Sexual assault can’t be brushed off as a mere byproduct of foreign service
I cannot fathom a civilian position with the Department of National Defence that comes with the inherent risk of sexual assault—especially when chalked up to ‘cultural differences.’
Everything’s hitting ‘pretty damn close to home’: foreign policy experts urge Canadian rethink on global priorities amid international crises, Israel-Gaza war
Canada has long seen itself as a ‘fireproof’ house far from global conflict, but election interference and extrajudicial killing allegations show otherwise. The fragmentation of global hierarchies, and the rise of powers such as post-Soviet Russia, China, India, and Brazil, has created a very different and more difficult world to navigate.
Gaza: creating a free-fire zone
Israel has enough global support after the massacres that it can do pretty much anything to the Palestinians in Gaza for the next week or so, but then the sympathy and the patience will run out.
Jewish and Muslim groups in Canada both describe unprecedented fear following Hamas attacks
Canadian Jewish leaders are warning community members to be vigilant about their personal safety, while a group representing Canadian Muslims says it has seen ‘a huge increase’ in reports of Islamophobia and racism.
It’s not the size of the defence budget, but how it’s spent that matters
A nation’s defence commitment should be measured as a tangible combat capability based on a percentage of population and regional circumstances, not as an arbitrary fraction of GDP.
As Blair sets sights on nearly $1-billion DND cuts, pressure ramping up on Canada to spend more on defence, NATO commitments, say experts
‘It’s also important to exercise control over spending and make sure that we’re getting true value for every dollar that’s spent. That’s my responsibility,’ said Defence Minister Bill Blair to reporters recently on the Hill.
Alan Williams: how to cut $900-million at DND
In this mock memo to federal Defence Minister Bill Blair, Alan Williams, a former assistant deputy minister of materiel at DND, suggests a radical change in how DND proposes to acquire the 15 Canadian Surface Combatant ships, and cut costs.
Canada’s top general needs to apologize for honouring a Nazi SS soldier
Even if one gives Gen. Wayne Eyre the benefit of the doubt for applauding in the moment, once the story broke, it became incumbent upon him to apologize for his misplaced tribute.
If Allies back away, Ukraine is at risk of losing the war
But the West would lose something even bigger—its soul.
Standing with Ukraine requires sound training, not scrapyard leftovers
Surely, we have learned something from our failed effort in Afghanistan to build a competent security force on the cheap and the quick?
