"Last month, according to our statistics, there were 1,500 jet UAV attacks. This month, we've already counted 3,000 jet drones."

"Based on our intelligence data, the Russians have plans to produce 36,000 to 40,000 UAVs per yer -- that is, more than 3 ,000 per month."

"It's safe to say they have already reached that production capacity."

Serhiy Beskrestnov, adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy 

 

"[Such strikes have] once again highlighted a critical issue facing Ukraine: The Armed Forces of Ukraine have reached a breaking point regarding their shortage of surface-to-air missiles."

"Missiles are more expensive and complex to manufacture, making their daily use unfeasible. Geran drones, however, offer an immediate operational advantage."

"Looking long term, with the potential for production and launch capacities up to 5,000 units per month, they can be used to exacerbate the air defence shortages and intensify strikes on Ukrainian territory."

Mikhail Zvinchuk, Russian military blogger 

From Shahed to Geran: Russia reinvents the One-Way Attack Drone  Photo: Anelo/Adobe Stock

"We'll give them the right to make Patriots. We'll show them how to do it", said U.S. President Donald Trump, pressed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to do more to help Ukraine defend itself from Russian attacks on its civil infrastructure, missiles and drones hurled in great numbers at Ukrainian cities throughout the vast geography of the nation. Then came the qualifier: "advanced technology is a hard thing to give  away". 

 

Over 2,800 jet-propelled drones that fly twice as fast as less advanced ones, were launched in numbers meant to overwhelm Ukraine's defences, to force Kyiv to resort to more high-tech methods for self-defence. More than half of the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that Russia launches now to "wear down" Ukraine are jet-propelled. "There were almost 1,500 drones of all types in these four days alone, about 800 of them jet powered", stated President Zelenskyy. 

 

Developed from basic Iranian Shahed drones, the Geran-4 and Geran-5 models are capable of speeds of up to 400 kilometres per hour. Ukrainian forces scrambled combat aircraft at times in an effort to repel them. The role of these drones underlines Russia's alliance with Iran; emphasized when Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian earlier this week.  A Russian Geran-4 drone struck a munitions warehouse in a village outside Kyiv over a period of several hours, killing 38 people, this past week.

 

The image shows Geran drones stored near Tsymbulova in Russia's Oryol region.

 

Russia, predicted Beskrestnov, would go on producing gasoline-powered drones, with Jet-propelled models representing about 60 percent of output. Older types like the Shahed-136 and Geran-2 will make up the rest of the arsenal. But Russia is not the only protagonist in this conflict using powerful drones to their advantage; Ukraine has shown itself adept at producing its own weaponized drones to good effect within the Russian geography.

 

Aerial strikes used by each side penetrated deep into one another's territory, with the ground war stalled. Russian oil refineries continue to be hit by Ukraine. Ukraine has extended its campaign against major Russian online retailers, striking Ozon warehouses, quite apart from its hits on Russian oil refineries. An estimated six percent of the warehouse capacity of the online retailer was obliterated. 

 

For their part, a mix of drones and ballistic missiles are fired by Russia, striking warehouses around Kyiv, and in so doing threatening food shortages, seen as some grocery stores now have empty shelves. Ukraine has improved its capacity significantly to shoot down drones, ramping up its own long-range drone production. Even so, the shortage of air defence missiles represents a persistent vulnerability, an advantage for Russia.

 

Ballistic missiles can inflict much more damage, penetrating heavily defended or underground sites, but they are infinitely more expensive to produce than drones. President Zelenskyy aspires to acquire additional interceptors, pressing President Trump and the U.S. Congress to make more supplies available to Ukraine. He estimates that Ukraine requires at least five percent of U.S. Patriot production in its defence against Russian onslaughts, not merely the one percent it now relies upon. 

 

Russian air attack on Kiev, August 29, triggering major explosion and fire on warehouse. AP/Getty

"All told ending EDI [equity, diversity and inclusion] initiatives in Canadian research should be a top priority for any responsible government."

"[The quantity and quality of Canada Research Chair scholarship declined from between 20 percent to 15 percent, attributable to] non-meritorious appointment of less qualified Black, Indigenous, and female chairs." 

"Our analysis ... confirms that diversity is not merely neutral but can lower performance."

The Equity-Excellence Tradeoff report 

The Bruneau Centre for Research and Innovation at Memorial University in St. John's, Newfoundland. Since 2017, Canadian universities have been subject to strict identity-based hiring quotas as a condition of receiving federal research funding. Photo by Adobe Stock

 

The Macdonald-Laurier Institute released a new report focusing on race-based hiring quotas in academia under a Liberal-government mandate. Canadian universities have been subjected to strict identity-based hiring quotas since 2017, conditional to receiving research funding from the federal government. Postings of academic jobs explicitly barring straight white men has become proforma in recent years at Canadian academic institutions, as a result of that financial stricture.

 

As an example, at Memorial University in Newfoundland a tranche of five new job opportunities advertised in April as being open only to "women; 2SLGBTQIA+ applicants including Indigenous peoples, racialized persons and persons with disabilities".  This identity-based hiring has resulted, according to the 54-page report, in a diminishing number of Canadian research published or cited by other scholars.

 

The $311-million annual Canada Research Chair program came under particular attention by the study, representing the federal research fund focusing on the pressure placed on identity-based hiring. 2,285 university Canada Research Chairs are funded by the program; salaries and office expenses are entirely covered by this federal grant funding. Schools receive $200,000 yearly for a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair, and $100,000 yearly for a Tier 2 Chair. That's a substantial amount to forego for any university that might balk at the restrictions imposed.

 

DEI and academic hiring in public universities: An index of university discrimination in Canada  Aristotle Foundation for Public Policy

 

Schools receiving those grants have no option but to submit to federal quotas on race, gender and sexual characteristics of any researchers they hire. Canada Research Chairs must be comprised of 22 percent 'racialized', 4.9 percent 'Indigenous' and 50.9 percent 'women and gender equity-seeking groups', according to the most recent guidelines published by the Government of Canada. 

 

Individual universities, furthermore are informed of the precise number of Canada Research Chairs they are required to put in place in one of four 'equity-deserving' groups, targets expressed in regularly updated tables. The most recent equity quota for McGill University required the hiring of 34 'racialized' Canada Research chairs, five Indigenous Canada Research Chairs and ten 'persons with disabilities'. 

 

Initiated in 2000, the Canada Research Chair's identity mandates began in 2017 through the oversight of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, which fit nicely within his obsession with Critical Race Theory/DEI/Woke agendas to make Canada more equity-conscious as it approached his ideal of the 'Post-National' state that had no reason to distinguish itself through rigorous academic application to excellence. The program has taken nine years to become fully operational under the aegis of the Liberal federal government

 

Aristotle Foundation for Public Policy

 

When the Canada Research Chair program first started, white males represented 80 percent of the chairs. By 2025, white males represented a mere 25 percent of the total. The productivity of Canada Research Chairs was ranked by Macdonald-Laurier Institute analysts before and after the imposition of the identity mandates. The performance of 1,906 Chairs was categorized by their 'h-index' -- the standard global measurement of productivity and relevance of a scholar. The number of papers where a researcher is listed as an author along with the number of instances where the papers are cited by others results in the h-index ranks; typically between one and 100.

 

Cohorts with the lowest research productivity were recognized as those being given priority for academic positions. Black male scholars or Indigenous had an average h-index of 25, whereas the average white or Asian male scholar held a 39 h-index. As for female scholars, their average h-index was 28. The paper concluded that the replacement of high-achieving cohorts with lower-achieving counterparts arrived at the cost of lower quality research.   

"There will be many cases in which female, Black, or Indigenous scholars will not impose a cost, but on average -- under an EDI dispensation in which race and sex considerations can outweigh scholarly merit -- this will be the case."

"[Example: where a university took a position previously filled by a white or Asian scholar, filling it with a Black or Indigenous hire, it likely entailed an] average loss of 3.2 h-index points."

The Equity-Excellence Tradeoff report  

Columbia University students maintained a protest encampment on their campus following arrest of more than 100 protesters. (Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)

 

"[We appeal to you to expedite a method of entry into the United States for Jewish Canadians] who are experiencing persecution or who credibly fear for their safety because they are Jewish."

"[There exists] an alarming climate of harassment intimidation, vandalism, threats and violence [faced by Canadian families since the Hamas terrorist attacks of 7 October 2023]."

"Advocates working directly with these families report that more than 2,000 Jewish Canadians have expressed interest in relocating because of growing concerns for their safety."

"Accordingly, we respectfully ask that you direct the Department of State and the Department of Homeland Security to identify and implement lawful, secure, and appropriately expedited pathways for eligible Jewish Canadian nationals and their immediate family members who face persecution."

National Association of Christian Lawmakers (NACL)

The NACL letter urged the administration to coordinate with state and local governments, Jewish organizations, churches, nonprofits and employers willing to help families establish new lives in the United States.

 

This Christian group forwarded a proposal to the White House, attention of the President of the United States, appealing for a legal pathway to welcome Jewish Canadians fearing for their safety during a renascent flood of antisemitism whose effects have impacted the sense of security of Canadian Jews for the past three years and more. Led by Palestinian student groups, fuelled by hatred of Israel, incited and paid for from abroad through the Muslim Brotherhood and its sponsor Qatar, manifestations of that in-your-face antisemitism have taken place in the streets through mass protests, on university campuses and has seeped into public medical institutions where Jews now fear being treated in hospitals that employ Muslim medical staff where they are met with hostility.

 

There have been far too many instances of vandalism perpetrated against Jewish-owned businesses and institutions, in Canada, with Jewish parochial schools and community centers and synagogues being targeted with the violence of being shot at, vandalized, and fire-bombed. Crowds of Jew-hating Muslims and leftist allies have marched through Jewish neighbourhoods in Toronto and Montreal, shouting invective, chorusing 'Globalize the Intifada', 'Final Solution', and 'From the River to the Sea', terrorizing the residents, with insufficient response from municipal authorities and related police services.

 

Christian organizations like that of the NACL have expressed their sympathy at the plight of Jews in North America and Europe being verbally attacked and facing violent threats. Their empathetic responses, fellowship and offers of assistance have been heart-warming and serve as a balm to the wounded sentiments of Jews everywhere. However, the solution sought here, to encourage and formalize a system whereby Jews can leave Canada for haven in the United States, while a kindly gesture, would only move Jews from one threatened place to another, since American Jews are also facing very similar circumstances of exposure to racist hatred from the very same sources.

 

Trump shared a link to the report on Truth Social on Sunday evening, but did not comment on the contents.

 

The letter, sent to the attention of President Donald Trump, signed by Jason Rapert, founder and president of NACL, along with state representatives and religious leaders, with copies to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other U.S. senators and representatives, expresses a heartfelt concern with the hope of ameliorating the pain and vulnerability being felt by some Jews in Canada who have expressed a wish to leave the country for another that they believe promises them greater safety, respect and dignity. Yet, there too the harassment and hatred will assail them. Just as fundamentalist Muslims in Canada preach hatred of Jews, so too do those in the United States.

 

People set up a makeshift memorial for the hostages taken in the Oct. 7 Hamas-led militant attacks on Israel near an ongoing pro-Palestinian protest encampment on the Columbia University campus. (Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)

 

As good-hearted as the move by the Christian group is, in the expression of its concern for a beleaguered community with which they feel a brotherhood, it is but a band-aid solution to a serious disease immune to band-aid responses. Calling for the Trump administration to cooperate with states, local governments, Jewish organizations, churches, non-profits and employers willing to assist arriving families does nothing to solve the larger issue. That issue is the presence of antagonistic, hostile religious exponents of fundamentalist Islam for whom obligatory jihad for the faithful begins with expunging the presence of Jews.

 

Statistics Canada's latest data reflect that 71 percent of religious hate crimes in the country targeted its Jewish population. In the United States, the Anti-Defamation League's August report highlighted that 63 percent of all reported religion-based hate crimes in 2025 targeted American Jews, according to data from the FBI, making 2025 the third-highest year on record of anti-Jewish hate crimes in America. "We believe this moment presents another opportunity for America to demonstrate those principles" of "America's historic commitment to stand against religious persecution", the letter states.

 

CHRISTIAN LEADERS HOLD EMERGENCY SUMMIT IN JERUSALEM TO CONFRONT GLOBAL RISE IN ANTISEMITISM   Fox News

 

"For generations, America has served as a refuge for people fleeing religious persecution."

"We urge you to ensure that, consistent with federal law and the security interests of the United States, that door remains open to our Jewish brothers and sisters in Canada who need it today."

National Association of Christian Lawmakers (NACL) 

Students demonstrate on the campus of Atlanta's Emory University on Thursday as campus protests across the U.S. lead to confrontational standoffs with police, mass arrests and accusations of antisemitism. (Elijah Nouvelage/AFP/Getty Images)

"Ayman Elkasrawy is a teaching assistant at Ryerson University. In 2016, he publicly made extremely hateful statements about Jews."

"Oh Allah! Count their numbers; slay them one by one and spare not one of them." 

"Oh Allah! Purify the Al-Aqsa Mosque from the filth of the Jews."

CIJ News 

 

"One of Ryerson's core values is our commitment to community and inclusion ... your comments are in contravention of this core value, do not foster a respectful learning environment and reflect adversely on, and are to the detriment of the University."

Ryerson University dismissal letter teaching assistant 

Masjid Toronto on Dundas Street West. FACEBOOK PHOTO

 

Ayman Elkasrawy, a former teaching assistant with Ryerson University in Toronto (renamed Toronto Metropolitan University in 2022) was fired following his having publicly denounced "desecration by the Jews" in 2016 in a prayer delivered in Arabic, at the Masjid mosque in Toronto. There he called for Jews to be slayed 'one by one', none to be spared. At the time the prayer was condemned by Masjid Toronto as well as the Muslim Association of Canada. It was identified by them as "an inappropriate supplication that was offensive to those of Jewish faith".

 

There was additional repercussions when Ryerson University decided to dismiss Elkasrawy from his work as a teaching assistant in the engineering faculty. Elkasrawy's prayer clips were circulated at the time by  CIJ News, now defunct. The translation circulated by CIJ News represented a mistranslation, claimed Elkasrawy's counsel; the comments "twisted, to make them appear inappropriate, violent and antisemitic". 

 

What he actually did say, according to Elkasrawy was: "Oh Allah: has full cognizance of them, slay them one by one, and don't let one escape your punishment. Oh Allah; cleanse the Aqsa Mosque from the desecration by the Jews". Furthermore testifying before the Ontario Human Rights Commission that his 'slay them one by one' statement referred to members of Syria's Assad regime. That he was referring to Israeli control of Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa mosque; however on second thought he would alter the prayer to "the occupying Jews".

 

In a statement university said it learned last week "that a teaching assistant had made disturbing, anti-Semitic comments off-campus" in the summer 2016, and took "appropriate action." (Facebook)

 

On the grounds that he was the victim of an "Islamophobic attack" Elkasrawy  had taken his complaint to the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal. He had been, he claimed, the victim of an Islamophobic attack resulting from posters pasted on the Ryerson University campus with his photograph alongside the caption "fire him now". The posters, Elkasrawy informed the tribunal, were created by "the Islamophobia industry" in which Ryerson had "participated in the Islamophobic attack" by respecting their demands for his dismissal.

 

The Jewish group B'nai Brith had sent a letter to President Mohamed Lachemi of Ryerson University calling for Elkasrawy's dismissal. Following the termination, President Lachemi replied to B'nai Brith with the news that Elkasrawy was "no longer employed by he university", that "we remain actively engaged in addressing antisemitism in our community". 

 

In adjudicator Cherniak's ruling, Lachemi's decision to comment violated the university's usual privacy regulations even while rejecting Elkasrawy's claims of having been fired because he was Muslim.  Ironically, she deemed him a victim of discrimination, relating to the email Ryerson President Mohamed Lachemi, himself a Muslim, sent to B'nai Brith. Which moved her to the decision to award him $7,000 for "injury to dignity, feelings and self-respect". 

 

Ayman Elkasrawy accused of making anti-Semitic statements while leading prayers at his downtown mosque / Cole Burston for the Toronto Star

"Who amongst us has not at some point in their lives said something they wish they could take back and learned a life lesson because of it."

"[The prayer was a] human moment [that ultimately did not represent] his sincerely held beliefs."

"I find that his identity as a Muslim is not the reason he was terminated because there is no evidence to support such a conclusion."

"I find that Dr. Elkasrawy has not presented clear, cogent and convincing evidence that the poster was made by the Islamophobia industry or is Islamophobic on its face."

"I am satisfied that Dr. Elkasrawy's creed was a small factor in President Lachemi's decision to breach Ryerson's confidentiality policy and send an email about Dr. Elkasrawy's employment status to B'nai Brith Canada."

"I award Dr. Elkasrawy a remedy in the sum of $7,000.00 as compensation for injury to dignity, feelings, and self-respect for this Code violation."

Cyndee Cherniak, adjudicator, Ontario Human Rights Tribunal 

Posters that were put up at Ryerson University, calling for Ayman Elkasrawy to be fired.

 

Asymmetrical Warfare

"This is making the missile the preeminent weapon of the 21st century, with the potential to undermine deterrence and stability."

"[Warfare followed a simple physical law: The further you fired your projectile, the less accurate it became. Overcoming distance was a problem supplanted by the solution of] mass and energy."

"Now, wars are won by information."

"[These new technologies allow] the many and the small -- ] Iranians, Houthis, Hezbollah, Hamas -- ] to slip the heavy punches of their opponents, because they are well hidden and can strike back with accurate blows of their own." 

Professor emeritus of defense analysis U.S. Naval Postgraduate School 

David vs. Goliath: Cost Asymmetry in Warfare   Photo by parilov/Adobe Stock

  

Disparity in Power: At its core, asymmetric warfare hinges on a significant imbalance in military strength. The weaker side, lacking the resources and conventional military might of a state actor, must innovate and adapt unconventional strategies to level the playing field.

Unconventional Tactics: Guerrilla warfare, ambushes, sabotage, and terrorism are quintessential tactics of asymmetric warfare. These methods aim to maximize damage to the stronger force while minimizing losses for the weaker side, showcasing the ingenuity and resourcefulness of asymmetric actors.

Blurred Lines: Asymmetric warfare often blurs the distinction between combatants and civilians. Insurgents may operate within civilian populations, making it challenging for the stronger force to discern between military targets and innocent bystanders, complicating the ethical and strategic dimensions of conflict.

Terrorism: In the arsenal of weaker actors facing off against more potent adversaries, terrorism emerges as a potent tool for disrupting stability and exerting influence. Characterized by its asymmetrical nature, terrorism encompasses a spectrum of violent acts aimed at civilian populations or non-combatant targets, leveraging fear and intimidation to achieve political, ideological, or strategic objectives. Whether through bombings, shootings, or cyberattacks, terrorist groups exploit vulnerabilities in security systems to inflict disproportionate harm and sow chaos. Strategically employed, terrorism aims to erode the morale of the adversary, undermine confidence in government institutions, and provoke reactions that may inadvertently galvanize support for the terrorist cause. As such, terrorism remains a defining feature of asymmetric warfare, presenting complex challenges for security and counterterrorism efforts on a global scale.

Hamas and Hezbollah serve as prominent examples of non-state actors engaged in proxy warfare against Israel, receiving support from Iran. Employing rocket attacks and other unconventional tactics, these groups highlight the intricate interplay between asymmetric and proxy warfare in the region, further complicating conflict dynamics.  

 

 

It was a strike of genius, a scheme whose planning was exquisite in nature, secretive and ultimately successful catching the enemy -- in this case Hezbollah -- off guard when on September 17 and 18 of 2024 pagers and other handheld electronic devices used by members of the terror group, their fighters, officers, medics and civilian supporters became victims when Israel detonated them in a surprise attack that did not require the presence of IDF soldiers. Dozens were killed by the surprise explosions and an estimated 3,000 wounded. Altogether some 1,500 Hezbollah fighters put out of business due to their injuries.

 

A fairly small quantity of explosives cunningly lay in wait for the unsuspecting users of those handheld electronic communication devices. They were remotely ignored on schedule. It took but a few hours for Israel's scheme to demoralize an implacable enemy when a significant number of Hezbollah fighters were killed and wounded. The scheme's success owed to vital information that afforded Israel that rare one-time opportunity. Knowledge of how, where and when to strike for the greatest impact. Low-tech allied with clever manipulation of physical resources and knowledge of the enemy. 

 

People gather as smoke rises from a mobile shop in Sidon, Lebanon September 18, 2024. REUTERS/Hassan Hankir

 

Israel,  however, is not the only entity that is making great use of the supreme utility of information/intelligence and low-cost technology in a combination that frustrates and demoralizes an enemy while allowing the users to make the gains of time and stalemate. This was not Israel's only venture into that low-key, big-impact type of warfare, confusing and confounding its enemies. In February, Israel acting with U.S. intelligence snuffed out over 40 senior Iranian leaders at a high-level meeting where they gathered in a single Tehran compound. Iran's national security elite wiped out with one accurately-aimed airstrike.

 

Smoke rises following an explosion, after Israel and the United States launched strikes on Tehran, Iran, on February 28, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Reuters

 

This was followed by the Iranian regime's own cunning plan to undercut the American victory that had levelled its airports, destroyed its seaports, smashed its political/military infrastructure, left it leaderless, the elite commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps decimated, but not without canny intellectual resources that conspired to unsettle the globe when it closed off the Strait of Hormuz to shipping and relentlessly bombed surrounding Arab/Muslim countries that allowed their territory to house American military outposts. 

 

Long under economic sanctions Iran still was able to develop a massive arsenal of missiles and drones, with a little help from its friends in China and Russia to gain more sophisticated technology. Its fairly inexpensive missiles and drones saw it fighting back at Israel and the United States, while inflicting some considerable damage to U.S. assets in the region. The U.S. aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln with its almost 5,700 personnel found itself under duress of restocking supplies when Iranian missiles and attack drones destroyed the Bahrain-based American supply base. 

 

That coup was followed up with an Iranian missile destroying a $500-million radar operating a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense system at a U.S. air base in Jordan signalling "a potentially transformative moment" in the "strategic contest" between Iran and the United States and Israel according to the Defence Security Asia journal. The IRGC sent their missile to strike the THAAD radar system maneuvering it in flight for a flanking attack on the radar striking it at a vulnerable angle, after having evaded detection and interception.

 

Vessels near the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam, Oman, Aug. 31, 2026.

Stringer | Reuters

 

"[This new record being set  for hottest temperatures in the world's oceans is] very troubling." 

"An ocean this warm destabilizes weather patterns and threatens food security, economic prosperity and marine life."

"A warmer ocean is not our friend."

Jane Lubchenco, oceanographer, former chief of U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

 

"This is yet another sign of our climate system under strain and the ocean under immense pressure."

"When we have a warmer ocean such as we've had in Europe this summer, it amplifies the impact of heat waves because you don't get the cooler nighttime temperatures with the sea breeze coming off the ocean when the ocean is very warm."

"Samantha Burgess, strategic climate lead, Copernicus climate service, Europe

 

"The thing that makes my heart sink is that this starts so early and it's so out-of-normal that you know when it hits its peak it's going to be unprecedented."

"The ocean is not supposed to do this. It's just that there is no normal anymore."

"[With hotter water], not everybody is hit equally, obviously, but the whole system collapses."

"It's like when you pull out the rug from underneath an economy. The whole thing collapses. Some sectors may do a little bit better but, overall, everybody suffers."

Boris Worm, biology professor, Dalhousie University, Canada 

A very strong El Niño developing in the southern Pacific Ocean will disrupt global weather patterns in the months ahead, but climate scientists say it's not something we can attribute to the heat waves and wildfires that raged across the northern hemisphere this summer, like the ones in British Columbia's interior earlier this month. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press)

 

This year's El Nino has already reached the peak of other recent such appearances, and it's continuing to grow and expected to reach unprecedented levels when it does eventually peak. With the current El Nino, the oceans will keep heating  up, and it is  expected to peak at some time between November and January. That's abnormal since most of the Southern Hemisphere is ocean, and the world's sea surface temperature generally peaks around March and April as the southern summer draws to its close. But not this year.

 

El Nino is nature's temporary warming of portions of the Pacific Ocean which warps weather, raising global temperatures. This is a weather phenomenon recognized as being responsible for most of the heat that develops in the world's oceans -- along with long-term warming resulting from burning coal, oil and gas. This year, ocean waters have warmed by 0.8C, seeing the world's oceans at their hottest temperatures on record last weekend. That's bad news, but even worse is that they're entirely likely to keep warming. 

 

Coral in Tubbatah Reef in the Philippines.  Adobe

 

Aquatic lifeforms are placed under stress with warming water. The supersized El Nino of this year is proving to be of greater concern than the record previously set in March of 2024. A warming ocean becomes more acidic with less oxygen, inimical to the health of its sealife. Ocean currents become altered along with changed weather patterns. Storm systems are enhanced by the warming oceans, becoming wetter and producing larger storm surges.

 

According to Dr. Bruno, heat-sensitive corals now are roughly one-fifth of the levels of 1990. Some species of coral -- not the longer-lived staghorn corals -- are adapting to the hotter water, although they're 'weedy'. The current situation of warmer oceans and even warmer yet as time moves on and the heating persists, is predictive of collapsed fisheries resulting in universal food shortages.The Peruvian anchovy fishery, considered the largest world fishery, generally collapses during El Nino.

 

Corals from the Galápagos Islands contain chemical signatures that scientists were able to use to trace a 1,000-year history of El Niño events.   Greg Asner/DivePhoto.org

 

The food web becomes altered, since larger fish are able to swim off to cooler water to escape the heat, as far as halfway across an ocean. "Anchovies can't leave so they just don't reproduce, or [they] starve", explained Dr. Worm, affecting both the humans and the seabirds who depend on them. The presence of more jellyfish is being observed off Europe, stated Dr. Bruno, believing something similar will be seen on the East Coast of the United States.

 

"Jellyfish are often opportunistic and they like warm waters. So yes, I would expect them to do a little bit better", added Dr. Worm. And when's the last time you saw jellyfish on the dinner menu? "As long as we depend on a healthy ocean for our safety, prosperity and well-being, these record-breaking sea surface temperatures portend even greater challenges for us all", added Rick Spinrad, another former NOAA chief. 

"It's frightening. We're not even in October yet."

"You know, usually the Caribbean peaks at like late September, early October."

"And I think next year in the Southern Ocean, the Great Barrier Reef, yeah I'm really worried about what's going to happen in the southern hemisphere in February, March."

John Bruno, marine ecologist, University of North Carolina 

A satellite map from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows sea surface temperature anomalies recorded on Aug. 20, with hotter than average temperatures stretching across the El Niño region toward the west coast of South America. (NOAA)

Photo taken on September 11, 2001 shows the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center burning after two planes crashed into each building in New York. The buildings collapsed on that day claiming 2,753 lives. September 11, 2026 marks the 25th anniversary of this event. Photo by STAN HONDA /AFP/Getty Images

 

"Do not refer to the Sept.11 attacks as terrorist attacks. [Refer to the] longstanding language guidance [on the Sept.11, 2001 al-Qaida attacks]."

"The hijackings led to passenger jet crashes in Washington D.C. Pennsylvania and Manhattan."

"The World Trade Center was destroyed [CBC internal language guide]."

Basem Boshra, senior director, journalistic standards and public trust, CBC News

 

"Refusing to call it an act of terrorism dishonours the victims, their families, the survivors, and the first responders who witnessed the horrors of that day."

"Trying to sanitize or rewrite that history is deeply offensive and does a disservice to everyone who was affected by the attacks."

"[The CBC is redefining] terrorism in a way that downplays the atrocity [of the terrorist attacks]." 

Conservative Member of Parliament Rachel Thomas

 

"It is wholly inaccurate to state our journalists have been urged to declare that this was not a terrorist act."

"[The memo represents a reminder to adhere to the CBC's language guide for] the terms 'terrorist' and 'terrorism'."

"CBC preferences use of these words with attribution to credible sources, a practice shared by many of the world's top journalistic organizations."

Kerry Kelly, CBC public affairs spokesperson 

 

"[Staff will use the terms but they will always be] attributed to government officials, authorities, experts and politicians." 

"But CBC News does not itself designate specific groups as terrorists, or specific acts as terrorism, regardless of the region or the events, because these words are so loaded with meaning, politics and emotion that they can end up being impediments to our journalism." 

Brodie Fenlon, CBC News editor in chief, general manager

 

"[Employees are urged to] exercise extreme caution before using the words terrorist or terrorism [because they can be] highly contested [in some instances and potentially raise questions about the CBC's] consistency and impartiality [in covering other attacks]."

"Terrorism generally implies attacks against unarmed civilians for political religious or some other ideological reason But it's a highly controversial term that can leave journalists taking sides in a conflict."

CBC Language Guide 

Confusion has been swirling about how CBC News journalists use the words 'terrorist' and 'terrorism,' particularly in connection with the al-Qaeda attacks on New York, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania on Sept. 11, 2001. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

 

Al-Qaida, the Islamist fundamentalist terrorist group operating under the late Osama bin Laden, is listed as such under Canada's terrorist list. The United Nations lists the group as terrorists. There is little doubt that  al-Qaida is acknowledged as a terrorist group almost universally, many of the Arab countries of the Middle East as well, including Saudi Arabia where it was formed, with 'radicalized' Saudi Arabians their operatives in the suicide mission that killed almost three thousand people in the aerial attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and Pennsylvania.

 

Canada's once-respected public broadcaster, under its current administration -- well infiltrated by noxious Islamist figures that also occupy positions of trust and authority in many other Canadian institutions under the Liberal government that has seen fit to transition Canada from a nation wedded to social justice through democratic order and Western values to one that accommodates itself to the transformative presence of Muslim Brotherhood adherents -- now carefully sidesteps naming terrorism for what it is, implying in the manner of its coverage that there is room to excuse the excesses of baleful violence against the West in sympathy with the 'oppressed' of the world.

 

In that atmosphere of submission to an alternative view of Islamist jihadists where to name them as such is to burden Canada's Muslim population with institutional 'Islamophobia' which must at all costs be avoided, the CBC's operational chiefs see the value of soft-peddling Islamist extremism expressed in terrorism's slaughter of those opposing Islamic conquest, including innocent civilians who are used as proxies-for-slaughter in lieu of more prized goals such as Western officials viewed as Islam's enemies, even those who compromise themselves by their eagerness to cull favour with their growing Muslim populations.

 

The despicable position taken by the mealy-mouthed expositors of journalistic 'balance' and 'neutrality' in the face of the evil represented by barbarian hordes of Islamist jihadists whose mission is to kill, to instill fear and apprehension in the minds of those they terrify tests our civilizational mores and certainties. Prostrating themselves before the alter of accommodation, they have lost the confidence of the public who judge the public broadcaster on the quality of the journalism they place on display and find it wanting. Those same Canadians would be satisfied to see the CBC defunded by taxpayers and for it to become as totally defunct as it is morally.

 

That the CBC, under pressure applied to Prime Minister Mark Carney by Opposition leader Pierre Poilievre, by a threat made by the American Federal Bureau of Investigation over the outrage expressed by its director Kash Patel, and by the reaction of ordinary Canadians, offended and horrified that their public broadcaster is loathe to name the obvious for what it is, reflected on its original decision-making and recanted this latest order, is telling. Telling also that its withdrawal of the order not to name the 9/11 horror as a terrorist attack, and that this rescinding of the memo is to apply only to 9/11.

 

And not to CBC's regular 'neutral', non-subjective reports on the terrorist attack by Hamas on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, and the resulting invasion of Gaza by the Israel Defense Forces, in a defensive move to destroy the terrorist group controlling Gaza once and for all for which it is universally condemned by its erstwhile allies. The CBC reportage on a tiny nation fighting back against Islamist jihadists whose terrorist death-cult agenda cannot rationally be denied, is shameful, and it will continue; no slack given to public outrage over that since it is too controversial in and of itself, impacting for the present time, only Canadian Jews, not the overwhelming presence of Muslims now living in Canada. 

 

 

 

Basem Boshra, CBC

 

"...To be clear, CBC News has never said what happened on Sept. 11, 2001, was not terrorism, as some commentators have stated in recent days. We have reported fully and accurately on the reasons and motivations for those attacks as determined by police, governments and an independent commission. We've just made sure to do it with attribution."

"Clarity and understanding are at the heart of our journalism. The leaked excerpt without context or explanation has raised more questions for the public that we must now answer."

"After reviewing our current language guidance, we have decided to adjust it to clarify that direct attribution is not required for describing the historic events of 9/11 as terrorism." 

"We are doing so to remove what has unfortunately (and unintentionally) become an impediment to clarity and public understanding."

"At the same time, as new acts of politically or ideologically motivated violence occur in our world, we will continue to follow the journalistically sound practice of attributing causes and motivations to officials and experts."

Basem Boshra, Senior director of journalistic standards and public trust