Thursday, May 23, 2013
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MILITARY & HISTORY
Obama's foreign policy a disaster

The Obama administration has been weak, unfaithful to its friends, and unwilling to strike at its enemies either military or diplomatically.


  
WikiLeaks cables cause sensation internationally, Canada no exception

The curious fact is that Canadians still believe their anti-Americanism is harmless. Alongside anti-Americanism goes the moral outrage of which Jim Judd spoke.


  
It's time to reform Canada's deficient National Defence Act

The time to remedy these deficiencies is now rather than after the next domestic crisis requiring the use of the Canadian Forces.


  
Note to VAC officials: there are limits to playing 'cover your ass' games

They need to understand that veterans are citizens with the same rights to privacy as everyone else and, because of their overseas service in times of war, even more entitlement to their nation's care and consideration.


  
Does anyone want American pilots flying over Canada to check out Russian bombers? Nope

If the Canadian Air Force does not mount sovereignty patrols in our airspace, who will? The answer is all too clear: the United States Air Force.


  
For once, Mexico beginning to matter in Canada

Just as it is right for Canadians to seek to help Haiti, so too should Canada work to make Mexico into a stronger, democratic North American partner. That will help both Mexicans and Canadians.


  
Canada's reputation may not survive endless partisan mudslinging

So partisan have we become, so eager to dump on the government of the day, that issues are twisted, distorted, and exploited, used to trash Canadian efforts abroad. Enough.


  
Don't break military

Until the government gives the Department of National Defence the funds to increase the Canadian Forces' numbers substantially, the strain on the country's soldiers, sailors and air personnel can only increase.


  
Parliament must decide on war and peace

Prime Minister Stephen Harper in 2006 and 2008 held votes in Parliament on the Afghanistan mission. It's the right way to proceed.


  
Prepare for great Canadian anti-American coalition against Obama

Canadian anti-Americanism has never been a tap to be turned on and off. It's not dead today. It's only sleeping. It is moved by the age-old historic forces and remains endemic in Canada.


  
Future for Canadian Forces not wholly promising

Money is going to be tight, the numbers of personnel will continue to be insufficient to do the required tasks, and much of the military's equipment will continue its long, slow slide into obsolescence.


  
The prospective coalition, the Obama administration, and the Canadian Forces...

The continuing Harper government will almost certainly be more constrained in its defence expenditures, coalition or not.


  
President Obama, Canadians and anti-Americanism

Barack Obama is on his Canadian honeymoon today, but tomorrow he is certain to become merely another target for those who reject America's world view.


  
A serious country deals with big issues in its elections

But in the 2008 election, Canada's politicians unfortunately did not even try to do so. Elections, as Kim Campbell famously said, are no place to talk about issues. So it seems.


  
Canada needs a bipartisan defence policy, one supported by government and opposition

Nothing militarily credible will ever satisfy ideologically-committed NDPers or Bloquistes, but it ought to be possible to work out a defence modus vivendi between the Grits and Tories.


  
For good or ill, the Canadian future is American

Just as for the U.S. security trumps trade, geography trumps everything else. No matter what Canadians think today about the United States, Canada is not about to become an island. For good or ill, the Canadian future is American.


  
Did Harper yet again snooker Dion on Afghanistan?

Canadian policy on the war is now 'necessarily not Kandahar, but anywhere else in Afghanistan if necessary': Granatstein


  

HILL LIFE & PEOPLE SLIDESHOWS
Party Central: Raising money, saying thanks to the troops with Party Under the Stars May 21, 2013

The Hill Times photo by Jessica Bruno.
Hill Staffer Cheri Elliott founded her charity, To the Stan and Back, to raise money for soldiers returning from Afghanistan.
The Hill Times photograph by Jake Wright.
Conservative MP and veteran fighter pilot Laurie Hawn and then-chief of defence staff General Walt Natynczyk at the 2011 party.
The Hill Times photograph by Jake Wright.
Tory MPs Chris Alexander, Candice Bergen and Bob Dechert.
The Hill Times photograph by Jake Wright.
Kenzie Potter, chief of staff to House Speaker Andrew Scheer.
The Hill Times photograph by Jake Wright.
Defence Minister Peter MacKay pictured at the 2011 party.

MICHAEL DE ADDER'S TAKE