A Government in Disgrace Still Playing to Its Preferred Audience

"Canada continues to be deeply concerned by the dire humanitarian situation in Syria. The Syrian peoples’ needs have reached unprecedented levels after 13 years of crisis, with over 16 million people, almost 70% of the country’s population, urgently requiring assistance."

"The Honourable Ahmed Hussen, Minister of International Development, accompanied by Omar Alghabra, Member of Parliament for Mississauga Centre, recently concluded a visit to Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Türkiye, where they met with government officials and representatives of organizations and partners to discuss international cooperation and humanitarian assistance, particularly in relation to Syria. Minister Hussen’s trip marks the first Canadian delegation to visit the border region of Türkiye and Syria since the end of the Assad regime in Syria."

"Minister Hussen reaffirmed Canada’s commitment to the people of Syria and announced $17.25 million in funding for humanitarian assistance to address their urgent needs. Canada’s funding will be delivered through experienced humanitarian partners and help provide clean water and food; protection services, including for the prevention and mitigation of and response to gender-based violence; sanitation and hygiene services; and health services."

"In Qatar, Minister Hussen and Mr. Alghabra met with Maryam bint Ali bin Nasser Al-Misnad, Qatar’s Minister of State for International Cooperation. Discussions focussed [sic] on Qatar’s role in assisting Syrians and on development cooperation between Canada and Qatar."

Global Affairs Canada news release

“The conflict in Syria has left millions of people in need of urgent aid. This funding will allow partners to provide them with critical support as the situation on the ground continues to evolve. Canada stands in solidarity with the people of Syria and those in neighbouring countries affected by this humanitarian crisis, and we will continue to work to address its impacts.”

- Ahmed Hussen, Minister of International Development

“This is a pivotal moment for Syria, the region and the world. After decades of oppression and conflict, the Syrian people are facing an opportunity to build an inclusive and prosperous society. Canada has always been a friend to the Syrian people, and we will continue to offer support to them so they can achieve their aspirations.”

- Omar Alghabra, Member of Parliament for Mississauga Centre

Minister of International Development Ahmed Hussen has returned from a visit to Turkey's border with Syria, where he says Syrian refugees told him they are grateful for Canada's support. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press)

The Liberal government of Justin Trudeau is in a precarious governing position, heading toward electoral oblivion. Justin Trudeau's formal announcement that he is stepping down as prime minister of Canada and his follow-up tactics of remaining in power until March through prorogation of Parliament has placed Canada in a vulnerable situation where government authority is absent authority under these circumstances. Yet he and his minions continue to act unimpeded by their reality of a caretaker government unentitled to continue as though they hold a mandate to do so.

Canadians have made it clear that their disgust with this prime minister's behaviour and decision-making has made them anxious to see him depart, with his replacement waiting in the wings. An election is also waiting in the wings where the Conservative Party is prepared to take the reins of government at the behest of the Canadian electorate prepared to give Pierre Poilievre a clear majority government and consign the Liberal Party to fourth-place standing and unlikely to capture more than 6 seats in Parliament.

Despite the loathing of the Canadian electorate for the worst government that Canada has ever suffered under, one that has brought economic ruin to the country, divided east from west, fractured unity not only provincially but by ethnic origins, each in their distrusting and abused silos, with runaway crime going unabated, soaring deaths from contraband opioids, a failing health care system where it has become logical somehow to offer sufferers medical 'assistance' in suicide, and people requiring urgent medical care dying while waiting for vital surgery, nothing appears to have curtailed the arrogance of a prime minister who sneers at those he is meant to serve, who disagree with his policies.

That International Development Minister Ahmed Hussen and MP Omar Alghabra have just completed a formal delegation to Turkey and Syria in the wake of a transitional regime since the fall of Bashar al-Assad, the butcher of Damascus whose 13-year sectarian war against his opposition citizens, where the new government is being led by an offshoot of al-Qaeda prepared to bring Sharia law to the country, is of little interest to Canada. Other than perhaps the 100,000 Syrian refugees the Trudeau government gave haven to. Millions of Syrian refugees in Turkey and throughout Europe are facing an enforced repatriation to Syria. No whisper of similar action in Canada.

$17.25 million in funding for humanitarian assistance; food, protection services, sanitation and health services, courtesy of the Canadian taxpayer has been given to Syria. Little different than offering millions to the Taliban in Afghanistan, which has taken up where it left off before the U.S. led NATO in a conflict to rescue Afghans from the Islamist talons of the Taliban and the capture of Osama bin Laden, after the tragedy of 9/11. Israel's 7/10 atrocities imposed by the Hamas terrorist group elicited a yawn from Trudeau and a ban on providing Israel with military gear in its invasion response of Gaza.

In Qatar the two Canadian Parliamentarians of Islamic heritage met with Qatar officials, as intermediaries in assisting Syria. Qatar, the friendly oil-rich state to the Taliban, and Hamas, whose funding of Hamas ensured it could assemble a military stockpile of deadly rocketry, hundreds of which have been aimed at Israel from the past to the present. Synchronizing with the Muslim Brotherhood, Qatar has infiltrated its brand of jihad discretely and effectively throughout Europe and North America. Is this where Canada's interests lie?

Hussen announced that Canada stands in solidarity with the people of Syria and those in neighbouring countries; that 'his' government is prepared to continue work to address the impacts of conflicts roiling the Middle East. Unspoken is the absence of Israel's welfare in this current Canadian government's concerns over the situation in the Middle East; the very nation that has been continually attacked and forced to respond in kind, but whose responses fail to find favour or support within the hallowed halls of Parliament under this Liberal government.

While Europe and the United States remain concerned over the Islamist factions in partnership with al-Qaeda of those insurgents now governing Syria on an 'interim' basis, Canada appears to have no such troubling concerns under the Liberal government's 'watchful' eye, focused unerringly on the impression it is making on the large Canadian-Muslim population that has swelled in the past ten years, under Liberal/Trudeau governance.

Power & Politics hears from Syrian-Canadian MP Omar Alghabra on the collapse of the Assad regime in Syria. CBC

The Anguish of The Wait...

"Hamas said last week that it needed seven days to locate all the hostages and then another week to prepare them for release."

"Such offerings are the Hamas way of extending an olive branch. Compel Israel to cave to their terms because of domestic public fury."

"Every Hamas video taunts and the tortures the country. It knows that."

"Since the U.S. election, Hamas has posted three videos, two of which showed signs of life of hostages."

"The terrorist group has issued statements on Telegram, including one last Friday that hostages are now guarded by suicide squads."

Vivian Bercovici, journalist, Israel

Israelis react to the ceasefire announcement as they take part in a demonstration in Tel Aviv, Israel, January 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

 

Guarded by suicide squads; yet another not very subtle message for Israel: try to mount rescues and however few of your precious Israelis are left in our hands alive will no longer be among the living. This is Hamas, extracting every ounce of bitter anguish from the families of the captured innocent civilians; infants, adolescents, girls, boys, the elderly and the ill, women and men, and oh yes, Israel Defense Forces' service-men and -women among them.

Toying with the fragile emotions of Israelis; of the families whose loved ones are held by Palestinians who love dead Jews and abhor live ones. Playing with the minds of Israeli authorities mulling strategies to somehow discover the whereabouts of the hostages and mount rescues to reunite them with their families suffering the agony of loss. Teasing the poor lost souls held in their dank, airless underground prisons by forcing them to deliver videoed pleas of rescue.

In Israel, hospitals are in preparation mode to receive the hostages, broken in spirit, mind and body. Hostages out of Gaza after having suffered dread privation, torture, fear and hopelessness. Is there, could there ever be a cure for relentless infliction of pain on helpless people? Of clearing the confusion from the minds of captured children whose vacant eyes abandoned the search for their parents?

Captured terrorists under interrogation revealed details of the conditions of the hostages. The supposition is that the hostages, men and women, girls and boys, and fragile infants are all in failing health. How could it be otherwise? Imprisoned deep in tunnels from the time of their capture 15 months earlier. Given scant food and water, and no opportunity for hygiene. There are reports that many among them are incapable now of standing on their own.

 

Photographs of some of those taken hostage by Hamas in Tel Aviv, Israel, on October 18, 2023.

Leon Neal/Getty Images

 

Imagine a crowded, dank and airless dungeon, the air putrid with human waste, and barely breathable, lacking sufficient oxygen. A total absence of natural light. Among them are those who have been bound or chained for prolonged periods. And those who have been repeatedly raped -- both men and women, and of course, adolescents. 

Among Israelis, most oppose any agreement where all hostages are not simultaneously freed. And certainly they are not agreeable to a ceasefire agreement under any conditions. Yet saving the hostages is of primary importance. Even so, Israeli negotiators speak of the reality of the situation, only one deal has been eked out and that is the hand they and others must work with. To secure the freedom of the hostages, even as the dire need is acknowledged to destroy the capabilities of terrorists to continue mounting deadly attacks, as they are sworn to do.

The conditions stipulated in the agreement are not by any stretch of the imagination optimum for those waiting in agony to see their loved ones, for those being held in these inhuman conditions to breathe free and scent a glimmer of  hope for their future. It will take three months, at release intervals, for the first stage of the release of 33 hostages to play out. Israel is holding its collective breath for baby Kfir and Ariel, now two and five, with their mother Shiri Bibas, to be released.

Early in their capture, Hamas had told the children's father that his wife and children were dead, struck in an Israel airstrike, though never confirmed. The video of that little drama was one of the first ones released by Hamas. In return for the 98 Israeli hostages --both dead and alive -- released bit by bit, Israel has pledged to release no fewer than a thousand Palestinian terrorists, some of whom were convicted of dreadful crimes.

Relatives and friends of people killed and abducted by Hamas and taken into Gaza, react to the ceasefire announcement as they take part in a demonstration in Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Raising Islamist Jihadists

"The ministry will open 10 regional centers in various states where the madrassa registration will be offered and those madrassas which will not meet requirements for registration will be closed."

Pakistan's Education Minister Shafqat Mehmood 

 

"[Successive Pakistani governments – both civilian and military – had attempted to reform madrassas but each time ended up surrendering more authority]."

"Even today, several ministries, such as religious affairs, education, interior, and commerce, and law enforcement and counter-terrorism bodies, have been dealing with the madrassa issue separately, making it more complicated."

Amir Tuaseen, Karachi-based analyst, former head, Pakistan Madrassa Education Board

 

"[More than 30,000 madrassas will soon be brought into the] mainstream [fold and overseen by the ministry of education.] An Islamic education will continue to be provided but there will be no hate speech."

Major-General Asif Ghafoor

There’s no exact number of madrassas in Pakistan but estimates put the number in the tens of thousands. They provide food, housing and a religious education to students from around the country. Many teach both male and female students.   AP

 

Religious seminaries in Pakistan have long been seen as contributing to violence and radicalization; their graduates have supplied recruits for the Taliban and other militant groups. In an earlier era, these same madrassas established all over Saudi Arabia with its strict Wahhabi code, furnished students enrolled within with the very same attributes. Students were taught to memorize the Koran, and this is what the curriculum consisted of. Radicalization was rife; it was from one of these madrassas in Saudi Arabia that a radicalized student by the name of Osama bin Laden went on to make terrorism through al-Qaeda a feared phenomenon.

 

Arabic is not the native language of Pakistan, but in the Pakistan-based madrassas it is Arabic that is taught, so that the students can recite all the passages of the Koran in Arabic. It is held that only Arabic can express the sacred scripture as it is meant to be. Pakistan's Islamic schools have long been a concern of the country's government. True, official Pakistan assured the United States and other NATO countries that it could be relied upon as a partner in the 'war against terrorism', while at the same time giving haven to the Afghan Taliban. Osama bin Laden's compound sat in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

 

Now, however, Pakistan, threatened by its own Taliban and violent jihadist Islamist groups has been attempting to control the content of the madrassas which typically teach only the Koran, and aspects from the Koran that glorify jihad. No other subjects taught in modern schools are part of the curriculum; this is a single and singular-faceted education system. They are not unique to Pakistan. Madrassas of this type have been established with Saudi funding all over the world.

The Pakistani Ministry of Education has enacted a requirement for madrassas to register with them in an effort to increase accountability. Islamist political parties resisted the government moves and the largest of the political parties, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, persuaded the government to end the registration requirement. A colonial-era law governing educational groups provides scant oversight of curricula, activities and funding.

The government cited concerns that the old system could undermine counterterrorism efforts and breach international commitments to fight money laundering and financing of terrorism. In Islamabad, anti-government protests emerged: "If the government deviates,the decision won't be made in Parliament, but on the streets" threatened Maulana Fazlur Rehman, chief of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam. In the 1970s there were dozens of madrassas in Pakistan.

 

Pakistani government is juggling with different options to regulate centuries-old madrassa system. One such option is to set up a Imam Hatip schooling system based on the pattern of Turkey, where Islamic schools offer a mix of religious and worldly education.  TRTWORLD

U.S. and Arab funding in the 1980s transformed the madrassas to recruitment centres for Islamic volunteers to fight the Soviet forces in Afghanistan. At present, some 30,000 madrassas operate in Pakistan. Some madrassa teachers endorsed the Al-Qaeda ideology, graduating future Taliban leaders. Following the attacks of September 11, 2001, pressure was exerted on Pakistan to regulate the schools. "The post-9/11 war on terror and events like the 2005 London bombings raised global concerns about the lack of effective madrassa monitoring", explained Abdur Rehman Shah, a madrassa affairs expert with Tongji University in Shanghai.

In 2014, Islamist militants attacked a military-operated school in north-western Pakistan and over 145 people were killed, leading to madrassas observation becoming central to counterterrorism efforts. Raids targeting seminaries suspected of militant links by security agencies followed. The government attempted to curb Islamist parties' influence over seminary boards in 2019. Over 17,500 madrassas enrolled 2.2 million students, according to official data. Poor Pakistani children were given free education, meals and housing.

Pakistan boasts the second-highest number of children not attending schools globally, with 22.8 million children from age 5 to 16 not attending school, representing 44% of the country's young. The country's public education system fails to meet the needs of millions of its children. Supported by private donations, madrassas partially fill the public system gaps. Their education consists largely of Islamic theology and Arabic. Many of the madrassas emphasize doctrinal purity and Islam's defense. 

Administrators of madrassas claim they are unfairly blamed for militancy.

"There are many people who go to liberal schools and are radicalized."

"Terrorism must be curbed, but scapegoating madrassas is not the solution."

Qari Shahid Gul, teacher, Karachi madrassa

As there has long been a concern that the madrassas produce unskilled graduates who espouse intolerant misinterpretations of Islam, many organized attempts have already been made to "modernize" them. TRTWORLD

Russian Sabotage Against NATO Nations

"...We knew what they were doing."

"Some of it was espionage, where they are charting a lot things. Some of it, I think, was positioning in case of a war or a deep crisis."

Stale Ulriksen, researcher, Royal Norwegian Naval Academy

The Estlink 2 power cable in the Gulf of Finland was ruptured in suspected Russian interference

 

Drones began appearing over oil rigs and wind farms off Norway's coast some three years ago, and the puzzle to officials was where they came from although they were suspected of having been launched from ships in the North Sea by Russia. Ships close by underwater energy pipelines. But action could not be taken, since they were flying over international waters. Drones were seen as well over military bases in Britain and Germany over areas where U.S. forces are stationed.

According to military analysts, the drones may have been on a surveillance mission sponsored by a state; their presence a hybrid (gray zone) attack. This represents a new range of tactics -- military, cuber, economic, psychological -- utilized in covertly attacking or destabilizing an enemy. Hybrid attacks on Western countries are being increasingly brazen as hostile states such as Russia, Iran and others plan these dangerously unsettling attacks. The challenge for the West is how to react without setting off an infinitely more dangerous response?

 

Finnish authorities announced on January 8, 2025 that they had banned the oil tanker Eagle S, suspected of belonging to the Russian 'ghost fleet' and of having caused damage to five submarine cables, from sailing due to 'serious faults'

 

This past July three packages exploded in Europe, postmarked from Lithuania, parcels containing electric massage machines containing highly flammable magnesium-based substances, an event that was potentially deadly as a hybrid attack. Two such packages exploded in DHL cargo facilities in Britain and Germany, a third in a Polish courier firm. Investigators felt the packages represented a test by Russian military intelligence in planting explosives on cargo planes bound for the United States and Canada.

Hybrid attacks have been deployed, it is believed, by Russia through covert sabotage against NATO allies dating from the Kremlin's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. American and NATO intelligence agencies discovered a Russian plot to murder the chief executive of Rheinmetall, a German weapons giant, which manufactures arms and ammunition for Ukraine.

Drones appeared in Germany over Ramstein Air Base, one of the largest U.S. military posts in Europe; others seen near facilities owned by Rheinmetall. All of which Russia has time and again denied any involvement in. "Failing to act (by NATO members by imposing a unified range of measures) will mean the Kremlin retains the strategic advantage", warned former British intelligence strategist Charlie Edwards.

In the Baltic Sea, the crew of the Estonian mine hunter EML Sakala kept a careful watch on vessels slowing down or suddenly changing course suspiciously, just west of Russia. With the use of binoculars and long zoom lens cameras, they log names of ships, searching them out for missing anchors or trailing cables About 200 vessels were so scoured in a week at sea by the Estonian crew.

 

Finnish authorities said on December 26 that they were investigating a Russian oil tanker, named Eagle S, that sailed from a Russian port over suspected 'sabotage'

 

One of three Estonian navy ships, in marine patrols by NATO countries in the wake of the Estlink-2 power cable and communication links between Finland and Estonia damaged on December 25. Two other undersea data cables were also damaged a month before and suspicion fell on Russia, although nothing has been proven and once again the Kremlin denied involvement. The infrastructure provides power and communication for thousands of Europeans.

In the wake of the December 25 incident, the Eagle S, an oil tanker had left a Russian port, when Finnish police and border guards seized the tanker as it fell under suspicion of cutting the Estlink 2 power and four telecommunications cables by dragging its anchor. Carrying 35,000 tons of oil, investigators charged the ship left a drag trail with its anchor for close to 100 kilometres on the sea bed before it was apprehended and escorted to a Finnish port.

At a depth of 90 metres at its deepest point, the cable is some 145 kilometres in length, stretching across one of the busiest shipping lanes in Europe. Ten Baltic Sea cables have suffered damage since 2023. Undersea cables and pipelines criss-crossing the sea, link Nordic, Baltic and central European countries. They promote trade, energy security and serve to reduce dependence on energy resources from Russia.

The patrol ship Turva located an anchor that is suspected to be related to the cable damage that occurred on December 25.    Finnish Police

There is no Consolation for Devastation Wildfires Produce

"[The Los Angeles area] had another night of unimaginable terror and heartbreak, and even more Angelenos evacuated due to the northeast expansion of the Palisades Fire."

County supervisor, Lindsey Horvath

"We're not out of the woods yet. We have some very significant fire weather ahead of us." 

"We've prepositioned additional engines, fire crews, helicopters, bulldozers, water tenders across all of Southern California ... all poised to assist and support the additional fire threat."

Nancy Ward, director of the California Office of Emergency Services

 

"There's likely to be a lot more [fatalities in the wildfires devastating the Los Angeles area]."

"We always have to be careful on the death toll." 

"I've got search and rescue teams, we've got cadaver dogs out, and there's likely to be a lot more."

California Governor Gavin Newsom

 

"To all residents, please be assured that we will continue to be here for you until the last fire is completely extinguished."

"We stand alongside all of you as we begin to plan for the repopulation of evacuated areas, establishment of disaster recovery centers, and the rebuilding of your homes, your communities, and your lives."

Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone  

"[Curfews remain in place for the Pacific Palisades and Brentwood neighborhoods, which is a] measure that is necessary to ensure public safety, as high winds are expected to pick up again."

"[The Palisades Fire] remains active, and as others have said, this situation is far from over."

"Pacific Palisades still faces dangerous conditions, including downed power lines, broken gas and water pipes and now slide conditions because of water activity."

Los Angeles City Council member Traci Park

Firefighters watch as water is dropped on the Palisades Fire in Mandeville Canyon, in Los Angeles, on January 11.  Jae C. Hong/AP

Spreading wildfires saw firefighters racing to cut them off before the return of howling winds that could shove the flames closer to the J. Paul Getty Museum and the University of California Los Angeles. More home-owners were left on edge by new evacuation warnings, as a fierce battle was underway in Mandeville Canyon against the flames. Swooping helicopters were seen near the Pacific coast, dumping water on the downhill charging blaze. On the ground, firefighters were using hoses in an effort to beat back flames leaping everywhere, as thick smoke blanketed the hillsides.

CalFire operations chief Christian Litz explained their major focus on the Palisades Fire in the canyon area, not far from the UCLA campus. "We need to be aggressive out there", he said. The National Weather Service warned strong Santa Ana winds could soon return to replace the light breezes that were fanning the flames on Saturday. Santa Ana winds have been credited for the infernos that the wildfires were transformed into, levelling entire neighbourhoods which have seen no rainfall of any significant for the past eight months.

Megan Mantia, left, and her boyfriend Thomas, return to Mantia's fire-damaged home after the Eaton Fire swept through in Altadena, California, on January 8.   Ethan Swope/AP

There were fears that the fire threatened to leap over Interstate 405, into the Hollywood Hills and San
Fernando Valley, both highly populated. Teams conducted systematic grid searches on Saturday in the grim work sifting through the devastation with cadaver dogs. A family assistance centre was set  up in Pasadena as Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna urged residents to abide by curfews. "We have people driving up and around trying to get in just to look. Stay away."

The death count now stands at 26. Over 12,000 structures have been burnt to a cinder. Some 145 square miles have been consumed by the fires. Tens of thousands remain under evacuation orders while new evacuations were ordered Friday evening, following a flare-up on the Palisades Fire eastern side.Since the start of the fires on Tuesday north of downtown Los Angeles, structures including homes, apartment buildings, businesses, outbuildings and vehicles have been burned.

No cause  has yet been attributed to the largest fires that have caused the nation's costliest wildfires event in its recorded history. Donation centres on Saturday were overwhelmed by volunteers to the point that many were turned away, although donations of necessities were accepted. Some residents have been returning in hopes of salvaging keepsakes, sifting through what was left of their homes in the rubble.

People were urged by officials to stay away. The ash, they warned, can contain lead, arsenic, asbestos and other dangerous materials. "If  you're kicking that stuff up, you're breathing it in", advised a spokesman for the  unified command at the Palisades Fire. "All of that stuff is toxic."

"One Dies and Ten More Addicts are Born ... We Don't Worry About Them"

"You inject this into a hen, and if it takes between a minute and a minute and a half to die, that means it came out really good."

"If it doesn't die or takes too long to die, we'll add xylazine."

Fentanyl cook 

"The illicit market gets much more benefit from its substances by cutting them with different things such as xylazine."

"You enhance it and therefore need less product, and you get more profit."

Alexiz Bojorge Estrada, deputy director, Mexico mental health and addiction commission

Mexico’s government on Dec. 3 announced the largest-ever seizure of fentanyl in Sinaloa state. The Sinaloa Cartel has been split by warring factions, but production continues. Omar H. Garcia Harfuch/Handout  via REUTERS

 

Cartel laboratories in Mexico are where the synthetic opioids that reach North American markets derive from. Those who are called 'cooks' mix chemicals to the point where they are felt to be acceptable for the street market; precision is not a prime consideration, whereas the cartel knows that the products that provide a big hit are; dangerous but totally effective, as far as the end-users are concerned and this is where their profits lie. 

Those who spend their time mixing chemicals in rudimentary cook sites, by default expose themselves to toxic substances, so much so that on occasion some cooks end up retching, then they pass out and occasionally die. University chemistry students are being recruited by the cartels to work as cooks. One of these students spoke to an undercover investigator revealing that drug users living on the street are sometimes brought in to test their formulas.

 

New York Times

 

Injecting them as guinea pigs with the synthetic opioid. "We've had people convulse, or start foaming at the mouth", the student said. No one has yet died in her experience she said, but bad batches have been responsible for bad outcomes. 

In Culiacan, Mexico, cartel operatives visit  homeless encampments, bringing with them syringes filled with the latest fentanyl formula, offering to pay those living at such camps up to $30, to those agreeable to allowing the experimental batches to be injected into them. There are times the operatives visit daily to watch as the drugs take effect; snapping photos and filming reactions to the drugs.

"When it's really strong, it knocks you out or kills you. The people here died", explained one of the homeless men who had volunteered himself repeatedly. The chemicals required to produce the opioid have become more difficult to access as a result of efforts to crack down on the synthetic opioid. Originally sourced from China, exports of the raw ingredients have now been restricted, leading the cartels to these risky new methods of maintaining production of fentanyl.

 

A member of the Mexican navy and a canine sentry patrol Mexico’s Port of Manzanillo last year. REUTERS/Daniel Becerril

 

This type of experimentation involves the drug being combined with a wide range of additives -- including animal sedatives and other anesthetics that can be dangerous. Testing the results they come up with involves injecting these mixtures into animals like rabbits and chickens, as well as human subjects willing to lend themselves as guinea pigs. According to a number of cooks, should the rabbits survive beyond 90 seconds, the drug is considered to be too mild for the American market. 

 

The U.S. government places the blame on fueling a synthetic opioid on the Sinaloa Cartel. According to one cook's explanation, he began recently mixing fentanyl with an oral surgery anesthetic. Another cook using a cartel safe house in Sinaloa State explained that if the batch was too insipid, he would add xylazine, an animal tranquilizer.

According to cartel members, drug users and experts, many users in North America look to access a particularly deadly batch they know will get them high. "One dies, and ten more addicts are born", one operative for the cartel said: "We don't worry about them".

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum at the National Palace in Mexico City last month with a letter destined for Donald Trump. The U.S. president-elect has threatened steep tariffs if Mexico fails to stem a tide of drugs and migrants flowing north. Carlos Ramos Mamahua/Presidencia de Mexico/Handout via REUTERS

Nicolas Maduro: "I Come From The People"

"[Venezuela sets a] dangerous precedent [for democracies in the hemisphere]."

"[Showing that] in the 21st century, an important country in Latin America can disregard the will and sovereignty of the people and remain in a de facto government."

Carolina Jimenez Sandoval, president, Washington Office on Latin America 

"Maduro has violated the Constitution, and the sovereign will of Venezuelans expressed on July 28." "He carried out a coup d’état and crowned himself a dictator."

Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo González, in exile in Spain

"[With his inauguration] they decided to cross the red line [and] they stomp on our constitution."

"Today, Maduro did not put the presidential band on his chest, he put it on his ankle like a shackle that would tighten more every day."

Fellow opposition leader Maria Corina Machado

Nicolas Maduro on the day of his inauguration for a third six-year term at a military academy in Caracas, Venezuela on January 10.   Leonardo Fernandez Viloria/Reuters

The 'man of the people' who claims he represents the will of the ordinary Venezuelan in reclaiming the presidency of the country for a third six-year term Friday, is prepared to continue the authoritarian rule that he and his predecessor, Hugo Chavez, imposed upon Venezuela, ruining its democratic nature, its economy, devastating its society, all the while claiming that their version of governance is what the people of Venezuela demanded of them, and continue to. Venezuelans who are so happy with their lot under this government that they've departed in massive numbers to find refuge elsewhere from the ruinous governance that has devastated their country.

The United States, along with a number of other countries, rejected the claim that the latest election was handily won by the sitting president, recognizing opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez as the true president-elect of Venezuela. Without so much as providing evidence of having won this latest sham of an election, Maduro claimed electoral victory. This election was a replay of previously fraudulent elections in the country. But for the first time the opposition was able to provide evidence of its own claim to victory.

Opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez was forced by Maduro to go into exile. Currently, there is no indication that it would be safe for him to return to Venezuela, much less take up his duly elected position as the country's new president. Maduro's government has threatened, should he return, to detain him, having issued a $200,000 reward for his arrest. During the months leading up to the election the military aided Maduro's campaign of fear and repression. Over 1,700 political figures were arrested and remain prisoners.

Maria Corina Machado, just prior to Maduro's inauguration to a new six-year term, revealed that she had been detained briefly by "the repressive forces of the regime", upon leaving an opposition rally in Caracas. Observers spoke of the election as representing the largest electoral fraud in recent Latin American history where voting centre receipts collected by the opposition and verified by the Washington Post along with independent election observers indicate clearly that Gonzalez likely beat Maduro in a landslide.

Gonzalez vows he will return to Venezuela. The Biden administration announced it plans to continue to place pressure on the Maduro government with new sanctions and other allied measures. The bounty offered for information leading to Maduro's arrest and conviction for U.S. indictments on conspiracy and narcotics charges increased from its current $15 million to $25 million. 

 

"I come from the people. The power I represent belongs to the people and I owe it to the people", Maduro said during his third-term inauguration.

Anti-government demonstrators shout slogans as supporters of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro ride past on motorcycles during an opposition protest on the eve of Maduro's inauguration, in Caracas on Thursday.   Pedro Mattey/AFP/Getty Images

Release Our People!

"We had hoped and worked for the safe return of the four members of the family from Hamas captivity."

"I send my deepest condolences to the family. I thank the IDF and Israel Security Agency forces for their determined operation to return our hostages."

"We will continue to make every effort to bring all of our hostages home -- both the living and the dead." 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

 

"I hope that all the captives, whether alive or not, will return."

"We don’t need to keep receiving news every week about one or two captives coming back to us in coffins."

"I hope there will be peace, quiet, and tranquility for the whole world. Enough already with all this suffering for these innocent souls."

"We were told by the army that Hamza was also killed, but his body has not been recovered. At the funeral, [Ziadna’s] children ran around shouting, ‘how can it be? Our father’s name was on the list of captives; he’s supposed to come home.’ Now, that hope is gone."

"The family is angry that the government isn’t making a deal to free the captives. Unfortunately, two days [after seeing the list], we received the heartbreaking news — for the whole family, for the entire city, for the world — that they were murdered, and this was their fate."

"It’s so very sad for the entire family. We’re all in shock."

Youssef Ziadna

 

"We continue to do everything to fulfill our supreme moral obligation -- the return of all the hostages, living and dead, to Israeli soil."

"Deep condolences to the Ziyadne family upon the discovery of the bodies of Youssef and Hamza, who were kidnapped by Hamas murderers on October 7 and were rescued in a heroic operation by our heroic soldiers."

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz

Funeral of Youssef Ziadna, who was killed in Hamas captivity in Gaza, in Rahat, Israel on Jan. 9, 2025.

The bodies of two hostages, Youssef and Hamza Ziyadne, were locaed by troops with the Israel Defense Forces during military operations in the Gaza Strip, it was announced on Wednesday. Defense Minister Israel Katz and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed "deepest sorrow for the terrible news that the Ziyadne family received today". 

On that infamous day of October 7, 2023, among other Israelis taken captive by Hamas operatives and some Palestinian civilians who had joined the terrorist invasion from Gaza into southern Israel, six Arab Muslim Bedouin Israeli citizens were kidnapped, and taken into Gaza. There were four members of the Ziadna family, and two others; Fouad al-Talalka, 22, and Qaid Farhan al-Qadi 53, from the Bedouin Israeli community of Houra, kidnapped from kibbutz Magen. Qadi was returned to Israel in August, found in an IDF rescue mission in a southern Gaza tunnel.

 

Youssef's remains, confirmed by the IDF and Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet), were discovered in a tunnel in the Rafah area of southern Gaza. Hamza's death was not immediately confirmed, although the announcement stated that the discoveries in the tunnel raised 'serious concerns' for his life. "Our hearts ache. We wanted them to return to our family alive, but unfortunately they returned dead. Aisha and her brother Bilal were waiting to embrace them. This is a difficult and shocking disaster", said Youssef's brother, Ali Ziyadne.

53-year-old Youssef Ziyade and his children Hamza, 22, Bilal, 28, and Aisha, 17, residents of the Israeli Bedouin community of Rahat, were working in Kibbutz Holit, close to the border with Gaza, when they were abducted by Palestinian Hamas terrorists on October 7. As part of the November 2023 ceasefire agreement between Jerusalem and Hamas following 55 days of captivity, the two younger children, Bilal and Aisha were released.

 

Israeli authorities estimate there remain 98 hostages in Hamas captivity in Gaza, 94 of whom were abducted during the October 7 attacks. Negotiations to release the remainder of the hostages have been ongoing. Hamas insists that consideration will only be given to their release in exchange for their conditions, among which is the condition that it be agreed they can return to Gaza. Their negotiators claim that it is Israel that is holding up the release of the hostages.

In the latest round of negotiations, when Israel demanded a list from Hamas of the hostages being held, those that are alive and those whose corpses Israel insists must be released as well, Hamas responded that it would need a week or more to compile such a list. That was followed up by Hamas announcing that as a result of Israeli 'aggression' it cannot now find where most of the abductees are. There are, however, estimates by Israeli intelligence that no more than 20 of the hostages may still be alive. 

 

This is part of the Hamas excruciating psychological warfare; after having begun this conflict by inflicting pain and suffering on an unarmed civilian population, conducting an organized mass rape, perpetrating torture and mutilation on Israeli girls and women, incinerating entire families in their homes, slaughtering infants, the elderly, and taking farming villages in stealth early-morning invasions, looting and destroying, slaughtering 1,200 people, including foreign farm workers, it invokes Israeli 'aggression' in response to its own atrocities.

 

And to eke out as much misery and anguish as it possibly can, torturing the families of the vulnerable, starving and beaten hostages by circulating photographs and videos of those purportedly still alive, their gaunt and battered faces barely resembling the healthy youth they had once been as they plead for release from their living hell. Now Hamas coyly denies it can even place all of the hostages known to be in their hands, knowing the anguish they cause the hostages' loved ones and revelling in the divisions it causes between the hostage families and Israeli government authorities determined to destroy their ability to carry out any future atrocities against Israel.

 

Funeral of Youssef Ziadna, who was killed in Hamas captivity in Gaza, in Rahat, Israel on Jan. 9, 2025