MILNEWS.ca Highlights – February 5, 2019

Internal Security

• “Goodale says Canada won’t follow U.S. suggestion to repatriate foreign fighters”
• “Former Guantanamo Bay prisoner Omar Khadr is asking Alberta youth court to order his release and declare his eight-year sentence — imposed by a widely maligned military commission in the United States — to have expired. In a separate application before Federal Court, Khadr is attempting to force national parole authorities to grant him a hearing at which he would argue for release. The overriding idea, Khadr’s Edmonton-based lawyer said in an interview Tuesday, is to ensure an end point to the eight-year sentence the commission imposed on him in 2010 …”
• “Why Has The Trudeau Government Treated Omar Khadr Better Than Vice-Admiral Mark Norman?” (Spencer Fernando blog)
• “Concerns raised over national security amid refugee screening backlog”
• “National security committee to probe Border Services activities”
• “Harassment, sexual assault among alleged misconduct by border agents investigated by CBSA”

Way Up North

• “Canada awards two contracts to boost Arctic surveillance”
• “General Dynamics Boasted of Three Land C4ISR Contracts”
• “Earth’s Magnetic Pole is Quickly Moving Toward Russia, Models Say”
• “The North Pole is mysteriously moving, and the U.S. government finally caught up”
• “The magnetic field near the Arctic is acting weird”
• “Polar express: magnetic north pole speeds towards Russia”
• “Magnetic north pole leaves Canada , on fast new path”
• “The Russian Defense Ministry will deploy two squadrons of MiG-31 interceptors at the Monchegorsk airfield in the Murmansk region; they will eventually be merged into an air force regiment to boost combat power of the Northern Fleet, the newspaper Izvestia said on Tuesday …”
• “What role for China and India in the Arctic?”

#VEN Crisis

• “Guaido backs Canada, allies call for military back Venezuelan opposition”
• “Canada’s leadership on Venezuela is misguided, misdirected – and a mistake”
• “Ottawa wrong to support military solution in Venezuela”
• “Venezuela’s crisis: Why now and what’s next?”
• “Venezuela opposition warns military against preventing entry of aid”

#CHN/Pacific Rim

• “Canada, China, and the Trump Doctrine” (Centre for International Policy Studies)
• “Chinese Dissidents to be Resettled in Canada, Thai Lawyer Says”
• “A Chinese student has been sentenced to a year in federal prison after pleading guilty to illegally taking photos of a U.S. military installation …”
• “A senior military official on Sunday called on media as well as literary and art workers of the military to promote innovation and development in their work, so as to provide solid support for strengthening and revitalizing the armed forces …” (CHN military media)

The Koreas

• “A new research project examines the link between North Korea and various European Communist secret police agencies following the end of World War II, including documents recording the transport of Korean War orphans from the peninsula to Poland, as well as information on American and British prisoners of war (POWs) …”
• “Kim Jong Un, Donald Trump to meet in Danang at the end of February: source”
• “US President Donald Trump names Vietnam for second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un”

#CANinIRQ/Mid East – Op IMPACT

• “Russian recruitment offices refuse to grant veteran status to soldiers fighting in Syria”
• “Recruitment offices do not put hot spots — Families of combatants in Syria are forced to seek payments due to them through the courts …” (in Russian)

#LVA/Europe – Op REASSURANCE

• “According to the Estonian Ministry of Defense, the expansion of training ranges suggested to the Baltic states by a report of the International Center for Defense and Security (ICDS) so as to receive additional NATO forces is time-consuming and expensive, public broadcaster ERR reports …”
• “Estonia outlines defence development objectives for 2020–23”
• “Lithuanian State Security Dep’t Lists Russia Among Key Threats to Country”
• “Latest National Threat Assessment presented” (LTU Mod info-machine)
• “Intelligence: Russia uses drones for monitoring in Lithuania”
• “Lithuania fears Russia will attempt to sway its elections”
• “Belarusians Apparently More Resilient to Russian Propaganda Than Many Fear” (Jamestown)
• “Alleviating Tensions Between Russia and Belarus: Two Paradigms” (Jamestown)
• “Dostoevsky Knew: Jews’ Seizure for World Power Predicted by Literary Giant” (pro-RUS site)
• “Russian tanks would be a nightmare for NATO if World War III erupts” (pro-RUS site)

#MLI – Op PRESENCE/Africa

• “Sahel leaders meet against backdrop of new violence”
• “G5 nations meet in Burkina Faso day after deadly attack”
• “14 civilians killed in jihadist attack in Burkina Faso”
• “Burkina Faso forces kill 146 jihadists after civilian attack”

What’s Canada Buying? (1):  Big Honkin’ Ship Document Leak Case

• “Shipyard at heart of Norman trial received secret cabinet documents in error”

What’s Canada Buying? (2):  The Rest

• “Ottawa pushes navy’s planned supply ships to the front of the construction queue”
• “DND seeks industry input for Land electronic warfare”

Veterans & Helping Veterans (or Not?)

• “Wounded Warriors in Red Deer raising money for service dogs for veterans with PTSD”

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