2022-08

Friday March 4, 2022

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday March 4, 2022

Could Putin Go Nuclear?

January 22, 2022

That escalated quickly.

Five days ago, it looked like the west’s response to Vladimir Putin’s war of aggression would be tepid. Its first round of sanctions was replete with loopholes large enough to jam gas pipelines through. But Ukraine’s resolve has proven contagious. The Ukrainians’ willingness to die in defense of their national sovereignty and their capacity to inflict casualties on Russia have outstripped the expectations of their friends and enemies alike. This demonstration seems to have stiffened spines in Berlin and Brussels. Over the weekend, Europe and the U.S. declared something close to financial war on the Russian state. The western powers announced they were freezing all Russian central bank assets held in the E.U., U.S., Canada, and Britain and evicting Russian banks from the international payments system known as SWIFT. As a result, the Russian people saw the value of their savings collapse over night.

Meanwhile, the U.S. and E.U. continued funneling weapons to Ukrainian forces.

Thursday March 3, 2022

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday March 3, 2022

Conservative leadership contender Poilievre calls Europe’s response to Putin’s aggression ‘weak’

January 12, 2022

Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre — the only declared candidate for the party’s leadership — is slamming Europe’s response to the Russo-Ukrainian conflict, saying in a social media post that the continent’s leaders have been “weak” in the face of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aggression.

Poilievre, who announced his candidacy only days after former leader Erin O’Toole was ousted by his caucus colleagues, said Europe has “cowered” to a “thug” like Putin because its countries are concerned about the flow of crucial energy supplies like oil and gas. He added that Europe’s response in the lead-up to this “tyrant’s invasion” of a sovereign country has been “shocking.”

“While some countries have stepped up to the plate, major European players are sitting on the sidelines asking Russia nicely to stop the war,” Poilievre said in a video posted late Monday.

“The countries that have been weakest on Russia’s aggression are the ones that rely on Russian energy to heat their homes, drive their cars and power their economies.”

Poilievre said unnamed European powers could have done more to prevent a Russian invasion of Ukraine by imposing the sanctions that are now in place well before Putin’s troops charged for the border.

Wednesday March 2, 2022

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday March 2, 2022

Hamilton-area businesses, hospitals and city facilities are dropping proof-of-vaccination today

Businesses, hospitals and city facilities in the Hamilton area are dropping their proof of vaccination policies Tuesday, as Ontario ends most of its major COVID-19 public health measures.

February 1, 2022

It is no longer required to show evidence of receiving two shots at most restaurants, gyms and movie theaters and nightclubs, while sports arenas and concert venues can also scrap capacity limits, along with other changes.

However, Premier Doug Ford has said masks will likely continue to be required for at least a few more weeks.

Hamilton’s medical officer of health previously said she’s “cautiously optimistic” about Ontario’s plan to ease some COVID-19 restrictions.

But Dr. Elizabeth Richardson said individual employers should still consider how immunization fits in their health and safety approach for staff and patrons.

The City of Hamilton will no longer require visitors to its recreational facilities, museums and the Gage Park tropical greenhouse to show proof of vaccination.

Masks and face coverings are still required, says the city, and businesses are required to post signs near their entrances explaining how customers can screen themselves for symptoms.

Tuesday March 1, 2022

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday March 1, 2022

Putin’s blind ambition has backfired

February 23, 2022

We’re seeing history written before our eyes in Ukraine and Russia. No one knows how it will turn out in the end, but at this point, five days into the unprovoked invasion of a sovereign state, one thing stands out:

It looks very much as though Vladimir Putin has scored what in the soccer world they call an own goal. He took aim at his supposed enemies, and smacked himself in the face.

Consider:

•Instead of crushing Ukraine with overwhelming might, his forces are bogged down as Ukrainian soldiers and civilians alike put up a heroic resistance.

•Instead of dividing the West, he has given it common purpose in opposing his naked aggression. Ukraine’s example has stiffened the spines of western nations that were dithering about how far they were prepared to go in standing up to Putin.

•Instead of rolling back NATO, he’s now seeing more countries rushing to join it, for fear they might be next on Putin’s hit list.

•Instead of flexing his economic and energy leverage over Europe, he’s seeing the ruble collapse and sanctions beginning to bite. Russia is now an international pariah.

•And instead of unifying his own people, he’s seeing demonstrations against the Ukraine war breaking out in Moscow, St. Petersburg and dozens of other cities. Decent Russians are appalled by their government’s actions.

Even as talks between the two sides were underway on Monday, for example, Russian forces struck at the city of Kharkiv, hitting civilian targets and killing many people. There could, unfortunately, be much more such bloodshed to come.

Saturday February 26, 2022

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday February 26, 2022

Western powers have realised Russia is largely immune to sanctions

The war against Russia is one western countries want to fight with only economic sanctions, not guns.

February 20, 2014

Russia’s conflict with Ukraine, despite its long gestation and planning by Vladimir Putin and his supporters in the Kremlin, was supposed to end quickly once financial retaliation began. Yes, there would be military skirmishes on the ground, but little more than a few casualties were expected once a range of penalties began to bite.

The western powers have quickly realised that unless they are willing to fire the financial equivalent of a nuclear arsenal, Putin has made sure Russia is largely immune, at least in the short term.

Over a decade, Kremlin policy has carefully reduced domestic public and private sector debt and allowed the central bank time to build a war chest of foreign assets large enough to shore up the country’s finances for months, if not years.

This means that the sanctions put in place over the past couple of days by the EU, US, UK, Japan and Canada are unlikely to have any significant effect on the Russian economy or its financial stability.

Only the full package of measures used against Iran – shutting Russia out of the international payments system, Swift, while also banning purchases of Russian oil and gas – will do the trick.

July 18, 2018

As Hosuk Lee-Makiyama, the head of the European Centre for International Political Economy, said, Europe has allowed itself to become more integrated with Russia, while Russia has separated itself from Europe.

He said EU countries owned a combined €300bn of Russian assets that would be vulnerable to confiscation if a full-blooded financial war broke out. The UK owns billions more via firms such as BP, which has a near-20% stake in the Russian oil company Rosneft.

“Sanctions are one of the few options that European countries have in a conflict situation like this. If you disconnect North Korea or Iran from the international financial system, you do not expose yourself to that much damage.”

Speaking on BBC News, he added: “But while I don’t say it is impossible to envisage Russia being barred from the Swift system, it is a nuclear option that means you exterminate yourself along with your enemy.”

Swift (the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) is the main secure messaging system that banks use to make rapid and secure cross-border payments, allowing international trade to flow smoothly.

It transmits trillions of dollars’ worth of deals every day, but is coming under pressure from a Chinese government-backed rival, Cips, which Russia could use to conduct its financial business deals supplemented by direct transactions with counterparties.

It is also possible for the G7 countries and EU to ban the purchase of Russian gas and oil, but commodities analysts agree that while there is spare capacity in oil markets to make up for the loss of Russian supplies with a price rise limited to $140 a barrel, there is no hope of boosting gas output to fill a gap created by a Russia ban.

Shortages would quickly force countries in Europe to ration gas and the price would be likely to rocket back to nine times normal levels, as seen before Christmas, stirring memories of the 1974 oil price shock. (The Guardian)