If Japan does sign on for BMD, then there might be a parallel movement into the Anglosphere with the U.S., Great Britain and Australia. Getting the Japanese in could bring in India. The reasoning being the growing Sino threat. Will Canada rejoin its natural allies or will we align ourselves with Old Europe?

Well written Kate,

Anyways ... On a side note, has anyone been reading the whole round table? If so is it my imagination or is Alan McLeod completely out to lunch?

In his latest post he talks about how the Greens are taking votes away from the NDP. I haven't followed the Greens all that closely but I thought that the Greens tried to be fiscally conservative while remaining environmentally conscience; the NDP on the other hand are environmentally conscience (at the moment) because it is politically popular while maintaining the most socialistic fiscal policies around.

Sorry to go OT.

It's a headline at Drudge.

PMPM Blames US for TO Violence (it's W's Fault)

I am generally out to lunch but if you have a look at the Greens of the past, of the provinces or of their European homeland they were not anywhere near as strong on the fiscal conservatism as their current Federal leader has placed them.

Anti-Americanism is so passe. You Canucks really ought to get with the newest rage in Europe: antisemitism!

An outstanding piece written in superb style.

Bob - they're actually shades of the same warped ideology.

Anti-Americanism is the simply the safe refuge of the anti-Semitic.

wait for the intense round of US bashing when the body bags come home from Afghanistan - its just a matter of time.

Cdn soldier blogs from the other sandbox tell a much more dangerous story of what is happening there than CBC will ever tell you.

Jean Chretien's quagmire is happening before our very eyes and we don't want to see it.

I just don't know how the CBC & CTV will work it so that George Bush is too blame - but I am sure the Liberals are working on that spin cycle.

Go Kate Go! I am so ashamed that we have not stood by our Anglo allies. I have been in so many migraine-inducing discussions with liberal family members and friends who do not think that America (and Israel) are our allies and they are so confused that they think they are "speaking truth to power" when they are as Kate says, on the wrong side of history.
I just recently found SDA and am now hooked. I grew up in Saskatchewan and Sept. 11 shook me out of the socialist/liberal mindset that I had breathed in.

NoOne posts: "In his latest post he talks about how the Greens are taking votes away from the NDP."

Could this be that many voters do NOT want to vote Liberal, can't convince themselves to vote Conservative, wouldn't vote NDP if there was no one else, and there's no space marked "NONE OF THE ABOVE", so, instead of not voting they're voting vor the GREENS.

Make sense?

Good post Kate.

"I can understand why it's easier to campaign on this premise than to oppose it."

I can too. Of all the people I know and have discussed this issue with, all but 3 or 4, outside of Alberta, feel that Canada did the right thing when she turned her back on America, England and Australia, the three best friends she has in the whole world.

"The "through a soda straw" coverage of Iraq that Canadians have been largely subjected to is relentlessly superficial, disproportionately negative, factually incomplete, and completely lacking in historical perspective."

This is changing in the US. Even CBS and CNN are much more supportive of what is happening in Iraq lately. They are also finding a lot more fault with the position of Democrats on this and other issues. I really think the tide is changing big time. I've even seen positive coverage on CBC lately.

And what will they say when the troops start coming home? I think President Bush will go down as one of the greatest presidents in US history. I think, if he stays the course and deals with Iran and Syria (he has three more years) he will have done what everyone thought was impossible. He will have changed the course of history in the Middle East. Imagine where we would be today if Kerry had won the last election.

"But I'm disappointed, nonetheless. Despite early, hopeful signals from both Paul Martin and Stephen Harper that they were willing to lead instead of follow, to stand beside Canada's traditional allies - the U.S., Great Britain, Australia - with a simple declaration of support (for realistically, we had no troops to send), in the end all the party leaders bowed to poll-driven partisan politics, placing themselves - and Canada - on the wrong side of history."

I, too, am disappointed. Note where most of the people who opposed, and still oppose, the Iraq war live. This illustrates the basic difference between them and us I guess. They are way too comfortable in their little world of perks from the socialist Liberal Party. When you become that dependent it's not easy to show or feel pride in anything.

I might add that I found it difficult to find anyone in Alberta that opposed the Iraq war. Haven't been to Saskatchewan for awhile but I'm looking forward to coming back and catching some of those monstrous northern pike again one day soon. One of my most enjoyable moments of growing up in south western Manitoba was carrying a big northern home over my shoulder with the tail dragging on the ground behind me. I was sooo proud.

Lefty, self-described 'thinking' people who pretend to be open minded always seem to choose that side of history, or present reality, that lead people to their oppression or death. Why is that?

Inherent mean streak? Schadenfreude? Self-loathing?

Lefties will be the first to trot out the old canards like 'Religion causes war' blah, blah, blah...

But, as can be seen from events of the past century, secular ideology has killed more people than all the previous religious wars combined. Demographic factors and technology were key facts that meant those millions of people were available to be killed, unlike in previous centuries, but nevertheless - they were killed in the name of some secular ideology, usually a left-wing ideology(Stalin, Pol Pot, Che Gueverra, Mao Tse Tung, Ho Chi Minh etc. etc.)

The really 'scary' thing about leftists though is that they will defend any mass murdering political authority such as Saddam Hussein - even though his Baath Party are fascists.

So if the left/right thing doesn't matter all that much to our darling liberal-types, then the only common denominator found among people they support is state-sponsored mass killing...

The BMD stuff is just a bunch of balderdash for anyone who has actually taken the time to study the stuff. I studied this stuff in my advanced theoretical physics courses when Ronnie "Raygun" as he was affectionately known in our classes was president.

I hope you all have 10 million SPF skin lotion, because it promises to get very hot. What the proponents of BMD are not telling you is that in the event that a nuke explodes in the upper atmosphere it will cause a massive Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) which will fry ones electromagnetic surveillance tools (IE satellites, radios, computers etc.) Now your military is effectively blind for a period of 5 to 30 minutes depending on the yield of your nuke. Employing the Bush doctrine of preemption, you can have the nuclear powers unleash the rest of your nuclear arsenal. Brilliant plan if you like the idea of dying!

The laws of physics are not going to change whether you are Liberal, Conservative, Republican,Democrat, Communist, National Socialist, or assorted terrorist nutbars.

Secondly, BMD wanted to employ X-Ray based lasers in space. There is however a little problem, known as Rayleigh scattering; which will "defocus" your beam and render it useless in the upper atmosphere over distances of 1000 to 7000 km.

We wish you all much success with BMD. Your money would be much better spent improving the lot of mankind; and perhaps some of the root causes of terrorism so you won't need an unworkable "Star Wars Lite" plan.

Alternately, some crackpots will be working on the proverbial "Pandora's box"; and ship a nuke in a shipping container and render some cities as MIA (missing in action); through the clever use of shielding techniques to bypass most detectors.

Well if the world's single super power misfired on the existence of nukes in Saddam's backyard; why in the hell would one trust them to employ the doctrine of preemption when it comes to BMD.

As my grandmother said to Gauleiter Hanke:

"Seit Ihr Alle ganz verueckt oder seit Ihr doch noch zum retten".

Translation:

"Are you all completely mad, or can you still be saved?"

Or how about Hans Bethe who worked on the Manhattan Project strong disagreement on SDI and weaponization of space? Of course he was only a Nobel laureate in physics, so why listen to him?

BMD is just further insanity, and the logical result of the boys from Peenemunde, like Werner von Braun. It is time to stop this stupid shit, before someone gets hurt real bad.

Kate,
Your post is wise and scholarly. It is in fact the best example of clear thinking and courage I have seen from any Canadian on the great issue of the day (with the exception of the writing of our brilliant but unacknowledged national treasure Mark Steyn.)

I particularly liked your sentence:

"I concede that it's too much to ask that a politician fight an election campaign and counter an international propaganda war at the same time."

I am also glad that you mentioned the sources which have contributed to your enlightened, progressive, optimistic, pro liberation, views particularly Bill Roggio of the Fourth Rail.

Those of us who have been reading his blog are at least 4 months ahead of those who get their "news" on Iraq from the biased, clueless and self-hating MSM. For example the MSM have yet to absorb the fact that the Iraqi forces have been built up to the point where the coalition can pursue a "clear, hold and build" strategy in Anbar province. As a result, the insurgents are running out of hiding places and it's only a matter of time until the insurgency is defeated.

It will be interesting to see if any of the others in your roundtable engage you on Canada's disgraceful position on Iraq: Let others die to make the world a better and safer place by ridding the world of a murdering, genocidal, terrorist-supporting dictator. We defer to the U.N.(France and Russia).

Unlike those unwashed Americans we are such Euro-sophisticates. As the success of the American mission in Iraq becomes clearer one may expect anti-americanisn to reach new heights in Canada. After all how can we help but hate people who remind us daily of what we have become even as they say nothing about us.

That's right Hans. Just think of all the day care and clean needles that the money could buy. We'd be in Trudeaupia!

If all western countries had sent troops into Iraq at the same time, they would all be home by now. Unfortunately, it costs money and committment to do things like that- THIS country could not afford it, (and now we are learning why.)

I used to be one of those misguided people who protested US intervention in Iraq. Now I realize that Iraq's vast oil reserves had nothing to do with President Bush's decision to send in the troops. President Bush has had the best interests of the Iraqi people on his mind since he first read about their plight as a high school student in Texas. According to reliable sources it was on his 15th birthday that he vowed to free the poor Iraqi people from oppression if he ever became President. What more proof do we need that George W. Bush is a heroic leader and man of his word. If only he felt the same way about Native Americans. What a wonderful world this could be.

dave. "If all western countries had sent troops into Iraq at the same time, they would all be home by now."

I agree. But America, England and Australia could have finished it much sooner on their own. There was a reason Dresdan was bombed into the ground. There was a reason why two very big bombs were dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima.

President Bush has not fought the war in Iraq the right way in my opinion. But we know why. Too bad he listened to some of his so-called advisors. If a couple large cities had been treated like Dresdan, for instance Fallujah, Iraq would not be experiencing the terrorist attacks it is now, most of the troops would be home, and a lot fewer Americans and Allies would be dead.

Some people you can't deal with. You just gotta kill 'em.

AMEN!

Hey Hans, wouldn't it be totally wacky if the "root causes of terrorism" turned out to be "people like you"?

Just released: RCMP will investigate liberals and the income trust scandal - CTV newnet

you continue to astound me. wandering through my best of blogs, often way past time to retire, your concepts bristle with an admirable command of disparate issues all outlined succinctly with an absolute concentration and focus. keep your lens on canada.

No klanderisms here; no attempt to klander anyone; not even a hint of klanderizing;klanders are taboo here; but the calendar is ticking on a new Scott baby. >>>

N.B. MP eyes calendar... and wife's tummy
FREDERICTON (CP) - The countdown is on for the Jan. 23 federal election, but New Brunswick cabinet minister Andy Scott could be forgiven for being preoccupied with another date - Jan. 24 - the day his wife is expected to deliver a baby boy. >>> via canoenews
BTW, mww sent a request to Indian Aff's Min. Scott for a link to his blog. The reply was the normal, bureaucratic response: Don't call us, we'll call you. >>

Doug:

No, the Liberals wouldn't be buying clean needles for my son who has Type 1 Insulin Dependennt Diabetes. Rather CCRA sends out letters telling me and my son to go away and die.

I am under no illusions that the Liberals are ripping me and every other Canadian off.

Kathy:

If you like, I could build you "Pandora's Box" but unfortunately I would be breaking about 100 laws or more. When you get your degree in mathematics and physics; let me know and we'll discuss BMD a little more rationally.

Mr. Rupprecht: You may be absolutely correct in your assumptions based on what we know now. However, a concerted effort by the best minds in the U.S., Great Britain, Australia and Japan will surely yield some form of active defense against missile attacks. The price may be high, the time frame long with many false starts but human ingenuity will always triumph when sufficiently challenged.

Hans,

So how do they get the caramel in a Caramilk bar?

;-)

Very well done Kate.

Powerful post, Ma'am. Well written. Well thought out. And, sadly, doomed to failure, I fear.

Thanks for the post!

Great Post !!!!

Seems by Glyn's site, and the other co-panelists this is right in their wheelhouse! They may have a response.
Since it is a roundtable and I've heard to much of "points of order" and "love the format" "lots of enthusiasm" from the left.

It can't be done!!! 'Experts' who are quick to say things like missile defence is impossible, so why bother etc. are hilarious. 'Experts' like that also said that humans would never visit the moon or wouldn't even get into orbit for that matter.

'Experts' like that should just keep their job at the box factory and let others get on with the business of innovation.

Not only can missile defence work in some form or another, a mortar fire defence system is being developed. This system will pinpoint the location of mortar launches and be able to strike back immediately - the poor terrorists in urban areas, martyred before they get a chance to run away like usual... looks like they'll have to get the real political support of millions of people behind them in their endeavours - instead of the usual bunch of fanatics.

Hans, what does Reagans Stars War program have to do with the Clinton-Bush BMD program?

If you actually have a degree in physics then you should be able to tell the difference between ground based kinetic kill weapons and space based nuclear bombs and Xray lasers. Where did you get yours, York University?

Hans wrote: “BMD is just further insanity, and the logical result of the boys from Peenemunde, like Werner von Braun. It is time to stop this stupid shit, before someone gets hurt real bad.”

The logical result of the boys from Peenemunde is also satellite communications, GPS, space travel and who knows what else in our future.

Hans - me-thinks you’re a bit of a Luddite and a typical ‘no-can-do kinda guy’. Given America’s successes in a vast array of technological endeavours my money’s on them (and their intentions) - any day. And yes, there are failures - they’re part and parcel of getting things done.