Section: iPolitics (Canada)
Putin expands his black-ops bag of tricks
Even as Vladimir Putin was exciting gossip in Beijing this week by apparently flirting with China’s First Lady, Peng Liyuan, the Russian president was pushing ahead on three new fronts in his intensifying rivalry with the West. On Wednesday, while the recently-divorced Putin sparked a stream of risque jokes on the Internet by wrapping a...
Is Putin flaunting his pariah status?
At the Asia-Pacific summit in China, Russian President Vladimir Putin did his best to appear relaxed, even playful. As his country faces some of its biggest international challenges in the post-Soviet era, he is showing an incredible levity. There are two ways to interpret that: as a subtle attempt at intimidation, or a sign that he thinks his...
Russia accuses Baird of being provocative over Ukraine
Comments that Canada’s foreign minister has made about the ongoing crisis in the Ukraine has stirred up the ire of Russian officials. Russia’s Defence Ministry is accusing John Baird of being provocative for issuing a statement on Wednesday saying Russian troops are moving closer to the border with Ukraine. The Russian news agency...
Is Ukraine’s crisis the West’s fault?
Who is to blame for the crisis in Ukraine: Russia or the U.S. and Europe? A lively debate on the question resurfaced lately, but it has a vital flaw in that it fails to consider the roles of the countries caught in between. It’s as though Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin were back at the negotiating table in Yalta, carving up Europe. Only...
Ukraine’s last chance to dodge collapse
Now that Ukraine’s electoral battles are over and the conflict in the country’s eastern regions is frozen, one of three scenarios could unfold: Quick and painful economic and regulatory surgery, a slide into Russia’s suffocating embrace — or chaos, as gangs of former volunteer fighters from the eastern war go on the rampage. The...
Why Russia has been buzzing NATO lately
In a single 24-hour period this week, Russia dispatched 19 combat aircraft — including “Bear” strategic bombers — to probe North Atlantic Treaty Organization air defenses. It also test-launched a ballistic missile in the Barents Sea, north of Sweden, that hit a target in Kamchatka in Russia’s Far East. The flurry of activity recalls the bad...
Putin makes for the high road — and stumbles
I experienced conflicting emotions as I read Russian President Vladimir Putin’s recent declaration of a new Cold War in a speech to the Valdai Club of Russia experts. The Russian leader blamed the U.S. for what he sees as the collapse of the global security system and warned America not to mess with Russia. At many points in the speech, I...
Time to stop whining about ‘blackmail’, Mr. Putin
This week, as falling oil prices have hammered the Russian economy, President Vladimir Putin has warned repeatedly that his country, a nuclear superpower, must not be “blackmailed.” He was talking about economic sanctions, but there is a different lesson he should be drawing right now and it has nothing to do with the U.S. or the European Union....
Feds snubbing Moscow health summit as Ebola outbreak spreads
As the the world deals with the intensifying threat posed by the Ebola virus, Canada will boycott a World Health Organization (WHO) meeting in Russia next week, according to a tweet from Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health Eve Adams Friday. BREAKING: Delighted to announce Canada will boycott WHO mtgs in Russia....
