China is the biggest buyer of Iran’s oil. Could US sanctions threaten those ties?

China is the biggest buyer of Iran’s oil. Could US sanctions threaten those ties?

The US has unveiled an expansion of sanctions that it says will cut off Iran’s economic lifeline but stopped short of the most punishing measures, instead putting the world on notice to cease doing business with the Islamic republic.

Treasury secretary Scott Bessent ⁠warned other countries would need to sever ⁠business ties with Iran or risk being ​forced out of the dollar-based financial system. He previously urged cooperation from China – the biggest buyer of Iranian oil for several years – although the US blockade of Iran’s ports, renewed in mid-July, has already cut much of the Iranian oil flows to China.

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Tasha Kheiriddin: The end of free trade is here

Tasha Kheiriddin: The end of free trade is here

Welcome to Trade Wars, the reality show that pits the mighty United States of America against the mouse that roared, aka Canada. How’s everyone feeling today? “Kiss my ass!” yells Ontario Premier Doug Ford. “Flunky! I will rename Lake Ontario Lake America,” claps back U.S. President Donald Trump. Insert laugh track, cut to a commercial for a Ford F-150 pickup, and check out the ratings — 76 per cent of Canadians agree with Prime Minister Mark Carney’s decision to quit the talks. Everyone’s watching — what a hit.

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The BCTF says I’m now equipped to spot racism

The BCTF says I’m now equipped to spot racism

PENTICTON — I finally completed Module 1 of the BC Teachers’ Federation anti-racism training program.

“You have been introduced to many concepts in this learning module,” the text says.

I certainly have. From Skywoman falling onto a turtle’s back, to Omari and Willis debating whether a cartoon Italian eating pizza qualifies as white, it has been a magical journey.

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The illusion of leverage in Canada-US trade negotiations

The illusion of leverage in Canada-US trade negotiations

The latest failure in the trade talks between Canada and the United States has revealed a basic mismatch between political rhetoric and economic reality. Although Canadian officials, such as Prime Minister Mark Carney and the country’s trade negotiators, are still expressing confidence and maintaining that Canada has real leverage in arriving at a future agreement, the basic economic situation paints a completely different picture—one which Canadian businesses understand far better than the political leadership responsible for representing them.

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Pro-Russia Hackers Mocked Canada’s Slow Hunt for Them, Widened the Attacks — and a Pro-Palestine Crew Tagged In

Pro-Russia Hackers Mocked Canada’s Slow Hunt for Them, Widened the Attacks — and a Pro-Palestine Crew Tagged In

OTTAWA — On July 23, someone reached into the controls of the drinking-water plant in Saint-Noël, a village of fewer than four hundred people in Quebec’s Bas-Saint-Laurent, and began raising the chlorine. The alarms that should have sounded had been switched off. The plant went into a protective shutdown on its own, and the water stayed clean.

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Lindsay Clancy and the Perennial Innocence of Killer-Mothers

Lindsay Clancy and the Perennial Innocence of Killer-Mothers

The headlines are standard: “Women in pink rally in support of Lindsay Clancy who is on trial for killing 3 children,’” “America’s saddest murder trial: mental health in focus in Lindsay Clancy case,” “Lindsay Clancy’s trial shows how badly the system fails mothers,” and “Everyone Failed Lindsay Clancy.”

The headlines look away from the actual victims in the case: the three helpless children who were strangled to death in early 2023. All the sympathetic emphasis is on their mother, portrayed as a tragic figure allegedly “failed” by others and not morally responsible for her horrific act.

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Will the ‘refugees welcome’ crowd finally learn their lesson?

Will the ‘refugees welcome’ crowd finally learn their lesson?

The British state’s decision to disperse asylum seekers to the poorest parts of the country has long been causing serious problems. Mainly accommodated in so-called migrant hotels and increasingly houses in multiple occupation (HMOs), asylum seekers’ presence has been the source of many issues, from rises in anti-social behaviour to pressure on already stretched public services. It has also fuelled higher rents as landlords remove family homes from the market to create bedsits.

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Terry Newman: Israel-haters lose their minds as Montreal passes watered-down motion

Terry Newman: Israel-haters lose their minds as Montreal passes watered-down motion

MONTREAL — In early June, Projet Montréal filed a motion calling on the city to suspend institutional ties with Israel and refer to it as an “apartheid state” and a committer of “genocide.” On Monday night, sanity prevailed. The motion passed, but as a watered-down version with those features removed. Pro-Palestinian protesters outside were less than pleased and directed their aggression at those leaving the building, myself included.

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Inside the asylum centre ‘holiday camp’: A gym, football pitch, snack bar – and 17 minibuses to ferry migrants into towns.

Inside the asylum centre ‘holiday camp’: A gym, football pitch, snack bar – and 17 minibuses to ferry migrants into towns.

Welcome to Holiday Camp UK. For the 800 guests enjoying the luxury sports facilities, this place is unbeatable.

As I saw for myself this week on a visit to the camp in Wethersfield, deep in the Essex countryside, residents want for practically nothing. There’s a fully equipped gymnasium, a fitness room, a full-sized football pitch and a substantial indoor sports hall with all the equipment for five-a-side soccer, basketball and cricket – all free.

For those who want to kick back and take it easy, there are recreation rooms with televisions and pool tables, and a snack bar.

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MACLEOD: Canada faces a choice — Beijing or Washington

MACLEOD: Canada faces a choice — Beijing or Washington

The dispute between Canada and the United States (US) is usually described as another argument over tariffs. Steel, aluminum, automobiles, and agriculture dominate the headlines, but those are the visible symptoms of a much larger disagreement.

Washington is trying to build a protected North American economic and security bloc capable of competing with China. Mark Carney is trying to reduce Canada’s dependence on the US by expanding trade with China, Europe, and other markets. Those strategies are now colliding, and Canada cannot pretend indefinitely that it can pursue both.

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Ethnic Memory: Why Societies Should Be Monoethnic

Ethnic Memory: Why Societies Should Be Monoethnic

The title of this article may immediately invite accusations of racism. Since nothing could be further from the truth, in my case, than such an accusation, let me begin with a crucial distinction, which I shall then explain: that between racial realism and what I will call ethnic memory. This distinction can help clarify a number of political disputes. Leftists will argue, for instance, that the United States and even European countries have always been multicultural. There is some truth to this in the American case, but ‘multicultural’ meant something different in the late 18th century than it does today. In those times, ‘multicultural’—the physical reality, not the later term—might mean Englishmen and Frenchmen, rather than Englishmen and Pakistanis, living side by side and creating a new nation. So one must be precise in one’s use of terms.

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Mark Carney’s Smuggler’s Blues – Canada’s tariff tantrum has a China problem.

Mark Carney’s Smuggler’s Blues – Canada’s tariff tantrum has a China problem.

Brabim Karki’s piece here at The American Spectator on Monday about the breakoff in trade talks between the U.S. and Canada is a must-read, though it’s a little incomplete (and this column is an attempt to fill in a gap). Karki notes, and quite accurately so…

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Cambridge’s Farah Ahmed: study engineering ‘to produce weaponry for Jihad

Cambridge’s Farah Ahmed: study engineering ‘to produce weaponry for Jihad

Cambridge University’s education faculty – former home of Jason Arday – has appointed as assistant research professor a woman who wrote that Muslims should study engineering and computers ‘to produce advanced weaponry for Jihad in order that the deen [Islam] may dominate over all other deens.’

This is the fourth in our series of articles about Farah Ahmed, a former activist in the racist, extremist and separatist group Hizb ut Tahrir, now banned as a terror organisation, who has been given a senior role by Cambridge training the future leaders of the teaching profession.

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White House Press Release: “Ending Canada’s Free Ride”

White House Press Release: “Ending Canada’s Free Ride”

The White House has released an official and scathing press release outlining the lengthy and long-term issues with Canada and trade disputes.


TheLastRefuge is a good one to follow.

Leblanc is eviscerated.

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