Obama continued with the blame game this week as a raft of new sanctions were introduced against Russia. In remarks directed at Moscow, he said that the ‘destabilization of a sovereign country [Ukraine] cannot be accepted in 21st century Europe.’ Obama must have a short and highly selective memory. It
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Pushed to the Left and Loving It: More Government Propaganda While Canada Once Again Stands Alone
A very strange Oped piece appeared in the Globe and Mail on the weekend, written by none other than Stephen Harper. It was a follow up to a government announcement that we would be giving the Ukrainian military another 220 million dollars, on top of the 300 million already provided,
Continue readingAlberta Diary: A meditation on the parlous state of the prime ministerial belfry: is he batty, or what?
Psychological-political portrait of Prime Minister Stephen Harper by Edmonton artist William Prettie. (Used with permission.) Below: The young Vladimir Putin; the young Stephen Harper. When I ponder our prime minister’s mental state nowadays, my mind spontaneously offers up a rude phrase about the things bats leave behind in belfries. Prime
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Linda McQuaig criticizes the Cons’ use of the tax system to try to silence charities who don’t match their political message: PEN now joins Amnesty International, the David Suzuki Foundation, Canada Without Poverty, the United Church and other groups that, having criticized
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Russia must be stopped! And Peter Goldring’s just the man to do it! We’ll fight to the last Frenchman and German!
After we’ve won the war with Russia, a beachhead in the Caribbean! Edmonton MP Peter Goldring as illustrated by Press Progress. Below: Rob Ford, Louis Riel, Ann of Green Gables and last year’s military licence plate, which is presumably the same as this year’s military licence plate. Whenever you think
Continue readingdrive-by planet: Hard question about MH-17 disaster: BUK missile video blaming Russia is debunked
Below right: Black boxes being handed over to Malaysian delegation Since the crash of Malaysian Airlines MH-17 in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, questions have been raised about why the plane was flying over a war zone. MH-17’s flight path on July 17 diverged from the path taken during its earlier flights
Continue readingTrashy's World: I’m increasingly concerned….
…about what we are going to see as an end game of the Ukraine crisis. The States is upping the rhetoric, as is the UK. But other European leaders are remaining fairly quiet for fear of Russian repercussions – economic or otherwise. Putin is in the regional expansion game for
Continue readingdrive-by planet: Atrocities committed by Kiev forces in eastern Ukraine: video footage you won’t find in mainstream media
According to the accompanying blurb this video and others like it have been “the object of censorship.” The blurb also notes that “…in the media’s coverage of unfolding atrocities directed against civilians in Eastern Ukraine, the words Nazi, Fascist or Neo-Nazi are a taboo. They have been eliminated from the
Continue readingdrive-by planet: Kiev’s brutal military campaign in eastern Ukraine creating humanitarian crisis
The Kiev regime’s military campaign in eastern Ukraine has Washington’s backing. US State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki voiced support for Kiev’s right to press its assault – an assault that includes the use of air strikes and shelling that have devastated civilians and created growing ranks of refugees, many of
Continue readingPushed to the Left and Loving It: Harper’s Balancing Act : How to Accept Anti-Semitism Abroad While Making a Mockery of it at Home
Gaitana, born Gaita-Lurdes Essami, is a beautiful Ukrainian singer and songwriter, who had represented her country in the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest; Europe’s answer to American Idol. Not everyone was happy with Ukraine’s choice, however. Yuriy Syrotyuk, a high-ranking member of the ultranationalist Svoboda (Freedom) Party, claimed that “Gaitana is
Continue readingdrive-by planet: CNN infographic puts eastern Ukraine city of Slavyansk in… Crimea: American geo-illiteracy
A CNN infographic (above) that appeared during a news broadcast covering the pull-out of self-defense fighters from Slavyansk and Kramatorsk got it badly wrong. The infographic placed the city of Slavyansk, not in eastern Ukraine where it is located, but in western Crimea… which has since joined the Russian Federation.
Continue readingPushed to the Left and Loving It: Harper’s Cold War Becomes Arctic Chill: Why Domestic Politicking Makes For Bad Foreign Relations
Outgoing Russian Ambassador Georgiy Mame, spoke before his departure, lamenting our government’s undiplomatic posturing with his country, including Stephen Harper’s suggestion that Putin was the next Hitler. He accused the Harper government of isolating itself from its allies over Ukraine and hinted broadly that the Conservatives are likely playing to
Continue readingdrive-by planet: Ethnic cleansing in east Ukraine? – toll of killed and displaced civilians continues to mount
The end of Kiev’s so-called “ceasefire” has seen intensified artillery shelling and airstrikes in the Lugansk and Donetsk regions. During the ceasefire-that-wasn’t the Ukrainian military continued with its operations in a number of key areas… breaches that gave the lie to Poroshenko’s ceasefire masquerade. A number of Western media outlets
Continue readingdrive-by planet: The contradiction between Poroshenko’s peace plan and Kiev’s actions… rhetoric
Top: Former Ukraine president Leonid Kuchma, OSCE’s Heidi Tagliavini and Russian ambassador Mikhail Zurabov in talks with separatist leaders Beneath: Alex Borodai and fighters Kiev’s recently declared ceasefire was initially rejected by pro-Russian separatists, in part because it was unilaterally declared by Kiev without prior negotiation. Separatist leaders have since
Continue readingdrive-by planet: Fascism has a long history in Ukraine: 2-part historical review
Below left: Hero of Ukrainian hardline nationalists – Stepan Bandera Below right: Bandera in Nazi uniform In order to get some background on the crisis in Ukraine, it’s important to take the historical record into account – both recent and long standing. This is especially important given slanted western media
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Enough petulant propaganda, please: the hammer of D-Day crushed Hitler on the anvil of Russia
D-Day on Juno Beach: Canadians trudge ashore under a strange colorized sky. Below: The distinguished Canadian military historian, the late Reginald H. Roy. It’s been 70 years today since our magnificent Canadian soldiers went ashore at Juno Beach in Normandy to play their part the grim and deadly task of
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: Harper: A Decade In And He Still Doesn’t Get It
Stephen Harper has been in power for the high side of a decade. That’s a long time. Most Prime Ministers by this point in their careers have figured out that the foreign affairs portfolio is a tricky one. When you are a smallish nation like Canada, you get much better
Continue readingdrive-by planet: Oligarch Pyotr "Chocolate King" Poroshenko wins big in Ukraine’s low turn-out election: change to disbelieve in
The presidential election in Ukraine was held on the same date as elections to the European parliament that resulted in an unprecedented showing by anti-immigration Euro-skeptic parties. The Ukraine election held in the midst of conflict and poll boycotts saw EU-friendly billionaire Pyotr Poroshenko – aka the “Chocolate King” –
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