A new Canada and an old Cold War (E402)

Canada, the apparently nicer, gentler country in North America, seldom makes it into the news in Britain, which is surprising, given the Queen is on their bank notes and there's a long colonial history. They appeared happy to be a little boring, content to get on with creating a prosperous society at ease with itself and the world (unlike their behemoth neighbor to the south). They are now, however, riven with controversy: wading into wars like Afghanistan; digging up mass graves of indigenous children; arresting, at Donald Trump’s insistence, the daughter of the founder of Huawei on highly contentious charges. And, as if that wasn’t enough, prime minister Trudeau has, like the UK's Theresa May did, triggered an unnecessary general election which he may very well not win. So, we invited RT’s North America correspondent, Alex Mihailovic, to help us understand the new and changing character of Canada.

There are several frontlines in the often-tense East/West confrontations. The Persian Gulf, the South China Sea and, perhaps the most fraught, the contentious lands between Russia and the Ukraine. They’re not up for debate in law, of course, they are part of the Ukraine. But, in practice, the eastern part of Ukraine, Russian in language and character, lies within the control of the Ukrainian government. Whilst it is an urban myth that Russia has military forces in the Ukraine it is undoubtedly true that blood is thicker than water and there is a developing bond between eastern Ukraine and Russia. Into this tangled web the United States secret state puts in some hard work, too – sometimes it all reads like a Cold War drama from the 1950s. So, security expert Mark Sleboda joined Sputnik to try and disentangle the many strands.

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Podcast https://soundcloud.com/rttv/sets/sputnik-orbiting-the-world-1