"Even 20 percent [of Alberta poll respondents in favour of separation] is double what it was 20 years ago."

"If we continue to be just a piggy bank for the Liberal party, support for leaving [Canada] will continue to go up."

"Despite everything my generation did -- the Alberta baby boom generation, which I was in the middle of -- our 'West wants in' initiative has failed."

"I think we're more vulnerable today to predatory and destructive federal policies than we were in the 1980s."

Ted Morton, former Alberta energy minister

 

"Alberta has no voice in the Senate or in the House [of Commons]."

"It doesn't matter what we do, we have no voice. We're under-represented."

"The system is set up for us to fail." 

Mitch Sylvestre, head, Stay Free Alberta

Mitch Sylvestre, head of the group Stay Free Alberta, is shown on Monday with boxes of petitions being delivered to Elections Alberta. The group wants to trigger a referendum on whether Alberta should separate from Canada, however, ongoing court battles have temporarily trapped the bid in limbo. (Alice Burgat/Radio-Canada)

 

Of the entire Alberta population, despite the resentment most of Albertans feel toward the manner in which the long succession of mostly Liberal governments in Ottawa has off-handedly treated the province, only 20 percent currently support the prospect of separating from Canada, according to recent polls. Previously that number was lower. A Pollara Strategic Insights survey a month ago found 27 percent of respondents in favour of making Alberta independent from Canada, while another 15 percent responded "yes" to sending a message to Ottawa of Alberta discontent in its role in Confederation.

 

According to Ted Morton, an early supporter of the federal Reform Party that was merged with the Conservative Party under Stephen Harper, much of the anger from Alberta can be attributed to failed efforts to readjust the Canadian federation to balance western interests; through initiatives such as the Reform Party's "the West wants in" campaign, to successive attempts by Alberta premiers to thwart Ottawa's federal power over the province.

 

From energy policy to Senate reform, through the courts and in the House of Commons, Western conservatives have attempted to challenge the federal government to no avail; each of those efforts were summarily rebuffed. The 2015 election of Justin Trudeau emphasized Alberta's dismal progress; the Trudeau government was viewed as actively hostile toward the oil and gas sector. Nonetheless the province transferred a net $244 billion between 2007 and 2022 in taxes to the federal government, according to the Fraser Institute.

 

Supporters carry boxes of signatures to submit for a separation referendum to Elections Alberta Monday May 4, 2026. Photo: AP

 

An organization called Stay Free Alberta submitted a petition to the electoral office of Alberta this week, having collected over 300,000 signatures from Albertans who could visualize the province separating from Canada. Representing well in excess of the 177,000 signatures (10 percent of the population) required to potentially force a referendum vote on the issue in October. The signatures must go through a verification process by Elections Alberta, whose completion could take months.

 

Should the referendum proceed in October, and should a majority of Albertans vote to leave, negotiations between Alberta and the Crown to determine the terms of a potential separation would take place. Alberta has a population of five million people and that has gained them no more than seven senatorial representation seats in the Senate of Canada. New Brunswick with its population of 900,000 has 12 senate seats, while Quebec has 24 senators with its population of nine million. Clearly, there is much awry in those numbers. 

 

If Albertans are looking for justification for their pro-independence move, the issue of hundreds of billions of dollars the province has transferred to Ottawa as a result of its oil wealth over the decades is one very good one. The federal government's environmental policies have served to choke off Alberta's fossil fuel industry; another. Likewise, Ottawa's out-of-control immigration rates and fiscal spending leading to endless multibillion-dollar deficits represent other issues worthy of discontent. 

 

Part of our work is a proposed carbon capture and storage network and pipeline  Photo location NAIT

 

Despite these setbacks, Alberta's economic productivity (gross domestic product output on a per-person basis) continues to outpace all other provinces, a major boon for the federal economy, while Canada elsewhere is mired in a productivity crisis. Alberta's royalties are set to rise against the backdrop of the Iran-conflict oil price upward spiral; its equalization payments doled out by the federal government to lesser economies in Atlantic Canada and Quebec are indispensable. 

 

Yet continued neglect of Alberta by the federal government will convert that indispensable to dispensable, advantaging no one at all. Little wonder that Alberta separatists are tired of being mired in the situation of the milch-cow that continues to be fettered by federal incompetence born of indifference to fair dealing. 

 

Christina Lake, Oil Sands Alliance

 

"Spend time in Ottawa and out East, and it's not even that there's a hostility toward the West, although I think some westerners think there is one. It's kind of worse than that. They don't even think about the West, we're not even a concern or a consideration."

"You can understand why they didn't respect the West [a century ago]. It was only about three or four percent of the national population." 

"But things have changed, and that comes full circle to my frustration."

"We're still working under a system that, in a lot of respects, reflects the values of 100-some years ago, when it was founded, rather than the much different dynamic today."

Cory Morgan, author, The Sovereigntist's Handbook: Charting the Course to Western Independence 

"I said from the beginning that I'm not going to stop. I decided that this is the work of my life."

"The scale of dissatisfaction is colossal. I have the impression that part of the system is already starting to work against Putin ... It's essentially ... similar to what happened at the end of the Soviet Union, when people hated the [Communist] Party and did everything for it to end. Putin's Russia will follow the same path as the Soviet Union. Everything is being repeated."

"A very big battle for power is going on. The FSB and the administration are very much in conflict. Putin does not have a single fist which only works for him. they are all working against each other."

Ilya Remeslo, Kremlin attack lawyer, propagandist 

 

"There is an absolutely clear conflict between the presidential administration and the second directorate of the FSB. These guys have gotten a lot of authority and have started tightening the screws very strongly."

"The presidential administration is trying to somehow let Putin know the lid could blow off the can."

"In Moscow, Khamenei's killing was seen as the Americans using internet technology for remote surveillance and since the Russian network is open for this type of remote surveillance they got worried."

Mikhail Khodorkovsky, former Russian oil tycoon, leading Russian opposition figure

 

"Kiriyenko and  his team are trying to convince Putin that he can keep control of the situation in the country through political technologies."

"And the second service of the FSB is trying to convince Putin that the only way to stabilize the situation in the country is through brutal methods and through tightening the screws."

Anonymous insider

 

"Everywhere we can see chaos on management processes."

"Relations toward Putin are changing. Economic optimism and the everyday patriotism connected to it are disappearing."

"Finally, the impossibility of winning a war -- which has changed and reduced Russia's advantages to a minimum -- is recognized."

"It's as if the content of the air has changed in Russia."

Alexander Baunov, political analyst, Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center

In recent months, Russia’s Federal Protective Service, which guards top officials, has sharply tightened security around Vladimir Putin. Photograph: Alexander Kazakov/AFP/Getty Images

 

The deteriorating Russian economy, and repressive restrictions including limits on internet access are heralding cracks within the Russian elite over Putin's war against Ukraine. A broad division is being scented in the upper echelons of Kremlin power. Russian President Vladimir Putin's approval rating fell to its lowest level yet in recent weeks since his 'special military operation' in Ukraine went into effect with a full-scale invasion. This, according to VCIOM, state-controlled polling firm. And other voices speaking against the government.

 

Moscow planned its annual Victory Day parade to be a more modest affair this year. It would not be the full-scale military extravaganza of previous years, but a fully scaled-down version. Caused by the fear of Ukraine targeting the event with Ukrainian drone attacks. Which was also cited as the reason for mandated internet rules bearing in mind that revelations hosted there have the potential of arming Ukraine with data better kept under wraps. The state of the economy lurks as another grating issue; a full-scale war and related sanctions matter.

Russia's Su-25 jet aircraft release smoke in the colours of the Russian state flag while flying towards the Kremlin's Spasskaya Tower during a flypast rehearsal for a military parade, which marks the 81st anniversary of victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two, in central Moscow, Russia, May 6, 2026. REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov

 

An internal conflict is cited by Kremlin watchers between a faction in the Putin administration led by Sergei Kiriyenko, first deputy Kremlin chief, and the Federal Security Service, of which Putin famously is  an alumni. The clampdown on internet access in the fear it could be used to target Putin and mobilize antigovernment opposition is a child of the security services, whereas the restrictions are viewed by some political advisers to Putin as the cause of antigovernment rage by digitalized Russian society.

 

In Russia "it is already impossible to ban something", a statement felt to refer to the internet rules, expressed by Sergei Novikov, head of the Kremlin department for social projects, at a conference on demographics. While drones, sent courtesy of Ukrainian counteroffensives reach deeper into Russian territory setting oil refineries and terminals on fire -- this week hitting a highrise building not far from the Kremlin, public anxiety is on the rise even as their president looks to increase his own personal security.

 

The Financial Times, CNN and the independent Russian investigative outlet IStories reported a European intelligence agency report that the FSO, Putin's Federal Protection Service has boosted security protocols around the presence n evident concern that the Russian president could be targeted in a drone attack. Not precluding by members of Russia's own disgruntled elite. Bringing to mind the tense situation that ensued in 2023 with the aborted mutiny led by Yevgeniy Rigozhin, late leader of the Wagner mercenaries.

 

Security checks have been tightened by the FSO on Putin visitors. Staff working around Vladimir Putin may no longer use mobile phones or any devices connected to the internet. They are banned from using public transport as well, according to the European intelligence report. Mr. Putin has taken increasingly to administering Russia's affairs from a remote system of underground bunkers. Putin's security fears have led to the periodic shutdown of communications systems in Moscow. No doubt the assassination of senor Russian General Fanil Sarvarov gave Putin heart palpitations, when security measures failed.

 

The new measures followed the assassination of Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov, most likely by Ukraine.   Anastasia Barashkova/Reuters

 

"I understood that this is not the president I voted for. It's not a person who is brave or courageous. It's a completely different person who just fears a real opponent who represents a threat to him." 

"It was necessary to try and stop him. It was necessary to speak against him. I decided that if I do it other people would see and it would lead other people to speak too. Because I know that people around me -- people from the administration -- they think exactly the same."

"In the administration there are good people. They snicker at Putin and say he is very primitive and that he is doing everything to lead the country into an abyss."

"Of course, publicly they are scared to say this. Because of course they will be put in jail and all their assets will be taken."

"Putin will be toppled at some moment by his own circle when he stops being convenient for them completely. This is the result that is awaiting him." 

Ilya Remeslo 

A portrait of a soldier from the "Taifun" unmanned aerial vehicle unit holding a new model 'Marsianin' attack drone in Ukraine. (Getty)

 

"China is pouring enormous resources in an effort to emerge a a world-leading oceanographic power."

"[With mapping of this nature], you can use it for science, and you can use it for warfare."

Bruce Jones, naval affairs and foreign policy expert, Brookings Institution

 

"Dozens of Chinese research vessels are on a quest to map the sea floor at strategically vital regions of the world's oceans."

"Some of the surveying is for mineral deposits and fishing grounds, but the data the ships collect has a military application."

"It gives Beijing a detailed picture of the maritime environment in which submarine battles will be waged if conflict erupts, naval experts say."

Reuters 

 

"The scale of what they’re doing is about more than just resources."

"If you look at the sheer extent of it, it’s very clear that they intend to have an expeditionary blue-water naval capability that also is built around submarine operations."

Jennifer Parker, adjunct professor of defense and security, University of Western Australia; former Australian anti-submarine warfare officer 

 

"It is frankly astonishing to see the enormous scale of Chinese marine scientific research."

"For decades, the U.S. Navy could assume an asymmetric advantage in its knowledge of the ocean battlespace."

"[China’s efforts] threaten to erode that advantage. It is obviously deeply concerning."

Ryan Martinson, associate professor, Chinese maritime strategy, U.S. Naval War College   

The Dong Fang Hong 3 docked in Qingdao, Shandong province. The research ship, whose name translates to "The East is Red," spent 2024 and 2025 moving back and forth in the seas near Taiwan and Guam, and around strategic stretches of the Indian Ocean, ship-tracking data shows. Cnsphoto via REUTERS

 

An atlas of deep-sea mineral deposits was recently published by a research arm of the Chinese government, highlighting Beijing's aspirations to mine the ocean floor, while  underscoring its claims to waters disputed by its geographic neighbours. The maps as well as pinpointing mineral deposits on the ocean bottom, supply the Chinese military with a deep understanding of the seafloor in strategically vital waters. According to experts, this provides Beijing with a clear advantage, should submarine warfare ever break out.

 

Pressure has been placed on other countries ramping up similar efforts, in the wake of the China Geological Survey announcement. The need for other countries to engage in similar oceanographic mapping is critical to reducing dependence on China for critical minerals and rare earth elements which at present, Beijing controls to a great extent globally. It has been well proven that ocean sediments are richly endowed with valuable resources, among them cobalt, nickel and manganese.

 

The USS Minnesota in Western Australia in February 2025. China's mapping of the ocean floor has often focused on areas through which U.S. and allied submarines would need to move during a conflict. U.S. Navy/Lt. Corey Todd Jones/Handout via REUTERS

 

Historically, the United States dominated in ocean-science fields. China has been investing in changing that to its advantage; closing the gap, equipping its military with knowledge enabling it to fight underwater, fear Western experts. The recently published atlas, according to the China Geological Survey website, maps locations and concentrations of a myriad of resources, data amassed from two decades of research and samplings at over 10,000 locations.

 

The atlas included the East China Sea and the Yellow Sea, where Beijing aggressively claims territory, despite that its neighbours have historically considered those territories to be theirs. With control of the majority of the world's key critical metals and rare earth resources essential in modern weapons and technologies, Beijing's dominance has its political dimension, as when it chose to restrict exports during disputes with both the United States and Japan.

 

For its part, Japan is developing its own seabed mining program, partially in a bid to reduce  reliance on Chinese supplies. The Japanese government in February announced that it had  retrieved mud rich in rare earths from depths of over 6,000 meters. International law customs determining national boundaries do exist.  However, occupying and managing a territory can serve the purpose of heavily supporting a nation's claim to owning it, simply by consistent presence.

 

And this appears to be China's modus operandi; to have a presence on disputed territory; land, sea or air. In the territorial waters of other countries, Chinese deep-sea exploration ships have made frequent appearances; including close to the Aleutian Islands in Alaska; as far from actual Chinese territory as can be imagined. Closer to home, China has tested seabed mining equipment in areas claimed by Taiwan and the Philippines.

 

Nuclear-powered Type 094A Jin-class Chinese ballistic missile submarines in the South China Sea in 2018. By mapping and monitoring the oceans, China is gathering critical data to deploy its submarines more effectively and hunt down those of its adversaries, naval-warfare experts say. REUTERS/Stringer

 

 

"We have faith in the Torah."

"They promised that all the B'nei Menashe will go to Israel by 2030."

"We all have our passports ready."

"We want to go to Israel, 90 percent for our religion, but yes, other things are better there, too - like education." 

Shimon Ngamthenial, Manipur, India 

The B’nei Menashe are not ethnically Indian. They stem from a Tibeto-Burmese people known as the Mizos in the Indian state of Mizoram and the Kukis in the adjacent state of Manipur. Until India’s British rulers seized this hilly, rain-forested region bordering on Burma in the late 19th century, the Kuki-Mizos lived in a traditional tribal society and had their own ancestral religion, which featured a mysterious progenitor called Manasia or Manmasi.

With British rule came British and American missionaries. By the last part of the 20th century, the Kukis and Mizos were thoroughly Christianized. Yet as they came to know the Bible, many were struck by parallels between its stories and commandments and elements of their old, pre-Christian religion. Soon the belief began to spread that Manasia or Manmasi was the biblical Manasseh (or, to call him by his Hebrew name, Menashe), the son of Joseph, and that the Kuki-Mizos were descended from the tribe named after him -- one of the ten tribes that vanished after the Assyrian Empire conquered the Kingdom of Israel in 722 B.C.E. and exiled much of its population. ​In the 1970s, inspired by this belief, and by the conviction that the Hebrew Bible was God’s eternal word that could not be annulled, a Judaizing movement arose in northeast India. If we are descended from the people of the Bible, its followers held, let us live by the Bible that was given them! At first this movement had almost no contact with the outside Jewish world and struggled to live by its own idea of what Judaism was. Yet in the 1980s, the B’nei Menashe or “Children of Menashe,” as they now were called, came under the influence of an Israeli rabbi, Eliyahu Avichayil, who took them under his wing, taught them the basics of Jewish tradition, and persuaded them to live by it.  Rabbi Avichayil also began to bring, with the approval of the Israeli government, groups of B’nei Menashe to Israel, where they underwent a formal conversion to Judaism and became full Israeli citizens.                                                  Degel Menashe  

THE B'NEI MENASHE

 

In a far corner of India close to the border of Myanmar, a few thousand B'nei Menashe live at the kibbutz Ma'oz Tzur. There, resident Shimon Ngamthenlal has amassed a collection of English-and-Hebrew-language essays on Judaism. Not far away women are busy chopping foraged greens for lunch in the Southeast Asian manner. This is a remote community believing itself one of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, as children of a tribal patriarch Manasseh, dispersed three thousand years ago. 

 

Spread between the Indian states of Manipur and Mizoram there is an estimated 10,000 B'nei Menashe who for generations have taught their children that their ancestors had wandered from the ancient Middle East across Asia to eventually find refuge. Mr. Ngamthenial wears payat, which distinguishes all Orthodox Jewish men. He, like others there, awaits aliyah (homecoming) to Israel.

 

Close to half of the community has removed to Israel since the 1990s -- until last month Israel flew about 250 of the Menashe from Delhi to Tel Aviv, more to follow shortly. Earlier groups found their homes in Hebron in the West Bank and before 2005, Israeli settlements in Gaza. The Israeli government focused in aiding the final 5,800 of the community to emigrate en masse; 1,200 altogether were flown to Israel in 2026.  

"They will complete their quarantine period at the moshav and spend some three months there going through the formal absorption process, including learning Hebrew"

"Following that, they are likely to be settled in the north in the Nazareth Illit area."

B'nei Menashe community member 

 

"I will continue to act on behalf of the Bnei Menashe community to ensure and expedite the aliyah of the remaining members of the community in India."

"We are blessed to see their arrival to Israel during the festival of Chanukah – this is a tremendous source of light for us all."

Penina Tamano-Shatta, Israeli minister of Aliyah (immigration) and Absorption  

The Milli Chronicle

 

According to another resident of the Manipuri kibbutz, Benjamin Haokip, "We follow Judaism, and here we cannot follow all our customs". For him the appeal of moving above all, is to be able to worship among fellow Jews in Israel. There are other reasons, some involved in their life in one of the poorest parts of India where the per capita economic activity is valued at $1,200 annually, and for Israel, it is over $55,000.

 

Most Menashe work on family farms in India, or hire out as day labourers, whereas in Israel their counterparts tend toward truck driving, or work in factories and construction. The Menashe are classified as a Kuki people in Manipur, their languages part of the Tibetan-Burmese family. Their roots trace back to what is now China. In the early 1900s, under the influence of American missionaries, most Kukis coverted to Christianity. In the 1970s a couple of Israeli anthropologists visiting northwestern India observed that some of the pre-Christian customs of the Kuki resembled Judaic practices.

 

A retired tax official in New Delhi, now president of the B'nai Menashe council of India, said the dispersion of the Menashes was so ancient, "you won't find any trace of it now". Another community of Menashe lives in the town of Kangpokpi across Manipur's central valley. Manipur was split by fighting between the Kuki and the majority Meitei people. 

 

To prove his suitability for emigration to Israel, Daniel Hangshing who lives near the Kangpokpi synagogue brought his entire family to meet with rabbis at a neighbouring state. "Israel is our destiny. We are not bothered about the war", he said, though the family prepares to leave one war-torn territory for another. 

 

PEOPLE AWAIT their Bnei Menashe relatives making aliyah, at Ben-Gurion Airport, 2006.

(photo credit: Moshe Milner/GPO)

 

 

  

When Arrogance Supersedes the Neutrality of Judgement

Supporters cheer on drivers in the protest convoy headed for Ottawa from an overpass in Kingston, Ont., on Friday, Jan. 28. (Lars Hagberg/The Canadian Press)

 

"I think it's important for the chief justice to review the circumstances and make his own determination about whether it would be appropriate or whether it could give rise to a reasonable apprehension of bias by any of the litigants."

Alexander Boissonnea-Lehner, lawyer for Canadian Frontline Nurses litigants

 

"Chief Justice [Richard] Wagner has advised that he did not, at any time, either directly or indirectly, comment on the Emergencies Act ... or matters at issue in the proceedings."

"Chief Justice Wagner has considered the certificates and letter, and has concluded that there is no actual or reasonable apprehension of bias that would require  his recusal under the applicable legal test."

Chantal Carbonneau, registrar, Supreme Court of Canada

The chief justice of the Supreme Court of Canada Richard Wagner   Photo by Via Supreme Court of Canada

 

What would an informed person, viewing the matter realistically and practically -- and having thought the matter through -- conclude."

"Would he think that it is more likely than not that [the decision-maker], whether consciously or unconsciously, would not decide fairly."

Test of apprehended bias 

When a  convoy of truckers arrived and assembled near the Parliament Hill Precinct to showcase their dissatisfaction with many of the government's COVID 19 edicts, including a provision that would revoke the licenses of long-range truckers who refused COVID vaccinations, their purpose was to demonstrate citizens' right to free speech, assembly and to protest government actions that they construed as impeding their rights under constitutional rights and freedoms.

 

The-then Liberal government of Justin Trudeau was dead-set against sending out an emissary to meet with the truckers, to discuss the situation to calm the troubled waters before matters got out-of-hand. Which it did, according to nearby residents whose peace was shattered by the deliberate constant honking of big rigs' horns, and the often-celebratory atmosphere that prevailed as the congregant truckers socialized among themselves, their trailers stationary for weeks.

 

Locals complained about the noisy crowded conditions, truck fumes and interruptions in their daily routines given the presence of so many out-of-towners. In exercising their right to freedom of assembly and free speech, what became known as the Freedom Convoy was hugely unpopular locally, despite a good level of support by other locals. The federal government panicked at the presence of so many Canadians scornful of their political leaders' autocratic rules, and invoked the Emergencies Act.

Police move in to clear downtown Ottawa near Parliament Hill of protesters after weeks of demonstrations.  THE CANADIAN PRESS/Cole Burston

 

That forced other truckers to haul away the offending trucks, forced police to take action they had already taken to address the situation, forced the dispersal of all those citizen-truckers and their supporters from across Canada who assembled to express their frustration with the government. In the process, banks were authorized to freeze people's bank accounts who were involved in the convoy, and the government brought legal action against those they considered to be convoy leaders; a turn of event that amounted to unjust and undue persecution.

 

The invocation of the Emergencies Act, which was never, ever meant to be used for such a purpose, became the subject of other lawsuits that balked at government overriding the limits of state power. That response to rights of citizens to exercise free expression was not the action of a liberal democracy. Around that time, in 2022, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada described the participants in the convoy as 'anarchists'. He failed to heed the warning that "Judges should be cautious in their communications on social media relating to matters that could come before the court", a caution that he himself helped write in Ethical Principles of Judges.

 

Now, because two courts ruled that the federal government was unreasonable in invoking the Emergencies Act, the current Liberal government under prime minister Mark Carney has appealed to the Supreme Court, now considering whether to hear the case. According to lower courts, the protesters' Charter right to free expression had been breached. The Federal Court of Appeal cited a case that held that the meaning of freedom of expression "is to ensure that everyone can manifest their thoughts, opinions ... however unpopular, distasteful or contrary to the mainstream".

 

A fence cordons off Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Feb. 21, 2022, after police cleared truckers from the area following the invocation of the Emergencies Act.  THE CANADIAN PRESS/Cole Burston

 

Yet, in 2022, the Chief Justice of Canada's Supreme Court relieved himself publicly of his personal opinion that some of those in the Freedom Convoy protests were 'remote-controlled' people attempting to short-circuit the government's politics, which "does not fill me with good feelings. What we saw recently on Wellington Street, here, is the budding start of anarchy where some people decided to take other citizens hostage, to take the law into their own hands, to disregard the system … I find that worrying", he said in an interview.

 

Having said which, to be perfectly logical, ethical and principled, he should be more than willing to recuse himself from the Supreme Court's hearing of the case, should it decide to do so. Yet he adamantly claims he has no reason to do such a thing. Claiming neutrality, non-bias as his defence, a defence more than neutralized by his obvious bias expressed in a public forum. An expression totally unbecoming his position as a jurist, infinitely more so as the Chief Justice. 

 

He had gone on to utter additionally 'non-biased' statements respecting the convoy, such as stating that the downtown Ottawa 'occupation' was partially fuelled by a "certain ignorance", a "bad understanding" of Canadian law. The impact of the Freedom Convoy's blockades on  Ottawa business and individuals -- particularly "the most vulnerable" was "deplorable". But of course no one should expect that in full compliance and respect for justice, that this man is prepared to recuse himself honourably.  

"Judicial independence is not the private right of judges. It is the foundation of judicial impartiality and a constitutional right of all."

"[Judges should] be mindful of the ways in which their conduct would be perceived by reasonable and informed members of the community and whether that perception is likely to lessen respect for the judge or the judiciary as a whole."

"[Judges should] avoid conduct which could reasonably cause others to question their impartiality." 

Ethical Principles for Judges 

"This court is going to make sure that you never have the opportunity to do that again."

"You preyed on these women's trusts and their spirituality, and you manipulated them for your own personal gratification." 

Judge Jessica Peterson, Nevada courtroom 

 

"He took away my sense of safety, even within my own mind. I believe I didn't have privacy in my own thoughts. Living with that kind of psychological control has had lasting effects on my ability to trust others and to fully express myself."

"The trauma delayed important parts of my life."

"He also took something deeply sacred from me: my spirituality. From a young age, I was taught to obey him and to follow rules without question."

"That conditioning put me in harm's way and has left me having to constantly remind myself that it is OK to say no."

Siera Begaye, child victim impact statement 

Actor Nathan Chasing Horse, best known for his role in Dances with Wolves, was handed a life sentence in Nevada for sexually assaulting Indigenous women and girls. Chasing Horse still has charges pending in other states and Canada.  CBC

 

Actor Nathan Chasing Horse, remembered for his role in Dances With Wolves, now 50 years old, this week was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole for 37 years. The Nevada courtroom heard the victim testimony of two young girls, 14 at the time that Mr. Chasing Horse whom they knew for his guidance in spirituality, convinced them that they were obliged to accept that he had the right to abuse them sexually. 

 

The presiding judge at the man's sentencing accused Chasing Horse of exploiting girls as young as 13 for  his own "personal gratification", while he had the trust of a spiritual authority figure as a traditional healer. Some of Chasing Horse's victims were Canadian. He has been accused of maintaining a harem of wives including an Alberta minor, as well as of having sex with an underage B.C. girl who had been sent to live with him because she was ill, and his reputation as a healing figure was thought to be of benefit to her. 

 

There were active warrants in both British Columbia and Alberta against Chasing Horse at the time of his 2023 arrest in Las Vegas. Had he been sent to trial in Canada, the Canadian justice system would have dealt with this man's crimes far differently than did Judge Peterson in the Nevada courtroom.  In Saskatchewan last year, a court sat to mete out justice to a 63 year-old spiritual healer who had used his position for a long reign of sexual assaults.

 

Nathan Chasing Horse is led out of the courtroom after being arraigned at North Las Vegas Justice Court, Feb. 2, 2023. Photo by Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP, File

 

Cecil Wolfe had violated a dozen women over a period of nine yeas. The abuse of these women was explained as a necessary treatment to remove "bad medicine". For his crimes against those 12 women, eight years in prison was considered more than adequate punishment, with parole likely in five years. His victims were warned by presiding Justice John Morrall that the sentence would seen unjust to them.  "The sentence I will impose will seem wholly inadequate for the women. The violations they have experienced will remain with them for the rest of their lives."

 

Because Wolfe, like Nathan Chasing Horse, is Indigenous, the court in Canada was forced to consider his 'marginalized' background and how it would have victimized him through racial prejudice, lack of opportunities, and the inherited deleterious effect of the Residential School system for First Nations children, impacting a sense of societal betrayal through following generations. Called the Gladue impact sentencing of Indigenous people, courts must take that 'marginalization' into effect, reducing sentencing times.

 

In a Canadian courtroom, Chasing Horse would have had his sentence wholly minimized, as a First Nations miscreant. A man convicted of sexually assaulting a 12-year-old in an Alberta court was given a 10-year sentence rather than the 12-year sentence thought to be more appropriate, by the Crown. "But for his Gladue factors, I would have imposed the sentence sought by the Crown", wrote Alberta Justice Jayme Williams.

 

A man in Texas was given a 50-year jail sentence for sexually abusing a child; while for sexually exploiting four girls between 13 and 15 years of age, a Connecticut man was given 35 years in prison. Manitoban Thomas Martin Butler, responsible for a series of child sex assaults in the mid 1990s that included two elementary school-aged children in his care being subjected to regular sexual abuse by himself or other men, received a 25-year sentence, a rarity in Canada. 

 

Siblings Raven-Dominique and Jeffery Gobeil say they were shocked to hear the man convicted of sexually abusing them as children was sentenced to 25 years in prison on Tuesday. (Justin Fraser/CBC)

 

"I hadn't even imagined the possibility of it being 25 years [sentence for 'horrendous' series of child sex assaults in 1990s]."

"If you had told me five years ago that we would be here today I would not have believed you."

"I wouldn't have even thought it was possible."

Lawyer Raven-Dominique 33, child victim of Butler's sex assaults 

While working as a doctor with USA Gymnastics, U.S. sports physician Larry Nasser sexually abused over 150 women and girls. "I've just signed your death warrant", Judge Rosemarie Aquilina said in 2018, as she read out his sentence -- 175 years in prison. The chasm in justice meted out between the American and Canadian judiciary in response to heinous crimes could not be more pronounced.

 

The provincial courthouse in Saskatoon, Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2016. A Saskatchewan man has been sentenced to eight years in prison for the sexual assaults of 12 women while under the guise of being an Indigenous medicine man. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Matthew Smith

  

Deadly Fibre-Optic Drones

"As both radio‑controlled and fiber‑optic FPV drones evolve, militaries worldwide—including Israel’s—are racing to develop new detection tools, visual‑tracking systems, and close‑range interceptors to counter a weapon whose effectiveness stems not from sophistication, but from its simplicity and rapid innovation cycle. "

"The surge of FPV drone attacks launched from southern Lebanon in recent days has renewed scrutiny of why these small, inexpensive aircraft—whether controlled by radio or by fiber‑optic cable—remain so difficult to counter, even for militaries equipped with sophisticated electronic‑warfare systems." 

"Israeli officials have confirmed that recent incidents involved both traditional first‑person‑view quadcopters and newer fiber‑optic–guided variants flown manually by Hezbollah operators, a tactic that has expanded steadily since late 2023." 

"Reports in Israeli media have described fiber‑optic lines stretching several kilometers, enabling operators to remain deep inside Lebanese territory while maintaining a stable, jam‑proof link."  

"For defenders, this eliminates the possibility of disrupting the drone electronically and forces reliance on visual, acoustic, or kinetic interception."  

"Proximity further complicates the picture. Hezbollah frequently launches drones—both radio‑controlled and fiber‑optic—from positions only a few hundred meters from the border, often concealed behind ridgelines, trees, or building."

"At such short distances, defensive systems have only seconds to detect, classify, and respond.   

Even when partial interference is applied to radio‑controlled drones, their momentum and onboard stabilization can carry them forward long enough to strike their target."

World Israel News

FPV drone. (Shutterstock)

 

"In a sleekly produced Hezbollah video from Sunday, the quadcopter drone, weighing no more than a few kilograms, hits its target as the Israeli soldiers appear to be completely unaware of its approach. According to the Israel Defense Forces, the attack killed 19-year-old Sgt. Idan Fooks and injured several others. Hezbollah then launched more drones at a rescue helicopter that arrived at the scene to evacuate the wounded troops."

"Fiber-optic drones are effective in their simplicity: Instead of a wireless signal that controls the drone remotely, the fiber-optic cable hardwires the drone directly to its operator." 

CNN  

In the latest round of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, the terrorist group has unleashed a new weapon at northern Israel. These are small drones controlled with fibre-optic cables, cables the width of dental floss, and so transparent they are almost invisible, and they are capable of avoiding detection by electronic means. 

 

Famously, these are drones widely used in Ukraine in its invasion by Russia. They are small, difficult to track and they are lethal. A dozen Israeli soldiers in northern Israel were injured by drones last week, two of them seriously. Attempts to intercept the drones by the Israeli military have been fruitless. These drones launched by Hezbollah killed an Israeli soldier, and separately, a defence contractor operating in southern Lebanon.

 

First responders gather near a crater left by an Iranian missile on March 24, 2026 in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Erik Marmor/Getty Images

 

As a result of Israeli air defences' interception success against larger, more powerful rockets, missiles and conventional drones, Hezbollah turned to using fibre optic drones and they constitute an alarming new threat. Locally produced, the drones are simple and easy to make, requiring off-the-shelf drones, a small amount of explosives, and transparent wire, all readily accessible on the consumer market. "Beyond physical barriers like nets, there is little that can be done. It’s a low-tech system adapted for asymmetric warfare", remarked an Israeli military source.

 

Air defences can resort to electronic jamming of most drones that can cause it to crash, or to return to its point of origin. Fiber-optic drones on the other hand, are not radio controlled, or piloted by GPS signals; instead they have a thin cable connected directly to an operator. Wind or other drones can cause the cables to tangle, but it is impossible to electronically jam them. "If you know what you're doing, it's absolutely deadly", said a drone expert, explaining that the drones fly low and creep up on a target.

 

A Ukrainian-made FPV fiber-optic drone flies at a military marketplace at an undisclosed location in the Kyiv region, Ukraine (Jan. 29, 2025). AP/Efrem Lukatsky

 

Moscow and Kyiv counter one another in a race to develop new drone technology. While Russia hits almost Ukraine nightly with Shahed long-range attack drones that originated in Iran, some can be taken down by electronic jamming. To solve that dilemma fibre-optic drones were developed, minus the range of a drone that uses a radio link or artificial intelligence to navigate. Israel must search for a method to either net or cut the cables, some of which cables extend up to 50 kilometres.

 

One attack killed an Israeli soldier and wounded six others a week ago. Hezbollah issued a video taken by the drone until it exploded in the midst of troops gathering near a vehicle,while another drone, fired at the same location as a military helicopter landed to evacuate the wounded, narrowly missed. There is no warning sound before the drone hits, and it seems to 'hunt' its target once someone becomes aware of its swift approach and trajectory and attempts evasive action. 

  

Relatives and friends grieve during the funeral of Israeli soldier Sgt. Idan Fooks, who was killed in combat in southern Lebanon, in Petah Tikva on April 27, 2026.  Ilia Yefimovich/AFP/Getty Images