And how could justin say no? I mean, they take air miles and everything.
Omnibus Russia Ukraine crisis
- Thread starter B00Mer
- Start date
Trudeau should deny Ovechkin a visa to enter Canada to play Leafs in January
You shouldn’t get to back a genocidal, murderous dictator and be given a free pass
Author of the article:Brian Lilley
Published Dec 30, 2022 • 3 minute read
It’s time to put Ovi on ice, and by that I mean telling him that he’s not welcome in Canada anymore.
Ovi is, of course, Alexander Ovechkin, captain of the Washington Capitals and vocal backer of murderous dictator Vladimir Putin.
The Ukrainian Canadian Congress has written to the Trudeau government asking them to deny Ovechkin an entry visa to play against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Jan. 29.
“Ovechkin has been a long-time supporter of Russian President Putin having campaigned for him in the fraudulent Russian election in 2018,” the UCC wrote to Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly and Immigration Minister Sean Fraser.
“Ovechkin continues to support Putin as ‘his president’ even in the face of Russia’s genocidal war in Ukraine. Ovechkin has never condemned Russia’s genocidal war and continues to post a photo of himself with Putin on his social media account,” UCC president Alexandra Chyczij wrote in the letter.
I know, I know, we shouldn’t mix sports and politics, but no one told that to Ovi before he went and started campaigning for the butcher of Moscow. Granted, that may have been before Putin decided to invade Ukraine in February of this year, but it wasn’t before Putin’s character was well known.
During Putin’s time in office, Russia has launched invasions of Chechnya, Georgia, South Ossetia, Ukraine in 2014 with their annexation of Crimea, and has given ongoing support to the Assad regime in Syria. Russia, under Putin, has also sought to expand Russia’s influence to other countries with dictatorial regimes like the Central African Republic.
Russia under Putin has reverted into the type of country where regular citizens are oppressed, where the freedoms Ovi enjoys in North America are non-existent.
“Canada is under no obligation to allow Ovechkin to enter our country. In the view of the UCC, allowing persons who do not oppose genocide to enter Canada is incompatible with Canadian values,” Chyczij wrote.
He’s right, Canada is fully backing Ukraine in this war, we are spending an incredible amount of money to back Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his government’s efforts to beat back Putin. Allowing one of Putin’s biggest backers to enter Canada to play hockey would go against everything the Trudeau government claims to stand for in this battle.
If it were up to me, Ovechkin wouldn’t have been allowed into Canada earlier this year to play against Ottawa or Toronto.
You shouldn’t get to back a genocidal, murderous dictator like Ovechkin has done and be given a free pass by the political and sports world. The NHL has turned a blind eye to Ovi’s views, the American and Canadian governments have done the same, and the world of sports journalism has embarrassed itself on this file with few even daring to mention the issue.
There are no end of causes or political views that Ovi could have supported that would have ended his NHL career, backing Putin strangely isn’t one of them.
“Allowing Ovechkin to enter and play in Canada would be perceived as preferring the commercial interests of Ovechkin and the National Hockey League over the lives of Ukrainians and would be particularly painful to the families of the many world-class Ukrainian athletes who have lost their lives as a result of Putin’s genocidal war,” Chyczij wrote.
Canada owes nothing to Ovechkin, not even an entry visa.
Ministers Joly and Fraser, backed up by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, should do the right thing, listen to the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, and tell Ovi and the Capitals nyet when they ask permission for him to play in Canada this January.
blilley@postmedia.com
torontosun.com
You shouldn’t get to back a genocidal, murderous dictator and be given a free pass
Author of the article:Brian Lilley
Published Dec 30, 2022 • 3 minute read
It’s time to put Ovi on ice, and by that I mean telling him that he’s not welcome in Canada anymore.
Ovi is, of course, Alexander Ovechkin, captain of the Washington Capitals and vocal backer of murderous dictator Vladimir Putin.
The Ukrainian Canadian Congress has written to the Trudeau government asking them to deny Ovechkin an entry visa to play against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Jan. 29.
“Ovechkin has been a long-time supporter of Russian President Putin having campaigned for him in the fraudulent Russian election in 2018,” the UCC wrote to Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly and Immigration Minister Sean Fraser.
“Ovechkin continues to support Putin as ‘his president’ even in the face of Russia’s genocidal war in Ukraine. Ovechkin has never condemned Russia’s genocidal war and continues to post a photo of himself with Putin on his social media account,” UCC president Alexandra Chyczij wrote in the letter.
I know, I know, we shouldn’t mix sports and politics, but no one told that to Ovi before he went and started campaigning for the butcher of Moscow. Granted, that may have been before Putin decided to invade Ukraine in February of this year, but it wasn’t before Putin’s character was well known.
During Putin’s time in office, Russia has launched invasions of Chechnya, Georgia, South Ossetia, Ukraine in 2014 with their annexation of Crimea, and has given ongoing support to the Assad regime in Syria. Russia, under Putin, has also sought to expand Russia’s influence to other countries with dictatorial regimes like the Central African Republic.
Russia under Putin has reverted into the type of country where regular citizens are oppressed, where the freedoms Ovi enjoys in North America are non-existent.
“Canada is under no obligation to allow Ovechkin to enter our country. In the view of the UCC, allowing persons who do not oppose genocide to enter Canada is incompatible with Canadian values,” Chyczij wrote.
He’s right, Canada is fully backing Ukraine in this war, we are spending an incredible amount of money to back Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his government’s efforts to beat back Putin. Allowing one of Putin’s biggest backers to enter Canada to play hockey would go against everything the Trudeau government claims to stand for in this battle.
If it were up to me, Ovechkin wouldn’t have been allowed into Canada earlier this year to play against Ottawa or Toronto.
You shouldn’t get to back a genocidal, murderous dictator like Ovechkin has done and be given a free pass by the political and sports world. The NHL has turned a blind eye to Ovi’s views, the American and Canadian governments have done the same, and the world of sports journalism has embarrassed itself on this file with few even daring to mention the issue.
There are no end of causes or political views that Ovi could have supported that would have ended his NHL career, backing Putin strangely isn’t one of them.
“Allowing Ovechkin to enter and play in Canada would be perceived as preferring the commercial interests of Ovechkin and the National Hockey League over the lives of Ukrainians and would be particularly painful to the families of the many world-class Ukrainian athletes who have lost their lives as a result of Putin’s genocidal war,” Chyczij wrote.
Canada owes nothing to Ovechkin, not even an entry visa.
Ministers Joly and Fraser, backed up by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, should do the right thing, listen to the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, and tell Ovi and the Capitals nyet when they ask permission for him to play in Canada this January.
blilley@postmedia.com
LILLEY: Trudeau should deny Ovechkin a visa to enter Canada to play Leafs in January
Alexander Ovechkin is a strong and vocal back of Vladimir Putin, he shouldn't be allowed into Canada for the next game against the Leafs.
Italian theater cancels show by Putin-tattooed Russian dancer
Author of the article:Reuters
Reuters
Published Dec 30, 2022 • 1 minute read
ROME — An Italian theater on Friday called off a show by a prominent Russian dancer who has three tattoos of President Vladimir Putin on his chest and shoulders, reacting to online protests over the artist’s scheduled appearance.
Sergei Polunin’s Jan. 28-29 show at Milan’s Arcimboldi theater was canceled “due to the pressing campaign (against it) on the internet and social media,” the theater said on its website.
Polunin was due to star in the “Rasputin – Dance Drama” ballet, originally scheduled for 2019 and repeatedly postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The theater said the cancellation was an act of “political and moral responsibility,” given “a climate of tensions and threats.” A spokeswoman said the theater had been subjected to an email campaign as well as many negative messages online.
The Arcimboldi, which said it had taken the decision in agreement with the artist’s company, said it was firmly against the war in Ukraine, noting it had staged shows by the Russian dissidents’ group Pussy Riot and Ukrainian artists.
Polunin, one of the biggest names in the dance world and a former principal at the Royal Ballet in London, was born in Ukraine, but acquired Russian citizenship in 2018. There was no immediate reply to a request for comment via his website.
In September, while on tour in Uzbekistan, he performed a dance in military uniform for fallen Russian soldiers, earning a reprimand from Uzbek authorities, who said he had deviated from an agreed program.
Performances by Russian artists and Russian artworks have become controversial in the West, in the wake of Moscow’s military campaign against Ukraine, which started on Feb. 24.
In Milan, the La Scala opera house sidelined Russian conductor Valery Gergiev after he failed to condemn the invasion, but stood by its decision to open its 2022-2023 season with the Russian work “Boris Godunov.”
torontosun.com
Author of the article:Reuters
Reuters
Published Dec 30, 2022 • 1 minute read
ROME — An Italian theater on Friday called off a show by a prominent Russian dancer who has three tattoos of President Vladimir Putin on his chest and shoulders, reacting to online protests over the artist’s scheduled appearance.
Sergei Polunin’s Jan. 28-29 show at Milan’s Arcimboldi theater was canceled “due to the pressing campaign (against it) on the internet and social media,” the theater said on its website.
Polunin was due to star in the “Rasputin – Dance Drama” ballet, originally scheduled for 2019 and repeatedly postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The theater said the cancellation was an act of “political and moral responsibility,” given “a climate of tensions and threats.” A spokeswoman said the theater had been subjected to an email campaign as well as many negative messages online.
The Arcimboldi, which said it had taken the decision in agreement with the artist’s company, said it was firmly against the war in Ukraine, noting it had staged shows by the Russian dissidents’ group Pussy Riot and Ukrainian artists.
Polunin, one of the biggest names in the dance world and a former principal at the Royal Ballet in London, was born in Ukraine, but acquired Russian citizenship in 2018. There was no immediate reply to a request for comment via his website.
In September, while on tour in Uzbekistan, he performed a dance in military uniform for fallen Russian soldiers, earning a reprimand from Uzbek authorities, who said he had deviated from an agreed program.
Performances by Russian artists and Russian artworks have become controversial in the West, in the wake of Moscow’s military campaign against Ukraine, which started on Feb. 24.
In Milan, the La Scala opera house sidelined Russian conductor Valery Gergiev after he failed to condemn the invasion, but stood by its decision to open its 2022-2023 season with the Russian work “Boris Godunov.”
Italian theater cancels show by Putin-tattooed Russian dancer
An Italian theater called off a show by a prominent Russian dancer who has tattoos of President Vladimir Putin on his chest and shoulders
Evidence of Russian crimes mounts as war in Ukraine drags on
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Michael Biesecker And Erika Kinetz
Published Dec 30, 2022 • 4 minute read
KYIV, Ukraine — Ten months into Russia’s latest invasion of Ukraine, overwhelming evidence shows the Kremlin’s troops have waged total war, with disregard for international laws governing the treatment of civilians and conduct on the battlefield.
Ukraine is investigating more than 58,000 potential Russian war crimes — killings, kidnappings, indiscriminate bombings and sexual assaults. Reporting by The Associated Press and “Frontline,” recorded in a public database, has independently verified more than 600 incidents that appear to violate the laws of war. Some of those attacks were massacres that killed dozens or hundreds of civilians and as a totality it could account for thousands of individual war crimes.
As Karim Khan, chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, told the AP, “Ukraine is a crime scene.”
That extensive documentation has run smack into a hard reality, however. While authorities have amassed a staggering amount of evidence — the conflict is among the most documented in human history — they are unlikely to arrest most of those who pulled the trigger or gave the beatings anytime soon, let alone the commanders who gave the orders and political leaders who sanctioned the attacks.
The reasons are manifold, experts say. Ukrainian authorities face serious challenges in gathering air-tight evidence in a war zone. And the vast majority of alleged war criminals have evaded capture and are safely behind Russian lines.
Even in successful prosecutions, the limits of justice so far are glaring.
Take the case of Vadim Shishimarin, a baby-faced 21-year-old tank commander who was the first Russian tried on war crimes charges. He surrendered in March and pleaded guilty in a Kyiv courtroom in May to shooting a 62-year-old Ukrainian civilian in the head.
The desire for some combination of justice and vengeance was palpable in that courtroom. “Do you consider yourself a murderer?” a woman shouted at the Russian as he stood bent forward with his head resting against the glass of the cage he was locked in.
“What about the man in the coffin?” came another, sharper voice. A third demanded the defense lawyer explain how he could fight for the Russian’s freedom.
The young soldier was first sentenced to life in prison, which was reduced to 15 years on appeal. Critics said the initial penalty was unduly harsh, given that he confessed to the crime, said he was following orders and expressed remorse.
Ukrainian prosecutors, however, have not yet been able to charge Shishimarin’s commanders or those who oversaw him. Since March, Ukraine has named more than 600 Russians, many of them high-ranking political and military officials, as suspects, including Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu. But, so far, the most powerful have not fallen into Ukrainian custody.
“It would be terrible to find a scenario in which, in the end, you convict a few people of war crimes and crimes against humanity who are low-grade or mid-grade military types or paramilitary types, but the top table gets off scot-free,” said Philippe Sands, a prominent British human rights lawyer.
Throughout the war Russian leaders have denied accusations of brutality.
Moscow’s U.N. ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, said no civilians were tortured and killed in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha despite the meticulous documentation of the atrocities by AP, other journalists, and war crimes investigators there.
“Not a single local person has suffered from any violent action,” he said, calling the photos and video of bodies in the streets “a crude forgery” staged by the Ukrainians.
Such statements have been easily rebutted by Ukrainian and international authorities, human rights groups and journalists who have meticulously documented Russian barbarity since the Kremlin ordered the unprovoked invasion in February.
Part of that effort, the AP and Frontline database called War Crimes Watch Ukraine, offers a contemporaneous catalog of the horrors of war. It is not a comprehensive accounting. AP and Frontline only included incidents that could be verified by photos, videos or firsthand witness accounts. There are hundreds of reported incidents of potential war crimes for which there was not enough publicly available evidence to independently confirm what happened.
Still, the resulting database details 10 months of attacks that appear to violate the laws of war, including 93 attacks on schools, 36 where children were killed, and more than 200 direct attacks on civilians, including torture, the kidnapping and killing of civilians, and the desecration of dead bodies. Among Russia’s targets: churches, cultural centers, hospitals, food facilities and electrical infrastructure. The database catalogs how Russia utilized cluster bombs and other indiscriminate weapons in residential neighborhoods and to attack buildings housing civilians.
An AP investigation revealed that Russia’s bombing of a theater in Mariupol, which was being used as a civilian shelter, likely killed more than 600 people. Another showed that in the first 30 days after the invasion, Russian forces struck and damaged 34 medical facilities, suggesting a pattern and intent.
“That’s a crime against the laws of war,” said Stephen Rapp, a former U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes. “Once somebody’s injured, they’re entitled to medical care. You can’t attack a hospital. That’s the oldest rule we have in international law.”
Experts say Russia under President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly ignored the rules established by the Geneva Conventions, a series of treaties that dictate how warring countries should treat each other’s citizens, and the Rome Statute, which established the International Criminal Court and defined specific war crimes and crimes against humanity.
“These abuses are not the acts of rogue units; rather, they are part of a deeply disturbing pattern of abuse consistent with what we have seen from Russia’s prior military engagements — in Chechnya, Syria, and Georgia,” said Beth Van Schaack, the U.S. Ambassador at Large for Global Criminal Justice, speaking earlier this month at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands.
torontosun.com
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Michael Biesecker And Erika Kinetz
Published Dec 30, 2022 • 4 minute read
KYIV, Ukraine — Ten months into Russia’s latest invasion of Ukraine, overwhelming evidence shows the Kremlin’s troops have waged total war, with disregard for international laws governing the treatment of civilians and conduct on the battlefield.
Ukraine is investigating more than 58,000 potential Russian war crimes — killings, kidnappings, indiscriminate bombings and sexual assaults. Reporting by The Associated Press and “Frontline,” recorded in a public database, has independently verified more than 600 incidents that appear to violate the laws of war. Some of those attacks were massacres that killed dozens or hundreds of civilians and as a totality it could account for thousands of individual war crimes.
As Karim Khan, chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, told the AP, “Ukraine is a crime scene.”
That extensive documentation has run smack into a hard reality, however. While authorities have amassed a staggering amount of evidence — the conflict is among the most documented in human history — they are unlikely to arrest most of those who pulled the trigger or gave the beatings anytime soon, let alone the commanders who gave the orders and political leaders who sanctioned the attacks.
The reasons are manifold, experts say. Ukrainian authorities face serious challenges in gathering air-tight evidence in a war zone. And the vast majority of alleged war criminals have evaded capture and are safely behind Russian lines.
Even in successful prosecutions, the limits of justice so far are glaring.
Take the case of Vadim Shishimarin, a baby-faced 21-year-old tank commander who was the first Russian tried on war crimes charges. He surrendered in March and pleaded guilty in a Kyiv courtroom in May to shooting a 62-year-old Ukrainian civilian in the head.
The desire for some combination of justice and vengeance was palpable in that courtroom. “Do you consider yourself a murderer?” a woman shouted at the Russian as he stood bent forward with his head resting against the glass of the cage he was locked in.
“What about the man in the coffin?” came another, sharper voice. A third demanded the defense lawyer explain how he could fight for the Russian’s freedom.
The young soldier was first sentenced to life in prison, which was reduced to 15 years on appeal. Critics said the initial penalty was unduly harsh, given that he confessed to the crime, said he was following orders and expressed remorse.
Ukrainian prosecutors, however, have not yet been able to charge Shishimarin’s commanders or those who oversaw him. Since March, Ukraine has named more than 600 Russians, many of them high-ranking political and military officials, as suspects, including Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu. But, so far, the most powerful have not fallen into Ukrainian custody.
“It would be terrible to find a scenario in which, in the end, you convict a few people of war crimes and crimes against humanity who are low-grade or mid-grade military types or paramilitary types, but the top table gets off scot-free,” said Philippe Sands, a prominent British human rights lawyer.
Throughout the war Russian leaders have denied accusations of brutality.
Moscow’s U.N. ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, said no civilians were tortured and killed in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha despite the meticulous documentation of the atrocities by AP, other journalists, and war crimes investigators there.
“Not a single local person has suffered from any violent action,” he said, calling the photos and video of bodies in the streets “a crude forgery” staged by the Ukrainians.
Such statements have been easily rebutted by Ukrainian and international authorities, human rights groups and journalists who have meticulously documented Russian barbarity since the Kremlin ordered the unprovoked invasion in February.
Part of that effort, the AP and Frontline database called War Crimes Watch Ukraine, offers a contemporaneous catalog of the horrors of war. It is not a comprehensive accounting. AP and Frontline only included incidents that could be verified by photos, videos or firsthand witness accounts. There are hundreds of reported incidents of potential war crimes for which there was not enough publicly available evidence to independently confirm what happened.
Still, the resulting database details 10 months of attacks that appear to violate the laws of war, including 93 attacks on schools, 36 where children were killed, and more than 200 direct attacks on civilians, including torture, the kidnapping and killing of civilians, and the desecration of dead bodies. Among Russia’s targets: churches, cultural centers, hospitals, food facilities and electrical infrastructure. The database catalogs how Russia utilized cluster bombs and other indiscriminate weapons in residential neighborhoods and to attack buildings housing civilians.
An AP investigation revealed that Russia’s bombing of a theater in Mariupol, which was being used as a civilian shelter, likely killed more than 600 people. Another showed that in the first 30 days after the invasion, Russian forces struck and damaged 34 medical facilities, suggesting a pattern and intent.
“That’s a crime against the laws of war,” said Stephen Rapp, a former U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes. “Once somebody’s injured, they’re entitled to medical care. You can’t attack a hospital. That’s the oldest rule we have in international law.”
Experts say Russia under President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly ignored the rules established by the Geneva Conventions, a series of treaties that dictate how warring countries should treat each other’s citizens, and the Rome Statute, which established the International Criminal Court and defined specific war crimes and crimes against humanity.
“These abuses are not the acts of rogue units; rather, they are part of a deeply disturbing pattern of abuse consistent with what we have seen from Russia’s prior military engagements — in Chechnya, Syria, and Georgia,” said Beth Van Schaack, the U.S. Ambassador at Large for Global Criminal Justice, speaking earlier this month at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands.
Evidence of Russian crimes mounts as war in Ukraine drags on
Ten months into Russia's latest invasion of Ukraine, overwhelming evidence shows the Kremlin's troops have waged total war
Rise of Putin supporters across the West a disturbing trend
The Russian dictator isn't a leader to be celebrated or supported
Author of the article:Brian Lilley
Published Dec 31, 2022 • 4 minute read
The support that Vladimir Putin has in this country, across the Western world in fact, is truly disturbing.
A man who opposes everything that makes Western democracies great — the most successful societies in the world — has admirers in Canada, the United States and elsewhere for all the wrong reasons.
They are wiling to overlook his genocidal war in Ukraine, the way he has invaded other countries from Chechnya, Georgia, South Ossetia and his annexation of Crimea in 2014. They are willing to overlook his murderous ways that ensure his political opponents meet an untimely end and that protest movements are shut down immediately.
In the Cold War era, there were plenty of people who thought Moscow was superior to Washington, London or Ottawa in terms of how the government was run. These tended to be hardcore communists who thought we missed out in not having a glorious workers revolution.
Today, support for Putin, and his government in Moscow still comes in part from the far left, but increasingly it is the far right or the politically disaffected who look to the would-be strongman with a glint in their eye.
Support for Putin is where the extremes meet.
I’ve heard from Putin backers for years, it was a phenomenon I noted about a decade ago. Those who thought he was standing up for the real Western values because he backed the resurgent Orthodox Church and against modernism in any way. The reality is Putin supports the Orthodox Church in the same way many American politicians support the Evangelical Church – he uses it and abuses it for political gain.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, there’s been no shortage of people willing to stand up and say Putin is right, that NATO countries threatened him by trying to put a member on his borders. The truth is, Russia — and the USSR before it — has had NATO on their borders for decades. Putin simply covets controlling Ukraine, which is why he invaded.
Since writing again recently about Alexander Ovechkin’s disgusting and ongoing support for Putin, I’ve heard from even more supporters of the dictatorial regime.
Some see Putin as superior to elected leaders
Kevin wrote to tell me that my latest column was a pile of horse manure but then went further in a way too many do.
“Our prime minister is just as much as a bastard as Putin is,” he wrote.
“Trudeau is way more genocidal than Ovechkin,” Rory wrote. “You’re an idiot who deserves to be sent into war against the Russians.”
Randy Hillier, the former Ontario MPP, one-time leadership contender for the PC Party, said he’d stand with Putin over Trudeau.
“I would proudly stand beside Putin before being seen within 10 ft of Justin Trudeau,” Hillier tweeted in reply to a column about Ovechkin supporting Putin.
I have a lot of problems with Trudeau’s policies, his ethics, and his treatment of fellow Canadians, but the idea that he is worse than Putin is preposterous. Even critics of Trudeau’s handling of COVID, the convoy and the invocation of the Emergencies Act would have to admit Putin’s oppression is far worse.
Trudeau’s opponents don’t mysteriously fall out of hotel windows or get poked with an umbrella and die of a rare poison, yet this is what happens to Putin’s opponents. Any reaction from Putin to a convoy protest-type situation would have been much harsher, deadlier and oppressive.
Putin is an evil man, not a great leader
To many Putin backers though, Western governments — be they led by Trudeau, Biden, Bush, Trump, Harper, Johnson, Cameron or Blair — are all worse than what we see out of Moscow.
It’s a fallacy on par with the fallacy that the old Soviet Union was morally equal to Western Democracies. Some people just hate their own government so much, they can’t assess the situation fairly or accurately.
Many have also fallen prey to Russian disinformation campaigns, it’s clear as you watch their arguments. Dating back to 2016, Russia’s play in the U.S. Presidential election was not to make sure Trump won but to undermine trust in governments and institutions in the West.
It continues to this day.
It’s why they see Ukraine, the country that Putin invaded as the aggressor in this fight. Seeing Kremlin talking points show up in emails or tweets in reply to columns has become far too common but is still jarring.
Putin is not a great leader, he’s not a good leader, he is an evil man who should be shunned as should those who support him. That too many are willing to back the butcher in Moscow shows his disinformation campaign has been effective.
Thankfully most people can still see the truth. Let’s hope those on the side of Putin will see the light one day.
blilley@postmedia.com
torontosun.com
The Russian dictator isn't a leader to be celebrated or supported
Author of the article:Brian Lilley
Published Dec 31, 2022 • 4 minute read
The support that Vladimir Putin has in this country, across the Western world in fact, is truly disturbing.
A man who opposes everything that makes Western democracies great — the most successful societies in the world — has admirers in Canada, the United States and elsewhere for all the wrong reasons.
They are wiling to overlook his genocidal war in Ukraine, the way he has invaded other countries from Chechnya, Georgia, South Ossetia and his annexation of Crimea in 2014. They are willing to overlook his murderous ways that ensure his political opponents meet an untimely end and that protest movements are shut down immediately.
In the Cold War era, there were plenty of people who thought Moscow was superior to Washington, London or Ottawa in terms of how the government was run. These tended to be hardcore communists who thought we missed out in not having a glorious workers revolution.
Today, support for Putin, and his government in Moscow still comes in part from the far left, but increasingly it is the far right or the politically disaffected who look to the would-be strongman with a glint in their eye.
Support for Putin is where the extremes meet.
I’ve heard from Putin backers for years, it was a phenomenon I noted about a decade ago. Those who thought he was standing up for the real Western values because he backed the resurgent Orthodox Church and against modernism in any way. The reality is Putin supports the Orthodox Church in the same way many American politicians support the Evangelical Church – he uses it and abuses it for political gain.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, there’s been no shortage of people willing to stand up and say Putin is right, that NATO countries threatened him by trying to put a member on his borders. The truth is, Russia — and the USSR before it — has had NATO on their borders for decades. Putin simply covets controlling Ukraine, which is why he invaded.
Since writing again recently about Alexander Ovechkin’s disgusting and ongoing support for Putin, I’ve heard from even more supporters of the dictatorial regime.
Some see Putin as superior to elected leaders
Kevin wrote to tell me that my latest column was a pile of horse manure but then went further in a way too many do.
“Our prime minister is just as much as a bastard as Putin is,” he wrote.
“Trudeau is way more genocidal than Ovechkin,” Rory wrote. “You’re an idiot who deserves to be sent into war against the Russians.”
Randy Hillier, the former Ontario MPP, one-time leadership contender for the PC Party, said he’d stand with Putin over Trudeau.
“I would proudly stand beside Putin before being seen within 10 ft of Justin Trudeau,” Hillier tweeted in reply to a column about Ovechkin supporting Putin.
I have a lot of problems with Trudeau’s policies, his ethics, and his treatment of fellow Canadians, but the idea that he is worse than Putin is preposterous. Even critics of Trudeau’s handling of COVID, the convoy and the invocation of the Emergencies Act would have to admit Putin’s oppression is far worse.
Trudeau’s opponents don’t mysteriously fall out of hotel windows or get poked with an umbrella and die of a rare poison, yet this is what happens to Putin’s opponents. Any reaction from Putin to a convoy protest-type situation would have been much harsher, deadlier and oppressive.
Putin is an evil man, not a great leader
To many Putin backers though, Western governments — be they led by Trudeau, Biden, Bush, Trump, Harper, Johnson, Cameron or Blair — are all worse than what we see out of Moscow.
It’s a fallacy on par with the fallacy that the old Soviet Union was morally equal to Western Democracies. Some people just hate their own government so much, they can’t assess the situation fairly or accurately.
Many have also fallen prey to Russian disinformation campaigns, it’s clear as you watch their arguments. Dating back to 2016, Russia’s play in the U.S. Presidential election was not to make sure Trump won but to undermine trust in governments and institutions in the West.
It continues to this day.
It’s why they see Ukraine, the country that Putin invaded as the aggressor in this fight. Seeing Kremlin talking points show up in emails or tweets in reply to columns has become far too common but is still jarring.
Putin is not a great leader, he’s not a good leader, he is an evil man who should be shunned as should those who support him. That too many are willing to back the butcher in Moscow shows his disinformation campaign has been effective.
Thankfully most people can still see the truth. Let’s hope those on the side of Putin will see the light one day.
blilley@postmedia.com
LILLEY: Rise of Putin supporters across the West a disturbing trend
The support that Vladimir Putin has in this country, across the Western world in fact, is truly disturbing.
So much for "free speech" or "tolerance" of other people. While you may not agree with Ovechkin, isn't he entitled to believe what he wants as long as it doesn't "harm" others that he's in contact with? While I don't agree with him about Putin and many disagree with me, about Trudeau are we not able to voice our opinions either without condemnation? I REALLY dislike Trudeau (as everyone here knows) but I am free to voice my disapproval of him despite others who may like or even love him. Both Trudeau & Putin are disgusting individuals but I am free to say that aren't I?
Just askin' - seems freedom to believe in whatever someone wants is under attack UNLESS it's a Trans, LGBTQ yada yada (woke crap) - there the freedom of speech ends apparently.
Just throwin' that out there.....
Just askin' - seems freedom to believe in whatever someone wants is under attack UNLESS it's a Trans, LGBTQ yada yada (woke crap) - there the freedom of speech ends apparently.
Just throwin' that out there.....
Hate Trudeau all you want - and many of us do to varying levels - but ANYONE who supports Putin at this point, well, replace Putin with "Hitler", "Pol Pot" "Stalin" "Mussolini" or any other DICKtator/extremist and that's telling you the kind of person they are. Because there is no difference between Putin and any of the previous historical madmen, or the current regime of them (Like Kim Jong Un for example).
As for the former MP who would "Stand with Putin" over Trudeau...
GTFO out of my damned Country and move to effin' Russia then. I'm sure you'd be welcomed - on the front lines - with open arms and lots of bullets deserved.
As for the former MP who would "Stand with Putin" over Trudeau...
GTFO out of my damned Country and move to effin' Russia then. I'm sure you'd be welcomed - on the front lines - with open arms and lots of bullets deserved.
When this is over Ukraine becomes an unrivalled European economic powerhouse.
Trudeau...Biden... it doesn't matter. It's all about money to the tune of 700 Ukr and Ruskie lives per day.
Trudeau...Biden... it doesn't matter. It's all about money to the tune of 700 Ukr and Ruskie lives per day.
The point is Serryah, if we condemned his speech, we'd never know what he was thinking which is why the cancel culture is so bad. We are now in the position of challenging him on his beliefs. How would "cancelling" his opinion help us otherwise?
The point is, Dix, we know who he is NOW.
He supports despots, dictators, racists, evil over other people.
And in that, we either deal with it, or just turn a blind eye to it and let history repeat itself.
I would MUCH rather be on the side of dealing with it. For Ovechkin, you ban his ass from Canada, for life. He crosses, he's arrested for supporting terrorism and crimes against humanity.
As for the MPP Randy Hillier? You give him one chance, one, to recant what he said. If he won't, he's a fucking goddamn piece of trash traitor to EVERYTHING Canada is supposed to be and you toss his ass in jail for it for the same supporting terrorism and crimes against humanity.
There is NO reason in this goddamn world to support people like Putin, EVER.
And if you agree with that, then YOU - whoever you are - are just as much a worthless piece of trash and deserve the same jail cell.
As for "Condemning" their speech? You're goddamn RIGHT I do! Anyone SANE should be condemning their support of Putin. Cancel culture? For FUCKS sake, this ISN'T Cancel Culture, this is a matter of what's right and wrong here. JFC. Wake the fuck UP! The fucking bastard keeps threatening Nukes, FFS. "Oh he won't-" DO NOT believe that for a second. Sure, he "might" not, but the whole thing that he IS threatening it - and he's such an egomaniac, narcissist and power hungry asshole - that there is an actual legit chance he COULD, should be enough to at least give people a second thought about supporting him.
I don't know what kind of Canada YOU want, Dix, but I want one that stands up to people like Putin. And as horrible as Trudeau is, he's nowhere NEAR the evil sonofabitch that Putin is and comparing the two is insane.
Ovechikin and Hillier made their opinions known, they weren't "cancelled" before they said what they did, but now they deserve to have the consequences of their insanity put upon them. That's not cancelling, Dix, that's "you fucked up, here's your consequences". And that has ALWAYS been part of any "speech" people toss out there. Or are you denying that? Cause you KNOW that's not true.
Nobody proposed "cancelling" him, however the hell that would be accomplished. He shot off his mouth and now he's getting the pushback.
Calling a fucking disgusting piece of shit a fucking disgusting piece of shit isn't "cancelling" anything. It's exercising the freedom of speech you claim to support.
And then there are Russians in Canada who won't say a peep about Putin or the war for fear of being arrested at the airport if the go home to visit family.
Or having their family arrested if they don’t go home or say the wrong things, etc…
Sign My Rocket - Send Your Greetings To Russian Occupiers!
Support Ukraine's army and send a message to Russian soldiers by signing a shell or rocket with Sign My Rocket.
signmyrocket.com