Charming Beijing Captivates Liberal Loyalty

"[These comments] deeply offended, [demonstrating a] terrible lapse in judgement [however, the episode could serve as a] teachable moment."

"This is a person of integrity who served his community as a senior police officer for ... more than a quarter of [a] century. He's made a terrible lapse in judgement."

"He's made his apology. He's made it to the public, he's made it to the individual concerned, he's made it directly to me, and he's going to continue with his candidacy."

"He has my confidence." 

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney

 

"[The response by Mr. Carney is indeed a] teachable moment."

"It teaches us that Mark Carney will never stand up for Canada."

"If Mark Carney won't stand up for a Canadian against this foreign hostile regime now, how could we ever expect  him to stand up for Canada after the election?"

Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre

 

"He is a police officer, and he ought to know that when the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] went out and put a bounty on anybody, including Canadians, that cannot be acceptable."

"That is intimidation at its worst."

NDP MP Jenny Kwan

 

"What we saw was the news of the bounty was sort of re-upped, but we're just watching the open space for anything related to that." 

"That alone, I think, is a form of coercion."

"Spreading, again, the information about the bounty is precisely how malign foreign states seek to silence, harass and coerce."

Rapid Response Mechanism head Larisa Galadza, Global Affairs Canada

Paul Chiang is seeking re-election in Markham-Unionville, a riding he took from the Conservatives in 2021 by a margin of fewer than 2,500 votes. Justin Tang The Canadian Press file photo

"If  you can take him to the Chinese Consulate General in Toronto, you can get the million-dollar reward", advised Liberal electoral candidate Paul Chiang to an news conference comprised of Chinese-language media, in reference to Conservative candidate Joe Tay who had been charged under the Hong Kong national security law as a threat to Beijing for his Canada-based YouTube channel critical of the Beijing-dominated CCP government.

 

When the comment hit headlines in the legacy media in Canada, calls for the Liberal party to disown Mr. Chiang and remove him as a Liberal candidate for the April 28 federal election expressed the disgust of most Canadians. Derisory statements by opposing political party candidates are not uncommon during election campaigns, but seldom do they cross the line into currying to foreign interference in Canada's affairs and certainly never to the extent that one candidate incites to violence against another.

 

Pressure came fast and furious even within the Liberal party for Mr. Chaing to be removed as a candidate in view of his comments last week. The bounty in  question, in Hong Kong dollars $1 million, transcribes to $183,000 in Canadian currency. Any taker could be assured of earning themselves a reward for luring the Conservative candidate to appear at the Chinese Consulate General in Toronto where he would be spirited to China and imprisoned as a traitor to Beijing -- but certainly not to China.

 

Mr. Chaing informed the Chinese-language media that given Mr. Tay's position on China and Beijing's response, should Mr. Tay be elected to Parliament, the Hong King criminal charge would be a cause of "great controversy", according to the Ming Pao newspaper. And no doubt it would, since the Liberal Party goes out of its way to pacify Beijing, and continues to build on its relationship through trade, despite the assaults on Canadian sovereignty where Canadians have been falsely imprisoned, Canadians have received the death penalty in China, and Chinese interference in Canadian affairs is deeply troubling.

 

Liberal Leader Mark Carney says Paul Chiang will remain a candidate under his banner, despite calls to drop the Markham-Unionville incumbent for suggesting people turn in a Conservative candidate to the Chinese consulate and collect a bounty.   CBC News

Even so, even when Canadian Intelligence has warned government on many occasions through updated reports that China is among those countries -- foremost among those countries -- that have used their expatriate Chinese-Canadian community originally from Mainland China to act as agents for Beijing, as well as instructing all expats that it is their ancestral patriotic duty to infiltrate and capture whatever advances in technology, science, medicine, and military news helpful to be conveyed to China's possession.

 

Mr. Chiang himself saw fit to apologize soon after  his comments were publicized:

"The comments I made were deplorable and a complete lapse of judgement on the seriousness of the matter. I sincerely apologize and deeply regret my comments."

"I will always continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with the people of Hong Kong in their fight to safeguard their human rights and freedoms."

 

And while unelected PM-incumbent Mark Carney is satisfied to let the matter lie there and continue to approve Mr. Chiang as a Liberal candidate, the man himself took the initiative to resign from the Liberal candidacy. Whether his apology is sincere is debatable. He still took the right course in apologizing and taking himself out of the election. There is no debate that Mr. Carney, on the other hand, has often engaged in dishonourable conduct. He has bent the truth to suit his fabricated explanations.

 

And on this occasion he has spectacularly failed to act with conscience and integrity. Canadians should hold him to account for this, yet another lapse in judgement on his part. On the other hand, government officials tasked with identifying and responding to foreign threats during the election period acknowledge they are monitoring the situation closely. Moreover, the RCMP has opened an investigation in the matter. While the man aspiring to be elected Prime Minister of Canada succumbed to his own lack of moral integrity.

 

Mr. Tay has been left uneasy and concerned over his safety, given the obvious nature of the threats against him posed by a foreign government whose record on human rights is abysmal. He has stated that the situation left him fearing for his safety. Spurring him to get in touch with the RCMP for his personal protection, and demanding that Carney fire Chiang. A demand that thirteen pro-democracy groups in Canada linked to Hong Kong produced a statement urging the Liberal Party to "send a clear message" in removing Chiang's candidacy, making it clear they cannot accept his "insincere apology".  

"I want to be clear: no apology is sufficient."

"Threats like these are the tradecraft of the Chinese Communist Party to interfere in Canada."

"And they are not just aimed at me. They are intended to send a chilling signal to the entire community in order to force compliance to Beijing's political goals."

Conservative federal election candidate Joe Tay 

"[Foreign interference, including instances of transnational repression, continue to be a] pervasive threat in Canada [and the federal police takes all reports and allegations seriously]."

"The RCMP is looking into the matter, however no specific details can be provided at this time."

"To ensure the integrity of our investigations, the RCMP typically does not disclose information relating to investigations unless criminal charges are laid, rendering it a matter of public record."

RCMP spokesperson Kristine Kelly 

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, speaking in New Brunswick, says Liberal Leader Mark Carney’s decision to stand by candidate Paul Chiang, who called for people to turn in Conservative candidate Joe Tay for a Chinese bounty, ‘teaches us that Mark Carney will never stand up for Canada.’ Poilievre added that he spoke to Tay and he is ‘very, very rattled.’   CBC

"It is a teachable moment. It teaches us that Mark Carney will never stand up for Canada."

"The Chinese government literally wants to kill Joe Tay because he’s a political dissident. And this candidate said that that should happen."

"I have never in my life seen a prime minister unwilling to protect a Canadian citizen against a foreign government that wants to take his life through a bounty."

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre

Transparently Disingenuous Russia

"Under the auspices of the United Nations, with the United States, even with European countries, and, of course, with our partners and friends, we could discuss the possibility of introduction of temporary governance in Ukraine."

"[It would allow the country to] hold democratic elections, to bring to power a viable government that enjoys the trust of the people, and then begin negotiations with them on a peace treaty." 

Russian President Vladimir Putin

Putin said Russian troops had the "strategic initiative" in Ukraine   Reuters

"He is afraid of negotiating with Ukraine."

"He is afraid of negotiating with me personally, and by excluding Ukraine's [government] he is suggesting that Ukraine is not an independent actor for him."

"Europe definitely knows how to defend itself, and we are working together to ensure greater security for our country and all European nations." 

"Russia continues looking for excuses to drag this war out even further."

"Putin is playing the same game he has since 2014 [unilateral annexation of the Crimean peninsula]."

"This is dangerous for everyone -- and there should be an appropriate response from the United States, Europe, and all our global partners who seek peace."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

 

"You could say that I was very angry, pissed off, when... Putin started getting into Zelensky's credibility, because that's not going in the right location."

"New leadership means you're not gonna have a deal for a long time." 

"If Russia and I are unable to make a deal on stopping the bloodshed in Ukraine, and if I think it was Russia's fault - which it might not be... I am going to put secondary tariffs... on all oil coming out of Russia."

"There will be a 25% tariff on oil and other products sold in the United States, secondary tariffs."

U.S. President Donald J. Trump

(Volodymyr Zelenskyy / X)

 

As a brilliant solution to vexing problems, Russian President Putin's Friday proposal for Ukraine to be placed  temporarily under external governance throughout the efforts to reach a peaceful settlement in the conflict that Russia imposed upon Ukraine through its military invasion and subsequent claims of legitimacy in annexing Ukrainian provinces as Russian territory, this one registered as just another form of naked aggression on the part of Russia in its territorial grabs. 

 

Further, calling into dispute Ukrainian democracy and President Zelenskyy's legitimacy reminds one of Vladimir Putin's musical chairs performance when he brought in Dmitry Medvedev as president while he took on Medvedev's prime ministerial role, to enable them to once again reverse the situation ensuring that Russia's two-term presidency limit would not interfere with Putin's designs to remain Russian president in perpetuity to which end he changed the constitution and now sits secure as Russia's legal long-term president. Any challengers have been summarily either murdered or imprisoned.

 

Yet this is the man who insists that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has no legitimacy to sign a peace agreement since his term expired. A pathetic piece of demagoguery since he would be very well aware that it is illegal in Ukraine for national elections to be held during times of conflict and the nation is under martial law. Still, Putin pressed ahead with the claim that any such agreement to a permanent ceasefire signed by the sitting Ukrainian government could be challenged by a successor government so that new elections should be called for, through external vigilance under temporary guardianship. 

A summit hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron considered plans for troop deployment to Ukraine in view of an eventual peace deal where Macron announced that 'several' other nations would volunteer to participate in the force along with France and Britain. Mr. Putin, however, made it clear that he would not accept troop involvement from NATO members in a prospective peacekeepng force. So, for Mr. Putin it would be far more appropriate if Belarus, Iran and North Korean troops comprised such a peacekeeping force in Ukraine.

 

"They are playing games and they're playing for time", stated U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, while Macron and other Paris summit participants accused Russia of insincerity in its offering to participate in negotiations that could lead to a peace agreement to end the bloodshed. 

Both Russia and Ukraine agreed in principle to a tentative US.-brokered agreement to pause strikes on energy infrastructure even as both sides hold varying views on when the deal to halt strikes should become effective, accusing one another of violations, making it more than obvious just how fraught any semblance of an agreement would be in the challenge to negotiate a broad peace. 

 

Germany has voted to hugely boost investment in its military   BBC

 

Russia's claims of wanting peace and an end to the conflict -- as long as it is able to hold on to the one-fifth of eastern Ukraine that the Kremlin now considers part of Greater Russia, are viewed with skepticism by its neighbours. Leading Norway, as an example to refurbish its old Cold War Military Bunkers, and leaving Germany convinced it must now begin to rebuild a viable military, the better to confront any future expansionary moves by Moscow.

 

Bunkers like the ones at Bardufoss can keep expensive fighter planes safe from attacks by drones (Credit: Norwegian Armed Forces)

 

 

 

Ramping Up North Korea's Military Technology

"Keeping with the trend of modern warfare in which the competition for using intelligent drones as a major means of military power is being accelerated and the range of their use is steadily expanding in military activities [stressed by North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un]."

Korean Central News Agency report

 

"North Korea is realizing the need for not only nuclear weapons but also modernized capabilities in large-scale warfare, like AI and unmanned systems."

"There is a risk that these could become actual combat capabilities in a relatively short period of time."

Cha Du-hyeogn, former South Korean intelligence adviser

 

"North Korea is completely transforming itself by  upgrading its weapons systems for modern warfare based on its experiences in the war in Ukraine, and by copying military technologies from countries like China and Russia."

Yoo Yong-won, National Defence Committee, North Korea

South Korean TV shows footage of what appears to be an airborne early warning and control aircraft. Getty Images

"Suicide attack drones" powered by artificial intelligence, is now the latest military technology championed by North Korea. Inspired no doubt by the success realized by the Ukrainian military in its existential struggle against North Korea's much-admired Vladimir Putin toward whose bloodthirsty territorial expansion he has dispatched tens of thousands of North Korean soldiers as disposable fodder in the conflict, ostensibly to gain experience in battle-hardened situations.

 

Pyongyang is determined to  update weapons capabilities in lock-step with the front-line experience its soldiers are gaining with modern warfare technologies in Ukraine. Core reconnaissance and attack drones are for the moment Kim Jong Un's preoccupation, believing that development of unmanned control and AI capability to be priorities for North Korea's military.

 

International observers such as North Korea analyst Cha Du-hyeogn at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul states that the hermit kingdom's ambitions should be taken seriously. North Korea has revealed its development of a "new-type strategic reconnaissance drone" capable of tracking and monitoring various targets and troop activity on land and at sea. Photos of Kim inspecting a large reconnaissance drone on a runway and of drones crashing into ground targets were released by State media.

 

According to experts who have viewed the photos, the large drone in the photograph is similar to the U.S. RQ-4 Global Hawk surveillance aircraft, a type of drone that North Korea introduced in 2023 at a weapons exhibition in Pyongyang. Additionally, North Korea showcased for the first time an airborne early-warning and control aircraft. One which would enable North Korea to manage air and ground operations in real time, simultaneously.

 

Images released from North Korean state media KCNA show what it said were self-detonating drone during a test of the unmanned aerial vehicles. Elements of this image were blurred before its release.

KCNA

Left unannounced was what AI technology is used in its new suicide attack drones, much less when North Korea plans to ramp up production. However, according to Cha Du-hyeogn, it is questionable whether these suggested new capabilities could be mass-produced any time soon, in his opinion. Suicide attack drones are typically small and easy to manoeuvre, so they can be undetected and produced in large quantities.

 

Further, there is no evidence as yet that North Korea has mastered such technologies, much less incorporated AI technologies which can detect air defence systems, he said dismissively. Despite which in recent months North Korea has been emphasizing its reconnaissance drone technology, a key component of Kim's military modernization strategy, where he has been pushing the mass-production of suicide drones. 

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has been pictured inspecting new suicide drones, which state media say have been equipped with artificial intelligence (AI).  KCNA

Canada/U.S. Relations Out of Kilter

Then: "Reliance on a US defence umbrella, a critical factor since the end of WW2 for so many countries is no longer guaranteed."

"No affected country can afford to close its eyes and hope that 2026 or 2028 elections in the US will bring everything back to 'normal' ... and not happen again."

"The toothpaste cannot go back in the tube." March 25 LinkedIn post 

Now: "The reality is that, without U.S. consent, no country can hope to operate the F-35 for long. [Building Canada's future fighter force solely on the F-35 would be] irresponsible."

"We may find for example that 36 F-35 and 150 other fighter aircraft such as Rafale or Gripen could be a better strategic, economic, and military posture while investing heavily in 6th gen developments." 

Retired Lt.-Gen. Yvan Blondin

The F-35 program has had a controversial history in Canada. Photo by Errol McGihon /Postmedia

Once the man who was chief of the Royal Canadian Air Force from 2012 to 2015, retired Lt.-Gen. Blondin had insisted the U.S.-built F-35 represented the best fighter jet for Canadian operations given that its allies in democracy gravitated around American leadership, technology and military operations. That is, until the election and ascension of Donald Trump to the American presidency. Much has since then changed.

 

Canada's economy is now under threat by the Trump administration amidst aggressive statements on annexing the country under American hegemony as the 51st U.S. state. And nor is Canada the only nation that finds itself under threat, since seizing Greenland and the Panama Canal have also come under discussion in the U.S. ostensibly to secure American concerns over security issues. 

 

Yet, confoundingly, one of the countries that stands to pose the greatest risk to American security has somehow secured President Trump's confidence.

 

A former fighter pilot, the retired general had years back recommended that Canada take on the F-35 from Lockheed Martin, persuading then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper it would be in Canada's best military operational interests. Which resulted in then-PM Harper's Conservative government locking into the acquisition in 2010, despite delays when increasing costs and technical problems associated with the F-35 began to surface. 

In 2023 the Liberal government under Justin Trudeau, after having for years denied that the F-35 would answer to Canada's needs and skirting the issue of acquisition, changed tack to announce it was prepared to buy 88 F-35s at a cost of $19 billion, although Canada was financially committed only to the purchase of the first 15 jets hearking back to the Conservative government decision.

 

Lt.-Gen. Blondin elaborated, explaining that the problem with the F-35 is the issue of complete control that the United States maintains over all aspects of the plane, not merely the aircraft itself. Time remains before a decision must be made for the purchase of the remaining 72 F-35s, said Lt.-Gen. Blondin after Liberal Leader Mark Carney ordered a F-35 purchase review, taking into account an increasingly hostile America under President Trump. 

 

Saab's Gripen E fighter jet is an alternative being considered to the American-made F-35. Photo by Saab /PST

 

There are options in suggestions the Swedish built Gripen -- second in the Canadian fighter jet competition -- would be considered a solution. There had been a promise by its Swedish manufacturer that the Gripens could be built in Canada. Former defence procurement chief at the Canadian Armed Forces Alan Williams, and other defence analysts have given warning the F-35 represents a strategic vulnerability for Canada, with American total control over software upgrades and aircraft spare parts.

 

Canada, pointed out Lt.-Gen. Blondin, must now look to developing a defence strategy taking into account the new realities of changes in its relationship with the United States. Those who are in support of Canada's F-35 purchase point out the hundreds of millions worth of contracts that companies in Canada have been involved in, supplying parts for the U.S. aircraft, creating Canadian aerospace employment.

 

That too changed,  however, when in late February, President Trump informed Lockheed Martin, manufacturer of the F-35. that a change was in order; specifically that he wanted those jobs returned to the U.S. when Canadian contracts come up for renewal.

 

Yvan Blondin said building Canada’s future fighter force solely on the F-35 would be “irresponsible.” Photo by Jack Boland /Jack Boland/Toronto Sun

 

U.S. Scuttling Traditional Trade Relations

"The United States will help restore Russia’s access to the world market for agricultural and fertilizer exports, lower maritime insurance costs, and enhance access to ports and payment systems for such transactions."

"[The statement included ensuring safe navigation in the Black Se, a ban on strikes against energy infrastructure in Russia and Ukraine, and President Donald Trump’s imperative that] the killing on both sides of the Russia-Ukraine conflict must stop."

White House statement

 

WHAT DOES RUSSIA SAY IT WILL GET?

* The lifting of restrictions on state agricultural bank Rosselkhozbank "and other financial organizations involved in ensuring international trade in food (including fish products) and fertilisers, their connection to SWIFT, and the opening of necessary correspondent accounts".

* The removal of curbs on trade finance operations.

* The removal of sanctions and restrictions on companies producing and exporting food (including fish products) and fertilisers.

* The removal of sanctions and restrictions on insurance companies dealing cargoes of food (including fish products) and fertilisers. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov specifically mentioned the Lloyd’s of London insurance market.

Reuters

 

"This is the most disturbing action that I think we've seen from [U.S. President Donald Trump] since his election."

"In essence, what he is doing is funding [Russian President] Vladimir Putin's regime ... and funding the death of Ukrainians."

"We do need to become less dependent, unfortunately, on the United States of America."

"It's a sad thing for us to say."

"[Saskatchewan may change how it responds to Trump's threats]."

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe

Cargo ships are seen from a patrol boat of Ukraine’s coast guard as they sail in the Black Sea, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, February 7, 2024. REUTERS/Thomas Peter/

 A plan by the United States to restore the Russian agricultural sector's position is, according to Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe, a backchannel funding Ukrainian death and suffering. The White House statement carrying news of the United States plan to help Russia expand its markets following talks between American and Russian officials in Saudi Arabia is disturbing in its ramifications. The intention is to also lower maritime insurance costs and according to the Trump administration, enhance Russian access to shipping ports.

 

"This latest announcement from Donald Trump isn't just a betrayal of Ukraine, where people will continue to be killed and occupied under Putin's illegal invasion", added the province's NDP leader Carla Beck, responding to President Trump's threats as they apply to onerous tariffs to be imposed on Canada and Mexico for a full range of products entering the United States, along with extended similar threats to Europe, Japan and South Korea, even as the Trump administration is open to trade dialogue with Russian President Vladimir Putin, a stunning reversal of traditional U.S. trade policy and politics.

 

Saskatchewan, the world's largest producer of potash, a mineral in use as a crop-growing fertilizer, foresees consequences with Russian potash -- sanctioned since the 2022 invasion by Russia of Ukraine -- anticipating a scenario where Russian fertilizer will flood the market once sanction measure are lifted. This is all part and parcel of a coming global trade war inspired by the Trump administration where 25 per cent tariffs have been imposed on Canadian steel and aluminum, along with a 10 per cent levy on potash if it doesn't comply with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.

The traditional trading partners of the United States are reeling in shock at the warnings and threats emanating from the White House. U.S. allies suddenly find themselves estranged and confused in their relations with the new administration whose pronouncements on stiff tariffs -- while warning of  consequences with retaliatory measures their once-trusting trading partners ruminate on imposing and then reconsidering when the U.S. -- warns further that retaliatory measures will only incur the wrath of the U.S. which will then impose even higher tariffs, upending global integrated trading patterns.

International experts on trade negotiations and investments are attempting to make sense of a sudden turn-about in international relations. What they are all certain of, is the conclusion that in alienating traditional trading partners with explosive accusations and punishing tariffs, the United States and American consumers in general will not come away unscathed. The unsettled situation will penalize the U.S. too, albeit not as stringently as its hapless trading partners. As well, a global recession appears to be waiting in the wings. 

A worker at the Mosaic potash mine near Belle Plaine, Sask., holds a few examples of the white, crystalline substance during a tour on April 26, 2024. (Alexander Quon/CBC)

 

 

 

What Geneva Convention Might That Be?

"[The proceedings are nothing but] another sham trial [held for Russia's] own amusement."

"The world must respond to such shameful sham trials of Ukrainian defenders."

"It is obvious to everyone that those who should be in the dock are not those defending themselves but those who initiated the aggression, those who invaded foreign land with weapons, and those who arrived with tanks on the territory of an independent state!"

"Ukrainian prisoners of war are combatants, not criminals! They were fulfilling their duty to the state, protecting its territorial integrity and sovereignty."

Dmytro Lubinets, Ukraine human rights envoy 

A woman with the words "Free Azov" written on her face attends a rally aiming to raise awareness on the fate of Ukrainian prisoners of war in Kyiv, Ukraine (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda, File)

In a military court trial denounced by Kyiv as a sham and a violation of international law, Russia bizarrely convicted 23 captured Ukrainian servicemen on terrorism charges related to the war that the Russian invasion of Ukraine caused. Current or former fighters of the elite Azov brigade make up the personnel held on  trial. Russia had designated the Azov brigade as a terrorist group. Extending the charge of terrorism to any who worked within the brigade whether as cooks or support personnel.

 

The prominent Russian human rights group, Memorial, re-designated the Ukrainian defendants as political prisoners some of whom had been captured in 2022 during fighting in the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, defending their country from the Russian invader. Others among the prisoners had been detained while attempting to leave the city once it was overrun by Russian forces, according to Memorial.

 

On Wednesday when the verdict was brought down in the Russian court in the city of Rostov-on-Don, only a dozen prisoners were in attendance. Of those charged, eleven -- including nine women -- had returned to Ukraine through prisoner exchanges and were thus convicted in absentia, while one other defendant had died last year while in custody.

 

Lawyers of Ukrainians captured by Russia during hostilities in Ukraine sit in front of the defendant's cage during a hearing at the Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, Wednesday, March 26, 2025. AP Photo

All of the  convicted had been charged with staging a violent coup d'etat and with organizing the activities of a terrorist organization. Russian 'justice' had seen fit to entirely inverse reality; in essence claiming that loyal Ukrainian servicemen in responding to the illegal, internationally criminal armed military invasion of their country were the aggressors, not the invading army engaged in what he Kremlin termed a 'limited military action'. Limited, presumably, in the Kremlin's estimation that the further annexation of Ukrainian territory would take a trifling amount of time and effort.

 

The dozen Ukrainian men remaining in Russian custody will serve their time in maximum security penal colonies, according to the court where they were given prison sentences ranging from 13 to 23 years. The Russian independent news site Mediazona reported that all twelve of the convicted held in Russia are prepared to appeal the verdict.

 

"None of the defendants in the case are accused of any war crimes: they are all being tried for the very fact of serving" in Azov at one time or another, stated Memorial, in their explanatory defence. Ukraine's presidential adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, stated that the trial of combatants amounted to "an official war crime" which would warrant a response from the International Criminal Court. 

 

The defendants testified of abuse they had undergone while behind bars; that they were severely beaten, had suffered broken bones, were interrogated with bags covering their heads, were given food laced through with household chemicals, and were forced under duress to stand all day long while singing the Russian anthem, according to Mediazona. 

Rescuers work at the site of an apartment building hit by a Russian missile strike in Sumy, Ukraine, on Tuesday. (Reuters)

It'll Take Awhile To Live This One Down : Learning On The Job

"[The uproar] represents a] co-ordinated effort to distract from the successful actions taken by President Trump and his administration to make America's enemies pay and keep Americans safe."

White House statement 

"[The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg is] deceitful, [a] discredited so-called journalist."

"Nobody was texting war plans and that's all I have to say about that."

Defense Secretary Peter Hegseth 

"[It was] the only glitch in two months [of his administration]."

"Michael Waltz has learned a lesson and he's a good man."

"It was one of Michael's people [staffer] on the phone. A staffer had his [Goldberg's] number on there."

U.S. President Donald J. Trump

 

"In the amazing story of the Signal group coordinating Yemen airstrikes, Vice-resident J.D. Vance once again comes out as driven by deep anti-European resentment."

Former Swedish prime minister Carl Bildt

 

"U.S. Vice-President and Secretary of Defense loathe Europe [as they try to extort money out of it]."

Mike Martin British Parliamentarian

At the White House on Tuesday, President Donald Trump said his critics were inflating the incident. “They’ve made a big deal out of this because we’ve had two perfect months,” he said.  Credit...Doug Mills/The New York Times

Quite obviously that old self-help book "How to make Friends and Influence People" is not a go-to tract in the White House library to which old diplomatic hands can refer new White House personnel and elected officials to, for the efficacy of putting their best foot forward when dealing with friendly nations. The members of the Trump administration appear to share a deep-seated hostility toward just about all the member-democracies of NATO and the G7 nations. Evidently stemming from the burden that Europe and other democratic allies place upon the United States as the most powerful country on the globe, to ensure security for all.

 

In all fairness, it wasn't Europe that imposed this burden on the United States. This is a holdover from World War II when Europe was under attack by Nazi Germany and its Axis members in a brutal conflict that the entry of the United States for the Allied side turned the tide after Imperial Japan, part of the Nazi Axis, had attacked Pearl Harbour in an act of war. The American military involvement in stemming the  tide of fascism and eventually ending the war with the world's only nuclear strikes, resulted in the acknowledgement of its singular status as the world's policeman. A role that the U.S. was pleased to take up, cementing its legacy as world power without equal.

 

That status appears to have grown stale; the U.S. is fed up with being taken for granted, for being the shield that protects other internationally law-abiding nations from harm threatened by those countries of the world for which territorial expansion through force of arms and conflicting ideological roots create chaos and war. Now, under the second Trump administration, the message was sent that all countries formerly dependent on the protection canopy of the U.S. had better shore up their own defences for the burden will no longer be accepted by the United States of America.

 

An America that is prepared to react militarily only when it perceives threats aimed directly toward it.  And since the Houthi rebels in Yemen have complicated international marine traffic, and threatened both the U.S. and Israel (which Washington deems deserving of a place under its canopy), just as its sponsor, the Islamic Republic of Iran is a close looming threat with its nuclear and rocketry development, itself earning close scrutiny and threats, the American military has been ordered to disable the Houthi war machinery and by extension the nuclear plans of Iran.

 

Atlantic editor in chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, in 2023. Credit...Justin T. Gellerson for The New York Times

An inadvertent, and quite amateurish online meeting on the Signal platform between Trump associates and Cabinet members saw the erroneous inclusion of The Atlantic's editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg who was by inclusion made privy to the strategic military plans. As a journalist his first instinct was to use the data he was exposed to, once the initial shock of receiving it had passed. And as he published the timeline of the almost comedic misadventure, the shock to the public, the news media, and the political opposition was that of outrage at the sheer clumsiness of making sensitive plans available through sheer sloppiness.

 

From the European perspective, however, it was the revelation of senior executive Cabinet members sneering at Europe that drew the most attention. President Trump's inner circle shares his contempt for Europe's leaders, are wholly sympathetic to the president's decision to downgrade relations with embattled Ukraine, while make friendly overtures to Moscow. When the U.S. spurned Europe's fears of Vladimir Putin's outright threats to the stability of eastern Europe through his annexation of a fifth of Ukrainian territory, NATO members reeled in disbelief.

 

As for the documents revealed through an inadequate lapse of intelligent judgement, retired French Army Lt. Gen. Michel Yakovleff with his own history at NATO headquarters, described the U.S. officials involved in the debacle as "a bunch of incompetent, arrogant idiots" with "no clue" about operational security. "When you have that level of incompetence, anything is possible", he stated.

 

European leaders were stung by the revelation through the Signal chat that JD Vance questioned whether the U.S. expending military assets on securing nearby shipping lanes would be just another example of "bailing Europe out again". To which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth replied: "I fully share your loathing of European freeloading. It's PATHETIC." 

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth stands by U.S. President Donald Trump, in the Oval Office at the White House, in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 21, 2025. Photo by Carlos Barria/REUTERS