NightOwl

It's no surprise that Ukraine has become a new, major market for British arms exports. In the 10 years up to Russia's invasion in 2022, UK firms sold only around £35m of military equipment. In the three years since the invasion, 2022-24, exports skyrocketed to £1.1bn.

Last September defence secretary John Healey announced a further award benefitting Thales -- a contract worth £162m to supply Ukraine with 650 LMMs. The MoD said categorically: "This contract with Thales in the UK will further prime the world leading British defence industry to increase production rates, enabling future production to be ramped up".

Thales has also received new orders from the MoD to supply Starstreak high velocity missiles and anti-tank weapons after that equipment has been gifted to Ukraine.

These contracts are especially noteworthy in that Thales is currently being investigated by the Serious Fraud Office for suspected bribery and corruption. The probe is reportedly over suspicions of corruption linked to arms sales abroad. Thales denies the allegations.

Mainstream outlets from USA Today to the BBC have regurgitated the Israeli government's claim that Hamas strangled the Bibas children with their bare hands, prompting centrist hereditary influencer Meghan McCain to call to "blast the people who killed this baby [Kfir Bibas] to hell."

However, an analysis by Adar Weinreb, an independent Israeli researcher and former IDF soldier, demonstrates that an Israeli airstrike was the most likely cause of death for Shiri, Ariel and Kfir Bibas.

The reporters also published an AHS internal price comparison for surgical facilities “that shows the proposed projects in Red Deer and Lethbridge were negotiating rates far higher than what a competitor in Calgary is paid. Further, the fees on the table surpassed what it costs AHS to perform the same surgeries, according to the internal document.”

"AHS pays $4,833 for a shoulder replacement, while private facilities under ASI were negotiating rates as high as $11,243," the union representing paramedics and other health care professionals said, citing the Globe report. "Similar overcharges exist for hip and knee replacements, with private providers consistently charging over twice what it costs AHS to perform the same procedures."

"This is an outright betrayal of Albertans," HSAA President Mike Parker said in a forceful news release. "The UCP tells Albertans for-profit health care would save money and cut wait times through innovation, but instead, we have an out-of-control system where taxpayer dollars are being funneled into private pockets at double the cost. This is not innovation -- this is profiteering at its worst."

Despite falling flat in the past, Rustad is reviving the deceptive and potentially costly strategy of targeting environmental groups because it appeals to the Conservative Party base, provincially and federally, that backs unimpeded oil and gas expansion, he said.

"It's good politics," Bratt said. "That base is convinced that environmental groups are illegitimately blocking energy projects."

However, Conservative politicians don't apply the same standard when it comes to the comparatively massive U.S. investment into Canada's oil and gas industry or as a market for B.C. or Alberta's fossil fuel, Bratt noted.

Nearly 37 per cent of Canada's oil and gas assets are under foreign control withAmerican investment controlling the lion's share at 16 per cent, followed closely by Asia with 15 per cent, and the European Union at five per cent in 2022. Both Rustad and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith originally advocated against the B.C. or federal government imposing any retaliatory tariffs in response to a trade war with U.S. President Donald Trump that would harm the Canadian fossil fuel sector.