It has been a crazy weekend when it comes to making heads of tails of what is happening with the so-called “28-point peace plan” between Russia and Ukraine. A bunch of US legislators at the Halifax Security Conference were insisting that they were told that the plan was the starting point of negotiations, that the deadline of Thursday was to start talks, and that this was all a big misunderstanding. You had other reports saying that people were saying that this was the Russian plan that was just for discussion purposes. Then you had reports saying that no, the White House said that this is the plan, leaving everyone in the dark as to just what the hell was going on.

What the actual fuck is going on.America put forward a nearly carbon copy version of the Russian plan for Ukrainian conquest, admitted it and backtracked, then doubles down.

— Justin Ling (@justinling.ca) 2025-11-23T02:54:54.829Z

As this was happening, world leaders, including Canada, were treating this as if it’s a starting off point that “needs work” as opposed to being a betrayal of Ukraine and that it should be killed with fire, because nobody wants to make Trump too angry, because they rely too much on the Americans for too many things still (though Ukrainians have pointed out that it’s no longer 2023, and they are much more self-reliant). European leaders did come out with their own suggested 28 pointswhich are far more fair to Ukraine, but seem to be willing to let Russia continue to occupy territory it has gained by force (unless I’m misreading it), and still doesn’t call for much in the way of penalties other than to pay for the reconstruction of Ukraine.

PMO readout of Carney's call with Zelenskyy. Maintaining the façade that the "peace plan" is a good start (when it is in fact a betrayal).

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-11-23T20:07:37.708Z

Meanwhile, Anne Applebaum savages the plan as not being anything more than a starting off point for a larger future war, while the only beneficiaries are some unnamed Russian and American investors, because this is what Trump is really all about. Paul Wells laments the “don’t wake Trump” tactic that those world leaders are using, because it rewards how much of a betrayal it is, and soft-pedals the fact that it invites future wars of aggression.

G20 Outcomes

There were a number of things coming out of the G20 summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, and it leave a whole lot of questions about prime minister Mark Carney and his values and priorities. Carney had plenty of praise for his hosts, and talking about the G20 being a bridge following the rupture of the US withdrawing from its role with global institutions, and that he has no “burning issue” to talk with Trump at the moment, and they’ll talk when they’re ready to. This being said, Carney also declared that the government’s “feminist foreign policy” was effectively dead, in spite of it being about the best way to achieve outcomes and at a time when the US is doing things like calling reproductive rights and gender equity “human rights violations” (no, seriously). Carney announced a joint technology partnership with India and Australia, and that talks were being revied about a comprehensive trade agreement with India, in spite of their foreign interference in Canada and trans-national repression (that their High Commissioner insists is all a delusion).

https://bsky.app/profile/jrobson.bsky.social/post/3m6dt3iyjjc2i

So, nothing on trans-national repression or India's foreign interference.

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-11-23T22:26:23.696Z

Ukraine Dispatch

Four people were killed in a drone attack on Kharkiv on Sunday. The death toll from last week’s missile strike on Ternopil is now up to 34. Ukraine has struck power and heat stations in the Moscow region.

Good reads:

• At a recent event, Mark Carney admitted that the government outsourced its innovation policy development to Shopify (which should ring alarm bells).
• G7 security ministers met in Ottawa over the weekend to talk about issues around transnational organised crime, and transnational repression.
• At the Halifax Security Forum, Sean Fraser talked about a lack of respect eroding global unity, which offended a Republican senator on the panel.
• Gary Anandasangaree says the gun buyback will roll out nationally.
• Mandy Gull-Masty says she is still consulting with First Nations on the changes that senators made to the bill to amend the Indian Act regarding status.
• Some 42 senators are calling on the government to ban sports betting advertising.
• The NDP’s existential crisis about what kind of party they need to be is playing out in their leadership contest.
• There are now official new premiers in Nunavut—John Main—and Yukon—Currie Dixon.
• Here is a look at the persistent water issues plaguing communities in the Nunavik region of Northern Quebec.
• Bureaucratic incompetence at OHIP means that doctors doing innovative work are being forced to go private because billing codes aren’t being respected.
• The Alberta government is planning to test using digital asbestos to write a future piece of legislation, and it’s like their a laboratory of bad ideas made manifest.
• Former Gripen pilot Mikael Grev offers some points of comparison between the Gripen-E and the F-35 fighter that Canada is considering buying.
• Kevin Carmichael pans the interim PBO’s mindset as one being trapped in the “it’s 1995 and will always be 1995” mentality when the world situation is different.
• Althia Raj suggests that Poilievre could take a lesson from Nate Erskine-Smith when it comes to allowing diverse views in his caucus, as it’s not supposed to be a cult.
• My weekend column responds to that piece in Maclean’s last week about “Western Alienation,” and why it has nothing to do with what was suggested in that piece.

Odds and ends:

For National Magazine, I delve into Friday’s Supreme Court of Canada decisions on the pathways prisoners have to challenge decisions on their security classifications.

Hey BSers! Need a copy of my book, for yourself or for a holiday gift? @dundurnpress.bsky.social is having their holiday sale! Use code HOLIDAY25 to save 25% on this, or any Dundurn book. Check out my book #UnbrokenMachine, or the book I contributed a chapter to, #RoyalProgress.

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-11-19T02:01:04.435Z

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