Beware Moscow's Eagle Eye

"Russia is not harbouring any aggressive plans. It would be wrong to suggest otherwise."

"Complying with the Minsk agreements will certainly be the best security guarantee since the lack of progress in their implementations remains a significant irritant and a catalyst that leads to heightened tension in Europe."

Dmitry Peskov, Vladimir Putin spokesman

Ukrainian border guards patrol their country's frontier with Belarus in the Volyn region.

 

That's certainly reassuring, a good thing to know, since for years outside observers have commiserated with Ukraine over what appeared on the surface, and even under the surface, was that the Kremlin was actively engaged in undermining Ukraine's sovereignty, claiming eastern Ukraine as Russian territorial entitlements. To the extent that the world has been under the impression that Vladimir Putin ordered peculiarly-uniformed members of the Russian military to the Donbass to encourage ethnic Russian-Ukrainians to rebel against Kyiv, to separate the region and return it to Russia.

So that when the Kremlin declared the return of Crimea to Russia correcting a historical error in state judgement, this event, so inconvenient for Ukraine and so unsettling to international law was not destabilizing at all and an affront to neighbourly relations in East Europe, but a realignment long overdue awaiting correction. And nor was the shooting down of a Malaysian passenger airliner over Ukraine's eastern region the fault of separatists by the misuse of a Buk missile, merely a 'misunderstanding'.

Separatist forces in Ukraine's east are being roused from their years-long passive waiting period for action, with Russia now initiating a new chapter in its sinister war against Ukraine by leading "large-scale military exercises", Kyiv once again noted with intensifying concern over a near-future invasion of Russian forces. In the Donbass region areas under the separatists backed by Russia there were flare-ups as Moscow began moving troops toward the border with Ukraine.

Ukrainian military intelligence alerted that separatists in the Donetsk and Luhansk areas were mobilizing forces, drawing in their reservists to participate in drills under the direction of the Russian military. But no attack was being planned, the Kremlin said reassuringly. Just some war-games rehearsals. Nothing much to see here, after all....

On the other hand, Moscow is annoyed with Kyiv, chiding the government of Ukraine for not being serious enough in implementing the 'peace accords' forced on it by the Kremlin to put a temporary halt to the grim business of military hostilities between Ukraine and the ethnic-Russian separatists in the east. There is always the reality that both adversaries from time to time disturb the peace of the 'peace' accord launching missiles at one another to the great displeasure of civilians living between the demarcation line.

 

Russian tanks and equipment in the Pogonovo training area near Voronezh, Russia    Source: Maxar/Getty Images

Of course Moscow denies any military presence in eastern Ukraine. Simply that Russia deploys forces in the Donbass and has dispatched senior officials so that local forces can be properly trained in best wartime techniques, does not ipso facto represent 'evidence' of anything whatever. And it is nothing short of incidental that Russia and China have agreed to boost military co-operation; their territorial ambitions do happen to coincide as do their methods of softening up the 'enemy' before leaping into the fray.

It is not their actions that are disruptive and threatening, but the provocative actions of other countries incapable of minding their own business in their own geographic areas that cause unrest and chaos. Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu pointed to an "increased number" of American aircraft patrolling close by his country's eastern border; a decided threat to both Moscow and Beijing. Neither Ukraine nor Taiwan are anyone's business but Russia's and China's.

The underlying threat of the U.S. bombers 'rehearsing nuclear strikes' on Russia from two locations another point of contention, with the planes flying within 21 km of the border. The Kremlin also excoriated Washington for its plans to forward weapons and military advisers to Ukraine, as a symbol of solidarity. This would "definitely lead to a further escalation on the front line", warned Dmitry Peskov.

Russian units have been on exercises in Crimea    Getty Images

The Snubbed Canadian Thespian : Justin Trudeau, Making Friends and Influencing Prime Minister Narendra Modi

"A veteran Indian diplomat said in his long experience with bilateral visits, he had never experienced a trip of this nature, where the visiting dignitary spent so little time in official engagements with counterparts in the Indian government."
"[Though wishing to remain anonymous lest he appear] churlish [this diplomat is extremely puzzled that a junior minister was dispatched to greet Trudeau]."
Hindustan Times

"The beautiful photogenic Trudeaus went to see the Taj Mahal in Agra, where they were welcomed not by the provincial chief minister, not even a junior minister, but by district officials."
"There seems to be no end to the Indian snubbing of the Canadians, even as the Trudeaus are trying their best to disarm the Indians with a charm offensive."
"India has often accused Canada of sheltering Sikh separatists. Sikhs in Canada form a voting bloc for Trudeau, so much so that he even attended a Khalsa Day parade organized by a radical Gurudwara [Sikh temple] in Toronto. Some Sikh Gurudwaras in Canada have also barred the entry of Indian diplomats."
"For Trudeau, this trip is all about the Sikh vote in Canada. Ironically, Trudeau's visit was meant to mend fences with India, given that India has made clear its disapproval of Trudeau's appeasement of Sikh separatists. It's the sort of thing, India fears, that could reignite Sikh extremism in Indian Punjab."
"Trudeau has to choose between not reigniting Sikh separatism in India and keeping some of his voters happy. He can't have both. If India were to start supporting Quebec separatists, it can't imagine that Canada would have good relations with India. It works both ways."
Shivan Vij, New Delhi journalist, Washington Post

Still from video, Global News

The Trudeaus love dressing up and they love attention and they love vacations, and goodness gracious, they've rolled all their favourites together and are now in the process of wowing India. Hoping for some extracurricular opportunities to appear in a Bollywood movie perhaps? One of Justin Trudeau's scant few work experiences was as an acting coach at a private boys' school, after all; the other as a snowboarding instructor and one doesn't think snowboarding would go over in India, so you've got to grasp your opportunities where you can.

Um, does it seem a tad patronizing, a bit of cultural appropriation on the part of the Trudeaus to make such a great show of demonstrating the traditional Indian namaste gesture of veneration while clad in opulent Indian formal wear -- certainly worthy of photographing and demanding oohs and aahs of admiration for the family that represents Canada on the world stage, even if it does so in the most ostentatiously cringeworthy manner conceivable.

Omar Abdullah‏Verified account @OmarAbdullah

Is it just me or is this choreographed cuteness all just a bit much now? Also FYI we Indians don’t dress like this every day sir, not even in Bollywood.

2:48 AM - 21 Feb 2018

The Prime Minister of Canada, off on another junket whose purpose is to impress and influence the world at large with his cultivated sense of preening extraordinariness. True, he is one-of-a-kind, and most Canadians are grateful for that. Grateful that when he vacates the station he now holds, his fanciful endowment of vanity and virtue-signalling, his condescension and his promotion of progressive values will go with him. Justin Trudeau may never be sick and tired of posing for photo opportunities but much of the Canadian voting public is of viewing them.

He has not excelled at making friends for Canada within the international community, nor at his clumsy efforts in promoting Canadian exports (and values) along with succeeding in signing off on potentially lucrative and job-creating trade agreements. His inner ego is so focused on his personal attributes including his pathological feminism that success eludes everything he touches. In Canada's relations with powerhouse India he crudely boasts that there are more Sikhs in his cabinet than in India's. Three of his Sikh ministers are accused of supporting Sikh extremist Khalistanis.

His Minister of Foreign Affairs is persona non grata with Russia, but Trudeau muses that he would like to restore diplomatic connections with the Islamic Republic of Iran, a theocratic tyranny recognized for its support of terrorism and its vicious hostility to the West, alongside its persecution of its own people. Expanding trade with China is a Liberal party focus and Justin Trudeau was under the illusion his sunny personality could persuade Beijing to sign a trade union with Canada amending its attitude toward worker rights and female empowerment in the process -- and failed.

A new, amended NAFTA trade agreement with the United States and Mexico is in the works portending ill for both Mexico and Canada leading Canada to look elsewhere in diversifying its trade options. No problem in signing off on the European Union-Canada free trade agreement that would incorporate workers' rights, environmental concerns and feminist empowerment there, but vastly controversial when haughtily foisting it upon the nations prepared to sign the Trans-Pacific Trade Deal, in the process alienating Japan, traditionally one of Canada's largest trade partners.

The irrepressibly fatuous mouthpiece that is Justin Trudeau was warned years ago about "stepping on the minefield of the extremely sensitive domestic Indian politics and damaging bilateral relations with this key country" as a piece of cautionary advice by Ramesh Thakur, an international affairs expert. India has good reason to be suspicious about Canada's role in giving haven to violent Sikh separatists; its failure to hold accountable conspirators who masterminded the Air India bombing at the loss of 329 lives over Lockerbie, Scotland remains in evidence as a blot on Canadian justice for the victims.

And now, in the midst of the Trudeau family's imperial vacation-visit to India, CBC News has revealed that the Canadian High Commission in India had invited Jaspal Atwal to a formal event it is staging in New Delhi, a dinner with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Atwal has quite the background; a member of the International Sikh Youth Federation banned in Canada, the U.K. the U.S. and India as a terrorist group years ago, he had been convicted in 1986 on Vancouver Island of the attempted murder of Malkiat Singh Sidhu, an Indian cabinet minister.

As though that in and of itself was not enough to warrant a wide berth between this man and the official Canadian entourage, Jaspal Atwal was convicted as well in an automobile fraud case; charged but failed to be convicted in a 1985 near-fatal attack on Ujjal Dosanjh, a Sikh separatist movement opponent who became premier of British Columbia years later. The invitation, after CBC's having aired these details, asking the Prime Minister's Office to comment, was rescinded.

Sophie Trudeau and Jaspal Atwal pictured in Mumbai Feb. 20. The Trudeaus attended a business and cultural event in the city that evening celebrating Indian cinema.