"This [appointing Mykhailo Drapatyi, a popular and innovative general, as the new head of Ukraine’s armed forces], brings a breath of fresh air and new hope to the struggle of free people for freedom and justice. It is a voice for change that could not be ignored."

"The high expectations of the Ukrainian people must be met with a clear vision for ending the war for independence, a strong team and decisive actions aimed at saving the lives of our soldiers, automating the frontline, delivering asymmetric strikes and crippling the Russian economy."

Mykhailo Fedorov, former Ukraine defence minister 

 

"I offered Mykhailo a prominent position within the government that would enable him to unify the technological sector of our state and ensure its development."

"Our shared wish is one – victory over the enemy and conditions at the front and in pressure on Russia that would force Russia toward peace."

"A significant path has been travelled, the defence of Ukraine continues, and every warrior deserves dignified treatment."

"We have come a long way. The defence of Ukraine continues. And every soldier deserves to be treated with respect."

"I am grateful to Syrskyi and to] every one of our soldiers [fighting on the frontline]." 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy  

Oleksandr Syrskyi and Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kharkiv, Ukraine, in 2022.  Metin Aktaş / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images file

 

In a sudden move a week ago President Volodymyr Zelenskyy decided to remove his popular defence minister, his prime minister and several days later the commander-in-chief of his armed forces. Puzzlingly, this at a time when Ukrainian drones are hitting Russian refineries, while Moscow's summer offensive has stalled on most front areas and Ukraine has been restoring some of its sovereign territories.  Relations with Trump have settled down, and Ukraine has been given permission to manufacture its own U.S.-style interceptor missiles.

 

Yet at this signal time in Ukraine's history its president has announced a new "political strategy" through the reshuffling of its major war figures responsible for these successes. Thousand of Ukrainians poured into the streets across the country to protest the removal of  the popular Mykhailo Fedorov, credited as a key architect of Ukraine's advances in a drone warfare breakthrough. With no satisfactory explanation for the removal, Ukrainians fed up with corruption and alert to malfeasance, have campaigned for his reinstatement as minister of defence.

 

On the surface it appears that a generational conflict over how best to wage a modern war should proceed, as well as conflicts over corruption, inclusive of turf battles between the Defence Ministry and the generals, plus a president with a reputed tendency to remove subordinates who become too popular in the public regard, lest they become competitors for his alpha-executive governing position. 

 

With the acute realization that he may have made some awkward decisions that would not be well received not only by the Ukrainian public, but by the White House and Ukraine's NATO allies, Mr. Zelenskyy has been left to scramble in hopes of containing the fallout. It has become clear that deep institutional tensions on command structures in Ukraine which were brewing for months, have led to this crisis in confidence.  

"Probably [Zelensyy] didn't grasp fully how Fedorov has become so closely associated with positive changes."

"And the overall protest morphed into broad debate on war strategy and battlefield management."

Mykola Bielieskov, Kyiv defence analyst  

Former Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov holds a briefing in Kyiv on Thursday.  Danylo Antoniuk / Future Publishing via Getty Images

 

The disrupter-style hacks that were championed by younger officials tended to raise the hackles of old-guard battlefield tacticians, Mykhailo Fedorov first among them. Fedorov's innovative approach to the battlefield had won the approval of many officials in NATO, who privately expressed disappointment that Mr. Zelenskyy moved against his continuing in the role of Minister of Defence. 

 

Five consecutive nights saw thousands of noisy protesters outside the president's Kyiv office following Fedorov's dismissal as Minister of Defence, as rallies took place in over a dozen cities.  The public pressure succeeded in having the president reverse course, to fire Ukraine's commander-in-chief, Oleksander Syrsky and to replace him with another reform-minded commander, while offering Fedorov a new high-level government role. 

 

It had been widely rumoured that bad blood in battlefield disagreements between Fedorov and Syrsky led the commander-in-chief to demand that a choice had to be made by Zelenskyy; either Fedorov had to leave or he would. That choice was made, and then reversed under the weight of public censure. 

 

Syrsky's appointment to lead Ukraine's military arrived two years ago, replacing another poplar head of the armed forces, General Valery Zaluzhny, top commander during the February 2022 Russian invasion. A number of military issues led Zaluzhny to clash with Zelenskyy; the latter's request to mobilize 500,000 new soldiers one of those irritants.  It was likely that political ambitions on Zaluzhny's part finally poisoned their relations.

 

Disagreement between those who believe that drones and robots should drive the war to its winning conclusion as opposed to those who place their trust in conventional infantry and artillery to win the war has the former now feeling vindicated. The military tactics with the use of drones have unquestionably turned the tide of the war in Ukraine's favour. 

 

According to an interpretation by a European diplomat stationed in Kyiv, the turbulence between generational factions, corruption currents and personal egos are all involved. "All three of those reasons are  true. But also Fedorov is a political threat to Zelenskyy; many groups wanted to take him down." 

 

Volodymyr Zelenskyy with Oleksandr Syrskyi at the handover of drone missiles to the Ukrainian army in Kyiv in December 2024. Photograph: Sergey Dolzhenko/EPA

  

"We can't back down. We need a full Team Canada approach.Everything is on the table, but Ontario can't do it alone. We need the support."

"I'm tired of the bully trying to take our lunch money all the time. We always seem to be on our back heels. We need to be on the offence ... We need to stand up to the bully, and we need to hit him tariff to tariff -- all the way across the board."

"And that's my message to the prime minister. We need a plan moving forward."

Ontario Premier Doug Ford 

 

"There is not a chance in hell that U.S. alcohol is going back on a shelf in British Columbia. And I'm proud of that, and I know the British Columbians support that."

"And the idea of the president that he can bully us into whatever he wishes is incorrect."

"This attempt by the president to hurt Canadians to, for some reason, attack our country was entirely predictable. [He] will probably do it again. And there's no reason to believe that this is the bottom in terms of where he's willing to go."

"The end of the trade agreement between the United States and Canada would be devastating for Americans and for Canadians alike. The extent of that self-inflicted injury on the United States would be profound. U.S. business will be very clear with the president about that." 

British Columbia Premier David Eby

 

"It most certainly is time for us to intensify our negotiations, be very ambitious."

"The ultimate goal isn't to counter-tariff and further weaken the North American economy. The ultimate goal is to get to a renewed agreement, a trade agreement that is going to build and ensure that our North American economy is more competitive moving forward."

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe

U.S. President Donald Trump, left, watches as a Spanish soccer player shakes hands with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at the World Cup final on Sunday. The next day, Trump hit Canada with threat of 50 per cent tariffs. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press)

 

Fighting another war in the Middle East that is beginning to wrack up American casualties, making the Trump administration very unpopular in significant sectors of the U.S. voting public, hasn't distracted Donald Trump from his delusionary vendetta-pathology of making his trading partners and neighbours suffer pangs of trade punishment for imagined trade imbalances that Mr. Trump insists preys on the American economy. Even nature herself has come in for some extraordinary treatment, assigning her extreme weather tantrums to Canadian forest-management malpractise.

 

As for a generous move by the Government of Canada to improve truck traffic flows between the U.S. and Canada in the busiest such trade exchange benefiting the U.S. as much as it does Canada, by fully committing to paying for the enormous cost of installing a new bridge between Windsor and Detroit, riled President Trump who claimed the U.S. was being cheated again, despite Canada paying the complete $6.4 billion cost of building the Gordie Howe International Bridge. Toll revenues in the initial years of operation were to have paid off this debt but yielding to Trump pressure Canada is now deprived of that debt-revenue in the interests of Trump's 'permission' to open the bridge to traffic as intended.

 

Canada's wildfires sending plumes of smoke over the border another wrathful issue, and the punishment for Canada in not immediately shielding the U.S. from the out-of-control wildfire smoke wafting over to the U.S. necessitated another round of tariffs subject to the new Section 338 invoked by Mr. Trump's ire, where cement, dairy products, wood products, alcoholic beverages, paper products, sporting equipment, jewelry, glass products, salt, essential oils, clothing, swimming pools, gaming consoles, smartphones, lamps and furniture products now come with hefty 50 percent tariffs attached. 

 

Financial Times

 

Yet when the provinces respond to these devastating tariff impositions by imposing tariffs of their own, the Canadian boycott of U.S. alcoholic products by provincial liquor commissions enrages the Trump administration. According to a White House fact sheet Canadian imports of U.S. alcohol have decreased between March 2025 to February 2026 by 81 percent, an intolerable situation. Canadian provinces have made it abundantly clear that as soon as Mr. Trump moves the needle downward on his ever-increasing tariffs, they have no intention of lifting their boycotts.  

"I think this does provide a big reset to the negotiation agenda and will force Canada into difficult decisions in the coming 29 days."

"What we're hearing from our clients right now is those that are hit, that are caught by this list, their export sales are going to go to zero, and this is actually quite catastrophic. Because the 50 percent tariff is very, very high, and no one else in the world has to pay that. Right? This is a new tariff unique to Canada."

William Pellerin, international trade partner, McMillan LLP 

Prince Edward Island premier Rob Lantz speaks to reporters with fellow premiers at a press conference closing the Council of the Federation meetings in Charlottetown on Wednesday July 22, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darren Calabrese

 

Economists are aware of the documentation studies that reveal when governments impose tariffs seeming to be paid by exporters, what is actually occurring is that their own citizens are being taxed. The National Bureau of Economic Research published a paper by a Harvard University economist and a economist at University of Chicago which studied the extent to which the 1918-19 [Trump's previous administration] as well as 2025 tariffs ended up with the American public and not the exporters. The tariff pass-through rate to U.S. importers, they concluded is "pervasively high, during both the 2018-2019 and 2025 episodes". With 80 percent of the burden of the former and 94 percent of the latter tariffs paid by the U.S. public.

 

A German think tank, the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, analyzed $4 trillion of shipments between January 2024 and November 2025, concluding that U.S. consumers and importers paid 96 percent of the cost of Trump's tariffs; foreign exporters paid four percent. A National Bureau of Economic Research paper and an analysis by New York Federal Reserve researchers estimated approximately 90 percent of the U.S. tariffs' economic burden fell on Americans.

 

Across the border, Canadian studies document how protectionism harms Canadian consumers. A Montreal Economic Institute study lat month estimated supply management -- which involves quotas and high tariffs on dairy eggs and poultry -- cost the average Canadian $224 annually in inflated food prices. Statistics Canada's income survey and low-income cutoffs [a threshold for relative poverty] suggested that inflated food prices effectively slid about 120,000 Canadians below the poverty line. So much for supply management. 

"A lot of that [Canadian tourism to Vermont dropped 40 per cent] has to do with the rhetoric that the president has used, [referring to Trump’s threats to turn Canada into the 51st state and repeatedly calling the prime minister 'governor'."

"We really value our relationship with Canada both emotionally and financially, and economically."

Democratic Vermont Sen. Peter Welch

 

"How are you [Jamieson Greer, U.S. trade negotiator] approaching the risk of retaliatory tariffs from Canada now that you’ve imposed 50 per cent duties on a wide range of products that were previously exempt?"

Colorado Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet  

 

"Yes or no, when the new tariff on Canada takes effect, will Canada have higher tariffs than China on some products?"

"Let me work through that math. The 50 per cent tariff is higher than a number of tariffs on China."

Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden 

Left: Colorado Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet. Right: U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. CTV News

 

 

 

"[It is] ironic [that DEI programs are] often structurally incapable of even seeing antisemitism, let alone addressing it."

"If your DEI lens only recognizes race-based disadvantage, and cannot grapple with religious, cultural, economic and national dimensions, then Jews -- who are the most targeted group in the country -- are effectively rendered invisible."

"Some of the research shows an inherent tension between DEI frameworks, and the ability to understand antisemitism."

"When DEI is framed almost exclusively around systemic barriers defined by race, it cannot grapple with how antisemitism operates along religious, cultural, economic and national lines."

"The result is that antisemitism is frequently not mentioned at all in institutional DEI policies, or, when it is, the national dimension of Jewish identity is explicitly excluded."

Rhonda Lenton, former president, York University

 

"That 25 percent [one in four Jews seriously considering leaving Canada] is not people packing suitcases; it's a measure of lost trust. They are questioning whether Canada is still living up to its commitments on multiculturalism and minority rights."

"When that many members of a historically successful minority are thinking in those terms, it's not just a 'Jewish problem'. It's a warning light for every minority in this country."

"We're finding that strong negative attitudes toward Israel's very right to exist have bred a great deal of antisemitism in recent years. They're different focal points -- Jews on the one hand, Israel on the other -- but they have become closely linked forms of antipathy."

Sociologist Robert Brym, University of Toronto 

Israel’s Ambassador to Canada, Iddo Moed, looks at bullet holes fired at the Beth Avraham Yoseph of Toronto Synagogue in Vaughan, March 12, 2026. Photo by Peter J. Thompson /National Post

 

According to the Canadian Jewish Barometer 2026, representing a new national survey through a medium compiled by former president of York University Rhonda Lenton and University of Toronto sociologist Robert Brym, non-Jewish Canadians hold less favourable views of Jews at present than was the case two years earlier, while attitudes toward Israel have become far less favourable over the same time frame. The authors of this new national survey conclude that the greatest exacerbating factor is the diversity, inclusion and equity programs that have succeeded in eroding sensibilities. 

 

The web-based survey undertook to question 3,062 Canadian adults from mid-January to mid-February of 2026. Oversampling polls of Jews, Muslims and Quebecers drawn from a Leger Opinion Panel, made for detailed subgroup analysis. Positive sentiment toward Jews was found to have dropped in comparison to a similar 2024 survey; agreement with negatively-worded statements about Jews rose by roughly five percent on average, considered to be statistically significant.

 

Non-Jewish Canadians with the most favourable view of Jews fell by eight percentage points in the two- year period, while those with slightly positive views dropped by 15 points. Leading the authors to deduce  that the 'golden age' of Canadian Jewry -- from the 1960s to the early 2020s -- giving way to a hostile environment. The Barometer notes that Jews suffer more police-recorded hate crimes per capita than any other ethnic, racial or religious group in Canada, since the Israel-Hamas war.

 

Rising incidents of hostility have caused a psychological toll within the Jewish community In 2024, 63 percent of Jews felt less safe in Canada than they did five years earlier and by 2026 that figure leapt to 88 percent, where close to seven in ten Jewish parents are concerned over their children's safety in school. Fear, discomfort and discussions over emigration represent newly measurable trends, with one in four Jews seriously considering leaving Canada.

 

The prevailing atmosphere is that non-Jewish Canadians are markedly more critical of Israel; strong and moderate support declining, while weak support, outright opposition and uncertainty have all gained traction. More Canadians describe their view of Israel as unfavourable than favourable, with a majority stating their opinion that the Gaza campaign represents 'genocide'. 

 

Universities and other organizations must retool how DEI is operationalized to identify where anti-Jewish bias is being inadvertently baked into policy, according to Ms. Lenton. Perhaps the best, most effective place to start the process, is government itself with its 'progressive' dedication to DEI. The Barometer indicates that more hours of classroom teaching of the Holocaust correlates with slightly more positive attitudes toward Jews, but that effect is slight. Many non-Jewish respondents in Quebec particularly, under-estimate the number of Jews murdered in the Holocaust.   

"A program designed to be inclusive ends up being exclusive of the group that experiences the highest rate of hate crimes in the country. The only 'good Jew' in many DEI framings, is a Jew without any national ambitions for the Jewish people."

"That's includes revisiting definitions metrics and recommended strategies [to identify where anti-Jewish bias is baked into policy] and making sure that Jews are recognized as a vulnerable minority in all the dimensions in which they are targeted."

Robert Brym

  

"Whether justified based on available surveys or not, the perception itself is politically significant. For many Canadians, antisemitism is no longer viewed solely as a domestic prejudice inherited from Europe’s past, but increasingly as a problem linked to contemporary demographic and concomitant cultural change. In short, more immigration from Muslim countries. The constant and massive anti-Israel demonstrations that have rocked Toronto and Montreal have left a broad, distinctly visual impression."

"Perhaps the most revealing demographic pattern in the survey was the connection between antisemitic attitudes and dissatisfaction with Canada itself. Respondents who viewed Canada negatively were significantly more likely to feel negatively towards Jews than those who expressed confidence in the country and its institutions."

Sago, Public Square, The Hub  

 

 

 

"I want to speak to you from the heart about a photo going around from last weekend. I'm so sorry for the harm it caused."

"At one of the many public events at Stampede, I was approached by the Israeli ambassador. We had a very brief and frank exchange during which a photo was taken."

"After talking to many people in the community over the last couple of days, I better understand the immense hurt this has caused a lot of folks [taking into account the famine, children's deaths, the horrors of the war in Gaza]." 

Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi

 

"It always starts with anti-Israel talk and then grows into something far, far worse."

"If you want to be premier, start acting like it."

"We meet with the ambassador of Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Israel. The Aga Khan comes this year You have to respect them and refrain at all costs from demonizing."

"[Nenshi's action] shows a real lack of maturity."

Rob Anderson, chief of staff, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith

Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi with Iddo Moed, Israeli Ambassador to Canada, at the Calgary Stampede. (Photo credit: Embassy of Israel photo/via Facebook)

 

The provincial NDP leader, Naheed Nenshi saw fit to publicly apologize for his photo in which he stands smiling next to Iddo Moed, the Israeli ambassador, during the Calgary Stampede festivities. In so doing, more than adequately demonstrating the lack of honour and judgemental capabilities that reside deep within the New Democratic Party and Nenshi's own sense of self-preservation within that atmosphere. 

 

For a more well-rounded perspective on democratic points of view and an obviously better understanding that the Israel Defense Forces entered Gaza following the devastatingly grotesque invasion by thousands of Palestinian terrorists -- hell-bent on slaughtering Israeli civilians, from children to entire families, the elderly and the young alike, while triumphantly videoing the mass rape and torture of Jewish girls and women -- in a reaction that any country within the international community would commit to in defense of its own, Quebec Senator Leo Housakos unequivocally stated that he stands "shoulder to shoulder" with Ambassador Moed and the people of Israel, "the only democracy in the Middle East, where freedom, human rights, and the rule of law prevail".

 

When that photo of the two men; Nenshi and Ambassador Moed went public the response from among the public element that decries Israel's very existence and considers mass rape and slaughter of Jews to be nothing less than a 'push-back' against 'occupation' reminded Nenshi of his NDP-stripe obligations where the October 7, 2023 atrocities were hailed as pay-back for Israel's very existence. That his stance, having the effect of empathizing with 'Palestinian victims' of a response to their terrorist government's declaration of war, mentioning nothing that might have caused the Israeli military's campaign to destroy Hamas, adds substantially to the current climate of faulting Jewish Canadians for Palestinian feral war-mongering, is obviously of no concern to Naheed Nenshi. 

 

At that same event, Ambassador Moed had set up brief greeting and photo ops with a number of others. Premier Danielle Smith, Ontario Premier Doug Ford, Conservative Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre, and former federal NDP leader Tom Mulcair had no problems with such standard diplomatic overtures, but then none of them are infused either, with that very special undercurrent that operates in certain circles, of opposition to the very reality of existence of the Jewish state.  

"No democratic leader should apologize for engaging with the accredited representative of a sovereign democratic nation."

"Such remarks reinforce efforts to isolate Israel, legitimize anti-Zionist exclusion, and contribute to an environment in which antisemitism increasingly flourishes."

Abraham Global Peace Initiative president Avi Abraham Benlolo 

Stand With Us Canada

 

"One night in March, a two-person Ukrainian crew established a record  for the Ukrainian Armed Forces by shooting down, in one engagement, 23 Russian Shahed drones with Sting interceptor drones designed by the Ukrainian military technology company Wild Hornets. The story is noteworthy not only for the number of intercepted drones, but also for the operation’s cost efficiency and Ukraine’s interceptor-production capacity behind it."

"A Sting interceptor costs about $2,500. In comparison, a single U.S.-made Patriot interceptor missile that does the same job costs more than $3 million and requires significantly more time and resources to build and operate than a drone. Lockheed Martin produced approximately 600 of the most advanced PAC-3 type of Patriot missiles last year; meanwhile, the Ukrainian Armed Forces used about 700 of these interceptors in the span of only four winter months in 2025-2026."

"The conflict in the Middle East has further exposed the shortcomings of a high-end, slow-production approach to defense systems. In March 2026, when Iran launched hundreds of Shaheds at Persian Gulf states, countries with the most advanced U.S.-supplied air defense systems outside NATO watched their defense capabilities erode as their interceptor stockpiles drained quickly. The air defense systems worked as intended, yet they were not designed to protect against the intensity and scale of Iran’s attacks."

"Kyiv is building drones in massive quantities out of wartime necessity against Russia’s ongoing full-scale assault, now in its fifth year. A key part of that necessity is Russia’s large-scale use of Iranian-made Shahed drones against Ukrainian cities and infrastructure. That Russian campaign has raised serious questions about Iran’s responsibility under international law. In response, Ukraine is rewriting the global rules of air power and air defense, replacing sheer mass and large stockpiles of weapons as key factors in warfare with the benefits of quantity, speed, and the ability to learn faster than the enemy. It is a novel and adaptive, low-cost military-industrial model that is already catching the interest of other countries."

Lesia Bidochko, Just Security

 

Ukrainians train with handheld drones. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

 

"Together we can work on joint production, on making all of the components of the systems work, and provide both defense industrial bases with the impetus needed to step up investments and production [following The European Union and Ukraine's drone deal to merge Ukrainian expertise in unmanned warfare with the continent’s industrial capacity, with the goal of ramping up production of drone and counter-drone systems]."

"In Europe, we already have huge technological and industrial capacity that can be deployed. And we have safe and secure production sites that can help to scale up. But we do not have that battle-tested knowledge and expertise that Ukraine has forged. So the point I am making is that we need to combine our strengths. Together, we can work on joint production."

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen 

EU launches Ukraine defence industrial partnership, Drone Deal and disburses €1 billion for drones  EU Neighbours East

 

Kyiv can be credited with many outstanding features in this uneven war imposed upon Ukraine by Vladimir Putin's ambitions to restore Greater Russia; among them the courage and intestinal fortitude to counter the full-scale invasion in its fifth year and add to that the determination to win this war, whatever it takes to repel the Russian beast. And nor can its ingenuity in designing new technological weapons of its own manufacture to match anything Russia obtains from the Islamic Republic in this new era of drone warfare, much less its entrepreneurial enterprise in marketing its products and its experience be overlooked.

 

So while Russian drones -- the Iranian Shaheds -- have wrought their weight in deadly measure as a means to kill thousands of soldiers and civilians in Ukraine, countermeasures to Russia's innovative first-person-view vehicles, jet power, fibre-optic tethers and similar innovations have led to Ukraine developing its own versions in countering the Russian military's. EU member-states such as Croatia, Spain, Italy, Poland, the Netherlands, France, Denmark and Germany now see their own firms aligning with Ukrainian companies that specialize in first-person-view combat drones.

 

Ukrainian President Volodymyer Zelenskyy, pushing the drone deals whenever and wherever he can now realizes a ready market. Where Hezbollah deploys unmanned aerial vehicles to attack Israel, and Iran uses them against several regional countries, a case in point. Kyiv has signed ten-year security agreements with Gulf allies Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates since the joint U.S.-Israel aerial attacks on the Islamic Republic which led to its missiles and drones hitting its neighbours' U.S. military bases. A proposal, Zelenskyy stated is "also on the table for our American partners".

 

Ukrainian soldiers of the 127th Heavy Mechanized Brigade carry a Heavy Shot UAV across a field on May 8, 2026, in Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine. Yevhen Titov/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Image

 

"Latvia will adopt Ukraine's unique combat experience in airspace defence against drone attacks." 

"[The deal includes] immediate access to technologies, but most importantly, the immediate arrival of Ukrainian anti-drone combat unit experts in Latvia."

"Our skies can only be protected if we follow Ukraine's example, know-how and experience." 

Latvian Prime Minister Andris Kilbergs  

A joint drone production facility is to be built near Latvia's border with Russia. Russia's Eastern Europe neighbours are fully cognizant of the potential danger they are in, following Ukraine's invasion, led by the Russian President's roving eye and territorial acquisitiveness. Kyiv anticipates more military and economic support, in particular American-produced Patriot missiles in short supply, given U.S. forces fighting Iran. Its breakthrough arrived when President Trump stated Kyiv would be allowed to make Patriot missiles itself in Ukraine.

 

"The terms must be beneficial for Ukraine, and the proceeds from exports must strengthen Ukraine's defence", stated President Zelenskyy of plans to release exports of Ukrainian drones. Reliance on early warning systems, radar, electronic warfare, mobile fire groups, helicopters, jet fighters and interceptors encompass Ukraine's anti-drone defences. Interceptors are increasingly being realized as the main line of defence for intercepting drones.

 

Over 100 Ukrainian companies produce interceptors. "We have approximately 15 to 20 very effective interceptors, which are also extensively used at the front", revealed Andrii Hrytseniuk, chief executive of Ukrainian government organization Bravel, providing a platform for the country's defence tech sphere. 

 

A Sting interceptor drone flies during drills at the Yatagan School for Unmanned Aerial Systems in the Kyiv region, Ukraine, Efrem Lukatsky/AP

 

"There is no one single bullet. There is sort of this funny magical thinking that a lot of people are doing in terms of 'hey, just send us all your drones or your interceptors'. "

"And what people are sort of missing is that is, even though there's tech and that's what everybody sees, it's only one piece of everything." 

Deborah Fairlamb, American investor in military technology 

On Thursday, 7 August, 35-year-old Mohammed Khatib learned that his refugee status in Belgium was being revoked — allegedly over his verbal support for Palestinian armed resistance and alleged links with international terrorism. Khatib is the Europe coordinator of the Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, Samidoun. A Palestinian himself, he co-founded the organisation in 2011 after fleeing to Belgium from Lebanon in 2010, where he had grown up in the Ain El Hilweh refugee camp.

The decision to revoke his refugee status follows a campaign labelling him a “hate preacher,” initiated by the Belgian far-right on social media and taken up by former State Secretary for Asylum and Migration Nicole De Moor, who announced a procedure against him in October 2024.

The case, overseen by the Commissioner General for Refugees and Stateless Persons (CGRA), is based on information collected by the Coordination Unit for Threat Analysis (CUTA), which classifies Khatib a “serious” security threat.

Ciara Carolan, The New Arab 

 

In Belgium, showing solidarity with the Palestinian cause has become a serious legal and personal risk for refugees living under strict migration policies  The New Arab

 

"Canadians have witnessed an explosive rise in extremist rhetoric, ideological radicalization, and politically motivated violence, along with an unprecedented rise of antisemitism."

"As concerns about public safety have grown ... so too have questions about how governments balance humanitarian objectives with security considerations."

"The purpose of this research is not to tell Canadians what they should think. It is to help illuminate what Canadians do think, and to contribute a more informed discussion about the complex issues affecting Canadian society. Understanding public attitudes toward security, extremism and social cohesion is an important part of understanding the environment in which antisemitism and other forms of [hate] emerge and evolve."

HR Canada Charitable Organization  

Samidoun has been outlawed in Canada -- presumably, since it has been placed on Canada's terror list along with Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and so many other terror groups. It has been outlawed elsewhere as well, notably Germany. But it is in Vancouver, Canada, that Samidoun chose to make its home where it engages in anti-Israel propaganda and promotes antisemitism generally, and despite its listing still uses its Vancouver headquarters with seeming impunity.

 

Canada's Liberal-led governments appear to have a soft spot for Palestinian 'rights' and have latterly emerged as a stern critic of Israel; its previous warm relations with the Jewish state seem to have evaporated in the last decade, even more so since the barbaric slaughter that took place in southern Israel when thousands of Palestinian terrorists and civilians led by Hamas spilled over from Gaza to commit mass murder, torture and rape of Israeli citizens on October 7, 2023.

 

Palestinians have been given favoured status through immigration, refugee intake and illegal migration. Nor has there been a shortage of arrivals in Canada of members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps where their family members live in quiet security, their presence alarming to the nth degree to the far more numerous Iranian-Canadians who loathe the Iranian regime and fear their representatives in Canada whose presence seems not to bother the government of prime minister Mark Carney one whit.

 

Adil Charkaoui watches over a pro-Palestinian march in Montreal in late 2023. (Adil Charkaoui/X)

 

Interestingly, it seems at long last that ordinary Canadians have had enough of Palestinian 'student groups' creating chaotic scenes of anti-Israel propaganda and threats against Canadian Jews. Foreign coordinated marches, demonstrations and other forms of public displays of civil disobedience and lawlessness where keffiyeh-clad and masked pro-Hamas followers demonstrate their choice of 'human rights defence' by calling for an international Intifada, for a 'Final Solution', and chanting 'From the river to the sea'. Nor have mass public prayers shutting down roadways and intersections proven enchanting to the greater Canadian public. 

"Exporting the revolution, giving birth to and exporting terrorist groups is part of the Iranian regime. The names [of the groups] are not important. Terror is the most important mission inside and outside Iran, outside is even more important.These regimes have to reflect their image, superiority and power, in order to expand. Iranians actually co-operate with Russia and China. They learned it from them."

"Western countries are kind of honest and naive, and in obeying the law and liberal and democratic values, they sometimes fall in that trap of not knowing they help these dictatorships. They use your systems of being honest and good and trying to help the poor, and they abuse it."

Iranian-born, Israeli terrorism expert Beni Sabti  

A recent poll has resulted in just under fifty percent of Canadians revealed to be opposed to the Liberal federal government's decision to expedite student visa processing for Palestinians from Gaza. Immigration Minister Lena Diab last month announced her decision to expedite visa processing for 37 students from Gaza, along with their families. Commissioned by the HR Canada Charitable Organization, the Leger poll asked respondents whether they believed the policy would help students whose education had been disrupted by war, or whether they felt "speeding up the process could make it more difficult to adequately identify potential security risks, including individuals with extremist affiliations". 

 

The decision to expedite visa processing was opposed by forty-three percent of respondents, while 38 percent supported it, and the remaining 19 percent answered "I don't know". Results that demonstrate notable public concern and uncertainty for the planned acceleration of visa processing for Gaza Palestinian students related to perceived security risks in permitting radicalized Palestinians into Canada. Indubitably because Canadians have seen more than enough of such radicalized Palestinians already in Canada and making their presence all too well known. 

 

Muslims pray outside McGill University during an anti-Israel protest in Montreal on October 7, 2024 — the one year anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel. Photo by John Mahoney/Postmedia/

  

"Our mandate is to advance education on issues relating to antisemitism and discrimination, with a particular focus on how public perceptions and media narratives shape those conversations."

"Understanding how Canadians view, and are talking about, issues that intersect with security, extremism, and humanitarian policy helps provide important context for that work."

"[Canadians have been exposed to a growing number of incidents involving Islamic extremism in recent years], and this poll suggests those concerns are reflected in public opinion."

"The results indicate that appropriate security screening for those arriving from countries where these ideologies are prevalent is an issue of significant concern for millions of Canadians."

Amanda Eskenasi, education director, HR Charitable Organization 

 

"[Prime Minister Mark Carney has] negotiated a terrible deal for Canada."

"We took the risk and the cost. We deserve to recover our money."

"What precisely will be divided? Gross toll revenues, operating profit, net profit after expenses after Canada has fully recovered its investment?"

Conservative Canada-U.S trade critic Shuvaloy Majundar

 

"I'm happy the bridge is going to be open. We need it. We need it because we're expanding."

"The word 'net' does a lot of work in this. We are sharing after Canada is paid back. We get the revenues. Then the servicing of the costs of the bridge and paying the debt of the bridge, and then what's left over, there's a split of that for 15 years." 

"We are sharing after Canada is paid back. It's manning the toll booths, it's maintenance, it's snow removal, a series of other operational costs. So we get the revenues, then the servicing of the cost of the bridge and paying the debt of the bridge."

"And then what's left over, there's a split of that for 15 years."

"There's not going to be a lot of net to split. It's a good deal for Canada." 

Prime Minister Mark Carney 

 

"I will not allow this bridge to open until the United States is fully compensated for everything we have given them, and also, importantly, Canada treats the United States with the Fairness and Respect that we deserve." (February) 

"The new deal is great, and fair. Thank you and congratulations to the Canadian Government."

"May we both have many years of success with this wonderful new development."  (July)

"I was able to cut a MUCH BETTER DEAL for America, and by so doing, will be allowing the new and spectacular Gordie Howe International Bridge, spanning Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, to open on July 27th, as scheduled. The original deal made was unacceptable to me! The new deal is great and fair." 

U.S. President Donald J. Trump 

Gordie Howe International Bridge

 

Under the original agreement between Canada and Michigan which was signed as a contract in 2012, Canada, which paid for the construction of the $6.4 billion bridge, offered half ownership to Michigan. The contract stipulated that Canada would collect bridge tolls until such time as the capital costs expended by Canada were recouped. Following that, bridge toll revenues would be evenly split between Canada and Michigan. Because President Trump vetoed that understanding, a new, opaque agreement was reached to satisfy U.S. demands.

 

"Mark Carney's capitulation to Trump on the Gordie Howe Bridge is awful for Canada", commented opposition MP Andrew Lawton. While MP for Calgary Heritage Shuv Majumdar named it as "a terrible deal for Canada". He had written to Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc that the full agreement be released before the official bridge opening on July 27, so that the those who paid for the bridge -- Canadian taxpayers -- would be in possession of "a complete account of what was given away, what was received, and the true cost of this deal". 

 

An American official, reported Bloomberg News, contradicted Mr. Carney's statements; interest costs are not to be included in the calculation. In 2018 a bridge connecting Windsor and Detroit went under construction, although the owners of the long standing Ambassador Bridge made every attempt beforehand to stall and stop the initiative that would compete with the revenues they had long received as the sole bridge handling over a quarter of all trucked Canada-U.S. trade. 

 

Gordie Howe International Bridge from Detroit, Detroit Free Press

 

And while Mr. Carney stated no split of toll revenue would occur  until the debt is fully repaid, U.S. President Trump in February announced the terms of the deal did not pass muster with him as final arbiter, eventually blocking a June opening ceremony following completion of construction. U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is credited with bringing the president around to that opinion. The Moroun family, owners of the Ambassador Bridge had the ear of the Trump administration. All the more so as significant $1-million contributors to Trump's MAGA campaign. 

"I'm proud to have fought for its opening and congratulate my partners who have worked on this issue alongside me for years."

"This bridge is a testament to the enduring partnership between Michigan and Canada and what we can et done when we think big and bet on our shared future together."

"Thank you to our allies in Canada and to the Michiganders who advocated for years to get this done."

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer 

 Trump's tariffs have disrupted trade flows between the U.S. and Canada, but not entirely. There was an exchange of some $880 billion in goods and services in 2025, slightly diminished by about five percent less than the year before. While many Canadians have taken to boycotting recreational travel to the United States in protest of the tariffs as well as the U.S. president's anti-Canadian rhetoric, not to mention his constant musings and urges over the '51st State', these conditions may presage a lighter traffic flow than originally envisioned.

 

President Trump on Tuesday reposted an image with himself in the Oval Office surrounded by other world leaders, obviously produced by AI. A map of North America appears in the image, with the U.S. Stars and Stripes imposed over Canada and Greenland.  

 

 

 

"Perhaps Canada's willingness to pay a bribe was the correct thing to do in the short term, but signing long-term deals with the U.S. on anything has suffered an additional blow."

"[The opening was a] plus for commerce, but] it's bad for credibility, faith in contracts and a system of law and order, the viability of making long-term deals with the U.S., and democracy. It's blatantly unfair and commingles donor politics with commerce once again."

"Canadians have a right to know the full details, like was the Moroun family paid off somehow in the murky language of shared proceeds?"

Derek Holt, vice-president, head of capital markets economics, Scotiabank, Toronto