Ezra Levant critiques Canada’s potential military involvement in Ukraine, calling Rick Hillier’s no-fly zone proposal a "suicidal errand" due to outdated CF-18 jets and escalation risks, while questioning Western hypocrisy—$600M daily in Russian oil imports despite sanctions. He compares COVID-era crackdowns (e.g., Tamara Lich’s shackled court appearance, Jacinda Ardern’s "communist" past) to Putin’s repression, exposing authoritarianism across borders. Ukrainian-Toronto protesters demand U.S. action and lethal aid for Ukraine while condemning Russian imperialism, yet Levant highlights Canada’s 700K Russian-Canadians, warning against reviving internment camps. The episode underscores moral inconsistencies in Western foreign policy and domestic governance, urging skepticism of both war and pandemic-era overreach. [Automatically generated summary]
Today, I try and make sense of the plan that NATO and Canadian generals and American diplomats have for Ukraine.
I'm trying to figure out what they want to do.
I focus a bit on Rick Hillier, formerly Canada's top soldier, and his plan for a no-fly zone over Ukraine.
I'll take you through it, and I'll also show you some old videos of the Ukrainian president Vladimir Zelenko, who's quite a character.
I'll show you some videos, and I'll ask you what you think we should do.
So that's in today's show.
Let me invite you to become a subscriber to Rebel News Plus.
That's the video version.
You really need it for today's show.
I'm going to show you clips from a few movies that Zelenko did, including one called Servant of the People, where he played the president of Ukraine in a movie.
By the way, he was also the voice of Paddington Bear for that movie in Ukraine.
He's an interesting character.
He won Dancing with the Stars 15 years ago.
I don't know if you know that.
I got some video footage of that.
He was also in a rock video.
So I got a lot to show you.
It's fine as a podcast, but you really ought to see it as a video.
Just go to RebelNewsPlus.com, click subscribe.
It's eight bucks a month.
You get my show every day plus weekly shows, four other ones that we put together.
So do me a favor and do that.
Because by the way, we rely on that money.
We don't take a dime from Trudeau.
Just go to RebelNewsPlus.com, get the video version.
And especially today, you'll get a kick out of these old Zelensky videos that I found.
All right, here's today's show.
Tonight, should Canada go to war in Ukraine against Russia?
Should we punish Russian Canadians in some way?
I'll take you through the latest big ideas from our leaders.
It's March 2nd, and this is the Angel Levant show.
Why should others go to jail when you're the biggest carbon consumer I know?
There's 8,500 customers here, and you won't give them an answer.
The only thing I have to say to the government is because it's my bloody right to do so.
Defensive Jets and Putin's Threat00:14:54
Look, I'm against war.
I think most people are, other than maybe arms dealers.
I'm skeptical of Vladimir Putin.
He's an authoritarian ruler who has suspended civil liberties in Russia and seeks to dominate Russia's neighbors to recreate an empire.
He invaded the country of Georgia.
He's invaded Ukraine several times, and he has eyes on other independent countries that were once part of the Warsaw Pact, sort of the Russian response to NATO.
One of my main arguments in my books, First Ethical Oil, which was obviously about the oil sands, and my follow-up book called Groundswell, which was about fracking mainly natural gas.
One of my arguments was that for every barrel of oil or every cubic foot of natural gas that we produce here in Canada, that's one less that will be produced and sold by the world's bad actors, mainly OPEC dictatorships in Russia.
I tell you that in case you somehow think that I support Vladimir Putin or his territorial ambitions.
Of course I don't.
And of course I don't like to see the reports out of Ukraine of violence and casualties, though it is very hard in the fog of war to trust reports, especially on social media.
There are a lot of fakes.
And by that I mean propaganda from both the Ukraine side and the Russian side.
For example, there are a lot of images from other wars that are being republished afresh, pretending to be images from this war.
So you have to be very careful about rumors, I think.
The Russian Ministry of Defense has said that it has had almost 500 deaths and 1,500 wounded Russian soldiers so far.
It's a pretty heavy death toll, especially given the military advantages that Russia holds over Ukraine.
The fact that the Russian government itself publishes these numbers means, I would think, that it is the minimum actual number.
I don't know what the number on the Ukraine side would be, but that's a real war.
The best way to win a war, of course, is to avoid it in the first place.
I note that Russia and Iran and China and North Korea didn't try any wars when Donald Trump was in office.
Even the Taliban in Afghanistan were suppressed, even though Trump was working on an exit plan.
I think it's incontrovertible that the sudden collapse of Afghanistan under Joe Biden and the Russian invasion of Ukraine and China's new saber rattling about Taiwan are all 100% attributable to having Joe Biden in office, whose policies of appeasement are disastrous in themselves.
They invite America's enemies to take chances to take liberties, but his obvious mental decline is just pitiful in the true meaning of that word.
I mean, look at this from last night's State of the Union address.
He calls Ukrainians Iranians, people from Iran, as Kamala Harris mouths the right word, wishing he said it.
It's painful to watch.
Putin may circle Kiev with tanks, but he'll never gain the hearts and souls of the Iranian people.
He'll never extinguish their love of freedom, and he will never, never weaken the resolve of a free world.
Yeah, there were way too many of those moments last night.
Here's another one: it's time to see what used to be called Rust Belt become the home of a significant resurgence of manufacturing.
And with all the bright spots in our economy.
Does anyone actually think that Joe Biden is the one making the decisions in the White House?
And if he's not, who is?
Is it some committee?
That's not the way to be decisive in dangerous times.
Oh, and I'm pretty sure it's not Kamala Harris.
This radio interview she gave is real.
This is not a fake.
If you're watching any level of news, even social media, you're seeing everything that's going on right now in the Ukraine.
Break it down in layman's terms for people who don't understand what's going on and how can this directly affect the people of the United States.
So Ukraine is a country in Europe.
It exists next to another country called Russia.
Russia is a bigger country.
Russia is a powerful country.
Russia decided to invade a smaller country called Ukraine.
So basically, that's wrong.
But it's not just America's enemies that are filling the leadership void.
Without America leading the free world's countries in a clear and compelling way, others are trying to fill the gap.
Here's Canada's retired general, Rick Hillier.
I'm going to play an extended clip here.
It's about two minutes long.
Hillier sounds very nice and very reasonable, and you can hear that touch of Newfoundland in his accent.
The tone of his voice is wonderful, but listen to what he's actually saying so calmly.
Now, this is a clip of him on the CBC, but he said the same things on CTV, and in neither place was he particularly challenged.
Take a listen.
The saying in the Army, you know, hey, shoot the 25-meter targets first.
Worry about the stuff coming down the road later on.
The sanctions may impact someone that's coming down the road.
They may not, but they may.
But right now, they need weapon systems.
They need ammo.
They need long-range systems.
And they need a no-fly zone over the Ukraine to allow them to operate, to defend their own country, and to be able to actually stand up to Putin and in negotiations say, hey, we'll accept the unconditional surrender of all the Russian soldiers into Ukraine.
And now, how can we get along in the future here?
They can last inside of those built-up areas, but it is going to be brutal.
And they can't last unless we give them better defensive support, better weapons, more ammunition and better ammunition, and the kind of things that they need.
But that no-fly zone, you know, I know NATO is a defensive organization, but hey, you don't start defense at your front door.
NATO ran a war in Afghanistan.
NATO tried to conduct operations in Afghanistan in August, did not do so well at that one.
But you start your defense earlier than that.
That no-fly zone, I posted about it, you know, a week ago.
We should have been doing it.
Putin might have had second sort of thoughts before he launched if we had done it.
Okay, you've given us a lot to unpack there because I do want to start on that very point that you're making around the no-fly zone, because I'm sure you've seen over the last number of days, the U.S. is getting tons of questions.
Our government is getting questions.
Our allies are getting questions.
And the answer has been fairly similar across the table.
No, that would be perceived as an escalatory move, and that would definitely ratchet up the war rather than de-escalate it.
What is your response to, for example, the Canadian government, which today, you know, just unequivocally said that's a no-go at this point for us?
Hey, you know, we're not putting our actions where our mouth is.
We're saying, well, Ukraine has resolved.
We're there behind you.
We've got the colors of the Ukraine on the P-STAR.
You know, something that's complete assistance short of real help.
And what they need is a no-fly zone.
What they need are weapons, and what they need are ammunition, is ammunition.
And what they need are people to come and fill out that international brigade or brigades that they want to form also to actually fight the Russians that are on the ground right now, those 25-meter targets.
Hey, this got escalated when Putin said he was going to invade and then did so.
It got escalated when they attacked those infrastructure, those buildings where the civilians are.
And it got escalated every or gets escalated every time there's a Russian tank fighting vehicle or soldier that crosses that border into the Ukraine and attacks and tries to kill somebody.
You know, at some point in time, we're going to face Putin and the Russians over this one.
And if we have any hope of ever getting Putin removed from power inside of Russia, the folks that are around him as cronies, I think back to 20 July 1944, when people around Hitler were going to do the same, I'm reminded of that when I see Putin sitting at that long table, you know, we've got to actually show some backbone in the West.
I think Canada could lead the way in that one.
We do need a no-fly zone.
We have the technology.
We have the forces.
We have the capability to do it and say very clearly to the Russian people, not just to Putin, here's what we are doing because we cannot accept what's occurring.
There's a lot in there, if I'm hearing him right.
He wants Canada to lead the attack on the Russian Air Force, Canada.
I mean, I like Canada.
I like it a lot.
I was born here.
We are very, very far away from Russia and Ukraine.
And our Royal Canadian Air Force fighters, their CF-18 jets, which were first delivered to us in 1983.
And then we bought some of Australia's used F-18s when they got rid of them because they were buying new jets.
We were supposed to get new jets too, the modern F-35 jet.
But Trudeau nixed that.
So Rick Hillier wants to send our Canadian CF-18s, almost 40 years old, next year's 40th anniversary.
And he wants to lead the battle into Ukraine to shoot down any Russian aircraft.
That's what a no-fly zone means.
No helicopters, no jets.
With our CF-18s, I don't even know how they're going to get there.
Take a look at these images here.
These are actual Russian jets.
Russia has some jets from the 80s still in its Air Force, MiG-29s they're called.
But those are the oldest, the worst jets they have.
They have many more modern planes, including jets that are meant to rival the latest American jets, the F-35, the F-22.
I'm not trying to get technical here.
I'm just saying it would be a suicidal errand for little Canada to try to take on the Russian Air Force, just from a military point of view, a logistics point of view.
Russia's right there.
Canada's over here.
You're not going to win.
And the comments about that being some sort of defensive move that NATO should adopt, how is sending Canadian jets into a war between two non-NATO countries a defensive act that could possibly be justified by NATO's charter?
You're going to take off from NATO airfields and attack Russia, and you don't think they're going to attack back?
You know, there are other former Soviet colonies, thank God they've been liberated now, that have joined NATO, Romania, Bulgaria, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania.
Did you know they're part of NATO now?
One of Putin's complaints is that NATO is trying to encircle Russia.
Of course, the response to that is NATO is defensive.
Russia doesn't have anything to worry about if it doesn't attack them.
These are all countries that Russia has dominated in the past.
They have good reason to join a defensive alliance.
But how is going in to positively make war against Russia in a non-NATO country like Ukraine?
How is that possibly a NATO decision?
And did you hear that part about regime change that General Hillier was talking about, about trying to topple Putin?
Listen, I would much rather have a liberal Democrat running Russia too.
I'm not sure how many of those there are, to be honest.
Russia feels a bit like an oligarchy, basically run by a group of self-dealing billionaires who wring out the country for political power and wealth and make sure they keep the top dog Putin well compensated.
I don't know, the closest analogy I can think of is the mafia.
Putin is the Tony Soprano character.
If you knock off the mob boss, you will get another mob boss to take his place.
You're not going to find some John A. McDonald or some George Washington waiting for his moment to usher in a new era of liberalism and freedom in civil society.
Actually, I don't think Russia's ever had such a thing.
Regime change, that's your goal.
You know, that really hasn't worked out well where it's being tried before by NATO.
Afghanistan, an obvious example.
Iraq, Libya, toppling Muammar Gaddafi.
He was not a nice man, but look what he was replaced with.
These examples come to mind.
That was done under Obama and Biden as vice president.
Imagine trying to do that to Russia itself, the physically largest country in the world.
One of the most populous, 150 million people.
Rick Hillier has big plans for Russia.
Maybe he'll be the governor of Russia.
Oh, and then there's the small matter that Russia has nuclear weapons, just that.
What's the plan here?
If the decision is to punish Russia, to deter Russia, why isn't that being done through non-military means?
First, why is the West still buying oil and gas from Russia?
That was put to the strategic genius Kamala Harris today.
Take a listen.
Is that something that the administration would continue, or would consider in terms of further sanctions, cutting off the oil and gas part of the economy for Russia?
Well, as you know, on this issue, for example, we applaud Germany in terms of what it has done as it relates to the Nord Stream too.
As it relates to what we need to do domestically as well as what we need to do in terms of this issue generally, we have, as the President said, reevaluated what we're doing in terms of the strategic oil reserve here in the United States to make sure that it will not have an impact or we can mitigate the impact on the American consumer.
But let's take this one step at a time, understanding that right now on the issue of energy, our allies have stood firm and unified in a way that many of the pundits didn't predict would happen to ensure that we are unified in our approach to this issue.
Yeah, I don't think she answered the question, did she?
Now, look, I sympathize with Ukraine.
I oppose Russia.
But before we send in our CF-18s to start World War III, shouldn't we, you know, try all peaceful means first?
If you're literally buying a billion dollars of Russian oil every day, plus the same amount of natural gas, maybe you're not really serious about stopping Russia if you're their number one customer.
What's this about?
Is it about some sort of new world order?
Is it about changing the subject in the world from the pandemic?
I don't know.
I honestly don't know what's going on.
I like that Ukrainian president, Vladimir Zelensky.
I like how he has not fled his country as the U.S. installed Afghan leaders fled immediately.
I like that Zelensky seems to be a patriot, but I also know that he's a professional actor.
Here he is in a movie just a few years ago playing the president of Ukraine.
Congratulations On Zelensky00:03:04
Can I connect you with Angela American?
Yes, you can connect.
Hello, my congratulations.
We decided to take your country to the European Union.
Oh, fuck!
Oh, I've got it for you.
Wow!
Oh, you know, I'm so happy.
Yes!
Oh, and thank you very much, all the Ukrainians and all of our country.
We've been waiting for this so much time.
Ukrainians?
Yes, Ukrainians.
I'm so sorry, that's a mistake.
I was calling to Montenegro.
Well, Montenegro.
I see.
Okay.
Yeah, Mike.
My congratulations.
Yes, to Montenegro.
Bye-bye.
Fuck!
You fucking...
Stop.
Here's another clip from that movie called Servant of the People, where he breaks up a quarrel in the Ukrainian legislature by shouting that Putin has been toppled.
Ladies and gentlemen, President, in the room, I ask you to calm down.
Ladies and gentlemen, I ask you to calm down.
Dear Democrats, dear Democrats, Putin has toppled.
I'm not saying that actors can't be good leaders.
One of the greatest U.S. presidents of all time was Ronald Reagan, who was an actor in his younger years.
But even as an actor, he had a clear philosophy.
He wasn't an actor for very long.
He achieved real political things in his life.
He became the governor of California, the biggest state in the union, on a clear conservative platform.
Here's Zelensky just being an actor, dancer, performer.
That makes me a little bit nervous.
I'll be honest.
He clearly would read any script in front of him.
Here, here he is in a rock video.
Look, I'm on Ukraine's side.
Maori Community's Stand00:15:26
I don't like to see countries devouring other countries.
The Russian pretext for the invasion is so obviously just to cover up for Putin's imperialism.
I don't like the reports of casualties on any side, frankly, but especially civilians in Ukraine.
I don't like Putin, a former KGB agent trying to revive the Soviet empire.
And I think I naturally sympathize with a smaller country being beat up by a bigger country.
But would you truly send in Canadian fighter pilots and their support crews to a war in that place right now?
Rick Hillier would.
Would you?
I think there's a madness afoot.
People are pouring out Russian-themed vodka into the sink, even if they're made in Latvia, like Stolichnaya.
It's got a Russian name.
It's made in Latvia, which is actually a NATO country.
Seems a bit indiscriminate.
And like I say, it seems a bit of a placebo.
If the West is still buying a billion dollars of oil a day, plus however much gas a day, I just don't believe it.
I mean, I get the need for an enemy.
We've seen two years of demonizing unvaccinated people.
Hate is a powerful emotion.
Justin Trudeau has used it a lot lately.
Look at this guy.
This is Barack Obama's ambassador to Russia.
So Joe Biden was VP.
Listen to what he said.
He said, there are no more innocent, neutral Russians anymore.
Everyone has to make a choice, support or oppose this war.
The only way to end this war is if hundreds of thousands, not thousands, protest against the census war.
Putin can't arrest you all.
All right, well, Russia, it's a nationality.
It's a legal geography.
It's a citizenship.
I think it's an ethnicity too, although there's many minorities in Russia.
To say that Russian civilians, ordinary people who were born in a place, are guilty because they're not actively renouncing their country or whatever this guy is telling them to do, that's insane.
And does he mean Russians in Russia only or Russians elsewhere?
You know, there's about 700,000 Canadians who answered in the last census that they're Russian.
Are they enemies too?
Should we, I don't know, dust off the internment camps we used for the Japanese Canadians 80 years ago?
Should we do that again?
What if you're half Russian and half Ukrainian?
Are you a good person or a bad person?
What if you're a Russian living in Ukraine or ethnically Russian in Ukraine?
Does it depend on how you vote?
Look, I hate to watch this war.
I hate the video images of death and destruction.
And that's why they're being served up because they're so emotionally evocative.
I can also detect propaganda, a lot of it.
Did you see this reporter, grill British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the other day?
Wouldn't surprise me if you saw it.
A lot of people did.
A woman from my team is now in Vilacerkva.
And she is there with two kids.
And Russian military is all there.
And she's so much afraid that she will be shot.
Kharkiv, the city where I was studying, was bombarded today, fully, the downtown square.
So you're talking about the stoicism of Ukrainian people, but Ukrainian women and Ukrainian children are in deep fear because of bombs and missiles which are going from the sky.
And Ukrainian people are desperately asking for the West to protect our sky.
We are asking for the no-fly zone.
We are saying in response that it will trigger World War III.
But what is the alternative, Mr. Prime Minister?
To observe how our children are, instead of planes, are protecting NATO from their missiles and bombs.
What's the alternative for the NoFly Zone?
We have planes here.
We have air defense system in Poland, in Romania.
NATO has this air defense.
At least this air defense could shield the Western Ukraine so that these children, with women, could come to the border.
It's impossible now to cross the border.
There are 30 kilometers of lines.
Imagine crossing the border with a baby or with two children.
I'm so glad that Samantha Power is coming here to the border from the Polish side.
Let her come to the border from the Ukrainian side and see that.
Britain guaranteed our security under Budapest Memorandum.
So you're coming to Poland.
You're not coming to Kiev, Prime Minister.
You're not coming to Lviv.
Because you are afraid.
Because NATO is not willing to defend.
Because NATO is afraid of World War III.
But it is already started.
And these are Ukrainian children who are there taking the hit.
You're talking about more sanctions, Prime Minister.
But Roman Abramovich is not sanctioned.
He's in London.
His children are not in the bombardments.
His children are there in London.
Put's children are in the Netherlands, in Germany, in mansions.
Where are all these mansions seized?
I don't see that.
I see that my family members, that my team members are saying that we are crime.
We don't care where to rob.
This is what is happening, Prime Minister.
Incredibly powerful moment at Boris Johnson's press conference in Poland.
That's what the tweet says.
So that one video I showed you had nearly 9 million views on Twitter alone.
Very powerful.
Who was that woman?
Obviously, a reporter, since it was at a press conference, those are for reporters.
It was this lady here just had a chance to ask a question to Boris Johnson.
Her name is Daria Kaleniak.
So who's she a reporter with?
You ever heard her before?
Well, here's her Twitter biography.
Her banner says, stop Putler, Putin Hitler, now.
NATO, no fly zone over Ukraine.
So maybe she's not actually a reporter then?
Is she?
Even though she was asking questions at a press conference like a reporter and was widely described as a reporter, her Twitter bio has a link to this, the Anti-Corruption Action Center.
She's the executive director of the place.
So it's a lobby group.
And look at the website under funding.
The number one source of her funding is the U.S. government.
And the number two source is European Union governments.
Now, I'm not a detective.
I just clicked on a few links.
That was not a reporter.
That was a U.S.-funded activist pressing Boris Johnson of NATO to declare World War III or something.
What on earth is going on here?
I'm uncomfortable with all this.
It feels like that old movie, Wag the Dog.
I don't deny there is a real war, and I don't deny that Putin is a malign force.
I wrote about it in two of my books.
But you'll forgive me if I don't sign on to World War III with old generals who miss the action and old diplomats with personal grudges.
And I think I've learned to be skeptical of political leaders who can immediately change into anything like a chameleon, depending what script is put in front of them.
People who can be anything to anyone, actors who will read any script in front of them, any teleprompter.
We Canadians know a bit about that, don't we?
By the way, I have accepted a staff appointment with a promotion.
Captain Papineau is leaving us, but we hope not for long.
Thank you.
I have no idea I was so bound by ties of affection to the regiment until I came to leave it.
Take care of these guys.
I will, and you watch out for yourself.
Yeah, I'm rooting for Ukraine, but I wouldn't want any Canadians to fight and die there or to start World War III.
Stay with us for more.
Shame on you!
A woman that was being pulled back across the police lines here with her handbag.
I've had lots of people found in, which we've seen right these 24 days, haven't we?
Yeah, you can see a man just falling to the ground.
Joining us now via Skype from Australia is our chief correspondent there, Avi Yamini.
Avi, great to see you.
Tell us what you can.
I know you're not in New Zealand, but of course, Australia is the closest country to New Zealand.
You know a lot about New Zealand's Prime Minister, the extreme authoritarian Jacinda Ardern.
Can you give us a little background on this protest at the capital?
Because I know that New Zealanders are finally waking up.
They have this high court ruling against the mandate.
So I felt like there was a flicker of hope.
What just happened?
Yeah, Ezra.
So actually, they're inspired by you guys in Canada.
That is still the convoy to the capital that are camped outside parliament.
And yeah, it would seem as if Adern, the Prime Minister of New Zealand, has been inspired by Trudeau.
And I think she's also using the cover of what's happening in Ukraine between Russia and Ukraine at the moment to distract.
So nobody notices while she's pointing the finger at Putin.
She's busy knocking out, you know, senior citizens who are daring to voice their opposition to these mandates.
So is there some sort of martial law in New Zealand?
Is there some heightened emergency status or was this just police deciding they were going to thump a few skulls?
I think that this is the enforcement against the convoy there where it's been ongoing since you guys, when the Canadian convoy kind of packed up, they kept going in New Zealand.
So they've had a few confrontations there and it seems like they're growing there as well with a large group of the indigenous, the Maori community, which have gotten involved as well.
So I think in New Zealand there is a big shift because people are waking up to the idea that New Zealand has been, if not the place most on earth, on our planet that has enforced the COVID restrictions to the highest degree.
You know, it's still impossible to get into New Zealand.
They're starting to lift them slowly.
But I think people in New Zealand are starting to recognize that they've been through all of this in the last two years, and now they're being told, even when they've been good little citizens that have followed every single rule, now the virus is arriving because even with all of that, it still manages to get in.
And so they've realized that now they've lost their jobs for something that just makes no more sense to them anymore.
Yeah, that was the one country in the world where they tried to have the zero COVID approach, not a single case.
And I guess theoretically, I mean, New Zealand is quite remote, but you would have to have a 100% seal that place off.
And I understand that New Zealand's actually setting records for the number of cases.
You just can't stop it.
I think it's powerful when you mention that the Maoris are against it because Jacinda Ardern is nothing if not woke.
So, I mean, she's a woman, she's a socialist, she has all these cards she can play, but she can't really play the cards when it's a group of Maori folks, the Indigenous folks of New Zealand.
I find that very interesting.
I also think it's interesting that you say they're inspired by Canada.
I know the same thing happened in Canberra, the capital of Australia, right?
There was a convoy there too.
Absolutely.
And there's still a little thing there, and they have a big, I believe, a big protest.
They've had one of the largest protests in the country.
Well, certainly in our capital and outside parliament in history, but they have another one planned for next month.
There's still a small group that have stayed there, even as they've been kicked out of campsite to campsite.
So there is still something happening here.
But it's important to know that in New Zealand, Jacinto Dern was quite popular, very popular, even within the Maori community.
And I think the silver lining to COVID, or one of them from the last two years, is it's woken up a lot of these communities to the woke ideology and to wokeism and to people like Jacinto Dern and to expose how dangerous they really can be.
Because I even noticed here in Australia, we have a large Maori community here.
And one of the things that I noticed early on was how many of them were at our protests and were talking to me about, oh my gosh, I can't believe that my brothers, sisters, my cousins in New Zealand don't get it yet.
And now we're slowly seeing that shift.
And unfortunately, I think we'll see still a bit more to come in New Zealand.
I don't think it's over yet, but we hope for them, for their sake.
And how are things in Australia?
You're in the most locked down city in Australia, Melbourne, which is the big city in the state of Victoria.
I've learned a lot about Australia from you.
Of course, just an atrocious head of Victoria, Dan Andrews is his name.
It didn't surprise me to learn that there was net out-migration from Victoria the same way there's been people in America moving out of California and New York to Texas and Florida, away from the lockdown states to the free states.
Tell me how things are in Australia now.
Has Dan Andrews of Victoria taken his foot off of people's neck?
Has the prime minister gotten more lenient?
I mean, I remember they crushed the tennis player, Djogovich, who came in lawfully unvaxxed.
Like there was a last spasm of madness.
What's it like today?
Well, today, we still have all these mandates in place, but it's certainly, you've got to remember it's an election year here.
And nowhere in the world, I think, at this point, maybe you can argue during the U.S. elections, while there was still a large part of the population that were very nervous of the virus, that that may have supported the most popular president in history.
But I think here it's important to know it is an election year.
And if you look at polling lockdowns and restrictions, they don't poll well.
Mandates and Elections00:05:36
So I think everyone's kind of loosening up a little bit, but we still certainly have mandates.
I don't know why people are running away.
We just lit up the town in the Ukrainian flag colors.
We are such a good people here in Melbourne, so virtuous.
So I don't know why anyone would want to leave such a place.
At the end of the day, I didn't see if you watched the footage of how Putin was treating their anti-war protesters, and no matter which side you stand in this debate, but the way he treated his anti-war protesters was nothing like what we saw here in Melbourne or there in Ottawa.
And what we're seeing today in New Zealand, I think it's important to note because we pretend to be the good guys all the time.
But I think COVID has exposed our governments at least for the hypocrites that they absolutely are.
Yeah, I think you're right.
I haven't seen Putin deploy riot horses against peaceful protesters in Moscow.
I've seen that done by Trudeau in Ottawa.
Literally today, Tamara Lich, one of the organizers of the trucker convoy, is trying for the second time to get bail.
She's been held in prison for almost two weeks.
Peaceful protesters.
She said, hold the line, two weeks in prison.
I don't know.
I think it's a little bit hard for countries like Australia, New Zealand, and Canada to take the moral high ground now.
And you see that.
I mean, the Russian embassy, the Chinese embassy, they're sort of mocking the lockdowns in the West, and they were mocking Trudeau.
And fair enough.
I mean, obviously, I don't think Canada is as bad as China.
It's not, or as bad as Russia.
But it's a little bit tough to play morally righteous when you've just shown how brutal you can be against your peaceful protesters.
Well, Avi, keep it up down there.
Keep an eye peeled on New Zealand.
I know it's a whole different place.
It's actually hours away by plane even.
But keep us posted on that because Jacinda is a real menace.
We have a more comprehensive report coming out today, rebelnews.com.au, for people to follow.
All right, well, make sure to take a look at that.
Avi Amini, great to see you.
Thanks for your time.
Thank you, Ezra.
There you have it.
Our Chief Australian correspondent.
Stay with us.
Your letters to me next.
Hey, welcome back.
Your viewer feedback.
Trisha Boer says, what's going on with Tamara Lich?
Well, thank you for asking.
I'm answering you at just before 4 o'clock p.m. and there is no result in her bail review.
So just a quick recap for those who might not know what we're talking about.
Tamara Lich is the Metis woman from Medicine Hat Alberta who really got the excitement building for the trucker convoy.
She's the one who created the first GoFundMe account.
She's not a trucker herself, but she really was its encourager along the way.
She was arrested on the streets at night in Ottawa, thrown in jail, and charged with inciting mischief because she said hold the line, which is just like a generic saying.
That was called inciting mischief.
And she was denied bail two weeks ago by a judge who had campaigned for the Liberal Party of Canada in a recent election.
Trudeau stumped for her.
So it was just a shocking.
Have you ever heard of someone being denied bail for the crime of inciting mischief?
Not even for committing mischief, just encouraging others.
Murderers get bail.
So today, literally today, was her appeal of that.
And as of 20 minutes ago when I last checked, the results of that appeal were not yet known.
They might not be known until tomorrow.
The judge hasn't ruled is what I mean.
Incredibly, Tamara Lich was brought into the courtroom in shackles.
in ankle shackles and handcuffs as if she were a murderer.
She's a political prisoner.
It is a disgrace to the justice system that she's in prison still.
That's the update.
Someone with a nickname 250 Sabre says, Jacinda Ardern is a crazy communist and has been since she was in her late teens.
She even wore a communist uniform.
It was also unbelievable and sick, just an authoritarian woman with no path for her country.
I know a little bit about her, and she indeed was the president of the Socialist International.
She really is a communist, and I know you're not saying that as an insult, but rather as a description.
I think she is doing atrocious things.
And I don't know what it is about Commonwealth countries, Canada, Australia, New Zealand.
We have had terrible police and terrible authoritarianism put upon us by our leaders.
I think Jacinda Ardern has been atrocious, but what's the excuse for Scott Morrison, the Prime Minister of Australia, or the provincial premiers of Canada, some of whom actually call themselves conservative?
I think there's something wrong in our society.
There's been no checks and balances, although I'll give New Zealand credit for this.
Their high court struck down the mandates.
Our Supreme Court has not.
Someone with a nickname Church says this cannot be done until the politicians, unionized bureaucrats, and cops are publicly held to account for their blatant intentional abuse of individual rights for the last two years.
Well, I don't know how you're going to get that kind of system-wide accountability because what are you going to do?
Feeling Betrayed00:07:53
Replace one party with another one?
Like take the example of the government of Alberta.
Jason Kenney, who's imprisoning a Christian pastor right now, Arthur Pavlovsky.
What are you going to do?
You're going to replace him with the NDP?
How about in Ontario?
You're going to replace Doug Ford with the Liberal Party?
That's even worse.
The entire system was proved rotten.
The courts, the media, academia, colleges of physicians and surgeons, every police force you can name.
I don't even know how you replace one crooked set with another.
I don't even know what to do.
My friends, that's our show for today.
Until tomorrow, on behalf of all of us here at Rebel World Headquarters, see you at home.
Good night.
Keep fighting for freedom.
And let me leave you with a video of the day.
Our friend Efrain Monsanto, who met with Ukrainian supporters in Toronto who believe in sanctioning Russian oil.
Here's his video.
See you later.
I'm Efron Monsanto, video journalist covering protests for Rebel News.
This past weekend, on my way to Toronto's weekly Freedom Rally that takes place at Queen's Park every Saturday, I came across a large crowd of Canadian Ukrainians and supporters outside the U.S. consulate.
Canada has the highest Ukrainian population outside of their own country in Russia, with over 1.3 million across the nation.
That's why when Putin invaded Ukraine last week, it personally affected the families of many Canadians.
Canada takes over $600 million of Russian oil every single year, but yet we suppress our own ethical oil coming from the West through cancellation of pipelines, the federal carbon tax, and more.
Even America has done the same.
In 2021, President Joe Biden canceled the Keystone Excel pipeline, increasing their reliance on Russian oil.
Sign our petition at BillKeystoneExcel.com.
If you agree that it's in both our countries' interests to build a pipeline and not rely on foreign influence for our energy demands.
I asked the protesters what their thoughts were on Putin's invasion of Ukraine.
What can Canada do more?
And should we stop importing Russian oil as part of our sanctions?
Take a listen.
So we are trying to get more involvement of US government in the Ukrainian situation because nothing has happened.
People are just talking and we need real help from the world because our guys are dying there and no one is helping us.
We are feeling a little bit betrayed.
So we are trying to make US government to do something and support us in this fight for the peace in the whole world.
It's not just about Ukraine, it's about the whole world.
Peace in the whole world.
Stop the war! Stop the war!
Airplane and Russian soldier is killed for Ukrainian people, civil people.
This Bombian shelter, Bombian is a hospital.
This booming is killed as people.
Slow Ukraine, slower Nazis, Merdvora.
We are fighting for freedom, fighting for freedom of Europe, for democracy.
And I believe we will win.
And we are here to support our country, our people, our military, our president, and everybody right now in Ukraine who suffer from Russian aggression, from the war that they launched against us.
For us, it's very, very important because my wife and I were Russian citizens and we're against this war and we're standing with Ukraine today.
We're very nervous for our families.
They live in Odessa, which is occupied by Russian warriors now.
And what's your message to Putin if anyone from Russia is watching us?
Do you think Canada should stop importing Russian oil into the country?
They should, like, absolute embargo.
No, like, like, do not buy gas or oil from Russia.
That's just, that's just, that's, just a no-no.
Any products.
I very much supported that they removed vodka, Russian vodka from LCBO.
Yeah, for sure.
I'm totally supporting this because I think it's the biggest income of the Russian Federation from oil and gas.
So I think we should stop it.
And yeah, of course, people will need to make sacrifices.
It will affect everybody.
But you know, we are standing for freedom of the world right now.
And Ukrainian people fighting outgunned, out-manned.
And we are fiercely defending our country, our major cities.
And right now we are the only ones who are battling this Nazi regime in Russia.
I feel that there should be, that more can be done, but one thing that Ukraine needs the most is, of course, just help in terms of lethal weapons.
I mean, more of that, you know.
And honestly, I also feel that Canada should not forget about Russian people.
This is not our war.
And I hope that one day Canada will also support Russian people who will be immigrating like crazy from their country because of this, because they did not choose this war because they did not ever elect Putin people.
Do you think Canada should stop importing all Russian oil into the country?
Yes, I think yes.
Putin's support is about one-third.
So it's a significant, it's a significant minority, right?
I mean, I mean, still a lot of people, but so most people actually not supporting him.
It's just that because we're living under dictatorship, people are oppressed, people are afraid to talk, people prefer to stay away.
But we have to understand that there's a strong movement in the democratic movement in Russia, and Russians very much need support of Canada.
What's your message to Ukrainians who might be watching this?
Stop the war and hang in there.
What's your message to other Russians like you who are afraid to speak out?
What's your message to them?
I think that at this point in Russia, the most important thing is not to be afraid to talk, to talk, to speak.
You don't even have to walk on the street in order to make a statement.
These days in Russia, even if you post on social media a simple phrase, no war, that makes a lot of difference.
We're seeing a massive movement in that regard.
Any small action, do not disregard it.
You know, small action can lead to big changes.
Russians don't believe it, but it's certainly true.
And I think Ukrainians are showing that very much.