Section: National Post (Canada)
Ukraine peace deal ‘worth an attempt’ says Joe Biden, but Germany unsure of Russia’s intentions
MUNICH — German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Saturday that she’s still unsure of reaching a deal to calm the crisis in Ukraine, which France’s president said could feature a broad demilitarized zone and greater autonomy for the separatist eastern region. Merkel and French President Francois Hollande traveled to Kyiv Thursday and...
Former NATO chief says Putin’s true goal is to return to position of ‘great power’ and Europe isn’t ready to fight back
President Vladimir Putin has dangerous ambitions beyond Ukraine and aims to test Western resolve in the Baltic states, the former head of NATO has warned. Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the former secretary-general of the Atlantic alliance, said the Kremlin’s true goal was to shatter NATO solidarity and reassert Russian dominance over Eastern...
Canada urges Russia to ‘back off’ in Ukraine as NATO adds command posts in eastern Europe
OTTAWA — The Harper government struck a provocative pose Thursday, telling Russia to “back off” in Ukraine, promising to campaign for NATO membership on behalf of another former Soviet republic and urging all allies to do more. The military alliance agreed in a Brussels meeting to establish a series of six command centres and two regional...
U.S. considers arming Ukraine as military struggles to fight off Russian-backed rebels
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is tilting toward sending arms to Ukraine to help it fight Russian-backed rebels as three Cabinet-level officials head to Europe for consultations with Ukrainian officials and NATO allies in Brussels, Kyiv and Munich. As President Barack Obama’s pick to run the Pentagon said Wednesday he’s...
Jackson Diehl: Democrat rift widens over Obama foreign policy
For more than two years, a breach has been opening between President Obama and the foreign policy establishment of the Democratic Party. Last week, as Russia pressed a new offensive in Ukraine and the Senate debated sanctions on Iran, it cracked open a little wider. First came the introduction in the Senate, and lopsided passage by the Banking...
Dictatorship ain’t what it used to be
The concept of dictatorship is badly in need of revision. The old model of remote tyrants inflicting arbitrary, often eccentric, edicts on their cowed or indoctrinated subjects, with few constraints on their behavior and few threats to their survival, no longer applies. North Korea’s Kim Jong Un and Syria’s Bashar al-Assad are two of...
Pro-Russia rebels in Donetsk look to Texas to build global union of separatists
Aleksandr Kofman dreams of an alliance with Texas. It may seem a curious ambition for the foreign minister of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR), the self-proclaimed pro-Russian “state” at the heart of the war in eastern Ukraine. A fervent admirer of Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, Mr. Kofman has books such as The CIA against the...
At least 12 civilians and five soldiers killed in eastern Ukraine in the past 24 hours
At least 12 civilians and five Ukrainian troops have been killed in the past 24 hours in war-ravaged eastern Ukraine. RelatedHenry Kissinger, Mikhail Gorbachev separately warn about Ukraine crisis blowing out of controlHarrowing dashcam footage shows view of the terrifying artillery strike that killed 30 in Mariupol, UkraineRockets kill 30 in...
Henry Kissinger, Mikhail Gorbachev separately warn about Ukraine crisis blowing out of control
As Russian-backed rebels scored another victory is Eastern Ukraine Thursday, two giants of 20th-century geopolitics issued separate warnings about the crisis, suggesting it could evolve into a deeper, direct conflict between the United States and Russia with dangerous consequences. Testifying at a U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee hearing,...
Harrowing dashcam footage shows view of the terrifying artilery strike that killed 30 in Mariupol, Ukraine
Harrowing video showing the shelling of Mariupol emerged on YouTube, showing dashcam footage from part of the attack that left 30 people dead. The video shows a driver going down a back road behind a few other cars. Soon, the sounds of explosions echo outside and the driver starts to yell. Then, an orange explosion ignites a building on the side...
