APPEALING TO BRITISH CHAUVINISM

Ukraine's president Zelenskyy invokes
Churchill and Shakespeare in
impassioned plea to UK Parliament


Nadine Batchelor-Hunt
·Political Correspondent - Yahoo News UK
Tue, March 8, 2022,

Ukraine's president delivered a rousing and impassioned speech to British MPs on Tuesday, in which he thanked Boris Johnson and invoked Winston Churchill as he vowed to fight Russian troops in the air, sea and on the streets.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy received a standing ovation from MPs in the Commons as he appeared via video link from Kyiv, where he has resolutely remained with his people since Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion nearly two weeks ago.

He used his speech to repeat his call for a no-fly zone to be established by the West, begging for the UK to "make sure that our Ukrainian skies are safe".

Read more: Putin 'extremely paranoid' US is plotting to overthrow him: 'He could double down'

The historic address, the first time a foreign leader has spoken directly to MPs in the Commons, came shortly after the UK announced it would phase out the import of Russian oil and oil products by the end of the year as part of a ratcheting up of sanctions on Moscow.

Addressing MPs, Zelenskyy spoke of the devastation being wrought on his country and vowed that Ukrainians would keep fighting against the "terrorist state".

He drew comparisons between Nazis and the Second World War, and invoked Churchill as he cited Britain's spirit in fighting Adolf Hitler.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy invoked Winston Churchill as he described his country's struggle against Vladimir Putin. (UK Parliament / Jessica Taylor)

The House of Commons gave Zelenskyy a standing ovation as he appeared via video link from Kyiv. (UK Parliament / Jessica Taylor)

In a nod to William Shakespeare, Zelenskyy questioned whether Ukraine was "to be or not to be" following the invasion, before firmly stating it is "Yes! To be."

Referencing Churchill, Zelenskyy said: "We will not give up and we will not lose.

"We will fight to the end at sea in the air. We will continue fighting for our land whatever the cost.

"We will fight in the forests, in the fields, on the shores, in the streets.

"We will fight on the banks of the rivers and we are looking for your help - for the help of the civilised countries.

"We are thankful for this help and I'm very grateful to you, Boris."

Zelenskyy thanked Boris Johnson for his support. (UK Parliament / Jessica Taylor)

Zelenskyy has refused to leave Ukraine despite the Russian invasion - reportedly telling the US "I need ammunition, not a ride" when offered support to escape. (Getty Images)

Zelenskyy appealed for more support, including a plea for Western countries to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine.

He said: "Please increase the pressure of sanctions against this country and please recognise this country as a terrorist state.

"And please make sure that our Ukrainian skies are safe and that you do what needs to be done."

The Ukrainian president was met with another standing ovation as he finished his speech before the video link to Kyiv ended.

Johnson, responding to the speech, told the House of Commons: "Never before in all our centuries of our parliamentary democracy has the House listened to such an address.

"In a great European capital now within range of Russian guns, president Volodymyr Zelenskyy is standing firm for democracy and for freedom."

'If you do not have the power to close the skies, then give me planes!' Zelensky told the West at a press conference last week. (Getty Images)

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer also lauded Zelenskyy.

"Every one of us has been moved by the bravery, the resolve, and the leadership of president Zelensky," Starmer said.

Read more: Russian invasion 'not going well... getting more desperate', says UK minister

"Invading troops march through his streets, shells rain down on his people, and assassins seek his life.

"No-one would have blamed him for fleeing but instead, he has stayed in Kyiv to lead the Ukrainian people and to fight."

Debris lies scattered around a hole in a road following an airstrike in Bila Tserkva, Kyiv Oblast. (Reuters)

Buildings damaged by shelling during Russia's invasion of Ukraine in Kharkiv on Tuesday. (Reuters)

Zelenskyy has emerged as a heroic figure throughout Russia's invasion, becoming a symbol of hope for Ukrainians and refusing to leave Kyiv despite the threats to his safety.

Despite repeatedly calling for the West to implement a no-fly zone over Ukraine to limit the amount of destruction Russia is able to inflict, NATO has ruled out such a move – citing it could trigger a war with Russia, a nuclear power.

Read more: Putin isn't insane and won't use nuclear weapons, says Russia's ex-foreign minister

Zelenskyy has also asked the UK to step up sanctions on Russia, and requested more weapons, with calls from a growing number of Ukrainian politicians for fighter jets.

"If you do not have the power to close the skies, then give me planes!" said Zelenskyy last week.

The UK has donated around £400m to Ukraine so far, as well as providing defensive military equipment for the Ukrainian military.

Britain mulls giving ‘Starstreak’ air-defense weapons to Ukraine


CARL COURT

Andrew Chuter
Wed, March 9, 2022, 10:56 AM·4 min read

LONDON — Britain has stepped up its supply of weapons to the Ukrainian military, adding Starstreak anti-air missiles to a list that already includes significant numbers of anti-tank weapons.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace told lawmakers Mar. 9 that the government was “exploring” the supply of Starstreak but later confirmed that the decision had already been taken in principle to provide the Thales UK-built, short-range weapon.

Issues such as training still had to be resolved, however, said the defense secretary.

Wallace also told Parliament that Britain would supply limited numbers of Lockheed Martin- and Raytheon-built Javelin anti-tank missiles alongside non-lethal items such as ration packs and medical supplies.

“We believe that this system will remain within the definition of defensive weapons but will allow the defending force to better defend the skies,” Wallace said, referring to the Starstreak capabilities.

Wallace told lawmakers that Russia was now using unguided bombs, and that with 95 percent of its forces around Ukraine committed, Moscow was trying to encourage private Russian troops from organizations like the Wagner Group to join the fight.

Citing Ukrainian data, he said Russia is believed to have lost 285 tanks, 985 armored vehicles, 44 aircraft, 48 helicopters, 109 artillery pieces. Some 11,000 Russian troops had been killed, he added, noting that the Ukrainian figures were unverified.

Starstreak is a high-velocity missile designed to provide air defense against helicopters, low flying fixed wing jets and unmanned air vehicles out to a range upwards of 4 miles.

The British have fielded the weapon since 1997, first mounted on an armored vehicle, but more recently as a lightweight, multiple-missile launcher and in shoulder-launched configurations.

Starstreak is the second significant weapon system supplied to the Ukrainian military by the British recently.

Just ahead of the Russian invasion Royal Air Force C-17 airlifters delivered Next Generation Light Anti-tank Weapons (NLAW) to Ukraine.

Like the Starstreak, the NLAW was built at a Thales UK factory just outside Belfast, Northern Ireland, although the anti-tank weapon was largely developed by Saab in Sweden as a collaborative effort between the two countries.

Wallace updated lawmakers on the volume of NLAWs supplied to the Ukraine, saying Britain had initially provided 2000 weapons but had now increased that number to 3615 missiles, with efforts continuing to deliver more.

The weapons are coming from British military stockpiles. Wallace said work was underway to replenish them.

The weapons supply is part of a wider aid contribution from the British, which includes a big increase in humanitarian donations by the government.

Although Britain is pouring money into aid and the supply of weapons Wallace didn’t address the broader issue of increased defense spending during his statement.

The government announced a £16.5 billion ($22.3 billion) increase over four years in 2021, but a yet-bigger increase would appear to have broad support across Parliament.

The parliamentary Defence Committee has been advocating a substantial rise in Britain’s underfunded military for several years.

A plan for increased spending could come as soon as the next few weeks.

How much is enough is a difficult question, said John Louth, an independent defense analyst here.

“They will have to consider going back to the 1980s spending levels if not before,” he added. “Certainly I can see it going up to 3.5% of gross domestic product [from 2percent now], maybe a little more. The lesson from the Cold War though is that it’s no good doing that unless you are taking an integrated approach with allies.”

Like other analysts here Louth reckons the government’s integrated defense review, released just 12 months ago, will need a rethink, if not shredding, in the wake of the Russian invasion.

Louth said rethinking the role and capabilities of Britain’s shrinking army Army was the immediate priority.

“The British Army have to wake up to the fact that the future isn’t going to be exquisite, highly technical stand-off weapons. It is probably going to be lots of people in traditional looking vehicles with the ability to maneuver. It changes the sense of the Army just being a recruiting ground for the special forces,” he said.

Ukraine posts image of dog tag it said belonged to a killed mercenary from the Wagner Group, said to be charged with assassinating Zelenskyy

Alexandra Ma

Wed, March 9, 2022, 

• Ukraine has alleged that members of Russia's mercenary Wagner Group are fighting there.

• Officials on Tuesday shared photos of a dog tag it said belonged to a killed member of the group.

• Recent reports said Wagner Group agents were ordered to hunt and kill Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Ukraine's defense ministry posted photos of a dog tag it said belonged to one of the Wagner Group, a Russian mercenary group who were said to be charged with assassinating President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

"Wagnerists are already dying on the territory of Ukraine," the defense ministry's Main Intelligence Directorate wrote in a Tuesday Facebook post accompanying the photos.

The defense ministry did not say how many people had been killed or how many dog tags it had collected.

The photo of the dog tag showed, on one side, a website, a phone number with a Syrian country code, and an email address. The other side said "Please help and contact us" in English, French, and Arabic.

The defense ministry said the dog tag was made for use in the Syrian war, which the US believes the Wagner Group was involved in. Multiple reports from 2017 and 2018 said the group was contracted by a Syrian state-owned oil company to capture and secure oil and gas fields from ISIS.

Insider was unable to access the website inscribed on the dog tag, and received an automated message saying the phone number was unavailable.

Upon contacting the email address for a request for comment, Insider received an auto-reply that said: "This email address has been hijacked by Anonymous. You can respond, I am reading all emails. Glory to Ukraine!"

After asking who the email address belonged to, the person operating the account told Insider that they took over the email account after seeing the dog tag photos, and that it was not clear if it previously belonged to the Wagner Group.

In its Facebook post, the Ukrainian defense ministry said the Wagner Group was helping Russia in its invasion of Ukraine, and that some of its agents were "already participating in combat operations on the territory of Ukraine in the army of the aggressor."

It is not entirely clear who runs or finances the Wagner Group, but Yevgeny Prigozhin, an oligarch and ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has been most frequently linked to the organization.

In 2020, the US Treasury said Prigozhin was "believed to be the financier" of the group. The European Parliament also described Prigozhin as having financial links to the group.

Multiple reports published in the run-up to and during Russia's invasion, including by the Daily Beast and The Times of London, said Wagner Group mercenaries were being dispatched to Ukraine.

The Times of London reported late last month that Russia ordered Wagner Group mercenaries in Kyiv to wipe out Zelenskyy's government, and offered them financial bonuses if they succeeded.

The Times reported last week that Ukraine had foiled at least three assassination attempts by the Wagner Group and Chechen special forces on Zelenskyy in the prior week, without giving specifics.

Zelenskyy previously warned that he was the "number one target" for Russia.

Read the original article on Business Insider

Zelenskyy Speaks Out After Leaked UN Email Instructs Staff Not To Say 'War'

Marita Vlachou

Wed, March 9, 2022, 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed a leaked U.N. email instructing staff not to characterize Russia’s attack on Ukraine as a “war” or “invasion,” but instead as a “conflict” or “military offensive.”

“I know this outraged many, and not only in Ukraine,” Zelensky said on a video posted on Telegram on Tuesday, according to CNN.

The U.N. email, with the subject line “Ukraine crisis communication guidelines,” was intended for internal use by staff. It also reminded workers to be careful about personal use of social media.

“We, as international civil servants, have a responsibility to be impartial,” the email read.

Zelenskyy said his representatives contacted the U.N. following the disclosure, first reported in the Irish Times on Tuesday.

“We made everything clear and quickly received assurances: there will be no lies in the U.N. structures,” Zelenskyy said. “There will be no playing along with the aggressor. The word ‘war’ will be heard on this site. Because that is the truth. We will not allow anyone in the world to ignore the suffering and murder of our people, our children.”

Earlier, Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba accused the U.N. of censorship.

“It’s hard to believe that the UN could essentially impose the same kind of censorship as the Kremlin imposes inside Russia now by banning the use of words ‘war’ and ‘invasion’ among UN staff,” Kuleba tweeted on Tuesday. “I urge the UN to swiftly refute such reports if they are false. UN reputation at stake.”

In a since-deleted tweet posted on Tuesday, the official U.N. spokesperson account said the staff email was “fake.” A subsequent tweet omitted that assertion.

Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for the U.N. secretary-general, did not deny the email was sent to staff, but told the Irish Times “it can not be considered official policy.”

Dujarric on Tuesday told reporters at the U.N. daily press briefing that there were no banned words for staff on the subject of Ukraine.

“I just wanted to correct the mistaken impression that U.N. staff were told to avoid using certain words to describe the situation in Ukraine,” Dujarric said. “It’s simply not the case that there was some sort of global instructions to all U.N. staff not to use words like ‘war’ or ‘invasion’ to describe the situation.”

Two million Ukrainians have fled their country since the Russian invasion began, according to the U.N.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.

Ukraine energy minister says Russians are forcing staff of Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant to participate in the creation of propaganda

Published: March 9, 2022
By Associated Press

A still frame from livestreamed video on March 4 from the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Authority showing explosions amid Russian shelling of the complex.

 LAURENT FIEVET/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES

LVIV, Ukraine — Ukraine’s energy minister said Russian forces that now control a Ukrainian nuclear plant are forcing the exhausted staff to record an address that they plan to use for propaganda purposes.

Russian troops have been in control of the Zaporizhzhia plant, the largest in Europe, since seizing it an attack on Friday that set a building on fire and raised fears of a nuclear disaster. It was later determined that no radiation was released.

Don’t miss: Russia disputes widespread conclusion that its military initiated agonizing incident at Zaporizhzhia nuclear complex

Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko said on Facebook that about 500 Russian soldiers and 50 pieces of heavy equipment are inside the station. He said the Ukrainian staff are “physically and emotionally exhausted.”

Russia describes the war as a “special military operation” and says it is conducting targeted attacks. Halushchenko’s reference to propaganda appears to refer to Russian efforts to show it is not endangering Ukrainian civilians or infrastructure.

Read on: Ukraine calls for ceasefire for urgent Chernobyl repairs after nuclear plant is reportedly knocked off power grid

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for CHERNOBYL 

Germany vetoes nuclear power extension, aims for LNG terminal in 2024


FILE PHOTO: Security route in front of the generator of a nuclear reactor block
Tue, March 8, 2022,


BERLIN (Reuters) -Germany on Tuesday poured cold water on extending the life-span of its nuclear plants to help cut its reliance on Russian gas, saying it needed instead to build up alternative energy sources at "Tesla speed".

Economy Minister Robert Habeck said the country's first liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal, announced last weekend, should be ready within two years.

In response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Europe's largest economy late last month floated the idea of keeping nuclear plants as part of its energy mix to diversify away from Russia, which delivers most of Germany's natural gas.

But the economy and environment ministries said on Tuesday that after looking at both short-term and mid-term scenarios, they had decided that the costs and risks of keeping nuclear facilities open outweighed limited benefits. Germany's last remaining nuclear plants are due to close this year.

"As a result of weighing up the benefits and risks, an extension of the operating lives of the three remaining nuclear power plants is not recommended, also in view of the current gas crisis," the ministries said in a joint statement.

Germany's remaining three nuclear plants are operated by energy firms EnBW, RWE and E.ON.

Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Germany has mapped out changes to its energy system to cut dependence on Russian gas, which accounts for two thirds of Germany's natural gas imports.

After talks with the energy ministers of Germany's 16 states, Habeck said the country must diversify its energy sources, including by building an LNG terminal in the north, as fast as possible.

"We totally agree that the construction of electricity networks, LNG terminals and renewable energy must be done at 'Tesla speed'," Habeck told a news conference.

Asked how long it would take before the planned LNG terminal can replace Russian gas, Habeck referred to the two years it took Tesla to complete construction of its megafactory outside Berlin.

Other alternatives under consideration include more solar and wind power and keeping coal-fired power plants that are due to shut down on standby for emergencies.

(Reporting by Maria Sheahan, Christoph Steitz and Joseph Nasr; Editing by Zuzanna SzymanskaEditing by Paul Carrel and Susan Fenton)

A Canadian satellite company is providing real-time imagery to Ukraine to help track Russian troop movements


Urooba Jamal
Wed, March 9, 2022, 

Maxar satellite imagery of burning homes and impact craters in Rivnopillya, Ukraine 

Satellite image (c) 2022 Maxar Technologies


Remote sensing technology can track the movements of Russian soldiers.


Ukraine's digital transformation minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, had previously appealed for satellite data.


The Canadian firm's assistance forms part of growing international support for Ukraine's defense.

A Canadian satellite builder and operator is providing Ukraine with real-time satellite imagery to help it monitor Russian troop movements.

The technology provided by Ontario-based MDA uses remote sensing to track Russian forces on the ground in Ukraine in real-time, including at night or when conditions are cloudy, Reuters first reported.

The company received approval from the Canadian government on March 4 to share the imagery with Ukraine, Reuters reported.

Ukraine's armed forces, greatly outnumbered by Russian firepower and troops, have been receiving support from international donors to help mount a defense against Russia's invasion. Countries have provided weapons, expertise, and other forms of assistance but have refused to send troops to Ukraine amid concerns that it would escalate the conflict.

Ukraine's minister of digital transformation, Mykhailo Fedorov, on March 1 made an appeal via his Twitter feed seeking synthetic aperture radar, or SAR, satellite data to help monitor Russian forces.

"We badly need the opportunity to watch the movement of Russian troops, especially at night when our technologies are blind," Federov said.

In addition to tracking troops, images from MDA's technology can pick out vehicles, infrastructure, and ships in all weather conditions, MDA's CEO, Mike Greenley, told Reuters.

"We can deliver intelligence reports and people can make determinations of what's going on the ground, or on the sea, from our radar imagery," Greenley told the agency.

Greenley told Reuters that the intelligence is sent securely via Western-based commercial agencies or governments, and the company has tightened its security in anticipation of any Russian retaliation.

MDA did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment made outside normal working hours.

MDA satellite imagery may prove useful in monitoring the 40-mile-long convoy of Russian military vehicles that is stationed 18 miles north of Kyiv and includes tanks, armored vehicles, artillery and supplies.

Federov's Twitter appeal had also stated that the imagery and other open source tools could provide information about military buildups in neighboring countries as well as refugee flows.

Canada's support for Ukraine includes sending 4,500 M72 rocket launchers and 7,500 hand grenades to Ukraine, in addition to slapping tariffs on Russian imports and easing the immigration process for Ukrainians, The Globe and Mail reported.

Before and after satellite imagery highlights the devastation from Russia's attacks on Mariupol, Ukraine


Charles R. Davis
Wed, March 9, 2022, 

Satellite images show damaged houses in Mariupol, Ukraine

Satellite image ©2022 Maxar Technologies


The Ukrainian port city of Mariupol is being bombed and besieged by Russian forces.


Satellite images show what the city of more than 400,000 people looked like before and after the attack.


Ukraine accused Russia on Wednesday of bombing a maternity hospital in the city.

Before Russia's invasion last month, Mariupol was a bustling port city in southern Ukraine. But since the war began, it has been besieged and repeatedly struck by Russian airstrikes and artillery fire, with civilians reportedly shelled as they try to flee.

On Wednesday, the situation became even more grim, with reports that Russian attacks had leveled a children's and maternity hospital in the city of roughly 400,000 people.


Satellite images taken by the US firm Maxar Technologies — from June 2021 and March 9, 2022 — show the physical devastation from two weeks of war that have also killed more than 1,000 Ukrainian civilians.

Buildings and homes in Mariupol before the invasion

Buildings and homes before the invasion in Mariupol, Ukraine, June 21, 2021.Maxar

Destroyed buildings in homes in Mariupol after the invasion

Destroyed buildings in homes after the invasion in Mariupol, Ukraine, March 9, 2022.Maxar

Grocery stores and shopping malls before the invasion in western Mariupol

Grocery stores and shopping malls before the invasion in western Mariupol, Ukraine, June 21, 2021.Maxar

Destroyed grocery stores and shopping malls after the invasion in western Mariupol

Destroyed grocery stores and shopping malls after the invasion in western Mariupol, Ukraine, March 9, 2022.Maxar

Portcity shopping mall and other stores before the invasion in western Mariupol

Portcity shopping mall and other stores before the invasion in western Mariupol, Ukraine, June 21, 2021Maxar

Portcity shopping mall and other stores after the invasion in western Mariupol

Heavily damaged Portcity shopping mall and other stores after the invasion in western Mariupol, Ukraine, March 9, 2022.Maxar

Homes and buildings before the invasion in eastern Mariupol

Homes and buildings before the invasion in eastern Mariupol, Ukraine, June 21, 2021.Maxar

Homes and buildings after the invasion in eastern Mariupol

Homes and buildings after the invasion in eastern Mariupol, Ukraine, March 9, 2022.Maxar

The premier of Alberta is pushing for the revival of the Trump-backed Keystone XL oil pipeline to replace Russian imports to the US

Huileng Tan
Tue, March 8, 2022

These pipes were to be used at the Keystone XL project that was officially terminated in June 2021.Terray Sylvester/Reuters


President Biden revoked a key permit for the Keystone XL pipeline in 2021.


The pipeline's developer officially terminated the project in June.


On Monday, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said the US could "come back to the table and help us build Keystone XL."

A Canadian politician is pushing for the the revival of the Keystone XL oil pipeline project that President Joe Biden canceled in January 2021. The move would boost US energy security amid the war in Ukraine.

"If the United States is serious about this, they could come back to the table and help us build Keystone XL," Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said at a news conference on Monday, according to a video posted to Canada's Global News website.

Kenney added that had Biden not shut down plans for the pipeline, the "democratic energy" it provided could have, by the end of the year, been displacing the "Russian conflict oil that's filled with the blood of Ukrainians."

The Obama administration rejected the pipeline due to environmental concerns, but President Donald Trump revived the project in 2017 and construction started in 2020. The pipeline's developer, TC Energy, terminated the $9 billion project in June. Less than 10% of the pipeline had been constructed when Biden revoked a key permit last January, according to the Reuters Fact Check team.

The Keystone XL pipeline was slated to cover about 1,240 miles from Alberta to Nebraska, and to be able to carry 830,000 barrels of crude oil a day, per the Alberta government's website. The US imported about 209,000 barrels of crude oil each day from Russia in 2021, according to the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers trade association.

Kenney said the Keystone XL pipeline could be built by the first quarter of 2023 if the Biden administration gives the go ahead, according to Global News.

Calgary-based TC Energy told Insider the existing Keystone pipeline system "will continue to provide unique, stable and safe source of energy to meet increasing US energy demands."

Oil prices surge

The US is now considering a ban on Russian oil imports on its own, according to Reuters, citing two people familiar with the matter. This would come at a sensitive time as oil prices have surged 60% this year to a multiyear high.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki suggested Monday that resuming the Keystone XL pipeline project would not affect gas prices. This is as "the oil is continuing to flow in, just through other means. So it actually would have nothing to do with the current supply imbalance," Psaki said, according to an official transcript.

"What we can do to prevent this from being a challenge in future crises, the best thing we can do, is reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and foreign oil, because that will help us have a reliable source of energy so that we're not worried about gas prices going up because of the whims of a foreign dictator," Psaki added.

US crude oil production reached 11.8 million barrels a day in November and is set to rise to record highs at 12 million barrels a day in 2022 and 12.6 million barrels a day in 2013, according to the Energy Information Administration.

Alberta Premier Calls U.S. Preference for OPEC ‘Inexplicable’


Paul Takahashi
Tue, March 8, 2022,

(Bloomberg) -- Alberta Premier Jason Kenney urged the U.S. to change its energy policies that he said prioritizes oil and gas imports from OPEC countries over liberal democracies like Canada.

The head of Canada’s largest oil-producing province, speaking at CERAWeek by S&P Global on Tuesday, commended President Joe Biden’s decision earlier to ban imports of Russian crude in the wake of the country’s invasion of Ukraine.

However, Kenney questioned Biden’s 2021 decision to cancel the Keystone XL pipeline connecting Alberta’s oil sands to Gulf Coast refineries, and his administration’s recent requests to OPEC countries such as Venezuela to pump more oil to ease price.

“It is inexplicable for us as Canadians to watch what’s happening in American policy emanating from Washington right now, an administration that understandably is desperate to replace Russian imports with oil from somewhere else,” Kenney said.

“How could this be that Canada’s closest friend and ally would make an arbitrary and retroactive decision to limit exports from a friendly allied liberal democracy while pleading with the socialist dictatorship of Venezuela, the mullahs in Iran and with other OPEC dictatorships to sell them oil to the United States?” he said.

Kenney called for bilateral talks between the U.S. and Canada to improve energy security, and for Canada to prioritize the construction of more liquefied natural gas terminals to export more energy to Europe. He also urged investors to rethink corporate environmental, social and governance goals, in order to consider oil and gas investments in liberal democracies that have more transparent environmental records.

“It’s time to add a second S to the ESG, and that is security,” Kenney said. “It’s something we can no longer pretend is immaterial to ethical investment in energy.”

(Corrects year in third paragraph)

'Release the Dough': Minneapolis Teachers Strike for First Time in More Than 50 Years

"We're on strike for safe and stable schools and systemic change," said the leader of the local teachers union.


Striking Minneapolis teachers and education support professionals hold placards in front of the Justice Page Middle school in Minneapolis, Minnesota on March 8, 2022. (Photo: Kerem Yucel/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)


KENNY STANCIL

March 9, 2022

The Minneapolis teachers' strike entered a second day Wednesday as union representatives and district officials resumed negotiations over smaller class sizes, improved student supports, and better pay.

"We don't believe we have a budget crisis in Minneapolis Public Schools. We have a values and priorities crisis."

In addition to demanding caps on class sizes and counselors in every school, the union is seeking higher starting salaries for educational support professionals (ESPs) as well as "a 12% salary increase for first-year educators and 5% increase for second-year teachers," the Star Tribune reported.

Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) Superintendent Ed Graff, meanwhile, said Tuesday that "the union and district were 'still very far apart' and that while both sides have made concessions—union bargainers initially asked for a 20% salary increase for first-year teachers—the price tag for the union's current ask is about $166 million over the district's budget," according to the newspaper.

However, Shaun Laden, president of the ESP chapter of the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers (MFT), countered district leaders' claims that the union's demands cannot be met due to a growing gap between revenue and expenses caused by decades of underfunding and made worse by rising costs and declining enrollment.

"We don't believe we have a budget crisis in Minneapolis Public Schools," he said Wednesday. "We have a values and priorities crisis."

The Star Tribune reported that "union leaders are also taking aim at the state Legislature, which this year must decide how to spend a historic $9.3 billion surplus."

During a picket in front of the state Capitol, Laden called for lawmakers to "release the dough!"

Progressive economists, as Common Dreams reported last month, have encouraged states to use billions of dollars in available federal Covid-19 relief funds to jumpstart long-term investments in the nation's shrinking education workforce.

Ahead of a 90-minute bargaining session at MPS headquarters, district officials said Wednesday morning that they remained "committed to meeting and negotiating with MFT in order to reach a contract agreement in order to get our students back in their classrooms as quickly as possible."

Classes for the district's 28,700 students are canceled for the duration of the strike.

One MPS parent, whose family joined the picket line in support of "teachers and ESPs striking for the schools our educators and students deserve," said that his kids' teacher is "great" but overburdened with 41 students in her class.


Education Minnesota—a statewide affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the National Education Association (NEA), and the AFL-CIO that has roughly 90,000 members from 463 local unions—said that MFT Local 59 "won't stop until they get the resources and supports their students need!"


The Minneapolis teachers' strike—the first educational work stoppage in the city since 1970—began Tuesday morning after union leaders and district officials failed to reach a resolution by a Monday night deadline.

"MPS has the resources to make these investments. The question is whether they value Minneapolis students as much as their educators do."

Following 13 months of negotiations, "the district has failed to deliver a contract that makes vital investments in our students, our educators, and our community," MFT said in a statement. A whopping 97% of teachers and 98% of ESPs voted to authorize the strike.

Greta Callahan, president of the teachers' chapter of MFT, told the New York Times on the eve of the strike that MPS continues "to look at our proposals and say, 'These are add-ons that we can't afford.' And we're saying, 'No, you need to rewrite the whole system and do things differently.'"

"We're on strike for safe and stable schools and systemic change," Callahan said at a Tuesday morning news conference outside Justice Page Middle School in south Minneapolis.

"We're ready to get back to the table," she added. "We want this to be the shortest strike possible."

According to MFT Local 59, bargaining priorities include:

 

Paying a living wage for education support professionals to stabilize this critical workforce, because students need the stability of working with one

paraprofessional throughout the school year. For ESPs, this means raising the starting salary from about $24,000 a year to $35,000 through increases in hours and rate of pay;

Making systemic changes to improve the recruitment and retention of educators of color, which benefits all of MPS;

Improving student-to-mental health professional ratios because students shouldn't have to wait weeks for an appointment with a counselor or social worker;

Lowering class sizes because students learn best when their classrooms aren't overcrowded and underfunded; and 

Paying competitive salaries for licensed staff to stop the exodus of teachers from MPS. State data show the average salary of Minneapolis teachers is ranked 28 out of 46 districts in the seven-county metro area.

Callahan was joined at Tuesday morning's news conference by high-profile labor leaders, including AFT president Randi Weingarten and NEA president Becky Pringle.

"The federal government has provided an unprecedented amount of recovery funding to school districts to address problems related to the pandemic, including student recovery, staff shortages, and school safety," Weingarten said in a statement. "There is no excuse for districts to make cuts in light of this historic infusion of funds."

Pringle echoed that sentiment, saying that "with over $250 million in pandemic relief funds, the time is now to invest in the safe and stable schools that Minneapolis students need now more than ever."

"The last two years have demonstrated that the status quo is not good enough," said Pringle. "Minneapolis students and their families have weathered a pandemic, continued police violence, and an economic system that has left students, their families, and educators behind. These students deserve class sizes small enough for one-to-one attention as well as investments in mental health services and social-emotional learning."

"MPS must also invest in systematic changes that improve the recruitment and retention of educators of color as well as a living wage for education support professionals," Pringle continued. "Education support professionals represent a critical workforce in our schools providing essential supports students depend on."

"MPS has the resources to make these investments," she added. "The question is whether they value Minneapolis students as much as their educators do."

"No matter what happens in this struggle, its political impact will certainly reverberate well beyond Minnesota."

Denise Specht, president of Education Minnesota, said that "nearly 90,000 educators across Minnesota are standing with our union family in Minneapolis because what they're fighting for is what we're all fighting for: Schools that will give every student the chance to pursue their dreams."

"The same issues are being negotiated all over the state, from living wages for ESPs, to more mental health supports for students, to managing the crushing caseload for SpEd teachers, to recruiting and retaining more teachers of color, to creating time for educators to give their students enough individual attention," said Specht. "We're in a rich state with a $9.25 billion surplus. No educator should have to fight this hard for the schools our students deserve, but if that's what it takes, we're with you."

Eric Blanc, author of Red State Revolt: The Teachers' Strike Wave and Working-Class Politics, interviewed Callahan and Laden on Wednesday.

Writing in The Nation, he argued that the stakes of the Minneapolis teachers' strike extend far beyond Minnesota, given that the pandemic "has pushed public education to a breaking point across the country" and put its future in "unprecedented limbo."

"No matter what happens in this struggle, its political impact will certainly reverberate well beyond Minnesota," wrote Blanc. "A demoralizing defeat for teachers and ESPs will embolden pro-privatization, anti-union forces across the country to ramp up their efforts to dismantle public schools."

"A victory, in contrast, will infuse fights against K-12 with a much-needed jolt of hope," he added, "and enable organized educators to reshape the political narrative over the future of our schools."

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Oil Pipeline Canada Bought Will Cost Over $25 Billion and Never Turn Profit

"Guaranteeing another $8.8 billion to complete the project will simply be throwing good money after bad," says a new analysis, "for a total taxpayer loss of $26.1 billion."


Pieces of the Trans Mountain oil pipeline project sit in a storage lot outside of Hope, British Columbia, Canada, on June 6, 2021. 

(Photo by Cole Burston/AFP via Getty Images)


JESSICA CORBETTMarch 9, 2022

Climate activists on Wednesday reiterated calls to cancel Canada's expansion of the Trans Mountain oil pipeline after a new analysis found that a recent pledge to not put any public money into the project "is a promise that the government can't keep."

"The only solution is to cancel it."

"The only solution is to cancel it," tweeted Wilderness Committee campaigner Peter McCartney in response to new research by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA).

Not long after an updated cost estimate for the Trans Mountain expansion (TMX) was unveiled last month, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said that rather than relying on more public money, the government would "secure the funding necessary to complete the project with third-party financing, either in the public debt markets or with financial institutions."

The government—which controversially bought the embattled pipeline from Kinder Morgan in 2018—"does not intend to be the long-term owner" and plans to "launch a divestment process" after completing the long-delayed expansion, added Freeland, who is also the finance minister.


"Freeland's assertion that Canada will invest no more public money in TMX is grossly misleading to the public. Any new money poured into the pipeline will be backed by the Canadian taxpayer," said Tom Sanzillo, IEEFA's director of financial analysis, in a statement. "Private money cannot be raised without a government guarantee."

As the institute's report explains:

IEEFA's analysis finds that the government, which owns the project, would not be able to generate an adequate profit for investors because the tolls it would charge for the completed project's use cannot be raised high enough to support new debt on the pipeline plus operational costs. To do so would raise the cost of exporting oil through TMX to a price that would not be competitive in international oil markets. To compete, the government would have to maintain toll rates so low that it would be operating TMX at a loss for its investors.

To attract private money to complete the TMX project, IEEFA concludes, the Canadian government will have to protect investors by guaranteeing the debt. The investors will be protected. The taxpayers will not.

Between the $4.7 billion purchase price and the reported $12.6 billion construction costs, Canadian taxpayers have already funded $17.3 billion on the project. These funds will never be recovered, and guaranteeing another $8.8 billion to complete the project will simply be throwing good money after bad, for a total taxpayer loss of $26.1 billion.

"Kinder Morgan quit the project because it was a bad bet for investors," said Sanzillo. "On its own, this project is not profitable. No amount of fiscal gimmickry can hide the fact that Canadian taxpayers must stand behind another estimated $8.8 billion. Investors won't finance it without a guarantee."


Omar Mawji, IEEFA's energy finance analyst for Canada, emphasized that "we have carefully reviewed the Trans Mountain project's balance sheet."

"The project is unbankable," he said. "To make a go of it, TMX would need to hike shipping tolls by 100%, raising the price of Canadian oil way beyond the level it needs to compete in the global market. Without substantial governmental support, the pipeline is unsustainable."

The IEEFA analysis comes after Canada's financial watchdog warned last week that the government is "very unlikely" to recoup its investment.

As Canada's Parliamentary Budget Officer Yves Giroux put it to Canada's National Observer: "Now that we're talking about over $20 billion in construction costs, it is clearly non-profitable."

While warning about the financial impacts of killing TMX now, he said that "it will probably mean losses for Canadian taxpayers whenever the government decides to sell the pipeline to a private-sector entity."

Noting the Observer's report, Torrance Coste of Wilderness Committee tweeted last week that "trampling Indigenous rights and making the climate crisis worse wouldn't be worth it if we got hundreds of billions of dollars in return."

"The fact we might get nothing," he added, "just underscores what a tacky, shameful mistake this is."

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