Atrocity Alert: Sudan's Darfur Attacks Redux

"All under the false pretext of targeting rebels [government forces and Janjaweed militias began attacking non-Arab villages, burning entire villages, engaging in systematic killings, extensive rape and sexual violence]."

"These attacks were also designed to destroy these groups' [Ethnic Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa communities] means of survival and essential infrastructure."

"[The 153 states that have signed the Geneva Convention must] take immediate action to end any complicity in the form of support for the RSF [Rapid Support Forces] and use all means reasonable available to prevent and halt the genocide."

Report, Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights

Families escaping Ardamata in West Darfur cross into Adre, Chad, after a wave of ethnic violence, November 7, 2023. Survivors recounted executions and looting in Ardamata, which they said were carried out by RSF and allied Arab militias. 2023 REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig

In Darfur, Sudan, 80 different tribes and ethnic groups live traditional lives as farmers and pastoralists. In the last number of decades, tensions have strained the non-Arab farming communities' relations between Arab herders. Land is at a premium, leaving the farmers and the herders at odds between grazing cattle and farming the land. Government bodies appointed by the Sudanese government in the mid-1980s favoured the rights of the Arab communities, leading to mass violence, when Arab herders attacked non-Arab, Black farming communities.

Primary groups targeted by the current situation, with the rebirth of mass killings, displacement, rape and land grabs are the Masalit, Fur, Zaghawa, Bargo, Tunjor and other non-Arab tribes in the West, South, North East, and Central Darfur States. Eventually non-Arab groups -- Masalit, Fur and Zaghawa -- responded by forming their own militias, the Sudan Liberation Movement and the Justice and Equality Movement, both labelled rebels by the government of Sudan. 

In the late 1980s and beyond fighting between the Arab and non-Arab communities intensified. Chaos reigned when President Omar al-Bashi aligned the country's military with the Janjaweed militia (Arab horsemen) who persecuted and conducted murderous raids on Darfur's farming communities. Between 2003 and 2005, 300,000 people were murdered and countless others were made homeless."Counter-insurgency" campaigns resulted between 2015 and 2016. By 2019 President Omar al-Bashir was overthrown after having been indicted for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court.

The feared and hated Janjaweed since transformed into the Rapid Support Forces, now in conflict with the Sudanese Armed Forces in a power struggle. The conflict, seemingly ignored by a world bored with constant African Continent strife has caused 17.7 million people to face food insecurity, while another 25 million are left in need of humanitarian assistance. In a city in West Darfur, El Geneina, the RSF rounded up Masalit men for execution, where they were held in detention without food or water.

According to the UN Security Council Panel of Experts on the Sudan, between 10,000 and 15,000 people were killed in that attack. The Darfur Bar Association described the situation in El Geneina as a "full-scale genocide". The Raoul Wallenberg Centre report cited genocidal and dehumanizing language: Arab militiamen killing boys as young as six months, claiming "the boys will grow up and they will kill us. ... so we must destroy them now".

 

Bodies are strewn near houses in the West Darfur capital El Geneina, June 16, 2023. Up to 15,000 people were killed in the city last year in ethnic violence, according to a United Nations report seen by Reuters

Beijing, Leading the World Around by Its COVID-Susceptible Nose

"[Chinese officials ... were] looking at what was on sale in the [Wuhan] market, whether all the vendors have licenses [and] if there was any illegal [wildlife] trade."

"[The probe was] not routine [and WHO would] try to figure out what happened."

Peter Ven Embarek, top virus expert, World Health Organization

AP Photo/Ng Han Guan   Peter Ben Embarek of the WHO saying farewell to Liang Wannian, at the end of their collaboration in investigating the origins of the coronavirus in Wuhan, China in 2021.

An Associated Press investigation has concluded that the Beijing government took definite steps to freeze any enquiries of substance to trace origins of the coronavirus pandemic. In public China consistently spoke of its support of an open scientific inquiry. Thousands of pages of undisclosed emails and documents, leaked recordings, and dozens of interviews were perused throughout the period of the investigation revealing that the information freeze was initiated earlier than presumed -- in fact, in the first weeks of the outbreak, involving political and scientific infighting in China, along with international finger-pointing.

 

Bureaucrats in Wuhan attempting to avoid blame hindered critical initial efforts, misleading the central government which in turn silenced Chinese scientists, later subjecting visiting UN officials to tours that were stage-managed to ensure that nothing would be 'discovered' that China had no intention of revealing to the world at large. As to the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, it was to have remained unknown, given the clouds of secrecy surrounding the topic. Unclear as well is the date of the first searches by Chinese authorities for the origins of the virus.

December 31, 2019 was the date that Chinese Center for Disease Control scientists visited the Wuhan market, according to Beijing, where most early COVID-19 cases first surfaced. Yet WHO officials had knowledge of an inspection on December 25, 2019, reflected in a recording of a confidential WHO meeting. During the course of the AP investigation WHO stated it was "not aware" of  any December 25 investigation while other experts opined that any visit to the market on that day would be significant if animal samples were taken, viewed as crucial evidence of COVID-19's leap to infect humans.

Early in the emerging pandemic, yet confined to China, politicians took command to silence Chinese scientists. In early 2020, while the WHO negotiated for a mission to investigate COVID-19, China's Foreign Ministry decided the terms. A visa for Embarek, the WHO's leading virus expert was refused, and all items linked to an origins search were dropped from the itinerary. Liang Wannian, an epidemiologist with close links to elite Chinese officials was given charge of the WHO visit.

People interviewed but unnamed testified that the party line was dominant, science-backed policies taking a back seat, by political decree. Liang ordered that the Wuhan market was to be disinfected before the collection of samples proceeded, promoting at the same time the implausible theory that frozen food imported into China originated COVID-19. Liang lobbied WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to praise China's helpful and responsible response to the viral outbreak.

At the time the WHO led another visit in January 2021 to Wuhan, the hunt for an origin had been highly politicized, with Liang organizing Market workers to inform WHO experts that no live wildlife had been sold at the Wuhan Market, and simultaneously recent photographs of wildlife for sale at the Market were excised from the report. 

AP Photo/Ng Han Guan    Farewell event of medical workers who arrived from outside Wuhan to help the city during the coronavirus outbreak.

The Transgender Phenomenon Puzzle

"Peer influence during this stage of life is very powerful. As well as the influence of social media, the review has heard accounts of female students forming intense friendships with other gender-questioning or transgender students at school and then identifying as trans themselves."

"[In later childhood and into early puberty], online experience may have an effect on sense of self and expectations of puberty."

"[The challenges autistic children face, despite being articulate and intelligent] can sometimes  make it hard for these young people to express how they are feeling about their internal sensations, their gender identity and their sexual identity." 

"[Gen Zs and younger Millennials have different beliefs about the] fluidity and mutability of gender than older generations. Attitudes have changed at speed."

Cass Report, U.K. review of child and adolescent gender care

Trans, Gender Non-Conforming, Lesbian, Gay, Bi, and Two Spirit organizations and allies gathered at Washington Square Park for the 15th Annual Trans Day of Action on June 28, 2019.  Erik Mcgregor/LightRocket via Getty Images

The Report is neutral in the sense that it supports neither the current 'social contagion' debate, nor the insistence of trans-specific lobbyists that children's rising uncertainty about their birth gender designation must be respected and interpreted as a need for such children to be offered transition therapy. The recently published and disseminated Cass Report led by British pediatrician Hilary Cass simply presented its findings, most of which would displease those who accept at face value the blase attitudes of groups who unquestioningly accept the need to transition children to improve their health and future prospects.

The surge within today's society seeing gender-distressed children referred to gender clinics is alarming to many, all the more so that medical societies and specialists appear to have accepted the arguments of trans-supportive groups that it is wrong to question children, their motives and their wishes. The contentious impression that many young people identify as trans as a result of "social contagion" in peer groups and promoted through social media sites is infuriating to committed transgender support groups.

This Report of recent vintage concluded that the rapid increase in numbers of children committed to transitioning their gender identities and the acceptance of their choices cannot be attributed to peer pressure and social media influence alone, for the rapid increase or why gender dysphoria has become so strikingly common a presentation when predominately biological males transition to biological females, a phenomenon that "is unlike that in any prior historical period".

The Report researchers noted that gender-distressed minors and their parents discussed with them issues about online information that describes normal adolescent discomfort as a possible sign of being trans and that particular influencers have had a "substantial impact on their child's belief and understanding of their gender". The term "social contagion" is disliked within the trans community. "Simplistic explanations of either kind (all trans people are born that way/it's all social contagion) do not consider the wide range of factors that can lead young people to present with gender-related distress and undervalues their experiences."

On the other hand, "de-transitioners" have described on social media, in blogs and published studies, being influenced by Tumblr, YouTube videos and online communities into transitioning. Another argument is that no evidence exists to support "transness" can be socially contagious, or a TikTok video can "totally destabilize" the gender identity of a child. Unless, of course, it is the sheer volume of the push toward acceptance of transitioning coming from a myriad of sources, all of which young people pay heed to.

Neurodiversity represents conditions like autism spectrum disorder and ADHD, with studies suggesting trans and gender-diverse people are three to six times likelier to be autistic than cisgenders. According to a Canadian study of 174 youth aged 15 and under referred for puberty blockers to any one of ten gender clinics operating in Canada, 81 percent were born female. Two thirds of the referrals had at minimum one other comorbidity diagnosis beyond gender dysphoria, such as anxiety, depression, ADHD or autism.

There were reports from some parents of natal girls that "their children had been through a period of trans identification", later recognizing they were not trans after all, but same-sex-attracted females. Speaking at a focus group, a gender-diverse youth made the observation that "a lot of trans people make YouTube videos which I think is a (major) informational source for a lot of people". Biological factors have not changed in the last ten years yet the disproportionate number of birth-registered females now identifying as trans or gender-diverse presents as a puzzling social/biological phenomenon.

Transgender pride flag. Angela Weiss Getty Image

"[The Cass report didn't surprise] thoughtful professionals who provide this care. Since 2014, we've noticed this upward trend in overall referrals and from certain demographics, namely biological females and those who are neurodivergent."

"We have to avoid extremes -- 'all these youth are transgender and will continue to identify as another gender for the rest of their life', or 'it's all due to social influence'."

"[Many young people have benefited from social, medical or surgical transitioning, but an increasing number of others] have not only stopped their transition but have also regretted it as well."

"Many of these youth will say they have been harmed, [that social factors influenced their reasons for transitioning."

Dr. Joey Bonifacio, Toronto pediatrician, expert in gender medicine, specialist in adolescent medicine, St.Michael's Hospital

Moral/Immoral Business Disputes -- And Consequences -- Company Rules Rule

"These protests were part of a longstanding campaign by a group of organizations and people who largely don’t work at Google. A small number of employee protesters entered and disrupted a few of our locations."

"Physically impeding other employees’ work and preventing them from accessing our facilities is a clear violation of our policies, and completely unacceptable behavior. After refusing multiple requests to leave the premises, law enforcement was engaged to remove them to ensure office safety.”

"[We carried out] individual investigations that resulted in the termination of employment for 28 employees, and will continue to investigate and take action as needed."

Google spokesperson

Image Credits: Justice Speaks

 

The tech company's cloud computing contract with the government of Israel is in deep disfavour with some among the legion of people that Google employs; so much so that some of these employees have been planning and staging vigorous protests in the name of (selective) human rights. Leading to the arrest of nine workers who held sit-ins at Google's offices in California and New York, protesting the $1.2 billion contract their employer signed with Israel for the provision of custom tools meant for the use of the Israel Defense Forces.

The additional fallout of the protest and those engaged in it, refusing to vacate their illegal occupation of their employer's worksites was the identification and work disengagement of 28 staffers. No Tech for Apartheid, the group behind the protests is adamant that Google's version of events does not reflect reality, in that they claim the company fired workers who did not directly engage with the protest which the company identifies as part of a long-standing campaign by groups and "people who largely don't work at Google".

Videos and photos were posted on social media by No Tech for Apartheid in which workers in Google offices were shown holding placards and sitting on the floor, chanting slogans. A letter-writing campaign was organized by the group which has staged protests against Google's agreement to provide technology to Israel, since 2021. The cloud-computing contract, referred to as 'Nimbus' evidently caused further tension among Google employees as well as at Amazon.

The situation of  worker-disagreement has risen substantially since the initiation in October of the Israel-Gaza conflict. Critics of the project claim the contract will have the effect of aiding the Israeli government's surveillance of Palestinians, leading to further displacement and discrimination. Evidently none among them appears concerned over the hideous rapes and mass murders inflicted on Israeli citizens by Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the PLO and ordinary Palestinian civilians, which led to the conflict.

Locked out of their workplaces and devices Tuesday evening, learning of their termination through email that very morning, the 28 fired employees complain of having suffered shock and anger by the decision of the company. One of the fired employees who was involved in organizing the sit-in without direct participation made no secret of his impotent rage at the outcome of his free-agency-choice to oppose his employer's decision-making.

"I'm furious. This is a wildly disproportionate response to workers standing up for morality and for holding Google accountable for its own promises."

"Firing people associated with an event they don't like -- it's unbelievable."

Fired Google employee

 A banner hangs during the sit-in at Google’s New York office.

(No Tech for Apartheid)

Trust in the Veracity and Neutrality of the United Nations?

"It is important for that international body [United Nations] to ensure that in many of the key partners and its deliberations, particularly our neighbour to the south, it retains and fosters trust. Otherwise, its capacity to effect change will risk being affected."

"On [the left] end of the [political] spectrum, there seems to be more symmetry between having that positive view of the institution and that it's making a strong effort to achieve those goals."

"What was interesting about this [poll] outcome was the incongruence between positive opinion and trust."

"They're not as aligned or as symmetrical as they normally are in other types of research in this area."

Jack Jedwab, president of ACS (Association for Canadian Studies) and the Metropolis Institute 

The United Nations headquarters in New York. According to the poll, only 38 per cent of Canadians and 30 per cent of Americans trust the UN. Photo by Daniel Slim/AFP via Getty Images

 

A new Leger poll was recently released after it surveyed 1,590 Canadians and 1,005 Americans between the dates of February 23 and 26 through an online enquiry panel. According to the poll results, the majority of Canadians and Americans both, have no trust in the United Nations. The Leger survey conducted for the Association for Canadian Studies and the Metropolis Institute took place some four months following the attack by the terrorist Palestinian group Hamas in Israel on October 7, 2023.

 

The performance of the United Nations and its member bodies since then, has been highly criticized for its response to the attack, as well as for the UN agency UNRWA's cited connections to the Hamas terrorists. The conclusion reached by the survey was that only 38 percent of Canadians and 30 percent of Americans trust the United Nations, an obvious minority in each of the countries. And, as Mr. Jedwab observed, the long-term impact of countries losing trust in the UN becomes seriously concerning in the current atmosphere of the Israel-Hamas and Russia-Ukraine conflicts, among others.

 

Views in both the U.S. and Canada differ by political affiliation. 53.7 percent of left-identifying respondents and 23.5 percent of right-identifying respondents, with 41 percent of centre-identifying respondents in Canada had trust in the United Nations. For the United States it was 54 percent for left-identifying, 13.2 percent for right-identifying and 38.1 percent for centre-identifying expressing trust. 

Accordingly it seemed that the far sides of both the left and right political spectrums have a tendency to indicate the most correlation between a positive view of the UN and the belief that they're making a credible effort to "do the best they can".  Still, according to Mr. Jedwab, the results failed to show a relationship between positive feelings toward the UN and trust in it.

The poll took place following Israel's revelation and the presentation of evidence that a dozen employees of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) actively took part in the October 7 terrorist attacks in southern Israel where a murderous rampage of mass rape, and pride-filled videos taken by the terrorists as they marauded -- sweeping through farming villages, burning families alive in their homes, shooting at people in their cars, waiting at bus stops and finally hostage-taking of children, women and the elderly, leaving 1,200 civilians dead in their wake.

After several attempts to pass a resolution for a ceasefire were vetoed, the UN Security Council proceeded to pass a ceasefire resolution which the United States abstained from. Canadians and Americans were queried about how optimistic they are that peace between Israelis and Palestinians can eventually occur. Canadians were less optimistic (11 percent) than Americans (24 percent), with just under 12 percent of Canadians identifying as being on the left, optimistic compared to 7 percent of those on the right.

Mr. Jedwab felt that Americans could be influenced in their attitudes of how they view the possibility of peace between Israelis and Palestinians, believing their nation could have an impact on such global crises. The majority of both Canadians and Americans, nonetheless, are pessimistic about peace being eventually achievable.

The United Nations headquarters building, in New York City  (Daniel Slim/AFP).

The Merits of Minimum Exercising

"We wondered, if we chose a very low threshold of exercise what would we see?"

"It was surprising and encouraging [to see these effects, that a larger frontal parietal and occipital lobes resulted from exercising, signalling a healthy robust brain]."

"Exercise, in effect appears to aid in building and backing a] structural brain reserve [acting as a buffer of additional cells and matter with the potential to protect from inevitable decline in brain size and function that occurs with age]."

Cyrus A. Raji, associate professor of radiology and neurology, Washington University, St.Louis, Missouri

 

A mere 25 minutes weekly, which comes to four minutes daily has the potential to bulk up brains, improving the capacity to think as people become older. A new study found that those who walked, swam, cycled or otherwise worked out moderately for 25 minutes weekly had larger brains than those who did not, of any age. The equation of bigger brains is brains that are healthier. The study scientists scanned the brains of over ten thousand healthy men and women, aged 18 to 97.

"This is an exciting finding and gives us more fuel for the idea that being physically active can help maintain brain volume across the life span", enthused professor of biological sciences and anthropology at the University of Southern California, David Raichlen. Although he was not involved in the new study, he is involved in studies of brain health.

The researchers found that differences between the study subjects were most pronounced in areas of the brain identified with thinking and memory functions, both of which often tend to shrink with age, contributing to cognitive decline and dementia risks. Dr. Raji and his colleagues were aware that older people who remain physically active are much less likely than those who are sedentary to develop Alzheimer's disease, or other kinds of cognitive decline and memory loss.

 

With the understanding that most people as they age tend to avoid exercise, the thought occurred; would less -- significantly less even -- exercise still be involved in helping to build healthier brains? In most formal exercise guidelines 150 minutes weekly is recommended to achieve optimum mental and physical health. Would 25 minutes of weekly exercise a week help to do the same, even though it would represent a sixth of the exercise guidelines?

Silke Woweries/Getty Images

 

Seeking an answer to an intriguing and potentially very useful bit of knowledge, he and his colleagues studied brain scans for 10,125 mostly healthy adults of all age groups who had taken diagnostic tests at the university medical centre and had provided information relating to their medical histories; how often and how strenuously they had exercised in the past several weeks. For the study's purposes the patients' records were divided into those who had exercise for at least 25 minutes weekly, and those who had not.

Scans were then compared with the assistance of artificial intelligence, searching out differences in brain volume, or how much space a brain and its constituent parts take up, knowing that greater volume is desirable generally. Although the differences that were found weren't huge, according to Dr. Raji they had significance in the pattern that emerged where men and woman of any age who exercised for at least 25 minutes weekly had for the most part greater brain volume than those who did not.

In every type of brain tissue including grey matter made up of neurons and white matter, the researchers found that exercisers possessed greater volume throughout the brain's wiring infrastructure which supports and connects thinking cells. Exercisers tended to possess a larger hippocampus, that portion of the brain essential to memory and thinking, which usually shrinks with age, affecting the ability to reason and recall.

How it is that exercise might be altering brains is not addressed in the study, but given the number of scans studied along with the wide age range, Dr. Raji is of the firm opinion that the effects of exercise were real and direct. Those involved in the study believe exercise reduces inflammation in the brain, encouraging the release of neurochemicals promoting the creation of new brain cells and blood vessels.

Seniors exercise at the Kiwanis Seniors' Centre in London, Ont. (Celine Moreau / CTV London)

And So, Canada, Were You Invaded?

"Yemen, Yemen, make us proud! turn another ship around!"

"Gaza called, Yemen answered. All Israeli ships are cancelled." 

Canadian anti-Israel rallies

"Why is it always the non-Iranians who support the terrorist Islamic Regime in Iran?"

"As an Iranian-Canadian, it makes me sick to my stomach to see my fellow Canadians openly supporting a terrorist Islamofascist dictatorship that murders innocent Iranians."

"This is not the Canada my parents immigrated to in order to escape persecution by the terrorist Islamofascist Ayatollahs."

MPP Goldie Ghamari

Palestinians and supporters congregated at Toronto's Nathan Phillips Square two days after the October 7 massacre by Hamas in southern Israel. (Evan Mitsui/CBC)

 

Cities in Canada saw wild scenes of open celebration even before news emerged of the Islamic Republic of Iran's Islamic Republican Guards Corp having launched a prolonged direct air attack on Israel. There is little doubt that many Iranians living in Tehran and detesting their ruling Ayatollahs viewed this event with sorrow. In Canada, the majority of the Iranian diaspora who arrived post-Iranian Revolution were anything but pleased. Which didn't stop the abundant presence of Palestinians, Syrians and other Middle East diaspora-Canadian-Arabs from jubilantly celebrating the event.

Keffiyeh-wearing demonstrators were seen in one circulated video cheering, banging drums, and sending up celebratory smoke bombs, while a speaker declared the wonderful news that "the Islamic Republic of Iran has just sent tens of drones toward Israel"; a 44-second video posted by Caryma Sa'd, Toronto lawyer who often documents such events taking place in Toronto. "Protesters react to breaking news of Iran launching drones at Israel in retaliatory attack for a strike which killed a top Iranian commander", he captioned.

 

 

This was April 14 when the IRGC air division launched over 300 drones and ballistic missiles into Israeli airspace. Israel and its regional and international supporters were prepared; forewarned of an imminent attack, they had their warjets on standby and reacted according to plan, knowing it would take up to seven hours for any of the missiles and 'suicide' drones to reach Israel. Israel, the United States, Britain, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates all had a hand in ensuring that none of the deadly projectiles reached their intended goal.

One can only imagine the dejection and disappointment of the celebrants of Iran's attack must have felt when it was announced by the Israel Defense Forces than the upshot of the Saturday/Sunday declaration of war turned out that 99 percent of the weapons were shot down. A 7-year-old Bedouin child in Israel was the sole unfortunate casualty when detritus from a destroyed missile fell on her family home, as was a lightly-impacted northern-Israel air base, which continued operations afterward.

 

People carry a Palestinian flag during a rally in front of City Hall in Toronto, October 9, 2023. (credit: REUTERS/Kyaw Soe Oo)

 

The Canadian celebrabrants were not to be put off by reality, continuing into Sunday. On the Instagram account of Ottawa4Palestine a speaker in Ottawa sang an improvised ditty to the tune of Yankee Doodle with the phrase: "leave Palestine alone and Jews go back to Europe". Another video of a Montreal rally featured demonstrators changing "put the bullet in the house of fire ... we are your men, Sinwar", referring to Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, a chief architect of October 7's bloodthirsty savagery in southern Israel.

An Iranian exile in Calgary -- Bahar Bahari, long a vocal critic of Iran's theocracy, and a frequent attendee at pro-Israel demonstrations had posted the Montreal video. The Jerusalem Post took note of the celebrations in Canada, publishing the headline "Toronto protesters cheer as Iran fires drones at Israel", even while Israeli counter-batteries just completed the last of the incoming missiles being shot down.

The burgeoning anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian movement has been defiantly open with their hate messages against Israel, their threats against Canadian Jews, and their masked presence, disrupting traffic, blocking bridges, issuing insults against Canadian police forces, harassing Jewish business owners and Synagogue congregants, although their actions and activities defy Canadian hate law. Issues of violence perpetrated on Jewish parochial schools, Jewish social centres and Synagogues remain unsolved.

Key organizers of the hate-fests against the Jewish state are well known for their activities, bordering on and often substantially illegal criminal acts; Toronto4Palestine, Samidoun and the Palestinian Youth Movement who organized joyful rallies within hours of the ghastly October 7 mass rapes and massacres. Houthi attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea have also been matters of organized celebrations thanks to these organizers, all of whom if the Liberal government of Justin Trudeau was the least bit interested in security and following their own laws against terrorism would join Canada's list of terror groups.

Two rallies were held in Halifax on Thanksgiving Monday — one in support of Israel, the other in support of the Palestinian territories. (Jeorge Sadi/CBC)