How American cash for Canada protests could sway U.S. politics
CTV
The Canadians who have disrupted travel and trade with the U.S. and occupied downtown Ottawa for nearly three weeks have been cheered and funded by American right-wing activists and conservative politicians who also oppose vaccine mandates and the country's liberal leader.
Yet whatever impact the protests have on Canadian society, and the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, experts say the outside support is really aimed at energizing conservative politics in the U.S. Midterm elections are looming, and some Republicans think standing with the protesters up north will galvanize fund-raising and voter turnout at home, these experts say.
"The kind of narratives that the truckers and the trucker convoy are focusing on are going to be really important issues for the (U.S.) elections coming ahead," said Samantha Bradshaw, a postdoctoral fellow at the Digital Civil Society Lab at Stanford University. "And so using this protest as an opportunity to galvanize their own supporters and other groups, I think it's very much an opportunity for them."
By Wednesday afternoon, all previously blocked border crossings had been re-opened, and police began focusing on pressuring the truckers and other protesters in Ottawa to clear out of the capital city or face arrest, fines and confiscation of their vehicles.
About 44 percent of the nearly $10 million in contributions to support the protesters originated from U.S. donors, according to an Associated Press analysis of leaked donor files. U.S. Republican elected officials, including Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, have praised the protesters calling them "heroes" and "patriots."
A Russian woman who stowed away on a Delta Air Line flight from New York to Paris last week has returned stateside Wednesday.
South Korea's president accepted the resignation of his defense minister Thursday as opposition parties moved to impeach both men over the stunning yet short-lived imposition of martial law that brought armed troops into Seoul streets.
Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump's Pentagon pick, was fighting to hold on to his cabinet nomination amid growing questions Wednesday about his personal conduct as the president-elect's team considers alternatives, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
South Korea's opposition parties Wednesday submitted a motion to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol over the shocking and short-lived martial law that drew heavily armed troops to encircle parliament before lawmakers climbed walls to re-enter the building and unanimously voted to lift his order.
South Korea’s main opposition party on Wednesday urged President Yoon Suk Yeol to resign immediately or face impeachment, hours after Yoon ended short-lived martial law that prompted troops to encircle parliament before lawmakers voted to lift it.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law late Tuesday, vowing to eliminate 'anti-state' forces as he struggles against an opposition that controls the country's parliament and that he accuses of sympathizing with communist North Korea.
A Canadian is among three climbers missing after they'd planned to climb New Zealand's highest peak.
Three mountain climbers from the U.S. and Canada are missing after they failed to return from a planned ascent of New Zealand's highest peak, Aoraki, authorities said Tuesday.
More than 200 people have been detained after four nights of protests in the Georgian capital following the government's decision to suspend negotiations to join the European Union after the bloc lambasted the country's parliamentary election.
U.S. President Joe Biden pardoned his son, Hunter, on Sunday night, sparing the younger Biden a possible prison sentence for federal felony gun and tax convictions and reversing his past promises not to use the extraordinary powers of the presidency for the benefit of his family.
U.S. President Joe Biden announced Sunday that he pardoned his son Hunter Biden on gun, tax charges, despite previous promises that he would not do so.