Wednesday Night #2280

Horrific fire in Hong Kong:
3 Construction Officials Arrested in Fire That Killed 44 in Hong Kong
The exact cause of the blaze at a high-rise complex was not known, but the authorities suspect that materials on the exterior of the towers did not meet fire-safety standards.
The authorities suspect that the materials used on the exterior walls of the buildings, including protective netting and sheeting, did not meet fire safety standards, said Lai Yee Chung, a senior police superintendent. In one of the buildings, foam boards known to be flammable were installed outside elevator lobby windows on every floor. Officials believe there was “gross negligence” on the part of those responsible for construction, “leading to this accident and the rapid spread of the fire and such serious casualties,” she said.

U.S. – Russia Ukraine Peace Plan
The presentation by U.S. representatives (of highly questionable competence)  of the Russian-authored 28-point “peace plan” prompted fast and furious reactions , and were immediately countered by the 19-point plan currently under debate.
In his latest column, Russian Unreality and American Weakness (see Long reads) , Timothy Snyder states “the American diplomacy of the past few days, I believe, will stand out as something peculiarly gruesome — not simply incompetent, but openly courting national and global catastrophe”. He continues: “It would be more accurately described as a plan to intensify the war to the profit of a few Russians and Americans”.
Heather Cox Richardson’s November 23, 2025 post (see Long reads) quotes Yaroslav Trofimov, chief foreign affairs correspondent of the Wall Street Journal, [who] posted: “Foreign nations now have to deal with rival factions of the U.S. government who keep major policy initiatives secret from each other and some of which work with foreign powers as the succession battle for 2028 begins, is how one diplomat put it.”
Jeremy Kinsman adds his voice in Multilateralism vs. Unilateralism, or the Big Trump Breakup, concluding that
Maybe Trump will correctly read America’s changing mood, and the derisory assessment of his peace plan at home and abroad, turn his presidential ship around, and pressure Russia
More broadly, distraught internationalist US ex-allies have to concert to salvage as much of the rules and principle-based global system as possible. President Ramaphosa of South Africa evinced the hope that America’s isolation from the G20 and international cooperation might encourage other nations now to connect more productively with each other.
If so, Minister Anand correctly saw the G20 declarations and pushback over the shameful 28-point peace plan as a global re-set in that commitment, indeed a “good day”, at a bad time, for multilateralism.
See also Thomas Friedman: Trump’s Neville Chamberlain Prize (Long reads)
…President Trump just might get a peace prize that would secure his place in history. Unfortunately, though, it is not that Nobel peace prize he so covets. It is the “Neville Chamberlain Peace Prize” — awarded by history to the leader of the country that most flagrantly sells out its allies and its values to an aggressive dictator. …

Was  the timing of the release of the U.S. (Russia) 28-point “peace plan” a ploy to focus the western allies on Ukraine rather than Venezuela  Just a thought.
The Incomprehensible March Toward Regime Change in Venezuela
On Monday, the United States formally designated President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela and his allies in government as members of a foreign terrorist organization called Cartel de los Soles, a group that doesn’t exist.
Will the U.S. Attack Venezuela? Trump’s Anti-Maduro Campaign Seen as Part of a Broader Regional Plan

Israel/Gaza/West Bank
While focus is on the undiplomatic circus of the Ukraine “peace plan” , the Gaza ceasefire is not progressing smoothly. But then, who thought it would?
U.N.: Israel’s War on Gaza Will Cost More Than $70 Billion in Reconstruction Over Several Decades
The United Nations says Israel’s war on Gaza has created a “human-made abyss” that will cost more than $70 billion in reconstruction over several decades. According to the U.N. report, from 2023 to 2024, Gaza’s economy contracted by 87%, leaving a gross domestic product per capita at $161, among the lowest in the world. This comes as Israel repeatedly violates the U.S.-brokered ceasefire. At least 342 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the truce on October 10. Meanwhile, a new study from the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research in Germany says that the death toll in Gaza likely exceeds 100,000 people — that’s higher than the Palestinian Health Ministry’s count of 69,733 people killed by Israel. According to the study, “Life expectancy in Gaza fell by 44 percent in 2023 and by 47 percent in 2024 compared with what it would have been without the war — equivalent to losses of 34.4 and 36.4 years, respectively.”
Hundreds of Israeli soldiers raid Palestinian town in West Bank
Israeli military and security service say ‘broad counter-terrorism operation’ in Tubas to continue for several days
Israelis are moving abroad in record numbers due to fear and discontent
Tens of thousands of Israelis have left over the past two years, and many are young and well-educated, raising concerns over economic and social consequences.

Media matters
Netflix film questions who photographed Vietnam War-era “Napalm Girl”
A new Netflix documentary attempts to cast doubt over the authorship of the Pulitzer Prize-winning “Napalm Girl” photo — an image that helped define the horrors of the Vietnam War.
Why it matters: The dispute reopens questions about how Western media historically overlooks the work of local freelance journalists in war, but is drawing strong reaction from some photographers of that era.

Canada/Québec
We recommend iPolitics Two-front war for a summary of events in Ottawa.
After returning to the nation’s capital, Prime Minister Mark Carney has found himself under attack on multiple fronts over the government’s upcoming announcement with Alberta regarding the potential for a new oil pipeline to the Pacific coast, and look forward to George’s comments on the Alberta pipeline. Paul Wells’ column/profile of Minister of energy and natural resources, Tim Hodgson won’t help much.
Twenty-nine ways that Trump has changed Canada (See Long reads)
A year ago, the U.S. President first unleashed his threats of tariffs and territorial expansion. … Today, Canada is a country changed – politically, culturally and economically. Mr. Trump reshaped last spring’s federal election, sparked a backlash against U.S. consumer goods and travel destinations, forced a wholesale change in trade flows and left Canadians feeling more unified, but also more precarious.

As the Quebec Liberal Party continues to snatch defeat from the jaws of possible victory, the accusations grow murkier. Thomas Mulcair sums up the incomprehensible situation in Liberal own goal could sink Rodriguez
“Judging by the internal turmoil, the Quebec Liberals appear to have become so good in opposition that they’ve begun to oppose themselves.”
It seems that like Trump, Legault sometimes recognizes that he has reached his limits. Thus the headline: Quebec, family doctors agree to restart negotiations over health-care bill
“If an agreement is reached, the government would accept amendments to Bill 2, recognizing that a portion of family physicians’ compensation remains conditional on taking on an increased number of Quebecers.”

CAQ constitution decried as bid to ‘insulate Quebec’ and raise tensions with Ottawa
[Constitutional lawyer Julius Grey] said Bill 1 — the Quebec Constitution Act, 2025 — would erode rights and freedoms by banning groups from using tax dollars to contest laws in court.
“As a lawyer, I know that people simply can’t afford litigation,” Grey said in an interview. “The average individual, even if they want to fight, just can’t do it” because constitutional challenges are costly and complex.
Grey is involved in constitutional challenges to Quebec’s secularism law (Bill 21) and the toughening of language laws (Bill 96).
He made the comments on Monday after submitting a brief to the National Assembly committee that will hold hearings on the bill beginning next week.
Grey said it’s troubling that Bill 1, unveiled in October by Justice Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette, attempts to present principles such as secularism and gender equality as distinctly Quebec principles.

Varia
Let the games begin!
At a temple in Ancient Olympia, a flame is drawn from the sun to begin its journey to the Winter Games. The choreographed ceremony, inspired by ancient Greece, is designed to link the original games to today’s global competition. On Wednesday, the flame will be kindled once more for the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics. From Olympia — birthplace of the ancient games — to Milan’s San Siro Stadium on Feb. 6, the torch will cross Italy’s cities and cultural landmarks, carried by thousands of relay runners. The sleek “Essenziale” was crafted in Italy to promote sustainability. Powered by renewable gas, it is built using recycled aluminum and features a bio-based polymer handle.
Colombian scientists recover first treasures from ‘holy grail of shipwrecks’
Cannon, three coins and a cup taken from San José, a 1708 wreckage that could hold items worth billions of dollars
The recovery is part of a scientific investigation authorised by the government last year to study the wreckage and the causes of the sinking. Colombian researchers located the galleon in 2015, leading to legal and diplomatic disputes. Its exact location is a state secret.
The San José was returning to Europe with treasures to help fund the war of the Spanish succession when it was sunk by a British squadron close to the Caribbean port city of Cartagena.
‘Holy grail of shipwrecks’: recovery of 18th-century Spanish ship could begin in April
The San José, sunk in 1708, has been at the center of a dispute over who has rights to the wreck, including $17bn in booty

Long reads/audios/videos
Russian Unreality and American Weakness
Timothy Snyder
Notes from a bizarre moment of diplomatic history
Letters from an American November 23, 2025
Heather Cox Richardson
“Do I understand correctly that there is now a dispute within the administration about whether this ‘peace plan’ was written by Russians or Americans?” foreign affairs journalist Anne Applebaum asked last night on social media.
Applebaum was referring to confusion over a 28-point plan for an end to Russia’s war on Ukraine reported by Barak Ravid and Dave Lawler of Axios last week. After the plan was leaked, apparently to Ravid by Kirill Dmitriev, an ally of Russian president Vladimir Putin who is under U.S. sanctions, Vice President J.D. Vance came out strongly in support of it.
Thomas Friedman: Trump’s Neville Chamberlain Prize
If Ukraine is, indeed, forced to surrender to the specific terms of this “deal” by then, Thanksgiving will no longer be an American holiday. It will become a Russian holiday. It will become a day of thanks that victory in Putin’s savage and misbegotten war against Ukraine’s people, which has been an utter failure — morally, militarily, diplomatically and economically — was delivered to Russia not by the superiority of its arms or the virtue of its claims, but by an American administration.. …
Russia holds cards in Ukraine peace deal
(CBC Radio The Current) As Washington continues to negotiate between Ukraine and Russia, a Ukrainian MP hopes diplomacy can end the war and secure his country’s future. But a Russia watcher says getting Putin to lay down his arms won’t be easy.
Twenty-nine ways that Trump has changed Canada