Osedax Writer

  The Bank of Canada just issued its’ annual report (at 8:19PM EST) and it contains some absolutely stunning narrative construction. Tiff Macklem sets the scene in the Governor’s Foreword: At the start of 2022, inflation was already elevated. This largely reflected widespread and persistent supply chain disruptions amid strong global demand for goods. Then in February, Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine caused global prices of oil and other commodities to rise sharply , pushing inflation even higher. And from there, inflation broadened and intensified. This reflected the pass-through of higher energy, food and shipping costs to many goods and services prices. It also reflected rising price pressures domestically. When the Canadian economy fully reopened, consumers wanted to catch up on what they had missed, but businesses couldn’t keep up with the increased demand . This put upward pressure on the prices of many services. This simplified explanation - laying the blame evenly ...

  “[T]here are few die well that die in a battle, for how can they charitably dispose of anything when blood is their argument? Now, if these men do not die well, it will be a black matter for the king that led them to it [...]” Henry V, Act IV, Scene I As the current hot phase of the US-led proxy war against Russia enters its’ second year, the questions surrounding Ukraine’s ability to sustain combat operations in the long term are mounting. While casualty numbers on both sides of the conflict are tightly kept secrets, the simple mechanics of how the fighting is being conducted allows even a casual observer to make some educated assumptions and perceive a worsening situation for Ukraine. Russian forces have been conducting very effective counter-battery artillery warfare throughout their “special military operation” – utilizing drones and passive acoustic detection to pinpoint Ukrainian gun crews and destroying them at a rate and scale that signifies a critical weakening of the ab...

  On November 7, Global News published an explosive report by journalist Sam Cooper which detailed allegations of a “vast campaign of foreign interference” undertaken by China in order to influence the democratic process in Canada. Chief among the claims is that the Communist Party of China (CPC) made “payments through intermediaries to candidates” in the 2019 election. This information came from persons affiliated with a single source – the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, or CSIS. The grievous nature of the claims was immediately muted, however, by the curious stance of the CSIS sources who “told Global News it could not answer some questions” about them. The sources asked Cooper to withhold their names from the story “out of fear of retribution,” which is odd considering that those who are acting in defence of democracy should theoretically be regarded as heroes and praised. That these sources would be afraid, after performing a supposedly noble act, introduced some stat...

  Speaking at a recent event hosted by the Brookings Institution , Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland issued a stark outlook for the future in a world where “autocracies are making a comeback.” “History hasn’t ended. We share the planet with authoritarian regimes, and there is no inevitability to their decline. Just as there is no inevitability to our continued existence. Democracies account for a minority of the world’s population, and while we possess, comfortably , more than half of its’ wealth, our portion is shrinking. We need to assume that in the decades to come we will be sharing the planet with rich and powerful countries who do not share our values.” Freeland’s language is easily deciphered here: “Democracies,” or those countries whose financial interests have completely co-opted the power of governance for their own benefit, are under threat from “authoritarian regimes,” those countries who have constructed strong state institutions to counter the influence of priva...

  “You should not hesitate to commit the greatest crime if the good of the cause requires it.” This slogan, taken up by Ukrainian nationalists in 1929, seems to be resonating throughout the current Russo-Ukrainian war and beyond, penetrating deep into the halls of power in all countries in the NATO bloc as rhetoric regarding a nuclear escalation reaches a fever pitch. While US President Joe Biden had to walk back his comments that the risk of nuclear Armageddon was closer than the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 (the White House stated that there was no sign that Russia was preparing any sort of nuclear strike), Western media have been obsessively publishing opinion pieces, stories and content about a “desperate” Vladimir Putin with his finger on the button. Having pushed their capabilities to the breaking point with extreme sanctions policies, constant weapons shipments, and nonstop financial aid to prop up Ukraine’s economy, one gets the impression that the US/NATO planners not only...

  On September 21st, Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered an early Christmas present to NATO . A mobilization of 300,000 reservists, calling up just over 1% of the total reserve capacity of Russia in order to bolster the forces currently engaged in the Russo-Ukrainian war theater. Despite the endless statements about Ukrainian battlefield success, the hyping of game-changing weapon systems, and the constant mockery or condemnation of everything Russian, Putin’s act of mobilization and accompanying address were received with a strange level of suspicion and uncertainty in Western media. If Ukraine is destined to win a military victory with the massive support of their coalition, why should this mobilization be of any concern to NATO countries? Putting the mobilization order aside for a moment, media outlets quickly made hay out of Putin’s statement – cherry-picking his pointed reminder of the nuclear deterrence posture of the Russian Federation and characterizing it as a direc...

  On August 26th, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau welcomed NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg to 4 Wing Cold Lake, a military base in northern Alberta. During the short press conference, Trudeau made reference to “the western, and northern approaches to NATO” that were protected by “Canada’s strength” and the leadership role of Canada in the “Enhanced Forward Presence Battle Group on NATO’s eastern flank, in Latvia.” Where exactly the geographical borders of NATO are seems, at the moment, difficult to properly determine. NATO member nations have established military bases on foreign soil around the globe - the US alone operating bases in 85 foreign countries. Under the theme of collective security through the NATO framework, Trudeau praised the June announcement of $38.6 billion of funding over the next 20 years for NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command), noting that “these investments represent the most significant upgrade...