Wednesday Night #2189

AGAIN!
Days Before Shutdown Deadline, Biden Summons Congressional Leaders for Talks
President Biden plans to discuss the urgency of legislation to keep federal funding going past midnight on Friday. And that’s not the only problem: Mitch McConnell will step down as the Senate Republican leader in November, leaving a huge hole to be filled.
Plus, See Heather Cox Richardson Long reads below
Can we dock the pay of all legislators contributing to these crises? Or introduce petitions for their recall? Above all, recall Mike Johnson and find a worthy Speaker!

Following Tuesday’s Michigan primary –Biden wins Michigan primary, but Gaza protest vote gathers solid support– and prior to Super Tuesday 5 March, we recommend George F. Will’s Despite anticipation of a Trump nomination, Super Tuesday demands to be heard, citing some possibly relevant stats and concluding “The political air is thick with the theory that Trump’s nomination is something to be anticipated with certainty and accepted philosophically. He is, however, a blimp filled with two lighter-than-air gases — the charisma of wealth, and an aura of invincibility among Republicans. He has lied ludicrously about the former; Haley can continue to dissipate the latter.”

Progress?
Hamas and Israel pour cold water on Biden’s hopes of imminent ceasefire
Hamas and Israel pour cold water on Biden’s hopes of imminent ceasefire
US president’s remarks that there could be truce by Monday are ‘premature’, says political head of Hamas in Gaza
Israeli and Hamas officials have downplayed hopes expressed by Joe Biden that a ceasefire in the war in Gaza is imminent, raising questions about whether a temporary truce can be implemented before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan begins [on Sunday, March 10th, or Monday, March 11th 2024 depending on the sighting of the moon] in two weeks’ time.
Hamas studies Paris truce proposal involving 40-day pause and hostage exchange, source says
Details of 40-day Gaza truce draft proposal being studied by Hamas
U.S. President Joe Biden said Israel has agreed to halt military activities in Gaza for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan as the Islamist group studied the draft proposal.
In the Wake of the War in Gaza, Is the Two-State Solution Still Viable?
Foreign Affairs surveyed dozens of authorities with specialized expertise relevant to the question, together with leading generalists in the field. Participants were asked to state whether they agreed or disagreed and to rate their confidence level in their opinion.

C. Uday Bhaskar: Gaza war gives Global South powers a chance to provide moral leadership
(SCMP) The Global South – an elastic phrase which comprises numerous nations who are seeking to reorient their external policies amid the turbulence engendered by the wars in Ukraine and now Gaza – is increasingly frustrated with the policy paralysis among the major powers. The US is no longer seen as the reliable hegemon for ensuring global stability and the likelihood of a Trump presidency has added to this anxiety.
The Global South – an elastic phrase which comprises numerous nations who are seeking to reorient their external policies amid the turbulence engendered by the wars in Ukraine and now Gaza – is increasingly frustrated with the policy paralysis among the major powers. The US is no longer seen as the reliable hegemon for ensuring global stability and the likelihood of a Trump presidency has added to this anxiety.

Putin’s War
The second anniversary of Russia’s attack on Ukraine was marked on Saturday with mixed emotions. While Ukraine’s perseverance is admired, (financial) support for the cause is dwindling, most notably among the members of the U.S. Congress.
Kyle Matthews spoke on CTV about the Ukraine war and whether war crimes were committed, and urged Canada and other countries to listen to Bill Browder and transfer to Ukraine over 300 billion $ of seized Russians assets.

Policy Magazine put together an excellent retrospective:
Ukraine Second Anniversary: Policy Coverage from Day One
We’re marking the second anniversary of the illegal invasion of Ukraine with a retrospective of Policy coverage — a timeline of pieces from among the many excellent ones filed on Ukraine in the past two years. It begins on Day One of the war, with a piece filed by longtime Policy contributing writer, Pendulum Group founding partner and former president of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress Yaroslav Baran hours after Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine and the bombing of Kyiv began

Iran goes to the polls on Friday
Iranians go to the polls on March 1 to vote for a new parliament, which will serve for a four-year term. They will also vote for members of the Assembly of Experts, a body of clerics that is tasked with selecting a new Supreme Leader and serves a six-year term. However, given that the Islamic regime now carefully manages election outcomes to protect its grip on power, voter participation is expected to plumb new record lows. See Long reads for analysis.

Russian opposition – Alexei Navalny, Yulia Navalnaya
Ever since Alexei Navalny’s murder, the behaviour of the Russian authorities has ranged from cruel to crude to laughable attempts at deniability. They have no shame. Finally, his body was released to his mother, and it is now confirmed that his funeral and burial will take place on Friday.
Previously, Associates say they can’t find a location in the Russian capital that will allow them to organize a public farewell ceremony for the Kremlin critic after his mother said she was being blackmailed by officials to hold a secret commemoration.

The Russians are Coming! -The threat of space based weapons is no longer a dark fantasy, however, Paul Meyer sums up the probable nature and capabilities of the “a nuclear anti-satellite system” before concluding “There is a need instead for middle powers, and the major and growing group of non-governmental stakeholders in peaceful uses of outer space, to engage more actively in promoting cooperative security measures in outer space. It is indeed the “responsible” thing for states to do.”
In what appears at first glance to be an encouraging development, China urges largest nuclear states to negotiate a ‘no-first-use’ treaty – but, we wonder how North Korea will react to this suggestion; and what about the nuclear states who deny having the capability? Israel, anyone?

Although not occupying the same print and air wave space as Israel-Hamas, Ukraine and the Red Sea crisis, The Compacts of Free Association (COFA), Congress, and Strategic Competition for the Pacific deserves your attention. “COFA has served as a key foundation for U.S. engagement in and across the Pacific for decades, but with a potential lapse of this arrangement on the horizon, China is waiting eagerly to fill the void.”
Cleo Paskal has been campaigning for understanding of the critical importance of the region for years and only recently have increasing numbers of voices joined her.

It is really difficult to keep track of all the conferences/high level meetings to which we should be paying attention especially when they pop up under different guises (see ceasefire/peace talks)
Western powers tangle over Russian assets at G20 finance meeting
Western powers butted heads over how to handle frozen Russian assets on Wednesday as G20 finance ministers kicked off a discussion of challenges for the global economy, trying to set aside deep geopolitical divisions. Brazilian officials hosting the two-day meeting in Sao Paulo sought to focus talks on economic cooperation to tackle issues such as climate change and poverty, proposing a joint statement that avoids direct mention of the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.
Closed-door negotiations in Paris …meeting of spy chiefs, military officials and diplomats
The secretive talks at an unknown location in Paris involved David Barnea, the head of Israel’s Mossad intelligence service, conducting separate meetings with Egyptian spy chief Abbas Kamel, head of the CIA William Burns and Qatari prime minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani.
The on-going Qatari mediation talks with the US and Egypt to broker a truce that would involve an extended halt in fighting and the release of hostages held by Hamas. Israel’s War Cabinet Approves More Talks in Qatar
France convened -on short notice- some 20 European leaders on Monday to send Putin a message of European resolve on Ukraine.
Macron doesn’t rule out sending Western troops to Ukraine
European leaders agreed to boost ammunition purchases from third-country suppliers.
Abu Dhabi is hosting the 164 member countries at the biennial World Trade Organization conference
U.N. Conference on Disarmament weekly meeting in Geneva – where China put forward its no-first-use policy proposal “Conference on Disarmament not functioning as intended”: UN chief calls for implementation of nuclear commitments
Global high-level technical meeting on noncommunicable diseases in humanitarian settings: building resilient health systems, leaving no-one behind, co-organized by the World Health Organization and UNHCR
For something different, try the Principles First Summit 2024, the three-day grassroots summit on rebuilding principled [U.S.] leadership that serves our country—not partisanship or personality.

It’s official: Sweden to join NATO
Sweden cleared the final hurdle to become the military alliance’s 32nd member after Hungary — the last holdout among the countries — held a parliamentary vote to approve the move
Does Sweden joining make the Baltic Sea a ‘NATO lake’?

After a glorious holiday in Sicily, Andrew Caddell and now in Switzerland, is highly doubtful that he will join WN at 3am his time, so sent along his two most recent columns. The first recalls “The last time a member of my family came to Sicily was July 10, 1943. My father, Philip “Pip” Caddell, and several thousand Canadians arrived on the shores of Pachino to liberate Italy. It was the greatest wartime assault on a coast ever, even greater than D-Day.” It concludes “As our world becomes more and more dangerous, I have to wonder if the generations that followed have the strength to endure a terrible conflict like the Second World War, whether our military has the means to fight as our parents and grandparents did, and if our leaders have the courage to lead us in a similar conflict.”
In his second column “Does travel change us for the better?”, Andrew muses that “like anything, you get out of an experience what you put into it. But is travel good for our destinations?” – certainly not always -think Venice or any of the beautiful ports invaded by huge, ugly, polluting cruise ships.

Canada
Arif Virani’s new frontier -the first major test for Justice Minister Virani, the rookie Cabinet minister who ascended to the high-profile role in July after David Lametti was shuffled out.Five things to know about Canada’s proposed law to guard against online harms
Let’s hope the government handles this issue better than ArriveCan. BNN invites you to “Explore the nationwide controversy surrounding the ArriveCan scandal, revealing financial irregularities and political tensions. Uncover the implications for governance and potential policy reforms in light of the scandal” – sounds like a blurb for a Netflix film and should be equally riveting.
Deal on pharmacare bill has been reached with Liberals ahead of March deadline
The legislation is a critical piece of the supply-and-confidence pact between the two parties, in which the NDP agreed to support the Liberals on key votes in the Commons
Concordia, McGill to take Quebec to court over tuition hikes for out-of-province student
We are thrilled that McGill and Concordia are launching separate lawsuits against the Quebec government over tuition hikes for out-of-province students. Both lawsuits argue that the government’s measures constitute discrimination under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
They also argue the tuition hikes were unreasonable and were adopted following an inadequate consultation process.
To read the long, sad story of how they came to this, read on
Duplicitous thy name is Déry
Behind the scenes: A timeline of how McGill and Concordia were blindsided on tuition
In October 2023, after months of meetings with Higher Education Minister Pascale Déry, the English universities thought tuition reform would not hurt them. They were very wrong.

Alan Hustak writes “So after 155 years of being Called British Columbia, B.C. is being asked to change the name of the province because “British” is now an offensive word? I really have lived too long” and elaborates “there is a move to drop the word British or change the name of the province, because some people can’t relate to still being or ever having been “British.”

Varia
Women’s camel racing team takes an ancient sport back to the future
Camel racing is an ancient sport. There are records of races on the Arabian Peninsula that date back to the 7th century. These days, it’s still hugely popular, with robot jockeys and cash prizes. But a new team is taking camel racing back to its roots — with a twist

Long reads/listens
Heather Cox Richardson Letters from an American February 27, 2024
The House of Representatives will be back in session tomorrow after the February 19 Presidents Day holiday. It is facing a number of crucial issues, but the ongoing problem of the radicalism of the MAGA Republicans has ground—and, apparently, continues to grind—legislation to a halt.
Iranian election turnout could set new record low
Eurasia Group analyst Greg Brew explains the significance of this week’s polls.
A World At War: What’s at stake – What can be done? (Podcast)
(Policy) In its inaugural episode, the Red Passport dives right into the twin crises in Ukraine and Gaza – and their impact on Canada.
Louise Blais, Peter Donolo and Jeremy Kinsman – in our opinion, Donolo is the weak link.
Thomas L. Friedman: Israel Is Losing Its Greatest Asset: Acceptance
I’ve spent the past few days traveling from New Delhi to Dubai and Amman, and I have an urgent message to deliver to President Biden and the Israeli people: I am seeing the increasingly rapid erosion of Israel’s standing among friendly nations — a level of acceptance and legitimacy that was painstakingly built up over decades. And if Biden is not careful, America’s global standing will plummet right along with Israel’s.
I don’t think Israelis or the Biden administration fully appreciate the rage that is bubbling up around the world, fueled by social media and TV footage, over the deaths of so many thousands of Palestinian civilians, particularly children, with U.S.-supplied weapons in Israel’s war in Gaza. Hamas has much to answer for in triggering this human tragedy, but Israel and the U.S. are seen as driving events now and getting most of the blame.
Why People Fail to Notice Horrors Around Them
By Tali Sharot and Cass R. Sunstein
Dr. Sharot is a neuroscience professor at University College London and M.I.T. Mr. Sunstein is a law professor at Harvard.
In the words of Abraham Joshua Heschel: “We must learn how to be surprised, not to adjust ourselves.” We can learn to become surprised by corruption, deaths from opioids, abuse of animals in food production or gun violence. After learning about how people habituate, more of us may be able to follow Heschel’s advice — to detect and focus on not-so-great, or even terrible, features of our lives and societies that we have come to take for granted.
Islamofascism and Islamophobia
By Eduardo del Buey
Samuel Huntingdon’s main argument in his seminal book The Clash of Civilizations is that wars will increasingly be fought not between countries but by civilizations and cultures.
Huntington argues that the resurgence of Islam “embodies the rejection of Western culture, and the recommitment to Islam as the guide to life in the modern world”. Religion is the primary factor that distinguishes Muslim politics and society from other countries. Huntington also argues that the failure of state economies, the large young population, and the authoritarian style of governance have all contributed to the resurgence of Islam in society.
Islam and the West are two conflicting cultures, offering very different world views. And herein lies the challenge for the West. Samuel Huntingdon: The Clash of Civilizations -Chapter 1