Section: US & Canada
Along Ukraine’s ceasefire line, war is ‘crowdfunded’
Freelance fighters are raising money for spy drones. Spin doctors are manufacturing false stories. Welcome to Ukraine’s cease-fire, a term that makes people on both sides of the line laugh. …read more Source: Public Radio...
A Ukrainian governor’s billions couldn’t save him from being fired
Ihor Kolomoisky, one of Ukraine’s most powerful oligarchs and a staunch backer of Kiev during the last year of conflict in the east, resigned his position as governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region Wednesday after confrontations over his interests in the country’s energy sector. He spoke to The Washington Post at his offices in Kiev on...
Germanwings Faces Legal Fallout from Plane Crash
In the minutes before their plane slammed into a mountainside in the French Alps this week, many of the passengers on Germanwings Flight 9525 witnessed a terrifying scene at the front of the aircraft. The captain of the plane found himself locked out of the cockpit by his co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz, as the plane lost altitude at alarming speeds,...
Ukraine: What’s the Role of Religion in Post-Maidan Milieu?
During a recent trip to Kiev, I was struck by mementoes placed in and around Kiev’s Maidan square. The plaques featured individual photo portraits of fallen martyrs — the so-called “Heavenly Hundred” who had sacrificed their lives during violent protests against the unpopular government of Viktor Yanukovych. What...
Bill Browder’s nasty glimpse into the black heart of Putin’s Russia
When Kremlin goons beat his lawyer to death in a prison hospital six years ago, Bill Browder was just a talented investor trying to make his fortune in the rock-and-roll stock markets of post-Soviet Russia. Now he’s a human rights crusader, in Ottawa this week to ask countries like Canada to impose more Russian sanctions. …read more...
UKRAINE: Religious Freedom Under Threat
Source: Release International One year since the annexation of Crimea by Russia, Ukrainian Christians say they are facing persecution by separatists. Evangelical churches in particular have come under severe restrictions in Crimea, and a church leader is warning that Ukrainian churches will also lose their religious freedom if the Russians take...
Yemen Strife Reminds Oil Markets That Mayhem Matters
Oil markets got a brusque reminder that geopolitical risk is alive and well Thursday when crude prices spiked in response to military actions by Saudi Arabia and other Arab states to contain the violence in civil-war wracked Yemen. Prices in New York and London leaped as much as 6 percent in the morning on concerns about the potential spread of...
Default Threat Haunts Ukrainian Corporate Debt Investors
Investors in Ukrainian companies’ bonds could be facing huge losses, economists warn, amid concerns the country is hurtling toward a costly default on its government debt. …read more Source: The Wall Street...
Chechnya Threatens to Arm Mexico if U.S. Sends Weapons to Ukraine
The Chechen parliament have threatened to send weapons to Mexico in retaliation to the U.S. Congress calling for defensive lethal aid to be sent to Ukraine. On Tuesday, the U.S. House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly in favour of sending arms – the resolution was passed 348 to 48. U.S. senator for Wisconsin Ron Johnson branded it...
Letter From Europe: No One Sees Easy Way Out on Ukraine
The West, which claims to be united, is actually divided over Russia’s actions in Ukraine and how to respond. …read more Source: The New York...
