CA4UA 🦋

The EU has said it will maintain its diplomatic presence in Kiev unchanged, despite Russia's warnings. Well, apparently they've got diplomats to spare and need to trim the headcount.

You know the Kremlin is panicking when they start warning diplomats to evacuate Kyiv. The last thing Russia wants is a bunch of blown up diplomats on their hands. What do they want? Western politicians and media scared of ‘mighty Russia’ pressuring Ukraine to surrender territory.

Terrifying video of Russian glide bomb striking right next to a typical café in Kramatorsk yesterday. No military purpose, pure terrorism. Please watch this video and listen to the sound. This is the daily life of ordinary Ukrainian civilians in towns and cities, not only in Kramatorsk, but in dozens of places, from small villages to big cities. Russia must be stopped, and Ukraine needs all possible help to get it done.

Pete Hoekstra is the United States Ambassador to Canada. A man appointed specifically to understand Canada. Whose entire job, when distilled to its essence, is to comprehend why Canadians feel the way they do about the country directly to their south – the country that just slapped tariffs on their exports, questioned their sovereignty, and suggested they might want to consider becoming the 51st state. And when a journalist asks him, with admirable patience, whether he understands where that frustration is coming from, he doesn’t say “it’s complicated.” He doesn’t say “we have work to do.” He says, with the serene confidence of a man who has never once been troubled by self-awareness: “Absolutely, no.” Absolutely. No. Not just no. He reached into the English language and found the one adverb that makes the answer worse. This is a diplomat. This is America’s official representative to a nation of 40 million people who are currently being economically strong-armed by his boss. His job – his only job – is to understand Canadians. And he has looked that job squarely in the face and said: not today. You genuinely could not find a better summary of current American foreign policy if you wrote it yourself.

Pete Hoekstra: You've got folks who are doing everything they can to get the Canadian public to rally against America. Just doesn't make any sense. Radio-Canada: But do you understand where that frustration is coming from? Hoekstra: Absolutely, no.

A woman in russia stands silently holding a sign saying “two words.” That is all it takes. She is immediately detained by russian police. As she is being arrested, another woman asks the person filming whether he also interviews people who support the war. Before she can say anything else, she is arrested as well. The irony is striking: even a woman who appears ready to defend pro-war views is detained without hesitation. In a system built on fear, the content of your opinion matters less than the fact that you are speaking independently. This is what “freedom of speech” looks like in today’s russia. This video is a powerful reminder that authoritarian regimes do not fear violence nearly as much as they fear words.