Section: iPolitics (Canada)
Western sanctions drive Putin into the arms of China
The search for alternative investors and markets has been a political priority for President Vladimir Putin and his government since Western countries imposed economic sanctions on Russia last year. The resulting pivot to China may seem merely cosmetic, but it is happening. Admittedly, most of the vague and extremely long-term mega-deals signed...
Why Putin hates Japan’s PM more than he does Harper
Stephen Harper can be forgiven for being a bit peeved, miffed or even frustrated that his vigorous condemnation of Vladimir Putin’s actions in Ukraine have drawn little more than a stifled yawn from the Russian leader. It’s true that there has been a bit of an uptick in the number of long-range Russian bomber aircraft brushing up...
Majority of Canadians support war with Russia to defend NATO ally: Pew
More than half of Canadians surveyed in a new poll say they would support going to war with Russia if the regime got into a serious military conflict with a fellow NATO country. The Pew Research Centre published the results of its survey, which interviewed 11,116 adults over the age of 18 from 10 NATO countries — including Canada — between April...
No, Mr. Bond — Putin is no global threat
Despite spending hundreds of millions of dollars on foreign-language propaganda, all that President Vladimir Putin has achieved outside Russia is the status of a Bond movie villain. He may enjoy it, especially since there’s no 007 in sight to tackle him, but his variety of pop stardom is growing into a problem for his country: He is seen as...
Canada will never let Russia under Putin back into G7, Harper says
TORONTO – Canada would never agree to allow Russia back into the G7 as long as Vladimir Putin is president, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Thursday. In an interview with the Associated Press, Harper said Putin has the mindset of someone who believes the Cold War is still going on, and thinks that he can “change the ending somehow.” The prime...
Russia using mobile crematoriums to hide its Ukraine dead
Russia is so desperate to hide its military involvement in Ukraine that it has brought in mobile crematoriums to destroy the bodies of its war dead, say U.S. lawmakers who traveled to the war-torn country this spring. The U.S. and NATO have long maintained that thousands of Russian troops are fighting alongside separatists inside eastern Ukraine,...
Putin isn’t afraid of NATO. Here’s how we can change his mind.
What must NATO do to counter Russian President Vladimir Putin? Russia’s seizure of Crimea and incursion into eastern Ukraine was just the opening gun of a multi-dimensional Russian campaign to challenge NATO and the West. Moscow is employing strategic maskirovka — the traditional Russian tactic of military deception — against all levels of...
Tall tales from the online atrocity factory
A North Korean defense minister is executed with anti-aircraft fire for falling asleep in a meeting (or was it a parade)? If you don’t find that hard to believe, you probably buy everything you see advertised on TV. Even so, news media throughout the world repeated this story about the alleged demise of General Hyon Yong Chol, based on an...
Canada sticks to its tune on Russia despite Kerry diplomacy
Foreign Affairs Minister Rob Nicholson said Tuesday the Harper government will not follow the U.S. and engage with Russian President Vladimir Putin until he changes his ways. Nicholson spoke with reporters via teleconference from Turkey, where he was attending the NATO foreign ministers meeting after visiting a military hospital in Ukraine. When...
Vladimir Putin’s imaginary wars
President Vladimir Putin’s latest attempt to justify the infamous Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, which allowed Germany and the Soviet Union to divide up Poland in 1939, holds a clue to the Kremlin’s behaviour in the Ukraine crisis. Here’s what Putin said after meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday: The Soviet Union...
