Ukraine Crisis

What are the consequences when governments make policy based on faith and imperial hubris instead of science and expertise? It's a question that comes to mind watching the Russia-Ukraine crisis.

The U.S. through a series of moves designed to increase "pressure" on Putin over its backing of separatist forces in eastern Ukraine has committed a blunder of the first order.

"Developments in other parts of the world, particularly in Iraq and Syria, threaten our security at home," said Barack Obama. But the threats at home may be different from those he has in mind.

The Ukraine debacle represents the latest in a pattern of Stephen Harper and John Baird supporting coups and ignoring human rights violations as a nasty but necessary part of doing business.

Is Stephen Harper just a useful idiot to the U.S. -- ranting and raving about Russian expansionism and imperialism so that the U.S. position looks more reasonable by comparison?

The crisis in Ukraine is being used as a battering ram to knock down sensible restrictions on natural gas exports and push through a controversial free-trade deal with Europe.