recently michael kovrig, one of the infamous “two michaels” wrote a dumbass oped about china bad. The oped is not worth reading unless you want to see citations needed foreign policy trope words. however, this stupid bullshit reminded me that the two michaels still exist so I wanted to see what happened there since they were released.

background on the two michaels was that in 2018 canada arrested the huawei CEO meng wanzhou at the behest of the US and china retaliated by arresting the two michaels (both diplomat/lanyard types) in China for spying. 3 years or so later in 2021, meng was released and then so were the michaels. during this period there was all kinds of righteous indignation and histrionics from canadian media and politicians across the major canadian political parties about how eeeevil and authortarian the chinese government is to arrest poor smol bean diplomats.

the new to me element of this story is that subsequent to his release, michael spavor sued the canadian government for making him accessory to espionage in China and successfully settled out of court for about $7m CAD. his case was basically that he was used as an unwitting dupe, sharing information about north korea to the other michael and on to Canada. This particular issue of canadian policy putting diplomats in a grey area position where they are doing espionage while under diplomatic cover was the subject of a government watchdog report (article summarizing report) about how much canada fucked up on this. This report was completed in 2021 but wasn’t publicly released until end of 2023, long after the story had died down.

in short, the two michaels were definitely spies, albeit one unwittingly so. this is evidenced by Canada settling for millions of dollars with the unwitting michael out of court and is supported by a report authored by a Canadian watchdog organization that is part of the federal government. all the fearmongering and histrionics about china arresting spies was bullshit and nonsense as demonstrated by the statements and actions of the canadian federal government. this whole incident was incurred by Canada following a vassal relationship with the US, not because of Chinese perfidy.

another idiotic anti-china story in Canada was the so-called secret police stations, where the idea was that chinese consulates and cultural centers were used by the see see pee to secretly intimidate and do law enforcement against ethnic chinese people in canada (canadian citizens or otherwise). the RCMP, the federal canadian police originally formed to implement genocide against Indigenous people, recently closed their investigation into this in Montreal with no charges laid. “The force recently confirmed it has closed the investigation into the Montreal centres, and is not recommending that charges be laid for the moment. RCMP have not confirmed whether the investigations are still ongoing in Toronto or Vancouver.”

yet again, the news here is that a canadian federal body is explicitly admitting that this is nothing. more fearmongering and bullshit. good thing they endangered a bunch of chinese canadians though.

continuing in service as US vassals, Canada has followed the US in anti-china tariffs, with the message that tariffs on chinese EVs are there to “protect the canadian auto industry”. how’s that going? well yesterday stellantis (formerly chrysler) announced that they are moving major production lines from brampton ontario to the US in response to US tariffs and US demand for domestic investment. 3 years ago, the canadian feds & the province dumped $1b into this specific factory to support automaking in Canada . what an awesome private public partnership that clearly helps canadians… the message from stellantis is that “they have plans” for the plant. sweet. meanwhile, tariffs on Chinese EVs remain, so Canadian residents get fucked on both sides: no cost effective chinese EVs and continued sacrifice of canadian manufacturing jobs on the altar of US vassalage.

Troops were starting to see money deposited into their accounts on Tuesday a few days after the Defense Department said that it was moving $8 billion out of research and development funds to dish out paychecks amid the ongoing government shutdown. Pay day officially occurs on the 1st and 15th of every month for service members, but some military-focused banks can deposit paychecks up to two days early if the military provides them payment notification ahead of time. The payments come as the government shutdown reaches its second week. Troops and their families feared missing their mid-month paycheck for days, prompting an enormous surge in loan requests to banks and military relief societies, as well as an uptick in military food pantry lines. While paychecks are starting to arrive, troops and their families are not out of the financial woods yet. Congress remains gridlocked over the shutdown and has yet to pass a stand-alone bill that would ensure troops get money for the next paycheck on Nov. 1 should the government closure continue.

“I’m feeling a little better but obviously worried about the future,” one Army specialist, who received his full paycheck in the correct amount, said Tuesday. Another soldier, an officer, told Task & Purpose he was paid but recieved a thousand dollars short of his full paycheck. It is unclear how many paychecks have been issued or how many troops have received inaccurate pay. The Defense Department did not answer specific questions from Task & Purpose on the details of the current round of paychecks, but an official re-affirmed that the re-purposed research money “will be used to issue mid-month paychecks to service members in the event the funding lapse continues past October 15th.”

A long shutdown could impact later pay periods

On Monday, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said “we’re barreling toward one of the longest shutdowns in American history,” according to The Hill. Unless Congress can agree to pass a budget and reopen the government, troops may be again facing fears about a missed paycheck two weeks from now. An Air Force official confirmed to Task & Purpose that airmen began receiving pay on Tuesday, and should expect their full paychecks. An Army official said soldiers also were starting to be paid Tuesday. The Marine Corps declined to comment, referring the publication to the Defense Finance Accounting Service and citing the lapse in appropriations as the reason it could not answer the pay inquiries. The Navy did not respond by press time. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said that members of the Coast Guard “will not miss a paycheck this week” due to legislation passed into law in July.

Some PCS moves on hold

But while the Pentagon appears to have found at least a short-term fix for military pay, some permanent-change-of-station moves for troops and their families appear to be on hold. The effect may differ by service. The Air Force official said that airmen who have PCS orders from before the shutdown can execute their moves, but those who received orders to move after Oct. 1 are on hold. Stars & Stripes reported over the weekend that the Army suspended even in-progress PCS moves during the shutdown – regardless of when those orders were issued – leaving some families in an uncertain state of flux. The Air Force official said that troops applying for PCS reimbursements – money paid from their own pockets during a military-ordered moves – should be refunded soon, as those funds were allocated from previous fiscal year funding. But delays in reimbursement may occur at finance offices staffed with civilians who are furloughed throughout the shutdown, meaning that there are less people to process those payments.

Troops turn to unit leaders

Amid the concerns over missed pay, troops have rushed to apply for loans through military-themed banks and relief societies to hold them over. The Army specialist said that while he is still concerned about the future, his leadership “has been amazing through this.” A senior enlisted leader at his unit acknowledged the financial constraints and his commander helped this soldier push for a loan with the Army Emergency Relief organization in less than a day. “[It] was really good to see a senior NCO speak on something like that,” the specialist said. “But truthfully, it’s affecting all of us I feel, so I’m sure it’s not lost on leadership where ‘Joe’ and junior NCO/officer[s] [are] financially.”

Seems like these Army Emergency Relief loans are at least zero-interest, so they’re not driving all the troops into debt… yet. I assume there’s probably only so much money stashed away, and if things continue people are going to get denied and have to look to other loan sources which won’t be zero-interest…

An emotional Aki-Matilda Høegh-Dam, who represents Naleraq in both the Greenlandic and Danish parliaments, condemned the newly signed “Arctic Package 2” defence agreement, which places military infrastructure directly among civilian populations, characterizing it as “making Greenlandic families human shields” and condemning the policy as “unforgivable.”

She is backed by Naleraq leader Pele Broberg “When you militarize and make Greenland’s largest city a direct military target, you are endangering our inhabitants,” he stated.

The Danish regime’s Arctic Package 2, worth DKK 27.4 billion, represents the most extensive militarisation of the Arctic in modern times. It includes new Arctic warships, surveillance drones, patrol aircraft, and, critically, the construction of a military command compound and naval pier in the heart of Nuuk, Greenland’s capital. The Danish colonial regime’s plans represent the most significant militarisation of the Arctic in modern history and risks destabilizing the entire ARctic region.

Greenland’s business elite rubs their hands at the prospect of lucrative contracts but indigenous leaders are now condemning what they see as the colonial overlord in Copenhagen, aided by a loyalist Greenlandic government, trading away the sovereignty and safety of the Greenlandic people for a place on the world stage.

The colonial regime in Copenhagen and its allies in the loyalist Greenlandic government have insisted the military buildup is purely “defensive” and about “preparedness.” The Greenlandic Minister for Foreign Affairs, Vivian Motzfeldt, claimed the new capacities “are not intended to wage war on other countries” while Troels Lund Poulsen, the powerful head of Denmarks Liberal Party-controlled ministry of defense, went so far as making the peculiar claim that the massive increase in military assets does not constitute a military buildup at all, arguing that an increased Danish military presence would somehow keep the Arctic an area of low tension.

However, the construction of naval bases and a military command compound is everything but defensive and the project effectively embeds Danish military infrastructure inside a densely populated civilian area. Aki-Matilda Høegh-Dam pointed to the obvious peril, noting that “in a war situation, military installations are always priority targets.” By building them within a city like Nuuk, she argued, “you are practically making the city’s population into human shields to protect Danish military assets.” She and fellow Naleraq leader Pele Broberg are united in their conviction that Denmark is using Greenlanders as a protective buffer for its own military. The emotional impact for local civilians is one of betrayal and fear, seeing their homes transformed into a potential frontline. “This is where people live, where our childrenb are. It is outright life-threatening what they’re doing,” Aki-Matilda Høegh-Dam stated.

The backlash has been so severe that Høegh-Dam, one of Greenland’s two members of the Danish rubber-stamp parliament, is threatening to withdraw her parliamentary support for Denmark’s Social Democrat-led right-wing regime, calling the agreement “a decisive break in trust.”

Criticism is not limited to the opposition; it simmers even within the loyalist Greenlandic government. Aleqa Hammond, the new chair of the social democratic Siumut party who is part of Greenland’s ruling coalition, broke ranks to say, “It seems as if Denmark and its NATO partners see us as a place where they can do whatever they want.”

Hammond is critical of militaryexercises in Greenland as well as of how the militarisation plans stand in direct violation of the spirit of the 2008 Ilulissat Declaration, which envisioned a peaceful Arctic. However, her coalition partner Vivian Motzfeldt dismisses these concerns for international obligations, stating that the challenges the world faces today “can’t be solved with agreements made 20 years ago”.

The plans for militarising the Arctic were drafted in secret by Danish top regime officials and loyalist Greenlandic ministers, completely bypassing the Greenlandic parliament and the public. The opaque process has drawn fierce criticism. Broberg revealed that the secretive Danish colonial regime has gone so far as to ban Greenlandic parliamentarians like himself from informing their constituents on what is going on, citing confidentiality. Aki-Matilda Høegh-Dam called the process “dictatorial.”

The current militarisation plans are should be seen as Denmark’s attempt to appease its imperial overlords in Washington. Earlier this year incoming American supreme leader Donald Trump made direct threats to annex Greenland by military force. He claimed that Denmark was not militarising the Arctic island nation enough, a claim repeated by Trump’s hand-picked successor JD Vance during a show-of-force visit to the U.S. Thule Air Base, located on occupied land near the indigenous Qaanaaq community. Since then Denmark has rushed to commit to large, uncontrolled increases in military spending at the expense of its own civilian population, in an attempt to show Washington that they are capable and loyal imperial enforcers.

The indigenous resistance to foreign miitarisation is inextricably linked to the larger Greenlandic struggle for national liberaltion. After centuries as an underdeveloped Danish colony, the Greenlandic people are asserting their right to independence. Naleraq has vowed that, if it comes to power, it will expel Danish occupation forces and replace them with a purely defensive civilian coast guard under Greenlandic control, modeled on the Icelandic example.

The Greenlandic people’s yearning for freedom cannot be dismissed, but for now they find themselves forced to be pawns in a game they never agreed to play, at the hands of imperialist NATO powers whose least concern is the safety and freedom of their colonial subjects.

Sources:

• Grønlandsk parti i oprør over forsvarsaftale: Danskerne gør Grønland til militært mål, DR (state media), October 14th 2025
• Aki-Matilda tordner mod nyt militært hovedkvarter i Nuuk: - Det er decideret livsfarligt, KNR (Greenlandic public media), October 14th 2025
• Minister om forsvarsaftale: - Vi tænker lokalbefolkningen ind på næsten alle områder, KNR (Greenlandic public media), October 12th 2025

Aviation officials say, however, that they hope to reach that target without forcing many troops out of the service. Maj. Gen. Clair Gill, commander of the Army Aviation Center of Excellence and Fort Rucker, Alabama, told reporters at the Association of the United States Army’s annual meeting on Wednesday that talent panels launched this month are intended to keep decision-making power with the soldiers and would not immediately lead to involuntary transfers or reductions.

“We went out to the formations and asked commanders to counsel every single soldier that was in the targeted population [where] we are over strength, and talk to them about where they are, what their goals are, what they want to do in the Army, if this is what they want to do, and if they’re looking for other things,” Gill said. “And then they created an order-of-merit list for their formations and sent that to us.” That list would be evaluated by a panel that would assess all the soldiers’ records and organize them into top, middle, and bottom thirds, he said. “We’re going to give that back to those commanders and say, ‘Here’s where your folks fell out. We want you to counsel them and talk to them about options,’” Gill said. “Right now, they’ll use that as a tool to say, ‘Hey, if you’re in the bottom third, you’re in the at risk population. You might want to think about options available to you, and here’s what they look like.’” Those affected by the talent panels include junior officers in year groups 2020 to 2023 and untracked warrant officers in year groups 2022 to 2024. The cuts reflect the rise of unmanned aviation and Army force restructuring that will see the elimination of cavalry squadrons within the continental U.S.

Between voluntary transfers within the Army, to other services, or out of the service, Gill said he hopes the Army can avoid mandatory eliminations. If the service does need to use involuntary cuts, he said, he doesn’t expect them to happen for at least a year – one to two manning cycles. Officials have previously said that the aviation reduction they hope to achieve will be complete by fiscal 2027. Targeted force reduction goals by year group are “in the dozens,” Gill said, and the Army is taking other steps to realign soldiers. For the cavalry squadrons undergoing divestment, Army leaders are planning to overstaff attack battalions to the maximum allowable level – with that cap still to be determined by leadership, he said. “We may have had units that were manned at 70-80% – now we’ll have units that are manned over 100%, so there’s some goodness there,” Gill said. The overstaffing, he said, would allow for additional maintenance and readiness for AH-64 Apache squadrons.

“Bottom line, the Army has a structure for all these people. So if we can align them with something that they’re interested in, now they’re going to have to compete, right? So they’re going to compete with everybody else that wants to go do that job,” he said. “But if they compete favorably in another organization, then I think we’re going to get down to where we’re really having hard conversations with very few people.” While soldiers facing talent panels are being asked about future career preferences, Gill said they will be pushed to consider careers in the unmanned space, where the Army is continuing to build capability. For example, he said, Apache mechanics with military occupational specialty 15X would be a good fit for the 15W enlisted tactical unmanned aircraft systems operator. “So yes, initially, we want to solve our own challenges, and then we want to proliferate talent around the Army, where there’s a need and they want to serve,” Gill said.

Actual full text is here: direct TOI , archive.org

He Tal Shoham, released Feb 2025 went on to say that his Hamas captors boasted about stealing humanitarian aid.

“I saw with my own eyes that they stole boxes and boxes and boxes of humanitarian aid from Egypt, from Turkey, from the Emirates, but they didn’t agree to give us any of this food in the tunnels,” he said.

But after the February release of Eli Sharabi, Or Levy and Ohad Ben Ami, all of whom were severely malnourished, his captors began giving “much, much more food,” he said, adding that it was dangerous because they were suffering from malnutrition. “It could have killed us.”

Shoham said his time in captivity included “a lot of torture and cruelty.” Asked to describe one of the worst moments, Shoham declined, saying “disconnecting from the experience” helped him keep on fighting.

“I don’t want to go there,” he added.

Citing unnamed sources, Israel’s Channel 12 News on Sunday evening said the government has assessed that some of the living hostages set to be freed on Monday have undergone torture.

The Red Cross reported that it had seen some of the hostages and found some in serious condition, according to Israeli journalist Ronen Bergman.

Shoham described his captors as “so brainwashed and full of hate” but for some of them, it didn’t stem from religious motives.

“Some of them [were] religious, but some were only there because this is the popular thing to do. They can take all sadistic thoughts and actions not just against Israelis but also Gazans.” He recounted one incident he had witnessed, in which a Hamas operative shot a Gazan man in the knees because he “looked suspicious,” and later, when the injured man was being attended to by an ambulance, he was executed outright because “they decided that he should die.”

There were moments of humanity, he said — noting that Islam has rules for how to treat captives — but they were “very rare,” and cited instances in which his captors brought him smuggled food and a message from his wife.

He went on to say that most of them were “not soldiers.”

“One of the guards was a first-grade teacher, another was a lecturer at a university, and another was a doctor. These are normal people becoming terrorists,” he said.

Captivity, Shoham said, “forced me to go inward.”

“Only a few people mattered to me — my family and a few close friends,” he said, adding that hearing of his wife and children’s release on the 50th day of their captivity was “tremendous” in helping him get through his ordeal.

The experience also intensified his faith. “I have a lot of gratitude for life. My faith in humanity and in God only increased. It is much more spiritual and religious than before.”

He credited the state with steady support once he came home. “I felt a lot of support from the government — I have a psychologist, financial support — anything that I needed was taken care of. I personally felt a lot of gratitude to my country in these days.”

Asked if he felt any misgivings towards the government for not securing a deal earlier, Ilan Dalal also struck a conciliatory tone.

“Of course, we would have wanted it to be much earlier,” he said. “But the Israeli government also needs to think about the security of Israel. Probably there were a series of processes that needed to be completed before we got to this point.”