News roundup, 27 March 2026

- France's foreign minister, Roland Lescure, says that at least 30% of the Gulf's refining capacity has been taken out of commission by Iranian retaliatory strikes. This means that fuel prices aren't likely to come down any time soon; while this may accelerate electrification of such things as transportation, I fear that given the average person's attention span, many will forget the reason for the high prices and blame their own leaders, voting reflexively for opposition politicians who, in many cases, are hostile to the very measures that could limit the impact.

- On the positive side, there are indications that Donald Trump's excesses may be hurting the electoral chances of the far right, at least in Europe. The recent municipal elections in France were a disappointment for Marine Le Pen's Rassemblement Nationale, and Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni just lost a referendum on stacking the judiciary. Perhaps most encouraging is the fact that Hungarian strongman Viktor Orbán may be headed for defeat.

- Polish prime minister Donald Tusk says that Lithuania warned as far back as 2019 that Hungary posed a security risk to the EU and NATO. There are allegations that Hungary's foreign minister, Peter Szijjarto, was briefing his Russian counterpart during breaks at EU meetings; Szijjarto initially denied this, calling it "fake news", but later admitted that he "consulted" with Russian as well as American, Turkish, and Israeli officials before and after these meetings.

- The UK government has vetoed a plan by Scotland to build a wind turbine manufacturing plant in cooperation with a Chinese manufacturer. The central government cited vague concerns about national security, but Scotland's deputy premier says the government has failed to explain their reasoning to her satisfaction.

- Former Liberal MP Dan McTeague, who is often cited by media outlets as an expert on gas prices, has been making strange claims such as saying that building more pipelines would "insulate Canada from price shocks", in spite of the fact that the country is already a net exporter. McTeague is currently the president of a fossil fuel advocacy group whose website has called Chinese EVs, a potential shelter from such price shocks, a "Trojan horse". It's worth noting that while he served as a Liberal during his parliamentary career, he voted against a same-sex marriage bill and opposed the induction of Dr. Henry Morgantaler into the Order of Canada; it looks like McTeague was the real Trojan horse. 

News roundup, 16 March 2026

- Donald Trump seems to be trying to move the goalposts on the war on Iran; evidently even he can recognize that maybe getting into an endless war might not be a good idea. Unfortunately it's a bit late for that.

- FCC chair Brendan Carr is hinting that broadcasters who cause displeasure to the Dear Leader might have difficulties renewing their broadcast licenses unless they "correct course" before their renewal time comes up.

- Many Iranian dissidents understandably looked on the US/Israeli attack on their country with rose-coloured glasses before it happened, hoping that this might be the thing that finally liberates them from a regime that certainly is far from benevolent. However, disillusionment is starting to set in among those actually live in the country and are seeing huge amounts of destruction with no benefit. Opinions among the diaspora will doubtless lag somewhat, since they aren't face to face with the bombing, but it will probably come in due time.

- The Trump regime is having a hard time finding allies who will help keep the Strait of Hormuz open. France is willing to consider, but on their own terms; Trump seems to want countries to sign on to an open-ended commitment, which is naturally not an easy sell. He is responding in his usual fashion by hinting that for NATO allies to sit this one out would "be very bad for the future of NATO".

- While Waterloo's university district has often gotten rowdy on and around St. Patrick's Day, the regional police service shocked many, including the city's mayor, when they deployed a sniper to the district. Police have so far not explained their reasoning; the mayor has requested a meeting with the police chief.

- An 81 year old man has been charged with second degree murder following a shooting at a trailer park in Port Alberni, BC. 

News roundup, 15 Jan 2025

- Several NATO countries, including Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden, are sending troops to Greenland as a message to Donald Trump. Subsequently, France announced that they'll be sending troops as well. This follows an unsuccessful attempt by Danish diplomats to talk sense into the orange monster. There is talk of Canada sending troops as well, though Defense Minister David McGuinty says that no decision has been made on the matter.

- Unions and community organizations in Minnesota are calling for a general strike on the 23rd of January. Meanwhile, ICE is being accused of using private information, of the sort that's not supposed to be readily accessible to them, to intimidate people keeping an eye on them. Under Minnesota law, license plate readers and car registration data is only supposed to be accessible to law enforcement during a criminal investigation, but ICE seems to be getting around the safeguards. ICE has also shot another person, this one non-fatally.

- The FBI searched the home of Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson on Wednesday and seized several devices, apparently in an attempt to find the source of a leak about a defense contractor that Natanson had covered in one of her articles.

- Trump is backing away from threats to strike Iran, saying that the government has reassured him that the killing has stopped. This is good news for international stability, unless of course it's happening because he thinks he needs to focus on Greenland. The least bad possibility (still very bad though) is that he wants his troops close at hand to use at home.

- Quebec premier François Legault has announced his resignation, just under nine months prior to the scheduled election. Legault's Coalition Avenir Québec is being clobbered in the polls; only 18% of eligible voters plan to support them. If an election were held today, the CAQ would come third in the popular vote, and fifth in seat count. Also resigning is Ontario Liberal leader Bonnie Crombie, who fared poorly in a post-election leadership review.

- Winnipeg's infamous Manwin Hotel, which had been vacant since last year when it was declared unfit for habitation, was destroyed by fire yesterday morning. The fire forced the evacuation of the Main Street Project next door, and it may be several days before the facility is able to reopen. Nobody died, which is more than can be said for rather a lot of days when the hotel was actually open. Housing advocate Marion Willis of St. Boniface Street Links calls the fire a "predictable outcome" of the city's lax approach towards vacant buildings. To their credit, the city seems to be moving towards potential seizure of such buildings; we'll have to wait and see how well they follow through with that.

News roundup, 6 Jan 2026

- UN Under-Secretary-General Rosemary DiCarlo has condemned the raid on Venezuela in which the country's president, Nicolás Maduro, was abducted. DiCarlo warns that it could lead to more instability, both in Latin America and elsewhere, setting a precedent that could make violent conflicts more likely. The generally accepted reason for the invasion and kidnapping is control over Venezuela's huge oil reserves; that said, American oil companies say they aren't in a hurry to set up there due to fears of more violence and instability. Undeterred, Trump is now musing about paying US oil companies to rebuild Venezuela's oil infrastructure. Notably, Vladimir Putin, who has treated Maduro as an ally in the past, has been awfully quiet on the matter; I suspect that he has quietly indicated to Trump "let us have Ukraine and you can have Venezuela".

- Trump continues to muse about taking over Greenland, by force if necessary. Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen warns that such a move would mean the end of NATO.

- The US State Department has announced that it will be denying visas to five European citizens who it accuses of "censoring" American viewpoints. These include former French finance minister and EU commissioner Thierry Bréton, who was heavily involved in the development of the EU's Digital Service Act; the legislation requires illegal content (such as hate speech) to be flagged, which obviously is a non-starter with the Republicans. Others targeted with these sanctions have been involved in activism to counter digital hate and disinformation.

- The bar at the ski resort in Crans-Montana, Switzerland where 40 people died and 116 were injured in a New Year's fire hadn't been inspected in five years. The town's mayor had no explanation why they had gone so long without inspecting the facility, but vows that sparklers - which are thought to have been the cause of the disaster - will be banned in indoor venues. The town will also be hiring an outside contractor to inspect all venues in their jurisdiction.

- Thunder Bay had the highest homicide rate in Canada in 2025, with 6.08 homicides per 100,000 residents, followed by Chilliwack, BC at 4.75. Winnipeg came third this year, at 4.66.

News roundup, 10 June 2025

- California is taking the Trump regime to court over their unilateral decision to deploy the National Guard against protesters. Governor Gavin Newsom argues that it is "illegal and immoral" for the federal government to take such a measure without consulting the governor of the state in question. And a second journalist has been shot with a rubber bullet while covering the protests.

- Israeli authorities have deported Greta Thunberg and several other activists who were captured from a vessel delivering aid to Gaza. Several others from the same boat are contesting their deportation, and have been detained pending a hearing. The Israelis seem also to be continuing their policy of shooting people lining up for aid, which is not a good look.

- In addition to the infant who died of measles after being infected in utero, five other newborns in southern Ontario have been infected in the same manner.

- The Manitoba government is urging people to avoid non-essential travel in order to keep hotel rooms free for evacuees, whose numbers have now reached 21,000 people. This currently falls short of being an actual order, though.

- Winnipeg Transit is considering upgrading the shields that protect bus drivers from unruly passengers. Currently, they do not completely enclose the driver, making attacks still possible if a bit more difficult. A full upgrade of the fleet could be costly, but it seems more than worthwhile, and the Amalgamated Transit Union, which represents drivers, agrees.

- Mark Carney is promising to meet NATO's military spending target of 2% of GDP by next March. 

- Researchers at Anthropic, an AI startup, are predicting that white-collar jobs are going to go into serious decline, with more than half of entry-level office jobs disappearing. Others predict that it won't be the entry-level jobs that take the worst hit; those jobs tend to be lower pay, and new graduates with knowledge of AI should do OK, while people who have been in their jobs for a long time (especially if not unionized) might be more vulnerable.

- The Trump regime has issued an executive order lifting the longstanding ban on civilian overland supersonic flights. One company claims to have broken the sound barrier (just barely mind you, at Mach 1.1) without making a boom that was audible on the ground - but this is a small experimental aircraft that will need to be scaled up considerably in order to be economical, so there's no guarantee that the production aircraft will be tolerably quiet. And let's not get started on the potential emissions. But here's the thing - I don't think that there's any reason Canada should have to endure potential sonic booms over our own territory, as would be the case for, say, flights from the Midwest to New England or from the east coast to Asia. What if we simply refused to allow such flights over our territory?

- A school shooting in the Austrian city of Graz has killed eight people, including the perpetrator, and injured several more. 

News roundup, 26 Feb 2024

- A man burned himself to death in front of the Israeli embassy in Washington, apparently in protest of the war in Gaza.

- Russia managed to do in two years what the US couldn't do in 74 - get Sweden to join NATO.

- Donald Trump's base can't get enough of him, but while they love the craziness he spouts, it creates a problem for him if he wants to win the votes of the non-crazy. Meanwhile his legal troubles are creating financial problems for his campaign, and now the prosecutor in the Stormy Daniels case is asking the judge for a gag order to keep Trump from siccing his sheeple on jurors.

- Even in West Virginia, people in the know understand that the coal industry isn't going to recover to its earlier strength. It's been declining for decades, long before renewables entered the picture. Unfortunately while there are new jobs in the renewable energy sector, there are a lot fewer of them, and they aren't always in the same place (the best place to mine coal often isn't the best place to build a solar or wind farm).

- The federal NDP has managed to get the Liberals to move ahead with a national pharmacare program. The NDP had threatened to withdraw their support from the minority Liberal government unless an agreement was reached by the end of the month. Among things to be covered will be diabetes medications and contraceptives; for their part, the Alberta government has announced that they intend to opt out of the whole thing. Because freedumb, or something.

- Manitoba finance minister Adrien Sala accuses the previous government of presenting an "incomplete picture" of the province's finances following an external review ordered by the new government shortly after taking office. Among the things the Tories are accused of ignoring are the impact of last year's drought on Hydro revenues, as well as the impact of their own tax cuts on revenue.

- The former CAO of the Rural Municipality of North Cypress-Langford, Manitoba has been charged with theft after allegedly stealing around $30,000 from a curling club and then using municipal funds to repay it. No information about the motive, but if I were to guess I'd say gambling has something to do with it.

- Syphilis in the US is now at a 70 year high, and some doctors are rationing penicillin in order to keep it available to treat the disease.

- A number of "smart vending machines" at the University of Waterloo were discovered to be using facial recognition, for reasons that are not clear. This was discovered by accident when a software glitch led to a reference to facial recognition appearing on a screen on one of the machines. The university has announced that the machines will be removed.

- A branch of the Royal Canadian Legion in Vaughan, Ontario has had its charter revoked by the national body after allegedly being taken over by outlaw bikers.

News roundup, 15 Feb 2024

- Donald Trump's threat to NATO members demanding that they pay up or risk being thrown to the wolves (or perhaps bears) has raised eyebrows, but not so much among Republican politicians (with a few exceptions). One of his former advisors is predicting that Trump will pull out of NATO entirely if he wins another term. While many are naturally spooked by this, some are suggesting that this might be a good thing - because it will force the EU to take defense seriously. At least one MEP is calling for Europe to have its own military in response.

- A man was fatally shot by Winnipeg police on Tuesday. The police had attended to apprehend him under the province's Mental Health Act, so you'd hope they'd be prepared to deal with someone who might not be in his right mind. Unfortunately they reverted to type when he became combative.

- A man was stabbed and racially abused on a Winnipeg Transit bus on Tuesday; the suspect remains at large.

- Liberal MP Rob Oliphant, who serves as parliamentary secretary to Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly, admitted in a conversation with a constituent that he is extremely frustrated with his government over the handling of the Gaza issue, particularly the suspension of funds for UNRWA. The conversation was apparently recorded without his knowledge. He said that that he has considered quitting his parliamentary secretary's position, but that he'd decided to stay after a staffer told him that "there needs to be a voice on the inside". Now that this has slipped out, though, one wonders if he'll have a choice.

- The Canadian Security Intelligence Service is warning that rabid antifeminist and anti-LGBT* sentiment could lead to serious violence. In fact it already has, but the risk is not expected to abate any time soon.

- The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that Belgium's legislation prohibiting kosher and halal slaughter of animals as cruel can stand. I guess that's one issue on which the Jewish and Muslim communities can agree, anyway...

- Apparently even Putin was shocked by the softball questions lobbed at him by Tucker Carlson in the recent interview.

Wikileaks sheds more light on Afghan war

This one looks big:

A huge cache of secret US military files today provides a devastating portrait of the failing war in Afghanistan, revealing how coalition forces have killed hundreds of civilians in unreported incidents, Taliban attacks have soared and Nato commanders fear neighbouring Pakistan and Iran are fuelling the insurgency.

The disclosures come from more than 90,000 records of incidents and intelligence reports about the conflict obtained by the whistleblowers' website Wikileaks in one of the biggest leaks in US military history. The files, which were made available to the Guardian, the New York Times and the German weekly Der Spiegel, give a blow-by-blow account of the fighting over the last six years, which has so far cost the lives of more than 320 British and more than 1,000 US troops.

From the Guardian. Of course the Americans aren't happy:

The White House also criticised the publication of the files by Wikileaks: "We strongly condemn the disclosure of classified information by individuals and organisations, which puts the lives of the US and partner service members at risk and threatens our national security. Wikileaks made no effort to contact the US government about these documents, which may contain information that endanger the lives of Americans, our partners, and local populations who co-operate with us."

Jay Rosen at New York University's journalism school has this to say about the official reaction:

• This leak will harm national security. (As if those words still had some kind of magical power, after all the abuse they have been party to.)
• There's nothing new here. (Then how could the release harm national security?)
• Wikileaks is irresponsible; they didn't even try to contact us! (Hold on: you're hunting the guy down and you're outraged that he didn't contact you?)
• Wikileaks is against the war in Afghanistan; they're not an objective news source. (So does that mean the documents they published are fake?)
• "The period of time covered in these documents … is before the president announced his new strategy. Some of the disconcerting things reported are exactly why the president ordered a three month policy review and a change in strategy." (Okay, so now that we too know the basis for the President's decision, that's a bad thing?)

Originally from here (that server seems to be down at the moment, but the comments are mirrored here).

What we're protecting in Afghanistan

Hamid Karzai, whose illegitimate election last year should have been the last straw for NATO, has thrown a major hissy fit over the very modest pressures that we've been putting on him to behave himself:

Afghan President Hamid Karzai threatened over the weekend to quit the political process and join the Taliban if he continued to come under outside pressure to reform, several members of parliament said Monday.

Mr. Karzai made the unusual statement at a closed-door meeting on Saturday with selected lawmakers – just days after kicking up a diplomatic controversy with remarks alleging foreigners were behind fraud in last year's disputed elections.

From the Globe. So let's get this straight. We're propping up an illegitimate leader, risking our own troops' lives, killing civilians, and turning over prisoners to authorities who torture them, and now this arsehole threatens to join the Taliban?? And we're doing this for what exactly? To uphold democracy? See Karzai's election above. To protect the rights of women? A laudable goal, but maybe we should be working on this at home first. The pipeline? Probably a major reason. To save face? Probably another major reason. But even if we accept these last two goals as legitimate, we can only save face, or build the pipeline, if we can win the war. My opinion? We can't. The USSR was a huge country, with a lot fewer supply line problems than NATO (thanks to being right next door to them), and yet they lost. We will too, mark my words.

ETA: The coup in Kyrgyzstan (h/t Blaque) may help to speed things along, by depriving NATO of the use of a crucial air base.

Germany not so keen on having nuclear weapons on their soil

Gee, I wonder why? Not surprisingly, talk of doing something about it makes the Americans a bit nervous:

The German government would like to see the withdrawal of all remaining American nuclear weapons stationed in Germany. But former NATO head George Robertson told SPIEGEL that it's not quite so easy. He says the demand 'is dangerous.'

When it became clear last year that Guido Westerwelle, a politician obsessed with domestic issues, would become Germany's next foreign minister, he quickly needed to flex his foreign policy muscles. And it didn't take him long to find an issue sure to be popular with German voters.

Not long after German general elections late last September, Westerwelle, head of the business-friendly Free Democrats -- junior coalition partners to Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives -- reiterated his campaign demand that it was time to begin the process of removing the remaining atomic weapons based in Germany. He said the weapons were a "relic of the Cold War" and said they "no longer have a military purpose."

The demand quickly found its way into Merkel's coalition agreement. "We will advocate within the (NATO) Alliance and with our American allies the removal of the remaining nuclear weapons from Germany," the document reads.

But what sells well at home is not always well-received on the stage of geo-strategy and international security. In an interview with SPIEGEL this week, former NATO General Secretary George Robertson said that he considers the demand to be "simply dangerous."

From Der Spiegel. And why do they think they need these nukes? Because those big bad Russkies are just waiting to take over, of course:

He emphasized that any strategic shift must be discussed in detail with NATO member states further east. Negotiations with Russia on a reduction of its nuclear arsenal are also a must, he said.

NATO has some 200 short-range nuclear weapons stationed in Europe with an estimated 20 of those in Germany. Russia, however, possesses many times that amount -- Robertson mentioned 5,400 in his interview with SPIEGEL -- and there are many within NATO who favor using American nukes in Europe as a bargaining chip with Russia.

My question is, if Russia is as hostile and dangerous as these people think, how do they expect to be able to swap 20 nukes for a significant chunk of those 5,400 Russian bombs? They're not likely to be pushovers. Maybe if the Yanks offered to swap some of their strategic nukes they'd make some headway in that regard...

In any case, I don't think Russia is waiting to pounce on a helpless Europe. I don't think they were in a hurry to do so even for most of the Soviet era (well, after 1953 at least). The Cold War is over, folks. Time to move on, not to try to start it up again.

NATO in Afghanistan -- winning the battles but losing the war

An American study confirms what many of us have suspected for some time:

International forces in Afghanistan might have won most of the clashes they fought with insurgents, but they nevertheless have still lost much of the country, a new analysis concludes.

In a grim assessment of the war, the non-partisan Center for Strategic and International Studies finds the U.S. and allied effort wanting.

"The U.S. failed to focus on the needs and security of the Afghan people," the report out this week concludes.

"It also failed to properly resource the war and to provide effective leadership."

The analysis, based largely on Pentagon and NATO data, finds the Afghan government and outside aid efforts have failed to meet even the basic needs of Afghans.

Afghan forces were simply treated as "adjuncts" rather than as true partners of the International Security Assistance Force, the analysis by the Washington-based think-tank concludes.

"The end result was that the U.S. and its allies won largely meaningless tactical clashes while steadily losing the country and the people," says Anthony Cordesman’s report.

From the Chronicle-Herald.

The future of Pakistan?

It seems likely that the Afghan war would quickly end in utter defeat for NATO if Pakistan's regime collapsed. So what is the likelyhood of that? Canada Guy thinks this issue is worth a closer look (h/t to jblaque in one of the comments to this post):

Recent history in Pakistan seems to bear a similarity to events in Iran during the rule of the Shah. The recent leadership of Pakistan has been similar in several ways to that of the Shah. In both countries the leaders were strongly backed by the United States. Both were involved in repressing or attacking their own people. In Iran, this led the revolution of 1979 which created an Islamic Republic. Could something similar happen in Pakistan?

His conclusions aren't encouraging either:

Pakistan's alignment with the US and US interests appears to be the largest factor causing instability within that country. The majority of Pakistanis do not support this role nor any domestic government that follows it. I will predict that unless there is an election in Pakistan of a government that follows the will of its people more closely, the likelihood of a revolution, coup, or breakup will increase over time. Eventually the situation will become untenable, and one of these outcomes will come to pass.

So why the hell don't we get out of Afghanistan now, before this happens? It'll be a lot harder afterwards. And the consequences of a coup in Pakistan could go well beyond Afghanistan... it could conceivably include stuff like this.