News of the World

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The following article was published last Tuesday.

Finland joins NATO in major setback to Russia

Finland joined NATO to become the alliance's 31st member on Tuesday, issuing a major rebuke to Moscow and doubling the border length Russia shares with the military alliance.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine spurned Finland to join the military alliance last year. Both Finland and Sweden filed to join NATO, though Sweden's process is still ongoing. NATO officials will raise Finland's flag between the French and Estonian flags in a ceremony later Tuesday.

NATO has said that it has no immediate intention to step up a military presence in Finland. Some members have deployed troops there for war games over the past year, however.

As with all NATO members, Finland will benefit from the collective security guarantee of Article 5: "an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all."
...
The NATO treaty requires that member countries unanimously approve any new additions to the alliance. Turkey was the sole country to formally oppose Findland and Sweden's entry, arguing that their policies supported certain Kurdish rebel groups that Turkey opposed.

Finnish and Swedish leaders negotiated with Turkish President Recep Erdogan for months, and they ultimately came to an agreement for Finland. Erdogan will formally approve Finland's entry on Tuesday, sharing the approval papers with Secretary of State Tony Blinken.

Sweden is next in line to join the alliance, but still faces opposition from Erdogan. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said during a news conference in Stockholm in March that it has been clear since NATO’s Madrid summit in June that Finland’s road into membership would likely be smoother than Sweden’s.

Moscow is trying to play it cool,
but its military moves hint at growing concern
over NATO's newest member

Finland's admission this month doubles the length of NATO's border with Russia and does so in a region with important Russian military outposts. Russian leaders have downplayed the significance of Finland joining NATO, but as the alliance gets closer and the Arctic becomes more accessible, Moscow is making moves that indicate growing concern about a part of its frontier that has long been calm.

The Grand Duchy of Finland was a part of the Russian Tsarist Empire from 1809 until 1917 but became an independent nation in the chaos of the Russian Revolution. Two decades later, Finland had perhaps its finest hour in the Winter War, in which the outnumbered and outgunned Finns held off a clumsy Red Army invasion before agreeing to terms with the Soviets.
...
After World War II, the Kremlin could take comfort that at least its smaller neighbor had been "Finlandized," a somewhat uncomplimentary Cold War term referring to Helsinki's stance of strict neutrality in return for the Soviets not invading or interfering.
...
So far, the Kremlin has downplayed Finland's NATO accession, perhaps out of caution or embarrassment, Gorenburg said. "What they've always said is, 'this is fine, we don't care. It's your decision. But if NATO infrastructure is developed or if the US or other NATO member states' forces are deployed to the new members, that will be a concern for us and we will react.'"

Moscow reiterated that message after Finland officially joined the alliance, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying, "Naturally, this forces us to take countermeasures to ensure our own tactical and strategic security."

So far, Moscow has announced plans to increase the size of its military, beef up its forces in northwestern Russia, and reestablish the Leningrad Military District, which covers part of that region, including the Kola Peninsula, and was merged with other districts in 2010.

Russia has long experience in Arctic operations and had developed specialized units and equipment for operations near Finland. Indeed, Russia has been building up Arctic bases and forces for years, a move that other countries, including the US and China, have followed, drawn by the prospect of more accessible Arctic resources and shipping routes.

In July 2022, however, Russia released a new maritime doctrine that raised the priority of the Arctic and pledged to protect those waters "by all means," Dwyer said during a Wilson Center event on February 9.
...
Since 2013, Russia has built six bases, 14 airfields, and 16 deepwater ports in the high north, as well as 14 icebreakers, according to Adm. Daryl Caudle, head of US Fleet Forces Command. Russia's Arctic forces also field an array of powerful weapons, including submarine- and land-based cruise missiles and air-launched hypersonic weapons.

Foreign Dictatorships Shouldn’t Have Broadcasting Licences in Canada

Canada’s policy toward autocratic foreign countries who broadcast propaganda should be consistent and apply to organs of the Chinese state, Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre says.

“We need a consistent policy for all dictatorships. We shouldn’t allow one rule for Russia and another completely for China,” Poilievre said in French on April 5 while visiting Thetford Mines, Quebec.

“We shouldn’t give licences to organs of foreign dictatorships in Canada.”

Poilievre was asked by a reporter about recent calls from sectors of the Chinese diaspora to ban media entities controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

The Conservative leader said he wasn’t familiar with the specific Chinese entity mentioned by the reporter, China Central Television (CCTV), but that he would study the issue.

Canada took steps last year to ban media linked to the Kremlin following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, leading to Chinese democracy advocates to request a similar approach be taken against the CCP.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) banned Russian state media RT ((formerly Russia Today) in March 2022 after receiving a referral from the Liberal government.

I seriously doubt that Trudeau cares about anything the Chinese agents do in Canada.

Branson’s Virgin Orbit Files for Bankruptcy After Failed Rocket Launch

Virgin Orbit filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after failing to get additional funding from its backers.

The Long Beach, California-based satellite launch company, founded and owned by Richard Branson, failed to secure long-term funding it needed to recover from a January rocket failure in the United Kingdom.

Branson had long had an ambition to become a key player in the rapidly growing market for commercial satellite launches.

The case, filed under 23-10405 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware to sell off its assets, came after the firm admitted last week that it would lay off roughly 85 percent of its workforce of 750.

“While we have taken great efforts to address our financial position and secure additional financing, we ultimately must do what is best for the business,” Virgin Orbit CEO Dan Hart said in a statement on April 4.

“We believe that the cutting-edge launch technology that this team has created will have wide appeal to buyers as we continue in the process to sell the company. At this stage, we believe that the Chapter 11 process represents the best path forward to identify and finalize an efficient and value-maximizing sale,” he added.

France chaos: Pension reform protesters invade BlackRock building,
set Macron's favourite restaurants on fire

France has plunged into a serious crisis as dozens of trade unionists agitating against President Emmanuel Macron's pension overhaul on Thursday resorted to violent protests in Paris. They invaded investment firm BlackRock's office in central Paris. "Millions are protesting against the government. Now they have invaded and are occupying the office of BlackRock," Peter Imanuelsen, a Swedish journalist, said while sharing a video on Twitter.

Millions are protesting against the government.

Now they have invaded and are occupying the office of BlackRock.pic.twitter.com/RiCLi5AqWA

The union action in the historical Centorial building near Paris' Grand Boulevards area, targetted BlackRock because of its private pension fund activity, protester Françoise Onic told Reuters.
...
CNN reported that about 100 people, including representatives of several labor unions, were on the ground floor of the building for about 10 minutes, chanting anti-reform slogans. BlackRock’s office is located on the third floor.

Jerome Schmitt, spokesman for the French union SUD said the meaning of this action was quite simple. "We went to the headquarters of BlackRock to tell them: the money of workers, for our pensions, they are taking it," he told CNN affiliate BFM-TV.

Iran, Saudi Arabia move to reopen embassies, vow to bring 'stability' to Mideast

Top diplomats from Middle East rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia met in Beijing on Thursday, pledging to work together to bring "security and stability" to their turbulent region following a surprise China-brokered deal.

In a joint statement released after talks between Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and Saudi counterpart Prince Faisal bin Farhan, the two sides vowed to continue to work together to improve ties.

"The two sides emphasised the importance of following up on the implementation of the Beijing Agreement and its activation in a way that expands mutual trust and the fields of cooperation and helps create security, stability and prosperity in the region," said the statement.

Tehran and Riyadh announced a Beijing-brokered agreement in March to restore relations that had been severed seven years ago when protesters in Iran attacked Saudi diplomatic missions.

The ministers' visit to Beijing came as French President Emmanuel Macron and EU chief Ursula von der Leyen were also in the Chinese capital, seeking to make Europe's case in a meeting with Xi Jinping for bringing an end to the conflict in Ukraine.
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The two sides "negotiated and exchanged opinions with the emphasis on the official resumption of bilateral relations and the executive steps towards the reopening of the embassies and consulates of the two countries", Iran's foreign ministry said in a statement.

Saudi state TV channel Al Ekhbariya aired footage of the pair shaking hands in front of Saudi and Iranian flags and then talking and smiling.

In a readout from state broadcaster CCTV, Beijing hailed "the first official meeting between the foreign ministers of the two countries in more than seven years" and Beijing's "active mediation" in the diplomacy.

Brazil man kills four children with hatchet in 'monstrous' preschool attack

A 25-year-old man burst into a preschool in southern Brazil and killed four children with a hatchet-like weapon Wednesday before turning himself in to police, an attack President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva condemned as "monstrous".

The attacker, who jumped a wall to get inside, also wounded four other children at the private preschool, known as the Good Shepherd Center, in the city of Blumenau, said police and government officials in Brazil's state of Santa Catarina.

He then rode a motorcycle to a state police station and handed himself in, police said.

Dozens of people gathered outside the preschool, whose external wall is covered in bright paintings of children and butterflies. Emergency workers and police had set up a security cordon, and were only allowing parents inside.
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Andre Nazario, whose wife works at the school, said she had described a horrific scene when he spoke with her.

"She said that after the guy left, she went to the playground and saw the (victims). She tried to do CPR on one of them, apparently, but it didn't work. She was in a state of shock," he told journalists.

The attacker mainly struck his victims in the head, emergency official Diogo de Souza Clarindo told journalists.

He killed three boys and one girl, who were between five and seven years old, Clarindo said.

The wounded children – two girls, both aged five, and two boys, ages three and five – were in stable condition, said the hospital treating them.

Authorities identified the attacker as Luiz Henrique de Lima, a Santa Catarina resident with at least four prior arrests, including for stabbing his step-father.

He acted alone, police chief Ulisses Gabriel told a news conference, ruling out a "coordinated" attack.