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Friday, May 1, 2020

Madness, mayhem in Nova Scotia


History is very interesting ! ~ thought it could leave you confused on how many and why such conflicts took place as mankind tried eliminating fellow humans !

The Siege of Trichinopoly took place in early 1741 during an extended series of conflicts between the Nawab of Arcot and the Maratha Empire for control over parts of southern India. Raghuji Bhonsle's Maratha army successfully starved out the town, compelling the surrender of Chanda Sahib on 26 March 1741.  The Battle of Plassey was a decisive victory of the British East India Company over the Nawab of Bengal and his French allies on 23 June 1757, under the leadership of Robert Clive which was possible due to the defection of Mir Jafar Ali Khan, who was Siraj-ud-Daulah's commander in chief.   .. .. .. we have read of Indian Wars – but what surprises is that there were Indian wars which did not take place in India and no Indian kingdom was involved !! .. then why were they called Indian wars ?

Queen Anne's War (1702–1713) was the second in a series of French and Indian Wars fought in England's Thirteen American Colonies during the reign of Anne, Queen of Great Britain.  It is viewed in Europe as the American theater of the War of the Spanish Succession; it is viewed in America as a stand-alone conflict.  The belligerents were French colonists and various Indian tribes versus English colonists and various Indian tribes for control of the American continent, it is also known as the Third Indian War or as the Second Intercolonial War in France.    This ended official French control of the peninsular portion of Acadia (present-day mainland Nova Scotia), although resistance continued until the end of the war.   The American Indian Wars (also known as the Indian Wars or the First Nations Wars) is the collective name for the various armed conflicts that were fought by European governments and colonists, and later by the governments and settlers, against various American Indian and First Nation tribes. These conflicts occurred in North America from the time of the earliest colonial settlements in the 17th century until the early 20th century.

Nova Scotia  is a province in eastern Canada. With a population of 923,598 as of 2016, it is the most populous of Canada's three Maritime provinces and the four Atlantic provinces. It is the country's second-most densely populated province and second-smallest province by area, both after neighbouring Prince Edward Island.   The peninsula that makes up Nova Scotia's mainland is connected to the rest of North America by the Isthmus of Chignecto, on which the province's land border with New Brunswick is located.  

The land that comprises what is now Nova Scotia has been inhabited by the indigenous Mikmaq people for thousands of years. France's first settlement in North America, Port-Royal, was established in 1605 and intermittently served in various locations as the capital of the French colony of Acadia for over a hundred years. The Fortress of Louisbourg was a key focus point in the struggle between the British and French for control of the area, changing hands numerous times until France relinquished its claims with the Treaty of Paris in 1763. During the American Revolutionary War, thousands of Loyalists settled in Nova Scotia. In 1848, Nova Scotia became the first British colony to achieve responsible government, and it federated in July 1867 with New Brunswick and the Province of Canada (now Ontario and Quebec) to form what is now the country of Canada. Nova Scotia's capital and largest city is Halifax.

Nova Scotia is in news for wrong reasons !~ no nothing connected to Covid but killing outrage.  A  man wearing a police uniform went on a shooting rampage in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia on Sunday, killing 16 people, in the deadliest such attack in the country's history. Officials said the suspected shooter, local dentist Gabriel Wortman, 51, was also dead. A police officer was among the dead. Several bodies were found inside and outside one home in the small rural town of Portapique, about 100 kilometres north of Halifax. Overnight, police began advising residents of the town – already on lockdown because of the coronavirus pandemic – to lock their doors and stay in their basements. Several homes in the area were set on fire as well.

Authorities said Wortman disguised himself as a police officer in uniform at one point and made his car look like a Royal Canadian Mounted Police cruiser. Wortman was arrested by the police at a gas station in Enfield, just outside the provincial capitol of Halifax. Police later announced he had died. It was not clear how, and they did not explain further, although witnesses reporting gunfire from the scene. "This is one of the most senseless acts of violence in our province's history," said Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil.

Mass shootings are relatively rare in Canada. The country overhauled its gun-control laws after its worst mass shooting in 1989, when gunman Marc Lepine killed 14 women and himself at Montreal's Ecole Polytechnique. This weekend's shooting is the deadliest since then. It is now illegal to possess an unregistered handgun or any kind of rapid-fire weapon in Canada. The country also requires training, a personal risk assessment, two references, spousal notification and criminal record checks to purchase a weapon.

Police have not provided a motive for the attack, but RCMP Chief Superintendent Chris Leather said many of the victims did not know the shooter, although he had a connection to some of the initial victims. "That fact that this individual had a uniform and a police car at his disposal certainly speaks to it not being a random act," Leather said. He added that police believed he acted alone. Leather said they would investigate whether the attack had anything to do with the coronavirus pandemic, but no link had been found thus far. The dead officer was identified as Constable Heidi Stevenson, (pictured above) a mother of two and a 23-year veteran of the force. Another officer was injured. Leather said at a point there was an exchange of gunfire between the suspect and police. There were half a dozen police vehicles at the scene of a gas station where the suspect was shot. Yellow police tape surrounded the gas pumps, and a large silver-coloured SUV was being investigated.

Gabriel Wortman is listed as a denturist – a person who makes dentures – in the city of Dartmouth, near Halifax, according to the Denturist Society of Nova Scotia website. A suspect photo issued by the RCMP appears to be of the same person seen in video footage being interviewed about dentures by CTV Atlantic in 2014.

It is random madness of an individual reminiscent of madness of kingdoms in war.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar
20.4.2020.


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