Thank-you very much for this great article. I'm moved enough to go on a short rant, god save me: I just listened to an interview with Vivek Ramaswamy, who's in favour (among several US Republicans) of appeasing Russia by gifting them at the very least, the Donbas. I consider that shallow, short-term thinking. In my very humble opinion, I don't support appeasing Russia in any way, because looking long-term, one can envision a dismal future of conflict as Putin slowly gobbles up the rest of the former Soviet Union including western-leaning nations. And just considering "Balance of power", even I can understand the strategic importance of having a strong Ukrainian disrupter by virtue of its geographical position between Russia and China. US Republicans are whining about a long war and at the same time disparaging the aid that could end it, especially as Russia appears so desperate at this time that they've turned to North Korea.
Thanks for your post. Insightful as always. I’ve been reading about how China is getting more aggressive in the South China Sea. I’m convinced that Xi is looking at how strong the allied defense remains around Ukraine. If support drops, he’ll see that as a good excuse to become even more aggressive.
Supporting Ukraine is not just about Ukrainians and supporting a single unjust war. It’s also about making sure other authoritarians are not emboldened to make the same moves in other places.
Right. The GOP leadership is also quite right when they point out to their kookier colleagues that cozying up to Russia won't isolate China. It's the opposite. A weak Russia means China has no viable major ally.
It's probably the same congress guys that had no problem giving another year, another year, another year, when it was a huge hyperpower needing longer to defeat the shepherds of Afghanistan.
Why is it only the GOP that gets to pick nicknames? Can't these guys be called the Putin Party or something?
Justin, will you do a deep delve into Yaroslav Hunka, get to the truth about his WWII record because there is a lot of chatter, much I suspect are rumour and lies, going on around him. He's the one who was in the public gallery and received standing ovation from MPs in HOC when Zelensky was there and folk on the Twit are saying he was an SS Nazi officer. Not sure how that is possible when he was born in 1925. My dad was also born in 1925, January 14th. He was in the RAF and bombed thousands of civilians over Dresden as a rear gunner, sometimes called a 'tail-gunner'. At his age he just managed to get 2 yrs of combat war in before it WWII ended, then he hung around in East Africa to help wind things down, close RAF base camp. Sure as hell never made 'officer'. If my dad were alive today he'd be fulll of remorse about killing civilians. He did suffer PTSD but we didn't know about it back then, growing up. He never talked about the war. He read a lot about it though. Nazis killed his dad very early on in the war and he was the eldest son. His 'duty', and he wanted to fight Nazis. Anyways, if you get chance, try to set out the truth on Hunka. His ties to Hitler's SS, what he experienced. I despise propaganda and I think a lot is going on around this. A sit-down interview before Yaroslav Hunka pegs it would be good, to get his side of it on record. I trust your reporting. Miss you on Twitter:'( @always_vote
Hi! I may do just that, depending on where this story goes this week. The history of the Galicia Division (in which he fought) is really complicated. Canada actually coneucted a big investigation into the divisionnin the 80s and concluded that there was no evidence that the division, as a whole, committed war crimes. At the same time, it's hard to argue with the idea that anyone who fought in an SS division should not have been given a standing ovation in the House.
Justin, I just saw Speaker Anthony Rota's staatement and apology via a Twitter post regarding Hunka's recognition by him of Hunka's presence in the HOC gallery on Sept 22. Rota takes full responsibility, for the invitation and the public gesture of recognition. Thank you very much for replying to my comment. To a large extent this statement of apology and regret by the Speaker clears things up for me.
Thought you may like to know, your old buddy Paul D. McLeod (@pdmcleod) wrote with a link to this, your piece, on Twitter: "Much of the commentary around Yaroslav Hunka’s appearance in the Canadian Parliament comes off as glib and lazy if you’ve read about the unspeakably tragic 20th century history of Ukraine.
@Justin_Ling's more thoughtful, researched view here is welcome." Paul is right. And there's more where that came from. AND your name is *still trending* there! 'Look at me Ma, no hands'! So proud of you.
Thanks as always, Justin, bot oh those typos. One in the third word: "calculous". Further down, it should be Republicans', not Republican's. All the best.
Thank-you very much for this great article. I'm moved enough to go on a short rant, god save me: I just listened to an interview with Vivek Ramaswamy, who's in favour (among several US Republicans) of appeasing Russia by gifting them at the very least, the Donbas. I consider that shallow, short-term thinking. In my very humble opinion, I don't support appeasing Russia in any way, because looking long-term, one can envision a dismal future of conflict as Putin slowly gobbles up the rest of the former Soviet Union including western-leaning nations. And just considering "Balance of power", even I can understand the strategic importance of having a strong Ukrainian disrupter by virtue of its geographical position between Russia and China. US Republicans are whining about a long war and at the same time disparaging the aid that could end it, especially as Russia appears so desperate at this time that they've turned to North Korea.
Yup. It is a position that rests entirely on short term domestic political gain, which clearly ignores the entire geopolitical context.
Thanks for your post. Insightful as always. I’ve been reading about how China is getting more aggressive in the South China Sea. I’m convinced that Xi is looking at how strong the allied defense remains around Ukraine. If support drops, he’ll see that as a good excuse to become even more aggressive.
Supporting Ukraine is not just about Ukrainians and supporting a single unjust war. It’s also about making sure other authoritarians are not emboldened to make the same moves in other places.
Right. The GOP leadership is also quite right when they point out to their kookier colleagues that cozying up to Russia won't isolate China. It's the opposite. A weak Russia means China has no viable major ally.
It's probably the same congress guys that had no problem giving another year, another year, another year, when it was a huge hyperpower needing longer to defeat the shepherds of Afghanistan.
Why is it only the GOP that gets to pick nicknames? Can't these guys be called the Putin Party or something?
Justin, will you do a deep delve into Yaroslav Hunka, get to the truth about his WWII record because there is a lot of chatter, much I suspect are rumour and lies, going on around him. He's the one who was in the public gallery and received standing ovation from MPs in HOC when Zelensky was there and folk on the Twit are saying he was an SS Nazi officer. Not sure how that is possible when he was born in 1925. My dad was also born in 1925, January 14th. He was in the RAF and bombed thousands of civilians over Dresden as a rear gunner, sometimes called a 'tail-gunner'. At his age he just managed to get 2 yrs of combat war in before it WWII ended, then he hung around in East Africa to help wind things down, close RAF base camp. Sure as hell never made 'officer'. If my dad were alive today he'd be fulll of remorse about killing civilians. He did suffer PTSD but we didn't know about it back then, growing up. He never talked about the war. He read a lot about it though. Nazis killed his dad very early on in the war and he was the eldest son. His 'duty', and he wanted to fight Nazis. Anyways, if you get chance, try to set out the truth on Hunka. His ties to Hitler's SS, what he experienced. I despise propaganda and I think a lot is going on around this. A sit-down interview before Yaroslav Hunka pegs it would be good, to get his side of it on record. I trust your reporting. Miss you on Twitter:'( @always_vote
Hi! I may do just that, depending on where this story goes this week. The history of the Galicia Division (in which he fought) is really complicated. Canada actually coneucted a big investigation into the divisionnin the 80s and concluded that there was no evidence that the division, as a whole, committed war crimes. At the same time, it's hard to argue with the idea that anyone who fought in an SS division should not have been given a standing ovation in the House.
Justin, I just saw Speaker Anthony Rota's staatement and apology via a Twitter post regarding Hunka's recognition by him of Hunka's presence in the HOC gallery on Sept 22. Rota takes full responsibility, for the invitation and the public gesture of recognition. Thank you very much for replying to my comment. To a large extent this statement of apology and regret by the Speaker clears things up for me.
Always enjoy reading your articles! High praise for your musical selection. Dogs, snow, so many smiling joyful children. And the music was great too!
Thought you may like to know, your old buddy Paul D. McLeod (@pdmcleod) wrote with a link to this, your piece, on Twitter: "Much of the commentary around Yaroslav Hunka’s appearance in the Canadian Parliament comes off as glib and lazy if you’ve read about the unspeakably tragic 20th century history of Ukraine.
@Justin_Ling's more thoughtful, researched view here is welcome." Paul is right. And there's more where that came from. AND your name is *still trending* there! 'Look at me Ma, no hands'! So proud of you.
Sorry -meant this comment to be under your Yaroslav Hunka piece.
Another enjoyable read.
Thanks as always, Justin, bot oh those typos. One in the third word: "calculous". Further down, it should be Republicans', not Republican's. All the best.
In my defence, I wrote a significant chunk of this Dispatch on my phone while waiting for Trudeau and Zelensky! Thanks, though, I've fixed.