Get Robert Carlyle in. Good at staring down a crisis.
There is a uk thread.
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Bit of a barny going on over here next door in Alberta. The separatist movement who wants Alberta to be independent, ( and has a suspiciously high amount of support from south of the border) had collected signatures for a petition to have a referendum on the issue. Couple of “interesting” things:
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the entire Alberta voting list was “accidentally” shared with the organizers of the separatist movement by the UCP, ( the ruling Party in Alberta) . The RCMP are now involved. It is the largest data breach in Canada.
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the threshold for triggering the referendum was lowered by the UCP when it looked like the organizers would not have enough votes.
And now the referendum has been ruled invalid as the organizers did not consult with the indigenous landowners, who have treaties covering most of the province. It is going to be an interesting few days, as the UCP leader, Danielle Smith, has come out in support of the petition.
It seems- from the BC perspective at least- that the extreme vocal minority wanted to try destabilize the province from within. And they are a minority. But as we have seen, a well funded campaign backed by media/social-media saturation can elicit strange results.
And the access to Alberta’s oil reserves- of which they have plenty- has absolutely nothing to do with this. That and the head of the separatist movement trying to secure 500B from the US to fund the deal.
A lot to watch over the next little while.
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Report from “The Tyee”, and independent online news portal in BC
Report Warns of Russian and USDisinformation Campaigns on AlbertaSeparatism
Researchers say MAGA influencers and Russian state media are trying to sway opinions.
Jen St. Denis
/
7 May 2026
The Tyee
Jen St. Denis is a reporter and senior editor with The Tyee. You can follow her on
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A new report is warning of both Russian and American government involvement aimed atpromoting Alberta separatism.
Researchers from the Canadian Digital Media Network, DisinfoWatch and the Global Centre forDemocratic Resilience warn that the activity they’ve tracked is threatening “the ability ofCanadians to make political decision freely, without foreign coercion or manipulation.”
They’ve produced a
report (https://disinfowatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Albertaand-
Foreign-Interference-Report-Final-052026-web.pdf)
titled
Decision Making & NationalUnity Under Threat: Foreign Interference, Cognitive Sovereignty, and the AlbertaReferendum
.
The research groups are calling on the federal government to introduce legislation or strengthenexisting laws to require greater transparency from social media companies and develop a robustplan to track and respond to foreign disinformation campaigns.
A research report calls on governments to strengthen laws to increase transparency about foreign interference inthe separatism debate.
Photo via Alberta Prosperity Project on Instagram.
Listen to this article
6 min
Marcus Kolga, the director of DisinfoWatch, had blunt advice for Canadians based on thereport’s findings.
“There’s no silver bullet to protect us from these influence operations, but what I would say toCanadians, at the very top of my list and this is really simple: limit your time on social media,”Kolga told The Tyee.
“But if you’re on social media, and the algorithms — which are designed to increase profit forthese companies — if the content elicits a strong emotional reaction, it’s probably a good idea totake a step back, take a deep breath and take a look at what you’re consuming and where it’scoming from.”
The researchers found that targeting western separatism is “explicitly instructed in Russiangovernment strategy” and say that Russian influence operations have already created ordeployed websites and social media accounts to “directly target Alberta.”
One example, the report notes, is a website called AlbertaSeparatist.com which also hasassociated TikTok and YouTube accounts. The report authors say that website has been“attributed to Russian operations.”
Alberta separatism is also frequently covered on Russian state media sites Sputnik and PravdaToday. An analysis by the researchers found 67 news articles on Pravda Today dealing withAlberta separatism or becoming the “51st state,” compared with 14 articles that focused onOntario, between Dec. 24 and April 25.
The articles presented Alberta separatism as a “growing and popular” movement, focused onAlberta’s economic grievances with Canada, reported contacts between separatist leaders andU.S. government officials and republished a slew of material from mainstream news, Telegramchannels and MAGA influencers to “create a laundering effect in which local grievances areblended with strategic narratives.”
The report notes Russia’s “extensive track record” of misinformation and disinformationoperations targeting democratic societies by amplifying existing divisions in societies over issueslike LGBTQ+ rights and other “culture war” topics.
When it comes to the United States, the report authors characterized the effort as “overt” ratherthan Russian “covert” attempts to sway public opinion. That’s because some Americangovernment officials and influencers have been totally open about their support for Albertaseparatism and President Donald Trump’s repeated suggestions to make Canada the “51st state.”
Separatist leaders have claimed to meet with high-level U.S. government officials in the StateDepartment, and have claimed to have discussed a $500-billion line of credit to support aseparate Alberta.
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MAGA influencers have also supported Alberta separatism, the report authors note, includingSteve Bannon, who advised Trump during the president’s first term.
Bannon and Tucker Carlson have both used their large video platforms to support Albertaseparatism. On April 2, Carlson — a former FOX News host who independently makes videosand other political content — told his audience that Canada “is not sovereign” and said the U.S.should consider coercive regime change, according to the report.
The report authors say the approach echoes “Russian claims before its full-scale invasion ofUkraine.”
They found similarities to the language Russian President Vladimir Putin has used to justifyinterfering in neighbouring states. Bannon said in a recent broadcast that Canadians are “hostileto the United States of America” and “argued that Canada is central to American hemisphericdefence.”
The report authors say that language is concerning because it characterizes Canada “not as anallied sovereign democracy but as a strategic problem for the United States to manage.”
The report authors say it’s also a concern that large numbers of Canadians are consuming thecontent made by MAGA-aligned influencers — content that often has larger reach thantraditional news media or politicians.
The report authors also note that they saw a “
convergence
(https://thetyee.ca/News/2024/12/12/Russian-Political-Influence-Campaign-Canada/)
” of U.S.and Russian disinformation in the case of Tenet Media. According to a Department of Justiceindictment, two Canadians accepted $10 million from Russian state agents to create a videocontent company, and then hired major American right-wing media influencers Tim Pool, DaveRubin, Benny Johnson and others. (The influencers have claimed they were unaware TenetMedia was funded by the Russian government.)
“Both Pool and Johnson have used their platforms to criticize Canada and amplify Albertaseparatist narratives,” the report authors say. Pool has
also called
(https://thetyee.ca/News/2025/02/12/Online-Warriors-Violent-Invasion-Canada/)
for theviolent invasion of Canada.
As shown in a
recent report (https://thetyee.ca/News/2026/04/21/Dishonest-Online-
Campaign-Support-Alberta-Separatism/)
by the Canadian Digital Media Network, there’s also athird category of online disinformation: “slopaganda” made quickly and cheaply with the help ofAI.
The researchers want Canadians — and especially Albertans — to be aware of some of thenarratives that could pop up in social media feeds as the separatism referendum processproceeds.
This could include claims about petition signatures being rejected or manipulated; claims thatauthorities are concealing the true level of support for separation; the circulation of fabricatedscreenshots to erode trust in governments; and a misrepresentation of the legal process.
In general, they say, expect claims of election fraud, assertions that foreign governments areready to recognize an independent Alberta or claims that a single step in the complicatedreferendum process triggers full independence.
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Report: US and Israel preparing for renewed strikes on Iran within days
Officials told The NYT that Trump advisers have drafted plans for renewed strikes on Iran, including heavy bombing and possible ground operations, though military officials warned the latter carries a ‘high risk of casualties’
U.S. President Donald Trump landed in Washington overnight Friday after his visit to China, with an escalation in the campaign against Iran still under consideration. Two Middle East officials who spoke with The New York Times said the United States and Israel are engaged in “intensive preparations”, the largest since the ceasefire took effect, for a possible resumption of strikes on Iran as early as next week.
According to the report, Trump’s senior advisers have drawn up plans for renewed military strikes if he decides to try to break the stalemate through additional bombing, though he has not yet made a decision on the next steps. Shortly before leaving Beijing on Friday, Trump said Iran’s latest peace proposal was unacceptable and dismissed it outright.
Trump said he discussed Iran with Chinese President Xi Jinping, whose country is a strategic partner of Tehran and depends on oil and gas transported through the Strait of Hormuz. However, he said he did not ask Xi to pressure Iran, and the full details of their talks have not been disclosed.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon is preparing for the possibility that Operation Epic Fury could resume in the coming days. If Trump decides to renew the strikes, options include more aggressive bombing sorties against Iranian military targets and infrastructure, U.S. officials told the Times.
In an interview with Fox News, Trump said the sides had previously outlined terms for an agreement under which Iran would forgo nuclear weapons and hand over nuclear material sought by the United States. He accused Tehran of repeatedly backing away from understandings reached in negotiations and said Iran could not be allowed to obtain nuclear weapons.
Officials said another option under consideration is deploying special operations forces on the ground to target nuclear material buried deep underground. Several hundred special operations troops arrived in the Middle East in March as part of a deployment intended to give Trump that option, they said, including forces that could be used against highly enriched uranium in Isfahan. However, they stressed that such an operation would also require thousands of support troops, who could become drawn into fighting with Iranian forces. Military officials acknowledged to The New York Times that the option carries a “high risk of casualties.”
Iranian officials have also said they are preparing for renewed fighting. “Our armed forces are ready to deliver an appropriate response to any aggression. Wrong strategies and wrong decisions always lead to wrong results,” Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf wrote on social media Monday. “The whole world already understands this. We are prepared for all possibilities. They will be surprised.”
You know what’d be interesting (because their story deserves to be heard) is what’s it like in Iran and Lebanon for the innocent public? Living under the existing regime locally, and the invasion.
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Oh I am sure they look at utopias the US created in their two neighbours with great anticipation of their future
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The US have needed this “ceasefire” more than Iran imo. Force projection costs billions and the usage rate for highly expensive munitions makes them not easily replenished.
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I don’t think that a few weeks would really let the USA make any meaningful inroads into rebuilding stockpiles. That’s the work of years, and would require a fundamental reevaluation of us strategy and industrial/preparedness policy, which this administration plainly lacks the interest or competence to perform.
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I think it gives them time to shift them from elsewhere.
But yes, lead times on high tech weaponry are extensive.
And I imagine China are quite happy for the US to deplete available stockpiles.
Probably why Hegseth wants Kelly tried for treason for revealing US missile supplies are running low.
They’ll be a few levels down from the lickspittles at the top, but someone within the Pentagon will be pointing out that the military reserves of certain products will be dangerously low. And that message will eventually get through, even to the morons , and they’ll have to halt shooting things.
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He’s dusting off and polishing the nukes isnt he?
BIG funding increase to Defence to start rebuilding these munitions reserves. Extraordinarily expensive.
Why is Defence spelled correctly?
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“Kelly then countered that the information didn’t come from a classified press briefing, but rather from Hegseth’s own mouth while at a late April Senate briefing on the Pentagon’s future budget and war with Iran.
“That’s not classified, it’s a quote from you,” Kelly wrote. “This war is coming at a serious cost and you and the president still haven’t explained to the American people what the goal is.”
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Are they even pivoting to drones?
Yeah, they are doing a bit of everything in that $1.5T budget. They even used US copies of Iranian drones to hit Iran.
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