Wednesday Night #2291

The horror of Tuesday’s Tumbler Ridge, B.C. shooting is hard to process. Many questions arise about treatment of the shooter’s mental state, how the shooter was able to obtain a minor’s firearms licence (that expired in 2024)
Prime Minister Marc Carney’s reactions are commendable.
His statement is impeccable in tone and language. He has cancelled his trip to the Munich Security Conference and will remain in Canada (later confirmed that he will attend the Friday vigil and has invited all opposition party leaders to join him). Flags will be flown at half-mast for one week to honour the victims.

The Olympics Are a Show of Global Harmony. The World Is Anything But. (See Long Reads)
The Milan-Cortina  2026 Winter Games, which officially opened in Italy on Friday [6 February], are rooted in international cooperation. That feels out of place to some in a world where old rules no longer apply.
The first time Cortina d’Ampezzo, a ski resort town in northern Italy, was scheduled to host the Winter Olympics, it was 1944. Because of World War II, the Games were canceled.
Now, eight decades later, the Winter Games [have returned] to several locations in Italy, including Cortina, during one of the greatest periods of geopolitical turmoil since the last world war.
Despite world events, the athletes appear to be maintaining the Olympic spirit throughout their competitions. If the media would stop emphasizing medal count and concentrate on the extraordinary performances, not to mention the unusual stories (Nicolas Claveau-Laviolette: Venezuela’s Sole Olympian), global attitudes might improve. CBC Radio made brief mention of the number of Montrealers and Quebecois who are participants (not only as athletes, but in many roles)  in the Olympics; unfortunately we have been unable to pin down any more information, but we did enjoy Concordia students to compete at the Milan Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games – They will represent Canada and France in figure skating, freestyle skiing and women’s hockey

Is there perhaps a nascent Olympian currently enrolled in OuiSki? Congratulations, Sandy, we understand the latest iteration was a great success!

Elections weekend
Japan’s ‘Iron Lady’ Takaichi forges historic election win
Takaichi’s ruling coalition secures supermajority in lower house
Japan’s first female leader has seen strong ratings since becoming PM in October
Sanae Takaichi has the power to change Japan

Socialist defeats far-right candidate in Portugal’s presidential runoff, exit polls show
Moderate Socialist Antonio Jose Seguro appeared to be headed for a landslide victory in Portugal’s presidential runoff on Sunday, with two exit polls putting him in the 67%-73% range, well ahead of his far-right, anti-establishment rival Andre Ventura.
Thailand’s PM Anutin staked his election on nationalism — and won
Veteran politician triggered snap polls after less than 100 days in power
Polls held amid wave of nationalism from border conflict with Cambodia
Conservative-royalist establishment has rallied behind Anutin, analyst says

And on Thursday
Bangladesh votes in world’s first Gen Z-inspired election
According to the World Bangladesh’s election Thursday is the country’s most consequential. It follows youth-led protests 18 months ago that overthrew the government of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina and ushered Bangladesh into an interim administration led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus.
‘Country of the blind’: How will Bangladesh remember Muhammad Yunus?
Yunus tried to bring reforms and justice for Hasina-era victims. But as his stint as leader ends with the February 12 election, he has his critics, too.

Cuba
How far will Trump push Cuba? See more in Long Reads
How many of you (Chris Neal excepted) give much thought to Cuba, other than as a relatively close and inexpensive tropical getaway with great music and a vast array of iconic, creatively maintained 1940s-50s American classic cars. For the older followers of geopolitics, the era of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara, and the epic moment when JFK stared down the Russians. But that was long ago. Today, Cuba is in dire straits as the U.S. has cut off all oil supplies from Venezuela. What to think when Donald Trump said on Feb. 1 that talks are underway. “Cuba is a failing nation. It has been for a long time, but now it doesn’t have Venezuela to prop it up,” he said. “So we’re talking to the people from Cuba, the highest people in Cuba, to see what happens.”

Israel
Bibi is almost a match for DJT when it comes to ignoring international law and strictures.
Israel expands control in the West Bank
The Israeli government unilaterally passed measures that allow Jewish settlers to purchase land in the West Bank, overriding past laws that effectively banned the sale of property there to anyone other than Palestinian residents. Critics say the measures mark another step toward annexing the West Bank and violate international law. A US official criticized the move, noting that President Donald Trump rejects Israeli annexation. The measures come after a two-year period in which Israeli settlers established a record number of outposts in the West Bank, a development that has drawn relatively little attention as the world’s focus was instead on Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza during that time.
Yet another attempt to distract: Netanyahu announced last week that he would move up his planned visit to discuss Mr. Trump’s continuing negotiations with Iran over the country’s nuclear program, which Israel considers an existential threat.

Iran
Meanwhile, as Iran Commemorated the 47th anniversary of the 1979 Revolution, the government presides over a country that is deeply polarized and under threat of an American attack.
Iran is Detain[ing] Prominent Political Figures, Expanding Crackdown on Dissent
The detentions of politicians from Iran’s reformist opposition follow mass arrests and a string of repression tactics aimed at preventing further anti-government unrest.

We are always happy when Wednesday Nighters contribute to our content.
Andrew Caddell – one of if not THE most faithful contributor, forwarded his Hill Times Column
Hearings at National Assembly offer insight into Bill 1
The so-called Quebec ‘Constitution’ legislation doesn’t respect international law or the Canadian Constitution, and is a threat to the province’s English-speaking community.
He also forwarded his Presentation to the NA. Should you wish a copy, please contact me.
I have only one quibble with the Presentation – how could you, Andrew, not mention John Humphrey, the Price family of Quebec (the gallant Brigadier Price OBE); Mordecai Richler, Stephen Leacock who taught us how to laugh at ourselves?
Byron Haskins‘ Kleptocracy does not “trickle down” cites and comments on Trump wants to run the economy hot, as midterm elections approach by David J. Lynch of the WaPo.
Thanks to Chris Roper for pointing out the vivid portrait of an exceptional individual and salonista Award-winning writer Sondra Gotlieb was a social dynamo in Washington, a reminder of a happier era in Canada’s relationship with the U.S.
E is for espionage
Julien Feldman contributes an extraordinary -almost unbelievable- story How Did the C.I.A. Lose a Nuclear Device? (See Long reads for Link)
A plutonium-packed generator disappeared on one of the world’s highest mountains in a hush-hush mission the U.S. still won’t talk about
The plan was to spy on China, which had just detonated an atomic bomb. Stunned, the C.I.A. dispatched a team of American climbers to set up all this gear — including the 50-pound, beach-ball-size nuclear device — on one of the highest mountains in the Himalayas to eavesdrop on Chinese mission control
But right as the climbers were about to push for the summit, the weather went haywire. The climbers scampered down the mountain…abandoning a nuclear device that contained nearly a third of the total amount of plutonium used in the Nagasaki bomb.
It hasn’t been seen since.

Doug Sweet strongly suggests discussion and diffusion of “this amazing piece from Michel-C. Auger in La Presse Un droit fondamental à protéger, adding “This could have been ripped from the pages of TALQ’s brief to the National Assembly next Tuesday. It is important for the English-speaking community of Quebec to be wholeheartedly in agreement with such a respected voice in francophone Quebec journalism”

Varia
What’s next for Penny, the Canadian winner of the Westminster dog show
Last week, it came to pass that the winner of the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show – one of the largest dog shows in North America, as well as the second-longest continuously held sporting event in the U.S. – hailed from none other than Newtonville, Ont.
On Tuesday, Penny, a four-year-old Doberman pinscher, was named Best in Show out of seven finalists. She’s not the first Canadian dog to win the prestigious event – Miss P, a Canadian beagle, won in 2015, and others preceded her – but the honour of winning the 150th iteration of the competition carries extra heft.
Concordia students to compete at the Milan Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games
They will represent Canada and France in figure skating, freestyle skiing and women’s hockey
At least four Concordia students will represent their countries at the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games, taking place in February. Competing in figure skating, freestyle skiing and women’s hockey, the athletes — from three different faculties — are pursuing their studies while preparing for international competition.
This famed architect says Trump’s plan for Kennedy Center is ‘absurd’
When President Donald Trump announced on social media February 1 that the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C. would close for two years of “construction, revitalization, and complete rebuilding,” many observers were dismayed that the politicization of the center has gone this far.
Among them is famed architect Steven Holl whose firm Steven Holl Architects designed a $250 million expansion of the Kennedy Center called the REACH that opened less than seven years ago.
How Agereh Technologies (TSXV: AUTO, OTCQB: CRBAF) Is Solving Aviation’s Toughest Operational Challenges – And Turning Them Into Revenue
The project includes the construction of a new, state-of-the-art international terminal, major upgrades to aging facilities, and a fundamental rethinking of how passengers move through one of the world’s busiest gateways.
The goal is not simply expansion. It’s to reconfigure the airport for higher volumes, improved efficiency, and a more commercially driven travel experience.

Media
A touching memoir of the author’s years at The Post
“as I watch the deliberate dismantling of the paper of the Graham family, of Woodward and Bernstein, of Marty Baron, of so many of my best friends, my grief is still visceral, my anger still raw.”
The Murder of The Washington Post (See Long reads)
Jeff Bezos, the billionaire owner of The Washington Post, and Will Lewis, the publisher he appointed at the end of 2023, are embarking on the latest step of their plan to kill everything that makes the paper special.

Long Reads
The Olympics Are a Show of Global Harmony. The World Is Anything But.

How far will Trump push Cuba?
Dr Christopher Sabatini, senior fellow for Latin America at Chatham House
Cuban-American voters and US law will hinder the president’s freedom of action. But if Trump pushes too hard, he may create a serious problem.

In Monroe’s footsteps
Colombia, Panama and Grenada – targets of U.S. intervention in the Cold War – see Trump’s actions with dread and déjà vu

Trump Defends Racist Obama Meme & MAGA Rages Over Bad Bunny’s Spanish Halftime Show (video)
Jon Stewart digs into MAGA’s hair-trigger outrage at anything that doesn’t align with their narrow set of values, from boycotting Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show with TPUSA’s own “English”-language mediocrity fest, to the president setting a new racism high score with a social media post dehumanizing the Obamas, to dressing down a U.S. Olympic skier for expressing less than a fraction of the disdain for America that Trump himself has doled out.

The Murder of The Washington Post
The Post has survived for nearly 150 years, evolving from a hometown family newspaper into an indispensable national institution, and a pillar of the democratic system. But if Bezos and Lewis continue down their present path, it may not survive much longer. …

How Did the C.I.A. Lose a Nuclear Device?