As a WWII baby – it’s so hard to come to terms with the
horrendous loss of Canadians – our families – uncles family friends – Grandpa
WWI... in wars that in 2016.... the sacred graves are vandalized..... monuments
of remembrance and respect are pissed
and shaaat on painted and destroyed ...for fun .... on the very freedom,
liberty and dignity and courage Canadians paid their lives with... and 99% of
us take so for granted....
How my heart aches and weeps and mourns – so many dead....
for what??? – so enemies are now friends.... and friends are now enemies... and
the dead crosses across Canada are justified
and it’s ok.....
We talk about the white first settlers abuses of the First
Peoples ignoring the fact that just as much racial tribal hatred and tortures
were part of the living Canadian lands long before the first settlers arrived
and built a barren hard, unforgiving landscape into the incredible Canada we
have today....
We revered our grandparents and theirs and our family bible
and church and communities were our world across this nation..... this glorious
Canada...
And my old soul and heart weep for #syrianrefugees that the world politico powers under the obsolete auspices
of #UnitedNations treat like throwaway trash... YET.... put the horrific
responsibity ... once again.... on the Christians and decent people of this
world of #ordinaryfolks to fix ... whilst #China #Russia #USA and #UnitedNation
continue with their greed $$$ power vs humanity and climate change in front of
the hatemongering #MSMnews they own ....
All that poverty growing up.... asking Uncle Harold.... as
we looked at our ruined farmlands and wasted devastating poverty.... ‘Are u
sure we won the war, Uncle?’..... And on
his good days.... us kids were his only trust... he’d say.... – unless the world is made of blonde white
blue eyed people... the rest would be destroyed ... and u’d live peace on your
knees....
.... Canadians choose dying for freedom....instead.
Thank u God.... for all the disappointments of my life... I
know without a doubt you are holding each and every soldier in your arms till
us old tarnished angels get there... that’s my story and i’m sticking to it...
NOW .... world Christians, Muslims and those who care about
humanity.... it’s time for a few billion of us to rise up.... #PopeFrancis ...
and help our brothers and sisters thrown away in evil greed war power and
hatred... and bring change history... in our favour....and theirs...
Let’s change the news (like almost a million of us
underground did globally for news on and for our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan
... and we were/are brilliant at it) – to the positive and what we can change
and do change... and share...
f**k evil.... LOVES COMING IN 2016 for humanity and our
planet and climate change.... and the #donaldtrumps (and everydamm one of the greedyguts
politicians are #donaldtrumps... (well outside #FeelTheBern) ‘The Donald’s just more honest about greed $$$ and world
domination of 1%) and their ownership of #MSMnews.... LET’S BYPASS THEM ALL... after all this is
the internet of #BillGates and #Facebook and incredible #Twitter etc...
#PopeFrancis .... and children of this world.... we’re
coming... and we love u.... promise
SO UNCLE HAROLD... and all the millions who died for our
nations in wars that have become so irrelevant ... that graves are now
destroyed for boredom along with our monuments and historical respect- Here’s
to the 1% who give us 99% a pass in war and death and wounded and suffering
coming home with 2 many victories over purest hatred.
I weep because a wonderful #POUTUS chose to make a visit and
deal with evil creepy human rights #Vietnam and then on to #Japan instead of honouring his
Grandfather and #PearlHarbour.... making deals and spitting in the face of
#China.... which...proves as humanity... how truly irrelevant #ordinaryfolks
are...
... and those millions who died by the evil calls of war
just for greed and power ....
... oh look... the sun is sparkling on the apple blossoms in
the orchards.... hear the children laughing and tearing around ... and elders
sauntering along smiling with the gratitude of ...one more day... and the cutest cartoon from a facebook
friend.... and a twitter quote of poetry that makes the blood soar....
So.... underground ( #Anonymous) we need some love and
help.... and spread the word and share, share, share... with links ok... Old
Momma Nova
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Canada
Military News-THE MILITARY TRUTH from 1997(Soviet-USA-Middle Class) - how
ashamed our militaries were of our excessive behaviour as people in the free
world (#HotelCalifornia) compared to the horrific daily suffering they
witnessed in hard part of the world. Leave Root Causes aside- DESTROY ISIS
STATE...PERIOD/links always/#POTUS 4 Secretary General of United Nations, clean
that filthy house up u'd b perfect imho
----------------
BLOGGED:
Canada
Military News-THE MILITARY TRUTH from 1997(Soviet-USA-Middle Class) - how
ashamed our militaries were of our excessive behaviour as people in the free
world (#HotelCalifornia) compared to the horrific daily suffering they
witnessed in hard part of the world. Leave Root Causes aside- DESTROY ISIS
STATE...PERIOD/links always/#POTUS 4 Secretary General of United Nations, clean
that filthy house up u'd b perfect imho
----------------
BLOGSPOT:
CANADA MILITARY NEWS- RWANDA-Canadians Remember Rwanda and Romeo Dallaire and global betrayal/So few...NO heroes among Global politicans r Global $$$ Media- so many deaths... not a white mans war-UN ignored- as did Africas- RWANDA SCREAMS THAT SYRIA IS 2014's RWANDA- shame United Nations- Shame!
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Pope Francis Calls Christmas A 'Charade' As The 'World Continues To Wage War'
Pope Francis said Thursday in a sermon that Christmas this year will be a "charade" because the "world continues to wage war" and "we do not understand peace."
"Today, Jesus weeps as well because we have chosen the way of war, the way of hatred, the way of enmities. We are close to Christmas. There will be lights, there will be parties, bright trees, even Nativity scenes - all decked out - while the world continues to wage war," he said during Mass at the chapel of the Santa Marta residence in the Vatican.
The pontiff said of the Christmas cheer, "It's all a charade," the TheJournal.ie, an Irish news site, reported.
"What shall remain? Ruins, thousands of children without education, so many innocent victims and lots of money in the pockets of arms dealers. Jesus once said: 'You can not serve two masters: Either God or riches.' War is the right choice for him, who would serve wealth: 'Let us build weapons, so that the economy will right itself somewhat, and let us go forward in pursuit of our interests. There is an ugly word the Lord spoke: 'Cursed!' Because He said: 'Blessed are the peacemakers!' The men who work war, who make war, are cursed, they are criminals," Francis said.
"A war can be justified - so to speak - with many, many reasons, but when all the world as it is today, at war - piecemeal though that war may be - a little here, a little there, and everywhere - there is no justification - and God weeps. Jesus weeps."
Just last week, Paris was attacked by jihadist gunmen and suicide bombers, leaving 129 dead and 352 wounded.
On Friday, 10 gunmen overwhelmed the Radisson Blu Hotel in Mali's capital - shouting "Allahu Akbar," or "God is great," in Arabic - before firing on guards and taking 170 people hostage.
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We must stop funding $$$$TRILLIONS United Nations.... each and all are a #Trump
QUOTE: One soldier who deployed to Afghanistan in 2002 has told me that one MSF facility refused to treat an injured child because she was brought to the hospital by U.S. troops. Their laudable commitment to medical ethics and political neutrality in war seems to falter when Americans get involved
What Does a Humanitarian Double Standard Mean for Civilians?
Posted on October 30, 2015
Over at FPRI, where I am a non-resident fellow, I wrote about a troubling double standard in how human rights and other humanitarian organizations discuss rights violations in conflict zones. Specifically, they seem to reserve the vast majority of their opprobrium for the United States, while excusing other parties to conflict, including other governments:
There is a reflexive, open anti-Americanism from the aid group. The group proudly says it treats everyone at their hospitals, regardless of affiliation: Taliban, Boko Haram, civilian. They find moral courage in treating even “bad” people because of their belief in the humanitarian principle of treating all people equally… unless the U.S. is involved. One soldier who deployed to Afghanistan in 2002 has told me that one MSF facility refused to treat an injured child because she was brought to the hospital by U.S. troops. Their laudable commitment to medical ethics and political neutrality in war seems to falter when Americans get involved.
But reflexive anti-Americanism probably does not tell the whole story: plenty of aid groups are deeply skeptical, even mistrustful, of the U.S. military without displaying MSF’s double standards. Globally, the U.S. is held to a higher standard than any other party to conflict, partly as a consequence of America’s unmatched military power, partly because of American global economic and cultural dominance, and partly because of a general sense of anti-imperialism that influences many internationalists.
Now this does not excuse bad or even criminal conduct by the U.S., and rights groups are entirely within the right to condemn the U.S. when it commits heinous acts that violate the laws of war. But I’m just as curious as to why they won’t apply that standard even to other states involved in conflicts.
Take Russia. While the U.S. received instant, and sustained, international condemnation for its strike against an MSF hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, Russia has attacked four hospitals in Syria, two of which are operated by MSF. Moreover, they have adopted the Assad regime’s approach of targeting ambulances and other first responders after bombings — the so-called “double tap” strike that many vociferously condemned when the U.S. did it in Pakistan. And the reaction to these deliberate, outrageous war crimes is… silence.
In its official statement about the strikes, MSF does not that medical facilities in Syria are under attack. However, rather than condemning Russia for bombing their hospitals, MSF instead chooses to note “all parties to this conflict” are “flouting international humanitarian law.” That’s a far cry from MSF’s reaction to Kunduz, where it said within hours of the attack that it was a war crime while demanding a UN investigation.
I don’t have a solid explanation for why so much of the humanitarian (and general, global) Left is so quick to condemn the United States and repeatedly, consistently soft pedals much more abusive regimes that deliberately commit illegal acts. I think part of it is a vaguely defined “anti-Imperialism,” though this explanation is inadequate. In Ukraine, as an example, Russia is clearly the imperialist power but that crowd still blames the U.S. for it.
So anti-Americanism is part of it. But that doesn’t explain everything, because often the humanitarian wing of the Left is one of the first to demand the U.S. unilaterally intervene in a conflict to somehow ease civilian suffering (like with Syria and Libya). So it’s not just a rote hatred of the U.S. that drives this one-sided criticism.
There is also this idea of holding the U.S. to a higher standard than anyone else in the world for various reasons (from our own stated ideals to the ideals other people somewhat cynically apply to the U.S. when circumstances warrant). But that, too, rings hollow, given how uncharitably the humanitarian Left treats any statement, investigation, or conclusion from the federal government. It almost rises to the level of journo-derp, requiring the belief that thousands of people can all lie in unison with no inconsistency, because otherwise it might paint the feds in a positive light and that’s just not possible.
So it’s a mystery to me as to why this double standard exists. Maybe it’s all of those reasons, combined to just general anger at the seemingly intractable conflicts that involve the U.S. I don’t know.
What I do know, however, is that the double standard of only and uniquely criticizing the U.S. creates a horrifying environment where the one actor that exerts a huge amount of effort to attempt compliance with international humanitarian law (Lefty rhetoric aside, this is undeniable to any honest person) is the one actor most crippled by it.
The conundrum the humanitarian double standard represents is also apparent in the issue of targeted strikes against western citizens who voluntarily join terrorist groups. When a citizen joins a foreign army at war with his own government, there is no obligation under domestic or international law to respect his citizenship when attacking that army. He forfeits his protection by joining the opposing force. But when American citizens join al Qaeda, a non-state group literally at war with the US, many in the humanitarian Left think that citizen should still enjoy the protections afforded by his citizenship. It is an inversion of how the law actually works.
Similarly, when a terrorist group uses civilians as shields and attacks a state (say, the U.S. or Afghan governments) and that state responds in a way that harms or kills those civilians, the onus should be on the group illegally using civilian shields. But over the last fifteen years a shift has occurred whereby the state responding to an attack is now held responsible for the plight of civilians being illegally manipulated by a non-state actor. This, too, is an inversion of the law but it is where the conventional wisdom for the humanitarian Left is definitely moving.
Hospitals are a bit different. Under the Geneva Conventions (some sections of which the U.S. has not yet signed), they are given a much higher consideration than any other facility, and an attacking force faces a much higher standard for when it can even respond to an attack. And this is fine as far as it goes, at least if you can laugh off the idea of protecting a Taliban firing position inside a hospital as “inject[ing] a vital dose of humanity into the devastation of war,” as some present these conventions.
The end result of all of this work is that the U.S. (and other western states) are treated unfairly, to the detriment of civilians in conflict areas. This is a conclusion that cuts against the humanitarian Left conventional wisdom, but the logic is impossible to escape. When only western, liberal governments are held accountable for their conduct in war, and holding accountable other actors is hand waved away as futile or irrelevant, there is a grey area where one party to a conflict can violate the laws of war with impunity and another is tightly bound, unable to respond in kind. This has been the central frustration of the wars in both Afghanistan and Iraq, where insurgents abuse the Geneva conventions at will and the rules of engagement meant to uphold them essentially cripple the capacity of the U.S. to respond effectively.
Instead of derping out on that last clause as a call for massacre (because it is not and you are a dishonest moron if you try to argue I mean it as such), consider whether this situation protects civilians or places them in greater harm by creating an informal norm that the “lesser” party to conflict feels it can successfully abuse civilians without legal or political consequence. At least so far, that seems to be precisely what happens: the discourse favors “revisionist” forces (defined at non-Western forces), and punishes “statist” forces that plays by the rules. And civilians suffer.
So with this double standard creating a gray zone, where does that leave the U.S.? Non-western parties to conflicts have managed to create a global political environment where they can rampantly violate international humanitarian law while also hiding behind it to try to escape reprisal. There isn’t an easy answer for this conundrum, since it is the outgrowth of several decades of evolution in thought concerning conflict, the laws of armed conflict, and global norms. But the consequence is that the U.S. is faced with a uniquely high expectation of its conduct while being sent into ever-less rules-abiding conflicts. One way or another, this double standard is going to be resolved, either by removing the requirement to adhere to international law or by finally holding others to account when they violate it. I suppose we can just pray it is the latter.
Borders Condemns Israel, Ignores Hamas War Crimes
September 27,
2015 12:21 pm 59 comments
Hamas terrorists in Gaza. Photo: Wikipedia.
As an internationally
recognized humanitarian organization, Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without
Borders, aka MSF) is viewed by many as apolitical, solely concerned with
improving the well-being of people in need. In truth, MSF has strayed far from
its goal of providing emergency medical aid, and it has violated its own pledge to observe
“neutrality and impartiality.” Instead, it is taking advantage of its
reputation to engage in anti-Israel political warfare.
Over the summer, a
number of MSF publications adopted an extreme anti-Israel narrative. First was
a July 7, 2015, opinion piece written
by MSF-USA Executive Director Jason Cone that whitewashed Hamas attacks against
Israeli — and Palestinian — civilians. In the article, Cone
ignored Hamas’ war crimes, which include targeting Israeli civilians for death
and using innocent Palestinians as human shields. Incredibly, Cone’s only
criticism of Hamas related to its decision to ban painkillers in Gaza.
Cone said that rocket
attacks against Israeli civilians are “called acts of resistance on one
side and terrorism on the other.” Similarly, Cone casually mentioned the rise
in “Palestinian attacks against Israeli civilians (mostly settlers),”
suggesting that some terrorist attacks are more acceptable than others.
In contrast, Cone
showed no nuance or understanding when it came to Israeli policy: “Israeli
fears of rocket fire from Gaza… and the ongoing threat of tunnel-enabled
attacks… cannot justify the devastating medical and psychological consequences
for Palestinians of the barriers, checkpoints, bombing campaigns, blockades,
and incursions.” It is unclear what expertise an executive officer of a medical
organization has that allows him to weigh military and security
strategies in the complicated dynamics of an ongoing conflict.
Another political
attack against Israel appeared in a July 2015
promotional video, featuring Mathilde Berthelot, an MSF program
manager. Echoing Cone’s propaganda, she charged that Israel uses Palestinian
violence “as an alibi for a policy which is repressive and expansionist,”
adding, “we are no longer able to accept this alibi. We must take an even
bigger stand for the people of Palestine.”
The video also refers
to Israeli military operations in Gaza as “wholesale massacres” and
decries the“humiliation and oppression they [Palestinians] are subjected to daily.” These
vitriolic attacks are further proof that MSF has aligned itself with one side
of the conflict in a way that is wholly inconsistent with its humanitarian standards.
This type of
antagonism from MSF is not new. During the 2008-2009 conflict in Gaza, Felipe
de Ribeiro, Executive Director of MSF-France, argued that Israel used the
decision of Palestinian snipers to take up positions near medical facilities as
an excuse to
attack these sites — with the implication that Israel was targeting
civilians. Dr. Marie Pierre Allie, President of MSF-France, claimed that
the violence in Gaza was worse than violence against civilians in Somalia,
Congo and Darfur.
Recently, MSF’s use of
demonizing language has been accompanied by a series of demonstratively false
claims, including the accusation that Palestinians are prohibited from
leaving Gaza to receive medical treatment – despite the fact that
Palestinian patients leave Gaza for
medical centers in Israel on an almost daily basis.
So too, these doctors-turned-political-activists falsely state that
Israel’s military “continues to starve the territory of desperately needed
supplies, including building materials,” ignoring the Gaza Reconstruction
Mechanism that allows building materials into Gaza under UN supervision.
Similarly, the group absurdly claims that
one “million children still live in bombed out ruins,” despite their own
finding that 12,000 homes were destroyed in Gaza during the fighting in 2014.
These distortions and
offensive attacks demonstrate that MSF should stick to what it knows best —
providing medical aid. Taking sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is
a gross violation of MSF’s stated principle of neutrality, and well beyond
the organization’s expertise. It is an abuse of MSF’s status as a humanitarian
group, and severely undermines the doctors’ credibility. Worse yet, their
demonization of Israel, coupled with the free pass they have issued Hamas,
emboldens and immunizes terrorists.
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Nova Scotia @nova0000scotia 23h Good luck is another
name for tenacity of purpose. - Ralph Waldo Emerson #FeelTheBern #TDS -ok world lets git r done pic.twitter.com/GnGCT4hR4u
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Nova Scotia @nova0000scotia 23h Good luck is another
name for tenacity of purpose. - Ralph Waldo Emerson #FeelTheBern #TDS -ok world lets git r done pic.twitter.com/GnGCT4hR4u
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Old Hippie
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JustinTrudeauPM Canada raised
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PROUD-
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Blogged:
Canada Military News: DIRTY EU/TURKEY AND UN- sell out refugees for $$$-even Turkey citizens wild/ God cries and humanity mourns- what happened to our world - O Canada
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CANADIANS LOOK ON IN SHAME AT BEHAVIOUR OF #RUSSIA #USA AND #CHINA #UNITEDNATIONS AND #NATO and their - I am #Trump greed, power and $$$ over humanity and climate change.... billions are so tired of war, hate and #MSMnews wrecking havoc with their screaming lies and hate for $$$$ and not reporting pure factual news.... both good and bad...
From the sublime #syriarefugees to the ridiculous #panamapapers
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BLOGGED:
Canada Militry
News: Pope Francis is right/ Golda Meir right also /F**KING OUTDATED GENEVA
CONVENTION that deliberately allows our troops and innocents to be butchered by
monsters with no rules - yet get First Class Attention by International Red
Cross (who has to go) - imagine in pieces barely alive in a bed next to the
monster who hacked u to pieces??/UK- stepping up for troops and innocents/
Canada must do same- NO MORE RWANDAS -EVER- /Commonwealth and American Troops
and all innocents matter over UN arrogance and politicans sitting in their
fancy houses selling humanity for $$$war -imho/again...Pope Francis is right
/Children Dying To Kill .... Purposely Sacrificing Their Children...We can
forgive the Arabs for killing our children. We cannot forgive them for forcing
us to kill their children.... We will only have peace with the Arabs when they
love their children more than they hate us." Golda Meir, former Israeli
Prime Minister, 1972
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Dallaire
decries global inaction on Syria, amid Rwanda, Holocaust comparisons
OTTAWA — Anthony Lake was in a
Syrian hospital a few months ago watching surgery being performed on a sniper
victim, whose age he could not determine because of the severity of the
injuries.
Lake, the executive director of
the United Nations Children's Fund, watched the doctors pluck pieces of the
patient's jawbone out of his shattered face using what he called "old
instruments" in a setting he described as "sort of an operating
room."
Lake was shown the anaesthetic
that was being used. Its best-before date was several years ago.
"It's an outrage," the
head of UNICEF said Tuesday in an exclusive interview with The Canadian Press
by telephone from his New York City office.
"Badly, in a word," is
how Lake described the way things are currently going in Syria.
That sense of outrage echoed on
Parliament Hill on Tuesday, when retired Canadian general and former senator
Romeo Dallaire said the Rwandan genocide is being repeated right now in Syria
and the world isn't doing enough to stop it.
Dallaire was part of a delegation
that displayed some of the 55,000 forensic photos that depict atrocities
committed against civilians in Syrian prisons by the regime of President Bashar
Assad. The photos were smuggled out of Syria and depict torture on men, women
and children.
"Through pictures, through
scenes, we hope to bring to the attention of parliamentarians and Canadians the
true suffering of human beings that are caught in the middle of this maelstrom
that we are fiddling with, instead of trying to reconcile," Dallaire said
Tuesday.
Lake, meanwhile, painted a vivid
portrait of what he saw first-hand in Syria on his most recent trip there.
Prior to entering the hospital, he visited a school, where he saw marginal
progress over his previous visit to it — the children who he had seen studying
underground to avoid snipers had moved up a floor.
Still, he was forced to ask
himself: "Who the hell would shoot children through the window of a
school?"
Dallaire said the world needs to
strike a peace agreement with teeth to end the five-year-old Syrian civil war,
which has displaced millions and left hundreds of thousands dead.
He commanded the failed UN peacekeeping
mission in Rwanda and has since campaigned tirelessly for conflict prevention
as a senator and now as a senior fellow of the Montreal Institute for Genocide
and Human Rights Studies.
Dallaire said he has personally
witnessed a repeat of the recruitment of child soldiers to the Syria conflict
in refugee camps in Jordan, a phenomenon of the 1994 Rwandan genocide that left
hundreds of thousands dead.
"When a society uses children
as cannon fodder for a desperate cause like that, it is a disgrace to humanity
and we are part of letting that disgrace perpetuate itself."
Naomi Kikoler, deputy director of
Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide in Washington, said the
smuggled photos show the degree of human suffering that is currently taking
place, in real time, in Syria.
"Our hope in doing so is to
try to do for the Syrian people what was not done for the Jews during the
Second World War, which is to shed a light on their suffering and urge that
others take action to prevent and protect these communities from the crimes
that are happening."
Mouaz Moustafa, the executive
director of the Syrian Emergency Task Force, lauded Canada for taking in Syrian
refugees, but called on the government to push for "creative
solutions" to end the torture and air bombardment of civilians.
"I truly believe this is the
never-again moment of our lifetime."
Moustafa said dozens were killed
and many others were injured in another bombing of a hospital earlier this
week.
Lake saw evidence of a similar
atrocity on his recent trip to Syria. After he left the school and made his way
to hospital where he saw the emergency surgery, he surveyed the surrounding
area as he stepped out of his car.
He could see no sign of damage
around the hospital, although the building itself had been bombed.
"So," Lake concluded,
"it was clear it had been targeted."
Mike
Blanchfield, The Canadian Press
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----------
"In wartime, truth is so precious that she
should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies."
--Prime Minister Winston Churchill, 1943
--Prime Minister Winston Churchill, 1943
------------------
Adapting to the 21st century and
its wars without winners
DAN LEGER
dleger@herald.ca Dan Leger is a
freelance journalist in Halifax. @dantheeditor
Remember those groovy times when
you could flash the peace sign, ask “what if they gave a war and nobody came”
and you weren’t even trying to be ironic?
OK, you have to be a certain age
to remember those days but trust me; we thought we could make peace by doing
simple things.
Turns out, peace isn’t simple at
all. Wistful catchphrases don’t change much and people do keep showing up for
wars. They’re the volunteers. Many more end up as unwilling participants.
I ran across a Serbian aphorism
that captures that perfectly. “We have got our war assignments,” it goes. “We
are to be the killed civilians.”
But ask a different question. What
if they gave a war and nobody won? Today that’s happening around the world,
according to Canada’s senior soldier.
Gen. Jonathan Vance, Chief of the
Defence Staff, thinks the historical pattern of tensionconflict-
war-resolution-peace might be growing obsolete. It could turn out there will be
no more winners, therefore fewer chances for lasting peace.
That’s a bit surprising, given
that wars have been won and lost since primitive men first took up the cudgels
against other primitive men.
But the days of victory parades
and “unconditional surrender” could be over, Vance suggests. Global politics
have changed. So have the players, the characteristics of conflicts as well as
their potential results.
“The types of threats that we are
facing do not necessarily lend themselves to cataclysmic wins and losses,”
Vance said in Ottawa.
“Clear wins are hard to achieve
and measure,” especially against terror groups and other non-state actors who
don’t present straightforward targets for conventional armies.
The general has a point about
unresolved conflicts. To cite a particularly nasty example in which Vance
himself served, in Afghanistan war has been going with barely a pause since
1978. Nobody is winning.
The Balkan wars of the 1990s
produced many “killed civilians” but ended without a winner, just a resentful
and enduring stalemate.
In parts of Africa, wars have
boiled for decades with few examples of resolution. In Ethiopia, Somalia,
Sudan, Congo and many other places, they continue with no evident hope for
lasting peace, only persistent torment.
Libya, Iraq and Syria are settling
into that pattern of nearconstant warfare in which no side can win, but all
sides suffer.
Canada is involved in some of
those places, with 330 special operations troops training Kurdish fighters in
northern Iraq and personnel heading to Jordan and Lebanon to bolster defences
in those countries. Nearly 850 Canadians will be in the Middle East by the
summer.
But not necessarily in Libya,
which is threatened by Islamic militants as a UN-fostered government tries to
consolidate control after five years of civil war.
Vance seemed skeptical that armed
intervention would be useful in Libya, which disintegrated after dictator
Muammar Gaddafi was ousted in 2011. Canadian jets bombed Gaddafi’s forces at
the time, ostensibly to protect civilians.
Libya’s collapse made it a hub for
arms and people smuggling and for Islamic extremism. It’s hard to see how the
western air campaign helped anyone on the ground.
That’s the pattern being repeated
around the world. Interventions rarely work once the shooting begins. When it’s
over, conflicts leave behind failed states and lawless lands.
The alternative, Vance suggested,
is “conflict prevention . . . prevent the conflict before it happens.” Along
with allies and friendly nations, Canada could play a part in conflict
prevention similar to its 20th century role as a peacekeeper.
Vance might be getting the
peacekeeping religion from the new Liberal government. But militaries don’t
re-task overnight and changing course requires a clear direction from the
political level.
The
general can’t prejudge the defence policy review going on in the Trudeau
government. But he seems to be suggesting that Canada’s armed forces get ready
for a new focus, one that gets engaged before the bullets start to fly.
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ON TARGET: Canada eyes
international disputes from afar
SCOTT TAYLOR
Published May 30, 2016 - 10:59am
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
holds a press conference in Shima, Japan on May 27 following the G7 Summit.
(CP)
Prior to Prime Minister Justin
Trudeau’s participation in the G7 Summit in Japan, there was rampant
speculation among hawkish pundits that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe would
be seeking stronger support from Canada in terms of thwarting any Chinese
expansionist designs in the region.
One warmongering columnist went so
far as to suggest that Canada should begin sending our Royal Canadian Navy
frigates on more extended patrols into the Western Pacific in order to
intimidate China.
Given that Canada does not presently
have an operational supply ship, the RCN is incapable of even getting a frigate
to the Western Pacific, let alone patrolling menacingly off the Chinese coast.
The big question, of course, is
why would Canada even want to begin contributing even a miniscule military
presence into an arena that is already fast becoming a potential flashpoint for
a major conflagration?
In addition to Japan, China
currently has territorial disputes with the Philippines and Vietnam. The focus
of the dispute with the Philippines centres on a remote set of reefs known as
the Scarborough Shoal.
China made a clear demonstration
of its resolve to lay claim to the Scarborough Shoals in June 2013, when their
navy patrol vessels turned fire hoses on a small flotilla of Filipino fishing
boats.
Although the shoal is situated
just 200 kilometres off the coast of the Philippines, and well within the
internationally recognized 200 nautical mile zone of economic exclusion,
Philippine President Benigno Aquino demurred from any retaliatory military
action.
It is believed that the Chinese
intended to convert the uninhabited Scarborough Shoal into artificial islands,
complete with docking facilities and airstrips.
Pushing Chinese military
installations outward into the Pacific is seen as a direct challenge to U.S.
longstanding control of the region.
This is where the plot thickens.
Aquino was defeated in recent elections and Philippines president-elect Rodrigo
Duterte is set to assume full authority on June 30. Duterte is a character that
makes U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump seem like a rational
man.
As the former mayor of the
crime-ridden city of Davao, Duterte took extreme measures to clean up the
streets. It is estimated that over 1,000 criminals were executed without trial
by a police force that was paid bonuses for the killing of felons.
As for his position on the
disputed Scarborough Shoal, Duterte has already laid treason charges against
outgoing President Aquino for his abandonment of the territory back in 2013.
As part of his pre-election
bombast, Duterte suggested that he would personally drive out to the shoal on a
jet ski in order to plant a Philippine flag.
Should the Chinese object to this
defiance, Duterte stated that he is prepared to give up his own life in
exchange for becoming a national hero.
Duterte has no love for the
Americans, but he still has in his pocket the U.S.-Philippines mutual security
pact. Even though the U.S. closed its major naval base at Subic Bay in 1992,
America is still obligated to protect the Philippines if they are attacked by a
third party.
In other words, the U.S. is
treaty-bound to go to war with China even if Duterte deliberately provokes
hostilities.
In an even more bizarre
development, Vietnam has been cozying up to the U.S., seeking support over
their territorial conflict with China over the Paracel Islands in the South
China Sea.
That’s right. After waging a
bloody decade-long war to drive out the American military, the Vietnamese are
now seeking their assistance in a possible showdown with China.
If any of these scenarios
transpire, and the U.S. navy goes toe-to-toe with the Chinese to determine
supremacy of the Western Pacific, the last thing we are going to want is a
Canadian patrol frigate in the midst of the fray.
Canada should not find itself
dragged into a military clash over Japanese, Philippine or Vietnamese land
claims.
We have no skin in that game, and
let’s keep it that way.
·
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Taps out to our#QueenElizabethII crowned today in 1953 - God bless our Commonweath of 2.4 Billion pic.twitter.com/bZi7xNsmOZ
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so Canada....#BREXIT - #BritishCommonwealth – 2.38 BILLION versus #EuropeanUnion 508.2 MILLION including Britain pic.twitter.com/WRfMzAvGmF
Taps out to our
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so Canada....
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WOAH USA...
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CANADA- LEAVING A LEGACY-
A family tradition
During the Second World War, Ted Reid was stationed in England. He wanted to write home to family and friends, so he went to an aid organization and asked for a stamp – but without any funds he was turned away. No money, no stamp! He then went to The Salvation Army. In speaking to the officer, he asked for a stamp.
The officer inquired: “What do you want the stamp for?” He said, “To write home.”
“Well,” said The Salvation Army officer, “Do you have any paper?”
“No,” he replied. “Envelopes?”
asked the officer. “No…” “A pen?” “No.”
“And you have no stamps? Okay, so no paper, no envelopes, no pen, and no stamps.”
“Yes, that’s right,” said Ted.
“Well then, here’s paper, envelopes, a pen and stamps. You go write home.”
This act of charity was never forgotten by Ted Reid and he decided to leave his home and property to The Salvation Army.
Years later, Ted was not well. His son, Murray Reid, was concerned about having to leave his childhood home with all its cherished memories behind.
His father said he would give Murray the home if he agreed to leave the property upon his death to The Salvation Army. Murray Reid carried on the tradition – he lived in the home until his death, and left the family property to The Salvation Army in his will.
— Recounted by a childhood friend of Mr. Reid who shared with The Salvation Army how this gift had come about
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