U.S. President Joe Biden used the word “genocide” April 12 to describe Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “It has become clearer and clearer that Putin is just trying to wipe out the idea of being able to be Ukrainian and the evidence is mounting,” he said. “We’ll let the lawyers decide internationally whether or not it qualifies, but it sure seems that way to me.” [node:read-more:link]
Randy Hillier, a former Progressive Conservative member of the Ontario legislature who now sits as an Independent but is not seeking reelection, was released on bail March 28 after the Ottawa Police Service charged him with an array of charge arising from his participation in the “freedom convoy” that paralyzed the capital’s core for most of last month. Among other things, he is charged with assaulting and obstructing police. [node:read-more:link]
Five weeks after police pushed a “Freedom Convoy” protest out of Ottawa, some of its participants returned over the weekend. Hundreds began the convoy in a community on Quebec’s south shore and picked up protester along the way to the capital, where they were escorted through the downtown core before making their way to a town in Eastern Ontario. Police reported no incidents but organizers say they’ll be back. [node:read-more:link]
A draft Russian resolution which would have called attention to the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine without mentioning Russia’s four-week-old invasion was defeated in the UN Security Council March 23 when it was supported only by China. [node:read-more:link]
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, now in its fifth week, highlights the fragility of the global food supply at a time when sustained investment is needed. Between them, Ukraine and Russia account for nearly a third of global wheat and barley exports as well as some 20 per cent of corn exports and the fate of some six million hectares planted to wheat in Ukraine remains uncertain. [node:read-more:link]
The U.S. said today that violence against the Rohingya minority in Myanmar by the country’s military amounts to genocide and crimes against humanity. The formal declaration by Secretary of State Antony Blinken comes four years after a UN fact-finding mission concluded the military's campaign included “genocidal acts” but the administration of the day called it “ethnic cleansing”, which has no legal definition under international criminal law. [node:read-more:link]
An online warning to the Russian people by actor Arnold Schwarzenegger about how they are being lied to about their government’s invasion of Ukraine captured a global audience in no time, including in Russia. Among other things, it challenges President Vladimir Putin’s claim that he wants to “denazify” Ukraine, whose own leader is Jewish. “You started this war and you can stop it,” he told Putin. [node:read-more:link]
A draft Russian resolution at the UN, ostensibly seeking support for aiding and protecting Ukrainians, prompted Canada to edit it to add that “like other members of the international community, we are gravely concerned” about the invasion. That prompted a Russian envoy to accuse Canada on social media of “kindergarten-level Russophobic libel.” The resolution eventually was not put to a vote March 18. [node:read-more:link]
In a direct appeal to Canada, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky used a video link to a packed Parliament today to press for assistance in helping to right Russia’s invasion. He reiterated an impassioned call for a no-fly zone to be imposed over Ukraine despite repeated NATO refusals over concern that it could spark a wider European war. [node:read-more:link]
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s national security and intelligence adviser, Jody Thomas, said March 10 that the Emergencies Act was an appropriate response to the three-week “freedom convoy” occupation of downtown Ottawa. Calling the convoy a protest was an “over-simplification,” the former deputy minister of national defence said, because it was a manifestation of “ideologically-motivated extremism . . . here to stay.” [node:read-more:link]
Beijing has seemingly adopted a neutral position on Russia’s war on Ukraine, neither condemning Moscow nor ruling out the possibility of mediation. However, China’s state media’s coverage of the invasion has tended to parrot Russian President Vladimir Putin’s characterization of his bloody assault as nothing more than a “special military operation” and largely echoing Russian state media or information from Moscow. [node:read-more:link]
Tamara Lich, the Alberta woman who became the face of the “freedom convoy” which paralyzed downtown Ottawa for three weeks, has been released from jail and told to get out of town. Arrested Feb. 17 and charged with counselling to commit mischief, she initially was denied bail because a judge was not convinced she would go home. The judge who ordered her release March 7 acknowledged that Lich “does require some supervision.” [node:read-more:link]
Despite the perception that Russian ground forces’ invasion of Ukraine seems to have stalled after 12 days of intense bombardments, Ukrainian officials say the humanitarian crisis continues to grow. Nearly two million Ukrainians have fled to neighbouring countries and one official says his country expects that “the catastrophe in Ukraine will lead to a catastrophe in the world with food because Ukraine was a major supplier of wheat and grain.” [node:read-more:link]
Russia today announced yet another ceasefire in its invasion of Ukraine and opened a few humanitarian corridors as a prelude to a third round of talks. However, previous measures have fallen apart as bombardments resumed shortly thereafter; hundreds of thousands of fleeing civilians were forced to shelter March 6 as Russians shelled several cities. Some of the new corridors would funnel Ukrainians toward Russia or Belarus, a prospect rejected by Ukraine. [node:read-more:link]
The U.S. crowdfunding site GiveSendGo says the Canadian government did not ask it to stop collecting donations for the “freedom convoy” which paralyzed downtown Ottawa for three weeks. A parliamentary committee also was told “that the suppression of speech is much more dangerous than speech itself” and that GSG would host fundraisers for extremist organizations if their plans were legally authorized. [node:read-more:link]
