Russia

Thursday June 16, 2022

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday June 16, 2022

Putin has weaponized food. The global death toll could be staggering

Ukraine has long forged a reputation as the planet’s bread basket.

May 14, 2022

Before being invaded by Russia in February, it exported 4.5 million tonnes of agricultural produce through its ports each month, including 12 per cent of the world’s wheat, 15 per cent of its corn and 50 per cent of its sunflower oil. It’s capable of feeding 400 million people every year, not including its own population.

Not long ago, Ukraine exported up to six million tonnes of grain per month. Today, that figure is only 1.5 million.

The reason: Russia’s naval blockade of Black Sea ports makes it impossible for Ukraine to sell its agricultural products abroad. Meantime, vast swaths of farmland have either been taken over by Russian occupiers or been littered with mines, rendering the land useless. Ukrainian officials now estimate there are 25 million tonnes of grain stuck in storehouses. By September, it’s estimated that tens of millions of tonnes of grain will be entombed inside Ukraine and will likely rot.

“For people around the world, the war, together with the other crises, is threatening to unleash an unprecedented wave of hunger and destitution, leaving social and economic chaos in its wake,” says United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

April 12, 2022

The UN estimates that the war could move nearly 50 million people in several countries across Africa, Asia and the Middle East into famine or famine-like conditions because of its horrific impact on supply and prices.

And this is all a very calculated act by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Mr. Putin has weaponized food and is now blackmailing the world with it. He has said he would end the Black Sea blockade if the West drops its sanctions. Of course, even as he says this he knows it’s a non-starter. Dropping those sanctions would only help fill Russia’s financial coffers and allow it to move even more aggressively into Ukraine.

Timothy Snyder, a history professor at Yale University, believes Mr. Putin is banking on food shortages to ignite riots in many countries. It could lead to an exodus of starving refugees in the direction of Europe, creating instability and chaos.

This will put even more pressure on the West to drop the sanctions and broker a ceasefire agreement in the name of world peace. At this point, Mr. Putin would likely take whatever territorial gains he’s made in Ukraine and call it a day.

It’s pure evil, but hardly original.

Soviet leader Joseph Stalin manufactured a famine in Ukraine in 1932, in an attempt, some believe, to stamp out a nascent independence movement. Upwards of five million Ukrainians starved to death in an event remembered today as Holodomor, or the Terror Famine. In Ukraine, it is considered a genocide. Adolf Hitler, meantime, had plans to redirect Ukrainian grain for the Soviet Union to Germany in the hopes of starving millions of Soviet citizens. (Continued: The Globe & Mail) 

 

Saturday May 14, 2022

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday May 14, 2022

Finland Nato: Russia threatens to retaliate over membership move

April 12, 2022

A foreign ministry statement said the move would seriously damage bilateral relations, as well as security and stability in northern Europe.

Earlier, Finland’s president and PM called for the country to apply for Nato membership “without delay”.

It comes amid a surge in public support for Nato membership following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Finland shares a 1,300-km (810-mile) border with Russia. Until now, it has stayed out of Nato to avoid antagonising its eastern neighbour.

Finland will formally announce its decision on Sunday after it has been considered by parliament and other senior political figures.

Sweden has said it will announce a similar decision on the same day.

Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has said he expects the process of giving Sweden and Finland membership to happen “quite quickly”.

May 3, 2022

The White House said the US would back a Nato application from both countries if they apply.

The Russian statement (in Russian) described Finland’s move as “a radical change in the country’s foreign policy”.

“Finland’s accession to Nato will cause serious damage to bilateral Russian-Finnish relations and the maintaining of stability and security in the Northern European region,” it said.

“Russia will be forced to take retaliatory steps, both of a military-technical and other nature, in order to neutralise the threats to its national security that arise from this.”

However, Moscow has not specified what steps it plans to take.

Russia’s deputy UN representative Dmitry Polyansky said Sweden and Finland would become possible targets for Russia if they become Nato members, according to Russian news agency Ria.

Russian officials were responding to a joint statement by Finnish President Sauli Niinisto and Prime Minister Sanna Marin, which said the two leaders expected a decision on Nato membership in the next few days.

“Nato membership would strengthen Finland’s security,” it said. “As a member of Nato, Finland would strengthen the entire defence alliance. Finland must apply for Nato membership without delay.”

Speaking to journalists later, Mr Niinisto responded to Russian concerns and blamed the move on Moscow’s invasion.

An opinion poll last week put support in Finland for joining Nato at 76%, with 12% against, a big swing towards membership since before the invasion.

Finland and the USSR were on opposing sides in World War Two, with the Finns famously fending off a Soviet invasion in 1939-40. (BBC) 

 

Tuesday May 3, 2022

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday May 3, 2022

Pulling back from wider war in Europe

August 15, 2008

As bad as the war in Ukraine has already been, it may soon get a lot worse.

So far, the death and destruction has been confined to Ukraine itself. It’s a tragedy for the Ukrainian people, but the conflict has at least been contained.

But what if it spills over into other parts of Europe, or turns into a direct confrontation between NATO and Russia? Or more directly, between the United States and Russia? That would be far more dangerous.

This is not idle speculation.

As Ukrainians put up fierce resistance to the invaders, bolstered by political support and a flood of weaponry from the West, it looks like the war will drag on. The possibility of a deal to end the fighting, a lively possibility a few weeks ago, has faded.

April 28, 2022

And the longer the conflict lasts, the greater is the risk it will spread. Not necessarily because either side has a grand design for major conflict, but by a series of escalations and miscalculations. We know from Europe’s bloody history that this is how small wars become big ones.

Once again, the danger of escalation is coming mostly from Russia. This past week, it cut off shipments of natural gas to Poland and Bulgaria and ramped up warnings about its nuclear capability.

It also looks like Moscow may be eyeing the tiny former Soviet republic of Moldova, squeezed between Ukraine and Romania, as its next target. Russia already has troops there, and a Russian general has publicly said his country intends to take over all of southern Ukraine and then link up with Moldova, the justification being to end “oppression of the Russian-speaking population.”

Behind all that, it seems, is deep frustration within the Russian military over its setbacks against Ukrainian forces and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s strategy of abandoning the goal of controlling the entire country in favour of a more limited campaign to dominate the east and south.

February 23, 2022

“Russia’s military believes that limiting the war’s initial goals is a serious error,” Russian journalists Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan write for the Center for European Policy Analysis in Washington, D.C. “They now argue that Russia is not fighting Ukraine, but NATO.”

All of which suggests that behind the facade of unity behind Putin, Russia’s military and security apparatus is seriously divided, with a powerful faction arguing in favour of expanding the war, not ending it. They’re pushing for even more aggressive action in Ukraine itself, as well as a push beyond its borders.

On the other side, western allies are escalating their support for Ukraine. More sanctions, more troops in the region (Britain announced 8,000 more last week), and more heavy weaponry.

Some have read much into the statement by U.S. Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin that Washington wants “to see Russia weakened to the degree that it can’t do the kinds of things that it has done in invading Ukraine.”

Marvellous Maps

For them, that reveals a hidden “real reason” why the U.S. (and presumably Canada, France, Germany et al) are backing Ukraine. This, however, ignores the fact that Russia brought the alliance against it entirely on itself with its unprovoked aggression. And what decent person, in the end, doesn’t want to see Putin rendered incapable of inflicting similar violence on others?

Regardless of the rights and wrongs, the prospect of a wider war is horrifying. Right now there’s a consensus in the West around supporting Ukraine. But there’s no consensus around pursuing a broader campaign against Russia as such.

The danger, however, is that we may find ourselves on that road without quite realizing it.

While there’s still time, the world needs to find a way to back away from the brink. (Hamilton Spectator Editorial) 

 

Thursday April 28, 2022

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday April 28, 2022

UN ambassador Bob Rae condemns Security Council veto after historic General Assembly vote

September 29, 2012

Canada joined more than 100 global allies Tuesday in subjecting a paralyzed United Nations Security Council to more public scrutiny, while the Ukrainian government praised a Canadian senator for pushing forward with a new, tougher sanctions law.

Bob Rae, the Canadian ambassador to the United Nations, denounced as undemocratic the Security Council’s veto power as the General Assembly voted to subject the world’s most powerful body to more public scrutiny.

The General Assembly adopted a consensus motion that would require any of the five permanent veto-wielding members of the council — Russia, the United States, China, France and Britain — to appear before the 193-country assembly to justify its decision.

The move doesn’t get rid of the council’s controversial veto power, but with Russia threatening to continue using it to prevent action against its war on Ukraine, Rae said the historic vote sends a signal that the world will be watching.

March 4, 2020

“The veto power that is held by the five permanent members of the Security Council is as anachronistic as it is undemocratic,” Rae said in explaining Canada’s support.

At the UN, Tuesday’s unprecedented motion seeks to hold Russia to account politically if it uses its veto. The new motion requires the General Assembly “to hold a debate on the situation” that gives rise to any council veto within 10 working days and for the country that uses it to be among the first to speak.

Representatives from Russia and Belarus spoke against the motion, but they were countered by the envoys of dozens of countries that sponsored the motion, which was led by tiny Lichtenstein and included Canada.

From the floor of the assembly, Rae delivered a blistering condemnation of a broken UN system that he said was enabling what he called a shameful and illegal act of aggression by Russia against Ukraine.

April 24, 2002

Rae said the recent deadlock over Ukraine has happened when the world most needs the Security Council.

“We’re watching the destruction of cities. We’re watching the killing of women and children. We’re seeing the destruction of an entire infrastructure of a country and we’re seeing a country fight back. The Security Council may not be able to act. That doesn’t prevent us from having an ability to act,” Rae said.

Rae and the world’s diplomats were speaking as Russian bombs continued pounding the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, large swaths of which have been reduced to rubble in a war that has killed thousands of Ukrainian civilians and forced millions to flee their homes.

April 12, 2022

“The use and threat of the veto in situations where atrocity crimes are being perpetrated in Syria and Myanmar, and Mariupol, for example, or in situations where a permanent member of the Security Council has launched a war of aggression against another UN member state, as the Russian Federation is now doing in Ukraine, are not only shameful, they are also contrary to obligations under the UN Charter and to international law.” (The Globe & Mail) 

 

Thursday April 13, 2022

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday April 13, 2022

Will War Make Europe’s Switch to Clean Energy Even Harder?

At the Siemens Gamesa factory in Aalborg, Denmark, where the next generation of offshore wind turbines is being built, workers are on their hands and knees inside a shallow, canoe-shaped pod that stretches the length of a football field. It is a mold used to produce one half of a single propeller blade. Guided by laser markings, the crew is lining the sides with panels of balsa wood.

November 10, 2021

The gargantuan blades offer a glimpse of the energy future that Europe is racing toward with sudden urgency. The invasion of Ukraine by Russia — the European Union’s largest supplier of natural gas and oil — has spurred governments to accelerate plans to reduce their dependence on climate-changing fossil fuels. Armed conflict has prompted policymaking pledges that the more distant threat of an uninhabitable planet has not.

Smoothly managing Europe’s energy switch was always going to be difficult. Now, as economies stagger back from the second year of the pandemic, Russia’s attack on Ukraine grinds on and energy prices soar, the painful trade-offs have crystallized like never before.

Moving investments away from oil, gas and coal to sustainable sources like wind and solar, limiting and taxing carbon emissions, and building a new energy infrastructure to transmit electricity are crucial to weaning Europe off fossil fuels. But they are all likely to raise costs during the transition, an extremely difficult pill for the public and politicians to swallow.