Some recent interviews -        May 23: Episode of The Global Exchange with Colin Robertson on diplomacy, multilateralism, the rules-based international order Bob Rae on the UN - Canadian Global Affairs Institute (cgai.ca) May 26: Interview for the Conference of Defence Associations Institute Expert Series on war in Ukraine and Canada's response - Ambassador Bob Rae: Is Canada on the Path to a More Productive and Engaged Role in the World? | CDA Institute

There are, according to Russia, two kinds of vetos it is wielding. The first is in the Security Council, allegedly made absolute in the Charter. The second is de facto veto of the nuclear bomb, which it believes it can trigger at will. But in reality neither veto is absolute/2 2/ the first is not absolute because there are two ways around the veto - the #UnitedForPeace resolution, as happened in the Korean War and again this past week, and the little known #Article27/3 which provides that a party to a dispute must abstain when Ch VI is invoked. /3

When governments say -rightly - that fighting a pandemic means businesses have to close and people can’t make a living, governments have to accept their obligation to keep people as close to whole as possible Governments need to respect expert advice from officials of all kinds, but remember the hardworking people giving that advice have guaranteed salaries and pensions. The programs to deal with the fallout of #Lockdown have to be transparent and speedily accessible