suds

A weak president can handcuff a whole country. 62% of US voters say Putin wouldn't have invaded Ukraine if Trump was president. 59% say Putin saw weakness in Biden which is exactly what many were suggesting would happen after the Afghanistan debacle. https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/595919-62-percent-of-voters-say-putin-wouldnt-have-invaded-ukraine-if-trump/

According to the UN's Office for Disarmament Affairs, biological weapons consist of 2 parts. 1) a weaponized agent such as a bacteria or virus, and 2) some type of delivery mechanism. There's not much difference between a 'weaponized agent' which enhances the deadliness of whatever organism is being weaponized, and gain-of-function research which also enhances the deadliness of the organism but only for study purposes. Intent might be a difficult thing to prove.

You're purposely trying to confuse the matter. For example ...... In 2013, vice president Joe Biden went to China on official business and took Hunter with him. As Joe was discussing China's militarization of the South China sea with Chinese officials, the Bank of China was in the process of depositing $1.5 billion with Hunter Biden's investment firm. Did the $1.5 billion have any affect on the South China sea talks? You tell me. I agree it doesn't matter who does it. It's wrong. Where we disagree is with your idea that there are never any consequences.

Hunter Biden has been enriching himself (and likely the entire Biden family) through his influence peddling schemes with foreign governments. If these foreign governments include the likes of America's enemies, then his actions become a major national security risk. It raises serious questions concerning what Xi or Putin might have on the office of the presidency and its implications.

They know a phony when they see one.

I'm going with the theory that the only reason the NYT's ran this story is because someone from the Justice Department tipped them off and indictments are on the way. The important thing is how the laptop implicates Joe Biden in all this. It's also possible that the powers that be have decided that Joe has become a liability/embarrassment to the Democratic party and has got to go. Or it could be that this was the plan all along.

And speaking of just how 'reliable' the media is.... how reliable were all those researchers and scientists associated with these same labs when they lied to everyone 2 years ago? They claimed it was impossible for covid to have escaped from a lab because they were afraid of losing their funding. Not to mention all the lies Fauci has told. I'm convinced you can't believe a damn thing you hear or read nowadays.

There are literally hundreds of bio-labs in the world today handling the most deadly pathogens. Most are located in urban areas. Only a relatively small number (60) are rated BSL-4. We have no way of knowing what goes on in these labs. What kind of gain-of-function research they're playing with. What would it take? A gas leak? A fire? A terrorist act? A stray missile? An act of God? Is this how civilization as we know it ends? The big picture is we're playing with fire here folks.

It's the Saudis who are rejecting Biden's calls and not the other way around. I'm not particularly fond of either the Saudis funding of radical Islam in other countries, or Iran's attempt to get nukes and start a Mideast nuclear arms race. Great leader's responsibilities lie in doing what's best for the country they serve. Jeopardizing the USD as the world's reserve currency is a bad move in my opinion.

Are you going to argue that Biden's not mentally unfit for office? Or are you implying that Saudi leaders are just as mentally unfit? What is your point exactly?

You can't blame Nixon for the Vietnam war. The spending/inflation involved with the war decoupled the USD and gold at $35/oz. Countries wanting to trade in their USD reserves for gold at $35/oz created a threat to US gold reserves, and that's what killed Bretton Woods.

Biden's 'continuing legacy of disaster' is right. Playing softball with Saudi's sworn enemy Iran isn't helping matters either. Everyone should know by now he's unfit for office.

For the first time in their history there's a majority of Swedes and Finns who want to join NATO.

You're right about US action in Iraq but as has been pointed out Afghanistan is a completely different story. The US warned the Taliban government they were illegally allowing terrorist organizations to train in Afghanistan and would be held directly responsible for any attacks against the US. So tell me what this has to do with Ukraine?

Yeah, it was a clear case of collusion between the Ukraine and the Democrats. But i can't really blame the Ukraine government as they needed all the help they could get and figured the Democrats were going to win.

Nato could park missile systems in any of the 3 Baltic states and they would be just as close to Moscow as if they were situated anywhere in Ukraine. And if (as some believe) that Russia's war in Ukraine is a legal one, then it should be just as legal for Ukraine to send in teams to destroy key Russian infrastructure, and target Russian hospitals and schools. I mean who's more afraid of who here?? What Putin really desires is a greater Russia, while Ukraine and the Baltic states see Russia as a threat to their very existence. That's the reasoning behind joining NATO.

Thank you. So basically, (1) War crimes are undoubtedly being committed on a large scale. (2) An illegal war is underway with the sole purpose of undermining Ukraine's right to self-determination. (3) Ten's of millions of people may likely be displaced as most of Ukraine's infrastructure gets targeted and destroyed. (4) Nobody is likely to ever be held accountable (5) While the world is watching with their thoughts and prayers and little else. (6) With China paying close attention and readying itself for Act 2. Is that about right or have i missed something?

The World Health organization has recently confirmed that at least 18 hospitals in Ukraine have been hit by enemy fire. The latest being a maternity ward. Isn't it sort of a high number to believe that all were done unintentionally? How is this not a war crime?

It's interesting how Leila Getz can feel so 'terrible and conflicted' with her decision (which was the right one). I too have conflicted feelings bordering between disgust and relief. Disgust with the reluctance taken by our leaders and Nato in providing Ukraine with the kind of military aid they so desperately seek. Relief in the sense that we may be avoiding WW3 (at least for now). This will not exactly go down in history as our greatest hour. As for Alexander Malofeev.... it's not personal bud.

Food production is energy extensive and then there's the transport costs. The price of oil affects just about everything but we have to eat.

The Canadian government has recently passed a motion to rename the street the Russian Embassy is located on from Charlotte Street to Zelensky Boulevard. The motion was the idea of MP Charlie Angus of Timmins Ontario and is now left in the hands of the City of Ottawa. WAY TO GO CHARLIE!!! ?

A world power with a history of being invaded, threatens and invades a smaller neighboring country for the purpose of achieving greater security for itself. Some may claim it's understandable, but in no way is it justifiable. China's threats and sabre rattling against Taiwan is even less understandable or justifiable. If things were done a bit differently perhaps the opportunity would never have presented itself.

too little too late??? 22h ago Feds seek to fast-track LNG project amid Ukraine attack: Pieridae CEO Michelle Zadikian, BNN Bloomberg The head of Calgary-based natural gas producer Pieridae Energy Ltd. said he’s fielding inquiries from the federal government over how the company’s proposed Goldboro liquefied natural gas (LNG) project could be completed quicker than anticipated. Alfred Sorensen, chief executive officer of Pieridae, said government officials are mainly interested in the current status of the project and what might be needed to move the project along faster. “We certainly have been speaking with different departments in how we might be able to find a near-term solution versus a much longer-term solution,” he said. Representatives from the Natural Resources; Innovation, Science and Industry; and International Trade ministries weren’t immediately available to comment on Sorensen’s remarks. Sorensen said the project has had a higher profile over the past few weeks, particularly in light of growing tensions between Russia and the U.S. over Ukraine. Those tensions have now escalated into a full-blown attack on Ukraine from Russia, while further concerns are raised about Europe’s dependence on Russian energy supplies. “We know that Russia is a significant source of natural gas and oil for European partners. And one of the things that we've been doing over the past number of weeks is ensuring that there are alternatives to Russia, not just to make sure that our friends and allies in Europe continue to be able to function their economies and support their people, but to make sure that Putin no longer draws sustenance for his economy,” said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in a press conference on Thursday. The Goldboro LNG project has already been significantly scaled down from its original proposal. Originally envisioned as an onshore LNG export facility in Goldboro, N.S., the project is now being developed as floating facility off the coast of Nova Scotia. The new, revamped project is expected to process 2.5 million metric tonnes of natural gas annually and cost roughly $2 billion. The original facility was estimated to cost as much as $10 billion. Sorensen said the decision to scale back the project was driven by a number of obstacles including the high operating costs and access to capital. “I don't think debt is a big issue. It’s very much equity. That has been the problem for the last year, but certainly I think we see most of that really driven by the green movement away from fossil fuels,” he said. “If we had financial support five years ago, we would be [exporting] today. I do believe that the project still has substantial merit in reducing the amount of dependence on Russian gas and this is one of the principal reasons I think we've seen a revived interest.” Another roadblock has been a lack of pipelines connecting Alberta to Eastern Canada. However, Sorensen said that renewed regulatory efforts to resolve natural gas transport issues and better access to capital could mean that the project could grow to meet European demand. “We are producing over 200 million [cubic feet of natural gas] a day right now. We think that we can easily move to 400 million, which is the current size of our current project," he said. "If there was additional interest to resolve some of these pipeline issues, we could very easily go back to the five metric tonne project, which is roughly about 800 million [cubic feet of natural gas] a day. And just to put that in a bit of context, that's roughly about 10 per cent of German daily demand.”

There is a fundamental difference between 'rule of law' and 'rule by law'. 'Rule of law' demands that all laws apply equally to all persons and that no person is above the law (or below the law). On the other hand, 'Rule by law' can be used more arbitrarily allowing the law to be used as a tool against certain groups of protesters or political enemies. I hope we can all agree that 'rule of law' is what all Canadians (and politicians) should be striving for as advocated by the world's leading philosophers for the last 2000 years. Jagmeet Singh last week supported Trudeau's 'Emergencies Act' on the condition it never be used against indigenous land defenders, climate change activists, or workers fighting for fairness. Trudeau had long ago prejudged all the freedom convoy protesters as having views that were unacceptable to him which is not a crime in this country. This is basically my problem with the enactment of the legislation.

If it's that simple then why have the CCLA (Canadian Civil Liberties Association) and the CCF (Canadian Constitutional Foundation) announced their intentions of challenging Trudeau's invocation of the Emergency Act in court? https://ccla.org/press-release/ccla-will-fight-invocation-of-emergencies-act-in-court-2/