Episode Details

Before listening to this conversation, consider:

* Premier Smith’s first action in office was an attempt to exert Alberta sovereignty, over Canada, but most importantly, ahead of First Nations who proceeded all of us, and have fought for their sovereign rights since time immemorial.

* After two court ruling, a hurdle-smashing Forever Canadian petition, we are still facing a 10-question referenda most of us do not want.

* The US has declared war against us, yet Alberta’s Premier won’t cut them off. Despite all other provinces agreeing to fight, Canada continues to capitulate to Smith.

* Both Smith and Carney are throwing out environmental protections, climate targets, and International law in the name of AI surveillance technology and threats to national security.

* Developers, like Sam Altman of OpenAI, are sounding the alarm that deregulation seems to be leading to self-destruction, by way of uncontrollable AI algorithm agents.

* Fueled by and for the fossil fuel industry who is destroying itself, and our way of life with it, with our money through illegal, unprovoked wars and genocide. Blocking renewable and restoration alternatives whilst they destroy the global trade system, which feeds us, for all the world to see.

* The referenda agenda is already underway: students are being cut off from public school and families from healthcare. Jobs are drying up, along with our freshwater table, and any logical reason to let this agenda continue.

A rebellion is urgently needed, what are you waiting for?

The conversation opens with a focus on the ongoing situation in Gaza and Palestine. Wesam Cooley, a regular on The Gravity Well, describes the conflict as a genocide now approaching its three-year mark, continuing despite a ceasefire that Israel has not respected. Recent incidents include a building collapse where a child was found alive among dead family members, and a quadcopter drone strike that killed both a paramedic and a 15-year-old boy who had gone to help him. We note that Israeli political opinion polls show near-unanimous support for the military campaign among Israelis, and that upcoming Israeli elections are unlikely to change the direction of the genocide, as no candidate campaigns on ending it.

The discussion then expands to the broader regional war, including Lebanon, the West Bank, and Iran. Wesam explains that the US launched a war against Iran in February, and that Iran has responded by using its geographical control over the Strait of Hormuz to restrict oil flows to any nation supporting the US military action. Brent Crude has surpassed one hundred dollars per barrel, and the economic damage is described as irreversible, with rationing expected in the coming months and years. Yemen’s Ansar Allah has also seized the western coast of Yemen and is positioned to besiege the Bab al-Mandeb strait, while also attacking Saudi oil infrastructure, resulting in Saudi Arabia temporarily exporting zero oil. I add that oil and gas infrastructure damaged through bombing cannot simply be restored, with replacement timelines stretching years or decades, and that the CEO of Chevron has publicly acknowledged coming shortages of diesel, jet fuel, and fertilizer.

The conversation shifts to the geopolitical position of Canada, the Alberta separatism referendum, and the US imperial decline. Wesam argues that the US, facing the collapse of its West Asian presence, is now looking to expand control over weaker targets, with Canada being especially vulnerable. The Alberta referendum is described as dangerous not because the separatism question itself may pass, but because any yes vote on the nine constitutional questions could trigger a constitutional crisis that would be used to legitimize US intervention in the province. I note there is no defined threshold for success in the referendum act, meaning the organizing faction can declare victory on any outcome. Both speaker