Wednesday Night #2322

9/11 2026 – 25th anniversary
25 Years After 9/11, a Nation Gathers to Remember
The 25th anniversary of 9/11 has come and gone, with all of the expected heartfelt tributes. It is notable that “this year, a new, seventh moment of silence was observed at the end of the ceremony in New York, to mourn those who have perished from cancer and other illnesses inflicted by the toxic dust they inhaled in the days and months after the attacks. The new rite underscored the unending reverberations from that September day: Even as 2001 recedes into the past, deaths from 9/11-related disease are only accelerating and are believed to have outstripped the toll on 9/11 itself.”
Concurrently, the CIA released 71 declassified documents related to the 9/11 attacks, showing the agency repeatedly warned Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush that Osama bin Laden was determined to strike the United States, as far back as three years before the 9/11 attacks.

While almost everyone was looking the other way, the 2026 BRICS Summit was held in New Delhi. Our good friend C Uday Bhaskar writes that “India has every reason to be satisfied with the outcome of the BRICS 2026 summit in both form and content. At a time when diatribe has replaced dialogue in many international fora, India convened an 11-member grouping with sharply divergent political positions, sustained a dialogue and secured consensus on a comprehensive New Delhi Declaration — a 140-paragraph, roughly 45-page text. That is significant.” BRICS ticks the right boxes

Canada
Carney, locked in US trade war, pitches Canada to global investment titans
Our perpetual motion PM, after hosting the Canada Investment Summit on Monday and Tuesday, confided the closing keynote to Stephen Harper, who gave an impressive performance (see Long reads), and headed off to Strasbourg where he attended European Commission President Ursula ​von der Leyenr annual State of the Union address and she announced that she wanted to open the door to Canada becoming the EU’s first “associate member” in a push to ‌forge new links among allies in “an openly hostile world”. European Union lawmakers gave a standing ovation after she made the proposal and then walked over to embrace Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney.
The Guardian wonders Is EU’s offer to Canada a blueprint for Britain – or a reminder it is out in the cold? while the New York Times is skeptical: E.U.-Canada Ambitions Face Reality Check  The bloc’s offer of “associate member” status to Ottawa shows how U.S. allies are pulling closer together. But their plans face significant obstacles.
En route to Strasbourg, Mr Carney stopped in Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon where he met with President Macron in a gesture underscoring their support for national borders in the face of Donald Trump’s territorial ambitions. Trump had (once again) offended multiple nations by posting an image to social media with a map of North America in which Canada, Greenland and Mexico, much of Central America and the Caribbean, as well as Iceland, were colored in with the US flag. The image also encompassed several French overseas territories, such as Saint-Pierre-and-Miquelon, Guadeloupe and Martinique.

All of this activity triggered a thought – what is happening with the selection of the Canadian host city for the The Defence, Security and Resilience Bank? Isn’t it supposed to be up and running in 2027?

The Middle East – Gulf War III – expansion and geopolitical ramifications
The war is expanding with new players and ramifications. Most important development is the confrontation between Saudi Arabia and the Iran-backed Houthis of Yemen with major implications for trade, transportation and the global energy supply
Check out  The Seizure of Bab el-Mandeb: Why Tanker Rates Are Exploding (See Long reads/videos)
US-Iran
There are reports that Trump says US nearing end of war, claims Tehran direct talks, however we have heard similar claims for months and there is so far no reason to believe that either party has changed its demands.
US-Israel
The announcement that the Trump administration plans to deliver 60,000 one-ton bombs to Israel is controversial. With opposition to military assistance to Israel growing in Washington -and throughout the country- such a huge sale of heavy bombs, paid for by the U.S. government, could be an effort by the administration to stock up the Israeli arsenal before political shifts make such shipments impossible, analysts said. The New York Times reported in December 2023 that in the first six weeks of the war in Gaza, Israel routinely used one-ton bombs in parts of the enclave that it had designated as safe for civilians, including densely populated areas. The Times identified 208 craters of at least 40 feet across in an area of southern Gaza where Israel had ordered civilians to move to for their own safety.
Netanyahu says Gaza documentary ‘NAZA’ is ‘shocking incitement’
(Reuters) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that a new documentary film which alleges that mass civilian deaths were routinely built into targeting decisions in Gaza was ​part of a wave of global incitement against Jews.
“NAZA”, directed by Israeli journalists ‌Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, won the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival on Saturday and received a 25-minute standing ovation when it was screened on Thursday.

AI, Chatbots, Society & Technology
AI will kill us all. Or it won’t. Depends on who you ask. (And when you ask them.) (See Long reads below)
Ian Bremmer’s excellent summary and take on the AI controversy that has been brewing for months (years?), but finally became the topic du jour (semaine? mois?) with the publication of Anthropic engineer Jacob Coxon’s thoughts that accompanied his resignation last week.
Stay tuned for any developments following the Trump-Xi meeting (AI rivalry hangs over Trump-Xi talks)
According to John Evdokias  “Unverified reports are circulating about Xi Jinping’s health following his visibly uncomfortable appearance at the BRICS summit. No reliable independent source has confirmed that he was hospitalized or that the PLA changed its readiness posture. This warrants close monitoring, not acceptance as fact.” If true, implications could be huge.

And Justice for all?
Finally SCOTUS has found some courage!
Supreme Court Rejects Trump’s Restrictions on Voting by Mail  The ruling is a major loss for the Trump administration, which wanted to dramatically change how Americans vote by mail in the midterm elections.
Concurrently in Quebec,
A major victory [Tuesday] for English-speaking Quebecers and for democratic rights
The Quebec Superior Court has recognized that access to the information people need to exercise their right to vote includes the right of the English-speaking community to receive that information in English.
In granting a 10-day interim injunction, Justice Sylvain Lussier found that the interpretation of Quebec’s language legislation infringes upon the democratic rights of Quebec’s English-speaking community.
The Court also recognized [that] requiring voters to rely on QR codes, smartphones, or other alternatives can create real barriers to accessing essential electoral information, particularly for seniors and others who may be less comfortable with digital technology.

Does St-Pierre Plamondon want to be like Carney?
Andrew Caddell devotes this week’s column to a critical analysis of “the humble multilingual Oxford graduate ready to ‘serve Quebec’” aka PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon and his long-range plans -if he becomes Premier- to “spend the next three years drafting a “constitution” for an independent Quebec (while haranguing Ottawa), then spend $20-million or more on “studies and consultations” and promotion, and will send a copy to every Quebec household. Then the referendum will be held, costing at least $110-million.” Really? Does he believe that Quebecers will prefer pro-Referendum efforts to policies dealing with the economy, housing and other social problems?
Varia
Your Dog Is a Genius. Just Not the Way You Think.

Thanks to John Evdokias for forwarding this item from a Headquarters news (new to us) post on X : Rep. @JoyceBeatty [Ohio Democrat]:
“I was at the Kennedy Center board meeting with Trump. It was the most unprofessional thing that I’ve ever witnessed.
He said, ‘I think you’re incompetent,’ and I said, ‘I know you’re incompetent.’
He said he was going to hold me responsible if something fell out of the ceiling and killed someone. I said, ‘you’re already killing people. We’re at war. We also have people who are starving.’
He wanted to talk about how great he was at developing. I reminded him that he had more bankruptcies than anybody in the room.”

Further to last Wednesday’s discussion concerning the certification of Gulfstream (or other aircraft) for Canadian airspace.
Fact check: Did Canada ban the sale of Gulfstream jets? (CBC news-YouTube)
Please note that When a plane is designed in the United States, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) does the primary certification. Other global regulators like Transport Canada then independently review and validate these designs for local airspace use. In the cases of newer Gulfstream models Transport Canada had concerns regarding specific technical evaluations regarding cold-weather de-icing and fuel system icing standards.
Transport Canada certifies Gulfstream jets amid Trump aviation tariff threat (YouTube)
Cleared for operation: Transport Canada completed its evaluation and granted full approval to the G500, G600, G700, and G800 jets in February 2026.

Long reads/videos
AI will kill us all. Or it won’t. Depends on who you ask. (And when you ask them.)
… much like its technological ancestors, AI does offer reason for worry. This will likely be the most transformational technology of our era. It will cause unforeseeable problems. It should not cause panic.

MAGA Is Making the World Safe for Corruption
Anne Applebaum
Far-right ideologues have transformed American foreign policy into a tool of private gain and antidemocratic reaction.

Former PM Harper gives closing keynote at investment summit (YouTube)

The Seizure of Bab el-Mandeb: Why Tanker Rates Are Exploding (video)

The Defence, Security and Resilience Bank and Canada’s Window for Leadership