Xi's Campaign to Eliminate Rivals

Chinese Communist Party confirms expulsion of 33 officials   NHK World News

 

"[The Central Committee], with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core [has eliminated serious hidden dangers within the Party, the state and the military."

"[The Party had been guided by the sense of mission that] we would rather offend thousands [ejected from the CCP] than let down 1.4 billion people [the unwitting population]."

Zhang Fuhai, deputy secretary, Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) 

 

Security personnel gather by Jingxi Hotel as China’s Communist Party leaders open the fifth plenary session of the 20th Central Committee behind closed doors in Beijing, China, October 26, 2026. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov

 

When China's President Xi Jinping first attained to his supreme post, he pledged to root out corruption in the Chinese Communist Party. This became a first priority and meetings of the Central Committee where such announcements of names and dismissals have been periodically revealed have become a routine part of the president's administrative processes. Woe betide any of the powerful politicians and military men whose influence and power has aroused the suspicion of a president whose word is law and whose wary eye can linger on any from whom a whisper of potential challenge can be envisaged.

 

"Serious hidden dangers" lurk within the Communist Party and the Chinese military and any that are detected must, above all, be eradicated. Authorities confirmed having carried out the expulsion of a record number of officials, previously in good standing at the elite level of government and the military. In a decade's time, President Xi has put into motion a grinding series of identified 'threats' to China through suspicious activities on the part of dozens of members of the powerful Central Committee and top military officers. In the process, thousands have been eliminated.

 

Thursday saw a four-day plenum of the Central Committee complete their work confirming that 33 additional dignitaries had been ejected. Included among them former Politburo member Zhang Youxia, whose successful military career had allowed him to rise to the very top, as China's highest-ranking general. The plenum's consensus was to adopt a decision on "advancing full and rigorous governance of the party", reducing corruption among cadres included, according to state news agency Xinhua. 

 

Chinese Central Military Commission (CMC) Vice Chairman Zhang Youxia arrives for a group photo session before the opening ceremony of the Western Pacific Naval Symposium in Qingdao, Shandong province, China April 22, 2024. REUTERS/Florence Lo

 

Beijing-watchers in analyzing these events interpret them as President Xi maneuvering events to pave the way for extending his leadership administrative rule in the second half of 2027, at a Party Congress. Supporters of the process claim that the purge of corrupt politicians and military advances clean governance. Zhang Youxia, at the time the highest-ranking general, had been removed previously in the wake of a months-long graft investigation. His expulsion from the party was confirmed on Thursday. 

 

Another former top Xinjiang official -- Ma Xingrui -- whose removal was also confirmed, had been removed from all his posts previously, over corruption allegations, with the inclusion of nepotism, bribery and paying for sex. According to the CCDI's Zhang Fuahi, discipline inspections and supervisory arms of the government had, since 2012, seen 7.9 million people punished for similar identified criminal activity.

 

Zhang Shengmin, who spearheaded the anti-graft campaign within the military, serving as President Xi's No.2 in the Central Military Commission, was promoted this week to the Politburo, the CCP's elite decision-making body. He will doubtless enjoy the privileges, prestige and respect that come with that position -- until his time comes when charges of graft and corruption come his way, and he is removed as another potential risk to the presidency. 

 

A meeting communique called for the adoption of "a holistic approach" combining severe punishment, targeted remedies and effective prevention to carry the fight against corruption"through to the end." President Xi emphasized political loyalty and heightened supervision of officials. Ten alternate Central Committee members were elevated to full membership, thus eliminating some of the vacancies of previous removals.

 

Police officers guard in Tiananmen Square as China’s Communist Party leaders open the fifth plenary session of the 20th Central Committee behind closed doors, in Beijing, China, October 26, 2026. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov

 

"[Efforts to weed out corruption will be] deepened, [particularly in sectors] characterized by the concentration of power, large amounts of funds and rich resource."

"We will prioritize the investigation of issues where political and economic problems are intertwined, collision between government and business, and the infiltration of capital into the political sphere."

"We will thoroughly investigate new forms of corruption and hidden corruption, and routinely address misconduct and corruption affecting the public at the grassroots level."

Zhang Fuhai, deputy secretary, Central Commission for Discipline Inspection 

"The Taliban have real leverage, and the European Union is quite powerless."

"European countries are under so much pressure that they are ready to do almost any deal to remove criminal refugees."

Conrad Schetter, director, Bonn International Center for Conflict Studies, Germany 

 

"The question is if it is indeed safe to return anyone to Afghanistan under the Taliban rule."

"No-one should be deported to Afghanistan given the dire human rights and living situation there."

"This is a fundamental principle of international refugee law, the non-refoulement principle."

Law professor Lena Riemer, Central European University, Vienna

 

"This was a historic visit as first time ever that delegation from Islamic Emirate visited the EU and held talks with member states in Brussels."

"[They spoke about] restarting broad-range consular services for Afghans in EU zone, including need for trust-building measures, consular presence and dignified return process."

Abdul Qahar Balkhi, spokesperson, Taliban Ministry of Foreign Affairs  

Kabul airport after the Taliban takeover of power in Afghanistan on 15 August 2021, credit: Belga

 

"Any engagement with the Taliban needs to prioritize protecting human rights and accountability — not deporting people to danger there."

"EU countries are undermining their credibility by condemning Taliban abuses and pursuing accountability on one hand, while cooperating with the Taliban to forcibly return Afghans on the other."

Fereshta Abbasi, researcher, Human Rights Watch 

 

"Belgium cannot confer legitimacy on a regime accused of serious human rights violations."

"Making a meeting possible in the framework of our host-state policy does not amount to recognition, does not amount to legitimacy, and does not constitute an invitation by the Belgian government [but it is prepared to comply with EU requests for visas for Afghans]."

Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot  

Germany leads European push to expand Afghan deportations through Taliban deals / CC: VOA

 

Europe's governments, in condemnation of the Taliban restrictions on women and girls have long shunned the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. Under pressure, with the migration epidemic flooding the continent, those same governments have been deporting refugees back to Afghanistan, in the process negotiating with the Taliban government. Over 20 European officials met in Brussels with five Taliban representatives in late June to discuss deportations.

 

According to three participants in the talks, the European side made no mention of human rights abuses. The focus was strictly on an agreement to be reached with Afghanistan accepting the return of their nationals. One of the major sources of migrants -- leaving Afghanistan for refuge in Europe -- the talks were meant to be viewed as technical, limited to expulsions, but have led to condemnation by human rights groups warning that the deportations risk the lives of those forced to return to their country of origin.

 

"The European Union cannot credibly condemn the Taliban's systematic repression while engaging with them to deport Afghans into the very abuses they claim to oppose", charged Fereshta Abbasi, Afghanistan researcher at Human Rights Watch. Russia remains the sole country in the world that formally recognizes the Taliban as a legitimate government. 

 

From the Taliban's perspective the view is that engaging positively on deportation represents an opening to advance acceptance of their rule as a recognized reality. Taliban officials have been permitted by Germany to operate in the Afghan diplomatic missions in Berlin and Bonn, a de facto recognition of the Taliban as a legitimate government. To do likewise is being considered by France. Greece, Austria, Poland and Norway are among representatives from 15 other European countries who have met the Taliban delegation in Brussels. 

 

For their part, the impoverished Taliban have requested wider access to Afghan missions from European governments, along with financial support to manage the reintegration of expelled Afghans. Broader economic assistance -- a red line for European governments which have limited their assistance to humanitarian aid -- is also among their quid pro quo expectations. European governments view development assistance as literally financing the Taliban government, which could be of benefit to officials under international sanctions.

 

450,000 Afghans have been expelled from Pakistan since 1 November 2022. OCHA/Sayed Habib Bidell

 

 Germany has pledged to aggressively deport migrants with criminal records, and has been leading the movement of expelling Afghan migrants. German officials in late 2025 struck  an agreement with the Taliban government to permit direct deportations of unauthorized Afghan migrants, rather than routing returnees through third countries.

 

A pact that "creates a reliable basis for direct and permanent deportations to Afghanistan", stated Alexander Dobrindt, German interior minister. More latterly, federal officials have embarked on a plan to speedily deport Afghan migrant men without criminal records, while women remain shielded from the effort. Close to 95 percent of Afghan women who applied for German asylum were granted protection, the first half of 2026. 

 

Pascal Confavreux, a spokesman for the French foreign ministry, informed a news briefing that the purpose of the discussions was to "facilitate the removal of Afghan nationals who are in the country illegally and who pose a national security risk". Along with Britain keeping tabs on developments in the EU, several other European countries are considering direct agreements with the Taliban. 

 

The Taliban ambassador to Qatar, Suhail Shaheeen, informed European diplomats they should provide economic assistance to Afghanistan. Should they not, he warned, numbers of migrating Afghans reaching Europe is bound to increase. "If there is unemployment and an economic crisis in Afghanistan, Afghans will go like a flood to Europe".    

"Criminals must leave our country."

"That is one of the reasons why deportations to Afghanistan are a regular and reliable part of our migration policy."

"Our course is clear: control, consistency, and a state governed by the rule of law that enforces its decisions."

German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt   

The German Interior Ministry said 303 Afghan men had been deported since the start of the current legislative term | File Photo: Jan Woitas/dpa/picture alliance

 

 

"Hello!!"

"I'd like to come try the food but I'm mindful where I spent my money these days."

"I saw your restaurant on the boycott list but I wanted to confirm with you what your views are about the genocide in Palestine [as the boycott lists might be misinformed]."

"Look forward to hearing back."

"Thank you!" 

Enquiry on Instagram by prospective diner

 

"Are we serving politics with a side of pancakes now?"

"There's a boycott list that's been going around since October 7. I don't think I can do anything about it. I think no matter what you do, people will assume a lot of things about you and your policies and your politics."

"I've been very adamant about not discussing politics, I definitely don't want that to define us. I just thought it was interesting that we were receiving that line of questioning, and I was fairly certain that other fellow restaurateurs were not receiving the same line of questioning."

"I don't hide the fact that I'm Jewish, right? I don't think I should have to. Absolutely not. No. But I also don't think I need to discuss foreign policy in order to conduct business in Montreal, Quebec."

"We all just want to make great food, feed our families, go home."

Raegan Steinberg, chief, restaurateur, Montrealer 

Is this normal? Is this the new normal?, Chef Raegan Steinberg asks in a social media post. nationalpost.com 

 

A fourth generation Canadian, Raegan Steinberg was inspired by her father whose influence on her future profession led to her pursuing culinary training at the Art Institute of Vancouver, on her professional journey to becoming an acclaimed chef. When she returned to Montreal, she began her adventures in creative cuisine by taking employment at the well-known Joe Beef establishment. 

 

After receiving that enquiry through Instagram recently, she gave thought to why she was being queried in such a manner, and how she should proceed. Those thoughts prompted her to reach out to others in the profession in the city. She spoke in turn with a number of fellow Montreal restaurateurs and chefs, the majority of whom hadn't been tasked to respond to such questions as a preliminary to hosting a potential client who prior to committing themselves to a meal demanded to be informed of their possible relationship with Israel.

 

"Jewish restaurants were definitely a higher percentage of the few people that I spoke to", she explained in an interview, "but I think that some Jewish restaurants are more targeted than others". Possibly as a result of those that are targeted being known for their popularity reflecting the quality of their menu choices and expert food preparation. Ms. Steinberg is referred to as "a top chef" by Tastet, a Canadian restaurant guide.

 

fplmtl  Filipinos for Palestinian Liberation

 

🫒🇵🇸 Before you go out to eat in Montreal, make sure the owner doesn’t support a military regime responsible for the genocide of tens of thousands of Palestinians 😵‍💫 Many of these restaurants also claim to serve “Israeli” food and wine.

 

She is, as well, the operator of three popular restaurants in the Montreal area: Arthurs Nosh Bar in Saint-Henri, Dirty Greens and Arthurs Nosh Bar at Le Cathcart, as well as Romies located in Old Montreal.  Perhaps being associated with those well-known and successful  enterprises might lead those who look to punish entrepreneurs whose expert skills make them public figure of note in their professions, should they be rash enough to risk all by publicly stating an allegiance to Israel.

 

She and her partner opened Back of House Catering as a preliminary to opening their first Arthurs Nosh Bar in 2015 which became a Montreal brunch staple on Notre-Dame Street West. The restaurant named after her father as a tribute to him, offering Jewish cuisine seen through a Moroccan gustatory lens. 

 

That successful venture was followed by Dirty Greens at Le Cathcart where gourmet salads are featured. Raegan and partner Alexandre Cohen opened Romies in 2024, a contemporary American bistro, That was followed by Arthur's Dinette in the NDG neighbourhood in 2026.  Well and truly established. Truly successful ventures by food-adventurous and food-knowledgeable professionals whose services to the public rewarded them amply.

 

Chef Raegan Steinberg filming an Instagram reel in one of her Montreal restaurants. Photo by Instagram

 

"I don’t think there’s like a negative stain on us or anything like that."

"We’re very happy, you know. I just think it’s important for people to know what goes on behind the scenes sometimes."

Chef Raegan Steinberg  

While nothing could quite prepare them and other Jewish-owned businesses from the malevolently ignorant harassment and poisonous charges of 'genocide' that accompany Jews in Canada living out their lives in the years since Palestinian terrorists launched a horrific maelstrom of mass rape, savage murder and hostage-taking of Israeli children, teens, elderly, foreign farm workers and members of the IDF, kept in inhumane conditions in Gaza, tormented by their captors while awaiting eventual release from captivity. 

 

Arthurs Nosh Bar, Tripadvisor

 

"What connects them is less a common agenda than a growing sense that the future promises less than the present generation was led to expect."

"[A] misleading narrative of a pan-European revolt [has allowed scenes of unrest to be taken out of their national context and offered] as proof that a chaotic Europe is ungovernable."

Alberta Alemanno, professor of European Law, HEC Paris business school

"We're sick of putting up with empty promises."

"Today, young people everywhere are demanding the right to a future."

"We are demanding a break with this old world that has made life difficult, not only in France."

Lena Guerrier, French student activist 

Protesters take cover behind a plywood board as French riot police and gendarmes use a water canon amid clashes during an authorised demonstration in Paris, October 24, 2026. REUTERS/Hannah McKay

 

 In Paris, Milan and Madrid, and elsewhere student rioting has been convulsing nations throughout Europe. In the East, from Bangladesh to India, students have been demanding to be heard. Slow economic growth, higher costs of food, housing and fuel and decrepit schools have aroused the anger of students here, there and everywhere. It is not just recently that it has occurred to the youth in Europe and Asia that their parents' comfortable lifestyles in a bygone era inaccessible to them, holds out no future promise for them.

 

Centrist President Emmanuel Macron grapples with a fiery eruption of anger over budget cuts and the kind of political paralysis that has led to the appointment of seven prime ministers over a period less than a decade.  Spain's Pedro Sanchez as the furthest left European leaders yet, has announced a snap election in an effort to capitalize over housing costs protests, hoping to emerge with a majority government by smearing his conservative opposition favouring landlords while threatening to privatize pension.

 

And then there is the right-wing government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, where Italy is confronting the ire of truckers facing steep energy price rises and the general public angered by the rising cost of living and other grievances. The autumn of discontent and protests throughout Europe go well behind ideological posturing, but rise on a scaffold of a universal problem that wars in Ukraine and Iran have exacerbated, with rising energy costs impacting the cost of all consumer commodities. 

 

Anti-riot police clashed with demonstrators in Milan last weekend.Piero Cruciatti/AFP/Getty Images

 

 A recent European survey saw 52 percent of  young adults between ages 16 and 26 living with the morose expectation that their futures will be nothing like what their parents had anticipated in their day. The unrest in Spain, Italy and France, the three major countries in the European Union, with leaders from the left, right and centre which along with Germany form the political and economic pillars of the European project does not bode well for the near future.

 

Enemies in the Kremlin portray the state of crisis and the chaos it has engendered in their own preferred observations, side-skipping the fallout of economic dysfunction, but representing evidence of the imminent collapse of Western liberalism. With a generous helping of unregulated, immigration. The political campaigns of hard-right and far-left parties inclusive of Alternative for Germany, National Rally and France Unbowed in France, and in Spain, Vox have been buoyed by the prospect of opportunities they see opening before them as opponents of the incumbents.  

 

Police stand guard as students protest against underresourced schools in Paris  Thibault Camus, AP

 

"The crisis brings joy to Moscow, Washington and others who fan the flames, but its origins are global and shared by liberal democracies", stated a former French ambassador to the United States, Gerard Araud. No outreach by the government authorities of those countries has succeeded in convincing the protesters that their grievances are being heard, and steps will be taken to make some of the changes they demand. That argument falls on deaf ears of protesters who have faced police brutality in efforts to stem the violent tide of insurrection.

 

Hundreds of thousands of people throng the streets of France's cities, one weekend after another, and with the lawful action of the bulk of the protests, accompanying groups with grievances of another variety hoist flags of the Palestine Territories, smash shop windows, loot stores, set fire to vehicles and shops, indulging in criminal mayhem of a more worrying hostility backed by foreign interests and interference in European affairs. All manner of ideological politicians in Europe and abroad are fixated on images of burnt-out vehicles, shattered storefronts as they face deep scrutiny for their failure in containing the disorder.

 

Protesters set trash cans on fire during clashes with police following a demonstration over Spain's housing crisis at the beginning of October.  Emilio Morenatti/AP

 

 

Typically and with fairly good reason, some among the right-wing authorities have pointed to immigration and cultural disaffection with European values and opportunities for those who migrated with expectations their numbers in dissent would usher in a different kind of opposition demanding rights and entitlements not yet earned, have been responsible for the violence and looting. Voters due to go to the polls in Spain, France, Italy and Poland where hard-right parties challenge the centrist leaders of Europe will have their say at the ballot box.

 

While Italy's Meloni subscribes to the version of blame that casts a net over immigration, Macron in France denies any such ascription. While Meloni blames "second-generation Italians" for the vandalism seen in Milan, Macron denounces such rhetoric, insisting that all France's citizens must be viewed on an equal lens of fidelity to the nation, in a cross-section of society as a whole, realities in the banlieus and periodic riots of volatile violence aside.

 

Several European nations struggle with weak growth, stagnant wages and inequalities between the rich and poor steadily expanding in a continent where the world's biggest welfare spenders govern. Following years of global crises where the pandemic and Russia's war in Ukraine have strained resources and raised costs of energy and all consumer goods from food to household items that must be delivered by truck and rail, have skyrocketed in costs.

 

"We are not living through the end of the world but the end of a world -- their world", mocked Marine LePen from her nationalist anti-immigrant platform. "Look at what's happening in other European countries. You can see clearly that the youth are rising up all over.  t is a formidable moment, and I hope we actually listen to them", noted Olivier Faure, head, centre-left Socialist Party in France. 

 

A protester holding a banner reading "we are governed by clowns" lies on the ground during a protest against skyrocketing housing costs at Rossio Square in Lisbon on Thursday.

Patricia de Melo Moriera/AFP/Getty Images

"[The DSA -- Democratic Socialists of America -- which once sought to promote socialism with elections has been subject to] 'entryism', the wilful effort by a small, disciplined cadre of radicals to infiltrate a more moderate organization and subvert it from within".

"[They dropped their long-established ban on totalitarians], opening the door to Communists, who now form a majority on its governing body." 

James Kirchik, The Atlantic

 

"[The] left wing of the Democratic Party flourished this summer as fed-up liberals in key races across the country have eschewed traditional, more moderate candidates in favour of hard-charging progressives."

Sarah Ferris CNN

Democratic Socialist of America website

 

The writing, it seems, is on the wall, that hard-left progressive Democrats will be taking their place as never before through the midterm elections, in state legislatures and in Congress. Though as yet a minority of party officeholders, with traditional liberals and Democratic moderates still in the majority, the entire party has now been smeared with hostility toward capitalism, Israel, Jews, and the United States itself -- at least under its current presidential office-holder. To his influence alone can be attributed the steep rise of unabashed socialists 'progressives' who reek of Marxist ideology.

 

Among whom can be counted the charming young Darializa Avila Chevalier, winner of the Democratic primary in New York's 13th congressional district, a companion-piece to New York City's Mayor Zohran Mamdani, himself an ice-breaker, a Muslim who makes no secret of his socialist influences, nor his grim hostility to Israel in a city where a mere few decades earlier death-cult Islamists did their best to bring the city to its knees in a ghastly performance of jihad kamikazi with martyrdom benefits. 

 

New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani's message to residents on how to deal with an ICE encounter has both critics and supporters talking. Camara Porter/AdMedia / MEGA; BONNIE CASH/UPI/Newscom/The Mega Agency

 

Her past is redolent with regrettable online posts identifying her passion for Marxism, as when she found it intolerable that public libraries fail to distinguish themselves in the U.S. with a good measure of publicly available Leninist tracts. Her sympathies are just as out-front as are Mamdani's, as when the very day after the southern Israel attacks took place when Palestinian terrorists led by Hamas committed a vast sadistic atrocity of savage rape, mutilation and slaughter, presented the perfect occasion to flaunt her credentials by attending a rally on October 8, 2023 celebrating the attack.

 

Darializa Avila Chevalier, winner of New York's 13th congressional district Democratic primary  NYT

 

Her response to an interview was to object when asked to condemn the October 7 slaughter -- that she would not "let a question be used to distract us from the documented reality that over hundreds of thousands of people, Palestinians specifically, have been killed". Her preference locally is to defund police, do away with borders, and expressing her contempt for the United States. She is unsurprisingly a champion "about the achievements and challenges of Cuban socialism". She quite obviously has no problem with the DSA resolution to support the 'Palestinian cause'.

 

According to Gallup, their recent polling reveals that "Forty-three percent of Americans now have a positive view of socialism, marking the first time this figure has exceeded 39 percent in Gallup's trend since 2010". Capitalism was supported by 55 percent of the American public, and free enterprise at 77 percent. Among Democrats, 35 percent advocated in support of capitalism, the very essence of American economic enterprise that created its wealth and technological foundational advance, the envy of the world.

 

A Cato/YouGov survey in March of 2025 saw 34 percent of Americans finding favour among citizens under 30 of the communist ideal. Who woudda thought? Senator McCarthy must be spinning flip-flops in his grave. Similar to the Gallop poll, the survey saw 43 percent of the general public supporting socialism, although 14 percent only found the idea of communism commendable. Outside of Democrats, on the other hand, the great majority of Americans continue to favour capitalism and free enterprise.

 

Abdul El-Sayed

"I am not a socialist", claimed Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed; a man who in 2019 called for the economy to be placed under more state control, while headlining a fundraiser for the Democratic Socialists of America, where he was photographed alongside Rashida Tlaib "in front of a Marxist-style pamphlet depicting a red DSA fist choking a snake labelled 'CAPITALISM'", as was described by Chuck Ross of The Washington Free Beacon.

 

True to his roots, to his championing of the DSA, Israel, El-Sayed claims, is as guilty as Hamas and guilty moreover, of 'apartheid' and 'genocide', mantra sentiments of the DSA for whom anyone who might express the opinion that Israel has a right to defend itself, earns instant expulsion from the party. 

 

Whither America?!!! Political forecasters see Democrats with a firm likelihood of taking the House of Representatives as well as the Senate in the midterm elections. In their bid to proceed with their agenda to reshape the United States of America in a more palatable version of their own verities and values. 

  

"Engagement is not approval."

"There are very few countries in this world that have the standards of Canada, the rights of Canada, the conviction of Canada, the constant reinforcement of those rights, so that all Canadians can live their lives as they choose."

"If you would have asked us a year ago how we would have pegged the chances [of Canada making a Candu sale in Turkey], that would have been very low. Now there are good chances."

"Our first and foremost job is protecting, not just protecting LGBTQI rights and two-spirited rights in Canada, but promoting those rights and ensuring that all Canadians can live their full selves in Canada."

"So first and foremost that's our responsibility."

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, left, welcomes Prime Minister Mark Carney during an official ceremony in Ankara, Turkey's capital, on Thursday. (Adem Altan/AFP/Getty Images)

 

Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney is nothing short of a preening hypocrite, to declare that Canada, under the administrative mishandling of its values, culture, priorities and dedication to multiculturalism remains a haven for all of its citizens under the Liberal-progressives that embrace Critical Race Theory in tandem with DEI. The Canada that existed before 2015 was indeed a country to be proud of, one where equality and mutual respect reflected the social order and government position. That Canada has been eviscerated.

 

The current Canada has embarked on friendly trade missions to Qatar and Turkey, both of which nations are in the willing thrall of the Muslim Brotherhood whose mission is one of stealth conquest of the West. Qatar's vast oil wealth has been generating the kind of goodwill that only money can buy, through 'investments' in academia in North America, in conjunction with the infiltration of members of the Islamic Republican Guard Corps as residents of Canada, where it is able to influence future generations of Canadians of the justice in supporting Palestinian victims of Israeli oppressive 'occupation'. 

 

Both Qatar and Turkey openly shelter and pamper leaders of the Hamas terrorist group whose mission is the destruction of the Jewish state, an outcome that would fit comfortably into the plans of both Islamist nations. And these are the 'allies' toward which Mark Carney, on Canada's behalf, turn to. Turkey, where Recep Tayyip Erdogan has ruled for 18 years as an Ottoman-empire caliph, where political dissenters are imprisoned and independent journalists arrested. In no Muslim country are LGBTQI communities permitted; Carney's daughter would be imprisoned and possibly gang-raped in a squalid lifetime cell.

Prime Minister Mark Carney, left, and Turkish President Recep Erdogan shake hands during a news conference at the presidential palace in Ankara, Turkey, on Thursday, when both countries signed a new trade and defence partnership. (Murat Cetinmuhurdar/Presidential Press Office/Reuters)

 

And there stands Prime Minister Carney, bursting with pride that he is succeeding in selling a Candu nuclear reactor to Turkey for, of course, industrial-civilian use. Not so long ago that would register as enabling nuclear proliferation. All the more perplexing when a country like Canada that positions itself as an exemplar of peace, security and good governance is exporting a potential doomsday weapon in a region of the world that is perpetually unsettled and in conflict, one where the Islamic Republic of Iran threatens to use a nuclear bomb if it considers itself under attack.

 

Chief executive of AtinsRealis, Ian Edwards, stated his company is prepared to conduct a feasibility study on "a potential new build of Candu reactors" at Sinop, a port city in Turkey. "We welcome this opportunity to deepen energy cooperation between Canada and Turkey while bringing Canadian nuclear technology and expertise to a growing international market". Turkey, where an ever-increasing dictatorship from a once-emerging democracy, whom Freedom House scores as 32/100 on its civil-liberties index: "not free".  The Turkish President and his party "have become increasingly authoritarian in recent years, consolidating significant power through constitutional changes and by imprisoning opponents and critics." 

 

Turkey has taken to shutting down a pro-opposition media outlet recently, raided LGBTQ groups, and convicted a standup comic of insulting President Erdogan. To the West, Turkey sitting at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, has always been viewed as a vital link between the two. Its long-lasting efforts to be accepted for membership in the European Union has always been deferred on the basis of its democratic deficit -- and that was long before the advent of Mr. Erdogan's 'Justice and Development Party'. 

 

But according to Mr. Carney, a 'strategic partnership' between Canada and Turkey represents a bonus for both; it would, to Mr. Erdogan; such recognition providing legitimacy where it is not due. As for Canada, under this Liberal government, it should blush with shame over such blatant sanctimony spouted by its prime minister. "Part of the way we discharge that [our independence and sovereignty] is to be a truly sovereign nation. Part of the way we become a truly sovereign nation and reinforce our sovereignty is to have a broad range of partnerships around the world", claims Mark Carney, broadly smiling.  

"Turkey is a formal partner of Canada in NATO and one of the most important geostrategic countries, not just in this region, but in this world."

"So we need to engage, and we do engage."

"[If Canada doesn't engage, it can't] be in the room [to raise Canadian perspectives on international challenges [citing geopolitical matters in regions near Turkey including Iran, Ukraine, Syria, the Middle East and the prospect of] continued stabilization [in relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan]."

Mark Carney 

"I commend Mr. Carney for how much energy he's putting into diversifying Canada's trade, but he's not getting the balance right."

"[The Prime Minister] is decidedly on the side of pursuing commercial goals with downplaying other questions of human rights and democracy and the rule of law."

"[The Carney visit to Turkey comes at a difficult time for human-rights campaigners in Turkey who are] by necessity very brave and some of them are in jail and have been incarcerated in the last few weeks and I think it's incumbent on any Canadian prime minister to do more."

Roland Paris, professor of international affairs, University of Ottawa 

In Istanbul on Friday, the prime minister held meetings with Turkish companies that included Sabanci Holding, an industrial and financial conglomerate; with Calik holding, a company that operates in the energy, mining, construction, textile and financial sectors; Baykar, manufacturer of military drones -- and arms manufacturer Aselsan. That will most certainly advantage their Canadian counterparts in those very same industries. 

 

PM Mark Carney and wife Diana Fox suitably garbed, visiting the Kariye mosque in Istanbul, Turkey on 24 October, 2026.  LA PRESSE CANADIENNE/Adrian Wyld

 

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

Thierry Clair, national secretary, Unsa Police union 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

Masked protesters confront French riot Police   CNN

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

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

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

Le Monde