Reader’s Links for October 15th, 2022

Here is a link to the VladTepesBlog social media Mastodon Pod. Please feel free to check it out and sign up for an account if you are sufficiently annoyed with Twitter and Facebook to try something new.

Each day at just after midnight Eastern, a post like this one is created for contributors and readers of this site to upload news links and video links on the issues that concern this site. Most notably, Islam and its effects on Classical Civilization, and various forms of leftism from Soviet era communism, to postmodernism and all the flavours of galloping statism and totalitarianism such as Nazism and Fascism which are increasingly snuffing out the classical liberalism which created our near, miraculous civilization the West has been building since the time of Socrates.

This document was written around the time this site was created, for those who wish to understand what this site is about. And while our understanding of the world and events has grown since then, the basic ideas remain sound and true to the purpose.

So please post all links, thoughts and ideas that you feel will benefit the readers of this site to the comments under this post each day. And thank you all for your contributions.

This is the new Samizdat. We must use it while we can.

About Eeyore

Canadian artist and counter-jihad and freedom of speech activist as well as devout Schrödinger's catholic

63 Replies to “Reader’s Links for October 15th, 2022”

  1. The biggest drama quietly playing out now is the worldwide USD shortage. Leveraged foreign institutions starving for USD to stay afloat are the holes in the world financial system ship that, if not plugged, may bring about systemic collapse. This past week Credit Suisse was thrown its SECOND life preserver of some billions of dollars. From what I understand this is done by a currency swap of Swiss francs for USD. So the Suisse national bank prints its garbage in exchange for USD–the cleanest dirty shirt–to save its massively leveraged (a few trillion $) from what I read. What a long way the Franc has fallen since it use to be as good as gold. How long can this continue?

    And it isn’t as if the U.S. gives a hoot about the Swiss or their banks. No, the reason for the furtive financing is it is an attempt to cauterize, or at least stave the contagion of inter-bank toxic asset failure. All the major banks use eachother for their own insurance, or collateral. What isn’t reported widely is the extreme fragility presented by what is, essentially, the largest ponzi scheme of financial derivatives in human history. The derivatives residing in the shadow banking industry are reportedly valued in the hundreds of trillions of dollars. Credit Suisse is reported to be under water to the tune of a few trillion USD, and Deutsche Bank for substantially more. If one fails it may cripple another, then another and so on.

    All of this is happening because the U.S. Fed is trying to fight inflation by raising interest rates. However this increases the servicing costs of USD debt borrowed around the world at historically low rates of interest, but now at painfully high renewal rates.

    On an individual basis I am seeing numerous people who, paralyzed by their normalcy biases, could not or would not acknowledge these conditions which were clearly forming. In fact, they have been evident for years for those willing to open their eyes. Unfortunately for those now facing a debt crunch, they are STILL unwilling and unable to follow their newfound reality and liquidate assets (real estate) before succumbing to insolvency.

    It’s like a conversation I had yesterday with a man who just got his 6th covid injection. When he told me I said nothing, but I guess he read my face and so blurted in his own defense, “But I’m still here!”

    My reply, as someone who has not partaken in this medical fashion, only exposed the fallacy of his thinking, which parallels the financial markets and the debt slaves whose leverage is so obviously unsustainable:
    “The question in your mind should not be why you are still here, but why I am still here.”

    • As I said earlier, if the Fed fights inflation it will cause an economic collapse. If the Fed allows the inflation to continue it will cause an economic collapse.

      We are screwed no matter what they do.

    • Your reply is great, Johnnyu.

      My neighbor had at least three jabs and now he thinks he has Long-Covid.
      We are in close physical contact, not intimate, but very friendly, and we go to each other’s homes. And they know I refused the jab and didn’t follow government guidelines such as proper masking and hand-washing.

      So many people must be wondering why we aren’t sick.

  2. “Moderna CEO Confirms New mRNA ‘Injection’ to Repair Heart Muscles After Heart Attack” Authored by Jack Phillips – October 12, 2022
    https://www.zerohedge.com/political/moderna-ceo-confirms-new-mrna-injection-repair-heart-muscles-after-heart-attack

    “Moderna Announces New mRNA Shot to Treat People for All the Heart Attacks They’re Causing” The Vigilant Fox – Published October 10, 2022
    https://rumble.com/v1ndbw4-moderna-announces-new-mrna-shot-to-treat-people-for-all-the-heart-attacks-t.html

    • Part 3: Dismantling the Deceptions of the COVID-19 Story. Unifying Behind Truth, Not Lies
      by Karen Kingston – October 12, 2022

      Excerpt:

      Experts, such as Dr. Robert Malone, with highly-impressive credentials in mRNA, vaccinology, and the FDA approval process, stated that the FDA approval was not for a PFIZER COVID-19 vaccine, but for vacccine made by BioNTech, so ‘it didn’t really happen’. These are false and deceptive statements…
      https://karenkingston.substack.com/p/part-3-dismantling-the-deceptions

      Part 4: Dismantling the COVID-19 Story Deceptions. Lies, Damn Lies, and Spike Proteins. by Karen Kingston – October 14, 2022
      https://karenkingston.substack.com/p/part-4-dismantling-the-covid-19-story?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2

      • Safe and effective is not a lie, it is two lies. Just look at the latest VARES numbers, which are many months out of date:

        Historically VARES reports at less than 1% but to be fair let’s go with the 41 factor in looking at the latest numbers as of October 7, 2022.

        Adverse Reactions 1,437,273 x41 equals 58,928,193 or Fifty eight million, nine hundred and twenty eight thousand, one hundred and ninety three. (Justine Trudeau says he is mathematically challenged).

        Deaths 31,470 x 41 equals 1,290,270

        Seriously Injured like finding out you have an autoimmune disease – a very rare form of blood cancer and you are going blind- – 261,738 x 41 equals 10,731,258

    • Dr. Scott Gottlieb: The vaccines might be sufficient to control spread of new Covid variant

      He says if the majority of the population is vaccinated it can be effective in protecting people from the new Covid variant.

    • One shot of a vaccine reduces transmission, study finds

      … the chances of becoming infected by covid fell sharply after a first dose of either the AstraZeneca or Pfizer vaccines.

    • MRNA Covid Vaccines More Effective in Preventing Transmission

      … mRNA covid vaccines are better at stopping people from becoming contagious

    • Pfizer COVID vaccine reduces asymptomatic infections

      Real-world data from Israel suggest Pfizer and BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine is 94% effective in preventing asymptomatic infections

    • CDC Director: Booster Shots May Make Virus ‘Less Transmissible’

      She says they are “hopeful” that boosters “might also decrease the level of virus that you have and make it less transmissible.”

    • the gateway pundit – OCTOBER 15 2022 – Texas Vaccine Policy Symposium Declares Unvaccinated People a Danger to Public Health (VIDEO)

      Valerie Gutmann Koch, co-director of the Health Law & Policy Institute at the University of Houston Law Center, talked about “A New Weapon in the Anti-Vaccine Arsenal: Claiming the Unvaccinated as a Protected Class.”

      Koch stated during her speech that those who choose not to get vaccinated pose a danger to society.

      “The United States has already seen the reemergence of the polio virus in addition to an outbreak of monkeypox, the latter which has already been declared a federal public health emergency,” Koch said. “Both diseases have safe and effective vaccines that have been proven to control the transmission of these dangerous viruses.”

      Obviously, she has no idea what she’s talking about.

      We all know that COVID-vaccines won’t stop the transmission of the virus.

      =============================
      twitter @MerissaHansen17

      Texas Vaccine Policy Symposium Declares the ‘Anti-Vax’ a Threat to Public Health

      “If the unvaccinated become a protected class, the spread of such diseases is likely to escalate.”

      “The right to individual autonomy is not absolute.”

      + 1min 56 video

      https://twitter.com/MerissaHansen17/status/1581016905183551488

      ======================================
      https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/10/texas-vaccine-policy-symposium-declares-unvaccinated-people-danger-public-health-video/

      =============================================
      2022 Texas Vaccine Policy Symposium

      Vaccines are one of the most effective ways to reduce the spread of disease and prevent deaths.

      On a global scale, vaccines prevent more than 4 million deaths each year.

      However, the politicization of vaccines over the past two years has resulted in increased vaccine hesitancy among U.S. citizens.

      At the 2022 Texas Vaccine Policy Symposium, researchers and stakeholders across the state will discuss the impact of vaccines in Texas — and the lessons learned over the past two years

      https://www.bakerinstitute.org/event/2022-texas-vaccine-policy-symposium

      ==============================
      OCTOBER 10 2022 – PBS – Health experts worry effort to vaccinate against COVID variants moving too slowly

      Public health experts are increasingly concerned that too many Americans are missing out on a chance to get new boosters and avoid a worse winter.

    • ITALY – SANREMO – OCTOBER 14 2022

      twitter @RadioGenova

      Matteo Bassetti, known infectious disease specialist and fanatic of Covid vaccine, almost lynched at the presentation of his book in Sanremo:

      “You have to go to jail because you are a murderer!

      Come here if you have the courage!

      We will not forget about you!”

      Saved by the police.

      https://twitter.com/RadioGenova/status/1581039999838846976

  3. The World Economic Forum led by the master Klaus Schwab, his puppet Yuval Noah Harari and ALL the bought, politicians supporting them, i.e. Justine Trudeau, Chrystia Freeland, the mailin guy, Macron the vast numbers of politicians have groomed billions for life in their Clown World.

    So I propose the “little people” stand up and start a worldwide campaign to fight all the criminals. The first thing WE can do is mock them on such a high level, we will show how treacherous, the evil monsters are.

    Every time any of them appear in public, sing in unison, Send in the Clowns. Here are the words, practice them:

    Isn’t it rich?
    Are we a pair?
    Me here at last on the ground,
    You in mid-air,
    Where are the clowns?

    Isn’t it bliss?
    Don’t you approve?
    One who keeps tearing around,
    One who can’t move.
    Where are the clowns?
    There ought to be clowns.

    Just when I stopped opening doors,
    Finally knowing the one that I wanted was yours
    Making my entrance again with my usual flair
    Sure of my lines
    No one is there.

    DON’T YOU LOVE FARCE?
    My fault, I fear,
    I THOUGHT THAT YOU’D WANT WHAT I WANT
    Sorry, my dear!
    But where are the clowns
    Send in the clowns
    DON ‘T BOTHER, THEY’RE HERE.

    Isn’t it rich?
    Isn’t it queer?
    Losing my timing this late in my career
    But where are the clowns?
    There ought to be clown
    Well, maybe next year.

  4. the guardian – West makes plans to avoid panic if Russia uses nuclear bomb in Ukraine

    Crisis is considered unlikely but officials re-examine plans to provide support for fearful populations

    Western officials are engaged in “prudent planning” behind the scenes to prevent chaos and panic in their home countries in the event Russia was to detonate a nuclear bomb in or near Ukraine.

    Although a nuclear crisis is considered highly unlikely, the insider said officials internationally were re-examining plans to provide emergency support and reassurance to populations fearful of nuclear escalation.

    Hints of the thinking emerged in a briefing by an official on Friday, who was asked if there would be measures in place to prevent panic buying or people fleeing cities en masse in fear of escalation after a nuclear event.

    Governments were engaged in “prudent planning for a range of possible scenarios” said the western official, who was speaking on condition of anonymity, although they stressed that any use of nuclear weapons by Russia in the war would be abhorrent.

    Public information campaigns and even school drills on how to survive a nuclear war were a feature of the cold war, including the duck and cover campaign in the US in the 1950s, Protect and Survive from the UK in the late 1970s and “Everyone has a chance” in West Germany in the early 1960s.

    These campaigns were the subject of considerable criticism and parody for their suggestion that it could be possible to survive an all-out nuclear conflict, although in this case the focus is supposed to be on preventing public panic over fear of an uncontrolled nuclear escalation that would lead to major cities being targeted.

    Kate Hudson, the general secretary of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, said: “This ‘prudent planning’ harks back to the British government’s cold war-era Protect and Survive campaign – which was roundly condemned by CND as giving the false impression that a nuclear attack could be survived by whitewashing windows and other irrelevances.”

    As Moscow has suffered reverses on the battlefield in Ukraine since September, Vladimir Putin has ratcheted up the nuclear rhetoric, saying last month that he would use “all available means” to defend Russian territory.

    The western official said the Russian president’s comments about nuclear use were “deeply irresponsible” and no other country was talking about nuclear weapons. “We do not see this as a nuclear crisis,” they said.

    Echoing comments made by the US, the official said: “Any use of nuclear weapons would break a taboo that has held since 1945” which would “lead to severe consequences for Russia, as well as for everybody else”.

    Towards the end of last month, Jake Sullivan, the US national security adviser, said there would be “catastrophic consequences” for Moscow if it sought to deploy a tactical nuclear weapon, which can have the power of six or seven Hiroshima blasts.

    The west does not want to spell out how it might respond, to preserve a deliberate ambiguity – and on Friday the official would not be drawn on what nuclear armed countries might do. But the expectation is that to avoid rapid escalation any initial response would be non-nuclear.

    On Thursday, Emmanuel Macron broke ranks and said he would not order a like-for-like retaliation if there was a Russian nuclear strike in Ukraine. The French president said the country’s fundamental interests “wouldn’t be directly affected at all if, for example, there was a ballistic nuclear attack in Ukraine, in the region”.

    Earlier this week, Jeremy Fleming, the head of the GCHQ spy agency, said he not seen any sign that Russia was preparing to use a tactical nuclear weapon in or around Ukraine. It is his agency’s job to help monitor Russian military movements, and whether its military was trying to pair a nuclear warhead with a conventional missile.

    Experts generally believe that Putin is engaged in a bluff, trying to provoke fear and uncertainty in the west, to ensure that the US or Nato does not enter the war on Ukraine’s side.

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/14/west-plans-avoid-panic-if-russia-nuclear-bomb-ukraine-putin

    ================================
    VoA – US Weighs Impact of Iranian Drones in Ukraine War

    Experts tell VOA that Russia may be turning to Iran and North Korea for military supplies because it is running out of its own.

    • europravda – Russians “don’t stand a chance” Zelensky tells Ukrainian people

      Zelensky delivers a confident address to the Ukrainian people

      • There’s no context as to where that building is located. It could be anywhere. And notice how clean the bed and mattress are while the floor is full of debris.

    • Fox News – US poised for slowdown in high-end munitions deliveries to Ukraine

      The US is at or very near the end of its capacity to give, while fears grow of a military confrontation with Russia

      Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin signaled this week that the U.S. and its Western allies are having trouble keeping pace with Ukraine’s demand for the advanced weaponry it needs to fend off Russia’s invasion. That signal reflects dwindling supplies for Ukraine and fear in the White House of escalation that could lead to war between the U.S. and Russia.

      The risk of reduced U.S. stockpiles of high-end munitions has been reported almost since the U.S. began contributing to Ukraine’s defense. Now, nearly eight months since the start of the war, experts interviewed by Fox News Digital say the U.S. is at or very near the end of its capacity to give.

      They agreed that Austin’s remarks indicate that the initial rush of high-end munitions like HIMAR rocket launchers, Javelin anti-tank missiles, anti-aircraft Stingers and M-777 Howitzers is over. These sources said there may be two factors at play that are contributing to this reality.

      One factor is the issue that Austin addressed directly this week – the U.S. is running low on equipment that it can hand over to Ukraine.

      At a press conference Wednesday, Austin was asked whether the U.S. and other nations are worried about running so low on domestic supplies of critical munitions that they can no longer help Ukraine. Austin dodged the question by stressing that the desire is there to get Ukraine what it needs, but he left unsaid whether Ukraine’s allies can actually deliver.

      “Well, it certainly is not a question of lack of will,” Austin replied.

      Austin had just concluded a meeting with officials from dozens of countries about Ukraine’s munitions needs. As he described that meeting, he again talked about willpower but hinted at strained capacity to provide more for Ukraine, which is using up munitions faster than the world can deliver them.

      “We will produce and deliver these highly effective capabilities over the course of the coming months — and in some cases years — even as we continue to meet Ukraine’s most pressing self-defense requirements in real time,” Austin said of the most recent commitment to send HIMARS, vehicles, radar systems and other equipment.

      Mark Cancian is a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic & International Studies who spent seven years working on DOD procurement issues for the Office of Management and Budget. His assessment based on inventory levels, industrial capacity, and information from the Biden administration is that the U.S. has “limited” supplies of HIMARs, Javelins, Stingers and M-777 Howitzers.

      “There are some areas where we’re basically at the bottom of the barrel,” he told Fox News Digital.

      In some cases, this means the U.S. will likely start meeting Ukraine’s request for weaponry by sending over lower-end substitutions, such as lighter Howitzers that are serviceable but not what Ukraine is after. In other cases, the U.S. may not have much to give – Cancian said that while there is talk of the U.S. providing more air defense equipment, there is not much the U.S. can give in that area.

      Cancian said he reads Austin comments as a sign that the days of the U.S. giving Ukraine its best stuff are gone.

      “It confirmed what I believe, that we will continue support Ukraine, but we’re going to have to do it in different ways, like providing substitutes, or we might have to buy stuff from other people, or it will take longer,” he said. “That it won’t be quite the same.”

      He said this runs the risk of creating what he called a “petting zoo of NATO equipment” in Ukraine – relatively small numbers of many types of equipment that could create compatibility issues.

      Some on Capitol Hill are reading Austin’s remark differently that leads to largely the same result – that the Biden administration is purposefully slowing down the transfer of critical munitions to Ukraine, because it is increasingly worried about stumbling into a direct conflict with Russia.

      A congressional aide with working knowledge of these issues told Fox News Digital that while officials are hinting at limited supplies, there is still room to give more, and that the slowdown is because of a different calculation the Biden administration is making.

      “They are afraid of escalation,” this aide said.

      Just last week, President Biden openly talked about the “Armageddon” scenario that could unfold if Russia tried to win the war with a tactical nuclear strike. The congressional aide interpreted Austin’s remarks as a sign the administration is more and more worried about crossing a line that might force that outcome.

      Another sign of U.S. caution, the aide said, is that the administration allowed nearly $2.8 billion in authority to supply Ukraine with weapons to expire a few weeks ago, at the end of fiscal year 2022. Some on Capitol Hill are reading that as an indication that the administration is finding its own comfort level when it comes to arming Ukraine, and that level stops short of what Congress authorized.

      “Congress gave the administration more than it wanted,” the aide said. The Defense Department declined to respond to questions from Fox News Digital about the expiration of this authority.

      There is a related view within Congress that while U.S. stocks of certain munitions have clearly been reduced as the U.S. sends items to Ukraine, that reduction is not a security threat to the United States itself. The aide explained that many of these items were stockpiled largely for use in a possible conflict with Russia, and that conflict is already playing out with Ukraine in the lead.

      That conflict is reducing Russia’s military capacity, which means a corresponding drop in U.S. inventories is not putting the U.S. anywhere near a stockpile crisis.

      To put it another way: the Biden administration has more flexibility to give Ukraine more but is choosing not to.

      The evolving U.S. posture comes just as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is intensifying pressure on Western nations to provide more weapons. Just this week, Zelenskyy asked for air defense systems that can blunt Russia’s recent missile attacks on Ukraine’s capital.

      “The 229th day of full-scale war,” he said. “On the 229th day, they are trying to destroy us and wipe us off the face of the earth.”

      https://www.foxnews.com/politics/us-signals-slowdown-high-end-munitions-deliveries-ukraine

      =====================================
      bloomberg – Canada Wants ‘Arsonist’ Russia to Be Barred From IMF and G-20

      Canada and its allies want Russia out of Ukraine, with the northern nation also pushing for it to be ejected from the international community entirely.

      Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland didn’t hold back on her opposition to Russian officials being at the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Group this week.

      “The IMF and World Bank meetings are meetings of the firefighters — of ministers and central bank governors, whose jobs is to protect the global economy,” Freeland, who is of Ukrainian heritage and is also Canada’s deputy prime minister, told reporters Friday in Washington. “Russia right now is the arsonist. Russia shouldn’t have been at the IMF meetings. Arsonists have no place in meetings of the firefighters.”

      Pressed on what Canada can do to remove Russia from the IMF or the Group of 20, she conceded that at this point all it can do is publicly call out President Vladimir Putin’s government for its decision to go to war with its neighbor.

      “There is one immediate step that would eliminate significant turmoil within the global economy, help alleviate food shortages and help with the high cost of energy in so much of the world. And that step is for Russia to leave Ukraine now,” Freeland said.

      “Canada will continue to hold Russia to account and we will continue to call out its absolutely reprehensible war crimes in Ukraine,” she added.

      Freeland said the presence of Ukraine’s Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko in Washington was “very important” and that his message was “very powerful.”

      “He spoke very effectively about what is happening in Ukraine. He said ‘I’m here and it’s after I left Kyiv that those missile strikes happened and my wife and my kids are there,’” Freeland said. “I can certainly see on the faces of my counterparts, and in their subsequent comments, how affected they all were by hearing that direct human testimony.”

      https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-10-14/canada-wants-arsonist-russia-to-be-barred-from-imf-and-g-20

    • CBC – Defence chief calls on Canadians to rally behind military during personnel crisis

      Country’s military has about 10,000 open positions it’s struggling to fill

      The commander of the Canadian Armed Forces is calling on the country to rally behind its military as it faces an unprecedented personnel crisis that he says is threatening its ability to protect and defend Canada.

      “We’re here to defend our way of life, now and into the future,” Gen. Wayne Eyre, chief of the defence staff, said.

      “So we need a whole-of-society effort to help us bring the Armed Forces back to where it needs to be for the dangerous world ahead.”

      The extraordinary appeal comes as Eyre and his subordinates are struggling to fill about 10,000 empty positions at a time when Canada’s military is facing a growing number of threats and requests for help at home and abroad.

      Earlier this month, the defence chief issued an order setting a new direction for the military after years of high-tempo deployments and operations, making recruitment and retention of personnel its top priority.

      About one in 10 positions within the Armed Forces sits empty after years of lagging recruitment rates, and there is a growing shortage of non-commissioned officers and other mid-level leaders.

      “We need to rebuild the Armed Forces, we need to get the numbers back up,” Eyre said in an interview. “And we’ve got to do it with a sense of urgency and priority because it is affecting our ability to respond around the world.”

      Military facing unique challenges

      Neither the order nor an accompanying retention strategy provide a clear picture of exactly why Canadians are steering clear of recruiting centres — or why the military is having trouble keeping troops in uniform.

      The retention strategy instead emphasizes the need for better data on departures, while Eyre said military officers are “seized” with the same issue when it comes to recruitment.

      The defence chief was quick to note that his isn’t the only organization having trouble attracting talent, with a labour shortage across the country.

      But the Canadian military is dealing with unique challenges, starting with a reputational problem after reports of sexual misconduct involving senior leaders and concerns about the presence of right-wing extremists in the ranks.

      Not all of the difficulties are self-inflicted. Some are due to the nature of military service. Most Canadian Armed Forces bases and wings are located in rural communities, whereas the majority of the country’s population lives in cities.

      “Let’s face it: Petawawa is a little bit different than downtown Toronto or even Ottawa,” Eyre said. “But to create the operational output required, we have to push people to Cold Lake, Bagotville and the coasts.

      “So cracking that code — how do we incentivize movement to those locations — this is the big challenge.”

      An opinion poll conducted on behalf of the Defence Department earlier this year found most Canadians reluctant to consider a military career.

      “Asked whether they would consider joining the CAF, young men were more likely than young women to say they would, but overall, less than half of any group typically indicated they would,” reads a summary report.

      “Men and women alike were deterred by the idea of having to leave their families and/or move around frequently, requiring them to uproot their families.”

      The poll also found public concern about sexual misconduct and racism in the ranks.

      New initiatives aimed at recruitment

      Many of the recruitment and retention challenges are not new, and past commanders have rolled out a litany of initiatives aimed at fixing them.

      Those include everything from signing bonuses in certain occupations to preaching the importance of diversity in the ranks and promising to weed out inappropriate behaviour.

      Those efforts have continued under Eyre.

      A new dress code dramatically eases rules around how troops can look and dress. Despite some outside criticism, the move has been embraced by many Armed Forces members as long overdue.

      “The walls have not come tumbling down and we didn’t lose operational effectiveness overnight,” Eyre said of the new gender-inclusive dress code, which also for the first time allows long hair, fingernail polish and face tattoos while in uniform.

      “I’m more concerned about: Can they fight? Are they fit? Do they follow orders?”

      Eyre has opened the door to other changes, such as more remote work and easing the requirement that members be physically able to perform their duties and deploy on missions at any given time as a condition of employment.

      The defence chief said he is also working to ensure troops can afford to live. That includes updating an allowance that has been frozen since 2009, to offset the cost of living in more expensive communities.

      “The price of accommodation is skyrocketing,” he said. “But it’s more acute for our members because we expect them to move across the country on a more frequent basis. And so addressing that is right at the top of the list of things that need to be fixed.”

      Change is needed: Eyre

      Eyre acknowledged that it has been difficult trying to change an institution with decades of established tradition — a tradition that he has been immersed in for nearly 40 years. But he said he and the Armed Forces have no choice.

      “It’s a case of embracing them, trying or experimenting new things,” he said. “Because the path we are on, the stuff that we’ve tried, it hasn’t been working out that great.”

      Asked about whether such changes risk turning off the military’s traditional recruiting pool — single, white men — Eyre acknowledged the “paradox” that as the population increases, the traditional pool is shrinking.

      But he said that underscores the need to embrace diversity and that those who don’t agree with the changes probably aren’t who Canada wants in uniform anyway.

      What Eyre said he needs is buy-in from the rest of the country, including a recognition of the stakes involved.

      “It’s not just the Canadian Armed Forces that needs to be concerned about Canadian Forces recruiting.”

      https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/wayne-eyre-canada-military-personnel-shortage-1.6617951

    • China and Russia ‘at war with the West’: Canada’s chief of defence staff

      General Wayne Eyre testified at the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security on Oct. 6.

      + comments on the YT page

    • OCTOBER 14 2022- CBC – Military eases vaccine mandate, presses ahead with discipline for unvaccinated troops

      Dozens of unvaccinated troops will be expelled from military, top soldier says

      The Canadian Armed Forces plans to press ahead with the forced expulsion of dozens of unvaccinated troops despite a new order from defence chief Gen. Wayne Eyre on Friday ending the military’s blanket COVID-19 vaccine requirement.

      In an interview with The Canadian Press, Eyre said that is because service members are expected to follow legal orders — and that a refusal by some troops to get their shots “raises questions about your suitability to serve in uniform.”

      “It’s dangerous in the military to have legal orders disobeyed,” he said. “It’s a very slippery slope.”

      The comments came as Eyre released a highly anticipated new vaccine policy that effectively suspends his previous requirement for all Armed Forces members to be fully vaccinated or face disciplinary action.

      Vaccines will no longer be required for all those serving in uniform, including as a prerequisite for joining the military, but will instead be based on the roles and responsibilities of individual service members.

      The defence chief’s new order includes a list of those who will still need two doses of a Health Canada-approved vaccine, with an emphasis on quick-response units such as special forces and the disaster assistance response team.

      There are also requirements based on deployments alongside specific allies or organizations, including those working with NATO or the United Nations, as well as all sailors on warships operating overseas.

      “We’ve got to remember that a ship out in the middle of the ocean doesn’t have access to intensive medical care,” Eyre said, adding that some allies such as the United States and Japan require military members to have vaccines.

      Describing his order as an “interim policy,” Eyre said he has ordered a review of the military’s overall approach to vaccinations. At the same time, he reserved the right to implement it again should the pandemic take another turn.

      “The medical advice is continuing to evolve,” he said. “What is the bare minimum that’s required to protect the force, to protect operational output, while at the same time respecting the individual decisions that members want to make.”

      The new policy follows months of pressure and questions about the military’s vaccine mandate as a condition of employment, particularly after most other federal mandates were suspended.

      The end of a vaccination requirement for international travellers prompted Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre last month to call for an end to what he described as the military’s “discriminatory and unscientific vaccine mandate.”

      Hundreds of unvaccinated soldiers already out of military

      While the vast majority of service members bared their arms for shots, with 96 per cent having attested to being fully vaccinated, briefing notes prepared for Defence Minister Anita Anand in June revealed that more than 1,100 had not.

      The Defence Department says about 300 service members have been told to hang up their uniforms, while another 100 have left voluntarily. Disciplinary proceedings, including warnings and marks on personal files, have been doled out to hundreds more.

      A number of serving members have unsuccessfully challenged the mandate in court, while some groups and individuals opposed to vaccine mandates, pandemic lockdowns and the Liberal government used the requirement as a rallying point.

      The Defence Department first reported that the mandate was being re-examined in June, and a draft copy of a revised vaccine policy obtained by the Ottawa Citizen in July suggested vaccine requirements for military personnel would be lifted.

      The draft document, which officials said was not approved by Eyre, noted potential legal difficulties ahead to deal with people who were kicked out of the military because of the vaccine mandate, suggesting they could be forced to apply for re-enrolment.

      The defence chief would not commit to any specific eligibility for re-enrolment, saying only that he would consider such requests on a case-by-case basis.

      Eyre also defended the fact the military is among the last to drop its blanket requirement, noting it was among the first to take dramatic steps such as suspending non-essential activities at the start of the pandemic to protect the force should it be required in an emergency.

      “So it would be the same on the far end as well,” he said. “We would hold onto those measures a little bit longer.”

      https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/military-vaccine-mandate-discipline-1.6616424
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      Defence chief eases military’s vaccine requirement

  5. europravda – Election of hardline politicians as new Italian parliament speakers sparks controversy

    The two new officials leading Italy’s Senate and Chamber of Deputies — far-right politicians Lorenzo Fontana and Ignazio La Russa — have both been heavily criticised for their conservative and far-right stances.