MILNEWS.ca: Inbox Highlights, 17 Mar 2018

• “Canada sending troops to UN peacekeeping mission in Mali” — The Canadian military will deploy helicopters and support troops, including medical teams, to the troubled west-African country of Mali later this year, CBC News has learned …” – CTV News – The Canadian Press – La Presse – The Globe and Mail
• Colonel Ted’s take:  “Off to Timbuktu? … this is a UN mission, which means it is likely mismanaged, and France still has its own, non-UN, mission in Africa, including Mali, which is unlikely to help anything except France’s perceived interests”
• Spence Fernando’s take:  “Despite Underfunded Military, Trudeau Government Sending Troops To Mali For UN Mission”
• News from Mali via Google News & EU NewsBrief, with backstory from the International Crisis Group
• Remember this guy?  “Military officer suing DND over ‘false and malicious’ sex assault claims to get promotion — A high-ranking military officer who is suing National Defence for making “false and malicious” sexual assault allegations against him has been promoted and will take up a significant overseas assignment, CBC News has learned. It was announced Friday in the latest promotions list that Lt.-Col. Mason Stalker will be elevated to the rank of full colonel and appointed as the deputy chief of major operations at NATO headquarters in Brussels …”
• Over in Ukraine …
• “Canada to allocate $4.65 mln to support training of Ukrainian troops — Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada on Friday said her country would allocate $4.65 million to support training for the Ukrainian Armed Forces. “Today, to help reinforce Ukraine’s resilience, I am announcing $4.65 million to support training for the Ukrainian Armed Forces (UAF),” she said in a statement issued Friday, on the fourth anniversary of the illegal annexation of Crimea. This funding will provide equipment to support first aid and military police training to the UAF …” – more – more – From the Global Affairs info-machine:  “…  to help reinforce Ukraine’s resilience, I am announcing $4.65 million to support
• From Ukraine’s MoD info-machine:  “Canadian EOD instructors of the 5th rotation complete their mission at Mine Action Centre” (UKR MoD) (archive.org version)
• What could possibly go wrong here, right?  “Ukraine to prevent Russians from voting in diplomatic missions on election day”
• Skripal poisoning:  More muddying the waters … ” ’Maybe nothing happened at all’: Russian ambassador fumes that UK is ‘hiding’ information on poisoned ex-spy”
• … as well as Canadian commentary …
• “What Canada should do about Russia’s new aggression”
• “Russian spy poisoning: Has the Kremlin crossed the red line?”
• “The devilish art of assassination: Why Russia eliminates its enemies with dramatic flair”
• “What Canada Should Do about Russia’s New Aggression”
• … including disarmament group ceasefire.ca’s take:  “What evidence does the UK actually have that Russia is behind the nerve agent attack?”
• Head’s up to cyber-fighters  “Chinese Hackers Hit U.S. Firms Linked to South China Sea Dispute”

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