The Belmont Club deciphers the transformation underway in the structure of the US military – a helpful read for those who like to include context in their understanding of day to day developments in US foreign policy.
Rumsfeld’s response appears to be shaped by this reality. It is a search for systems, organizations and strategies which possess utility both against terrorism and rival states. In some cases a match will be easy to find. In others, most notably in the case of heavy divisions, manned aircraft and naval systems, there must be a trade- off between them. But implied within Rumsfeld’s reported plan is the startling aspect of time: it is above all a preemptive approach aimed at shaping the political and cultural battlefield in advance of actual hostilities involving American troops.
Although the concept is described by the WSJ in the traditional terms of “helping allies battle internal threats” it is impossible to separate it from the notion of creating a more functional world, which is related to the ideas of reducing disconnectedness and spreading democracy. How and whether this concept evolves into doctrine will be a fascinating process to watch. One suspects that the ultimate price of the Western European vacation from history will have been the transformation of the United States into the foremost revolutionary force of the age.
(A note to the peanut gallery – despite the frequency with which I discuss the US on this blog, I’m always open to including analysis and commentary on Canadian foreign policy. Please alert me when we get one.)
Canadian foreign policy of late has been pretty easy to figure out – whatever the US does, Canada opposes.
Heres my take on the effectiveness of canada’s foreign policy:
Thanks for reading..
I thought Canadian foreign/military policy was exporting those diseased cattle over here in hopes of killing us all…
“Canada: it’s what’s for supper”.
Hell Jeff, you try living here, it would make anything mad.
Actually there’s a missunderstanding of the acronym BSC. It means BS from Canada….
It’s been a while since Canada has had a policy regarding foreign affairs. The latest was during the build up to war in Iraq, in which Chretien stated that Canada would do whatecer the UN thought was appropriate. We basically contracted out our foreign policy – to the organization that is responsible for one of the biggest scandals in the history of mankind.
Any policy that makes sense is pretty foreign to Canada.
urgh
I know, that’s quite lame, but someone had to say it.
While Emperor George II has been strutting around the Palace demanding people complement his new clothes that no one seems to be able to see, the Communist Chinese have not been wasting time.
http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2005/03/13/china-taiwan050313.html
Just one aspect of the total abject failure of the Bush Administration has been the failure of his policy to slow down the spread of communism.
We now see that the communists in Beijing, having gained control over Wal-Marts, having gained control over the Panama Canal while the Emperor was engaged in his personal Imperial Wars, is now moving in for the kill on Taiwan and its people.
The Bush Administration has given the green light to the Communists to destroy Taiwan and its society as part of the kind of dirty deals they are famous for.
No doubt the Ann Coulters of this world will be working overtime explaining how slavery equals freedumb.
What a clusterfuck!
Carolyn Parrish was right, but understated. The Bush crowd is not only a bunch of conniving bastards as CIA Agent Baer has flatly stated, they are inept and incompetent leaders. Certainly NO ONE in the West these days should be placing ANY confidence in US “leadership”.
What is most interesting to my way of thinking is how China and the US have idential policies regarding “self determination” of a people. China is prepared to go to war to suppress the Taiwanese, just as America went to war against the South to suppress the self determination of these “Americans”.
Its no wonder that both China and America strongly resist the United Nations and its policies respecting “self determination” for people everywhere on earth.
Why should anyone be surprised however. Its not the first time in history that fascists did this sort of deal with communists. Hitler did the same thing with Stalin. Amd it lasted for a little while, until they turned on each other.
It will happen here as well if Bush is left to his own devices, he will step into the doo doo and set off a nuclear war between the US and China, just like he has set off a civil war in Iraq, and just like he is about to set off a civil war in Lebanon.
This is a “war president” and he is proud of his record of making war. He also claims to be a “Christian”.
All I see is a “viper” and a “hypocrite”.
Gee, someone once told me that if I did a goggle search on Canadian foreign policy, the results always come up “SEE CHIRAC.”
Do you think if we ignore Joe he’ll just go away? Folks who don’t know what they don’t know are just so embarrassing.
Good morning, Joe. I see you’ve had your Koolaid already.
Good Morning Kate,
Did you enjoy your breakfast with Grant Devine and the other criminals in his cabinet?
When are they getting out of jail?
Will there ever again be an honest Conservative Party in Saskatchewan again?
It would be a facinating cup of coffee.
Enjoy
It’s useless to interact with Joe Green. I’ve realized that he’s not a real person but an automated recording. He never deviates from his recording:
The voice-over is: Jews, atheists, neocons, Americans, Bush= evil
All of this mantra is repeated against the background drums of a fictional war of 1812.
No facts, no argument, no analysis, nothing..penetrates that recording. So- my suggestion is to simply ignore the record.
I have to say my new policy of looking at the poster before reading the post is sort of annoying.
Hey Joe Green! I guess you can now add John Manley to your ever growing list of “neocons”.
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1110799491533_45/?hub=TopStories
“An independent task force is recommending that Canada, the United States and Mexico become a single trading zone, much they way the European Union is heading. The plan hinges on new security measures.
“Former deputy prime minister John Manley is one member of the task force, which was sponsored by the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations, the Canadian Council of Chief Executives and the Mexican Council on Foreign Relations. These groups are involved in promoting free trade.”
Has anyone ever seen Joe and Norm in a room together?
A comment to joe green.I think that it is up to a coalition of France, Germany,Canada and the other countries that did not take part in the Irag war to stop the communist threat from China.It should be easy as negotiation should get them halfway and conscription should do the rest.A program like oil for food would finance the undertaking so it would’nt even be a burden on the taxpayers.We could use Russian planes to get us to China. joe,if he believes what he writes, will be the first to volunter on this great humanitarion undertaking.spike
TimR posted the URL pointer on Manley.
Manley is a Lougheed “neocon” “conservative” in Liberal clothing. This is an American puppet in the wings whose matching bookend is Michael Wilson. He is the Brian Mulonrey of the Liberal Party.
Manley also is a “republican” in the context that he is opposed to the Canadian Constitutional Monarchy.
Just look at the list of recommendations which I will go through here one at a time.
“Expand the North American Aerospace Defence Command (Norad) to include maritime security.”
NORAD is a Treaty Organization between Canada and the United States that SHOULD be expanded to include MEXICO. This Treaty is a Defence Treaty, not a trade treaty. Defence, and NOTHING ELSE.
NORAD should not violate EITHER Canadian or Mexican foreign policy respecting the peaceful use of space, and the prohibition against the militarization of space. NORAD should also set to rest “Ballistic Missile Defence” because it does not work, and violates International Treaties signed by Canada and Mexico. If Americans want to play in the sand box with perpetual motion machines, that is fine. But real defence and collective security organizations need armaments and systems that really work.
Expanding NORAD to include MEXICO makes sense for everyone, since Canadian airliners spend a lot of time plying American and Mexican airspace. So far so good. I agree.
“Create a tri-national threat intelligence centre and jointly train officers from the three countries.”
Strongly disagree. This is an open invitation to abuse by the Americans of such intelligence. For example, in Greece, (a NATO ally) the CIA abused confidential informaton in Greece to unjustly mount a coup etat against a democratic Prime Minister, Georges Papendreau. The Prime Minister of Greece was exiled and spent a number of years in Canada and the Greek Colonels and the CIA murdered and abused Greek citizens in their own country.
There is no doubt that given another chance, there would be another CIA criminal like Hal Banks in Canada, assaulting those that did not agree with the Bush Administration. No doubt they would also be bashing in Mexican heads as well, particularly those farm workers in the California vineyards who the Americans at this time brand as “illegals” but who also abuse them in terms of their pay and treatment.
The CIA should have NO ROLE in selecting and training Canadian police and intelligence officers. NONE! And the same goes for Mexico. This arrangement is a short cut to puppet governments.
“Develop a strategy to protect North American energy supplies and common conservation measures.”
Well, protect the energy supplies from what??? The oil and gas is mostly in Mexico and Canada who together supply the US with more energy than any other location on the planet.
What are the Americans afraid of? They should be working with Canada and Mexico to regulate and manage the oil and gas sector, and compel the oil and gas industry to implement the Kyoto Accords in all three countries. What is the point of not running out of gas, if you run out of air?
“Establish a North American investment fund to help Mexico’s economy.”
No. I thought that the “neocons” believed in markets, so what are they doing establishing “funds”? Besides the “ownership” for Mexican businesses has to rest with Mexicans, and the “ownership” of Canadian businesses has to rest with Canadians.
I think that “free trade” as implemented under NAFTA is a failure and as such its doomed as a trade agreement. I think we need to scrap NAFTA and the FTA and start over.
We need a sector by sector trade arrangement between our countries that measures “the unlevel playing field”, adjusts the tilt, and seeks to bring it into balance in a reasonable time frame, something like ten or fifteen years.
Tariffs are required to “fine tune” such sectorized trade. But in essence, the power and authority of the Nation State must be sustained, and not diminished.
“Expand scholarship and exchange programs and a network for North American studies.”
Strongly disagree. The money for scholarships should be arranged through tariffs and taxes if necessary, and then administered within the countries themselves. The very worst thing we can do is allow the Americans to fund education systems that creates the next generation of Peter Lougheeds.
Canadian leaders should be educated in Canada. At least for their initial degree.
m.mcmillan – Maybe france and germany could make an agreement with Switzerland where they get access to chirac’s and annan’s Swiss bank accounts to finance it.
ET wrote:
“No facts, no argument, no analysis, nothing..penetrates that recording. So- my suggestion is to simply ignore the record.”
That is the real problem ET, you and the “neocons” are always ignoring the record. In particular you ignore your own record of non-achievement.
If you wish to actually engage in a discussion, then you have to start with “good faith”. And for “neocons” that would be revolutionary. What is in it for you to engage in honest discussion?
I mean, you are a group of individuals that have no social redeeming qualities that I can see. You are simply pathologically fixated on yourselves, on your own immediate gratification and on not having to be bothered with anyone else.
As the Russian waitress in Moscow said of your kind, “They pretend to pay us, so we pretend to work”.
Spike wrote:
“A comment to joe green.I think that it is up to a coalition of France, Germany,Canada and the other countries that did not take part in the Irag war to stop the communist threat from China.”
Well, actually that is not a bad idea, particularly if its structured at the United Nations. However, the Americans would have to put some water in their wine, and stop casting vetoes against any motion of the Security Council that they did not sponsor.
If Russia, Canada, Germany and other UN members, including France were to lean on China, the communists might not be so prepared to destroy Taiwan as they and Walmarts and the Bush Administration is actually planning at the moment.
But it seems to me that once an International Agreement and compromise was worked out on the “two Chinas”, that the US would veto it, just like they vetoed the South Korean initiative for the “Sunshine Policy” toward North Korea.
Sanctions are a possibility, but the US would never agree to applying sanctions against the communists, because Walmarts and the Republicans would be the first to suffer.
I mean, the Communist Chinese spy in California is a Republican is she not???
No,nojoe, lets leave the U N completely out of this.That way there is no vetos, no USA telling anyone what to do as the UN did’nt tell the USA what to do in Iraq even tho’as we know now the coalition of the unwilling and their henchmen did’nt have the best interests of the Iraqi people in mind in their opposition.
I think that we need to ram a large humvee up the Bush Administration’s ass from the perspective of the International Community, because nothing else gets their attention.
Not being satisfied at a completely botched invasion and occupation of Iraq, and not being satisfied with over 100,000 dead Iraqi civilians, women and children, Mr. Bush is not going to show the world his next magic trick.
While the Iraq invasion and occupation is not even at half time, the gang that couldn’t shoot straight in the White House, who “outed” one of their own CIA agents, is moving onto bigger game.
That’s right, Mr. Bush is now going to “tame” the “World Bank”. And as of this morning, he has appointed the “neocon” Paul Wolfwitz to the job as President.
We should now all be scrambling to find out what Wolfwitz did for the Israeli government of Ariel Sharon during the Clinton years, and see if we can figure out how much of the world financial resources and capacity will be allocated to the Israelis with American passports. The real Israelis themselves might even decide to obey UN Security Council Resolution 242 and vacate land that does not belong to them, and perhaps start obeying the original United Nations Resolutions that created their country in the first place.
Hint: They can start with Security Resolution 242 and perhaps the American Marines might wish to land in Tel Aviv to enforce that UN Security Resolution with the same vigour that they are claiming to be enforcing in Iraq these days with Resolution 1441, a security council resolution that does not say anything at all about American Marines in downtown Baghdad. Perhaps after 100,000 dead civilians, women and children in Israel, the American people will finally figure out what is wrong with the Bush Doctrine.
But fear not, Paul Wolfwitz is on the job, so expect lots of hype, crap and bullshit, and then much later, lots of excuses as he starts to damage the economies of countries around the globe that do not fit his ideological pre-dispositions.
Canada should withdraw its deposits from the World Bank, and we should tell Emperor George II that we are tired and we are going home.
” What is the point of not running out of gas, if you run out of air?”
Joe, any chance that you’ll run out of air?
joe,Canada had the chance to influence the Iraqi war and chose not to for reasons made clear in another sda post.I think that Canada should enforce these U N resolutions against Isreal that you are citing if they are so important.In fact, a coalition of middle east countries and Canada would be ideal for the job. Oh, where is yasser when we need him as he would be the ideal level headed leader to head such a group.
“Structured at the UN” = good
“Authority of the Nation State maintained”
“Completely botched invasion”
“Sunshine policy” = good
Chinese communist is a republican
Backing Kyoto = good
It would be laughable if so many brain dead Canadians didn’t actually believe such buzzard vomit
I think I can safely say I disagree with everything joe said
The last time I heard drivel like that it was coming out of the mouthhole of a black belaclava,… in june!
Richfisher wrote:
“It would be laughable if so many brain dead Canadians didn’t actually believe such buzzard vomit”
Well over half of Canada supports the positions I have stated here. There are a handful for right wing crazies that cannot mount a cogent argument as to why they do not agree with me, only an illiterate and irrational response as you see above.
Is it any wonder, that Canadians do not take them seriously. The only individuals with serious brain injuries are those with non functioning left lobes.
ET wrote:
“The voice-over is: Jews, atheists, neocons, Americans, Bush= evil
All of this mantra is repeated against the background drums of a fictional war of 1812.”
So the War of 1812 was a fictional war according to ET.
It has been written, “Who the gods would destroy, they first make mad”.
There you go again joe, fiddleing with history.The war of 1812 was not between Canada and the U S, it was between Great Britain and the U S. Canada was a collection of British colonies prior to 1867 as was the U S prior to 1776.We did’nt even have our own foreign policy prior to the first world war.We had a Hell of a time even to get our own leaders in the war zone.Also got our nose bloodied at Dunkirk in the second because the Brits chose not to support the landing as was promised.
Spike, I think you need to read with a little more depth.
First with respect to the War of 1812.
Over a third of the Canadian side was comprised of First Nations, led by their Grand Chief, Tecumseh. Almost another third comprised of French Canadians led by British officers. And in what we today call Ontario, English Canadians comprised the militias and irregulars that make up the rest of the Canadian troops, again under British officers. The Americans were opportunists (as they remain today) and took advantage of the fact that British Army regulars were engaged in a war in Europe. It was General Issac Brock that organized the defences of Canada and who succeeded brilliantly, particularly in attacking and securing the western flank with mostly First Nations warriors. The Americans called them “terrorists” because of their fierce tactics and practices of scalping Americans.
When the wars ended in Europe, and more British troops came available, a combined force was created and it sailed and marched on the US. The burning of the White House was part of that Canadian reprisal.
The only American success came with Andrew Jackson’s brilliant defence of New Orleans that rivaled what Brock had accomplished in Canada. Its the ONLY reason that the US remains a break away republic because had the Canadian/British forces succeeded in New Orleans, the revolutionaries under Washington would have been beaten and law and order, peace and good government would have been restored in North America.
The War of 1812 and its aftermath set the actual boundaries between Canada and the US, it set the fundamentals in place within Canada in the relationship between English, French and First Nations, and it also gave the Americans a very bitter taste as to the costs of invading Canada. Its the main reason that US Presidents like Polk for example (the George Bush of his day) turned his attentions south against Mexico and Central America and never did bother us again.
With respect to Canada’s independence following Confederation in 1867, you are correct that Foreign Policy remained in Britain, as did our arrangements for “reform” of the Canadian Constitution. But it must be noted that the British usually passed whatever changes were requested of them since they clearly respected the independence of the Canadian Parliament that was a reflection of the Parliament in Britain.
Canada earned its Foreign Policy Badge at Vimy Ridge where Canadian troops succeeded where the British and French had failed. It also ended the formal practice of having British officers lead Canadians in war.
You would find it interesting, that during World War II, that in the RAF, the largest group of pilots outside of Britain came from Canada. Indeed, in some Canadian Squadrons, the practiced continued of providing British Officers to lead mostly Canadian Squadrons, the most famous of which was that led by Group Captain Douglas Bader, the famous British ace without any legs.
In strict legalities, Canada did not gain “independence” in the sense of changing its own constitution until 1982 when Trudeau repatriated the Canadian Constitution from Great Britain.
Now you mention Dieppe. Dieppe was a raid, not an invasion. It had several objectives, the primary one being as Sir William Stevenson wrote, was to secretly capture German radar equipment in a fashion that would not betray the fact that it was stolen and not destroyed during the raid.
And its not correct to suggest that only Canadians participated in Dieppe because British Commandos were also present during that day.
It was finally a political answer to pressures from Joseph Stalin who was engaged in a pitched war with millions of Russians, Ukrainians and other slavic nations engaging millions of German troops from the Black Sea to the Baltic Sea.
To give you some scale, over 1,000,000 German soldiers were killed on the Eastern Front, and many millions more on the Russian side since concern over casualties were not high on Stalin’s list of concerns.
The entire raid by the Canadians entailed fewer than 10,000 troops and support personel. That is not to dimish the sacrifice of Canadians, because in the grand scheme of things, they accomplished tasks far beyond what their numbers would indicate.
Many of the things tried at Dieppe, were later adapted to the D-Day Invasion. And while getting tanks ashore at Dieppe was a basic failure, for the most part it worked rather well in Normandy because of the lessons learned at Dieppe.
Joe;I am perfectly aware of the things that you state in your last post and the fact that Canadians were lead even in the second world war adds to what I said. The fact remains that our centenial was in 1967 and not before.I will ask you one question.When were Canadian passports introduced?And not ones stating we are British subjects.The Brits had natives fighting with them in Africa,India and everywhere else their Empire streached so why not Canada?Even in the US befor 1776.
Spike wrote:
“The Brits had natives fighting with them in Africa,India and everywhere else their Empire streached so why not Canada? Even in the US befor 1776.”
In fact, if you recall, the natives in Western Canada did rise in a sort of rebellion under the Metis Chief, Louis Riel. But the fights were really skirmishs rather than “wars” as for example took place south of the border during America’s “Indian Wars”.
A major factor was the creation of the North West Mounted Police, the forerunner of today’s RCMP. And it was the quality of the leaders of that force, with men like Col. Steele for example, and his calm leadership and concern for the Indians that did much to calm things down in Western Canada.
And the Mounties were relentless in running down American whiskey traders, the first real drug dealers in Western Canada. Together with the historical record of the attempts of nineteenth century Canadian Government bureaucrats to actually form fair and lasting treaties; had much to do with the very different history in Canada compared to the US with respect to white and Indian relations.
Not that things were particularly good by modern standards. The Indian Act for example was a racist piece of legislation that predated Apartheid in South Africa. And some of the bone headed bureaucrats in Ottawa that forced migrations of native communities into the hostile high arctic areas around Resolute were a disgrace to Canada and the RCMP.
The Indians however were not the only ones that were on the receiving end of this sort of racist official policy, the Doukobors in BC were another group that suffered greatly from official misuse of the RCMP by biggoted Social Credit Politicians in British Columbia. In many ways the BC experience mirrored what the Social Credit Government was doing in Alberta with its compulsory forced sterilization programs.
When you dig deep enough, most human rights violations were done by fascist governments, followed by communist governments.
Finally do not be misled by “libertarians” and “neo-conservatives” so-called. These groups have nothing but contempt for historical conservative values and instincts.
And do not make the mistake of linking the communists (in all their flavours) with “liberals”. Most of these were totalitarian in their political views. Just have a look at Trotsky for example who was murdered in Mexico by secret agents working for Stalin.
I have no doubt that given enough room any of the current “axis of evil” Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfwitz, Perle would murder for political gain. None whatsoever.
As a matter of fact, all of them have already authorized a number of assassinations around the globe. In this, they are no different from Stalin himself.
Gee Spike, ya think that was a total smoke screen by Joe so he wouldn’t have to answer the 1 question you asked?
Yes,rob,I noticed that also.I read the lines and between the lines and I found no answer to my question.Also, Mr.Riel was trying to keep the eastern S O B’s from stealing land from the first settlers in Western Canada and they hung him for it so don’t try to invent another reason.The British,as that is what Canadians were at that time, were kind of famous for that.As for Joes other rants,its to bad Canada didnt change places with POLAND about 1900.He could have found out what bad neighbors were really like.