of the images but omitted when republished in the West]."

Network Contagion Research Institute 

No aid has reached people in Gaza, a UN aid official says, two days after the Israeli government lifted an 11-week-old blockade. The Israeli military said five aid trucks entered Gaza on Monday and 93 on Tuesday, but supplies haven't been distributed, say local officials. Still from video

Tradition of Honor Killings in Pakistan

"Many communities and families insist that their misplaced sense of 'honor' is located in a woman's body and actions."

"That is also why control over a woman's actions and rights find so many colluders across the board in keeping heinous customs like this alive."

Senator Sherry Rehman, Pakistan

 

"In a country where conviction rates often fall to single digits, visibility — and the uproar it brings — has its advantages."

"It jolts a complacent state that continues to tolerate jirgas [Loya Jirgas ... 'grand councils'] in areas beyond its writ."

Constitutional lawyer Asad Rahim Khan  

The scene in Balochistan province, Pakistan, before the "honor killing" was carried out. NBC News

 

The two people involved, a man and a woman, accused of having an illicit love affair -- in a country whose strict Islamic moral codes include capital punishment for women who stray from their assigned roles as subservient to men in all matters, for whom the human rights freedom of women in other societies are severely restricted; they may not be in the company of men other than husband, father, brother, uncle or risk the ultimate punishment -- were lured to a neutral place in their village where they were informed they were condemned to death.

 

Taken to an open desert in southern Pakistan, a village crowd of both men and women backgrounded them; for the women a warning lest they ever surrender to the temptation to dishonour their family, their clan, their village; for the men a validation that women who stray from their assigned role as modest wife, daughter, sister, there will be due punishment delivered to restore the honour their disgraceful actions blemished. 

 

Bano Bibi was 35, a wife and mother of three. The man accused of being her lover, Ehsanullah Samalani, 50, a father of four, was in this instance, also punished to restore the honour he had besmirched intolerably. She was shot first, three times, by her younger brother. Her mother, also present, condemned her daughter and supported the punishment that took her life -- for the killing "was necessary to cleanse our family's honor".  

 

Particularly in rural areas of Pakistan, honor killings are rampant; bringing shame by irregular, disapproved conduct by a woman will guarantee lethal punishment. And it is usually family members closest to the woman who will carry out the death sentence. Even a child who refuses marriage to an elderly man, thus bringing dishonor to her family can present as a candidate for death, for centuries-old cultural practices do not bend to the contours of modernity or human rights.

 

The double execution took place in mid-July. Since then, public protests have broken out, causing authorities to take notice, and with that notice, action. That action was spurred by an investigation that resulted in arrests, including that of Bano Bibi's mother for her role in the death of her daughter. On average a woman dies every day for the cultural crime of dishonoring family. A video of that double execution went viral, fully six weeks after the event.  

 

Bano Bibi's mother, Gul Jan Bibi, said the killings were based on traditional Baloch traditions and were not sinful. (Reuters: Abdul Wali)

 

Pakistan, a nation of over 240 million where fundamental Islam is the law of the land  under Sharia, saw politicians and law enforcement officials spurred to take action. After all, they have time and again vowed to commit to the protection of women, and to take action against perpetrators of honor killings. But traditions die hard, even while women's lives are easily taken in punishment of carnal sins attributed to both the innocent and the 'guilty'.  Despite the government assurances of imminent action, tradition carries on. 

 

The video shows male onlookers watching in silent intensity, some of them filming the execution with their smart phones. Modernity is viewed through the lens of technology, but cultural tradition is set in the crystalline cast of a society whose moral piety is a death machine for any who dare challenge tradition through the irresistible draw of human emotions. 

 

The early June executions, thanks to the video and protests that accompanied its viewing, saw an investigation begin in July, leading to the arrest of over 15 people involved in the double killing. Last year over four hundred women were victimized by these cultural executions, according to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, independent of government. Pakistan does have laws to protect against gender-based violence; still such murders go unpunished; tribal code trumping civil law in rural Pakistan. 

 

Relatives most often kill women for refusing forced marriage, for seeking divorce, or for engaging in relationships that men categorize as violations of their values. Criminal convictions resulted in 0.5 percent of all reported honor killings last year. "Incidents every now and then get traction in the media, but it continues in a shameful way", stated Farah Zia, director of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. 

 

A video of an "honour killing" of a woman and her lover in Pakistan has sparked protests in Quetta city.  (Reuters: Rizwan Saeed)

Canada's Surging Illegal Migrant Population

"I'm not going to sugar-coat it, we believe there's 500,000 illegal immigrants currently spread across Canada and these individuals are benefiting from taxpayer-funded services."

"The federal government is choosing to disregard this number and that's a real problem."

"These illegal migrants must be taken into account, as every province is feeling the pressure of Ottawa's mismanagement of the immigration system."

Alberta Immigration Minister Joseph Schow 

Illegal migrants claiming refugee status   True North

 

Illegal immigration in Canada is not taken seriously by the federal government and Alberta's Immigration Minister urges the imperative that Ottawa stop ignoring the problem that has wide repercussions across the country in drawing social support resources from the Canadian taxpaying public to those present in Canada illegally in numbers large enough to have a truly disturbing effect in finite services. From medical care to social housing and the growing  use of food banks, to growing unemployment among young Canadians, the presence of too many new immigrants, refugees and illegal migrants is producing a deleterious economic and human resources impact.

 

Infrastructure and public services, points out MPP Schow, are under great strain across the country. Federal officials, he urges, must account for the estimated number of undocumented migrants in Canada in view of the need to set immigration targets for the coming year. Recently, federal officials themselves acknowledged a need to mitigate problems associated with too many people arriving in too short time-spans, drawing on the country's social systems and creating shortages in housing while over-burdening an already-strained medical/health system. Millions of new arrivals were welcomed in the past several years. 

 

Ottawa projects a 19 percent reduction in temporary arrivals, and eight percent drop in permanent resident admissions in the next three years, through a bolstered immigration level plan. The government has moved to cap non-permanent resident numbers in Canada below five percent of the population. A skeptical Schow feels such efforts are likely to fall short of a sufficient adjustment to make a difference. "If they're leaving out this huge chunk of data (the issue of illegal immigration) how can they set real targets?"

A screengrab from an RCMP video shows people crossing the Manitoba border into Canada. Photograph: Jason Franson/AP

 

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada disclosed in a briefing note a year ago that the number of undocumented migrants could be as high as 500,000, while at the same time admitting that the exact number is unknown. About 114,373 irregular border crossers petitioned to remain in Canada, according o the federal government, between February 2017 and June of 2025. Lack of reliably hard figures on illegal immigration all the more reason for Ottawa to diminish its intake of migrants.

 

58 percent of Canadians, according to a recent poll, feel that mass deportations have become a necessity to curb the number of people now living illegally in Canada. The province of Alberta has led the country in inter-provincial migration and overall population growth in recent years, Immigration Minister Schow pointed out, with the province's population having swelled by some 200,000 last year and continuing on through 2025. A situation that has gone well beyond hampering individuals in Alberta achieving upward mobility. 

 

"The fact that [the federal government is unaware of the precise number of undocumented migrants] they don't have an exact, or close to exact, number just shows again how badly they've lost control of the system." 

"People around the world rightly see us as a beacon of hope and opportunity ... and for that exact reason, we have to be mindful that we're growing our population in a way that's strategic." 

Alberta Minister of Immigration and Jobs, Economy and Trade   

 

The "Legitimate Interests" in Russia's Retaining Ukrainian Territory

"It was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a Peace Agreement, which would end the war, and not a mere Ceasefire Agreement, which often times do not hold up."

"I think President Putin will make peace. I think President Zelensky will make peace. We'll see if they can get along." 

"I think Putin is tired of it. I think they're all tired of it. But you never know. We're going to find out about President Putin in the next couple of weeks. That I can tell you." 

U.S. President Donald Trump

 

"We, of course, respect the position of the American administration, which sees the need for a speedy end to military actions."

"We would like to move to resolving all issues by peaceful means."

Russian President Vladimir Putin 

 

"We are ready for any format."

"But when it comes to high-level meetings, it is necessary to prepare them in the most thorough way at all previous stages, so that the summits do not lead to a worsening of the situation, but rather mark the end of the negotiations that we are ready to continue."

"We cannot accept the proposal to address security and collective security issues without Russia's involvement. This will not work. We have repeatedly explained that Russia does not exaggerate its interests, but we will firmly and decisively protect our legitimate interests."  

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov  

Still from video  CNN

 

President Trump, in the wake of his Alaska meeting with Vladimir Putin appears to have changed his mind over a ceasefire; it is no longer the critical issue of the moment; he leaps now to the issue of a complete peace agreement to finally end the conflict in Ukraine. Putin, explained Trump in talks with European allies, reiterated his determination to retain Donetsk and Luhansk, the regions that distinguish the Donbas. In exchange for clear agreement to formally transfer the Donbas to Moscow, he is prepared to discuss the disposition of Saporizhzhia and Kherson, and a front line freeze.

 

Needless to say, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has entirely other plans for the Donbas. Little clarity surfaced in the aftermath of the Alaska summit with respect to follow-up steps, leaving President Trump's commitment to additional meetings the only focal point for the present. The briefings given European officials on the exchanges left a vacuum whether Trump viewed Putin's Donbas demands as acceptable.

 

A public summary of the situation has yet to be issued, other than Trump's abrupt reversal on a ceasefire. With no ceasefire on the table, of course Russia's attacks on Ukraine continue unrestrained. And while those attacks continue, it remains to be seen how peace talks could conceivably be undertaken. Under those circumstances, with Ukraine being incessantly bombed, any such 'peace' talks would be construed as Kyiv surrendering to Moscow's ultimatums.

 

It seems obvious to the European coalition supporting Ukraine's position that it would not surrender one metre of Ukrainian territory to the Russian beast; that Trump and his push for further negotiations reveals a certain level of sympathy for the Russian position which is that Moscow has no interest in a temporary truce but is adamant that a long-term settlement must be reached that respects the Kremlin's interests.

 

Sergei Lavrov (left) with Putin. Moscow’s view is that: ‘To discuss security guarantees seriously without Russia is a road to nowhere.’ Photograph: Sean Gallup/EPA

 

"Russia seems to be prepared to conduct the negotiations based on the so-called line of contact and not the administrative boundaries", noted German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. President Zelensky's previous refusals to withdraw from the 30 percent of the Donetsk region under Ukrainian control is firm. Surrendering any Ukrainian territory is unthinkable and contrary to Ukraine's constitution. Besides which the territory could be meant as a Russian staging ground for ongoing attacks.

 

Major European leaders overlooked addressing whether a peace agreement was preferable to a ceasefire, stating instead that they "welcomed President Trump's efforts to stop the killing in Ukraine, end Russia's war of aggression, and achieve just and lasting peace". This is the way that every nation retains a working relationship with the Trump administration; outwardly praising the president's initiative, while privately groaning in frustration.

 

A lesson hard learned in obsequiousness, Zelenskyy stated he had enjoyed a "long and substantive" conversation with Trump, that they would "discuss all of the details regarding ending the killing and the war" in their subsequent Monday meeting, and they did do that, to a degree. However, the scoring ball remains in Putin's court; clearly Trump feels that Ukraine should be prepared to sacrifice part of its territory to suit Putin's imperative.

 

The while, Zelenskyy took the opportunity to reiterate the importance of European leaders' involvement "to ensure reliable security guarantees together with America". 

 

Territory swaps weren't discussed during Monday's session, according to NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte. "We have not discussed that today (August 18), because everybody is clear, including the president, that when it comes to territory, that is the Ukrainian president, who has discussed this in the trilateral and then probably more conversations after that, with the Russian leadership."

 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky meets with President Donald Trump and European leaders in the East Room of the White House in Washington, August 18, 2025.

Ukrainian Press Service/AFP via Getty Images

 

Peacefully Protesting in a Public Space

"[At] an annual celebration of international cultures [anti-Israel protesters with face coverings] invaded the Israeli space and shot at those attending the booth with water guns filled with red [coloured] water."

"When the volunteers] attempted to protect their space, one was physically assaulted, breaking her glasses."

"[The] guarantees of security for the event from the Culturfest Committee were not fulfilled, and there was no apparent police presence at the time of the incident. The incident ended with the arrest of two of the protesters, based on the assault."

"[The Board of the Congregation] is actively seeking legal advice and remains committed to doing everything we can to restore safety and peace for the Jewish and Israeli community in Saint John and surrounding areas."

Bruce Washburn, president, Shaarei Zedek synagogue

 

"[At approximately 2:30 p.m. Saturday, police responded to a] call about protesters making their way to the festival. [The caller described them as] Palestinian demonstrators".

"Calls were also received by attendees of the festival who described the protesters as wearing red bags over their heads, carrying signs, and one person was wearing a military uniform and carrying a gun later determined by police to be a water gun filled with red liquid."

"The protesters were at the Israel booth kneeling, chanting, and facing the crowd."

"[When the police arrived], organizers advised that an incident had taken place at the Israel table [and that a woman had been assaulted]."

"A female along with witnesses alleged that she was assaulted by a masked protester. The police arrested a youth for the assault. As police were placing the youth under arrest, an adult male, unrelated to the assault was arrested for obstruction."

"Police are considering additional charges related to hate crime pending the outcome of the investigation."

Sgt. Shawna Fowler, Saint John Police Department

A tense confrontation erupted at Saint John’s International Culturefest when anti-Israel demonstrators surrounded the Israeli booth, resulting in assault and arrests. (Photo: Still from video on "Ask Saint John" Facebook Group.)

 

Yet another confrontation turned violent when Palestinians and their supporters belligerently harassed volunteers at a booth taking part in the Saint John  International Culturfest. A group called the Saint John Newcomers Centre organized the festival although Mohamed Bagha, its managing director responsible for the festival, refused to comment on the protest. Another spokesman did however, respond with: "The guiding principle of the International Culturfest is to create a welcoming space".

 

Obviously the group that organized the protest felt otherwise. Mohamed Elazab, administrator of a Facebook group, Ask Saint John, posted "Concerning Incident at the Multicultural Fest in Saint John". The 'concerning incident it spoke to was not the uncivilized harassment and threats faced by volunteers at the Israel booth, but the subsequent police presence and the follow-up arrests. According to Elazab, the Saint John police arresting and detaining a minor were thus abusive: the minor was "peacefully protesting in a public space". 

 

With his complaining post he attached videos for 'full transparency'. The peaceful protests showing up on the videos in fact identify them as intimidating, threatening verbal and body language assaults involving adults and children. In one video three women in headscarfs facing the booth chant: "12,3,4 -- Occupation no more! 5,6,7,8 -- Israel is a terrorist state!" Near the women sit young children with bags over their heads, hands behind backs, as two men in army gear and helmets stand over them, faces covered.

 

A man standing nearby says to the demonstrators "Go away" several times. "This is not the time and place for this. This is a place to celebrate differences", he tells them. The man recording the video responds "Freedom of speech!" And "Free Palestine!" Others join the chant shouting "No more murders! No more lies!" A woman, head covered, holds two fake dead babies in front of the booth. The crowd of molesters obviously keep any other festival-goers from approaching the booth out of possible interest. 

 

Another video has shouts such as "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free", moving closer to the two volunteers at the booth. One of the Israel booth volunteers extends her phone toward the crowd, then backs up into the booth while the other lifts her hands up to signal stop to someone outside the booth. Another video shows police appearing and arresting someone wearing army gear and a helmet, face covered. A woman in a headscarf complains "He's a minor!"

 

"This is a public space. Freedom of speech!" rings out over and over. Another individual is shown being arrested, wearing a red bag over his head. "You're arresting kids now. We have kids in this. You IDF mother f-----s. Support Israel, you b---ch!" Demonstrators, some in headscarves and kaffiyehs follow the police removing the man who yells "Freedom of speech!" The police are confronted by protesters holding cellphones in their faces. "You guys are terrorists! Stealing ... kidnapping children off the streets!" 

 

Another man shouts out "The Saint John police are arresting a minor without parental consent! The Saint John police are f---king Nazis!" As the video ends a man instructs another to "record everything, take them to the court ... You will win it. You will make them pay money, by the way ... Come here, I will tell you what to do. Ask for the badge number and name and the reason for detention. You need to ask for this. Then you need to take them make a statement in the police. Don't be violent, OK?"

 

Local news media fail to note the incident. And nor does it show up in mainstream media. What does show up is that the very day that this happened, Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture announces that the government is investing $61,000 in the festival. 

 

Still from video; Palestinian protesters harassing volunteers at Israel Booth

"At some point, protesters came very close to us shouting, threatening, and defacing our materials by spraying red ink from water guns onto our books, our flag, and even the volunteers at the booth."

"When one of our female volunteers attempted to stop them from com[ing] at us, she was punched in the face, sustaining a mild concussion and damage to her glasses." 

"[This was] a deeply frightening experience [which makes her] long for the Canada [she] once knew, a place where everyone, no matter their background, could feel safe."

"We came here with dreams of building a better future for our children, believing Canada was a place of peace, acceptance and respect."

Esti Barlevy, Israel booth volunteer 

 

"[The purpose of the government's investment announced today, of $61,000, is to support] events that celebrate Canada's cultural diversity, strengthens communities by bringing people together and providing a platform to share our stories, heritage and traditions, helping build a stronger, more united Canada." 

Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture 

People celebrate International Culturefest in Saint John in an undated photo. (Source: Facebook/Culture Fest Saint John)

  

The Land of Tulips and Windmills

"In 2024, 1,543 attacks or attempted attacks using explosives took place in the Netherlands. That is an increase of 71% compared to 2023."

"The Offensive against Explosions today presents the action plan aimed at reversing this rising trend."

"To achieve this, the Ministry of Justice and Security (JenV), the National Police, the Public Prosecution Service, Aedes [on behalf of housing associations], municipalities, the Dutch Association of Insurers, probation organisations, VNO-NCW and MKB Nederland  [on behalf of the business community] are joining forces. Together, they take measures and interventions that address all facets of violence with explosions: prevention, detection and prosecution, aftercare and local response."

Government of the Netherlands  

An apartment building damaged by an explosion in Duivendrecht, the Netherlands. Credit...Ilvy Njiokiktjien for The New York Times

In streets across the Netherlands, roughly three times nightly what was once an anomaly and which has latterly become a regular series of incidents, loud blasts awaken residents, the results of explosions. The explosions are caused by the setting off of illegal fireworks, so powerful they detonate with the energy of grenades. Their ubiquity has reasonably enough, caused a general sense of unease among the population, never knowing where or when their sleep would turn into a nightmare of terror.

 

In Duivendrecht, an Amsterdam suburb, an explosive resounded one early morning a month ago, the power of the blast damaging a dozen apartments, blowing out their windows, but fortunately on that occasion no one was injured. An arrest has yet to be made. As for the reason behind the explosion, there is as yet no explanation. Close to 700 such explosions were recorded across the Netherlands in the first half of 2025. They are the cause of fear, they damage homes and livelihoods and on occasion cause injuries and even death.

 

Years back when they occurred, the blasts were linked to organized crime and drug trafficking when hand grenades were used to settle gang scores. According to Netherlands law enforcement officials other groups now make use of the high-strength fireworks, which though illegal, can be procured relatively easily. The suspicion by authorities is that the black-market fireworks are being used to target people in family disputes, relationship quarrels and business rivalries.  

 

Six people were killed in an explosion in The Hague last year.   Credit...Josh Walet/ANP, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

 

When a particularly large blast caused a fire and the partial collapse of a three-story block of apartments in December in The Hague, six people were killed. As a result of that atrocious event, four individuals were arrested to face charges. These blasts have injured at least 35 people since 2024, three severely, one of whom  lost a leg. There were just over 340 explosions in 2022, most linked to the drug trade or other organized criminal activity. In 2023 that number increased to 901, and further increased to 1,244 in 2024.

 

"It has become a very easy way to intimidate people", Carola Schouten, mayor of Rotterdam, and chairwoman of a national task force on the explosions, commented. According to officials, the blasts are organized typically on the messaging app Telegram, where illegal fireworks can be readily purchased, and people can be hired -- for the most part males in their teen years to their 20s -- to place the bombs. 

 

It is mostly in the country's large cities like Amsterdam and Rotterdam that most of the explosions occur, but none of the country's 12 provinces have been spared these explosions. According to the Dutch police, 163 people have been arrested connected to the explosions in the first half of 2025 alone, most of whom are the young men who place the bomb, evidently none of those who ordered the blasts and supplied the explosives.

 

A Rotterdam area suburb saw a plumber targeted at least 28 times over many months with explosive devices. The plumber died in August of 2024 of what the Dutch media characterized as a 'heart issue'. Those responsible for the bombings were never identified, much less arrested. The mayor of the suburb commented that whoever organized the blasts "is lying on a beach chair under an umbrella, drinking a cocktail, while it was terrible here".   

"Efforts are being made to prevent attacks with measures to reduce the source of the offenders. For example, by using targeted communication to make the often vulnerable potential offenders more resilient to the temptations of fast money."

"Thus, the coaches of 'Alleen Jij Bepaalt wie je bent' (Only You Determine Who You Are) are trained in dealing with explosives. 'Alleen Jij Bepaalt wie je bent' is a recognised behavioural intervention in which young people aged 10 to 18 are guided by trained coaches who act as role models and mentors. "

"These coaches will start workshops for young people on the topic of explosions in late April. The workshops will be delivered to around 5,000 participants before the end of this year."

"Targeted communication is also used to increase people's willingness to report in order to prevent explosions or repeat explosions. To this end, collaboration takes place with, among others, Meld Misdaad Anoniem (Report Crime Anonymously).

Government of the Netherlands 

The three-story apartment block partially collapsed after the incident, firefighters said.

Jeffrey Groeneweg/ANP/AFP/Getty Images

 

"The Minister for Social Affairs [Netherlands] stated that the ministry as well as
municipalities participated in secret investigations into mosques. The
investigators were monitoring for signs of extremism and radicalization."

"In a letter to the parliament, the Minister said the investigations were not
transparent, which she regretted. Muslim community leaders said the
secret investigations damaged their trust in the government."

"Authorities said the government continued to work with representatives of the Muslim
community to reinforce their “resilience” against Wahhabism, including
meeting with community representatives to discuss challenges faced by
mosques and supporting Muslim youth vulnerable to extremism related to
religion."

"The national police reported that authorities had not issued any
fines during the year to women wearing a burqa under the law banning full-
face coverings; there are no records of fines being imposed since inception
of the law in 2019."

"The media reported increasing demands by Muslim students for prayer rooms 

in high schools and resistance from some schools, including some that did not 

want to allow any prayer."

U.S. Department of State