Leaving aside all the nonsense about “America’s bloody footprint is all over this” and stripping away all the ranting and the diversions, all Mr Walberg can find to say is that the pipeline “surely irks” Russia, with not the slightest evidence to support that, or, indeed, any of his other wild claims. The US, incidentally, didn’t even sign the agreement he is ranting about! It simply sat on the sidelines and watched!

He’s right, of course, that the ongoing US defeat in Afghanistan is a boon for Russia and the rest of Europe. And it rings true that Ukrainians want an EU-type relationship with Russia. (Everybody loves the EU!). Indeed, both Russia and Ukraine also want such an agreement with the EU itself. But he fails to mention that the reason why Georgia and Ukraine are not in NATO is because the European members of the alliance have blocked their joining until they mend their fences with Russia, which effectively gives Russia a veto on their joining. In fact, what Mr Walberg proves is that there is nothing wrong with NATO that wouldn’t be cured by the US and Canada withdrawing and Russia joining.

The intriguing question is why the Canadian elite is so hysterically anxious to return to the cold war and why they want to bamboozle American leftists into believing that US hegemonism is somehow “inevitable” if not actually “progressive”. One possible theory: with the Canadian north stuffed with radar and listening stations, the cold war was Canada’s (only) moment of glory. It has now drifted back into its quasi-colonial torpor and the Anglophone elite doesn’t like it one bit!