Speculation about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s health is only surpassed by theories surrounding the nature of his relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump. [TASS]

Long-standing rumours of Putin’s impending death have been greatly exaggerated

STORY BY STEPHEN J. THORNE

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appeared in Paris on March 27, 2025, and boldly predicted the demise of his avowed enemy, Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“He will die soon, and that’s a fact, and it will come to end,” declared the man whose leadership through one of history’s more improbable military campaigns has been compared to Winston Churchill’s during the Battle of Britain.

Zelenskyy, who has been targeted by Russian assassins since Moscow’s forces invaded Ukraine in February 2022, apparently didn’t expand on the statement. How he expects Putin to die, by poor health or some other means, wasn’t clear. Putin has survived at least a half-dozen assassination attempts and a raft of rumoured health issues spanning more than two decades.

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Jared Shawcross (second from right), with colleagues, is acting interpretation officer for HMCS Haida National Historic Site. [Parks Canada]

An armchair tour of HMCS Haida with Jared Shawcross

STORY BY ALEX BOWERS

Dubbed Canada’s “fightingest ship,” HMCS Haida is the last Tribal-class destroyer found anywhere around the globe. Twenty-seven of its kind were constructed during the Second World War and they served with distinction. That service continued into the Korean War and broader Cold War.

Today, however, Haida’s primary purpose is for posterity, having been transformed into a national historic site in Hamilton Harbour, Ont., where it has inspired visitors since 2004. The museum ship’s acting interpretation officer, Jared Shawcross, spoke to Legion Magazine about the history, legacy, and his own deep admiration of HMCS Haida.

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Members of the 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry Battle Group are deposited on a hillside in Tora Bora, Afghanistan, by an American helicopter in May 2002. [Stephen J. Thorne]

‘Decades-long’ resistance would destroy U.S. if it invaded Canada, says insurgency expert

STORY BY STEPHEN J. THORNE

Tariffs. Annexation. Invasion? Anything and everything, it seems, is on the table when it comes to U.S. President Donald Trump and Canada’s future.

Trump has said he aims to bring economic pressure down on America’s long-time friend, ally and trading partner, and force the country to cede itself to the United States.

“Canada only works as a state,” he said during the initial weeks of a 47th presidency laced with lies, disinformation and mixed messages. “We don’t need anything they have.”

Apparently, they do. Water, hydrocarbons and rare earth minerals are among the Canadian resources Trump has said Americans covet.

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Canadian soldiers of the Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion. [u/verostein/Reddit]

Historian Michael Petrou on Canada and the Spanish Civil War

STORY BY ALEX BOWERS

On April 1, 1939—almost exactly 86 years ago—Spanish general-turned-dictator Francisco Franco, bolstered by his nationalist forces and those of fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, prevailed against the democratically elected Republican government.

The Spanish Civil War, which had broken out July 17-18, 1936, had drawn to a bitter end. What followed was four decades of authoritarian rule, which ended in 1975 with Franco’s death marking the restoration of democratic values.

During the war years, however, approximately 1,600 Canadians, alongside other foreign combatants of the International Brigades, fought for the Republican cause. Their stories and struggles have been highlighted in journalist and historian Michael Petrou’s Renegades: Canadians in the Spanish Civil War.

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