Rise Of China And Its Effects On US Hegemony – OpEd

 November 25, 2023 

By Sughra Jan Muhammad

Following the implementation of economic reforms in the late 1970s, China’s growth raised and it became a major player in the world economy.

China’s economy has been growing for some time now. Due to investments in globalization, industrialization, and infrastructure, it has become the world’s second-largest economy.Over 800 million people have been pulled out of poverty and GDP growth has averaged over 9% annually since China started to open up and reform its economy in 1978. During the same time period, there have also been major improvements in access to other services, including health and education.

Commercial associate of the US. China ranks third in terms of US export markets, is the country’s largest import source, and is the country with which the US trades the most goods. Additionally, China holds the most shares in US Treasury securities among all foreign investors, which supports the country’s debt and reduces interest rates.

Through a number of high-profile initiatives, such as “Made in China 2025,” a plan announced in 2015 to upgrade and modernize China’s manufacturing in 10 key sectors through extensive government assistance in order to make China a major global player in these sectors, the Chinese government has made innovation a top priority in its economic planning. These actions have, however, heightened worries that China plans to employ industrial strategies to reduce its reliance on foreign technology (including by barring foreign companies from operating in China) and eventually take control of the world’s markets.

China’s innovation and intellectual property policies were the subject of a Section 301 inquiry by the Trump Administration in 2017 because it was believed to be unfavorable to American economic interests. Subsequently, it increased tariffs by 25% on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods, while China boosted taxes on $110 billion worth of US imports, ranging from 5% to 25%. In 2019, these measures lead to a significant decline in bilateral commerce. President Trump declared on May 10, 2019, that he would consider increasing tariffs on almost all of the Chinese imports that were still in stock. A prolonged trade dispute between the United States and China that could be threatening to the economy of China.

Congress is very interested in China’s expanding economic strength on the world stage along with the trade and economic policies it upholds, since they have a big impact on the US. Despite being a sizable and expanding market for American businesses, China’s ongoing shift to a free-market economy has led to the adoption of economic policies that are considered unfavorable to American interests, such as industrial regulations and the illegal use of intellectual property.

It is essential to take into account China’s rise within the larger framework of international relations, which has been shaped by both the collapse of the West and China’s rising. And the world is heading for a trade conflict.

During its rise, China has produced several remarkable inventions. In fields like technology, e-commerce, and renewable energy, they have been raising the standard. Businesses like Tencent, Alibaba, and Huawei have had a big impact on the tech sector. In addition to making significant investments in green technologies, China is now the global leader in solar energy production. Seeing their developments and the global effect they’re creating is exciting.

Sughra Jan Muhammad graduated from the University of Balochistan, Quetta, in the Department of International Relations.

World's largest iceberg — 3 times the size of New York City — "on the move" for the first time in 37 years


BY STEPHEN SMITH
NOVEMBER 24, 2023 / CBS NEWS

The world's biggest iceberg — which is roughly three times the size of New York City — is "on the move" after being stuck to the ocean floor for 37 years, scientists confirmed Friday.

Recent satellite images show the iceberg, called A23a, is now moving past the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula and headed toward the Southern Ocean, according to the British Antarctic Survey.

The iceberg, which spans almost 4,000 square kilometers (or 1,500 square miles) in area, split from the Antarctic coastline in 1986, but then became grounded in the Weddell Sea, the BBC reported.

The British Antarctic Survey on Friday posted a time-lapse of satellite imagery, showing the iceberg's movement.

"Here's its journey out of the Weddell Sea after being grounded on the sea floor after calving in August 1986," the survey wrote.



Before its calving in 1986, the colossal iceberg hosted a Soviet research station. It's unclear why the iceberg is suddenly on the move again after 37 years.

"I asked a couple of colleagues about this, wondering if there was any possible change in shelf water temperatures that might have provoked it, but the consensus is the time had just come," Dr. Andrew Fleming, a remote sensing expert from the British Antarctic Survey, told the BBC. "It was grounded since 1986 but eventually it was going to decrease (in size) sufficiently to lose grip and start moving."

A23a will likely be ejected into what's called the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, which will put it on a path that has become known as "iceberg alley," the BBC reports. That is the same current of water that famed explorer Ernest Shackleton used in 1916 to make his storied escape from Antarctica after losing his ship, the Endurance. The legendary shipwreck was discovered off the coast of Antarctica just last year.

A satellite imagery of the world's largest iceberg, named A23a, seen in Antarctica, November 15, 2023. 

 COURTESY OF EUROPEAN UNION/COPERNICUS SENTINEL-3/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS

A23a's movement comes about 10 months after a massive piece of Antarctica's Brunt Ice Shelf — a chunk about the size of two New York Cities — broke free. The Brunt Ice Shelf lies across the Weddell Sea from the site of the Larsen C ice shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula. Last year, the Larsen C ice shelf — which was roughly the size of New York City and was long considered to be stable — collapsed into the sea.

'Adopt an axolotl' campaign launches in Mexico to save iconic species from pollution and trout

Academics in Mexico City are asking for donations to protect axolotls, an iconic fish-like type of salamander

Over its six year term the administration of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador will have given 35% less money to the country's environment department than its predecessor, according to an analysis of Mexico's 2024 budget.

ByDANIEL SHAILER Associated Press

November 24, 2023, 

FILE - A canal in Xochimilco Lake, the original natural habitat of the endangered Axolotl, in Mexico City, Oct. 8, 2008. Ecologists from Mexico's National Autonomous University relaunched a fundraising campaign Friday.

The Associated Press

MEXICO CITY -- Ecologists from Mexico's National Autonomous university on Friday relaunched a fundraising campaign to bolster conservation efforts for axolotls, an iconic, endangered fish-like type of salamander.

The campaign, called "Adoptaxolotl,” asks people for as little as 600 pesos (about $35) to virtually adopt one of the tiny “water monsters.” Virtual adoption comes with live updates on your axolotl’s health. For less, donors can buy one of the creatures a virtual dinner.

In their main habitat the population density of Mexican axolotls (ah-ho-LOH'-tulz) has plummeted 99.5% in under two decades, according to scientists behind the fundraiser.

Last year’s Adoptaxolotl campaign raised just over 450,000 pesos ($26,300) towards an experimental captive breeding program and efforts to restore habitat in the ancient Aztec canals of Xochimilco, a southern borough of Mexico City.

Still, there are not enough resources for thorough research, said Alejandro Calzada, an ecologist surveying less well-known species of axolotls for the government's environment department.

“We lack big monitoring of all the streams in Mexico City,” let alone the whole country, said Calzada, who leads a team of nine researchers. “For this large area it is not enough.”

Despite the creature’s recent rise to popularity, almost all 18 species of axolotl in Mexico remain critically endangered, threatened by encroaching water pollution, a deadly amphibian fungus and non-native rainbow trout.

While scientists could once find 6,000 axolotls on average per square kilometer in Mexico, there are now only 36, according to the National Autonomous university’s latest census. A more recent international study found less than a thousand Mexican axolotls left in the wild.

Luis Zambrano González, one of the university's scientists announcing the fundraiser, told The Associated Press he hopes to begin a new census (the first since 2014) in March.

“There is no more time for Xochimilco,” said Zambrano. “The invasion" of pollution "is very strong: soccer fields, floating dens. It is very sad.”

Without data on the number and distribution of different axolotl species in Mexico, it is hard to know how long the creatures have left, and where to prioritize what resources are available.

“What I know is that we have to work urgently,” said Calzada.

Axolotls have grown into a cultural icon in Mexico for their unique, admittedly slimy, appearance and uncanny ability to regrow limbs. In labs around the world, scientists think this healing power could hold the secret to tissue repair and even cancer recovery.

In the past, government conservation programs have largely focused on the most popular species: the Mexican axolotl, found in Xochimilco. But other species can be found across the country, from tiny streams in the valley of Mexico to the northern Sonora desert.

Mexico City's expanding urbanization has damaged the water quality of the canals, while in lakes around the capital rainbow trout which escape from farms can displace axolotls and eat their food.

Calzada said his team is increasingly finding axolotls dead from chrytid fungus, a skin-eating disease causing catastrophic amphibian die offs from Europe to Australia.

While academics rely on donations and Calzada's team turns to a corps of volunteers, the Mexican government recently approved an 11% funding cut for its environment department.

Over its six year term the administration of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador will have given 35% less money to the country's environment department than its predecessor, according to an analysis of Mexico's 2024 budget.

ABOUT

Shrouded in mystery, and defying typical biological laws like metamorphosis, the axolotl (pronounced AX-oh-lot-ul), a type of salamander, keeps its webbed feet firmly placed in infancy throughout its life.

Unlike other salamanders, axolotls are neotenic, meaning they keep juvenile characteristics into adulthood. The axolotl remains aquatic (like larvae) their entire life. Though it develops functional lungs, it uses its fancy, feathery gills to breathe underwater. Like youngsters, they retain external gills, a tail, and a body fin, and lack moveable eyelids.

Erosion of Press Freedom in Japan: the Shadow of the Asian Democracy


Posted On : November 24, 2023

Published By : Alixia Brule


A recent surge in national criticism has emerged towards Japanese media corporations due to their shortcomings in reporting on the sexual abuse perpetrated by the founder of the prominent talent agency “Johnny & Associates”. In 2019, Johnny Kitagawa, who used his celebrity status to molest aspiring male pop stars over decades, died in impunity at the age of 87. Notably, the Shukan Bunshun news magazine brought his abuses to light as far back as 1999, but the publisher faced a lawsuit from “Johnny & Associates”. Despite Kitagawa’s behavior being an open secret in the music industry, other mainstream media outlets refrained from covering the issue, fearing repercussions from the respected corporation.

More broadly, one could be surprised to see Japan’s robust parliamentary democracy ranked 68th out of 180 nations surveyed in the World Press Freedom Index – the lowest among the G7 countries. Domestic experts express concern over the decline in press freedom over the last decade. While not widely recognized internationally, Japanese media operate under the shadow of subtle layers of increasing repression.

Corporate pressures – The first obstacle

Japan boasts one of the most developed newspaper markets globally, with Yomiuri and Asahi Shimbun (‘newspaper’ in Japanese) achieving the world’s highest circulation at 6.8 and 4 million newspaper copies daily, respectively. Historically, print newspapers have dominated the Japanese media environment. Media outlets relied on advertisement revenues to sustain their structure, while companies depended on media exposure for sales. This arrangement allowed Japanese media to expose scandals operating within the business sector without fearing reprisals.

However, traditional media conglomerates have faced significant revenue declines due to emerging web competition. Daily newspaper circulation dropped from 47.8 million in 2012 to 30.8 million in the past year. To ensure the survival of the print format, mainstream media shifted from the ‘advertisement model’ to the ‘subscription model’, making journalists more vulnerable to pressure from influential business partners. In the case of Kinagawa’s scandal, media companies refrained from reporting on the issue due to the financial consequences if members of the talent agency refused to appear in television programs or interviews.

The Kisha Club – the Government’s armory

Access to information in Japan is strictly controlled through a specific institution that dominates the media landscape: the Kisha Kurabu. These exclusive press clubs were designed to support politicians and act as the sole conduit for media outlets to access governmental information directly. Members of mass media organizations, such as NHK, are the only journalists allowed to join political events, attend briefings, and interview officials. They must submit questions before attending press conferences. Because of these different regulations, reporters’ rotation and potential disruptors’ presence are avoided. Added to this is the fact foreign news organizations and freelancers are formally excluded from these national press clubs. The uniformity of publication and the lack of investigative journalism are hence fostered.

The Kisha clubs reward self-censorship, as politicians and bureaucrats have the power to intimidate journalists. Fear of jeopardizing may impede the publishing of unfavorable columns. Sensitive topics – such as homosexuality, nuclear energy, religion, or Japan’s role during the Second World War – continue to be avoided in editorial agendas.

National media have also traditionally refused clear and transparent political endorsement. The medium where political impartiality is the most visible is television broadcasting. The audience faces the glaring absence of political debates and the need for talk shows to be written in advance. The lack of coverage of political ideologies impedes the Japanese public from constructing their own opinions and encourages a growing political disinterest.

An ambiguous legal framework

Article 21 of the Constitution proscribes censorship and protects the freedoms of “speech and press”. On paper, Japan safeguards the free press. Still, several policies enacted in the last decade present negative implications for the public’s ‘right to know’. In 2013, the administration of Shinzo Abe passed a ‘state secrecy’ act. This policy gives a range of officials the authority to limit access to public information when they deem it concerning national security. Journalists face up to five years in prison for reporting classified information passed on by whistleblowers. This law represents a precious political weapon: even though no sanction has been applied yet, it inevitably stifles public debate on political issues.

In South Korea: the war against ‘fake news’

In neighboring South Korea, journalists undergo similar forms of mounting repression against their investigative work. Since the election of Yoon Suk-yeol last year, authorities have repeatedly raided offices of press outlets publishing critical reports on the President. This crackdown intensified in September 2023 when the government menaced the online news outlet Newstapa. The South Korean prosecution alleges that journalists had defamed Yoon when he was a presidential candidate, defining it as an attempt to interfere in elections. Newstapa published an article exposing the president’s involvement in a corruption scandal through a money transfer when Yoon was a prosecutor in 2011.

While the governments of Kishida in Japan and Yoon in South Korea currently present similar threats to freedom in their national mediatic spheres, their use of ambiguous language to define ‘fake news’ and ‘disinformation’ raises concerns as it may allow their government to further restrict free speech on flimsy pretexts in the future.

Edited by Margaux Zani

The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and they do not reflect the position of the McGill Journal of Political Studies or the Political Science Students’ Association.

Featured image by Isis Desvelada.

Huda Kattan: Beauty industry is sexist, says make-up icon

24th November 2023, 
By Amelia Butterly

BBC 100 Women

Huda Kattan is one of the people on this year's BBC 100 Women list

When Huda Kattan appears in public she's greeted by the kind of adoring fans you might usually associate with A-list Hollywood stars.

As part of the celebrations for the 10th anniversary of her cosmetics brand, Huda Beauty, she has taken over a Paris building not far from the Eiffel Tower, and turned almost everything inside hot pink.

There are make-up stations loaded with her products, neon signs and glamorous people everywhere.

Fans waiting on the street scream when she arrives. Inside, the invited influencers and make-up professionals chant her name as she climbs the stairs: "Hu-da, Hu-da, Hu-da."

People queue to take a selfie with her - some even burst into tears when she hugs them.

Throughout it all, Kattan's smile never falters.


2:37Huda Kattan: Beauty industry is sexist says, make-up icon

Kattan is one of the people on this year's BBC 100 Women list, which celebrates 100 inspiring and influential women from around the world.

She has a cosmetics business worth more than $1bn, which is the biggest make-up brand on Instagram, with more than 50 million followers.

But she sharply criticises both the beauty industry and social media.

"I think the beauty industry is sexist," she says. "It objectifies women a lot of times. It really can boil women down to just their appearance."

She says that as a woman "who likes to glam", she knows how frustrating it is to be judged by her appearance.

But she accepts that judging others too quickly is a common failing - and that it is something she herself needs to work on.BBC 100 Women names 100 inspiring and influential women around the world every year - Michelle Obama and Amal Clooney are on this year's list, while Melinda French Gates was listed in 2021

Meet this year's 100 Women

When she first became a businesswoman, she found that some in the industry would not take her seriously.

"I struggled so bad," she says.

"Oftentimes we'd be in a meeting and instead of making eye contact with me they would make eye contact with my husband and completely ignore me."

"Don't talk to me, talk to her," her husband would say - but they would just continue addressing him, says Kattan.

She fumes about the slow progress of the beauty industry where inclusivity and representation is concerned.

Kattan grew up the daughter of immigrants who moved from Iraq to Tennessee and says she was always made to feel that she was unattractive.

She says it's a priority for her to sell products in deeper shades, and foundations that match a wide range of skin tones.

But while she accepts the industry as a whole may be moving in the right direction, she says it's going at "snail's pace".

"I've been in the labs with the manufacturers and I've said to them, 'I need a richer skin tone product'. And I've seen them literally put black pigment in, [but] people's skins are made of many different tones.

"I think there is still a lack of understanding. And it really comes down fundamentally to the manufacturer, even some brands."

Kattan's success is due in a large part to her presence on social media, where she shares make-up tutorials and reviews, as well as moments with her family and friends in Dubai, which is now her home.

Her curated lifestyle is a natural evolution from her early days as a beauty blogger. And to begin with, she loved social media.

"I thought it was just the best thing," she says. "You know, it democratised voices. It gave everybody the opportunity to speak up. It was supposed to be a place where people connected."

Instead, she says, it has become "a dopamine-hacking algorithm to keep people's eyes glued into a screen".


She is deeply cynical now about what it has to offer.

"Do I agree with social media now? No, I don't. Do I think it's good for the future? No, I don't. I don't any more."
'Unfair expectations'

One of the problems she points to is the pressure it places on women to be perfect.

"I think society has always been hard on women, but now, with social media, the expectations are just unfair," says Kattan.

"When I go on social media, sometimes I feel I can never be good-looking enough. I can never have achieved enough."


She accepts "absolutely, 100%" that in this respect she is part of the problem - but says she is also a victim of it.

"When you're somebody who's known for a look, you sometimes become almost a prisoner to your appearance."

People expect her nails to be done, and her hair, and her complexion to be perfect, which is "not reality" she says.

"I definitely for a long time felt that I was a prisoner to my Instagram handle. I felt, 'Here I am going out to the public, I am Huda Beauty'. Sometimes I feel like Huda Ugly


Given the huge reach of her social media platforms, anything Kattan says online attracts attention.

"As our voice became bigger, became more of a platform, I started to feel the need to speak up about certain things," she says.

"I am passionate about things that affect women, but also things affecting my community as well."

This interview took place before the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on 7 October - which saw 1,200 people killed and about 240 others taken hostage - and the subsequent strikes on Gaza.

Gaza's Hamas-run government says more than 14,500 people have been killed in the Palestinian territory since Israeli air and ground strikes began. The United Nations has warned of a humanitarian crisis.

As the conflict escalated, Kattan used her social media accounts to post in support of Palestinians, attracting positive comments as well as criticism.

"I've been outspoken about some political things. I don't pretend to be a political expert," she told BBC 100 Women in July. "But if I see something and I know some of the information I definitely want to post about it."

Even before the current situation in Israel and Gaza developed, Kattan had been raising awareness about issues in the Middle East, saying political issues in the region weren't talked about enough.

"I get really upset sometimes when I see things happening. Sometimes I'm also like, 'Do I have the right information? Can I post about this? Am I only seeing one side?'. But I always want to post whatever I can."

When people message her asking questions like "How is your life so perfect?", she answers honestly that it isn't.

She says she would like the social media space "to be more vulnerable".

"I don't know where that space exists. I don't think it exists on Instagram but we have to create it," Kattan says.

She adds that she frequently has to disconnect or limit her own screen time, and doesn't allow her 12-year-old daughter on to social media at all.

"She does go on it behind my back sometimes, but I can see a difference in her anxiety levels when she's not online versus when she is."

Despite living much of her life in public, there are things that she keeps private, such as her Muslim faith.

She says she wasn't very religious as she grew up, but this changed as she became older. Now, she sees prayer as "one of the most beautiful experiences".

"I don't speak about it because I'm always afraid of the criticism - because I don't cover," she says. "People might say, 'Oh you're not allowed to do those things.'"

Huda Beauty is now 10 years old, and Kattan says she hopes she has given inspiration to some women of colour.

"I think back sometimes to that little Middle Eastern brown girl in Tennessee - there's still a lot of them out there in the world - and maybe seeing someone like me, they can feel a little bit represented."


Interview by Nouran Sallam.

Video filmed by Maher Nakhla and edited by Rebecca Thorn.

 

Self-Determination Is A Powerful Force: Just Ask Ukraine And Georgia – Analysis

 November 25, 2023  

By Arab News

By Luke Coffey

The 10th anniversary of the start of Ukraine’s Euromaidan, when thousands of demonstrators set up a protest camp in Kyiv’s central square, was last week.

Ukraine’s economy had been struggling and the Kremlin-backed President Viktor Yanukovych knew something had to be done to create new opportunities. Meanwhile the EU’s Eastern Partnership, the platform used by Brussels to engage with Eastern Europe, was keen to deepen relations with the countries of east, especially Ukraine. This led to a proposed political association and free trade agreement between the EU and Kyiv.

Of course, the Kremlin did not like the thought of Ukraine getting closer to Brussels and started to pressure Yanukovych into not signing the agreement. When he bowed to Russia’s wishes, Ukrainians gathered inMaidan Nazalezhnosti (Independence Square) in Kyiv on Nov. 21, 2013, and the Euromaidan was born.

It is worth remembering what happened in the months and years following the Euromaidan because it led to the terrible situation today in Ukraine. Eventually, months of street demonstrations from late 2013 to early 2014 led to Yanukovych’s removal from office. He fled to Russia, where he remains. Russia responded by sending troops, wearing uniforms with no insignia, into Ukraine’s Crimea Peninsula under the pretext of “protecting Russian people.” This led to Russia’s eventual annexation of Crimea. The annexation cut Ukraine’s coastline in half and cost it about 7 percent of its sovereign territory.

In addition to the exploits in Crimea, Moscow stoked sectarian divisions in eastern Ukraine. Backed, armed, and trained by Russia, de facto separatist leaders in eastern Ukraine declared the so-called Lugansk People’s Republic and the Donetsk People’s Republic. Before long, Russian officials, troops, and military hardware flooded into the region. At the time, US President Barack Obama and other European leaders urged the Ukrainians not to fight, but to wait for diplomacy to resolve the crisis. Unsurprisingly, this never happened — an important lesson for Ukrainians in February 2022, when Russia invaded again.

The fighting that began in 2014 left 13,000 dead, 30,000 wounded and 1.4 million people displaced. While these figures pale in comparison to today’s fighting in Ukraine, at the time it was shocking. Two major ceasefire agreements — one in September 2014 and another in February 2015, known as Minsk I and Minsk II — failed. In February 2022, after months of building up military forces along Ukraine’s borders, Russia invaded again. The rest is now history. Today, the largest land war in Europe since the Second World War is playing out between Ukraine and Russia.

Coincidently, the anniversary of another important event in the post-Soviet countries also took place last week — the climax of Georgia’s Rose Revolution in 2003. After fraudulent parliamentary elections, street demonstrations against President Eduard Shevardnadze grew in size throughout November that year.

Shevardnadze was the de facto leader of the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic in the 1970s and early 1980s. He then became the Soviet foreign minister under Mikhail Gorbachev. In 1995, after the Soviet Union collapsed, he became the president of the newly independent Georgia until he resigned on Nov. 23, 2003, during the Rose Revolution. His departure was an important milestone in Georgia’s history: the end of Soviet-era leaders playing a role in national life and the beginning of Georgia’s path to closer relations with the EU and NATO that continues today. This is why Georgia’s civil society is so supportive of Ukraine inRussia’s war. In fact, thousands of Georgian volunteers have traveled to Ukraine to fight the Russian invasion.

The long-term strategic goal for Russia is ensuring that countries such as Ukraine and Georgia remain out of the transatlantic community and distanced from organizations such as NATO and the EU. Moscow has perfected a formula to make this happen by using military force. Russia’s invasion of Georgia in 2008 and the annexation of Crimea in 2014 slowed down the EU and NATO prospects of both countries because neither organization wants to admit a new member involved in a war with Russia. In the longer run, Russia would also like to see the eventual integration of Ukraine and Georgia into Moscow-backed groups such asthe Collective Security Treaty Organization or the Eurasian Economic Union, but for the time being this seems highly unlikely if not impossible. Any sympathy Ukrainians had for Russia has been evaporated bythe invasion.

The events that began in Georgia in November 2003, and in Ukraine in November 2013, are a reminder that self-determination is a powerful force. After decades of Russian and Soviet domination, countries such asUkraine and Georgia want to chart their own path. Considering that Georgia and Ukraine have a history, language, and culture distinctive from Russia’s, this should not be a surprise.

For Ukrainians and Georgians, taking to the streets in a peaceful manner showed that each country has the sovereign ability to determine their own path and to decide with whom they have relations and how and by whom they are governed. No outside actor, in this case Russia, should have a veto on membership or closer relations with organizations such as the EU or NATO.

Street protests against Russian influence in Ukraine in 2013 have transformed into today’s trench warfare against a Russian invader. Ukrainians have sacrificed much to defend their country and there is no indication that the national mood to do so is changing. This week, when marking the 10th anniversary of the events of November 2013, President Volodymyr Zelensky described it as the Ukrainian people’s “first counteroffensive” against Russia saying. “It is up to our generation to determine the direction Ukraine’s history will take,” he said.

What Ukraine will look like when it marks the 20th anniversary of the Euromaidan is anyone’s guess. For the sake of the Ukrainian people who have sacrificed so much, let us hope it is a Ukraine that is free, independent, and secure.

• Luke Coffey is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute.

Undated photo of soldiers from Ukraine firing on Russian positions. Photo Credit: Mehr News Agency

Arab News is Saudi Arabia's first English-language newspaper. It was founded in 1975 by Hisham and Mohammed Ali Hafiz. Today, it is one of 29 publications produced by Saudi Research & Publishing Company (SRPC), a subsidiary of Saudi Research & Marketing Group (SRMG).

Trudeau blames MAGA for sinking Ukraine support in Canada

Reuters

Justin Trudeau says dwindling support for Ukraine among Conservatives in Canada is due to the influence of former US President Donald Trump's Making America Great Again movement. 

Canada's PM Trudeau says his main rival abandoning Ukraine due to Trump influence

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau takes part in a climate change conference in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, on Oct 18, 2022.
PHOTO: Reuters

PUBLISHED ONNOVEMBER 24, 2023 6:45 PM

OTTAWA - Canada's Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday (Nov 24) said his main political rival on the right was abandoning Ukraine under the influence of Donald Trump, the Republican frontrunner in next year's US election.

In a preliminary vote on Tuesday, all 109 Conservative lawmakers in the House of Commons opposed updated legislation for the free trade agreement between Canada and Ukraine, which received the unanimous support of all the other parties.

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, who is leading in all polls, said his party did not support it because it would force Ukraine to adopt a carbon tax. The trade bill includes language that the two countries will "promote" carbon pricing and mitigation, but does not have provisions that force such a plan.

"To see the Conservative Party of Canada decide not to support Ukraine with something they need with the absurd excuse that it's because Ukraine is going to put a price on pollution, is ridiculous," Trudeau told reporters in French at a news conference in Newfoundland.

"The real story is the rise of a right-wing, American MAGA influence thinking that has made Canadian Conservatives, who used to be among the strongest defenders of Ukraine... turn their backs on something Ukraine needs in its hour of need," Trudeau said in English a little later, speaking after a meeting with top officials from the European Union.

Trump, who is seeking reelection in 2024 and is the leading candidate for his party's presidential nomination, has been sharply critical of US support for Kyiv and has said he could end the war in 24 hours if re-elected.

A relatively small but vocal group of Republicans has criticised Ukraine assistance for months, accusing Kyiv of failing to sufficiently fight corruption, which Ukrainian and US officials deny.

Canada has the second-largest Ukrainian expatriate community after Russia.

The Ukrainian Canadian Congress, a lobby group, said in a statement it was disappointed Conservatives had voted against the trade agreement.

On Thursday Poilievre insisted that he supported Ukraine and a free-trade deal, but "voted against Justin Trudeau forcing a carbon tax into that pre-existing agreement".

On Friday Sebastian Skamski, a spokesman for Poilievre, did not respond when asked whether the leader was taking his cues from Trump, but said it was disappointing Liberals slipped "the promotion of punishing carbon taxes into a binding trade deal for the first time in Canadian history."

Poilievre would clobber Trudeau and likely win a majority if an election were held today, opinion polls show. One of Poilievre's main promises is to "axe" Canada's carbon tax if elected.

Poilievre says the pricing has added to cost-of-living concerns amid high inflation.