During the 2015 election campaign, Justin Trudeau vowed that his government would never purchase the F-35.

As prime minister, Trudeau continued to point out the Canadian military had no need for the F-35. “Canadians know full well that, for 10 years, the Conservatives completely missed the boat when it came to delivering to Canadians and their armed forces the equipment they needed,” Trudeau said in June 2016. “They clung to an aircraft (the F-35) that does not work and is far from working.”

The Liberal government also noted the F-35’s “stealth first-strike capability” was not needed to defend Canada.

But Trudeau flipped on his election promise, not only committing to the purchase but increasing the number of jets from the 65 the Conservatives had wanted to buy to 88.

Moscow says its deratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) is merely designed to bring Russia into line with the United States, which signed but never ratified the treaty. Russia will not resume nuclear testing unless Washington does, say Russian diplomats.

Nor, they say, will the move change the nuclear posture of Russia, which has the world's largest nuclear arsenal, or the way it shares information about its nuclear activities as Moscow will remain a treaty signatory.

Archive: [ https://archive.ph/CtM85 ]

The Houthis, a Zaidi Shi’a group, are allied with Iran and receive material and technical support from Iran. However, they are rooted in Yemen’s socio-cultural matrix. Unlike Hezbollah, Iran has less control over the Houthis’ decision making. Iran can and does limit the operational breadth of Hezbollah and its other proxies. In the case of the Houthis, the most senior leadership, among whom all decisions of consequence are made, is closed to all but the highest-ranking members of the organization.

It is possible that Iran had no foreknowledge of the Houthis’ decision to launch missiles toward Israel.

Archive: [ https://archive.ph/D8jB7 ]