Today's News: Rumours

Even the New York Times is now starting to write that Russia is actually losing to Ukraine.

Yes, things are still terrible in Mariupol. 

But there was news yesterday that Ukraine troops had pushed Russia back in southern Ukraine, from Mykolaiv toward Kherson. 

And today Ukraine has pushed Russia back north of Kyiv and is encircling Russian troop positions. 

So now I think Europe is considering what Putin might be thinking about doing next, and how badly he wants to "win" something.  Its not very clear, but there seem to be rumours starting.

For example, nobody knew what this meant today - if anything:

Smoke can be seen coming from the Russian Embassy in the Polish Capital City of Warsaw, there are claims that Russian Diplomats are burning documents, the same thing was done at the Russian Embassy in the Ukrainian Capital City of Kyiv right before the Invasion of February 24th. pic.twitter.com/oQZDNMQnc6

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) March 22, 2022

Or this:

This kinda makes the Russian Embassy in Warsaw burning paperwork tonight a little bit alarming... https://t.co/AEP5yYNFu5

— DefenceGeek (@DefenceGeek) March 22, 2022

And there was this today as well:

Putin’s highest-paid propagandist Vladimir Soloviev & his “experts” at Russia’s largest TV channel send new threats:

1. Nuclear strike against EU
2. Invasion of Poland and Lithuania
3. Creation of a permanent land-bridge from Belarus to Kaliningrad (attack on the Suwałki Gap). pic.twitter.com/dDV6QFGnCj

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) March 22, 2022

Wow, how nuts is this? 

French President Marcon still maintains a schedule of frequent phone calls with Putin so at least someone is keeping tabs on him -- and come to think of it, that's what Marcon did with Trump, too! 

But I expect Putin is increasingly delusional now about how badly his war is going. Though I have disagreed with a lot of what former ambassador McFaul has recommended for this war, I think this is absolutely correct:

Some world leaders will continue to cooperate with Putin as it serves their countries' national interests. But no one will ever respect Putin again. Not even Xi.

— Michael McFaul (@McFaul) March 21, 2022

Talking Points Memo has an article up now covering various ways the war could get worse and escalate -  purposeful or accidental, expanding, economic, etc. Fred Kaplan at Slate thinks the "nightmarish stalemate" of this war is not likely to end soon. 

It frightens me very much that Biden is travelling to Europe this week -- I hope there will be a seriously large "no-fly zone" created all around Biden and Air Force One while he is there, and I hope Kamala Harris isn't going with him.

Canada is having an exciting time today too, discussing why Trudeau and Singh made their alliance. The conclusion seems to be that the FluTruxKlan, the border blockages, and the Ottawa Occupation convinced both Trudeau and Singh that Canada needed to find a better way to work for Canadians, and also the Russia Ukraine War demonstrated the world's need for strong and stable democracies.

I noticed during the election campaign last summer that Singh (between skateboard antics and shower scenes) would bash Trudeau personally, but Trudeau usually refrained from issuing personal slurs against Singh, Maybe that forbearance turned out to be helpful now as the two men worked to find common ground and achieve a level of mutual respect.

Canadians are glad to see this happening:

-Equity & equality issues
-Truth and Reconciliation
-universal dental
-universal pharmacare
-universal childcare
-public health crisis management
-defense & foreign affairs stability
-shut down our 1st sedition attempt

The Liberal & NDP parties are serious about governing. ✔

— kris meloche (@krismeloche) March 22, 2022

National pharmacare and dental care? And no worries about the useless CPC party for three more years? We’re all in. https://t.co/S7v8d3tCXd

— Howllr + Jack 🇨🇦 (@howllr) March 22, 2022

Politics is the art of compromise - Trudeau and Singh just created a masterpiece.

— Dean from Winnipeg (@Dean_Winnipeg) March 22, 2022

This is great!
As my son @FidlumBenz said, the Liberals have plans & the NDP have plans. Now, together, they'll take 3 years and they'll both get some of those plans done.

— Cathie from Canada 🇨🇦 😷🏳️‍🌈 (@CathieCanada) March 22, 2022

You may recall this story in November talking about how Liberals and New Democrats were looking for a way to work together. Those efforts didn’t get that far.

But things changed in January and February as Ottawa was under occupation. https://t.co/Of2wNoAYke

— Kiavash Najafi (@KiavashNajafi) March 22, 2022

Unsurprisingly there are areas of fundamental disagreement between these two leaders. Disagreements that will have to be fought over in parliamentary debates and in future elections.

But Trudeau and Singh understood the assignment: get results on what you both agree on now.

— Kiavash Najafi (@KiavashNajafi) March 22, 2022

There will be a lot of predictions about the fate of this agreement. But let’s take a second to appreciate two leaders who saw the crisis of Ottawa’s occupation and decided to do something productive about it. That’s so very decent. I hope it grows deep roots in our politics.

— Kiavash Najafi (@KiavashNajafi) March 22, 2022

Things were moving too quickly. The centre couldn’t hold. Too many things were coming together much too quickly—both here and abroad. An alliance slows down the rabid pace we were on and gives us a chance to breathe and practice a little responsible, productive governance. https://t.co/3NZNxVQx39

— Kevin's 10,000 hours (@KevinAndrewTO) March 23, 2022

That #climatechange #healthcare #pharmacare and #housing issues are specific planks of the agreement is not a surprise. At the @liberal_party policy convention in 2021, many of these issues were raised by delegates. They are shared values by Grits and NDP. #cdnpoli 🧵

— Stephen (is really) Near 🇨🇦😷💉💉💉 (@SNear23) March 22, 2022

Singh is asked if this deal might actually benefit the Liberals, who could say during the next election they delivered on phramacare or dental care

"People might say someone else did it, not us. Frankly, I don't care. I want this to be done because I think it's good for people" pic.twitter.com/zBLZKUI7Rt

— Mackenzie Gray (@Gray_Mackenzie) March 22, 2022

On the funny side:

We don’t want him back… https://t.co/YfhQepu6cF

— Peter Hoefgen (@Jelly_Canuck) March 23, 2022