Russia captured all of Crimea in the Black Sea's south, as well as sections of Luhansk and Donetsk Oblasts in eastern Ukraine, in 2014. This time, Russia invaded Ukraine in the hopes of launching a blitzkrieg-style operation to conquer the country and its capital, Kyiv, in a matter of days or hours. When it failed, Russia returned to a campaign focused on Kharkiv and the northeast of Ukraine. When the Kharkiv campaign stopped, Russia successfully pursued an attack to conquer the Black Sea coast all the way to Moldova, but the offensive failed to advance beyond Kherson Oblast, which is directly above Crimea.Russia then conveniently, but not persuasively, reaffirmed its war objectives as the south coast of Ukraine and the entire Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts in the east, which have already been challenged in ongoing active conflict since 2014.By September, six months after Russia's second invasion of Ukraine, Russia controlled nearly all of Luhansk Oblast, major portions of Donetsk Oblast in the east, and Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Kherson Oblast, and Crimea Oblast in the south along the Black Sea.Russia's primary offensive effort is to encircle "the Cauldron."1 The Cauldron includes the Donetsk Oblast, located between Izyum and Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, completing the takeover of Luhansk and Donetsk, as well as the entire Donbas region. In the south, Russia has given up the initiative in favor of a defensive stance against Ukrainian forces launching a counter-offensive against the northern parts of Zaporizhzhya and Kherson.
Russia continues to making gradual, grinding
progress with its soldiers in Donetsk, while Ukraine has made moderate gains in and around Kherson, but there has been no game changer. Both sides are now up against formidable defensive works and reinforcements. Ukraine's surprise Kharkiv offensive was successful in liberating Kharkiv Oblast and fighting Russian forces in Luhansk and Donetsk, as well as killing Russia's northern spearhead attacking Donetsk, although it is unclear what the eventual goal was.It is worth noting that a Ukrainian uprising has begun in the country's south, with minimal success. However, Russia has now begun a partial mobilization of 300,000 to a million soldiers, as well as forced Russian referendums in seized territories such as Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson, and Zaporizhia.ll four regions "voted" to join Russia in massively rigged elections, and they are on their way to becoming Russian territory, protected by Russian nuclear forces, as raw Russian conscripts arrive in frontline units. In recent months, Russia's danger of employing chemical and even low-yield tactical nuclear weapons has shifted from highly unlikely to imminent.Joe Varner is the author of Canada's Asia-Pacific Security Dilemma, a former Director of Policy to the Honourable Peter MacKay, Minister of National Defence and Justice, and an Adjunct Scholar at West Point's Modern War InstituteIf we ever want to be ruled without arbitrary power, we can only flatter ourselves. No, we made a mistake. The question is not whether there will be arbitrary power, whether by one person or many. There has never been, nor will there ever be, a people ruled without the power to make laws, and all powers to make laws must be arbitrary. Making a law in accordance with the law is contradictory in adjecto.
Robert Filmer, The Anarchy of Limited or Mixed Monarchies
As the United Conservative Party's leadership campaign comes to a close, there are still ongoing discussions regarding the legal and political implications of putative front-runner Danielle Smith's contentious proposed Alberta Sovereignty Act.According to Smith and the proposal's proponents, the legislation would allow the Alberta legislature to restrict the province's executive bodies from enforcing certain federal laws through a Special Motion.While many observers have questioned the validity and rationality, or lack thereof, of this plan, the majority have ignored the reality that provincial nullification of federal laws has been practiced for decades. The takeaway from this history is a set of three ideas that may impact how politicians and the public perceive the spirit, if not the substance, of the Alberta Sovereignty Act.These three ideas are: (1) it is often politically possible to do what one cannot do directly (to paraphrase Patrick J. Monahan), (2) nullification can be used justifiably for reactionary purposes, and (3) nullification demonstrates how executive power engages in the dialectic of what makes good positive legislation.Smith's first misstep was pursuing direct nullification through the legislature. Any piece of affirmative legislation, such as the Alberta Sovereignty Act, will undoubtedly be challenged in court and overturned for infringing on federal jurisdiction. In contrast, nullification by dispersed administrative acts controlled through cabinet will be significantly more effective, attract less attention, and withstand higher legal scrutiny.
Nullification often begins at the street level
with police failing to implement the law. The Vancouver Police Department adopted its "Sex Work Enforcement Guidelines" in 2013. These establish that the VPD will not enforce federal prostitution laws unless there are extenuating circumstances, such as the involvement of minors.Police practice manuals/guidelines lack the power of law and do not bind officers; thus, they are not subject to Charter review. Nonetheless, such manuals serve as a model for ordinary police behavior, demonstrating their potential to effectively implement a nullification policy. The VPD policy has the effect of essentially eliminating arrests of pimps, johns, and madams in Vancouver after 2013, but such arrests continue to occur on a regular basis outside of city bounds where equivalent regulations have not been implemented.Courts deem such extensive police discretion legitimate, on an individual or policy level, if it is rationally, transparently, on valid grounds, and based on objective criteria. The VPD goes to great efforts in its "Sex Work Enforcement Guidelines" to justify its approach. Because provinces retain the constitutional ability to appoint, control, and discipline their own police, police nullification is a simple issue if the provincial government exercises its appointment power wisely.It is worth noting that federally formed police are not subject to provincial oversight (even when under provincial contract), whereas provincially produced police are. The RCMP's replacement in a specific province1 would undoubtedly be a necessary step toward nullification in that province.
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