As the pandemic is winding down, one of the best parts of my job is coming back – the chance to travel across the country to talk with academics who want to write for The Conversation Canada. This week, I was at Dalhousie University in Halifax to meet with some amazing researchers whose ideas will soon result in new, interesting stories for our readers.

When travelling, there’s also the chance to strike up conversations with complete strangers you encounter along the way. During my travels this week I met a gentleman from Ghana, who told me he came to Canada in the 1980s and chose Halifax because he wanted to live beside the Atlantic Ocean – just like he did as a child in his native West African country. We talked about life in Canada and how we both loved living here. And he agreed with my suggestion that sometimes Canadians take for granted that we are lucky to live in a relatively peaceful and prosperous country.

This coming week marks the first anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The last year has brought unimaginable horrors for the people of Ukraine. Few predictions made a year ago about the invasion – including whether there would even be an invasion – proved true. Looking ahead may also be difficult. The only thing that seems clear now is that there’s no end in sight for the war.

For your weekend reading, I have assembled some of the best analyses from across the global network of The Conversation on the first year of the war in Ukraine. Being on this side of the world means Canadians may feel isolated from the tragedies of this war, but we all have a responsibility to understand the conflict.

Also for your weekend reading, two stories on recent current events: a look at how the shooting down of balloons over North America fits into the history of U.S.-China relations and how the pending retirement of RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki won’t address the problems facing our national police force.

It’s a long weekend in many parts of the country, including our newsroom, so we’ll be back in your Inbox on Tuesday.

Scott White

CEO | Editor-in-Chief

Weekend Reads: A Year of War in Ukraine

Almost a year on, Russia’s war against Ukraine could go in three different directions

Florent Parmentier, Sciences Po ; Cyrille Bret, Sciences Po

Political scientists weigh in the factors that could see a Ukrainian or Russian win. The war could also become protracted.

Calls for peace in Ukraine a year after Russia’s full-scale invasion are unrealistic

Oleksa Drachewych, Western University

Calls for peace that suggest Ukraine should give up territory simply to end the war will condemn some Ukrainians to unspeakable horrors and provide a precarious foundation for lasting peace.

Ukraine 12 months at war: why Kyiv’s western allies must rethink the limits of their military aid

David Hastings Dunn, University of Birmingham

Because of the west’s fear that the war might escalate, it is effectively forcing Ukraine to fight with one hand tied behind its back.

Ukraine war: what the last 12 months has meant for the ordinary Russian soldier

Jennifer Mathers, Aberystwyth University

Russian soldiers are often barely trained and are not the highly trained operatives that some experts expected.

Ukraine war 12 months on: the role of the Russian media in reporting – and justifying – the conflict

James Rodgers, City, University of London

The two sides have used media very differently during the conflict: Zelensky has inspired support, Putin has stifled dissent.

Russia–Ukraine war has nearly doubled household energy costs worldwide – new study

Klaus Hubacek, University of Groningen; Jin Yan, University of Groningen; Yuli Shan, University of Birmingham; Yuru Guan, University of Groningen

116 country assessment shows huge direct and indirect impacts of expensive energy.

The latest news from Canadian authors
RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki announced on Feb. 15 that she would be retiring. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan

Brenda Lucki’s retirement will not fix the RCMP’s structural problems

Eli Sopow, University Canada West

Brenda Lucki’s retirement will change the person in charge of the RCMP. But the organization’s deeper structural problems cannot be fixed with a change at the top.
In this photo provided by Chad Fish, a large balloon drifts above the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of South Carolina, with a fighter jet and its contrail seen below it, on Feb. 4, 2023. (Chad Fish via AP)

Chinese balloon saga is part of a long history of U.S.-China tensions

Ronald W. Pruessen, University of Toronto

Chinese balloons must be assessed within the context of decades of mutual espionage and an awareness of the many storms in the U.S.-China relationship — and the history of empires.

The Conversation Weekly podcast

Loneliness is making us physically sick, but social prescribing can treat it – podcast

Nehal El-Hadi, The Conversation; Daniel Merino, The Conversation

Public health measures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic meant that many people experienced social isolation. But the pandemic didn’t invent loneliness, and its impacts on our health are growing.