Vladimir Putin

Thursday February 17, 2022

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday February 17, 2022

Putin’s Long Tables Explained

January 22, 2022

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s every move is dissected as fears escalate that he’ll soon order an invasion of Ukraine, but attention has recently turned to why Putin sits across from a comically large table during meetings with other world leaders, the most recent instance of which came Tuesday during a meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. 

The issue took global spotlight last week after Putin and French President Emmanuel Macron sat at opposite ends of a table pegged by Reuters to be 20 feet long during their meeting in Moscow.

The extreme social distance came after Macron refused to take a Russian-administered Covid-19 PCR test, and Reuters reported Thursday it was because France didn’t want Russia to have access to Macron’s DNA, citing two anonymous sources close to Macron.

Another French official told Reuters the protocols were due to Putin living a “strict health bubble,” and the Kremlin confirmed the extreme distance is to protect Putin.

Scholz met the same distanced fate as Macron during his Tuesday meeting in Moscow, sparking memes and providing comic relief during otherwise tense negotiations.

Friday February 11, 2022

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday February 11, 2022

Trump backers seize on GoFundMe controversy as truckers linger in U.S. headline

July 23, 2020

An outsized American display of financial largesse, political support and right-wing media sympathy for ongoing trucker protests in Canada have observers in both countries accusing some in the U.S. of fanning the flames for their own partisan gain.

For more than a week, viewers of Trump-friendly platforms like Fox News, Newsmax and One America News have been getting something exceedingly rare in the U.S. media landscape: regular doses of Canadian coverage.

And prominent Republican lawmakers like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz spent the weekend seizing on last week’s controversy over the crowdfunding platform GoFundMe to keep the story alive.

DeSantis and Cruz both want GoFundMe investigated after it froze roughly $9 million in donations earmarked for the ongoing Ottawa protest, then announced Friday it would issue refunds upon request or distribute the money to charities chosen by the protest organizers.

The company reversed course within hours “due to donor feedback,” promising automatic refunds. But attorneys general in Florida, Texas, West Virginia and Louisiana – Republicans all – nonetheless urged donors to come forward in the name of launching investigations.

For Bruce Heyman, a former U.S. ambassador to Canada under Barack Obama, it all smacks of foreign interference, and he believes Trump is at its centre.

“I do not believe that Americans should fund disruptive activities in Canada. Ever. Full stop,” Heyman said in an interview Monday.

Saturday January 22, 2022

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday January 22, 2022

Fears of an Invasion

March 4, 2014

Russia has stationed about 100,000 troops near its border with Ukraine. Vladimir Putin’s government has issued a list of demands that Western powers are highly unlikely to meet. And President Biden said yesterday that he expected Putin to send troops over the border. “But I think he will pay a serious and dear price for it,” Biden added.

Today’s newsletter offers a Q. and A. on the risks of war in Eastern Europe.

“The overall threatening rhetoric from the Kremlin and the movement that military analysts are seeing on the ground give us a lot of ground for concern,” Anton Troianovski, The Times’s Moscow bureau chief, told my colleague Claire Moses. “It’s a very serious situation.”

Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russia’s foreign minister are scheduled to meet for talks tomorrow in Geneva.

Here are 5 questions on the latest regarding recent events between Russia and Ukraine:

Saturday November 14, 2020

November 14, 2020

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday November 14, 2020

Putin’s Russia Is Last Major Country Yet to Congratulate Biden on Winning 2020 Election 

Russian President Vladimir Putin is the last major world leader yet to congratulate Joe Biden on winning the 2020 election, following China’s recognition on Friday of the president-elect’s victory.

October 2, 2020

Putin won’t congratulate Biden until legal challenges to the U.S. election are resolved and the result is official, according to the Associated Press.

Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Russian leader, told reporters on Monday that this year’s election is different from those in past years.

“Obviously, you can see that certain legal procedures are coming there, which were announced by the incumbent president. Therefore, this situation is different, so we consider it correct to wait for the official announcement,” Peskov said.

The Chinese Communist Party congratulated Biden on Friday, although it noted Trump’s legal battles against the election results.

“We respect the American people’s choice and extend congratulations to Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin told reporters, according to China’s state-run Global Times newspaper. “We also understand that the U.S. election result will be decided in accordance with U.S. laws and procedures.”

Other world leaders, including British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as Saudi Arabia’s royal family, have also congratulated Biden since his victory was projected last Saturday.

November 14, 2017

“We respect the American people’s choice and extend congratulations to Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin told reporters, according to China’s state-run Global Times newspaper. “We also understand that the U.S. election result will be decided in accordance with U.S. laws and procedures.”

Other world leaders, including British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as Saudi Arabia’s royal family, have also congratulated Biden since his victory was projected last Saturday. (Newsweek)

Letter to the Editor, The Hamilton Spectator, Wednesday November 25, 2020

I find it odd political cartoonist Mackay would depict Russian President Putin (Nov. 14) pleased that Trump lost the 2020 U.S. election. It is believed by many that Russia meddled in the 2016 U.S. election to have Trump win! What changed in four years?

Russell Pape, Stoney Creek

Thursday September 10, 2020

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday September 10, 2020

Speed of coronavirus vaccine race ‘crazy’ and unsafe, scientists warn

Leading scientists across the world say rushing the development of a coronavirus vaccine to bring it to the public before the end of this year is unrealistic, unsafe, and even “crazy”. 

February 28, 2020

Despite reports from across the world suggesting a vaccine could be ready in weeks – particularly from the United States, where “Operation Warp Speed” reportedly has officials on standby to distribute the vaccine by October, ahead of the presidential election –  experts are increasingly concerned that the rhetoric is in no way matched by the data. 

None of the leading vaccine candidates have yet completed clinical trials, the regulatory bodies who licence vaccines are already struggling to cope with coronavirus demands, and questions over manufacture and distribution haven’t been considered, experts say. 

Professor Beate Kampmann, director of the Vaccine Centre at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, told The Telegraph: “This timeline is neither realistic, nor is it sensible to put this kind of pressure on the analysis of important trials. It is highly politicised, and I am not a fan of this approach.”   

April 11, 2019

She said that it was essential for all new vaccines to go through comprehensive clinical trials. 

In normal times, a vaccine takes up to ten years to develop, including several years of testing. Under the current plans outlined by politicians in the UK, Russia, and the United States, this has been crunched to less than 12 months. 

“It is extremely unwise to proceed with licensing any vaccine without a proven track record for safety and efficacy, in any country,” Professor Kampmann said.

Life in a Pandemic

“If they are found to be useless or even dangerous, you might jeopardise the entire vaccine programme. The more this moves from science into politics, the more it becomes a little crazy.”     

The World Health Organization said on Friday it does not expect to see a vaccine until mid-2021, and it is working with experts to define the criteria for declaring a vaccine successful.  On the same day, US newspapers also carried reports of a planned joint statement from some of the big pharmaceutical companies, pledging that they will not release a coronavirus vaccine until its usefulness and safety are proven. 

At the same time, the head of ‘Operation Warp Speed’ in the US, Dr Moncef Slaoui, hit back at accusations of political influence, telling Science Magazine he would resign if there was “undue interference”. (The Telegraph)