Sunday, April 10, 2022

Today's News: "An opportunity to forgive"


I just saw this great photo from Brandi Morin's great piece last week in the Toronto Star, 
showing Dr. Wilton Littlechild celebrating in Rome after Pope Francis apologized for the residential schools. 
Morin writes:
I ran outside to the square after the apology, and the weight was suddenly lifted from my shoulders. The atmosphere had shifted. The sun had burst past the rain and the sounds of Indigenous songs echoing through the plaza reverberated in my heart synchronizing with every beat of the drums.
Dr. Wilton Littlechild, from my home territories in Treaty 6, Alberta, stood up from his walker and joined the dancing, grinning from ear to ear. It was his 78th birthday. 
He was taken to residential school at age six and endured all the atrocities of evil there. A former commissioner of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission which called for this apology in 2015, he had personally heard the tormenting accounts of abuse from nearly 7,000 survivors across Canada.
He lived to see this day after decades of unrelenting advocating for Indigenous rights around the world and petitioning the Catholic Church for an apology. And it was a wondrous thing to see him celebrating.
This is the first step in reconciliation with the Catholic Church, but it’s an extraordinary step. Because now there is hope for healing, now reconciliation with the church can begin and healing within our communities. 
As Littlechild told me, “How do we move forward with reconciliation? Once you’ve had the apology you have an opportunity to forgive. I think that piece (was) still missing and that’s why our communities are still hurting. Then, with an apology, people will begin to feel a sense of healing. And once that happens a new emotion originates — a sense of justice. To say ‘Yes, wrong was done to me. I’m forgiving now and going to heal and I feel justice has been done.’ ”
Planning for the Pope's visit to Canada is already underway:
Moving to Europe, here's some good news:
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Saturday, April 09, 2022

Today's News: Odds and ends


Tonight's photo: the children's play area at Warsaw's Museum of Modern Art. The Museum has transformed itself to aid Ukrainian refugees

Tonight I don't have much that is "new" in the Russia Ukraine War -- just a miscellaneous collection of odds and ends, tweets and stories. 
Overall, Ukraine has been making some more progress, but so has Russia. 
First, Russia is perhaps getting its act together a little better now, compared to the chaos in March. But then again, Russia's military objectives are still being distorted by the political demand that Russia wants to declare Mission Accomplished by early May. So the chaos may continue: This isn't a good sign: But also, this: A month ago, at the end of February, I wrote that Ukraine had to find a way to hold on in Kyiv until more arms could arrive from the US and other countries. Now, I feel that way again -- that once again, Ukraine has to find a way to hold on in the Donbas until more arms can arrive. 
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Friday, April 08, 2022

Today's News: "Ukraine is fighting our fight, for democracy"

A fascinating "history" of the Russia Ukraine War: Here's some other interesting pieces today: 
Associated Press Russia’s failure to take down Kyiv was a defeat for the ages Today was Budget Day in Canada -- though you would hardly have known it if you only watched CBC and CTV, because neither broadcaster could resist the temptation to continually chop up Freeland's speech with their own hot takes and the gratuitous slams from the Opposition parties. It was so frustrating we finally switched to CPAC and I'm glad we did because I was just in time to hear her powerful remarks about Ukraine and democracy, and laying out the rationale for why Canada needs to help Ukraine. 
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Thursday, April 07, 2022

Today's News: Maybe a gamechanger

The Switchblade drones now on their way to the Ukraine Army will likely be gamechangers for the Ukrainian defense. And offense. The Switchblades allow Ukraine to target the trains, to prevent Russia from sending reinforcements to its troops.
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Wednesday, April 06, 2022

Today's News: Preparing for the next battle

In some photos from Vice, I was particularly struck by this one, where a religious icon has been set up next to a Molotov cocktail, at a checkpoint near Kyiv.
Now that Russia has withdrawn from northern Ukraine, I think troops on both sides are feverishly moving to the east and to the south. These transfers may take days or weeks -- tweets I read today talked about distances of hundreds of miles, which are lengthy journeys for armoured equipment and tanks. 



But Putin badly needs a victory somewhere, so the impression I got from reading tweets and news stories today was that he might be throwing everything at Ukrainian troops in the Donbas region now - in particular, trying to capture the cities of Izium and Sloviansk, according to the New York Times.

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Tuesday, April 05, 2022

Today's News: "galloping riderless across the landscape"


My title tonight comes from this interview between The Atlantic's Tom Nichols and Russia expert Thane Gustafson, talking about the unpredictability of Putin's war.  
And it seemed apt to use Alex Coleville's eerie painting "Horse and Train" to illustrate Gustafson's point about the uncertainty of how this war will end: 
 ...This is one of those moments when history suddenly goes into overdrive and outcomes become unpredictable, mainly because at such times they are driven by the actions of individuals. I rather like the metaphor once used by former Spanish Prime Minister Felipe González, who said that history seems to be “galloping riderless across the landscape.” 
I remember one of the cautionary media articles I read prior to the US invasion of Iraq -- yes, there were a few such articles, not very many but a few -- and it said that nations should always try to avoid history at all costs, because nothing good ever comes from being in an historical moment. And yes, that article was prescient about why the US should never have invaded Iraq. 
But now, here we are in another historical moment in time, where the people involved thought they knew what would happen but they didn't. Gustafson continues:
... it’s not too hard to reconstruct at this point what was likely going through Putin’s mind as he gave the order to attack. 
First, he thought he could make a lightning strike at Kyiv and install a puppet. 
Second, he thought he could seize what he calls “Novorossiya” as far as Odesa and absorb Kharkiv, Dnipro, and Mariupol. 
Third, he thought that in those places, which are largely Russian-speaking, he would be welcomed.
Fourth, he knew that he could not conquer western Ukraine, and he never intended to try. 
...In sum, he counted on a quick, easy operation: strategic objectives achieved, equilibrium restored, done and dusted.
 ...on this reasoning, Putin was not nuts, not deranged, not isolated, etcetera. It was all a reasonable bet—by his strange lights—except that every one of the premises turned out to be wrong. 
When we consider the importance of a few key individuals on the course of this war, I think we can conclude that without Zelenskyy in Ukraine and Biden in the United States -- and without Trudeau and Freeland here in Canada, Johnson in Britain, and courageous European leaders -- then its very likely that Putin would have been successful in his calculations. Gustafson concludes:
...War is like an infection: A bacterial attack causes inflammation (damaging in itself), and the mounting immune responses can escalate out of control if the infection is not defeated. The flow of volunteers and weapons into Ukraine, the mounting frustration and fury in the Kremlin, the calls for no-fly zones - I don’t know how this ends. 
I think the world is now realizing it isn't going to end any time soon. 
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Monday, April 04, 2022

Today's News: Good news, of a sort

Russia has now withdrawn from Kyiv and northern Ukraine. Yes, that's the good news today. 
But now the fear is that Russia will be sending its troops and equipment to the southern and eastern Ukraine, making this fight more difficult.


Here's a fascinating interactive piece from the New York Times describing why the Russian attempt to take Kyiv failed so badly:
And maybe their attempt in the south ultimately won't work either: The entire Michael Kofman thread about Russian military preparedness is worth reading:
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Sunday, April 03, 2022

Today's News: slaughter of the innocents


This NYT photo shows some of the Ukrainian Odin Unit, including foreign volunteers, in Irpin on Tuesday.(Credit Daniel Berehulak)
There are many more photos online today of the Kyiv suburbs and nearby small towns where Russians have left. But these scenes of tragedy make these photos too painful to post -- so many innocent Ukrainians just executed for no reason, their bodies left where they dropped, in front of their houses. And other photos of numerous bodies along the roads - often people who had tried to escape by car and just shot for no reason.
Just so sad, such pointless death and destruction. It will go down in history as another slaughter of the innocents. These are war crimes. The media are sickened by what they are seeing, as are we all. And tonight I'm also seeing another resurgence of demands that the West needs to do more to help -- though unfortunately, the arguments against this are still just as strong as they were a month ago: \ We'll likely be seeing more of this type of suggestion -- well-meaning, yes, but.... More news: Markos has a significant article posted tonight describing Phase Two of the war -- the Donbas region in the south, where the Ukrainian and Russian armies will likely be fighting next -- the article is too lengthy to excerpt, so just read it for yourself on Daily Kos
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Saturday, April 02, 2022

Today's News: "A new day is dawning"


In Rome, Pope Francis apologized this morning for the tragic history of residential schools -- the Canadian delegation including Saskatchewan archbishop Donald Bolen were able to smile together as they danced the round dance in St. Peter's Square. (AFP Getty photo)
The Doctrine of Discovery is described here - basically it is the doctrine invented 500 years ago that allowed European Christian monarchs to claim ownership of non-European lands. The Truth And Reconciliation reports are all posted here 

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Friday, April 01, 2022

Today's News: Walking Together


Tonight, I decided to start with this outstanding photo from Alessandra Tarantino, AP, as the visit to the Vatican of Canadian First Nations, Metis and Inuit representatives for healing and justice continues -- I am using the title "Walking Together" because the hashtag #WalkingTogether was also used today in several tweets about the meetings 
Here is an excerpt from Jason Warick's CBC news story continuing the national coverage of this historic visit with Pope Francis to talk about the terrible legacy of Canadian residential schools: 
As a Canadian delegation prepares for its final meeting with Pope Francis in the Vatican Friday, a growing chorus in Canada is hoping Francis commits to immediately remedying the Roman Catholic Church's broken compensation promises to residential school survivors. 
Canadian bishops announced a renewed fundraising effort last fall — $30 million over five years — and say work is well underway. But critics are skeptical. 
Even if that money can be raised, they say it's wrong to make the dwindling number of elderly survivors wait that long. 
They say that if Canadian bishops won't do it immediately, the Vatican should. 
 Although all the full specifics of the Vatican's holdings are unknown, a tabulation of known assets puts them in the tens or possibly hundreds of billions of dollars. 
Survivors say the compensation money isn't for them — it's to fund addictions and mental health supports, job training, recreation, language preservation and other programs for their descendants suffering through intergenerational trauma. 
"It affected my children, my grandchildren. So many are lost," said survivor and mental health worker Audrey Eyahpaise of the Beardy's & Okemasis Cree Nation. The survivors say the Vatican is just as responsible as the local religious orders and dioceses. 
"This has been a struggle for many years. They've been patient. They keep hearing broken promises," said University of Saskatchewan Indigenous studies professor and Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation member Bonita Beatty. 
"It's a hierarchy. They report up to the Vatican. So yes, he [Pope Francis] is responsible for the various arms of his government. He can't just wash his hands of it."
Today's meetings were with First Nations representatives, following meetings earlier this week with Metis and Inuit representatives. Tomorrow is a final public meeting with all the representatives. Move coverage from today:
As a settler, this list hit me in the gut -- it is a list of our shame and sorrow for all of us. 

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Thursday, March 31, 2022

Today's News: "I am ready to fight"


Photo: Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times A stray dog accompanied Ukrainian soldiers in Irpin

This map shows Ukraine counterattacks over the last three days: "We are ready to fight for our country, we are ready to fight to the last breath" says a Ukraine commander in this video: But as Ukrainian army forces Russia out, we are seeing the devastation Russia created:
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Wednesday, March 30, 2022

Today's News: Strange days indeed

Does anyone remember how, before the US invaded Iraq in 2003, there was a bizarre collection of odd con men characters hanging around the Bush Administration -- Cheney and Rumsfeld were convinced that the Iraqis were so stupid and these guys were so beloved that Iraq would just give them the keys to the kingdom as soon as Saddam was deposed.  It was an attractive delusion because they thought the invasion would go just swimmingly and the American military wouldn't have to do anything more than hold a few parades and go home.
Well, it looks now like Russia had the same delusion about the stupidity of Ukrainians and the cleverness of the group of con men who were going to take over right away -- apparently Russia thought they had a lock on some Ukrainian turncoats who could happily step in to run the country for them as soon as Zeleskyy and crew resigned. 
I'll bet you're not surprised to find that it didn't work out that way.
Markos has a major article tonight about how the Russians apparently thought they had bribed the leadership of many cities of southern Ukraine to surrender as the Russian troops were driving in. No wonder the officers brought their dress uniforms for the parades, instead of packing extra ammo. 
It didn't work - except apparently for one city near Odessa called Kherson, and even these folks have now expelled their turncoat government and taken their city back. 
So the question, which I highlighted above, is whether it was stupidity or betrayal that cost Ukraine the city of Kherson—a loss that is costing them dearly in blood. 
Maybe the answer is simple—did the governor run north, into Ukraine, a coward? Or did he flee south, into the arms of Russia. 
Given the sums of money Russian intelligence was handing out, the latter might be the best bet. 
 But this story is also one of hope, because this could've easily been the story of that entire region of Ukraine, seduced by FSB payoffs, handing over entire cities without a real fight. 
Things might look different if Mykolaiv, Odesa, Zaporizhia, Kharkiv, Sumy, and lots of other smaller cities had taken Russia up on its offers. Instead, Ukraine held fast everywhere except in Kherson, and the rest has been history. 
There may or may not be some peace talks happening soon - nobody quite believes Russia is truthful when it says it wants to pull back from the Kyiv area. But people are edging closer and closer to describing the Russian movement as an actual "retreat". Or maybe not: The Former Guy is trying to make himself relevant again - by asking Putin to make up some dirt about Biden. Would Republicans have wanted Herbert Hoover to ask Hitler for some trash-talk about Roosevelt? Did Nixon publically ask Khrushchev to dish the dirt on Kennedy? 
(And actually, we know now that in both cases there was some scandal to be found.)
But what a scumbag Trump is. He doesn't seem to realize yet that Russia is now a pariah nation: In Canadian news today, First Nations, Métis and Inuit delegates continue their discussions in Rome with Pope Francis about the shame and horror of Canadian residential schools -- Monday the Pope met with Metis and Inuit delegates, today the delegations participated in several tours, Thursday he will meet with First Nations delegates, and Friday with all delegations.
The Vatican has a significant collection of Indigenous sacred artifacts in its museums that should be repatriated:
Finally, on a side note, the slap heard 'round the world is still resulting in some new twitter memes. 
Here's the latest one I noticed:
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Tuesday, March 29, 2022

Today's News: Ukraine headlines decline but Ukraine war does not


The Ukraine flag still flies.
As the war enters its second month, and neither Russia nor Ukraine appear to be able to hit decisive blows just now, the news headlines about this awful war seem to be declining. 
But the war itself is not. 
And the Ukraine flag still flies.
First there were reports today that Kyiv was under attack, then reports that the Russians had been pushed back. Then reports that other cities in northern and eastern Ukraine were being shelled, then more reports of push back.  
Not being a military person myself, nor knowledgeable about Ukraine geography or politics, I find it somewhat confusing. Which is why I search always for reporters who seem to have a better grip on what is going on. 
Like, not ones that would write a headline like this:
But these ones seem pretty good: And hey, media -- it's a war. 
Being fought entirely inside the territory of Ukraine. 
Against a vicious and implacable enemy. 
But already we're seeing a smattering of "contrary" news stories, like these ones in the Washington Post today: 
Maybe these are merely news stories, but it wouldn't surprise me if they also prove to be the thin edge of the wedge, as we all know about the media's almost irresistible impulse to "both sides" everything including this war. Here's an incredible story of an American journalist escaping from Moscow in March, with her dog. Here is her story's ending: 
In the two weeks between the start of the war and my departure from Russia, I had wept constantly. I cried when I walked my dog in the park across the street, where I knew every bush and tree and patch of grass; when I sat at my desk looking out at my beloved Moscow courtyard; when I bought bread at my local bakery; when I drove a familiar route along the Moscow River, past the Kremlin, and then homeward along one of Moscow’s central avenues. I couldn’t imagine that it might be the last time I’d see places that had been the backdrop of absolutely everything important that had happened to me in my adult life, where there were so many people and so much that I loved. 
But now work, the novelty of a new city, the daily battle with iPhones and computers, keep me in a continuous present tense. I don’t think about the future beyond next week; I don’t think about the past. Except to realize that even if I can go back to Russia, it won’t be the Russia I loved. Maybe that superstition is right: 
Once you shut the door, walk away and don’t look back. 
In other news, Canadian Indigenous representatives met with Pope Francis today, in the first of several days of meetings to seek healing and reconciliation about the terrible history of Catholic residential schools. Reuters reports: 
Survivors of Canada's residential schools on Monday asked Pope Francis to guarantee unfettered access to Church records on the institutions where indigenous children were abused and their culture denied.
Francis met for about an hour each with representatives of the Métis and Inuit nations, the first of four meetings this week with Canada's native peoples in what both sides have called a called a process of healing and reconciliation. ....
"It was a very comfortable meeting," Cassidy Caron, president of the Métis National Council, told reporters afterwards, adding that the pope listened attentively as elderly survivors told their stories.
..."He repeated 'truth, justice and healing' (in English) and I take that as a personal commitment so he has personally committed to those three actions," she said. 
"I felt some sorrow in his reactions .... we shared a lot with him," Caron said.
There was a recent discussion I saw on twitter about how our federal government hasn't really done anything much -- which is, of course, not true at all. But I do think many of us get so used to being cynical about government that it becomes a knee-jerk response to denigrate everything governments do as "not good enough!" This thread brought up whether anything is being done about boil-water advisories, so I checked the government webpage -- in spite of the negativity, the Liberal government reports that its success in lifting boil-water advisories on reserves continues to be significant: Here is the most recent government webpage chart describing the progress that has been made on lifting drinking water advisories across the country:
 

The job isn't done yet, but when Trudeau took office in 2015, nothing had been done for years. So this is a remarkable story.
On a lighter note, here is something just sort of unbelievably cute: And if you've got nothing else to do for the next hour or two, follow the responses to this down the rabbit hole: And it reminded me of this hilarious thread:
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Monday, March 28, 2022

Today's News: "a war that defies reason"

 

This photo of a broken Russian tank illustrates Hunter's story tonight on Daily Kos -- "Making sense of a battlefield that defies logic in a war that defies reason":

Anyone who says they know what will happen next is lying; there are simply too many moving parts. Russia faces massive logistical challenges, but still has an enormous military and, possibly, enormous stockpiles. A single advance by either side could fundamentally change the shape of the war. The Russian economy is in utter shambles—but Putin may have more reasons to escalate the war, drawing in NATO itself, than he does to retreat. And during all of it, Ukraine's civilians are dying.
Earlier today, Hunter wrote another article about why Russia is torturing Ukraine with pointless shelling of its cities, and concludes the reason is basic cowardice: 
Why are Russian generals firing into Ukrainian cities, at targets that can't and won't fire back? Because it's one of the few logistical operations the grift-riddled, impossibly corrupt military infrastructure can still execute. 
If you're a Russian general looking to show that you're working hard to achieve implausible Kremlin objectives, parking yourself outside Mariupol or Kharkiv and shelling neighborhoods into wastelands of broken concrete is a no-muss path to, if not glory, at least not being called back to Russia in preparation for your fatal "heart attack." 
It's where Russian generals attempt to do almost anything else that the system breaks down. But hunkering down in one place, with a static defensive perimeter and a direct rail, road, or major port to provide supplies and ammunition? That, the generals can still do. 
Some signs also that Russian units may be starting to withdraw:
More discussion today about Biden's speech -- I think we will realize at some point that Biden has been far ahead of many of us in understanding the the war outcome, and he is working to teach us what needs to happen: At Progress Pond, Martin Longman writes Biden knows what he's doing: 
...Russia is now an isolated, pariah state. It will remain so as long as Putin is in power.  
There can be no lifting of sanctions or concessions of territory (unless Ukraine insists on conceding it), and no reward or face-saving whatsoever for what Putin has done....
This isn’t just some didactic position of America or NATO or the West. Putin is not a viable future leader of Russia from a Russian perspective. He has brought complete disaster upon his country and the only way the country can begin a process of recovery is with fresh leadership. 
They have to bring it about, and hearing the U.S. president make this point clear will help clarify things....
The goal here is for Russia to leave Ukraine entirely, including Crimea and Dombas, and pay serious reparations. The second goal is for Russia to rejoin the community of nations, which means normal diplomatic and economic relationships, and this is simply never going to be possible with Putin in charge. 
Russian business leaders probably understand this. Russian military leadership probably understands this. And they are the ones who will have to remove Putin from power and negotiate the peace.... 
when foreign policy experts get upset that Putin now has less incentive to negotiate, you have to consider how ridiculous it is to think Putin would make the necessary concessions. If he were somehow willing, which is laughable, he’d have to resign in disgrace the next day. What Biden said didn’t change that. 
  And a fascinating interview here: This is brilliant: A remarkable performance at the championships by Ukrainian figure skaters Oleksandra Nazarova and Maksym Nikitin, who prepared in just a month and could not have costumes made: And in other news today: We switched over to the Oscars just as the "Slap Heard 'Round The World" was being broadcast and wow, what a way to derail the entire show. Thousands of tweets later, I saw this one:
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