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On the face of it, President Trump is right to try to end a destructive war in Ukraine that is now approaching the three-year mark, and to open talks with Russia. This war has to end, and at this stage it can end expediently only through negotiations.

Yet the way the president is going about this vital task is misguided, counterproductive and unfair to Ukraine.

In quick order, Mr. Trump has sent his lieutenants to negotiate with Russia without the participation of either Ukraine or the NATO allies who are most directly threatened by a resurgent Russia; he has cruelly suggested that Ukraine — not Russia — is responsible for the war by not making some unspecified “deal” at the outset; he has demanded access to Ukraine’s mineral wealth as the price of continuing military support; and he has baselessly called Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, a “dictator without elections.”

In effect, Mr. Trump and his administration are pivoting U.S. foreign policy 180 degrees, pointing the way to a peace that would run counter to the American and Western mission of securing a sovereign, independent, democratic and prosperous Ukraine. It is a reversal of the past three years — since Russia invaded its neighboring nation, strong majorities of Americans of every party and persuasion have supported Ukraine — but also a repudiation of a nearly eight-decade core belief that the United States was safer in a world where it stood against aggression and authoritarianism and for freedom.

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The United States sent $50 million in condoms to Hamas. Diversity programs caused a plane crash. China controls the Panama Canal. Ukraine started the war with Russia.

Except, no. None of that is true. Not that it stops President Trump. In the first month since he returned to power, he has demonstrated once again a brazen willingness to advance distortions, conspiracy theories and outright lies to justify major policy decisions.

Mr. Trump has long been unfettered by truth when it comes to boasting about his record and tearing down his enemies. But what were dubbed “alternative facts” in his first term have quickly become a whole alternative reality in his second to lay the groundwork for radical change as he moves to aggressively reshape America and the world.

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His post on X said employees will receive an email “shortly” requesting to “understand what they got done last week.”

All federal government employees will have to share what they’ve been working on in the last week or face dismissal, Elon Musk said Saturday.

Musk posted on X that employees will be receiving an email “shortly” requesting to “understand what they got done last week.” A lack of response, Musk said, “will be taken as a resignation.” It’s unclear what legal authority, if any, Musk is relying on.

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The prime ministers of Greece, Spain and the United Kingdom sided with Ukraine's government on Saturday amid fears that Kyiv is being frozen out of peace talks between the Kremlin and US President Donald Trump.

Though Russia launched a full-scale invasion into its neighbor in February 2022, Trump this week appeared to blame Ukraine for starting the conflict. He also labeled Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a "dictator," and said he didn't need to be present during peace talks.

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And we're baaaaaaaaaaaack!!! Let's gooooooo!

The Maple Leafs return from the 4 Nations break looking to halt a run of five straight losses to the Carolina Hurricanes tonight at Scotiabank Arena (7:00 p.m. EST, Sportsnet/CBC).

The Leafs‘ losing streak to the Hurricanes has a clear throughline: special teams. Toronto has outscored the Carolina 12-9 at five-on-five during this 0-4-1 stretch dating back to March 2023, but they’re 1-for-16 on the power play with a shorthanded goal against (i.e., net-zero on the man advantage) against the vaunted Canes PK, and just 11-for-17 on the penalty kill. Save for the last matchup in Carolina — when the Leafs built an early 2-0 lead and then fell apart — it’s resulted in the Leafs playing a lot of catch-up hockey, as they have been out-scored 7-2 in the first periods of those five games. source

Projected Lineup:

Matthew Knies -- Auston Matthews -- Mitch Marner
Bobby McMann -- John Tavares -- William Nylander
Max Domi -- Pontus Holmberg -- Nicholas Robertson
Steven Lorentz -- David Kampf -- Alex Steeves

Morgan Rielly -- Oliver Ekman-Larsson
Jake McCabe-- Chris Tanev
Simon Benoit -- Conor Timmins

Anthony Stolarz
Joseph Woll

Scratched: Phillippe Myers, Ryan Reaves

Injured: Jani Hakanpaa (lower body), Calle Jarnkrok (lower body), Max Pacioretty (tightness), Connor Dewar (upper body)

Status report: Jost is expected to return for the first time since sustaining a lower-body injury Dec. 31. ... Pacioretty, a forward, is not expected to play after missing practice Friday. ... Dewar practiced in full on Friday but the forward will miss his eighth straight game; Maple Leafs coach Craig Berube said Dewar could be available at the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday.

We tend to talk a lot about trade possibilities for the Toronto Maple Leafs (at centre and on defence) in these parts. Less so on what exactly they have to trade.

That’s the goal of our project here.

We’re looking only at assets the Leafs could conceivably move ahead of the March 7 trade deadline, not the ones we know aren’t going anywhere. We’ve bunched them into five tiers — from the assets that figure to have the most value (tier 1) to those with the least (tier 5).

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Mexico will never tolerate an invasion of its national sovereignty by the United States, President Claudia Sheinbaum warned Thursday after Washington designated Mexican drug cartels as terrorist organizations.

"This cannot be an opportunity for the U.S. to invade our sovereignty," she said. "With Mexico it is collaboration and coordination, never subordination or interventionism, and even less invasion."

On Wednesday, the Trump administration formally labeled eight cartels as terrorist groups. They include Mexico's two main drug trafficking organizations, the Jalisco New Generation and Sinaloa cartels.

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The Mexican army says it has arrested a key player in the Sinaloa drug cartel in the northern city of Culiacán.

José Ángel Canobbio, also known as "El Güerito" (little blond one), is accused of being the right hand man of Iván Archivaldo Guzmán, one of the sons of infamous jailed drug lord Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán.

Mexican security forces say the arrest of Canobbio, who they say was in charge of security for Iván Archivaldo Guzmán, is a severe blow to the Sinaloa cartel.

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• Digital service taxes a longstanding trade irritant for US
• Countries including France, Canada, UK have DSTs
• White House says it will scrutinize EU tech regulations

President Donald Trump on Friday ordered his trade chief to revive investigations aimed at imposing tariffs on imports from countries that levy digital service taxes on U.S. technology companies.

A White House official, providing details of the order, said Trump was directing his administration to consider responsive actions like tariffs "to combat the digital service taxes (DSTs), fines, practices, and policies that foreign governments levy on American companies."

. . .

The memo directs the U.S. Trade Representative's office to renew digital service taxes investigations that were initiated during Trump's first term, and investigate any additional countries that use a digital tax "to discriminate against U.S. companies," according to a White House fact sheet.

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For eight decades, America’s alliances with other democracies have been the bedrock of American foreign policy, trade policy, and cultural influence. American investments in allies’ security helped keep the peace in formerly unstable parts of the world, allowing democratic societies from Germany to Japan to prosper, by preventing predatory autocracies from destroying them. We prospered too. Thanks to its allies, the U.S. obtained unprecedented political and economic influence in Europe and Asia, and unprecedented power everywhere else.

The Trump administration is now bringing the post–World War II era to an end. No one should be surprised: This was predictable, and indeed was predicted. Donald Trump has been a vocal opponent of what he considers to be the high cost of U.S. alliances, since 1987, when he bought full-page ads in three newspapers, claiming that “for decades, Japan and other nations have been taking advantage of the United States.” In 2000, he wrote that “pulling back from Europe would save this country millions of dollars annually.”

In his first term as president, Trump’s Cabinet members and advisers repeatedly restrained him from insulting allies or severing military and diplomatic links. Now he has surrounded himself with people who are prepared to enact and even encourage the radical changes he always wanted, cheered on by thousands of anonymous accounts on X.

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• Gift article

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